Confessions of a Completionist

Moving?

2009-11-02T11:13:00.001-08:00

To all my friends from Escondido... does anyone have anything positive or negative to say about living off Bear Valley Parkway (about 5 miles north of the mall)? We're looking at a house in that area that seems like just what we wanted and I thought I'd get the local take on the area. Please email me with pros or cons. Thanks!

Lisa

September 21 MMQQ

2009-10-07T16:53:00.000-07:00

Here is the Monday Mini Quilt Quickie I made on September 21. See what happens when I can't get the computer to accept my photos, I get way behind!
It started with an ugly mauve hand-dyed. I gelatin printed some morning glory leaves using a blue violet paint. They were a bit indistinct so using a navy blue fine point marker I enhanced the image. Then I tried a new-to-me quilting design I learned in Laura Heine's class at Long Beach. I did not quilt the morning glories so they stand out, but they are not trapuntoed.

Finally I experimented with a new binding. I tore strips of fabric, folded them in half then wrapped them around the raw edges. I stitched around about 1/4" from the edge. Then I carefully unraveled the fabric beyond the stitching for a frayed binding. It was fun and different which is the point. Not that I'd do it for just anything, but it might be the perfect answer for an unusual quilt.

It's all about OPTIONS!
Lisa

2009-10-05T16:05:00.000-07:00

I thought I was finally going to be able to blog since the computer is fixed and the data is recovered. BUT I can't find my pictures! Argh! Soon, I promise.

Spring Has Been Revised

2009-09-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

Back in 1996 I made a jacket I call Spring. I was using a new-to-me pattern and instead of being smart and making a muslin... The neck was too large and it had the BIG shoulder pads popular at the time. I lined it with cotton, as was typical of my work in those days. I turned up the cuffs and added some extra prairie points for fun.

As one of my favorite jackets I wore it often and over time the cuffs became frayed and finally split. There were also a few stains on the binding. What to do...? Since I loved it so much I decided it was worth my time and trouble to remake it. I removed all the binding and tossed it out along with the lining. I recut it to my new short cardigan-style jacket pattern and assembled it.

I relined it using polyester satin which I stencilled using Stewart Gill paints. (Sorry I forgot to take a picture of that. Another day, 'kay?)

Turquoise fabric is hard to come by lately (have you noticed how fabric colors come and go in popularity, just like clothing colors?) so I ended up with a pink batik for the binding.

So this is my new/old Spring, back in my closet again. Maybe now it will find its way back into my fashion show.

On another note, I have some other older jackets I'm thinking about selling as-is. If anyone knows anything about the pros, cons and comparisons of Craig's List, Etsy and EBay I'd love a private email.

Thanks,

Lisa

Finally Done!

2009-09-09T14:32:00.000-07:00

Goodness, but it's been a long time since I posted anything here. My apologies, but I've had these show class proposals hanging over my head for quite a while. They are finally done (I'm printing photos as I type) and will be in the mail on the auspicious day of 9-9-09. Let's hope that brings me luck!

I have 3 class proposals for half day classes, 4 proposals for the sampler and one luncheon proposal. That was a lot of heavy thinking, organizing and preparing handouts, LOL!

Now to get back to some serious work. I have a jacket all ready to start and am in the final stages of finishing a group project with my mini group called Rhap Group. Can't show you that one since we hope to enter it into a show or two.

More soon, I have a paper jam to fix now...
Lisa

August 17th MMQQ

2009-08-22T04:42:00.000-07:00

Here is my Monday Mini Quickie Quilt, just a tad late. It's been finished for several days, but my new camera comes with a learning curve, LOL.

The background was an ugly grey hand-dyed with funky pink splotches on it (note to self: either mix old dyes more thoroughly or strain them using cheesecloth). I gelatin printed it using an intriguing mixture of old paint from the previous print (blues and pinks) and new paint (gold and copper) using a coreopsis leaf (again! hey, it's the best thing in my garden!). I also tore some random pieces of newspaper and tossed those on as well.

Needless to say I was less than pleased with the funky strips of ugly background fabric showing. I covered them with Misty Fuse and roughly pleated a coppery sheer on top. The edges were covered with a copper thread and decorative serpentine stitch.

