14 posts tagged “sunprints”
Wow, time really flies!! Since my last post, I set up at the Colorscape Chenango Arts festival in Norwich, NY, and a week later went back to Norwich to give a lecture and teach a workshop to the Chenango Piecemakers quilt guild.
The show got a really soggy start with rain all day on Saturday, but Sunday's weather was much better. Sales were not super, but with gas prices, etc. I didn't know if there would be many at all.
I made and took 5 new ones with me to the show, and ended up selling all of them that I had. I made another batch of them last week. Three are listed at my Etsy Shop so far. These are made to hold the regular 1 subject spiral notebooks that are so plentiful during the back-to-school sales. These are what I have been using for years as my idea or "sketch" books. They are not very stylish by themselves, so I decided to design a cover to dress them up.
When your notebook is full of sketches, ideas or journaling, just replace it with a new one.
I have other covers listed at Etsy- Blue & Green Fern with Daisies Pink, Blue, Green Fern with Flowers
Speaking of Etsy.... I have joined the Quiltsy Team there that is a great group of talented quilters who help each other out by promoting in various ways. They also are a great help to those like me who have not had the time to really figure out how to use all the promotional tools at the site.
One promotion we are doing is a Virtual Trunk Show on Monday, Sept. 22 at 7PM EST. There are a group of us who will be showing items we have available in our shops, and telling a bit about them. We are encouraging people to stop by to see what we have available for early holiday shopping, or for gift and decorating ideas for any occasion.
Those of us participating are each donating an item from our shop to be given as door prizes to those attending the show (no purchase necessary). There will also be a Grand Prize of beautiful items given to somone who makes a purchase from one of our shops during or just after the show.
To check out more information and to see a few peeks at what will be shown, read this forum post about the show.
You will need to become an etsy member to join us at the show, but it's easy to do.
This is the item that I am giving away from my shop- Fabric Bowl.
A couple shops that will be showing- Kimbuktu, ; Warmnfuzzies ; OriginalsbyLauren
I'll post again with more shops listed along with more notebook cover photos.
Here is the latest post of my latest batch of sunprint mini art quilts.
The pieces in this post are all the same size, as in the previous
posts. Each of these are appx. 5"x12" in size with a narrow ribbon loop
stitched to the top for hanging, or they can be framed. I found that
they will fit into a frame designed to hold two 3 1/2"x5" photos.
This first group of little quilts above, are constructed by satin stitch seaming fused quilt sandwiches together. Fused crazy patch areas are used around the sunprints. Most of these have a white or ivory yarn couched to the edges. Crazy Flowers has an interesting yarn as it's binding- a black yarn with fuzzy fibers in a rainbow of colors. The photo cuts off some of the longer "fuzzies". The lower left piece has an example of a fabric dying "failure" that ended up finding a place to be used. The brown fabric was meant to be a dusty rose, but ended up a mottled rusty brown- definitely not a color I use very often. I have now used up most of that fabric with sunprints in the colors of the above Nicotiana flowers, and some of my fall oranges with rusty purple undertones.
Maples, Maples, and more Maples- I love Maple trees and leaves. Here above, are four different pieces using sunprints of Maple leaves. This group shows that the bottom edges were cut off in the process of scanning them- the bottom edges are finished like the other edges. The quilting detail shows the best for me, when I use the scanner instead of the camera. Each of these pieces feature center sections with the Maple sunprints with sections of commercial or my fabrics on top and bottom. The two left ones have prints done on pastel colored fabrics. The two right ones use prints from the same panel that combines blue and green, resulting in seafoam looking colors. The two bottom pieces are listed in my Etsy Store .
These two pieces showcase flower sunprints. Left has a print of more Nicotiana flowers, and the right is from one of the panels I printed while making my Echinacea quilts. The long Nicotiana print was set off by two side strips of a tone on tone white fabric, free motion quilted with variegated thread, using my "usual" vine design. The Echinacea sunprint is done on a fabric painted with rose, yellow, and purple blended to give the rusty, rosy mottled look. it has been overpainted with Super Sparkle for added sheen. The upper and lower panels are from another fabric painted with the same colors, a bit lighter, and scrunched before drying to give the patterning. this piece is also listed at my Etsy Store.
