Finding Color with Rust

I've been having a lot of fun dyeing fabric. This particular experiment all started with a blog post I saw on Quilting Arts. The post described that you can use rust to not only add a rich orange tone to fabric, but also unique prints.

My Father in law turned out to have an awesome stash of rusty bits to start with and I'm loving the results!

Take your rusty bits and a piece of fabric that is ready to dye (pre-washed so all the starches are out).  Lay the fabric and rusty stuff on a metal surface like a cookie sheet and spray it all with a 50-50 mix of water and vinegar.  Then cover the whole thing with a plastic bag and set in a warm spot.

This is a peak at the fabric after a few hours of cooking.

Once you are happy with the color, put the fabric in 4 gallons of water mixed with 1/4 cup of salt to cure the color.  I left in there for a few hours, then rinsed out my fabric really well, used a bit of laundry soap on it and hung it to air dry.  And here is the result!

It's so interesting and exciting.  My brain is leaping and jumping with ways to use this!

And so naturally I had to start up another batch.  Can't let all that good rust go to waste.

Have you tried dyeing fabric with rust?

Spot of Tea?

I've been sewing like a maniac to relax and work through everything going on, but also to meet deadlines for the upcoming guild quilt show (so exciting!!).  For our Art Quilt group challenge we made a Quilted Deck of Cards -- yup one mini art quilt for each card.  It's going to be a real treat to see all 52 together. 
I picked the nine of diamonds to make and began by raw stitch appliqueing this arm from a tiny lone star that didn't work out in a previous project.  Once I had it on the white background, I decided the white was too harsh.  Too bright.  So, what's a girl to do?  How about have a cup of tea?

I rummaged through my tea stash and found some very very old tea that I know was at least 5 years old.  It was pomegranate flavored.  I dunked the tea bags in nice hot water and then a test dip on the edges of the piece.  I say test dip, but goodness me, if it didn't work out I would have been left with a piece that had tea on it.  Next time, I will use a scrap to test with.

Luckily, I was excited by the already changing color and decided to dive right in.  So, I did what any girl would do and dunked the whole piece in the bowl with the hot water and tea bags.  Brave or crazy?  I still didn't know.

I got all the fabric in the tea water and put the tea bags on the top and then walked away for a bit to let it marinade.

I checked it here and there and finally pulled it out after about an hour; once it had achieved a nice brown-like antiqued look.  I'm really quite happy with how the whites took the tea dye in a similar way and how the tea accentuated the embroidery on the background fabric!

I rinsed the remaining tea from the fabric until it rinsed clean and then hung it to drip dry.  A quick press and I was ready to sandwich and quilt it.  I had a little fun quilting it with some of the embroidery stitches from my machine in red and pink thread.

And the last step was to add the nine black diamonds.  I used a piece of Styrofoam to make the diamond stamp and dipped it in black fabric paint to add them.

In the end I feel like the tea really worked to get the look I was going for and I can certainly see using tea dye again!!  Have you ever tea dyed fabric?

Times Square {Project Quilting Challenge}

I've joined the fun over at Persimon Dreams and entered in the first Project Quilting challenge of season four.  It's a bit intimidated as the rules state you must create a quilt and finish it within the week and have the design based on the challenges inspiration.  This week we were asked to interpret "Square within a square within a square."  Simple enough, right?

{Project quilting challenge for Season 4: challenge 1, Square within a square within a square}


This piece is about 20 by 12 inches.  I started with the colorful squares in the background.

Then you will see several raw edge squares secured with embroidery stitches. I was inspired by Sashiko stitching for these.  And then I've been interested in trying "quilting on air" a process where you cut whole in your layered quilt.  Gulp!

Pillowcased and ready for quilting.  And here you can see the three holes I cut.  See the green from the cutting mat coming through?

After I quilted a bit, I zig-zagged the edges of the holes and then sewed over the opening with a walking foot to create a spider web look.  So scary and so fun!!  I could see using that technique again!!

A closer look at some of the detail.  By doing the three holes, I got better at maintaining the shape as I went on.  And I sure learned a lot.

Phew, what a challenge!  I'm happy to have stretched my creative muscles and tried new things!  Is it perfect?  Nah, but chalk it all up to practice and muscle memory and experience!  And now we rest for a week.  The next Project Quilting challenge will be announced next Sunday the 20th.

I will also be linking up with Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday.
Happy Weekend!!

Small Works

I'm excited to finally be showing you the two small works I created recently.  I created them for a call for entry from my quilt guild and the Katonah Museum of Art.  Yes, after being juried, these have the chance to not only be displayed in a museum of art, but to also be sold.  I'm pinching myself!!  And I admit they were really fun to create. 

Both quilts were mounted on 6x6 canvases.  I also finished the edges of the canvas with fabric and ribbon.

