This has been an interesting trip. For one, I was sick in the night before I left and didn’t get much sleep. I was sick driving the 3 hours to get there. Once I got there and got to work setting up, I wasn’t so nauseous. I was in a different time zone, so I guess I went to sleep VERY early every night.
There were two quilt guilds last year that put this show on. This year only one guild hosted the show. They did a wonderful job, hanging more than 200 quilts. I marvel at all the work they do for three days. One of the girls purchased some discharged cloth from me last year and used it in a small art quilt that was on display, adding her own touches. She is very creative.
I was going to blog while I was there as I had the laptop with me, but, gosh, I was just too tired to think at night, preferring to sit and mindlessly watch a movie that I barely had interest in. Interesting how the tv can take over your mind and lead it around!
There were a couple of ladies interested in the samples I made using dryer sheets. I told them I would be blogging about the process I used to make these, so here goes. This piece was posted in a prior post.
I started with a piece of off white cotton twill or canvas. I used a black calligraphy pen and did a lot of handwriting on it, completely covering it with writing. I chose a white background because I was going to be layering sheers over it and white or off white makes sure you can see through the sheers very nicely. The twill was a bit brighter than I wanted since I was going for an antique look. A pot of coffee sitting for too long was the impetus for coffee staining the twill. I simply swished the cotton in the strong coffee, rinsed and ironed dry. It stained it enough for my purposes, but it could sit in the coffee longer if desired.
Any type of sheers will do for this project. I used an analogous color scheme choosing colors from one color family. Again, this works well for the antique look. I had a home dec sample piece in tan colors and a piece of rust colored dryer sheet. I used BoNash bonding powder to fuse my pieces, but glue stick would also work just fine. You only need enough to hold the pieces down until you can stitch them. But I fused the first sheer, using a pressing sheet so that I would not get fusible on my iron. I also used dyed cotton scrim and dyed cheesecloth, arranging and fusing them in a pleasing manner on the twill.
The photograph was done with a June Tailor product called “Print ‘n Press”. I don’t usually use the iron-on transfer product, but I had some sitting here and this was a sample so I used it. This product is used in an inkjet printer, with instructions for using on the package. The photo is a copy right free photo I got somewhere on the internet. It also has an aged appearance. I never got around to stitching it down, so it is just glued for the moment. I used another small piece of taupe colored home dec fabric below the picture with the word SEA stamped on it, using the “weathered” stamp set. That is also glued on. I did some hand stitching around the outside edge and intended to do more, but ran out of time. An old piece of grosgrain ribbon was glued on. As you can see, the handwriting still shows through the sheer parts. Since the word SEA was used, I had to attach a blue button, and blue and orange are complementary colors, so that worked well. I sewed an old piece of crocheted lace on it. I really didn’t get time to finish this piece and was going to add more stuff to it, but this is where it stands at the moment.
Kim, I hope this small tutorial helps you to make your own small wallhangings. There was another girl interested in this too, but I didn’t get her name. All I know is she said I “rocked”, when I said I would post the process on my blog. A bamboo placemat, purchased at a yard sale and disassembled, giving me lots of small bamboo rods, provides a hanging rod. I used the rest of the grosgrain ribbon, tied to the bamboo, to hang it with.
Art Journal---A Creative Journey 