The last two in this group have sunprints of grape leaves with confetti arranged for the grapes over rosy purple colors, and one with a single fern on green and blue. The grape sunprint is highlighted with a medium laender commercial fabric, while the fern has panels of a mottled navy blue commercial fabric. Both pieces have the same vine quilting in the colored panels.
If interested in purchasing any of these, or other little quilts shown in my blog, please email me.
For all of those celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, Have a wonderful day.
Now I need to begin making evergreen wreaths for our second order of the season, along with baking a few pies. The last batch of 90+ wreaths and swags were done in 4 looong days, I don't want to do that again!! Talk about throbbing hands.... I have just over a week to do the next order of 100+ pieces. It still seems like Christmas is coming way too soon this year!
Well, as I wrote yesterday, I have more little quilts to show. The little art quilts in this post are 5"x7" in size.
The flower in the bottom photo of the left quilt and the flower in the lower quilt has a bee and butterfly visiting it.
The right piece is another green one with a sunprint of ferns and viola flowers with a butterfly. The side panel in this piece is a "scrunched" and salted fabric in seafoam green with pale blue. The vine quilting can also be seen in the white and blue-green sections.
And now for the snow. Last winter, we did not have any measurable snow until way into the new year. Last night we had our first measurable snow for this season. I had to take a few photos, and here they are:
This was the view out the front door this morning. The photos all came out quite blue. The snow stuck to all the trees. We were lucky that we did not loose power, especially since many trees still have leaves on them.
This was the view from the deck. The mountains and Towanda are hidden in the snow still falling. The branches of the Walnut tree make a neat frame for this photo.
The best thing about the snow will be that our well should now be getting some more water back. We have had a couple of rains, but the snow melting should soak into the ground very well.
More quilts will be posted in a day or two. I am also adding to my Etsy Store, so keep checking back there.
I finally have photos of some of my most recent mini quilts that I made
before my last show. The ones in this post are all 8"x10" in size.
A fern sunprint on a rose, green and blue rainbow, with a faded sunprint leaf on soft blue with touches of green and rose. Stitching around appliques in pastel variegated thread. Free motion quilting accenting the sunprints and filling other areas.
A fern sunprint on fabric painted with rose and yellow, which mix to add peachy tones. All of the colored fabric pieces are from a single sunprint panel. An ivory with gold metallic flecks fabric separates the colored sections. Free motion quilted heart vine fills the corner section, while vines fill the ivory strips.
Maple leaf sunprints on rose to peach fabric with lower right section from a more rose area of the fabric. Upper right section of a peach commercial fabric with the ivory with gold metallic flecks. Free motion quilted with clear thread in the sunprint section, and vines and heart vines in other areas.
This piece is done with colors I don't use very often. I have been doing a few more prints on shades of orange, peach and yellow for those who decorate with those colors. I had a couple small pieces of commercial fabrics that coordinated very well with this sunprint of ferns and a butterfly. The deep brown fabric has a mottled look, and the angled piece is a deep gold with rusty leaf designs, and metallic gold flecks that are the same as the ones in the ivory fabric. The whole piece is free motion quilted with clear thread. The vine design can barely be seen in the lower left, as well as in the lower brown section, where the quilting does not show in the photo.
All of these quilts are available for sale, just email me if interested. I am still working on photos of many of the 5" x 7" mini quilts that I also made, and will post again soon.
Finally I am joining in on the fun of showing my 2007 Journal Quilt to the public not able to attend Quilt Festival in Houston.
These were to be kept under wraps until they were unveiled in the
exhibition in Houston. Here it is, all 17" x 22" of it. Since we only
needed to make one quilt this year, it seemed like it would be SO
easy...... NOT! We were to use 3 techniques used in quilts
published in the book, "Creative Quilting- The Journal Quilt Project".
