Kicked Into 2011

I have been itching to post about things I have been working on for a long time.  They were mainly challenges to be revealed at my guild's Christmas Party.  That blizzard that just buried the eastern seaboard is the same storm system that caused the best party in Northern Nevada to be kicked into 2011.  Of course, back on December 17th, the storm was being referred to as the 'pineapple express.'

I can share a couple things:

I've been beading beads, and

painting cookie cutter kids on sweatshirts, and

finishing up a pair of pillowcases with hand stitching and a lace edging that were started years ago!

Discharging With a Stencil

Start with a good stencil or a drawing/rendition that can be made into a stencil such as this ancient bird.  I printed it out on 8 1/2x11" freezer paper and cut it out with a small pair of very sharp craft scissors as shown below:

I saved the cut out head and body...from which other smaller detail had been cut, to use as a placement guide for the smaller pieces:

And when everything was in place, it was all ironed down:

You need to get your materials together because once you start...everything comes together fast.  I used Soft Scrub with Bleach as my discharge agent.  SHAKE IT WELL...and it will be the right consistency straight out of the bottle.  Use rubber gloves.  You will need something to scrape/squeegee (I used an old plastic store card), a tile or plastic lid for the Soft Scrub, and a large bowl of water that has been treated with a chlorine neutralizer. (This is used to treat water for fish tanks and can be purchased in any store that sells pet supplies...I found mine at the grocery store).  You will need to protect your work surface with a piece of plastic...I cut open a produce bag...and you will need to work close to a sink.  Lastly, have a black Sharpie with a regular point handy.

Now...squeeze an ample amount of the Soft Scrub (SS) onto your tile/lid.  Using your scraper...quickly apply the SS onto your design.   Go for a quick all over coverage right away...you can come back in and re-apply the SS to thin spots.  When done with this step, your project should look like this:

Now quickly turn it over so it faces down on the plastic.  This will keep the SS moist while it works...I also gently pat it all over while the back is facing up to make sure the cloth is making good contact with the SS...see the photo below:

This is the view on the back.  You can see I am patting it. The piece is discharging fast...about 3 minutes or a little less have passed and I have the results I want.  I quickly turn it right side up and with lightning speed, I remove all of the stencil and take the piece to the sink...and quickly rinse out all of the SS in cold running water.  It will take a little rubbing.  When all the visible SS has been rinsed out, neutralize the bleaching action by soaking it in the  treated water.  I left mine in about 20 minutes...just long enough to swill a cup of coffee!!! (Grin)

There, it's done soaking.  I used an old towel to absorb the excess water and gave it a couple quick swipes with a dry iron because I was too impatient to hang it out to dry!

I was really happy with the results...nice crisp lines...and no seepage under the stencil.  BUT...OH...WAIT...what's this:

See that little spot right above the third wing feather...WHOOPS...some SS flew out beyond the stencil!  That happens...remember that black Sharpie I mentioned above...that's the remedy for being over-zealous with the SS!!!

I made two.  The one on the left was Kona cotton, the one on the right cotton from Joann's.  Different brands of black cotton discharge differently.  Be Surprised!

'Tis The Season...

...When everyone is busy making gifts, and I know we're all guilty...we sometimes make an extra because the pattern is just too darn cute.    So it was when I was in a pinch to make a gift for a friend and the big deadline was looming and...oh...did I mention I just happened to have an extra sweatshirt laying around in just my size????  (GRIN) 

It is amazing what you can do with some red and green dimensional paint, fusible web, a scrap of red cotton, and silk holly leaves.  And, say, as long as you have to drag out all the supplies for one...you may as well as make two...right???! 

  You can't imagine how well this  this sweatshirt has held up over the years...and my friend is still wearing hers too!  I will tell you that not only is it all fused on, I did a zig-zag stitch around all the elements before I squeezed on the dimensional paint which is probably the reason this garment survived as many washes as it has.

Look What I Found...A Relic of My Past Indeed!

Here,on the desert, on the backside of nowhere, life of all forms fights to survive in a somewhat harsh environment.  And when that struggle narrows down to the "food chain" it becomes a fight between BRAINS and BIRD BRAINS! (I'm hoping my brains win out)! 