And, yes, those are small pieced crosses.  The pieces finished to 1/2 inch -- wow!  And then it's hand quilted.  I seriously must be nuts.  And it's possible that I'm getting the make small quilts bug.

I'll keep you posted on whether or not they are accepted.  My fingers are crossed. 

Fall 2012 Bloggers' Quilt Festival :: Off to the Pumpkin Patch

Off to the Pumpkin Patch Stats

Finished quilt measures : 16″x 32″

Special techniques used : whole cloth quilting, fabric painting

Quilted by : myself on my home sewing machine

Best Category : Art Quilt, Wall Hanging, Home Machine Quilted

I love this time of year, the cold weather is starting to settle in.  We wrap ourselves in warm sweaters or snuggle under quilts.  And I finally return to my sewing in earnest.  I am also excited that today is the start of the Fall Bloggers' Quilt Festival!!

These are put on twice a year by the amazing Amy from AmysCreativeSide and it's a fantastic reason to pour a cup of tea and read until you are so inspired you run off to start another quilt (or finish one!!) -- just click the button for all the other inspiring entries!

Today I'd like to share a new art quilt with you.  I'm calling it "Off to the Pumpkin Patch."  This quilt is a lot of firsts for me, but let's see how the idea for it came together. 

It all started with a call for entry for fall themed art display we will be putting together at work.  I have had a pumpkin quilt in my head for a long time, so it seemed like the perfect fall theme.  I started by sketching, first on a smaller scale in my sketch pads, and then larger right on fabric.

You see, I've been really smitten with painting on fabric since the start of the summer.  You can see how that's taken shape in my Sammy Quilt.  But, for this quilt, I wanted to try the whole cloth quilted technique that you do the quilting first and then add color through painting.  So, I attached my free motion foot and set out to quilt my sketch.

I quilted the normal three layer quilt sandwich using cream thread and more or less traced the pumpkin farm I sketched on the fabric.  And even though I will admit I was so very scared... this was so much fun! 

I found myself loose and the quilting stitches better than I've ever accomplished.  It really had a drawing with thread type of feel.  And as the farm emerged with all that fabric texture I was beaming ear to ear!  The next time I try this I think I'll try different thread colors.  The cream became challenging to later cover with paint. 

Has a lovely feel to it, doesn't it?  A part of me really wanted to leave it just like this and call it a success.  And I did leave it like this for days.  But, as the time passed I knew I had to try and paint it.

I started from the top not knowing where else to dig in.  Colored the sky, mountains, and roofs.  In case your wondering the fabric paint I used is called PROfab transparent which I sourced from Pro Chemical & Dye.  And I am painting on white cotton that is prepared for dye (PFD).

The paint has a fun quality to it once you mix it with water.  And I'm beginning to get the feel for how it will act when applied to a dry vs. wet quilt.  As you can see my fear melted quickly and I was happily lost in painting!  Once the painting was complete, I heat set it with the iron.

I wanted to give the finished quilt an art like finish, so went with an invisible binding method I found well described in this tutorial from Simply Robin.  I love the way the painting and quilting falls right off the edge. 

I'm still waiting for better daylight to take a picture that has more true colors and shows the quilting texture more prominently, but here you go.  "Off to the Pumpkin Patch!"  What I'm sure will be the first of many painted art quilts to come.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I'd love to have you leave me a link to your entry in comments!!  Happy festival!

Fall 2011 Quilt Festival :: Big Blue
Spring 2011 Quilt Festival :: Tribal

Just Creating

I have a piece I've started that I'm not sure what it's meant to be.  You see, I had the need to be in my sewing room.  My de-stress room.  And sew. 

I started by taking two remnants from a very soft sheet and sewing them together.  Then I took some brightly colored red and pink scraps and began arranging them in a circle-swoosh.  I used a dab of glue stick to hold these in place.

The next layer added was fabric paint.  Swirls and swishes added with big chunky brushes.  Dots and circles. 

Feels like it shows the harmony of my normal.  I see my normal as my days filled with bright and cheery bits and pieces which are just so to compliment each other.  I crave my normal these days.  These last feel weeks have been filled with worry and have been darker, less harmonious.

I instagramed this a while ago.  The framing of the image just begs for me to continue on.  It begs for me to fill in the focal point in the middle. 

What's to come and where's this going?  I don't know.  And I'm ok with that. 

This is turning a bit in a mental dump or artist diary of the time.  Perhaps to finally become an art quilt?  Right now it feels a bit like security.  Like my safety blanket.  Like things will be ok as long I keep dumping out the stress into this container. 

The lesson I am taking from this?  Fiber, fabric, and paint are my therapy.  They help me make sense of things and ground myself so that I can be strong. 

I have a feeling you are going to see a lot more of this scrap as I grow and change it.