It seems like the entirety of my life has been spent
creating things in one art form or another.
I cannot remember a time in my life before I had several projects going
at a time. I claim to never be bored
with the things I do and I am constantly exploring new techniques.
That said, I have experienced some degree of complacency
over the last year/year and a half. I
have always tied myself to my creation (or the other way around?). I went through a big period of losing myself
a ways back and to a smaller degree last fall.
I can tell when it’s happening, but sometimes I feel that there is very
little that I can do about it.
For sake of this being a blog about my art, I’ll spare the
psychological reverie. Indulge me to the
point that I want to brag about the wonderful people in my life and how much a
sense of satisfaction that I get from them.
That support translates into fun and creative things in my artwork. I can personally look back at pieces and “see”
what I was going through at that time.
Since I tend to not produce much when I’m sad – my pieces tend to show
me joy, happiness, and contemplation.
Sometimes they just show me amusement….!
Silver Smithing
Out of the Frying Pan…
I took a couple classes working with silver at a local
art/craft place. There, we did some
basic soldering and used butane mini torches.
I bought one – it’s in my basement on my almost fully operational silver
bench – and haven’t used it yet. Then, I
took a better class from a local artist, Kirk Sklar, and I used his setup for
soldering that included a propane tank and it was so much nicer. Apparently, the butane torches are just not
hot enough for a lot of the work I want to do.
One day shortly after that, during a visit to Mills Fleet
Farm, available tools were examined and this was the result:
I did considered going to a jewelry supply house and get an “official”
setup with a regulator and all that.
It would have been a lot more money…
Maybe a *little* safer…
I am not too worried….
It’s not like I’m going to be doing a ton of stuff, and running gas
continually to the point of asphyxiating myself….. Or blowing up the house….
However, there is an old exhaust fan in the basement and I
think that I will make sure it’s working and/or replace it.
Shopping Expedition
I bought flux from the same place that I’ve been getting
silver plate and various types of wire.
What I bought wasn’t the same stuff that I was using in the silver class
however. Since I want to imitate
everything in my own space to try to repeat success, I decided I needed some of
the other type. I didn’t have enough
wish list items nor enough funds to justify another order from Rio Grande, so I
stopped into a local store – Storm Cloud Trading – to get some.
I went in for one item….
I came home with four items….
*Sigh*
Nevertheless, all joking aside, the woman there knows her
stuff and was very talkative today. She
gave me some really good advice on a couple points, which is why I bought more
things.
She also informed me that my “pickle pot” might not be
appropriate.
I have to double check and make sure it doesn’t have exposed
screws or an exposed metal rim – that may contaminate the pickle solution.
Will I ever have all these bits and pieces under control?
Resin
The latest in playing with resin is using a silicone brownie
mold and laser printer pictures. Doctor
Who icons and characters have been my fodder for it right now.
I also used my bench grinder on the edges, and the foredom
to drill the hole. I’m getting quite the
usage out of my new tools!
Quilting
With my renewed faith in myself, comes a renewed interest in
my primary hobby and first love – fabric.
A few months ago, I made a stab at catching up on a lot of
projects. I spent a couple evenings
laying out a bunch of smaller quilts that I had. Tonight, I finished quilting on that
pile. I still have bindings to attach to
most of them, and then have to hand stitch those bindings.
However, I do feel a sense of accomplishment in getting
though that part of the task.
That sense is strong enough to want to show them now and
brag!
(We won’t talk about the large pile of full-sized quilts all
pinned out and stacked on the front bench – that’s next)
Pre-Cuts and What to Make
Browns with Pink
This table topper sized piece was made using a set of
pre-cut shapes. I don’t consider it very
inspired; I had far more fun quilting it.
Look at the second picture to see the designs I did inside of the shapes
themselves.
Again, something I don’t consider very inspired and done
from a set of pre-cut shapes.
Before you criticize me too much, the pre-cuts were
something that I was getting monthly as part of a “club.” Some of them were indeed quite nice; these
last ones weren’t inspiring me.
This is my July fourth table runner for the picnic
table. That’s about the best I can say
about it…..
