Fuchsias

This is the final tracing of the remade Fuchsias. The original drawing was from my sketchbook, which was then scanned into my computer and printed out as a transparency, and then projected onto paper.
After the entire top is finished I use tracing paper and a Pigma Pen 03 to trace the actual result. This is so the pattern pieces will reflect exactly the picture on the pattern cover.

To make the top, I trace the pattern again using the release paper from the Wonder-Under. (this is the leftover paper after the fusible web is on the fabric).

Then the pieces are marked with a letter to denote what color fabric they are to be cut from, i.e. P for Pink, V for Violet, Y for yellow. Then I lightly touch-fuse the tiny pattern pieces to the appropriate fabric and cut around them.

The pieces are assembled on the release paper which is translucent enough to see the original drawing through. I used that drawing for proper placement of the pieces.

After the top is all assembled, I find the most interesting background fabric, and audition it to make certain that the contrast works. The details of stems and stamens are saved until after the flowers are fused onto the background.

The flower stems have to be fitted under the leaves and between the spaces and take as much time to place as the larger pieces. I do not cut curved strips for these stems. Instead, I cut thin straight pieces, not on the bias, but just iron them into a curve as I place them.

The delineations in the leaves are made with Prismacolor pencils. I have also used them to make soft shadows under some leaves.

I used two different Special Edition cottons for my background and went for a very dark and a medium bright. I wanted the look of the fucshias against a wall and reaching forward over a wall. Mostly I wanted to infer some spacial difference, so the specifics of the background are reversible or interchangable. In other words, the darks could have been brights and vice versa. It wouldn't matter.

Fucshias 18x24"

I used the Escape Hatch Finish and will quilt it today.

Questions that arose since this post was written:

1. 
   
   Where do you get transparency paper that will fit the printer? Staples? Quilt Store?

There is no transparency paper, it is transparency (acetate)sheets that are used in the inkjet printer. I get them from Office Max. They come in copier versions too.

2. Are you using the additional step of tracing paper because you will be creating a master pattern for sale? If you don't do that, is the step necessary?

The master pattern is on regular paper as it would be for the pattern. The paper I am using to trace is the release paper from the Wonder-Under, and must be used because I am fusing the cut pieces onto the back of the pre-fused fabrics. Regular tracing paper will stick to the fused fabric and cannot be used. After the quilt top is finished, then I trace the top with real tracing paper. I will take this to the printer to have it duplicated for the pattern.

3. Are you creating the flowers and stem, fusing them together and then fusing all to the background?

No. I am fusing the flowers without the stems and stamens. They are too fragile to apply until everything is settled on the background. The background strips are fused together and then the flowers are gently lifted off the release paper where they were assembled and fused, placed in the best spot of the background and fused gently in the centers of each piece. I leave the edges unfused until the stems are tucked into place and the stamens are slipped under each flower.

See today's Stitchy McYarnpants for more.

The Importance of Friends

Now that my husband is retired and the prospect of the winter is not far off, the discussion switches to the inevitable question of moving. He would like to be somewhere without the inevitability of winter, and that has always been his dream. Who am I to negate his dreams since so many of mine are the motivating force in my life?

Caryl Fallert has recently moved to Paducah and before she did we discussed the possibility of joining her there. The town is downright paving the way for artists to relocate, giving all sorts of incentives to make it irresistable.

I miss Caryl very much.

The first thought that came to mind when discussing moving was not losing my wonderful house and studio set up (not to mention all that stuff I would have to pack!!) but losing my GIRLFRIENDS.

Tommy in funny glasses.

I am so lucky to have found such amazing nutnuts as these gals.

Sonji with two sets of glasses, just in case she misses something.

How do I look in these? asks Frieda.

I am not eating this cracker, really! says Emily.
Take the picture of the artwork while I hold it up, says Anne.

I have no stupid pictures of my darling Rose.



Laura in Japan,
and then recently completed dental work.

My friends mean so much to me and have brought some kind of wonderful sanity to my life. How can I even entertain the thought of moving away from them?

Falling in Love Again

I surprised myself yesterday.

The quilt I am remaking is making me love quilting again. I hadn’t even realized that I had lost touch with its charms. I had forgotten how entranced I could become by the colors and shapes and edges and how lovely things fit together.

I took care to cut my shapes with character, slowly, giving the line dips and waves and divots for interest.

I chose areas of the fabric where the color moved and cut my shapes from that part.