To cover the ugly hand-dyed in the center where the leaf print was I free-motion quilted/embroidered a tree using a dark brown thread. It still needed more so I hand stitched copper beads on the tree as if they were blossoms.

Eh, not my favorite piece, but parts of it I really like (the beaded tree) and I learned what NOT to do next time, LOL. Isn't that the whole point of life?

Lisa

Happy Birthday Again!

2009-08-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

Last night we celebrated my birthday. A little late, but that's normal when you have a summer birthday and have to wait for people to return from trips, vacations, etc. Here's a picture of the cake my husband made for me, Boston cream pie, my favorite! I caught him just before he made the second cut, LOL. I also received a new camera, yay! so I will be learning how to use it shortly (as soon as I get a memory chip for it!). No more dinosaur of a camera that weighs a ton and stores pictures on a 3-1/2" disk!

Don't you just love birthdays that keep on celebrating?!

Lisa

Student Work from Mary Tabar's Class

2009-08-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

This summer I've been taking Mary Tabar's class in San Marcos. Estela managed to get her quilt done in time for the last class. I'm impressed with her timeliness and with her quilt!

Lisa

August 10 MMQQ

2009-08-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

Here's my Monday Mini Quilt Quickie from August 10. It started with a piece of PFD on which I drew dots with variously colored Sharpie markers. Rubbing alcohol was then applied to get some color migration. It sat in my "what do I do now" pile until I came across it this week.

My son happened to be with me so I had him select a variety of sheers from my stash (many were purchased when we lived in Bahrain where you can get lots of them for very little money). Using paper circle templates I stitched around the sheers then trimmed away the excess. Then I machine trapuntoed them using 2 layers of a polyester batting. Finally I added a low loft cotton batting and quilted it, circling each "bubble" then stippling to make the background recede. I like it and think it's an art quilt, but not your typical dark and tonal art quilt with a deep inspiring message, LOL. I guess I'm not going to be a typical art quilter (grin).

And today I turn 52. Happy Birthday to me! I plan on celebrating by doing whatever I please all day including brownies for breakfast and dinner out tonight with my son (the only one at home this week).

Thanks for reading my blog!
Lisa

Meow!

2009-08-10T17:41:00.001-07:00

I am finally starting to adjust from living alone to having the whole family back under one roof. It's quite a change and I enjoy spending time with all of them. Unfortunately I find I'm not getting nearly as much done! Too many temptations :-)

I had a show in Redondo Beach last weekend and as usual it has rejuvenated my enthusiasm for making wearable art. There's nothing like a room full of admirers to make you want to create new art!

Here is my latest jacket, hot off the presses (or sewing machine, Meow! The cats are my own design and a new technique as well: stenciled applique.

There are 5 cat designs in all and 9 patterns (4 of them are reversed).

I am in the process of making a quilt from the same cats in different fabrics.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but my cats are fused, then buttonhole appliqued in place. Of course you could satin stitch them or do turned edge applique also. If it goes over well I hope to make these into a pattern and teach it.

And keeping with my latest fun twist I've stenciled the lining as well. This one features a Laura Murray stencil of a tree and Stewart Gill paints.

Back to work,

Lisa

August 3 Mini Quickie Quilt

2009-08-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

Here is my mini quickie quilt for this week. I don't know why I never finish them until Wednesday, LOL.

On the gelatin plate I tried to hand draw some gold paint into starbursts or pinwheels. I wasn't that pleased with the effect so this was in my "dud" pile. Nevertheless I chose it to play with this week. (As in "Can This Fabric Be Saved?")

First I fused rust colored flower centers, then I added some long stems. The leaves are leftovers from an old jacket. After fusing everything in place the fun really began. I free motion stitched metallic copper thread (the one my Bernina does NOT like, argh!) around the gold, creating wispy flowers. I free motion stitched with green thread over the stems and leaves.

Finally I wanted to try a new-to-me finishing technique I heard about in Mary Tabar's class. I made a facing from leftover grey fabric and hand stitched in to the back. I will have to experiment with this idea further as I wasn't totally satisfied with the final result. The edges seem a bit bulky to me and the corners didn't work right. It also seemed to take a lot longer than traditional binding, but that may been just because it was new to me.

