It's been a LONG time since I have played with watercolors! My husband has dropped little tidbits of encouragement over the years to try my hand at painting, but I have been hesitant. Until now... A few weeks ago I found my Christmas stocking stuffed with watercolors, brushes, and a watercolor journal. I decided to give it a try a few days ago and the Corn Cockle flower on the left is the result. I still need lots and lots of practice, but I'm looking forward to it! The next day, I looked at the journal page and I started thinking that there was more I could do with it.... something with it on fabric... I am a fiber artist, right? :-) First, I thought up this simple, little poem. I typed it out, chose a great font and messed with it a little bit. Then I printed it on a piece of fabric. After it dried, I over-dyed it to make it look vintage. A good pressing, set all the dye. Next, I traced my Corn Cockle from my journal onto a another piece of fabric. I played around with the dyes like they were watercolors and "painted" my flower all over again. I appliqued the flower to my background piece with the poem and layered it with batting and backing so I could quilt it. I traced the Corn Cockle again and used it as a stencil for the shadow quilting. Lastly, I "bound" the edges with jute. The entire process was really fun, and I loved seeing it come together! The result is something totally different from my "norm". So without further delay, here it is! Here's a closeup to show some of the detail: I'll keep you posted on my "experiments!"
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Many moons ago, about six years ago in fact, I entered a challenge for Keepsake Quilting. It was the type of challenge that they gave several fabrics that had to be used and then you could add another of your own choice. The overall theme had to be black, red and white. It was a challenge to say the least! No one who participated in the challenge had any idea what the fabrics would be until they arrived in your mailbox.. There was a black and white floral, a black and white check, a black background with white and red splotches and then a red background with black dots. The rules stated that you could use the wrong sides of the fabric as well. (I actually did this with the black and white floral for the poodle skirt and windows of the car.) When I think of black, red and white, I automatically think "50's" for some reason. At that time I was also doing a lot of machine embroidery so I purchased and incorporated several themed designs from Embroidery Library into the wall hanging. When I finished the challenge, I sent in a picture of the quilt to the folks at Embroidery Library and at the time they said they would be happy to feature it in their Stitcher's Showcase at a later date. Well, that was so long ago, I figured it would never happen. Guess what? They notified me a couple of weeks ago that indeed they would be featuring it and it posted today! Here's the link. So that was a long way around to say this: share your work with others! You never know what might happen! :) |
About MeFiber artist, wife to a wonderful husband and mom to 2 awesome, grown kids Archives
July 2023
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