I looked for darks against lights and brightness in the darks. Following in the footsteps of my idol Gabrielle Swain I used colored pencils to bring out details and make parts dimensional. Oooh, neat.

And I stopped working when I got tired, almost at the end, but not, knowing my decisions were starting to weaken. I will wait, and clear off the debris on my table, and begin again to finish it with the satisfaction of knowing that everything was done in the best possible manner.

 

Sometime a break can bring about a peace that allows a more thoughtful and creative way of working.

 

Back to the Studio

I’ve decided to make up some smaller versions (18x24”) of quilts I have made and loved from past days. My original quilts were made from sketches that I scanned into the computer and then printed out as transparencies, so I could overhead-project them any size I desired. I made them big. Now I am using the same transparencies to make them small.

Why? To make patterns, and to have those good designs become affordable and display-able to my collectors. Plus it gets me back into the rhythm of working. Thirdly, I do a better job, having made the thing once before. No stress quilting.

I like to begin my work week on Saturday. NPR has great programming and I love to listen while I fiddle with teeny bits and scissors. Whenever I make a quilt it occurs to me that I do more cutting than sewing, since I fuse. And, usually the only sewing I do is after all the cutting is done. My machine needs to be dusted off soon or it will get moldy.

I have also been thinking about making more adventurous work, but that will be my dessert. I am talking about the kind of quilts that I love to make but cannot teach. Mostly because I don’t know how I know when they are right, so I can hardly show someone else how to do it. (Although I am considering trying this once later this year, at Art Quilt Tahoe, where I expect there will be some adventurous souls in my class.)

I begin with inspirational (fused) fabric and cut into it and fuse it and then look at it and then add or cut away or whatever it needs and then look at it again. Repeat if necessary. It is all about the fabric and the layout. It is not pictures of something, but in the end may look like something familiar to some. I never know. It is gut wrenching and more fun than anything, and has no guarantees. Some of my worst pieces have been sold and some of my best are still in my possession. Who can explain these things?

* watching Beyond the Sea with Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin last night, gave me the feeling that time’s a wastin’. I realize that I have been fritterin’ away my summer, just having too much fun.

Do I look Fat in this fur?

Popeye manages to stand for a second, but quickly his tiny feet give out and again he reclines.

New website to see

David Walker just did a website for a friend of ours, Renee Harris and you will love it.

It's Officially Fall

Not only have the neighborhood kids gone back to school, but …

I have had to get up in the middle of the night to put on my robe and close the window.

I have had to eat indoors for two nights in a row.

It is still dark when I wake up to blog.

I’ve ordered all my airline tickets for the entire rest of the year. Four sets, all to California. (I should just move there.)

I’m thinking about making wool sweaters with sleeves.

The new crummy shows are starting and the good summer cable ones are ending. (The Closer on TNT).

More Netflix movies are showing up in my mailbox.

I am wearing socks daily and soon will be pulling out my wool ones.

The last bolt of silk for the year has been ordered.

Hot tea is replacing iced tea.

Dieting is back in a big way.

My Ralph Lauren jeans are my daily uniform again.

Real estate taxes and quarterlies are due in a few weeks. Ugh

I’m back to making new samples for classes.

Yup, it’s time to think about quilting again. But the new acid dyes I ordered will show up on Monday, so there might be one or two more wool-dyeing days ahead. My pattern bags are here and ready for new patterns to fill them. Just have to make the new patterns. I know what they will be, and they are on my to-do list for next week. Schedules become more important in the fall, don’t they? And aren’t we sort of ready for a bit more organization and purpose for the days ahead? I am talking myself into this. Can you tell?

I dyed this wool today, while I was figuring out ticketing, flight departures and arrivals. I get very tense when buying tickets and did have to cancel a set, just in time not to get charged. Now that is all over and I am breathing a sigh of relief. The wool is from a sweater I disassembled from Goodwill. It cost $1.99 and is about 1400 yards.

The dye was garage sale Kiton as previously mentioned and worked just fine. The blue clumped up in solution and never really dissolved, making it very uneven in the dyebath. So the blue parts are much more variegated than intended. Do I care? Nope. That's what dyeing is all about. Surrenduring to the dye.

Now I am going to wind it into cakes and swatch it up with big needles. It will knit as bulky, since it was double stranded in the original sweater.

Yup, it's fall.