I will be in Redondo Beach on Saturday for a luncheon fashion show. Hope to see you there!

Lisa

More Catching Up

2009-07-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that another week has gone by already. I've been so busy!

Long Beach was fabulous! Just imagine a party with long time friends, plenty of new friends to meet and all the cool quilting goodies and eye candy you can imagine. Just too much fun!

I came home with some cool new ideas and lots of enthusiasm. Compliments on all the jackets I wore as well as on Da-Doo-Ron-Rendezvous were gratefully received and I made some wonderful new contacts in the quilt world. One of these years I hope to teach there as well.

And I when I came home there was Jake! I hadn't seen him since Christmas so it was wonderful to see him again. He's mostly settled back into his old room. Now we just need to get him to put a little more weight on. He's painfully thin (6'2" and 120 lbs) so I took him grocery shopping. I want to make sure there are plenty of good things for him to eat whenever he feels hungry. It must be working because he seems to eat ALL the time, LOL.

I did find time for my Monday Mini Quickie this week despite all the distractions. This one is all raw edged and several layers fused together, so quite stiff, but that's okay for an art quilt. The uppermost layer is one of the gelatin monoprints I made using a variety of paint colors. There are 3 layers reverse appliqued underneath and the edges further secured with free motion applique.

One further benefit of having Jake home is he brought me an early birthday present: a super new computer! I haven't loaded everything onto it yet (like my photo editing software) so you'll have to take my word for it that this mini quilt looks much better in person!

Lisa

Monday Mini Quickie Quilt Catch Up

2009-07-22T19:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry about no posts lately. I rarely get the chance to be on the "big" computer and have no pictures on my new laptop. Plus it has just been too darn hot to sew much.

On the homefront, my son, Jake, is moving back home. I've missed him a lot (we are a lot alike) and I'm glad he'll be around again. BUT. I had made his old room my studio and have had to move back into the tiny room I had before. Isn't it funny how we expand to fill any and all available space? Oh well, the move has been accomplished and I even found some things I was missing! About the only sewing I've been doing is my Monday mini quickie quilts. This one is from several weeks ago. I used fusible thread to stitch around the spiral stamped motifs then hit them with foil. Not enough bling so I loosely placed some fusible threads on top of the piece and foiled those. Better, but not much control.

On top of that I put a sheer embossed with metallic stars and stitched around the squares along the stamp outline. Then I cut away the sheer inside the squares. Better. Finally I added a fused curved-cut binding.

This piece was gelatin printed on a hand dyed mauve fabric with a rainbow of paints on the gelatin plate. The mauve (one of my least favorite colors) showed way too much so I put a green sheer on top and stitched around each leaf and added veins. Then I cut away the sheer outside the leaves and satin stitched the stem.

I've been wanting to try "rice stitching" by hand. It's supposed to look like grains of rice scattered on the surface. I don't think it was ideal for this piece, but it's all about learning what works and trying new things. I like the effect, but now I know it takes longer than I expected and more embroidery floss too! (I ran out and had to substitute another color.)

Finally I wanted to try fused squares on point for the binding and this piece got that treatment. Again, not ideal for this piece (I think it overpowers the quilt itself), but I'm still learning!

This week's piece was a pretty gelatin print, mostly turquoise with brush strokes of purple and pearly white. I was intrigued by some quilts that Melody Johnson did awhile back so I tried her fused matchstick technique in a MUCH simpler manner. The technique I used to get the circles was too difficult and not very successful, but I think I know a better way now so look for this again.

The circles weren't showing up well enough so I machine trapuntoed them. Then some of the matchsticks were coming loose (some of that old bad WonderUnder) so I covered it with netting and quilted it using a new-to-me quilt pattern of E's and M's. Needs more practice, LOL, but again, it's all about learning, stretching and trying new things.

No binding on this one, just a pillowcase turn followed by some really close-to-the-edge stitching.

I'm off to Long Beach tomorrow for the show so no posts until I return. If you're there look for me and my new jackets! My Bernina ensemble, Da-Doo-Ron-Rendezvous, should also be on display or at the informal modeling. I will be demoing at the Embellishment Village booth on Saturday. Hope to see you there!

