Art Quilting Studio

I am so excited - I am in Art Quilting

Studio magazine - Winter 2016 issue!

There are so many beautiful quilts 

in this issue and I can't believe

that I'm a part of it.

Here I Am!

In this article I explain how I 

discovered an easy way to do image

transfer onto you fabric using your

home printer. 

When I first discovered this method;

I searched and searched the internet

to see if anyone had done it this way.

Nope

It's so easy and you use your home

printer but it has to have dye-based

inks not pigment based inks. It won't

work with pigment based inks but you'll

have to buy the magazine to find out

how I did it.

I experimented with this method for

a couple of years and the images are

still very good!

 One of the first images I used was

on this zippered pouch.

Hope that you will buy the magazine

and try it for yourself - it's fun!

Happy Quilting!

I'm a member of a local Quilt History Study 

Group; so Antique quilts inspire me.

I made this little doll quilt with 

a matching tote. It's styled after

 an Antique Medallion doll quilt

It measures 14" x 14" and I hand

quilted it only in the ditch. Doing

that gives the quilt a nice puffy look.

I love the fabric in this quilt; the

only problem is that I bought it as

a remnant and the selvage was cut off.

I'm in love with such treasures from the 

past!

This would make such a cute gift for

a girl of any age.



Living here in Lancaster county; I'm 

always inspired by Amish, Mennonite and

Vintage quilts.

I made this small wall hanging which

measures 21" x 21".

Pinwheel is the center design which has 

printed fabric; unlike the Amish that use 

mostly solids - it is machine quilted with 

a more modern quilting design - Amish quilts 

are hand quilted with feathers, flowers or 

other motifs.

Both are for sale in my Etsy shop.
(see side bar)

Happy Quilting!

I haven't made anything for Christmas

in a long time. 

I decided to make a Christmas tree

Table topper. 

I didn't have a pattern and decided just

to design it as I went.

This is what I came up with.

It's Modern and the quilting is geometric

designs. Also, it has lots of gold thread

running through.  I'm happy with the way

it came out.

I'm also having fun designing Kids snack

mats; The mini totes can be used for

a Gift card holder or Utensils holder 

for the mat. 

This fabric is out of print; I think its

so adorable! Wish I had more of it.

And this Scotty dog fabric is just so

cute! Also out of print. 

All available at my Etsy shop.

Happy Quilting!

My front garden is starting to 

look like a jungle! Wild morning

glories are growing everywhere. They

wrap themselves around my rose bushes

and other plants and can choke them out.

So they had to go!

I saw this unusual plant growing which

I suspected was a weed. It's growing 

along side my Cleome but I decided to

allow it to grow, just to see what it

was.

It's now six feet tall!

  I thought that all those little

buds would bloom into something pretty

but it doesn't seem to be doing that.

So, I uploaded a photo on the FB Plant

Idents page to ask what it was. One

person said it was Amaranthus - so 

I googled images and saw that some had

pretty purple blooms but then another

person answered and said that it was

common Pigweed - not to let it grow

because once the seed pods fall it will

be all over the garden next year. NO!

So out it comes!

On the other side of the garden as I'm 

weeding I find this

 Looks like some kind of scary mushroom 

fungi???  One person said it was "Dead

Man's fingers" common when you mulch

with composted bark. who knew?

Another person said it was Pisolithus 

tinctoris aka dog turd fungus - but

I did an image google search and found

that the color was too brown. I've never

came across this in my garden before - 

it's a first. 

The garden continually teaches me new

things every year.


I was on my back deck dyeing some fabric

and had a visitor....

 
 A Silver Spotted Skipper.

It wouldn't get off of the fabric; I

kept trying to shoo it away but it

would only come back. Must have been

the color! LOL

Fabric that I created last week

https://www.etsy.com/listing/244243261/hand-dyed-floral-fabric-various-colors?ref=shop_home_active_12

 The techniques that I used were fabric

manipulation and some sun print of leaves.

I Love the way it came out!

I also a wild grape vine growing in the back

yard; so I printed some of the leaves.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/244616345/hand-dyed-fabric-heliographic-print-lawn?ref=shop_home_active_9


These two fabrics look pretty together

They are one yard cuts and are available

in my Etsy shop.

Have a great week! 

I have written before about a couple of the farms in

my area that were sold and the buildings and

barns being torn down to make way for housing.

It breaks my heart every time that I see it.

This was the back of the farm where I spotted the

Rainbow.

The road is now closed that passed the farm but

the cross road is now opened after 2 months of

doing what ever they're doing.

