Thinking Small

 Busy with summer activities, I've found that more often than not I've strayed away from my sewing machine.  To get back into the flow, I decided to try a small project that could be easily transported to where ever I may be.

My jumping off point was this square of muslin from a previous day when I was experimenting with paints and a stamp.

This easy stamp was made from an inexpensive school eraser. While the design is quite simple, it made an interesting design when repeated across the width of the fabric.

Looking through drawers and digging into my stash, I found these threads, beads and fabric that I could use.

Now I'm on my way, and ideas are starting to flow.

Scatter the dust on my sewing machine. 

I added some machine quilting and now I can relax and add hand stitching and embellishment at quiet moments.

Linked to Off the Wall Fridays

Tuesday's Tile - At Least It's Not Orange

Quilter's Tile - Frosty Leaves

8" x 8"

©2012 - Sharon V. Rotz

This tile started nicely with a demonstration to a small group of quilters. I wanted to share the fun I was having creating freeform small feathers. I was even using red (another of my favorite colors) thinking this is so right for the Christmas season.

After the demo, I came home with my sample, ready to finish it. This could be an example of machine quilting, nothing more.

And then the trouble began.............

Out of my cabinet, jumped a tube of paint and a leaf shaped stamp. 

And the next thing I knew, there were white leaves on my lovely red, half quilted project.

Again, I'm working backward or side-ways, at least. My project is half quilted and now I've gone back to the beginning. 

Of course, there was only one solution and that was to continue on. 

Actually, the quilting above and below the stamped leaves brings an interesting transparency to the piece.

To complete the tile, I found some glittery thread to add to the binding edge. 

 Just a little side note: Don't forget to change your needle plate from the single hole one that works so well for free-motion quilting to a wider one for zig-zagging.

I bet you think I forgot, didn't you. 

Not this time and and, at the last moment, saved myself from breaking my needle. 

It's a good day!

Tuesday's Tile - Peeling Back the Layers

 

Quilter's Tile - Layers

8" x 8"

©2012 - Sharon V. Rotz

How many things can be done to a piece of fabric?  Like the layers of our lives, this fabric has been  changed as each layer has been added on. (Here paint is scraped across the fabric leaving unequal areas of paint.)

Over a commercially printed fabric, marks were made with fabric markers, designs were stamped, and paint was applied.  Each layer makes either subtle or major changes.

At the sewing machine, free-motion quilting adds another dimension. Over this, additional strips were added by fusing or stitching.

Metallic pieces were fused on. Words were added with fabric markers.

Just as we change each day by the situations in our lives, this fabric also has been changed. 

Maybe for the better, maybe not.

Layers and layers, added on.

Tuesday's Tile - Hybrid Flowers

Quilter's Tile - Hybrid

8" x 8"

©2012 - Sharon V. Rotz

Inspired by a new seed catalog, I had thoughts of flowers running through my head. Although I love flowers, my garden never seems to live up to my expectations.

So I turn to fabric. With a ruched flower made from a yellow and purple striped fabric, I set out to create my own flower garden.  (Step-by-step instructions for ruching were given in a previous post.)

I tried stamping some leaves on a white muslin background and they will become the background for my ruched flowers. 

The stamped background was zig-zag stitched to a striped square of fabric which will become the borders. Underlining (adding an extra layer of white fabric under the leaf fabric) kept the stripes from showing through.

A bit of rickrack adds a decorative fence around my garden. And remember from a previous post, I have a large quantity of rickrack to choose from.

The ruched flowers were hand appliqued onto the leaf background and beads were added to the center. I chose a large yellow bead with a lavender seed bead on top.

Instead of binding the edge, I decided to wrap this Quilter's Tile around an artist's canvas. Here it is, ready to be stapled to the back.

My garden is ready to go, no watering, and no weeding.

Tuesday's Tile - Falling Leaves

Quilter's Tile - Falling Leaves

8" x 8"

©2012 Sharon V. Rotz

Of the three samples of fabric that I previously stamped, this one seemed to be the stumbling block for me. One of these samples was stamped in regimented rows, a second sample was free-form stamped and this last one was somewhat even, somewhat random. Of the three, this was the one that I liked the best. Then why did it cause me to stumble?

Maybe because I didn't want to "mess it up". Often when we buy a piece of fabric that we just love, we are afraid to use it. We don't want to waste it by making the wrong choice, or we don't want to use it up  and there won't be anymore. So we hold it tightly in our hands and fear cutting into it. 

Well, right or wrong, I jumped in and chose to use my sample. I applied fusible to the back of a sheer blue and cut a tree. This I fused this in place and added a few fused leaves. I was happy with the fact that you could see through the sheer, creating the look of complexity with layers. The quilting added another layer of interest.

For the wider binding, I chose two fabrics to give a feeling of earth and sky. 

I still have my fabric but it is not longer grasped tightly. It is enriched and displayed proudly.

Tuesday's Tile is Looking for Spring

Quilter's Tile - Spring Leaves

8" x 8"

©2012 - Sharon V. Rotz

Getting back to a previous post, I was playing with textile paints and hand made stamps. I found I had a tendency to want to line up my stamped images in nice straight rows.

I did break away from those rows on this sample. I tried yellow paint to see if it would look green on a blue fabric. Maybe not as much as I would have thought, next time I can add a bit of blue paint.

I didn't do much to change this fabric, just layered and added machine quilting. Sometimes, simple is best.  I used a variegated green thread for the leaves and a matching blue thread for the echoed background.

I thought that my stamp looked like evergreen boughs but when I added the quilting it changed entirely. It certainly helps to keep an open mind and go with the flow. 

With a late season snowstorm dumping on us, we are all grasping for spring.