Painted fabric with a dyed look

I have a project in mind that will require little bits of lots of different colours. I came across this Bali Bonbons (top of the photo) which is comprised of 24 ....2.5"strips. I thought that this was great as there were lots of shades but did not even notice until I got home that there were no blues or oranges. So I set about to augment this group by making some gradated blues that could blend in.
It is a very simple process. Start with your darkest shade, which in this case is a Cobalt Setacolor transparent fabric paint diluted a little with water. I took slightly dampened fabric and just kept squishing it in the paint till it was completely saturated with colour, squeezed out the excess and put it aside to dry. Add a little more water to the paint/water mixture to "lighten" it and repeat the process. I continued doing this until I had these gradated shades of the same blue. While they were laid out to dry, I threw some coarse salt on to get the mottled effects.
Once heat set these are colourfast..........unlike those commercial dyes I purchased..... I tested them and they all bled, so I had to pre-wash and set the dyes before I can begin my project.
Plan to make a few oranges next.

Combining Prompts

The Creative Prompt Project words number 76 & 77 were Night and Flutter. I decided to combine the words. At night this moth will flutter in the glow of the porch light.

Marking Feathers

I have spent a little more time designing feathers and I wanted a way to mark them so that I could repeat a feather over and over if I so desire. So using my Jenny Haskins Magic Heat Cutting tool and some Mylar I created a couple of stencils. They can be used from either side and they should stand up for a very, very long time.
I pounced the design and as you can see I have lines that are clear and easy to follow.


I realized today That I had not posted last week's doodle. This is my response to the 75th word prompt which was Violet

Wan't to see the show?

The Grand National Quilt Show 2010............."Off the Wall" is now available to view online.
You can access it here or by clicking on the link placed on the upper right of my side panel.
It is in PDF format and will take a few seconds to load, grab your favourite beverage, relax and enjoy the gorgeous works by fabulous artists from across Canada. Quite often we don't get to know what an artist is thinking as he/she creates a piece, here you can read their statements and see what techniques were used for each work.
I hope that you will enjoy the show!

Feathers, Feathers, and more Feathers

I LOVE the look of beautiful, graceful curving feathers on quilts but for some reason, drawing/designing them has mystified me. I am determined to be able to do them on my domestic machine, so I have been practising on paper by filling shapes and spaces with feathers. Here are a few that I have drawn.I stitched out a couple as well. This is going to take more practice but I WILL conquer the feather!

I have spent more time drawing than sewing this week. Here is my response to last week's prompt word ........... Celebration.

Glyph

Yup "Glyph" is the Creative Prompt Project's word of the week. A Glyph, is essentially a pictograph or other symbolic character/sign, sometimes cut into a surface or carved in relief.
I had a bit of fun with this one. First I drew my zodiac symbol........ Capricorn.
Next, I finally got around to trying Lino-Cutting. It is something I have wanted to try for awhile. I began by purchasing the basic lino-cutting tools and a piece of linoleum to carve.
I drew a fairly simple pattern which, once carved, resulted in this block/stamp.
I lightly brushed transparent fabric paint onto the block using a fairly stiff brush so that odd little lines would be left behind. I started with one colour and gradually added another as I continued to make the print. Here is the stamped fabric. I can see where the carving needs to be "cleaned" up a little, but I am quite pleased with my first attempt.
Can you imagine the fabulous possibilities that might be achieved by employing this method of print making?

Paper Backed Fusible.........make your own.

Recently I was working on a project that required paper backed fusible, but I had none on hand. I did, however, have some fusible web and thought I'd see if I could make that work. It is simple really, all you need is some fusible web and parchment paper.

Lets say you want to cut out one of these little sewing machines to fuse onto a project........just cut a layer of fusible web at least the size of your fabric piece. Place the fabric right side down, add the fusible web and then add a slightly larger piece of parchment paper. From the paper side, fuse it all together with a hot, dry iron.

Now cut out your shape.
The paper will remove very easily leaving you with fabric that now has fusible on the back. Place it where you want and iron in place........see? simple!
That is what I did with this leaf. Once it had been drawn and painted I wanted to cut it out to fuse it to this fabric, the fusible web/parchment paper worked beautifully. This postcard is on it's way to say Happy Canada Day to a friend.

The CPP word this week is ICE...........with July fast approaching, the only ice I want to think about should be cool and refreshing so I decided that a Popsicle would be just the thing.

All about Colour and "Eye"

I am currently taking my very first online class. I seized the opportunity to enroll in a colour theory class being offered by Judy Coates Perez. (if you are familiar with her work, then you will know why I jumped at the chance to take this course)
I am absolutely thrilled with the way the course is set up and the exercises she has laid out for us. This is a real "hands on" ........work at your own, pace learning experience and I am thoroughly enjoying it. The photo shows some of my "homework"
I am looking forward to gaining a better understanding of colour and perhaps one day to have an "Eye" for it.
If you want to know more about this class and what we are working on, you can read about it here

Can you guess what the CPP word is this week? It is Eye

A Doodle and a Surprise in the Mail!

Those of you who are regular readers of this blog are well aware of my ongoing participation in the Creative Prompt Project. When I began, I never dreamed that nearly a year and a half later I would still be enjoying doing responses to each weekly word.
The latest one, is also #70 in the line up. The word is "Salmon".........now, when I think about using canned salmon to make sandwiches, for me, it is all about the bones. It seems that there are just so many little bones that need to be removed

A little while ago Jaye at ArtQuiltmaker asked if she could use a couple of my doodles for a project she had in mind...........A project that she wanted to do for me as a gift! She asked for a few of her favourites and a few of mine so that in the end I would be surprised.
I sent her some files, but had no idea what she was up to until today when this arrived in the mail. She has made this for me as a thank you for my continued participation...how wonderful is that?

What a terrific pencil roll this is. She printed onto fabric, a couple of my doodles, used some black and white graphic fabric (which I LOVE) on the inside and a very nice home decor fabric on the outside. The question is what shall I keep in this?........ Micron pens, Paint brushes, Watercolour pencils????
Thank you so much Jaye! It is Fabulous!
Love your label by the way!

Quirky

Quirky is this week's word for the Creative Prompt Project.
I think we all, each of us, have our own quirks.......so for my response, I did a sort of self portrait.