The Results

These are the overdyed puce skeins, which came out variegated in a very nice way. The screen color lies, they are much more near the chocolatey brown than the vibrant rust you see here. I have been warned that the Kool-Aid dyes are not the least bit stable, or lightfast and will quickly disappear, colorwise, so I will abandon my experimenting with them.
The acid dyes are Kiton and very very old. Powder seems to last forever so I will believe that the dyes in my stash will do the trick. Plus I plan to visit The Fold today in Marengo IL where they sell Gaywool dyes. I need purple, royal, fuschia and turquoise, and of course RED. While I am there, I'll also look for some Frieda Green, since she would love to have some I am sure.

This red-orange gradation was a smashing success. I am delighted.


The light green is already dissipating, and I expect these will lose their colors before they even get swatched. I know I will be over dyeing them in the future.

Kool-Aid and Acid Dyes

damp yarn

I began by presoaking the wool in lukewarm water and a tiny bit of detergent. Then I spun it out so that it was merely damp. There are 10 skeins of worsted (140 yards each) and one large skein of mohair, which never did get dyed today.

yuck

My first batch of Kool-Aid was Wild Berry Grape which I got at 10 for a $1, and I can see why. It mixed up as kinda weak browny purple. Not appetizing. I had hopes that it would dye up a nice lavender. I used 1, 2, 3, and 4 packages per dyepot, thinking I would have nice gradations. hmm.
There wasn't all that much difference in the batches after a minute in the microwave. But all the dye was absorbed almost immediately into the wool. The Kool-Aid has citric acid in the mix, so no need to add any vinegar. That was nice.

It looks wonderful here, but the picture lies. This is really the color below. Puce, heathery pruney blah. Like a faded wine stain.

OK, it's really BROWN. I hate it.



Luckily I do have some REAL dye, Kiton in Red Orange. I open a packet, 1 oz. and mix it with the 1 3/4 cup of water and a 1/4 cup of vinegar. I could tell immediately that it was much more intense than even four packets of Kool-Aid. I add the rinsed out puce yarn and start microwaving it. While it is in the microwave, I reach for my Magic Sponge, from Mr. Clean. It really gets up everything, without detergent or bleach.



Its very sad looking, but I am keeping it until it completely disintegrates.

The first try of the Kiton Acid Dye says "Wow!" Now that's some color! 1/4cup of dye solution, and one skein of wool. woowoo!


Back to the Kool-Aid experiments. 4 packages of Berry Blue make a great turquoise.




4 packages of Lemonade Blue Raspberry, what a name, and what a fragrance. Nice.




4 packages of Arctic Green Apple and there are the three flavors after microwaving. I did one minute each, letting them rest in between and then one more minute. The dye was all gone into the yarn so I just stopped then.




The washout and nothing bled into the water, so I just added a bit of softener to the rinse and spun the three out in the washing machine and hung them out to dry.


Here's how the puce/brown stuff looks after overdyeing with that luscious red orange. I also did some gradations of that red orange since I had so much of it mixed, from just that one little one ounce packet. It cost me 10 cents at the garage sale.

A closeup of the yarn cooling. What is that frosty hairy stuff on the yarn? I guess it is something that doesn't take the dye, like perhaps nylon?


The washout from the Kiton Dyes shows lots more excess dye is rinsed off. This second picture is the second rinse. I left it sitting there, and I will be spending the rest of the afternoon rinsing out the other skeins.
Since I had more dye left, I wound off two more skeins and dyed them together for yet another gradation of the red orange. Look for something red orange in my knitting in the future.

After six minutes in the microwave. I think it's done.

The Lure of that Evil Yarn..

It has me in its vice-like grip. These cones of wool were one of the bargains from the famed Meredyth's garage sale. They were only $2 a piece on the second day when everything was half off after 2pm. (I am an expert at garage sale-ing).

I planned to dye up some since my wool-Jones is never satisfied, and this lot was the perfect stuff for my dye practicing.
Yesterday I followed a link and found instructions for dyeing with Kool-Aid, which seemed so simple and quick, rather than kettle dyeing. This method would be accomplished in the microwave. I only needed some Kool-Aid to start the process.

And O yeah, some skeined yarn. I found out this morning that my kitchen counter is an amazing one yard wide! So I started wrapping a skein and in no time had 140 yards, approximately.

One is never enough so I wound nine more skeins.

Yesterday I bought mucho packets of Kool-Aid and Wylers and already have all the necessary Gladware plastic containers to put in the microwave. Now to clean up the kitchen and transform it into Dyeroom #2. Kool-aid is nearly non-toxic if you leave out the sugar so this can be done in my regular kitchen without concern for contamination.

So more later, after I get this underway.