Tuesday's Tile - It's Not Always Hearts and Roses

Quilter's Tile - alias Tooth Fairy Pillow
8" x 8"
©2012 - Sharon V. Rotz

A Valentine filled with hearts and roses wasn't on the tile this Valentine's Day. Not when you get a phone call with important news. "Grandpa, I've got something exciting to tell you. I lost my first tooth."

Of course, this deserves an important gift. A tooth fairy pillow in which to place that treasured tooth and others to follow.

A lily pad shape was perfect for the pocket.

Nicholas' name was added with machine stitched letters. Because this is not something I do often, this step took a little time as I  had to try several times and get out my sewing machine manual. Now that I am more familiar with the technique, I'm brainstorming on other ways I can use this feature. (Do you have any ideas for me?)

When frogs are in the picture, perhaps the tooth fairy looks like a dragonfly? I made this one from two layers of sheer placed on a stabilizer. After I stitched the shape, I trimmed close to the stitching.

Here is my Quilter's Tile for the week, turned tooth fairy pillow ready and waiting to be stuffed and finished.

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day, whether there are hearts (or frogs) coming your way.

Sketching with Fabric

Touching pencil and paper is certainly the approved method of sketching, but could sketching be done with fabric instead?

For me, it's fun touching and playing with the elements of my design.  Here I have spare triangles left from another project, some sections of dryer sheets that I painted with Dye-na-Flow paints and some Dove metallic candy wrappers that are cut or formed into circles.

How can these be arranged into a pleasing composition?  Are the parts too different?  Will they work together? I'm pushing myself to experiment with various elements. Outside of the box? Or just starting to push and shove and break down the edges of that box to make room for expansion?

What will come from this? Will I go forward or will I squash it all back in the box and sit on the top?

Overheating Lately?

Overheating, that is an problem that many women deal with some time in their life. Well, it happened to me yesterday.

But it wasn't me overheating (We'll save that for another discussion!!), it was my iron. Who

thought irons went through menopause? Mine certainly had a menopausal moment right in the middle of my quilt.

Needless to say the next second, I was scraping sheer fabric off the bottom of my iron. It left a lovely messy spot of goo in the middle of my quilt top, which I desperately tried to finish scraping away before it completely dried.

I wasn't fast enough and I certainly wasn't thinking about photoing the melted spot so here it is after I repaired the damage. Of course, I didn't have a bit of the pink left.

Should you be thinking ahead and save extra fabric, just in case something goes wrong. Then, there is the question of how much to save? Too much to consider, I guess I will continue living on the edge.

I did have a bit of the lavender left and carefully replaced the melted spot with the lavender. Fortunately, problem solved. What's next?

Hand stitched details

I am adding some close-up shots because I realized that it is really difficult to see the details of my quilted tile, Lavender Grass. Often my work is noted for color combinations but in this piece, the stitching is more noteworthy.

It was enjoyable to try a new combination of stitches and threads. The green background was free motion quilted (stitching with the feed dogs down) so it was easy to move the fabric in an up and down motion creating the grass (and securing the layers together).

A pale lavender sheer was heated to the point at which the fibers started to melt and deform, giving it an interesting bumpy texture. This can be done carefully over a heat source such as a candle. There is a little experimentation involved, too close and the fabric melts entirely or, worse yet, becomes a glowing fire. (See why a save environment is important!) Just close enough to the heat and you will have get a randomly textured surface that holds its shape and doesn't ravel, ready for your moment of creativity.

I used my sheer for the misty look of the spent grass and added hand stitching using 2 stands of embroidery floss. For the dainty yellow flowers, I used pearl cotton in my needle and make colonial (candlewicking) knots.

To complete the upper portion of the tile, I changed to a silver metallic thread in my needle and hand stitched using a back stitch. This stitching is difficult to see on the photo, but it not only serves to quilt the layers together, but adds barely noticed grass skeletons to complete my roadside image.

Have you experimented with a new technique today? Do you have a stitch or method to share?

Lavender Grass

Back to the world of quilting and art. I had a wonderful month of August spending time with family and enjoying the summer. Now my creative mind is bursting with new ideas.

As we were driving along the countryside, the spent grasses along the ditch line caught my attention. They were forming a lavender cloud along the ground contrasting with the new growth. Today, I dug into my stash and found these choices to recreate this lovely image.

How could I create the dimensional floating look of the misty-looking grass? This is my challenge for the day.

One old, One new, and One all blue

Picking fabrics for my quilts is always an exciting time for me. I love the colors, the fabrics designs and, just face it, I love touching all that fabric. Fabric just attracts people and we just want to run our hands over it. (Maybe that's why we can't resist those bolts of fabric in the quilt shop and all too soon we are carrying around as many as we can lift.)

My final selections are made. One is an old favorite, just a scrap left. One is new, well, new as in never cut into but well-seasoned in my stash. The third fabric is just blue, a deep, rich shade. I wish I had more of this one!

