Painted Threads

heArtfest Blog Hop Day 3

2012-01-27T09:00:00.000-06:00

Get your heart on for this round of LOVE infused tutorials!

Check out Diana Trout's, Woven Heart Valentines Card

Jane LaFazio's Sketchbook page to Valentine Card (& envelope too)

Traci Bunkers, Printed Heart Ice Cube Trays: Quick Printed Backgrounds, Part 1
Lyric Kinard, Saturday, Jan 28 Lovin' my Thermofax Screens

Judy Coates Perez, Sunday, Jan 29, Chocolate Peppermint Cream Heart Cakes

Kelli Nina Perkins, Monday, Jan 30 Heart shaped felted soap

Melanie Testa, Tuesday, Jan 31

Tracie Lynn Huskamp, Wednesday February 1 Valentines Message Pillows

heARTfest Blog Hop Day 2

2012-01-26T10:00:00.000-06:00

Get your heart on for this round of LOVE infused tutorials!

Check out Traci Bunkers, Printed Heart Ice Cube Trays: Quick Printed Backgrounds, Part 1

Jane LaFazio's Sketchbook page to Valentine Card (& envelope too)

Diana Trout, Friday, Jan 27, Woven Heart Valentines Card

Lyric Kinard, Saturday, Jan 28 Lovin' my Thermofax Screens

Judy Coates Perez, Sunday, Jan 29, Chocolate Peppermint Cream Heart Cakes

Kelli Nina Perkins, Monday, Jan 30 Heart shaped felted soap

Melanie Testa, Tuesday, Jan 31

Tracie Lynn Huskamp, Wednesday February 1 Valentines Message Pillows

Off the Print Table fabric blog hop

2012-01-26T06:00:00.000-06:00

My friend Lynn Krawczyk has been making fabric and you could be the lucky winner of a fat quarter of it! Just leave a comment over the next 5 days and on Tuesday I'll randomly pick a winner.

Here's what Lynn has to say:

"I never feel more connected to my art then when I print my own fabric. The only down side to it is that I often find myself wishing I had the space to print yardage and to duplicate the ones that I fall madly in love with. Now with Spoonflower I can!

And not only that, I can make it available for anyone else who finds it interesting and inspiring! There’s no better way to celebrate the opening of a new shop then to do a giveaway and not only ONE giveaway but FIVE!

Go take a visit to my Spoonflower shop

and pick out which print you like best. Leave a comment on this blog post and you’ll be in the winning to win a free fat quarter of the one you chose. Easy! And make sure you visit all the blogs on the blog hop for a better chance to win!"

Blog Hop Schedule

Mon Jan 23 - Lynn Krawczyk

Tues Jan 24 - Jo James

Wed Jan 25 - Kelli Nina Perkins

Thurs Jan 26 - Judy Coates Perez

Fri Jan 27 - Judi Hurwitt

heARTfest Blog Hop Day 1

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-06:00

Get your heart on for this round of LOVE infused tutorials!

Check out Jane LaFazio's Sketchbook page to Valentine Card (& envelope too)

Traci Bunkers, Thursday, Jan 26

Diana Trout, Friday, Jan 27, Woven Heart Valentines Card

Lyric Kinard, Saturday, Jan 28 Lovin' my Thermofax Screens

Judy Coates Perez, Sunday, Jan 29, Chocolate Peppermint Cream Heart Cakes

Kelli Nina Perkins, Monday, Jan 30 Heart shaped felted soap

Melanie Testa, Tuesday, Jan 31

Tracie Lynn Huskamp, Wednesday February 1 Valentines Message Pillows

8 of Cups - finished

2012-01-23T11:38:00.000-06:00

After the quilting was finished, I marked out the finished size: 24" x 60", sewed a tight straight stitch just inside the marked line, then trimmed it to size.

To finish the edge, I chose 3 different cords that picked up the colors in the quilt and used them to make a couched twisted cord binding.

DETAILS

In the home stretch...

2012-01-18T09:06:00.000-06:00

The quilting is done!

I chose to do my curvy meandering fill stitching that is reminiscent of leaves and flourish-y shapes in the white background areas to contrast all the linear stitching on the cups and flourishes.

