Pearl and face knotting: a craft of concentration

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    Often people want to knot pearl or other bead necklaces to preserve the beads once a string breaks. Nita found dynamic Suzanne to teach the Beadsprouts, our group which meets every Thursday for lunch and chatting while we design bracelets and neckware.

     We arrived with tweezers (available at craft stores or drugstores for splinters), some silk beading cord with a needle attached (from craft or bead store), pearls or beads to practice on, a clamshell to hide the beginning knot, and some jeweler's glue. We made simple overhand knots, inserted the tweezers and pulled the knot next to the bead...all better seen on this video at YouTube. One can learn so many skills at YouTube.

      I was so amused by the deep concentration of my fellow beaders that I thought I must capture their knotted determination while out in the fields beyond, creatures munched with equal determination on spring that finally arrived! This facility in knotting will increase the variety of necklaces that we can make. Good idea, Nita; and thanks, Suzanne!

Project Hope: block collection time

     In the Fall, Katie rounds up friends to make blocks for quilts for Project Hope . She brings in fabrics on a theme. People gather to take home remnants to create. There is no pressure at all. I usually make about eight different blocks; others make fewer and some, more.
      In the Spring we meet to see how things are going, to get ideas from each other and to know what is realistic to expect by the deadline in late July which is when Katie likes to start assembling the blocks. After that, we tie the quilt. It is fun to gather with those who have worked on it before and pull in others we see passing in the hall to engage them. We are always surprised by the individuality of different participants. I assure you, all are more complex and interesting than mine.
      This year, the theme is creatures of the Northeast. It will be fun working with animals. This goes much faster than the art quilts I am working on. Katie has the tough task, but she listens to books and sews away! She has come up with a cozy way to make people aware of Project Hope.

I am now off to embellish my Alice in Wonderland quilt, make decisions about buttons, and try to create and finish the teacup before the guild meeting tomorrow night.

Also, I hope you viewed Hannah folding an origami bird which I filmed this week!
YouTube - Origami Bird

If you want to see earlier postings on Project Hope, click on Project Hope in Labels below and it will bring up earlier blogs of April 12, June 14, and June 2l of 2010.

Where in the World: Wonderland

   My ultra creative quilt guild where I am quite the newbie, has a quilt challenge fund raiser. Since the size must be under 20" on each side, I thought I could try. Mother said I could do anything, and I naively have always believed her despite evidence to the contrary.

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   The topic is "Where in the World," real or fantasy, the thought being to bring in many cultures but not to limit. I imagined I would make unfolding postcards from my youth and fuse fabric showing themes from Africa, Rain Forest, Japan, Mexico, spring or the circus. Joe thought the Jackrabbit postcards (cowboys atop) from his summers would fit the bill. The Alice fabrics I had on hand seemed manageable for a first attempt. With no pattern, I just started cutting and making a zillion mistakes, but nothing ventured. If I don't chicken out, I will make a big cup and saucer shaped hanging for the same images. Now I wonder how much to quilt besides the edges.

    What I have learned: Make a serious pattern on card or poster board before starting. Use freezer paper and fusible fabric between image and turned pillow case of front, back and batting. Do a little basting. Will I ever learn?

A Mouse full of fun: a crafty find

     Apologies for tardy posting. I am working on too many projects at once and not getting any of them up. March Madness. April Fool is here and so am I. For an interim posting I want to share a quilt store find.

  
      Perfect for my beading group is this cute mouse, both pincushion and thread holder. Debbie said she wanted to have it hold her rings. This Little Mouse Needle & Thread Keeper is a Susa Glenn Design:ArtFabric Studio. This link sends you to her "Sewing Whimsies" but she has a big website to explore and if I had not posted this,  the site I would not have discovered.The pincushion body is filled with sand (some suggest builders' sand or aquarium sand), but I wish someone would tell me how to find emery locally (though it may be for needles of the past, and wool, better to lubricate needles and pins). One could also use poly-fil. About 10" wire is included which you shape to secure the tale within the piece.
      At the same sight you will find other creatures from dogs to frogs. The rooster Nancy gave me is next! One can never have enough pincushions. Mimi Kirshner's are so loveable!

Friday Fun: back to painting

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   Yesterday I got my eyelid stitches out (too much sun as a child);  and today I decided to make a journal quilt with myself as pirate. I had to paint myself on fabric, but I haven't depicted myself in a long time, I am so easily distracted and excited by contemporary happenings in the quilt world.

    With a fresh eye, I realized if you paint yourself, looking in a mirror, your fabric should be at the same angle as the mirror, on an easel or equivalent. My canvas was on the table so I looked as if I had mumps. Using Lumiere acrylic jpaints, I grabbed the opague white to mix in with the other colors to narrow my face but I still look like a chipmunk. Also, I hopelessly bouffant my hair. I started out w a Sharpie Rub a Dub pen and sketched on the fabric a couple of noses and lips and chins. They may show through in the future. I have made so many self portraits in the past, I was not humble enough to make preliminary sketches and it shows.  In the end, I was so glad to be rid of the patch, I left it off! And I had a lot of fun painting, regardless the results!
     Now off to make the quilt, maybe with a patch that lifts up.

SAIGAI: a journal quilt

    It is always difficult to create a journal quilt about a catastrophe such as Katrina or 9/11 and the one in Japan.I looked for a fabric that expressed maelstrom or upheaval, and I found the word for disaster is saigai. On-line I Googled "how to say disaster in Japanese" and found some characters and pictures at  Japanese Symbols. I printed a couple of the many possibilities and then put the paper and fabric on a light box to mark with Sharpies.
     My fabric was too dark to see the markers so I got out the black Lumiere fabric paint and a tiny brush to enhance the characters. I will only be satisfied when I sharpen the edges with black crochet thread. I made a sandwich of batting and background fabric, stiched a border at 8" x 8" and cut the excess off with pinking shears. I went back to make a few quilted lines,
  

Saigai, Japanese disaster

   You can view 9/11, my first journal quilt at my website, as well as Katrina, here at the blog, posted July 1, 2010. Relax a moment while the particular image loads.

Unfinished Painting on Fabric: a quilt workshop

    The Quilters Connection has exciting workshops and guests. Jennifer Beaven led "Paint, Stitch and Embellish." We started with quick exercises listing animals, smells, foods, places, plants, and music we love...wishes and stories about these. Beaven encouraged us to make a work about ourselves, the simplest of drawings. We drew images with Sharpie's Rub a Dub markers on thin cotton and painted with Lumiere fabric paints. These acrylic paints in both sampler groups or little bottles are good in that they leave the fabric soft and malleable. I took plain and irridescent. We ironed to set and then backed the pieces with batting and another piece of cotton the same size and started stitching with Pearl embroidery thread and others. We added beads and other embellishments. Mine was so tame, but I came home to do it with the 5 and 6 years old grands. None of us have finished!

(Phoenix awaiting beads)

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       Hannah and Erika were still in a Valentine mood and chose some interesting fabrics for the backs of theirs, but have not had time to start their stitching. Erika showed me several places in my house that hers would look good hanging.

      First, put the fabric on newsprint and paper towels atop protective plastic.Draw your design with marker. Have water for your paints and plastic lids to mix them on. After finishing, iron to set the ink and paints; then sandwich to thin batting and a backing fabric. Safety pin together.  With embroidery needles and threads, start in the middle to tack things down. Use running stitches, back stitches, French knots, chicken scratches. Embellishment is the icing on the cake...buttons, beads, necklaces and on to create a dynamic surface. The repetition of marks and stitches will hopefully lead to visually compelling and personally meaningful piece.  We have a way to go.