The techniques from the book I used were:
Pg. 76- Photo manipulation- I took photos of flowers and changed them
to look like "coloring book" like flowers. Photos I used to start are
here- Scilla & Snow Glories, Echinacea "dead heads"- (scroll down to see original photos in each post).
Pg. 65- Photos printed onto silk fabric- The top right and left photos
are Scilla and Grape Hyacinths printed onto silk charmeuse, along with
the yellow water Iris in the center.
Pg. 212- Fused fabric scraps- Well, I've been doing this a while
anyway, but for this piece, I used more than just the neutral ivory and
white shades with only hints of color, and added a bit more color here.
This ended up being a compilation of photos taken from early spring through late summer. A Sneak Peek shows the crazy patch "fabric" ready for use. Random fabric scraps fused to Wonder Under backing paper, overlapping pieces for "seams". The photos and crazy patch fabric were fused to the batting, and the photos were stitched around the edges using a machine blanket stitch. Free motion quilting on the photo prints is done using clear thread to highlight the flowers, and the rest is quilted using a variegated thread. The "binding" is an ivory yarn with gold metallic through it, couched on with the variegated thread.
Other quilts that are showing in Houston right now are: Iris Vases, and Summer Rainbow- In Full Bloom; Stained Glass and Ferns- A World of beauty; September 2004 Journal Quilt- Fractured Fern- Creative Quilting Exhibit; Also, Delphinium Door has a slight chance of being there with the "Quilting Arts Magazine" booth.
I had meant to post this photo earlier. It is of a group of my sunprint
Bookmarks. They are made of pieces of sunprinted cotton fabric, mounted
to cardstock, then heat laminated. Each one is an original, because I
can never get the paint to dry the same way twice, and don't usually
slop on the paint the same either. They were a fun way to use some
narrow pieces of fabric, and are a great way to play with smaller
leaves and flowers.
I now need to chain myself in my studio- One week from today I'll be in
the Adirondacks for a show. It is in the gymnasium of the Adirondack
Community College on Bay Road, in Queensbury, NY. It is being put on by
the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council, and runs from 10AM-5PM Sat.
and 10AM-4PM Sun. If you are in the area, Stop by and say HI!
I received good news today in the mail! I was accepted into the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council's Fall Festival in the gymnasium at Adirondack Community College, in Queensbury, NY. After having my fall shows cancel on me, I had been fretting a bit. Just when I need to be out there selling my art for holiday income. I did a show in that area earlier this summer, that was not very profitable, but I don't feel it was the fault of the area, the timing didn't seem to work.
Back to my quilts..... I have spent a lot of time in my studio photographing quilts, jewelry, and more that speak of the bright colors of fall. Even though the traditional fall palette is not my favorite, I have been playing with more of the the fall oranges and rusts, adding in my own touches of pink, purple , and blue.
All of the pieces in this post are available for sale, and make wonderful additions to decorate your home for fall, or any season. Prices are posted with the pieces, and sales tax will need to be added to NY and PA orders. Click on the photo of items to see pricing information. Shipping charges will also be added, orders for multiple items will be grouped for a reduction in shipping charges. Email me (link on left sidebar) with the items you wish to purchase, along with your email address, so I can send a Paypal invoice. Items with links to my website can be purchased there, using Paypal "Add to Cart" buttons. Also, my website photos show more detail than the ones here. I have also added links to my Etsy Store, where I have similar items posted. As items sell, I will mark them Sold. The link on my sidebar will make it easy to return to this post even after I have added more posts.
Both of these pieces have corner triangle pockets to hold a dowel or slat for hanging. All 4 corners have the pocket, so they can be hung with the leaves blowing in any direction. A third piece similar to these is at My Etsy Store.
The upper left piece, "Fall Scented Geraniums 1", is a sunprint of Scented Geranium leaves scattered over the rainbow of fall colors. It is 11"x14" in size with a satin stitch binding. This piece is sized to fit a standard size frame. Click on the link for a more detailed photo and description. In the lower right corner are a couple small pieces 5"x12" in size. Sunprints, are accented with commercial fabrics, satin stitch seaming or crazy patch. Each has a ribbon hanger on the top. These are great to add just a touch of nature to a small area of wall space.
