Betsy True Designs

My Palm PDA Cover

2008-05-06T10:03:00.000-04:00

I decided I need a new cover for my Palm T/X PDA. The old one, which was attached by a narrow spline that slid into a groove on the Palm, was just a cover. I wanted something where I could keep the most used SD cards with the Palm at all time, so I decided to make one. Here's the result. It was kinda fun, so I may make more, so I can change them when I get bored. It's spring, so I made happy flowers. I only used scraps I already had with fusible on them, except for the ultrasuede, that was a scrap without fusible. The spine is on the left, there's a piece of fabric that goes from the roughly 2" x 3" cover. I made the spline from a tiny piece of template plastic and fused it into a folded piece of fabric. The lower picture shows it open, with the little pockets for SD cards. I used ultrasuede for this side to be gentle on the screen. The cover and the ultra suede were each fused to a piece of Timtex(TM). The little pockets were stitched on. The cover was quilted, then the spline hinge was placed between the two pieces of Timtex which were satin stitched around to join. Kind of fun.

Green Postcard Challenge!

2008-04-22T12:09:00.000-04:00

I took part in an Earth Day postcard challenge at http://www.greenpostcardchallenge.blogspot.com . The challenge was to create a postcard for Earth Day using only recycled materials and materials already in your stash. There had to be some fiber in it. Here is my entry and the explanation that I posted to that blog. Check out the others at the above link!

I wanted my postcard to not only be from recycled materials but to present visually an Earth Day theme, so I chose Please Recycle! Litter is very harmful to wildlife. Birds and fish have been killed by eating or getting trapped in litter. The gray fish body was made from a scrap from a 3D project and was already quilted in a circular pattern that looked to me like fish scales (sort of). The fins, tail, sequin around the eye, pop top and Please Recycle logo as well as the vertical pieces behind the fish are from a Diet Coke can that I cut up and stitched onto the project. The Timtex postcard base was left over from a previous postcard project. The background is cut from a sheer that I used to mop up all my leftover paint in a painting workshop. The sand is a scrap from a strip pieced quilt project years old. The hook is a Christmas tree ornament hook. (Funny story--I was looking for a leftover hook--usually they turn up all over the house for months after the holidays. Could not find a one, thought I was going to have to dig out the Christmas decorations. I bumped a pile of fabric on a table in the sewing "studio" when an ornament that was behind the fabric fell to the floor, hook attached!) Beads and thread were in my stash.

This was a great challenge. I had never sewed aluminum from a can into a project before, though I had read about it. I had shears for cutting metal already, and the can cut up quite easily. Now I'm thinking of new projects and ways to use metal from the cans.

Rayna Gillman Soy Wax Batik Workshop

2008-03-11T17:09:00.001-04:00

This was a great workshop on using soy wax to batik. Rayna is a great and generous teacher (Rayna, is that what you told me to write? LOL!) No, Rayna is not paying me to say this, I had a blast and learned SO MUCH, both from Rayna and my classmates. If you get a chance to take this or another class from Rayna, or to have her come to your guild, do it! You can tell I enjoyed it by all the pics I posted!

More Soy Wax Batik

2008-03-11T13:12:00.000-04:00

More pieces from Rayna Gillman's class at Potomac Craftsmen this past weekend.

This piece was layered underneath the turquoise piece when I did it, resulting in the greenish splotches.
It's got all kinds of marks; some of Rayna's tjap, some potato masher, and of course the resist of the fabric. I wanted to do something bright. I painted the whole thing yellow, then used fuschia around the edges. I kinda like it.

This one was next, using up some of the dyes that I had left. I also used some wooden words I got out of the impulse bins at Michael's, painted the back and stamped them. This also has the blotches of teal on it. It was the other half of the piece of fabric I used for blotting, so the dye came through this piece, too! There's a hibiscus tjap of mine creating the resist, on top of a white on white....

