Wordless Wednesday

Dawn

What did you do before you started Quilting?

I have to tell you that I'm copying the title
of this post from Faye at Mimi's Passions
Faye says that her items are from 1993
or 1994 and if I remember correctly that
time period was "hot" for hand made items.


I thought that it was such an interesting and
fun thing to blog about!

I'm sure that most of us Quilters were doing
some kind of hobby before Quilting took over
all of our spare time.

I'm hoping that more of you bloggers
will also write about this topic!
If you do please let me know.

I started to make a doll after I saw a pattern
in one of the Craft magazines. After making
one; I was hooked. I had recently lost my job
thanks to "computers" my job was fazed out.

My husband suggested that I not look for another
job right away and just "play" a little. And so I did.

One of the first dolls that I made was something
like this:


All of the dolls had faces; I just never got around
to give her hers.

Some had themes:


Like this one who had spools and pins.

And this one:


"Sunflower Sadie" who had all farm themed items
in her arms and dress.

I also made quite of few "one of a kind" types.
I wish I had taken photos of those.

And then some were


Angels! The picture is of poor quality because
some of the photos were taken with a Polaroid
camera.

Behind the Angel you will see a calendar and
the year 1997. I was doing these for about
two or three years before this.



I also did some

Victorian Rabbits

I had several orders for these; they were quite
tall.

A shop had opened just a couple of blocks away
from my house and so I started to sell my dolls
in that shop. I have to say that I did quite well.

A Country type Restaurant had opened in
the area as well and they bought several pieces
to display throughout the restaurant.

Then I found another pattern in a craft
book that I just had to have:

A Unicorn!

I just loved it! (another Polaroid pic) This was
a little difficult to make at first until I got the
hang of it.

Another "hot" item back then was Cows!

I still have this one!

I could not find Cow fabric on Long Island and
so I had to come to Lancaster (where my sister had
moved - lucky for me) just to buy lots and lots of
Cow fabric. Only one shop carried it!

Cow dolls, Cow planters everywhere a moomoo (-:
The cow planter - I designed myself. I loved it!
I also made myself a "business" called it "Create -
a - scene". And Oh I forgot

Cow Coasters!

I saved a set for myself! Going through these
I noted that I have some hand painting on the
coasters and they are also quilted. A sign
of the future perhaps....

I also saved for myself


A little stuffed mouse. You can use him for a pin
cushion but I don't. (if you see any dust - just ignore it)

And just one more thing

I designed these little hanging Christmas
Trees. I just drew a triangle and cut out
the fabric and added batting. I either
added some little ornaments or buttons.

I saved most of my "bought" patterns and
have over 70 of them. I had so much fun
making all of this stuff!
Now I feel like making one! hmm maybe
a little teddy bear. (-:

Thank you Faye!

WIP completed

I finally completed two of my WIP
(Works In Progress) quilts.

One is a scrappy quilt - have to use
up those scraps!

I have 3 boxes filled with strips of all sizes.


Did you notice what happens when you use
your scraps? They seem to multiply..
I now have scraps left over from my scraps.
It like never ending.......

One complete! This will be quilted by a member
of my Guild - Kim. Can't wait!

The second completed quilt is Wonky Cat Stars.

This was made with left over scraps.


This Fons & Porter ruler is
great for cutting out Half Square Triangles!
If you would be interested in learning how
to make Wonky Stars - Victoria at Silly Boo Dilly
has a wonderful step by step tutorial.
Click HERE for the tutorial.

Layout - I had lots of strips left so I decided to add
some sashing.

These blocks are addicting - once you start you can't
stop.

I just love this little kitty fabric!
I just love the color combo on this quilt - as a
matter of fact I think it's the 3rd one I did.
So now it's time to Stop! This quilt will also
be quilted by Kim.

On the right side bar you will see the new
BOM by Dawn - it's called Folk Art Tribute.
If you would like to join just click on it
and it will take you to Dawn's first pattern.



I am 3 blocks behind but catching up! I have
block #1 all cut out and pinned. I'm using
what ever I have in my stash - so not sure
what it will look like.
I had a bolt of white fabric but didn't think it
would look appropriate for that folksy look -
so I tea dyed about 3 yards.
This is Block #2 all cut out - I have this fabric for
about 3 yrs. so about time I'm using it!

After I finished my Landscape Quilt from my
Quilty buddy Kathi's class (What fun!) I decided
to use some left over fabric to make my first
postcard.


I got the image from the Graphics Fairy - see my
sidebar on the right. I did some practice free motion
embroidery on it. Kind of halloweeny looking (-:


Lancaster is fast becoming an very Artsy place!
Please bare that in mind if you come here for
a vacation.
My first visit to ---

Art on The Farm

I love this giant bug hanging from the ceiling!
And watching the Artist in action.
Beautiful works of art here and will surly go
back next year!

