It feels like summer is whizzing by at the speed of light. Where has the time gone, and why can't winter speed by this quickly?
I am beginning to realize how much having a three year old in our home impacts my studio time. Don't get me wrong, I love having her here for a time and being able to see her every day- but I am having to work around a very active, inquisitive toddler. I am about halfway through quilting Shannon's tee quilt- nothing fancy, just straight line quilting, but it has reminded me of why I don't do bed size quilts. It is not easy muscling all that fabric under my Juki!
However, I do have some inspirational quilts to show. The annual Springville quilt show opened last week, and Marly, Michelle, and I went to see it yesterday. There were more hand quilted entries than I've seen in the past, lots of traditional quilts, and a few art and modern quilts. So here's what struck me enough to pull out my iPhone camera.
Best of show was won by Susan McBride Gilgen. It was a stunning depiction of the Great White Throne in Zion's National Park. Even up close, I was hard pressed to tell exactly how she created this masterpiece.
There were two quilts that met my definition of insanity, both of them small. This one was done by Denise Austin, and is only about twelve inches square.
The second was done by Kay Plehn. It's a little larger than a foot square- but those hexies are about as big as my fingernail. Shoot me now!
My friend Sue Swinyard entered this charming quilt, using squares she Zentangled. I love the little pop of red she added- even in the quilting!
This in one of the few traditional quilts I want to make one day- I love how the colors vibrate. This was done by Marilyn Toone.
This beautiful Phoenix was done by Florence Ann Evans. She did a gorgeous job with her quilting and threadwork.
But my absolute favorites were both done by the same artist, Kirsten Barnhill. I think she did these with silk fusion, but I don't know for sure and the labels didn't give any details. The are not large- but her work is exquisite.
The colors and subtle imagery on the dandelion piece were stunning.
I am starting to figure out what I'm going to do for my next Tangled Textiles piece- Open. I have an idea, but I'll need to make a prototype block to see if it will work. Sean, Marly, and Michelle are leaving for a week or so to visit relatives in Chicago- I need to take advantage of that time!
We have had triple digit temperatures for most of the past two weeks, so I decided to take some time off work for the specific purpose of dyeing fabric. I sweated, had to take breaks in the air conditioned house, but I got about fifteen yards of fabric dyed. I never tire of the process!!
This time I decided to set up a studio in the garage, since I wanted to do some soy wax batik also. It worked really well- I had two tables and a TV tray, which gave (usually) plenty of room for my equipment and room to work. Here's the setup after I was done, with all the fabric ironed and folded. I never did get around to taking any pictures when I was actually working!
I had room to lay plastic on the floor of the garage, and also my Ikea drying rack. The best part about the setup is the table on the right. I got it at Walmart, it was labeled for tailgating parties. It's sturdy, it folds up to half the size for storage, and it was very reasonably priced. I put a 2 by 4 piece of plywood on top, covered that with a couple of towels and plastic, and it worked great.
I did some solids, flat dyeing on the table. . .
(except the four on the far left are multi-color pieces, I just squirted dyes on).
These are the best of the soy wax pieces. I was especially happy with the one on top- I used a sponge in the soy wax, and it held the shapes very well.
I also had fun doing some clamp Shibori pieces. I now have three sets of acrylic triangles, and two sets of squares. I also found some round plastic carpet casters that worked great to do circles.
The piece on the left I just drew with a tjanting. It looked great wet, not so great once it was washed and dried.
I experimented again with flour paste resist- something I'd tried on silk a few years ago, and wasn't happy with. I was so happy with the first one, I did a second and also tried oatmeal resist. I think I like the flour better, but both are cool.
My favorite is the one in the middle- pale green, with dark blue veining. The one below that is the oatmeal resist.
I did several flag folded pieces with the acrylic shapes, and loved how they came out. I ended up dyeing two colors on each- here they are at the end of two dye baths.
The bottom right piece was done with the square shape. The green on the left was originally a boring scrunch dye without a lot of texture, so I flag folded it and discharged in a bleach bath. I really like how it came out, I think I will be doing more pale scrunch dyes that I overdye in a flag fold.
And I had to have something to wear, right? This is a light rayon poncho from Dharma- I was hoping for a pastel Monet effect. As much as I diluted the dyes, I should have diluted them more, it is a little brighter than the pastel effect I was hoping for. But I'll still wear it!
Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to use all this fabric!
I'm linking this post to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday. Take a look at what all the other fiber artists there have been up to!