Civil War Little Quilts
A couple years ago, I attended a monthly program in which
each month was a different little quilt and the focus was on using Civil War
reproduction fabrics. I used a lot of
beiges and pinks…..
Small Squares
It’s a cute little quilt and I’m going to give it to some
little girl for her dolls or bears. Except
for the border, the fabrics are all left over bits from other projects. The border fabric is a tiny print that just
struck me as fitting with it all.
Bear Paw
If I recall correctly, this pattern in the “Bear Paw”
block. I used two different pinks and
they really popped. I particularly like
the border print – it’s large but, being so light, it doesn’t take over the
whole thing but rather complements it.
The End
This last piece – a very small piece – was done with the
scraps from some of the other quilts…
Many of those quilts were also done with scraps….
So this is scraps of scraps?
Scraps
And, speaking of scraps.
These next two pieces were both done with scraps.
I can’t seem to throw anything away until it’s positively
unusable. Leftover pieces get cut into
strips and/or squares, depending upon how much there is and then stored with
like fabrics. Strips are rolled up
according to color family and width and put into a box. It used to be a small box, now it’s quite
large. Every once in a while, I get an
urge and go through that box and use up some of it.
Strips
I took all the green strips that were two inches wide, sewed
them end to end and then cut that long strip into smaller strips. Because all the pieces I used were different lengths,
this is the end effect. I put a border
on and – a nice table topper.
You probably can’t see too well here, but I got fancy with
the quilting. It’s been awhile since I
did anything but loops and stipples.
However, words from a friend lately inspired me and I did some flowers
and fancier stitches on this piece.
Square in Square
This is one of my favorite patterns to do. I cannot count how many times I’ve made this –
full-sized pieces, small pieces, and everything in between!
This particular piece has a story. A friend wanted a quilt for a baby shower but
didn’t want pink or blue. She looked through
my pictures and found a small, green quilt she wanted.
I looked high and low for that dang thing….
I don’t remember giving it to anyone, but it wasn’t there.
Time was ticking away…..
I told her that I would make her one…in a few days… from
similar fabrics.
I dug into that box of rolled up scraps, and the pile of 6-inch
blocks and just spent an evening making blocks with green, beige, and brown. I used 48 of them to make a crib sized piece
and then had these eight blocks left over after the “block audition.”
I sewed them together, bordered them, and got fancy with the
quilting. I did “stones” in the interior
of the block and then left the next square empty to make it “pop.”
Floral
Last in this section of quilts is a piece I did from one of
those little pattern cards. My intention
was actually to showcase the pink floral fabric. This is a piece that is going to be used for
an Easter table decoration at my house… or maybe a spring topper for the end
table….
For as much as I’m not a “oooo, pink” type of girl, well, I
do really like pink (purple is better though) and it is a spring color….
Maybe spring will finally hit here….
To emphasize the flowers, I quilted the center section by
going around the flowers themselves and dipping into them at points.
How I Quilt
That’s my biggest sewing machine – it’s considered a “mid
arm.” Behind it, at a 90-degree angle - is my primary piecing
machine. I do the quilting (versus piecing) on the Juki. It does
not have any sort of table for it; most home quilters put it on a large frame
and guide it from a platform of sort. I could probably clear the 12-foot
or more square area that a quilting frame would need, but I have way too many
other hobbies and pieces of equipment around here!
So, I build a small table for it from a 2 ft square piece of
plywood and a ¾-inch dowel. The top of it is covered in a Teflon strip
with sticky back that I got from Axe-Man. To quilt, I hand guide the
quilt; the machine is a single function – it simply stitches up and down
– and I move the quilt by hand under it into patterns. I mostly only do
simply stipples and loops; I believe the beauty of a quilt is the pattern,
colors, pieces – not the stitching on top of it. (I do practice some fancier stuff on smaller
pieces though – as detailed above…!)
Photobucket
I sorted out my quilt pictures and loaded them to
photobucket: http://s537.photobucket.com/user/FridayDesigns/library/Art%20-%20%20Quilts?sort=4&page=1
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