I stitched with Bottomline thread which is generally used in the bobbin, it's a lighter weight thread, because I wanted the stitched lines to be more subtle.

Next:
cropping and binding.

What I learned...
Because I like experimenting and trying things differently, I always learn something new with every project. Sometimes I discover a great new way of working and sometimes it turns out that my initial idea created unexpected challenges or wasn't as successful as I'd hoped.

As you may recall, I used wool rayon felt instead of batting, because I wanted a flat smooth finish for this piece. I used felt a friend had given me that she most likely had sitting around for about 15 years. I had two issues that popped up from using this.

The first one was the stiffness of the felt, compared to batting, made it more difficult for manipulating under the harp of the machine. I think 30 inches would be the widest I would recommend working with felt. Wider than that and I could see some definite limitations to quilting the surface smoothly. I had to roll and fold the piece to work the central areas which sometimes got a little cumbersome.

The second issue came about after I fused my top to the felt. I had a fair amount of rippling of the top due to it not fusing completely in all areas or staying fused for the duration of the quilting (it's possible there may have been a finish on the felt that kept it from adhering), as well as some possible shrinkage of the felt by the high temperature and steam used while fusing.

After the cups and flourishes had been quilted there was a significant amount of buckling in the white areas, I don't think the fusible web was even sticking anymore at that point, luckily the open areas were not very large, maybe 9" at the widest so it didn't present too much of a problem and it all smoothed out nicely with the quilting.

Conclusion: would I use felt again? Yes, but I would take size into consideration, if I was working on a particularly large piece I would probably use a lightweight batting instead. I would also pretest the wool to make sure I didn't have a problem with adhesion when fusing. I think a newer piece of wool felt wouldn't have had the adhesion problems that this one had, I suspect it had a finish on it.

8 of Cups progress

2012-01-13T11:22:00.001-06:00

I have been really loving spending time stitching! There are some other things I really should be doing, but I am feeling so in the groove right now, I don't want to stop.

I decided to continue using monofilament for stitching the feathery flourishes since I do not want to obscure this part of the painted surface with lines of thread and because the monofilament is relatively clear, the more noticeable holes punched by the needle through the fabric gives another kind of visual patterning that I think is kind of interesting.

Next, I'll begin to fill in the white areas using Bottom Line white thread.

Here's a photo I took yesterday of Chicago's first winter snowstorm, stay warm.

Have you ever been challenged by monofilament?

2012-01-09T13:44:00.000-06:00

Monofilament is clear thread, similar to a light weight fishing line that is a perfect solution when you need to add stitching but don't want the thread to be prominent. I personally love MonoPoly by Superior, it's a strong, matte, polyester thread that comes in clear for light to medium colors of fabric and smoke to be used with medium to dark colors.

Monofilament can be technically challenging when sewing if you don't make a few tension adjustments to your machine and adjust how your spool unwinds.

The biggest problem: Tangling and breaking. When you slow down or stop sewing and the tension is let up on monofilament, because of its natural elastic springy nature, it keeps unwinding and spins around the back of the spool, causing the thread to break.

Using a thread stand helps but, as soon as the tension is off (ie slowing down or stopping) the thread tends to spin around the spindle either above or (worse) below the spool. Snap!

Solution: place the spool in a bowl next to the thread stand and run the monofilament up through the top hook of the stand and then over to the machine.

Use a thread guide on your thread spindle to help control that active thread.

Second problem: Tight thread tension. Monofilament, like metallic thread, requires a looser tension setting on the machine.

Solution part 1: Loosen the top thread tension, the lower the number the lower the tension.

When I first started quilting 20+ years ago, it was not recommended to put monofilament in your bobbin as well as the top. I can no longer remember exactly why, but I've never had a problem, maybe the quality of the thread is a lot better now. Also some machines are just finicky about thread, if your machine has issues, try something like Bottom Line in the bobbin.

Solution part 2: Loosen the tension on the bobbin case. Make a quarter turn on the top larger screw, usually counter clockwise. I guess that depends on how you're holding the bobbin, for mine if the thread is on the left side, it's counter clockwise.

