Progress Report on Mylar Experiment

A few weeks ago, I wrote about an experiment in using a mylar pattern in my latest art work. I am finding it quite a useful addition to my process for my fused applique art quilts.

After creating a pattern on the mylar based on an enlarged photo, I began tracing pattern pieces from the mylar onto freezer paper and then cutting out appropriate fabrics fused with MistyFuse.

I then used the mylar as an overlay on some muslin and began laying out the pieces.

In one area of the art piece, I used a reverse applique process before setting in the fabrics. The mylar pattern was quite helpful in marking the places to cut the fabric.

 Slowly the muslin is being covered with fabric. Here you can see the piece with the mylar overlay.

Finally, there is enough fabric set in that I am only using the mylar to cut pieces and no longer need to pin it to my design board to place fabric.

I still have a lot of detail work to fuse but it is exciting to see the landscape taking shape.

House Quilt Project Update

With the help of my daughter, Jaye, I finally constructed my contribution to the House Quilt Project that I had written about earlier this summer.

The art quilt will be hung in a home of a wounded service member that has been helped by Furnishing Hope whose mission "is to improve the living space for people in crisis one room at a time; to provide a home-like environment for kids and families in stressful situations. It is our goal, whatever the situation, to ensure the children in these homes are the benefactors of our transactions." The House Quilt Project provides art quilts to Furnishing Hope.

Jaye and I had a wonderful time designing our little house during my recent visit to her home. We used her growing stash of fabrics. My cousin, Kate, was also visiting and got into the design act as well.

The House Quilt Project is always looking for donations. To learn more about the requirements for submitting an art quilt, please go here.  The criteria are simple and you feel great after you complete one!

Awesome Mitered Facing Tutorial

Our monthly FAFA (Rochester Area Fiber Artists) meeting was yesterday and I brought in a piece I am working on for some suggestions on binding it. In reality, I haven't been making art quilts for that many years and this was the first time that I absolutely wanted no border showing on my piece.

I received many helpful suggestions from members including Julie Brandon of Red-Dog Enterprises who had printed the base fabric for me. One person suggested that I check out the website Blue Moon River for a tutorial on a mitered facing binding. I recognized the name and checked it out. It is the website of Sue Brubaker Knapp, a well known quilter. She did have a number of free tutorials including one for facing a quilt with a mitered binding.

It was excellent!!! I was able to download a pdf with clear instructions and excellent photographs. I had already done a number of mitered bindings on quilts but never a mitered facing. I also had never bound a silk piece before. With Sue's instructions, I was able to easily create an excellent finished edge for my art work.

I have yet to baste down the back but here are some photos of a finished corner - the true test of mitered facing!

Front view

Back View, not yet sewn down

You can download Sue's instructions here. She has a number of other free tutorials on the page.

Now, on to beading the front of my quilt! When finished, it will be called Ice Flow and will be part of my growing series on Antarctica.

SAQA Auction is on!

If you haven't yet, please do check out the SAQA Auction. Now in it's third day, there are still many quilts available. Each is unique and beautifully handcrafted.

To view the auction, just go to the SAQA Auction page.

New Techniques/Old Projects

September has been full of travel, weddings, and family visits. Gradually time has opened up for a return to my artwork. A number of projects are in the works.....here are tidbits from two:

The oldest of UFOs
Our daughter has been visiting the past week and we have been going through old family memorabilia. This needlepoint was buried in a container with other miscellaneous photos and such.

It was a pillow top kit that an aunt had bought in Scandinavia on a trip long, long ago. She gave it to me in the 1970's to do for her and I completed it and returned with a note. It never got made into a pillow and was returned to me upon her passing back in the 1980's.

Needless to say, it is now on my 'To Do' list for September.

Mylar Experiment
I am still processing the mountain of information that I was exposed to at the June Ricky Timm's event here in Rochester.  The use of mylar in design work came up a number of times in the seminar and I have since seen it mentioned in a number of other blogs, articles, etc on art quilts.

I am currently working on another quilt in my Antarctic series and have decided to play with incorporating a mylar outline of my pattern into my process. What I have done is place a piece of mylar over a black/white photo blown up to my desired size of quilt and traced on the mylar the breakdown of the photo into fabric pieces as well as a tentative color scheme - capturing gradations for various colors I intend to use. The mylar will serve as my pattern for cutting and placing fabric. Will let you know how it goes as I work with this piece in the next month. I am excited at the possibility.

SAQA Auction approaching!

Once again the SAQA Auction is almost upon us. The auction is the largest yearly fundraiser for SAQA and I have contributed a quilt for the past three years.

The online Auction begins a week from today on Monday September 10.  Link to the Auction details.  In addition, a selection of the quilts will auctioned at the IQF in Houston in November.

There are always several hundred quilts, all 12 inch square, to choose from. SAQA has some of the most amazing artists so be sure to browse early and pick a few favorites to bid on.

I decided to have a bit of fun with my entry for this year. I call it "I spy."

It is up to the viewer to decide what our friend might be looking out upon.