Upper right is an ivory bordered sunprint of an Oak leaf in shades of orange with a touch of purple. Veins added with wax pastel, and quilted with clear thread. My vine quilting finishes the border. 5x7" in size.
The final piece in the lower left corner is sunprinted with a grouping of oak leaves and Chrysanthemum flower on a bright fall rainbow of color. Quilted like the others in this grouping. Size- 8"x10".
Bottom left- Maple sunprints on orange shades with touches of purple, bordered with a hand dyed mottled brown and gold fabric. Bottom middle, uses sunprints of various foliages and flowers with cutouts of hummingbirds on purple to rose fabric with a bit of shimmer. The border is a salted deep purple. (I had to add a compliment of the orange :) Bottom right uses the same fabrics as bottom left, but with different leaves for the prints.
The 2 pieces, top right, are more of my simple sunprints bordered in ivory with quilting accenting the sunprints and vines around the borders. The bottom 3 have sunprints accented with crazy patch, couched black yarn, and heat set pearls in the flower centers. All 5 small pieces are 5"x7" in size. The 3 on the right are all mostly rose pink combined with yellow, to result in the soft peachy-rose tones. The left 2 are from the same fabric as the large piece, with rose, purple, green and yellow all in muted tones.
While I am showing the softer colors, here are some small hangings that I sell at shows. The flowers and words are printed onto fabric, then the center hearts are appliqued onto the painted fabric background hearts. These are great to display on a door, or in an area that needs "just a little something". Jute twine is used for the hanging loops.
These gift bags can be used for more than wine. Sparkling juice, fancy olive oils, or even bubble bath can be presented in one of these special bags. The tops are made so that they can form a decorative ruffle at the top. The ties are organdy ribbon with beads tied to them. I have uploaded a couple other bags to my Etsy Store, one in orange, and one purple-rose.
Pins, Pins and more pins. I have been busy beading pins. Even when I am having a really bad day, I can usually bead a pin or two. I even was able to bead a lot of these little gems while we were traveling to and from Zack's graduation. (It is really hard to bead while on most PA roads- like trying to work while on a roller coaster.) Here is a board full of fall colored pins in all shapes.
Some of these have already sold, so if interested, let me know which one you may like and I'll let you know if it is available.
the bottom of the display shows a few of my new Barrettes for hair. They are mounted to 3" barrette backs.
Many of these will look super any time of year.
Here is a close-up of the top 2 rows of pins. There are a few of these listed at my Etsy Store. Click on the link to see which ones are there.
These 2 pieces do not have any sunprints in them. The left piece is a crazy patch around a photo of yellow mini roses that I printed onto cotton fabric. The seam lines are accented, using decorative machine stitches. The ivory border is quilted with my usual vine. 8"x10" in size.
The right piece, "Sunflowers on the Windowsill 2" Is one of my windows, 11x14" in size. The "scene" through the window is painted on cotton fabric, the window frame is then appliqued over it and quilted. The arrangement of sunflowers is then added. The flowers and vase are cut from Wonder Under backed fabrics. The flowers were printed on a commercial fabric. I cut each one out, trimming up some to look like they would as seen from the side. Once I have the arrangement the way I like it, I iron to fuse it down, then quilt the edges with clear thread.
Finally, Here is a photo of some pieces that are not done in the traditional fall colors. I don't think that all the leaves that remind us of fall need to be done with the colors of fall. These are done in my favorite colors to play with- "my shades" of blue, purplish pink, and green as the main colors. I have done various "rainbows" of colors for these sunprints.
Upper left is a grouping of Oak Leaves, Lower right is a fern with a butterfly over a rainbow of "my" colors with yellow through the middle. These are both 8"x10" in size. with sunprint centers quilted in clear thread, and the borders quilted with my vine.
Upper right is a simple sunprint of 2 maple leaves over "my" pink to blue to green. The lower left is an oak leaf over a fabric that was painted in "blobs" instead of a rainbow pattern. These are both 5"x7" in size. With my usual quilting.