This was one I batiked and screened. It's also the one I drew on, that I decided to blot. The birds were a wooden tjap that I had. It's on top of a white-on-white with birds. This is actually the back of the piece, it's a little lighter.

This is the side I screened from. There's paint on top of the wax batiked birds that will come out, I guess, when I iron the wax out. I like both sides a lot, and different ones better at different times.

Blue and Fuscia Madness

2008-03-11T13:02:00.000-04:00

Here are two more pieces from Rayna's class. The triangles and circles are made with was using one of Rayna's tjaps. Thanks Rayna! The fainter white circular pattern that is all over the fabric is because I started with a white-on-white fabric in that pattern. The white- in the white-on-white acted like a resist. This is going to be a great way to revive a lot of white-on-white fabrics from my traditional days.

These two pieces are companions. I did the above one first, and really liked the purple I got when I mixed the fuschia and turquoise, so did another one with more turquoise and less fuschia. The teal blotches are because I tried to draw little lines on another piece, and they spread too much, so I used this (before I painted the rest of it) to blot it. I kinda like the blotches. I may spatter some more teal on top of it. Or ink in some of the "scales." The scales were done using hardware screen, as shown below.

Tools of the trade, Soy Wax Batik

2008-03-11T12:54:00.000-04:00

We were using all sorts of things to stamp the wax, including whips (for beating egg whites, not the other kind) and mashers and hardware screen! This made lovely fishscale looking patterns that you can see below on the silk and also in the blue and pink piece above. (The silk was not mine).

Rayna Gillman Soy Wax Batik Workshop

2008-03-11T12:53:00.000-04:00

So this is what I did this weekend: took a workshop from Rayna Gillman through Potomac Craftsmen I've always loved batik, so I jumped at the chance to take Rayna's workshop and I'm SOOOO glad I did. It was a blast! I'll be Batik Girl from now on. Now, if I can only learn how to milk soy beans so I can make my own soy wax flakes, LOL!

In the picture below, we are oohing and aahing over one of Cynthia's pieces. That's Rayna, 2d from the left, looking at Cynthia's work. After this, I don't remember anyone's names, I'm SORRY!!!! If you know some of these people, or ARE one of these people, let me know and I'll put names with the faces.

This participant already did batik, but not with soy wax. Her piece is wonderful, and half the piece is a mirror image of the other piece, as it was folded in half when she painted it.
I think some of her marks were made with potato mashers.

This participant was working with her own woven fabric. I loved the texture!

New Year's Resolutions

2008-01-04T10:41:00.001-05:00

I have some quilter's New Year's Resolutions:

Spend time every day in the creative process, at least 15 minutes.
Do 10 pieces this year in my nature series.
Have discipline!
Try a new technique.

Some others that I'm not bold enough to make public at this time.

Do you have resolutions? Quilting or otherwise?

I also have the usual nonquilting resolutions--exercise more, weigh less! Which sort of go hand-in-hand, you know.

And most importantly, be kind to others!

I've include pictures of some of my 2006 Journal Quilts, recently returned from their travels. One, the most realistic wave above, is still travelling with the Creative Journey book.

See the Houston Quilt Show by VidCast

2007-12-06T11:09:00.001-05:00

Did you know that Bonnie McCaffery does vidcasts on various topics? They're great and they're free! She did one on the Houston International Quilt Festival that is just fantastic (and I'm not just saying that because my Journal Quilt shows up in it!) If you couldn't get to Houston, this is a great way to see some of the absolutely fantastic quilts that were there. Click here to see the video. It should start playing right away or you can click on one of the other formats shown. Be sure to look at some of Bonnie's other vidcasts. Thanks, Bonnie!

Books for Sale!

2007-11-15T17:22:00.000-05:00

I have books for sale! Mostly quilting but some other books, too! Check them out at my Amazon store front.

