Beam Me Up, the Borg Dogs Are Here!

This is probably one of my dumber moves, but I dropped everything to make this silly little quilt for a Quilting Arts challenge. I have no idea if the phrase "Resistance is Futile" is copyrighted so they may not even accept it! Oh, well, done is good, eh?

I used a variety of threads, Angelina fibers and beads to (hopefully) make it look like he's just appearing out of the transporter. I grunged up the text bubble to make it a little more interesting (just because I could!)

All right, back to "real" work...

Art Fairy -- Latest Class Sample

Where does inspiration come from? Anywhere and everywhere! This fall I'm offering a class in digital collage and mixed-media quilting and need a sample. I found the images at one of my favorite sites, www.scrapartist.com. I created the collage yesterday and assembled the quilt today!

I started with a digital "paper" as my background, then used several flourish brushes to add a little more texture to the background. A bit of this and a bit of that and the Art Fairy was ready to go.

My background is a great mottled batik in lime green and turquoise. There were a few "blah" spots so I added texture using two of my favorite techniques--a painted bubble wrap "stamp" and sequin waste stencil. I backed the black and white print with fusible and cut the swirls with my Sizzix die cutter (how cool is that?!?). I cut an extra swirl out of freezer paper to use as a quilt stencil and then echo quilted about the fabric motifs.

I'm off the search my bead stash for just the right treasures to finish this off. Just another whimsical day in fiber art paradise!

Digital Collage Postcard

I'm not sure the photo does this little piece justice, but it was great fun to make. The background is a digital collage printed on photo fabric. I hand-stamped the word "sing" then fused the fabric to stabilizer. It is possible to work hand embroidery through fast2fuse but I don't recommend it... I do like the texture, though, so it was worth it. I wish I had more time to add stitching, but "done" is good!

Sweet Strings

I'm working on yet another class sample (ah, the life of a tame, local teacher...) and decided to challenge myself to use pink. Rich, saturated magenta, fuchsia -- bring it on! -- but soft, sweet pink is so not my style, hence the challenge. In the interest of time, I started with a few strips from a couple of Moda jelly rolls/honey buns, plus dusty batiks. I added in some green and red from my stash, one of the ugliest Westminster florals ever, and away I went. (Yes, Kaffe Fassett is the greatest colorist around, yada yada yada, but I think he purposely adds in some really vile colors just to drive us crazy).

I will always love my autumn strings quilt better, but this one is growing on me. So there!

Fiber Postcard

This is one of two postcards I'm donating to the silent auction that benefits Wendy's Wish. I painted the top fabric as a class sample using Setacolor paints and rock salt. Hand embroidered and stamped -- it is a silly design but done is good! Stitches include knotted buttonhole, colonial knots, buttonhole wheel, pistil stitch, twisted chain, stem and bullion knots.

Play Day -- Serendipity Collage

I've wanted to use my Golden paints and mediums to create a mixed-media collage for a while, and finally did it yesterday. Painting on canvas is very different than painting fabric--faster drying, more discrete layers so less color mixing, etc. It was fun but you can guess that the "just go for it" nature of the project caused a wee bit of anxiety at times!

I named the piece "Serendipity" for one of the words in the background. You'd have to know it was there now because it is covered up with paint, but that's the fun of it. It is 8" x 10" and includes some of my favorite images and colors. Hand embroidery through the canvas, paper and paint was interesting but not difficult since I chose a simple stitch. Now that I know what I'm doing and have the right supplies, the next one should go together a bit easier.

Time Flies, Take Two

On to "plan B" for Miss Smarty Pants here... The digital ground yielded excellent print quality but the fabric was stiff as a board. I knew the medium would change the fabric hand a bit, but didn't expect as drastic a change -- a stitch like knotted buttonhole is normally created with a "scooping" motion, but that simply wasn't possible.

I treated another piece of fabric with "Preserve Your Memories II" spray and, per the manufacturer's recommendation, ran it through my dye ink printer (the first was printed on my Epson). The fabric is still quite easy to stitch on, but the color is slightly different and quite a bit of the detail was lost. I have some smaller pieces of the Aida cloth left and want to play around to find the optimal combination of fabric treatment, printer, etc. I may end up printing on my favorite EQ Printables and doing the stitching through waste canvas.

I used Finca cotton perle 5 and a hand-dyed cotton perle 12. Next time I would work a row of 8 as well before stepping down to 12. Live and learn!

Time Flies

When the ideas come fast and furious, there is never enough time in the day to do it all!

This piece is a digital collage that celebrates creativity while noting the fleeting passage of time. (I know, yada yada yada!) It is made of a variety of images and brushes from Designer Digitals. I'm planning to use it as part of a fabric collage if my printing "experiment" works. I coated 16-count Aida cloth with Golden Digital Ground and printed directly on the fabric. I will add some free-form hand embroidery and then start layering.