My sheer dragonflies seem to feel at home. They have jumped on and will look fine swooping across the surface. And I'm thinking of what added touches could make this piece complete.

Today we have flight

Yesterday, my dragonflies were grounded by faulty techniques. Today, after reviewing and making a new plan, I now have dragonflies to spread their wings across my quilt.

I layered the water soluble stabilizer over two layers of sheer blue polyester fabric. I took it to my machine which was set up with silver metallic thread and started to free motion stitch the dragonflies. I went over all the lines at least twice and added more stitching to give detail to the wings. After completing the stitching, I trimmed away the excess fabric and soaked off the stabilizer.

The dragonflies have just enough body and the wings tend to curl up slightly gives them a dose of character. Perfect for what I have in mind. Actually, I found they are so much fun to make that one more, and one more, lands on my table.

Now to press on and give them a quilt to permanently land on.

Going from sketchbook to quilt involves trying techniques which may be new. It seems like I never get over the learning curve. I'm always attempting something a little different than I've done before.

I had a sketch of a dragonfly that I wanted to create in fabric and thread. I chose a wonderful silver metallic thread that would add sparkle to the dragonfly. I traced the dragonfly unto the water-soluble stabilizer with a Sharpie permanent marker. I tried thread painting (or free motion stitching) on the stabilizer but obviously this was the wrong plan. It just shriveled up and chewed up the stabilizer.

Second plan: I found a sheer blue left from my daughter's wedding (the bridesmaids looked lovely in blue). I re-sandwiched with the blue sheer over the stabilizer and am trying again.

Let's see if this works.

Any suggestions?

Moving Along

As you can see, things are moving along on my little artwork. I cut more small leaves from the silk. This task, like placing your hands in a pan of hot, soapy dish water, is calming and meditative. I enjoy the moment. I gives me time to clear my head and let ideas swirl through my brain.

My creative spirit is calling and it is clear that if one sheer (the lace) is good, a second sheer could be even better. Diving into my stash, out pops a brown sheer that I fuse over the "ground" to add detail and dimension. My mind working quicker than my hand is now dreaming up other possible ways to use sheers.

Meanwhile, with the ground finished, I snip the remains of the brown sheer and add them as leaves to my trees. Progress is being made.

Working on a New Piece

I'm excited about the look of the background fabric. As I am thinking about my choice, I realize that perhaps I was influenced by the work of an artist friend, Nancy Laliberte. In her art pieces, "Carnival" and "Spring Green", (posted March 19-20, 2010) she made wonderful use of light coming from behind the trees. So often, I believe we are subconsciously influenced by the work of others. We see a major idea or just a tiny detail that sticks in our minds. It may be months or longer, but some day that idea spouts new life in our work.

As you can see, I am continuing to work on this small piece. I fused a paper backed adhesive to the lace and then fused it to the background. It worked but I was certainly glad I used a non-stick pressing sheet because the openness of the lace left a lot of room for the adhesive to come through.

I started cutting small leaves from a hand-dyed silk. The color seems to work well and give a soft look. Will the leaves have a glow against the morning sky?

A Creative Moment

When you walk into your studio what ideas speed through your mind? Do you have a project in mind and that is your only focus?

There are times when I am entirely focused on a project. There are times when deadlines are near and rapid progress is in order.

Yesterday was not one of those days. I walked into my studio with no great agenda. As I started straightening bits and pieces, I was drawn into a wonderful world of spontaneous creativity. Remainders of another project became trees. A multicolored fabric became an early morning sunrise behind those trees. Lace became the ground. In just a few minutes, a quilt starts to appear.

Now a time of reflection, in what direction will I be pulled? What details will enhance this basic skeleton of a design?

Where would you go?

Let your mind wander and open it to all ideas. Look around for creative opportunities and unique applications. Are you casually tossing aside the beginnings of your greatest works?

It was meant to be

There it was! As I was paging through an old issue of Quilting Arts, the caption read "Using Gold Chocolate Wrappers". In an article by Elli Woodsford entitled "Getting into Hot Water", she used foil candy wrappers in her technique.

O.K. so I didn't follow her instructions very well, but I did come up with a way to incorporate the wrappers from my delicious Dove candy bar into a quilting project.

Gee, does that mean from now on I could buy chocolate and see it as a business deduction? How could this get any better?

Anyway, I sandwiched the wrapper, which I crinkled a bit to get more texture, between a layer of sheer netting and a stabilizer. Then I took it to my machine and free motioned circles through the layers. What a great look!

Now where will this take me?

Swaying in the Swirls

Following my walk, I attempted to translate the blowing winds and the swirling snow into a fabric composition. I chose an off-white batik for the background and sheer fabrics as accents. A pale yellow sun is almost obliterated by the sheer force of the swirling snow. The cattails were hand-stitched. Beads add a bit of sparkle to the snow even with the sun's limited rays. The fabric piece was quilted, finished and mounted on a painted canvas.