It was somewhere in my ancient gardening days, before my discovery of bird netting,  and after my planting of strawberries that I became "one" with the food fight.  Yep...my strawberries had survived the previous fall planting...had bloomed beyond all odds...and were bearing the fruits of my labor. 

When I began the picking, I noticed lots of little bird pecks here and there.  Oh Say...guys...those are MY berries...not yours! One of my organic gardening books suggested putting out decoys to get rid of the bird problem.  Yes...strawberry decoys.  To detract the birds away from the patch.  Really!!!  Uh huh. Right.  BUT I was desperate enough to try ANYTHING. 

So, I went out to the driveway and down my alley collecting rocks that could possibly resemble the shape of strawberries.  (I live today to tell you that there are a lot of those kind of rocks to be found)!  And I painted each and every one of them to look like strawberries, I even used two shades of green on the leaves so there would be a shadowy 3-D effect.  I also thought that since every one was different, I should initial every piece of these miniature art forms with a Sharpie...and I did.  And then I scattered the rock strawberries around.  The birds were going for the 'decoys' because right away I noticed movement in the pattern I had placed.  Well, in the end, the birds still got the real strawberries,  I discovered netting, and the strawberry rocks kept moving and moving and moving!  Soon, most of them disappeared.

Thirteen years have come and gone. I am out for a walk....on the same trail I have walked a thousand times or more... look what I find:  a strawberry decoy...a mile from my house...with my initials on the back.  Real strawberries come and go, the decoys hang around for a bit and continue to be moved around!

OK Bea N...I know you are reading this and grinning like crazy! And, if any of the rest of you enjoy a good down home slice of life blog...just visit Bea!        

Somethin's Fishy

It would seem as though I haven't been busy at all...but I don't want to be giving away secrets....oh...but look...what's this...it's a little something I came across in my closet, hiding in 'oceans' of other stuff:

It's a little art quilt I made for a call out from my guild to become one in a large group display.  It was a good experiment in collage and especially pairings of fabrics our mum's once told us wouldn't match at all!!!?#!! (Oh my if they could only see what's going on with polka dots, stripes and plaids these days)!

The little fish are dimensional and sewn on by a straight line down the centers, and you can't tell from the photo but there are dozens of pale champagne beads interspersed among them resembling all the bubbles they're sending out!  All these elements fit nicely among shapes, sequins, beads, and bling...oh...and a little quilting!

Wavin' At You, Barbara

There's a chair at my dining room table that gets stacked with projects I need to do/finish now or 5 minutes ago.  And there's a never ending supply of things to do in this stack.  Sometimes things just work their way to the bottom and get forgotten.  And sometimes, on a whim, I decide to deal with this stack.  This was where I found this quilt top with the backing and binding provided by my friend Barbara.   It was a little bigger than she wanted to deal with when it came to the sandwiching and quilting...so I volunteered.  Well, Barbara, that quilt did get done...

...and today I took it to guild for show and tell...and I told them all about you, your quilts, your heart string donations, etc.  I then gave the quilt to the one member who belongs to a another group who sew for the needy.  By next week it will be owned by a baby who needs it and a mom who will be ever so grateful and surprised that there were people in this big big world who cared enough to to make this just for her little one!  Thank you Barbara for starting us both on this journey!

The Big Mrs. Moen's Napkin Challenge Reveal

Ever since the article "Adinkra, cloth from the heart" article appeared in the June/July 2008 issue of Quilting Arts, I have had an interest in bringing ancient forms of symbolism into my quilts.  This napkin, one I had received in a swap, was a shoo-in to inspire my quilt entry for Mrs. Moen's Napkin Challenge!  It so happened I had one of these symbols on my hard drive already and when I brought it into Photoshop Elements, I got really excited to see it pretty well filled out an 8 1/2x11" sheet.  Ahhhh-ha...print it out in coloring book mode and print it out on freezer paper to be used as a stencil...I thought to myself!

And there you have it...Flight of the Ancient!  The freezer paper stencil was ironed onto black cotton and a discharging agent was applied.  The black was then fused onto a larger piece of muslin that had been rusted and then over painted to bring in the color of the bird.  The small dots framing the black are french knots made with DMC variegated #8 Pearle cotton...and they add interest...and texture.  The black background of the bird is free motioned with a small close meander stitch, and flying geese pattern was a natural for the border quilting. This was fun Mrs. Moen!!!