It's easy to check if it's looser by letting your bobbin dangle when holding the thread. It should drop down a little bit. If you are afraid to mess with the tension screw on your bobbin case, buy another spare and mark it with a dot of fingernail polish.

Lastly I recommend using a top stitch needle, my favorites are the titanium ones.

Following these easy steps you should never have problems stitching with monofilament.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T11:52:00.000-06:00

Indigo and I took in the new year at a tavern in the neighborhood that hosted a wig themed new years party. What fun we had! One thing I'll really miss about living in Chicago is being able to go out for a night of fun and walk home or just hop in a cab.

I wanted to start the new year off with a great meal. I came across a recipe for an apricot stuffed roast pork loin that sounded fantastic but I decided to make a few changes by using dried apricots and cherries and roasting it over a bed of root vegetables.

I went to one of the butchers in the neighborhood, and asked for a boneless pork loin, so he pulled out a whole side of pork about two and a half feet long with ribs attached and cut a gorgeous roast for me, cutting it away from the ribs and tossing them on top before wrapping it up.

January first was a day of howling icy cold winds and I was so glad I didn't have to go anywhere, but relax and cook a fine meal.

Roast Pork with Apricot, Cherry and Shallot Stuffing with mustard sauce and Root Vegetables

1 cup cubed bread, toasted in oven or skillet

1/2 cup chopped shallots

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 C dried apricots, quartered

1/4 dried cherries

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 (3- to 3 1/2-lb) center-cut boneless pork loin roast (3 - 4 inches in diameter)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 tablespoon of whole grain Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon flour

6-8 whole garlic cloves

4 chopped carrots

2 red potatoes 1/2" cubed

1/2 large onion rough chopped

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Make stuffing:

Cook shallots in butter over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add dried apricots, cherries and 1/3 cup chicken stock and cook, stirring until fruits are slightly softened and stock is reduced, about 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in bread, parsley, salt, and pepper.

Chop vegetables and toss with olive oil, spread in bottom of roasting pan, salt and pepper to taste.

Stuff and roast pork:

With a long knife, make a hole for stuffing that runs lengthwise through pork loin about 1 ½ - 2" wide.

Pack with stuffing from both ends, pushing it toward the center.

Pat pork dry, rub with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Heat heavy skillet over high heat until very hot and brown pork on all sides.

Transfer to the roasting pan on top of chopped vegetables (I tossed the ribs on top of the veggies along the side for more flavor) and roast in middle of oven until a meat thermometer (avoid stuffing) registers 158-160°F, 45 to 50 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and let stand 20 minutes.

Remove roasted vegetables to a serving bowl and keep warm.

Mustard Sauce

Add flour to ½ cup chicken stock and stir until flour is dissolved.

While loin is standing, straddle roasting pan across stove burner. Add 1/2 cup white wine and any juices that run off pork to pan, deglaze by boiling over moderate heat, scraping up brown bits and reduce by half. Add 1/2 cup chicken stock/flour and mustard stir until it begins to boil and thicken. Serve on side.

It came out heavenly. The perfect hearty winter meal to start the year off right!

Things were humming along and then...snap!

2011-12-31T07:30:00.000-06:00

Isn't it ironic that my free-motion presser foot breaks at strength?! LOL

Well as frustrating as that is I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised, this machine is over 20 years old and it is my favorite so it gets a lot of use. Luckily I found a replacement online pretty quick and have ordered a new foot.

I've been stitching the cups first, adding strong black lines to echo the illustration style of the vintage anatomical heart engraving and using monofilament across the rest of the cup to secure the fabric but not add as much visual texture.

Happy New Year!!!

I am definitely ready for a new one, things have got to start getting better!

Pre order Quilting Arts TV Series 900

2011-12-27T16:00:00.000-06:00

Earlier this fall, I taped three segments for Quilting Arts TV series 900:

For the first one I demonstrate a variety of techniques for discharging fabric using two less toxic products; Color Remover by RIT and DeCorourant. I show a couple shibori type methods with the RIT product and use freezer paper stencils, stamping and printing with thermofax screens with DeColourant. The two articles I have in the most recent Quilting Arts magazine and the Feb 2012 issue cover these products and techniques.

