Now I better get to work organizing my display!!

In the previous post, I mentioned that I thought I needed to cut down the amount of shine in the upper right middle area. I picked out some of the mylar with a pin, and added a bit more on the lower edge of that area. I then added some more silver quilting, and lots more beading. I may have gone overboard with beads, but I was going for the look of a snowstorm, where you see some of the flakes close-up, and as far as you can see, there are snowflakes, and when it is really cold everything shimmers.

This is a closeup of the lower right corner.  When seeing this in person, the sunprints of the stars, and patterning from the salt looks like more snowflakes, giving it more depth as you look at it, that is somewhat lost in the photos.

Somehow, while doing more to this piece, I decided to make another one.

I began by playing with dryer sheets this time. I had painted a bunch of them with pearlescent and sparkle paints.  I then cut out more snowflakes from the dryer sheets. I didn't add Wonder Under to them first, like I did with the organza for the first one.

I had 2 different types of dryer sheets. They each shredded differently, with one leaving a very hairy look.

This photo shows the white ice fabric that I cut up. These scissors from Fiskars are super for detail cutting. They are very sharp, and easy on the hands for detail cutting. I also used the same blue fabric I used in the first piece.

This photo shows how I laid the shredded dryer sheet along the edge of the blue fabric, on top of the batting and backing. It also shows a couple of the snowflakes I cut from the dryer sheets. When placing these, I found that when I ironed over things with a pressing sheet, the dryer sheets sort of stuck in place on the blue fabric.

Some of the dryer sheet ripped with out enough shredding for the look I wanted. It had too straight an edge, so I needed to do some additional shredding.

I did this by by teasing some of the fibers out, using a pin, until I had more fluffy, feathery fibers showing.

This photo shows the piece after I added cut ice fabric over the shredded dryer sheets. This gives more depth to the ice formation I was trying to show. The ice fabric was backed with Wonder Under, but the dryer sheets were held on just from ironing over them. I had to be real careful I didn't lose anything before stitching it all down with the quilting.

The snowflake closeup photo shows the stitching with the silver metallic thread I used for the quilting. I did the same swirl and snowflake quilting I did on the first piece, adding little snowflakes and more glitz.

This photo shows the finished quilt. I quilted around the edges of the ice fabric, and quilted a fern-like pattern over the frayed dryer sheet, letting the stitching overlap into the blue fabric like the fingers of icy frost on a window. I bound the edges with a white wool yarn with some iridescent fibers in it. I couched the yarn on with the silver thread used for the quilting. I decided to leave this one without beading. It is 11"x14" in size.

Here is the greenhouse ready for play. The plants did quite well this summer in the pond. I do miss being able to see the back yard, now that the plastic is on the wall again for the winter. The right photo is a piece of the ugly fabric wet, and on a paint board, ready for paint.

Left is a piece painted with Super Sparkle and blue, right is painted with orange, yellow, and a bit of green and blue, along with some metallic copper. I love the shimmer that the metallics and Super Sparkle give to the fabric. These will probably be able to be used much easier now they've had their "face lifts".

I have been collecting used dryer sheets for a while, and finally decided to paint a few. This photo shows a few of them on a paint board. (I think I need to do some board cleaning- they are getting a bit of a pant build-up on them) The upper left piece is a shimmery organza painted blue. I used metallic and Super Sparkle paints on the dryer sheets, and tryed to do an assortment of colors.

Here is a group of dryer sheets that have been heat set, and pressed flat. Wonder Under release paper or parchment paper is needed on both sides while using the iron to be sure they don't melt. You can see how sheer they are. I really like how they turned out. I have been thinking of using the orange ones for fall leaves. Now more ideas can start forming in my cluttered my brain.

This is a small quilt I made for the Stay at Home Challenge on the Quiltart list for those of us not able to go to Quilt Festival in Houston. We were to make small pieces 9"x12" in size or less for the The "Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts" project
These quilts will be auctioned off, with the proceeds going to Alzheimer's research.

At first I had no idea what I was going to do, but then I began to think how I have been feeling lately, and some ideas began to form. I have been dealing with some bad fibro flares lately, and some days I can't remember friend's names, or find the words I want to say. It feels like my brain has chunks missing. That gave me the idea of making quilts with pieces missing to represent the memory loss from Alzheimers that so many people have to deal with. I feel lucky that my memory losses are temporary, and can't imagine knowing it would never get better.