This brings this post to an end. There is a link on the sidebar of this blog for this post, so it can be found easier if you are looking for gift ideas in the future.
Be sure to pass along the address for my blog to anyone who may be interested in my quilts.
Well I finally finished my Flower Power Challenge, and ended up with 2
quilts. In my previous post, I showed a couple photos of flowers and
what I had done with them so far. Labor Day Monday, I got into the
quilting groove and stayed there for a few days, and ended up finishing
both quilts. The first one used the layout of flower photos from the
previous post. I had originally wanted to use my sunprints with the
photos, but they didn't look right together, so I ended up doing one
quilt with the photos, and one quilt with sunprints. I decided to use
fused crazy patch in both, so I started the day by making new fabric
from scraps and bits from past year's projects.
Here in the left photo I was laying the possible border fabric against the fused center. I was also trying to see if I liked the idea of black yarn for accents. Since I can't get too far from my design wall, I have been using my camera to help me figure out what looks right. If something doesn't work, it shows up in the photos. The right photo shows the border strips pinned around for a final check to see if it looked right. The border fabric is a piece I painted last summer. It was a great match to the center peachy-lavender-orange flower.
The center detail shot shows the quilting done in the crazy patch areas, using a variegated thread in pastel colors that are found in the photos. The flowers in the photos are outline quilted with clear thread.
The whole quilt. "Echinacea Collage" it measures 23" x 26 1/2". I took it outdoors to photograph, and just as I got all set up, the wind picked up, but I did manage to get the photos.
The second piece I ended up doing, used a large sunprinted panel, and a smaller piece of another. The above photo is the initial layout and trial on the design wall.
This photo shows the piece after the center was fused, and I was checking out placement of the borders. I then couched the same black/gold yarn from the first piece along the seams of the inner black borders.
It's amazing how fast some pieces come out, after months of ideas floating in my head. I still have ideas to use sunprints with the coloring book looking prints I put on fabric last week (shown in the previous post). Not sure what is to come?
Hmmmm... I just realised that the quilt I have used for my photo at the top of the blog is another that will be travelling to Houston for the quilt show. It's name is "Summer Rainbow", and it will be in the IN FULL BLOOM exhibition along with my "Iris Vases" pair.
Well, It's official, We have now been Empty Nesters for a week. Last of 3 sons now in the military. Zack is in the early stages of basic training in the Army, while his younger brother, Nick is enjoying the Air Force more now that he is out of Basic, and beginning training.
I finally finished a quilt for the "Remember Me" Quiltart challenge. We were to make a quilt depicting what we thought others would remember us for, or how we want to be remembered.
I thought this would be an easy project, I have my degree in horticulture, and my life has centered around flowers, plants, gardens and my quilting and fabric painting and sunprinting. My initial idea was to include many flowers, sunprints of leaves and flowers, and use my favorite colors- pink and blue, with a bit of green.
While beginning, I began thinking about my life, and thought it would be neat to include a picture or 2 of our greenhouse business. It was that business that brought me to Towanda, PA in the first place- My first job out of college. I had worked in or owned greenhouses for 25 years before in different businesses, including the past 8 years back where I began as an owner with my husband. The greenhouse has had a lot to do with who I am and what I have done in life.
Well, you know how things go....... While looking for greenhouse
photos, I found some family photos, and decided that family also has
had a lot to do with who I am. I ended up filling up a whole page of
small photos that I printed onto fabric to include.
Down the left side are My Guys. Top- husband Ken, oldest son Aaron, grandson Andrue. Next- middle son, Zack at his HS graduation. 3rd photo Ken, youngest son Nick, and me at Nick's HS graduation.
I guess in a nutshell, these are most of my favorite things and people, in one quilt.
Below are a few small pieces I made to sell at upcoming shows
The bottom left fern piece is now displayed over a pale green covered 11" x14" stretched canvas.
All of these are still available, If interested, please contact me for pricing. I am doing another show this weekend, so I hope they all won't be available for long.