Journal Quilt Process

2007-11-04T17:33:00.000-05:00

I've had a few requests for my process for this quilt, so here it is. Try to stay awake. I started from a photograph I had taken. You can see it in the picture below. I enlarged that to 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches, traced it, reversed it and then took it to a copy shop and enlarged it to the dimensions I needed (17 inches by 22 inches). I decided to only make one of the chairs.

The quilt was essentially fused onto the white background, so I started by bulding the components such as the chairs by tracing the shapes onto fusible web and then fusing those to the desired fabric (chair or railing in the pictures below), cutting out and assembling on a pressing sheet by fusing the overlapping places so that the pieces would become one unit. Here is the chair and the deck railings during assembly.

To make the trees, I wanted something that gave the indistinct look the leaves had in the original photograph, seen as they were through the snow and in the background. So I fused web to the back of several shades of treen and blue gray fabric and some sheers, then rotary cut them and spread them over the white velvet I was using for the background. That was a slow process, as I had to make sure the pieces were right side up. I only ended up with a couple stuck to the iron. I blew a lot more onto the floor as I worked!

I used my cool little iron to fuse them down. My intent was to put a sheer over everything to make them more blurry, but it was too much. The fused fabric didn't adhere to the velvet really well, but it adhered to each other and to the velvet long enough for me to stitch it down. I used an angular stipple to stitch it down, as the trees were pine trees. I also thread painted the trunks before stitching the leaves down.

I used white velvet for the snow as I thought it would give the depth and light absorbing qualities that snow seems to have, and I think I was successful, but it was a pain to work with. All of the white you see, except for the seat of the chair, is white velvet. The background is a solid piece and then cut pieces were applied on the chair arms and the deck railings. I really learned a lot from this project which is part of the Journal Quilt Process!

Sandra Betts Journal Quilt

2007-11-02T23:12:00.000-04:00

One of my fellow Quilt Art members doesn't have a blog to post her journal quilt, so I'm hosting it on mine. Isn't it incredible?

Sandra Bett's entry in the 2007 Journal Quilt Project. 17"x22"

Sandra Betts Journal Quilt detail.

A Page from My book: Journal Quilts 2007- Journal Quilt Project
Sandra Betts
Saint John, New Brunswick
Canada
MY FUNDY SHORES
Creative Quilting techniques used:
painted distressed tyvek(page 148); stitched woodgrain( page 227);yarn,beads and shell embellishments(page219);confetti composition on bubble wrap base with tulle overlay; thread painting; shiva paintstiks;encaustic wax; puff paints;dimensional sculpting on wire mesh covered with hand dyed fabric;coloured pencils.
I have participated in the Journal Quilt project from the beginning. It has been a great opportunity to digress from the mundane and step out of the box. For this ,the project finale, I was inspired to document my home province of New Brunswick in the shape of the project and to use as many unconventional techniques as I could include to convey the beauty of my surroundings. I especially enjoyed being able to sculpt the driftwood by quilting wire mesh between hand dyed fabric and using bubble wrap as a base.

Journal Quilt 2007

2007-11-02T21:39:00.000-04:00

Here is the Journal Quilt I did for the 2007 Journal Quilt Project. Currently showing in Houston. This quilt is 17" x 22". Based on a photograph I took in Colorado.

Where Faeries Dream

2007-11-01T00:31:00.000-04:00

Here's the 3D project I've done as part of an "Art Train" challenge for the art quilt group I belong to, Q&A Quilt Artists

The Big Picture

2007-08-23T11:38:00.000-04:00

ROTFL!

I couldn't resist a picture of my "studio" after I sent my friend Lynda (www.matlyndesigns.com) a picture of a work in progress and she said I was organized. I had to send her the "big picture."

My "New" Iron

2007-04-16T17:31:00.000-04:00

OK, I succumbed to this little beauty on eBay. It's a Sunbeam travel iron, complete in its own little heatproof box. It works (boy does it work--it gets very hot!)
and is very heavy. I can't wait to use it. The cord, on the side in one of the pictures, is in perfect condition.