On the second segment I demonstrate machine quilting the Christmas tree skirt I designed for last years Quilting Arts Gifts issue and this coincides with some of the information I covered in the article on machine quilting in the October issue of Quilting Arts.

And in the last segment I paint with acrylic inks on cotton fabric (April QA issue), demonstrating layering color, stamping, creating a watercolor look and drawing with acrylic ink in quill pens.

Quilting Arts TV Series 900 - Pre Order now

Featured artists include: Charlotte Angotti, Margaret Applin, Ana Buzzalino, Diane Rusin Doran, Jamie Fingal, Debra Gabel, Candy Glendening, Helen Gregory, Laura Heine, Leslie Tucker Jenison, Heather Jones, Susan Brubaker Knapp, Barbara Olsen, Judy Coates Perez, Pat Sloan, Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero, Sarah Vedeler, Elin Waterston, and Terry White.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T09:00:00.000-06:00

May your holiday be blessed with good food on the table and loved ones around you. I raise a toast to you good friend, that your life be filled with peace, love and happiness. I am so grateful for all the wonderful friends I have met teaching and online from around the world, my life is richer from the experience. Namaste!

Swedish Magazine Interview

2011-12-22T07:30:00.000-06:00

Last September 11th, I met with the editor of the Swedish Quilting magazine Rikstacket for an interview. The streets of downtown Chicago were unusually quiet on that somber 10 year anniversary, but the sun was shining and it was a lovely warm day. We met at the Art Institute for lunch and chatted about my work process, the differences between teaching in the US and Europe, exhibiting work and life.

It was fun to receive a copy of the magazine this week, not being able to read a word of it, lol, but enjoying the wonderful quality of the photos and printing and getting a taste of the European quilt world.

The Best of Quilting Arts

2011-12-20T07:30:00.000-06:00

I just received my copy of the Best of Quilting Arts and was thrilled to see my art on the back cover!

This book is really a nice compilation of articles from the first 10 years of Quilting Arts magazine. I am so happy my article about using teabags and other paper ephemera with fabric to make small wall hangings was included in this wonderful book that is filled great techniques and big beautiful photos of lots of gorgeous artwork.

Are you going to International Quilt Festival Cincinnati?

2011-12-18T13:55:00.000-06:00

This will be my first time teaching at IQA's newest location. I've never been to Cincinnati and am looking forward to spending a long weekend there this spring. Hopefully I'll still be in Chicago then and can make a road trip out of it instead of fly (so I can bring more stuff, lol).

If you'd like to take a class with me at festival I'll be teaching:

Tea & Ephemera Thursday, April 12th

Color Theory, Friday, April 13th

Heavy Metal Play Day, Saturday, April 14th

Each of these classes are process based with lots of time to experiment and try out new techniques and media with minimal supply lists. Check out the catalog and sign up now!

Interested in a cool new online class option?

2011-12-13T12:16:00.003-06:00

STITCHED is a collection of 20 online video workshops by 20 talented fabric artists. Students have access to all 20 workshops and can choose to view and work on the projects any time of the day, any day of the week. Registration opened Dec 1 and the workshops kick off on Jan 1 and run through June 1. Registration is only $89.

My friend Deborah Boschert is teaching a workshop titled, "Branches, Buds and Blossoms: A Botanical Fabric Collage." She includes videos on selecting fabrics, adding surface design, composing and improvisational hand embroidery. Click on her name for more info about her workshop.

My friend Kelli Nina Perkins is also teaching a workshop on her fabulous Rolling Pin Sampler.

This looks like a great opportunity to try out a lot of different techniques for one great flat fee. Check it out!

New color removing article in Quilting Arts magazine

2011-12-07T14:32:00.001-06:00

I wanted to let you know I have a new article in the December/January issue of Quilting Arts magazine about discharging fabric with an inexpensive and easy use product from Rit. I began experimenting with it and found a new method of using the product with shibori and had great results with hand dyes and commercial fabrics.

It's the first of a two part series of articles on removing color from fabric. The next article using DeColourant will be in the February/March issue.

These articles coincide with the segment I taped for Quilting Arts TV series 900, that should be airing soon.

