Discharging the day….

First of all, I need to jump ahead to a post that I haven’t written yet…..

Last week, I took a class from Linda Cantrell and I still haven’t blogged about it, but I want to jump forward to something that she showed and tell how it relates to what I did today.

She showed us two small quilts that she has made…..

She then showed us how she uses a Clorox Bleach Pen…..

…..to make the shadings in her vase. Working with a shape similar to her vase, she uses the small tipped end of the pen to draw onto the fabric. After a few minutes, the bleach discharges the color in the fabric, leaving a wonderful design (see the brown design on the left)……

Now, let’s fast forward to this afternoon. I have been looking for another project to try more hand applique and thought that one of these types of wallhangings would be fun to work on and doable to finish.

I started out by searching my computer and the internet for photos of sunflowers, stems and leaves, coming up with these (among others)….

My plan is to make a vase that holds a single sunflower, along with several leaves.

Next I started looking for vase pictures…..I know that I could draw one pretty easily but always feel more comfortable with having something to look at. I found this one…

I used my copier and played with all of the patterns until I got it the size that I wanted it.

THEN, I started thinking about Linda’s technique of using the Clorox Bleach pen so, after a quick run to the store, I was ready to give it a try.

After looking at this design, I decided to try to replicate it by cutting it out as a stencil and using the bleach to take the color out of the fabric.

First step was to cut the template out of freezer paper and carefully iron it onto the fabric. In this photo, the fabric looks blue, but it is really a deep purple….

I then squeezed out a puddle of bleach and started going over my stencil with a small paintbrush. The results were instantaneous!!!!

I quickly realized that the color would never discharge completely, so I took of the paper and washed the fabric. Here is the result…..

You can see that I did a bit of bleach doodling around the edges as well!!!

It didn’t look like much until I put the vase outline over it…..

My original thought was to use colored markers to fill in the spaces, but finally decided to simply use a black Pigma pen to add some outlines. I also added a little bit of color in the flower centers. Finally, I realized that the contour lines at the top of the vase had spread and gotten too big, so I used another marker to make them slimmer and to add a bit of shadowing…..

The final step was to prepare it for appliqueing, this time using Linda Cantrell’s method of preparation….I will blog about that later….

I am REALLY excited about this result. Now I guess that I need to go back and finish designing the wallhanging, but in any event, I had a GREAT afternoon!!!

Flower Pots with Mom

Several weeks ago my Mom returned the applique blocks that I had put together and sent to her to finish the raw edges……

Now I need to figure out how to set it.

– Do I put sashings around the blocks, and if so, what color(s)

– Do I leave the blocks in a lump like this?

– What type of border…. pieced, appliqued flower vines (if Mom is willing to do more flowers)

I had hoped to play with this in EQ7 but am finding it a bit “less than intuitive”!!!

I may end up printing the photos out and playing on paper.

Class Time

A few weeks ago I took a two session class at my local quilt store (Dragonfly Quilt Shop) about doing hand applique. It was taught by my friend Cleo…..

and she proceeded to teach me several new techniques!!!!

The first thing that she taught was how to applique a stem…..

…. Cut a bias strip that is 1 inch in width.

….. Fold in half lengthwise.

….. Pin the folded edge to the inside curve

….. Applique into place

…. Use sharp scissors and cut away 1/2 of the underside layer of the stem fabric

…. fold the wide fabric side over the smaller one

…..pin in place and applique!!!

This method provides a smooth and thin bias strip for stems etc.

Now, my friends cant believe that I am actually planning to do some hand work, so my photo had to be taken…..

Now I just need to find times to actually practice the technique!!!!

Friendship Tree

In 2007, I had the opportunity to attend the International Quilt Festival in Houston. One of the purchases that I made was the book, “Hand Applique By Machine”, written by Beth Ferrier.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t had time to spend learning the technique, so I decided that this was the week to do it!!

So, I found a simple project and started to learn. Beth teaches a method to use freezer paper patterns and then use a water soluble glue stick to turn the fabric edges over the paper. You sew the pieces to the background using a tiny, tiny blanket stitch and monofilament thread.

I had always wondered about using a glue stick because I couldn’t figure out how you would remove the paper. BUT, Beth has the easy solution……you simply place a wet rag over the back of the piece and let the glue soften slightly. You can then cut out the back fabric and remove the paper.

I am glad to have learned this technique and hopefully I can use it in my next quilt. Here is the finished piece……

And…..JUST A REMINDER…..you still have two days to join in the giveaway…..Go to the 101st post and leave a comment.

Personal Quilt Show – Entry #2

This past week I showed my first quilt, so today I thought I would reveal my second quilt……

The year was 1985 (July to be exact) ……I had started taking quilting lessons when this one was made, so it is much better quality than the first quilt. It was made for another baby that was due right around my due date. As a matter of fact, I was working on it the day that my son was born.

For this quilt I used patterns that I had copied out of some now unknown magazine and used a proper hand applique technique.

I didn’t have access to a quilt frame, so this one was thread basted and then lap quilted without any sort of hoop. I did most of it while sitting at our table with the quilt spread out flat in front of me.

I remember being VERY proud of how it turned out, even though it has now been almost 24 years since I made it.