Fabric

2007-03-27T08:41:00.000-04:00

2006 February Journal Quilt

2007-01-16T21:09:00.000-05:00

This was my journal quilt for February 2006. 8.5x11 inches. It is included in the book: Creative Quilting: The Journal Quilt Project, edited by Karey Patterson Bresenhan. Thanks, Karey! Karey has just posted the rules for entering the last and final year of the project; it's going to be different in that it will be only one quilt, 17x22 inches and must incorporate, and cite by page, techniques from three quilts from the book. Mine is on page 138 and uses fusing, beading and machine and hand quilting.

Quilt Collage

2006-12-30T21:50:00.000-05:00

This is an example of a photo collage created by Picasa.

Florette the Doll

2006-12-18T17:24:00.000-05:00

I took a class yesterday with Julie Booth (www.threadborn.com). We made this doll, Florette (although I'm going to give mine a different name). She's not finished yet; she needs hair and some additional beading, I think. The face is thread sculpted and drawn. I used some scraps of sheers to wrap around as the underskirt and overskirt. The rest of the fabric is, variously, rolled or folded cotton batiks. In the class kit, Julie provided the face fabric, embroidery thread, and various other items along with the use of pencils and pens to do the drawn-in features.

Julie is a very good teacher and very generous. I'm looking forward to taking another class from her in the spring. She does a lot of 3D work. Thanks, Julie for a great time!

2006-08-08T08:57:00.000-04:00

Close up of "En Pointe", part of the QuiltArt@10 exhibit, in Lyon, France in June 2006. Detail from previous picture of Mama's Blue Period.

Quilt Expo, Lyon, France, June 2006

2006-08-07T23:10:00.000-04:00

My quilt, "Mama's Blue Period" has been travelling as part of the "I Remember Mama" exhibit. It was in Lyon, France for Quilt Expo in June. (Wish I coulda gone with it!) Eliane Lomax, who is in my critique group, Q&A Quilt Artists (www.quiltartists.com) took these pictures of the quilt in place in Lyon.

What's neat is that my other quilt, also in Lyon as part of the QuiltArt at 10 exhibit, is also visible in the first picture, just over the left shoulder of the man in the black shirt.

Thanks, Eliane!

Pam Heim Quilt from Tiny Boxes class at the Artful Quilter

2006-08-04T13:06:00.000-04:00

Pam Heim is one of the students in the recent class I taught, based on my quilt Tiny Boxes, at the Artful Quilter (www.artfulquilter.com). She sent me these pictures. Wow, Pam, a lot done in less than a week! Pam promises a new picture once it's quilted.

The class uses a simple log cabin variation block, 5" square, to explore color in a main color and its compliment on the color wheel. Pam's interpretation is wonderful, in black and white with accents that range from red to yellow. So fun!

Two detail shots follow. I love the choices. Her black and whites include grays that are true gray and others that shade a bit brown, but they all work together so well. Those reds and yellow really pop.

2006-03-30T08:21:00.000-05:00

Koi Polloi, copyright 2006 Betsy True. All rights reserved. I recently gave a talk at the Quilters Unlimited Mount Vernon group on Ruth McDowell and my experience taking a class from her. I showed off my Koi quilt that I began in that class in 2002 and only recently finished. I had a great time at the meeting and saw a bunch of old friends. Hopefully they enjoyed it as well--it seemed as if they did.

2006-02-01T06:43:00.000-05:00

Cineraria #1. No, this isn't mine, though I wish it were. This is by a former student of mine, William Steck, who has gone far beyond me! We're both big fans of Ruth McDowell; he took a class from me on Ruth's methods and went on to take classes from Ruth. I'd say he needs no more classes! This is just beautiful and seems to explode off the page. Note the fractured inner border and the quilted centers of the flowers in the following detail. Bill said he did the stitching when he couldn't find the fabric he wanted for the cetners. Beautifully done!