Missing Pieces and Butterflies is made of pieces of my painted fabrics, a couple partial sunprints, and commercial fabrics. It is satin stitch seamed with some of the pieces missing, leaving holes. The Echinacea flowers are photos printed onto cotton fabric, cut out and appliqued, with a couple petals missing from one flower. The butterflies were added to show there is hope. I backed the holes of this quilt with a painted dryer sheet in blues and greens.

The detail shot shows some of the quilting detail, and the flowers.

Missing Pieces and Faded Flowers is made in the same way as the above piece. In addition to the faded and partial sunprints, I have included some ink-jet transfers of flowers that ended up very faded looking. The center transfer is of pink strawberry flowers, and there is a faded rose in the lower center green section. Leaves and vines are quilted along with a butterfly. I painted inside the qulting lines with Super Sparkle paint for the hearts and butterfly. The holes in this one have a shimmery organza backing them.

This detail shot shows the transfer of the strawberry flowers over crazy patch fabric. This also shows the quilting better.

I will be sending these two out this week, and in a month or so, they should be put up for auction or sold some other way with the full profit going to Alzheimer's research.

 

Here is a real prize that I found this summer. I had been looking for over a year for "silk" oak leaves that looked close to the real thing. I finally found this bush of them, and now it has been stripped of it's leaves for quilts.

This is the first quilt that I made using the leaves from above. I made this for this past Fast Friday Fabric Challenge. Each month we are given guidelines for a quilt to be made in a week. This month, we were to make a quilt using something as embellishment, to show movement. Now that fall is really here, the first thing I thought of was the Oak leaves I had, and the fall winds that blow the leaves around outdoors. I began with a piece of fabric sunprinted with oak leaves, cut apart and arranged, using a metallic gold-flecked ivory fabric as a background.

I couched a yarn with the colors in the fabric over the edges of the sunprinted fabric pieces. I used a variegated thread in fall colors for the free motion quilting around the sunprint leaves and to add the veins. There are also wobbly curved lines quilted in with clear thread. The quilt edges are bound with the yarn used around the sunprints. I then added the "silk" Oak leaves over the top, as if they were swirling in the wind. I only stitched the veins in the leaves, and let some of them drift off the edges. The photos show the quilt on a pre-stretched artist canvas. The quilt is 11"x14" in size, on a 16"x20" canvas. I am trying to decide just how to mount it. I don't know if I will leave the canvas white, or cover it with a colored fabric.

The lower photo shows a few more leaves laid on the canvas bordering the quilt. I am not sure if I will add the extra leaves or not.

If anyone has any ideas, feel free to add a comment.

Now off to work, getting ready for my next show.

I then cut out pieces for the house and roof, using the pattern I made. I decided to give it the look of an English cottage, and it also ended up a single story house instead of 2 stories as in the photo. The windows were made using slivers of "roof" fabric with a shimery organza for the glass. I used colored pencils for the shading of the shingles, and colored behind the windows with green and blue to give the feel of the sky or bushes reflecting on the "glass".

Here is the basic house. I placed the pencil drawing of the house under backing paper from Wonder Under, then fused the pieces to the backing paper for the general shape of the house. I could then peel it off the backing paper as a unit for fusing onto the batting.

Here is the house fused over the sky on the batting. I then began putting in bushes, trees, and a few flowers. I was trying to give the feel of standing at the end of the long walk, looking toward the house, with flowers blocking the view of the walk in some places. I cut flowers from fabrics that had flowers printed on them, and shapes from other fabrics. On the right is my favorite kind of scissors for cutting the tiny, fussy pieces. They are Fiskars brand, with straight handles and a spring, and are very sharp right up to the point. No cramped hands, or dents in fingers from regular scissors.

The next photo shows the skeletons of the trees after I added more branches, thread painting with variegated thread. I also quilted the siding and roof detail with clear thread. You can also see the flowers that were not fused, yet, next to the quilt, along with some of the "swiss cheesed" fabrics I cut flowers out of.

This is the nearly finished quilt. I have not trimmed the edges, or added a binding, which will probably be a yarn of some type. I may also add some beading to some flowers, and a few "shrubs" that look like they want a little something added. This was a bit different from last winter's houses. Stones and Walls Quilts.

Here is a detail shot, showing the front of the house. I would love to live in a cute looking house, totally surrounded by flower beds. I do have a lot of flower beds, now, but in my dreams, they are even better, with no weeds.

Now that we had our first killing frost last night, I guess it will be back to gardening with fabric until spring comes again.