This is what it looks like now

The old road is on the left side and the new curved

road is on the right side. I find it interesting to watch

the progress of each stage. 

Now I'm wondering - do they have to move all of those

telephone poles to the new road? Only time will tell

or we lose our electric ugh!

The landscape is changing dramatically. 

-----

I have been dyeing more shibori fabric which

I feel more passionately each time I make a 

new piece.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/243030970/shibori-fabric-hand-dyed-blues-and?ref=shop_home_active_6


Blue and Violet - soothing colors and lines.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/242536714/shibori-fabric-hand-dyed-mustard-yellow?ref=shop_home_active_8

This piece was over dyed (dyed twice) using Arashi Shibori

(pole wrapped) technique resulting in the beautiful 

colors that you see.

Colors - Mustard Yellows, Shades of green and an Indigo Blue color

The fun part is experimenting with colors and the 

size of the lines.

Have a great week!

And

Make something beautiful!

The garden is very happy after a nice

soaking rain.

I have been experimenting with more

fabric manipulation before dyeing.

Including some sun prints - I love the 

results of this piece.

I used 100% Kona Cotton The thread count for kona cotton is 60 by 60
a tighter weave and a heavier weight

I do not buy PDF(prepared for dyeing) fabric - I wash all of my fabric in very
hot water and washing soda to remove sizing and chemicals - at this point the fabric also shrinks. What this means to you is that you should not have any significant shrinkage after washing my (pre-treated) fabrics.

I used two different technique in this piece

 - stitch resist and pole wrapped Arashi 

Shibori -- Colors are Aqua and black with 

some greys - very striking!

Have a great week!

Summer is my dyeing time and it gives

me an opportunity to try new techniques

or just try to improve some old ones.

I love the ghost like images in the

background of this shibori piece!

This piece came out a little lighter

and I was using the same colors - always

a surprise. 

I think either piece would make nice

background fabric for a quilt or use

in an art quilt as Tree Bark.

I used Greys, Blacks, Browns and Raw Sienna.

This piece has fine wavy lines of greys with

 a light hue of pinks.

Heavier on the pinks here and I didn't

push the fabric down as tight.

All are Pole wrapped - Arashi Shibori,

which I am hooked on right now.

Happy Quilting and Dyeing!

Posting for a customer

Remnants

Group #1

                                                                       Group #2

                                                                            Group #3

More Shibori fabric

Did you ever tell your young children....
'The Moon is made of green cheese"

... the Servian tale where the fox leads the wolf to believe the moon reflection in the water is a cheese and the wolf bursts in the attempt to drink up the water to get at the cheese.

Fantasy Fabric

Getting a little out of my comfort zone

with brighter and bolder colors which

I love! I used Arashi Shibori technique

(Pole wrapped) for this Fantasy piece.

Available in my Etsy shop.

This piece I did with a technique

called Kumo shibori (spider web) 

It is pleated and tied and then 

dyed. To me it looks like a giant

sunburst!

Available in my Etsy shop.

Spring Clean Up

I read somewhere that "A gardener's work is

never done"  How true that is!

Because the garden is always changing;

some plants multiply rapidly. They need

to be separated and replanted in another

part of the garden. This is a labor of

love and the gardens keep evolving every

year.

I started out with just one plant of

Solomon's seal and now have over 100

plants! 

It's the same with the Hostas and the

Sedum ground cover. 

There is a story behind this Sedum

ground cover - when my mom bought

her house in the early 80s in Queens,

N.Y.; her elderly neighbor had passed

away. The Sedum was overflowing from

her garden into my mom's yard, so I

took a couple of  hand fulls and 

planted them in my yard

on Long Island. When I moved here to

Lancaster; I took a large pot full of

them with me. Now my gardens are over

flowing with them! They also have to

be separated because as you can see

they will crowd any plant they are 

near, such as my Hostas.

One day when I was weeding; I found

an empty nest falling off of a bush

in the back yard.

I had to laugh when I saw the blue

ribbon. It's a boy! Or the bird 

thought that it's nest deserved a 

"Blue Ribbon"!  

Gardening is a lot of work but it's

a great source of joy!

I also find it to be an inspiration

when it comes to quilting and also

dyeing my fabrics.

This Shibori rainbow piece that I

did reminds me of all the colors

in my garden.

The colors in this pieces reminds me

of my Iris'. I love this color combo!

May your garden be your source of 

inspiration - Imagine and create

something beautiful!

Happy Quilting, Dyeing and Gardening!