Well, as promised, here are some quilt related photos of what I have been doing.
A perfect day for sunprinting!! A week ago, today, we finally had a
great day for sunprinting. I set up my tent in the front yard, and
painted and printed as fast as I could. I ended up with 16 fat quarters
of sunprints- a record! The most I usually get done on a good day is
12.
The flowers here are Nicotiana- pointy petals, wild daisies, Impatiens- lower left, and some Geranium florets, I pulled from the flower heads- they are the small, pointy flowers in upper left. The geranium is one with jagged edged florets. I think I used salt on most of my pieces- I love the efect- These are really calming to
The 2 pieces on the left were done with my favorite blue, green, and rose. The heart shaped leaves are from morning glories on my deck. They were a little tricky using more that once, but with care, I did it. More ferns, and jacob's ladder with daisies. I have also been playing with confetti I have been collecting- second bright piece has hearts and doves. The soft lavender pieces have a couple pressed hardy geranium flowers, and Violas, along with more geranium florets. The geraniums were a deep rose color, and some color was left behind in some places.
I upper left, I tried some plastic hearts with a filligree design cut out of them- in person, you can see the details better. I also used some buttercup, flowers from an Oxalis weed, and some Lobelia flowers- all fairly small, but fun. I don't see any good ones showing in the pics.
After the posts about geletin printing on the Quiltart list, I had to try it, and here is one of my first attempts. Below I have pics of what I did with these. I have 2 different quilts in the works.
I used a pale tealy dyed fabric to print- very different effect that sunprinting. These two were made from hte same painted gel with grasses and foamy sheet butterflies.
I backed each of these with Wonder Under, and removed the paper. I stacked them on each other, then cut the pieces in mavy lines. These were fused to battuing for the center panels of a couple quilts. You will have to wait a little before I post them- Still in the finishing stages. One will be a late entry for FFFC challenge, and the other will be in a grab bag challenge quilt, I like these better sliced and switched.
Another batch in different colors. Also a 5x7" mini in fallish colors.
These are a couple of my simple "matted" sunprints, the prints are bordered in ivory to lok like a matted botanical print. These are quilted and ready to go.
The largest piece in the softer, warmer tones. Sunprintd were appliqued over a fused crazy patch background, and accented and bound with couched black yarn with a bit of gold metallic in it.
I also spent time today finally planting more baby plants into my gardens and sprayed everything with "Liquid Fence" rabbit and deer repellant- the critters have been worse this year than in past- probably from dry weather.
I got some more flower pics that will come soon. I will also showing the process of the 2 geletin print pieces, after they are finished.
Well, this week has been quite satisfying, in that I have finished 2 pieces, and have the biginning to another.
My "Puzzle" is finally done!! (if you don't count hanging sleeve and label). I spent much of the after noon, moving things arond in my studio so I could take pictures. Once I got the table moved out of the way of the design wall, I was blocked in. I had to completely block the doorway with the table, to get far enough away with the tripod. I little cramped, but I'm used to it I guess. The worst part is putting all the stuff that was piled on the floor, back where it was.
I told you I have finished 2 pieces, so first I am going to show you the smaller piece, and some of it in progress. It is
The finished product. Full shot on left, and detail on right. Finished size appx. 11"x14"
A purple blue batik was used for the flowers, and quilting was done in clear thread on the stone wall, and flowers, and variegated green for the tendrils, and quilting down leaves.
Okay, due to a critique of this, Wisteria Window has been modified. Someone in the FFFC said I should make the base of the vine bigger, like real, gnarled, old wisteria vines. Here it is- new and improved version. I added a fun brown yarn to the base an up a bit. I also extended the moss closer to the edges to look more natural. I like the change!
And now to the main event- It does'nt look too much different from the last posting, but I added a black yarn with multicolors through it, couched to the main seams bordering the center panel, and on the inside edge of the outer border, as well as adding another round of yarn to the outer edge, that helped to take out some ripples I had. It seems to be behaving well, by laying flat.
A couple of detail shots. I now have to give it a better, more appropriate name.