Lisa

More From Sharpie Play Day

2009-07-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

This heat just makes me so lazy! I don't want to do anything when it's this hot. My kitchen was 85 this afternoon. No air conditioning at my house. Maybe for the summer I should sleep days and work at night...

Here are the last of the Sharpie experiments on Play Day last week.

I especially like the sense of direction she got with this piece. I believe she used a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol and did it on a fence.

These came out very intense. I can't wait to see what she does with them!

Another one showing just how much color movement you can get.

A beautifully soft flower

My next big chore is to take apart my studio and make it into a bedroom again. Jake is coming home for awhile. I'll miss the extra room, but it will be worth it to have him back. I missed him!

Lisa

Playtime with Sharpies

2009-07-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

A group of women meet at Bits and Pieces in Escondido on Wednesday afternoons for a free class. This summer we've been taking turns doing demos, but there's also sharing and you're welcome to bring projects to work on, too.

Last week I did a hands on demo about Sharpies and rubbing alcohol. Here are some of the results. (Sorry, but I didn't write down who the artists are.)

I'm sorry not to have blogged for awhile. My husband took command at his new job with all the requisite pomp, ceremony and company and I've just been too swamped! I'm hoping life will get back to normal now, whatever that is!

Lisa

Duckie Bathroom Complete

2009-07-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

It is so good to have a man around the house again! Pierre put up these shelves for the duckies and mounted the quilts on the wall as well :-)

Sorry about the wonkiness of this picture. Needless to say the quilts and shelves are straight, but I was back as far as I could go (practically standing IN the wall!) and it wasn't far enough.

It's a happy bathroom :-)

Lisa

Playtime with Angelina

2009-07-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

I've been having a blast playing with Angelina fibers and film. It was all the rage a few years ago and naturally I had to buy some, but I didn't really have time to sit down and experiment with them until recently. This is my Angelina fiber jacket. I call it "Peacock" because I stenciled peacock feathers in the lining.

A side view

And a closeup showing one of the quilting patterns on the Angelina.

To begin with I made sheets of Angelina and quilted them onto a matching background fabric for strength and stability. After all, clothing gets a lot of wear! I did a different quilting pattern on each color of Angelina. Unfortunately Angelina is one of the most difficult substances to photograph! Suffice it to say it looks better in person :-)

Here is a postcard I made using Angelina fibers, film, some trapped odds and ends and some beads.

And finally an upside down :-) picture of a greeting card inset made from a variety of Angelina techniques. I'm really jazzed about all the things you can do with these fibers and plan many more explorations.

I will be teaching a class (All That Glitters #418) on Thursday night at Road to California in January 2010 on Angelina as well as glitter and foiling. I just love bling! Sign ups started today and the class is filling quickly (only 8 seats left as of this morning) so hurry on over if you're interested. http://www.road2ca.com/classINFO.html

Lisa

Free Motion Applique Baby Quilt

2009-07-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

I finished the quilt version of my free motion applique class. Now it's all ready for my website update. Lisa

Happy 4th of Juny

2009-07-04T07:17:00.000-07:00

Today is a day to just kick back and relax, where ever you are...

This is Cushman who found the perfect bed on top of my daughter's tuba. Doesn't he make it look comfortable?

Enjoy your day!
Lisa

Another Free Motion Applique Totebag

2009-07-03T06:49:00.000-07:00

I wasn't happy with the photographs of my previous free motion applique totebag so I made another one. In this totebag I used black for all the free motion stitching so that it would show up in photographs.

And the closeup. Same exact applique, same free motion designs, but now you can see them! Next, the free motion applique quilt.

Lisa

Mini Monday Quickie Quilt

2009-07-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

I made another mini quilt on Monday. As usual I was working from a piece of fabric that I gelatin printed a la Rayna Gillman. This one had a rather urban/street/gritty feel. I wanted to put a gold with it, but none of them really worked. I ended up using a muted green with leaf skeletons on it. The symbolism appealed to me. Unfortunately you can't tell what they are so that is a lesson learned.