Painting Canvas

2011-12-03T12:05:00.001-06:00

This week I had a need to paint so I pulled out a big piece of canvas, threw a layer of gesso on it and drew a big octopus. Indigo's always telling me I should paint on canvas more.

I painted the octopus body with acrylic inks.

and painted the water and seaweed with regular acrylic paints. The water is actually more of a teal blue but the camera seems to have a hard time getting that color.

I love the golden orange and teal blue colors together, opposites on the color wheel, they really make the image pop.

I knew it needed more patterning of some kind, so Indigo suggested I make it a blue ring octopus. Which seemed perfect, because I needed some more dark values to balance the dark the eyes.

Now I need to get back to less fun and creative work, filling out class proposals, contracts, etc., but as things move along I'll post more photos.

8 of Cups progress

2011-11-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

I am finally getting some time to work on my latest piece. I decided I want the quilting to have less loft and dimension and instead have more stitched illustrative details, so I am using wool felt instead of batting. Luckily I had a big piece of yellow felt that a friend gave me during a recent purging that was just the right size.

I placed a layer of Mistyfuse between the felt and the painted top and did the same with the back. I wouldn't do this with batting because the fusible web penetrates the batting, glueing both the top and back together reducing the loft of the batting, but for this project that is not a problem.

For the back I used left over fabrics that had mistyfuse already adhered to them from the Agave quilt I made several years ago. I don't do fusible applique very often so the fabrics have just been sitting on the shelf not getting used.

For the quilting on the cups, I am using back thread in an illustrative way, using it to create more visual dimension that looks more like drawn lines.

That's it so far, I don't think I will make very fast progress on this piece right now. I have a very busy couple of months ahead of me, not only with the holidays, but I need to start clearing out possessions and get my place ready to put on the market in January. I am planning to move back to California in the spring. I need to stop living in the limbo I've been in the last three years and take my life back and that begins with moving and getting my divorce finalized. Never thought I'd be starting my life over at this age, but hey if it doesn't kill ya, it will make you stronger right?

A day out with my sister

2011-11-22T12:48:00.001-06:00

Over the weekend my sister Deb came to visit me from Maine for Thanksgiving. With finances being so tight we haven't seen each other in 2 years, but a month ago we were able to find a flight on JetBlue for $80 roundtrip from Boston to Chicago to split, so this holiday has even more to be thankful for.

On Sunday we headed over to my favorite local gallery Packer Schopf to see the closing of Brian Dettmers exhibit of incredible carved books. The bonus was getting to meet artist Kathy Halper who also has an exhibit in the gallery this month.

I love Kathy's work, she does stitched drawings that explore the lives of teens in social media. Her images come from sometimes disturbing and often very humorous posts on facebook dealing with sex, drugs and the loss of privacy and innocence. Her work is so timely and relevant and perfectly executed in neutral colored floss on linen.

After the gallery, we walked over to my favorite coffee shop La Colombe, but had to stop at this dumpster when we saw it's public service message

Mmmmm hot coffee on a cold afternoon!

Cool Japanese style fabric gift wrap tutorial

2011-11-20T07:00:00.000-06:00

Check out Diana Trout's Furoshiko gift wrap tutorial.

Need help resizing jpgs?

2011-11-19T07:00:00.000-06:00

Check out Gloria Hansens great video tutorial on resizing a digital image.

Chart a Course Making Gorgeous Decorative Paper

2011-11-18T08:24:00.001-06:00

Check out Jill Berry's Geo Papers tutorial, making abstract design papers that reference maps, to use for a multitude of projects.

Experimental Letters!

2011-11-17T08:41:00.001-06:00

Check out Lisa Engelbrecht's tutorial on Experimental Letters. I love the retro look these initial letters have. Very fun, I'm going to have to try making some of these.

Kelli's posted a new sparkly holiday tutorial

2011-11-16T08:45:00.001-06:00

Make a Whimsical Spool Garland that you can repurpose after the holidays. Plus, sign up to win a copy of the Quilting Arts Workshop dvd "Stitch Imagery: From Photo to Fabric Fun," a leather bound journal, fantastic paper packs and more! Hop on over for another day of ArtSpark.