To leave the area; you had go ride through the
cornfield. A real experience for a City girl!

IQF + My photos

I am so happy to report that 2 of my
photos were selected to be in
"The Eye of The Quilter" Exhibit at
the International Quilt Festival in
Houston, Texas!
The subject is "Reflections" -
"Provide a brief statement about how
this image is used in your reflection as a quilter."
The photo must also have a Title.

"Our everyday lives are filled with reflections
of what see, we think, hope, hate, dream, and feel."

"Metamorphosis"
Stages of Growth - Leaning how to quilt was
a great excitement for me. Traditional piecing
and appliqueing thrilled me but I wanted more.
To develop my own style, be more intuitive
and to add more of an artistic flair to my quilts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Tranquility"
To me a rainbow is a magical image; the colors
glorious. This scene to me is peaceful, quiet and tranquil.
It's what I need when I'm designing a new quilt -
to hear wht it is saying to me. I want to bring
the magic out in my work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you to my Quilt and FB friend Beth for the suggestion!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I finally learned how to use "Pages" on Blogger.

On top is list of Pages that You can view of
my WIP - Works in Progress and I'm also
adding "The Process"




for "I Took the Process
Pledge" by Rossie.

Nature's Imprints

"Nature is the art of God"
Dante Alighieri


After the leaves started to fall; I noticed
that if I didn't remove them right away
they left imprints.



Coming down my front steps - Now this
may have always happened but it's the
first time that I have "noticed".

The other day, I went out onto the deck
to clean up some of the mess that I had
made from painting/dyeing fabric all
summer.

I had left my rubber dye gloves out and


Found a leaf on my glove and when I removed
it found this wonderful surprise!

Here's a close-up



I think that is so cool!

I also discovered some imprints on my
dye table


Here's a close up



So I thought what if I put some leaves
on fabric and left it outside.

I had some Tea Dyed fabric that I thought
would looked nice if it worked.

I soaked the fabric in some Alum and
went outside placed some "newly fallen"
leaves on only half of the fabric and
folded the other half over over that.

I laid the small rusted fence (previous post)
over it so that if it dried it won't blow away.
I also went out periodically to wet the fabric
once it dried to continually keep it moist.

I guess I was too impatient and just left it
lay for 2 days.....



It worked! But I should have left it out
longer - a couple of more days. I also
lifted the fabric twice and should not
have done that either.

The leaf on the right came out very
good but the ones to the left did not???
Here's a closer look.



Here's another one. very good!




This is the other side that I had
folded over. Not much of an impression
on this side.


"The fall of a leaf is a whisper to the living"
Russian proverb


UPDATE- (4/2014) Here's a hand bag that I made
with this fabric eco-dyed-and-imperfections.html

Natural Dyeing + Rusting

I was doing some experiments with rust
dyeing - first with the SOS pads which
I think came out great (a previous post)

While I was in the dollar store I purchased
their steel pads and thought "What a bargain!"
But when I experimented rust dyeing with
them it was a bust!


The fabric remained white and the pads
disintegrated leaving these little tiny
rust spots. Not what I was looking for.

When I did the pomegranate experiment
with the skins; I think I might have
grabbed the fabric above instead of
another prepared piece.

With the skins still in the pot.

I was reading on another blog (can't remember)
that if you leave the skins in the pot; it will
result in spotting. So now I don't know if
this piece is the result of the skins or the
rusted piece or both! Anyway, I'm not crazy
about the result.

Then I strained the liquid in the pot
and put it in a jar with newly treated
fabric and left it overnight.

Still spotted!

I was happy with the results from the
turmeric. The colors are not true -
I can't get a good photo !

I have others but there are not worth
mentioning (-:

If you're interested in Natural Dyeing
there a good blogs to read!

Arlee is getting some really fabulous
results! You can find her blog
HERE
You'll have to go through her posts and
it's worth it!

And of course K Baxter Packwood!

You can find her blog
Natural Dye Journal Wow!

While at my sister's house awhile back;
I was walking in her backyard and found a
small rusted piece and asked her if I
could borrow it.


I'm using my bleached muslin and it's soaked
in vinegar. I had a bottle of vinegar outside
and kept going out and adding more vinegar
on it with a paint brush. It started to rain
while I was out doing errands - so I left
it out until the next day.


I was afraid that it wouldn't work but it did!
I love the way it came out and I have a quilt
already planned for this!

I'm going to try a couple of more pieces!

Some Fall Garden Photos

I'm sure going to miss my garden this winter!