I'm not happy with this one at all. Not enough value difference and I don't like the over all feel of it. I tried to compensate by adding a streamer of beads, but finally gave up. If you have any suggestions on where else I went wrong, other than the value, please let me know.

The point of these exercises is to try new techniques and use the gelatin printed pieces that were languishing in a pile. I enjoyed figuring out a new design to weave the fabrics, practiced couching over raw edges and did a little foiling. I don't feel like I MUST make every piece a success. The important thing is to be free, experimental and QUICK, not to bang my head against the wall!

Pierre is home! Yay! It is such a relief to know there is someone around that I can turn to, no matter what.

Lisa

The Final Discharge Pictures

2009-06-30T04:33:00.000-07:00

Here are the last pictures of my experiments from our Rhap Group playday. I'm sorry but I was having too much fun playing to remember to take pictures of what the others were doing. You'll have to take my word for it that there was other great stuff happening.

This piece started out bright crayon orange. I used some 5-petal flower flower shapes that Jan's husband cut. I think they ended up looking more like starfish, but that's okay. Again I would clamp each petal next time and use a more diluted bleach/water solution.

About the only thing I can draw freehand is a tree so I played with a variety of solid fabrics drawing as many different trees as I could think of. The star of the show is the army green piece that turned a delicious gold. And that's my first ever palm tree, LOL.

Again I want to highly recommend that you invite a group of friends, grab a bunch of cleaning supplies that contain bleach (do NOT use anything containing ammonia as bleach and ammonia produce a toxic gas!) and have at it. Who knows what exciting fabric you will produce?

Lisa

Discharged Stars

2009-06-29T06:04:00.000-07:00

Jan's husband was cutting out plexiglas shapes so I asked if he could make something besides circles and squares. He made these fabulous wonky stars!

The fabric on the right is Kona black, but the fabric on the left is a multicolored commercial print. All pieces were accordion folded and clamped on both sides with the wonky stars. I was careful to line up the same points of the non-symmetrical stars. I only clamped them in two places and there was quite a bit of discharge creep (that's a fancy new technical term I just made up) underneath so next time I would put a clamp on each star point. Then they were dunked in the 50/50 water and bleach bucket for a few minutes.

Here is a closeup showing the interesting variety of colors that occurred in a halo effect around each star. Cool, huh?

Lisa

More Discharge Fun

2009-06-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

Again these were both done on Kona solid black fabric.

On this one I placed pieces of torn blue painters tape in random spots. Then I sprayed it using a mildew remover spray that contains bleach. In hindsight I wish that I had sprayed it more because the tape design doesn't show as clearly as I had wished.

This piece was accordion folded in both directions. Once it was a folded square I clamped a square piece of plexiglas on point onto either side. Then it was placed in a 50/50 solution of bleach and water for about 3 minutes. Next time I would make the bleach solution less powerful so that it would work more slowly. That way I think I would have better control of the results.

Lisa

Discharge Fun

2009-06-27T06:19:00.000-07:00

When the Rhap Group was here on Monday we experimented with bleach and cleaners containing bleach. Here are a couple of my pieces from that day.

Originally these were both Kona solid black. On this piece I pole wrapped it on the diagonal, scrunched it up and tied it in place with thread (I couldn't find any string). I painted Soft Scrub on the uppermost folds. When it had visibly changed color I slipped it off the end of the pole and dunked it in water to stop the action. We had several water buckets set up to keep dunking it in cleaner and cleaner water. Then we rinsed it in vinegar and water followed by clean water. The last step for me was a wash in the washing machine using Synthropol.

The flower was one of those rubbing plates. Jan got the brilliant idea to paint the Soft Scrub on with a foam brush, then we pressed it onto the fabric. Cool, huh? I put a little too much Soft Scrub so mine is messier than hers. Definitely a learning curve.

And before you write to tell me about Anti-Chlor, I know, I'm going to order some in my next Dharma order, just didn't have any on hand. That said I have pieces I did in 1997 with the same products we used this time and they are still fine, no holes.

I highly recommend play day. Get out some cleaning products and some solid-ish fabrics, set up a workstation or two outside, invite your friends and have at it!

Lisa