After long silence...

I'm back to post my Hoffman Challenge entry for this year.

This year's fabric with the giant pink and lavender roses is not my style, so when I tried to imagine what else the flowers might like, I came up with feathers.  The shape and color of the flower suggested a flamingo body, and I took it from there.  The design is my attempt to capture the look of a vintage travel poster.  It was rather simple, but seemed to take me an extremely long time to do, perhaps because of lack of commitment.  This was my first attempt at free motion quilting on a contest entry, and it's not too bad, I think.  I don't have detail shots, but if you click, you should be able to see.

What else have I been doing?  I've made several charity quilts and am working on some Alzheimer's pieces.  I've also been traveling--we spent three weeks in China and Korea, and will be going to Spain in the fall.  I've also been to Missouri to stay with my mother and sister, and will be doing that again soon.  So life is busy, just not on the sewing front.

Framing

I recently prepared some pieces to submit to a local art gallery and decided to frame two of the small ones to set them apart from hot pads. I know there are different ways to frame fabric art, but this is what I did. I was happy with the results.

I bought an inexpensive frame with glass, removed the glass and all paper filling. I discard the glass because I don't care for the look of fabric pieces behind glass. Then I cut a piece of foam board the size of the frame. I like to use foam board instead of a mat board because I think it's easier to cut and work with, but it is a bit too thick to go back into the frame easily. I solved that problem by cutting and peeling back the layer of cardboard on one side, right where the little doo-hickies that hold the cardboard backing go. That makes the board compress so that it will fit into the frame.

Then I used temporary spray adhesive and pins on the corners to hold the piece in the correct place on the foam board. Then with a long heavy needle and strong thread, I made a tiny stitch through the board and the piece, trying to hit the ditch where the binding is attached. I repeated this stitch around the edges, tying the ends. The stitches and the cuts in the foam are hidden when the original backing of the frame is replaced.

Then the foam board goes back into the frame, the backing is replaced and the holders are twisted back in place, and here it is. Not too bad, relatively easy and inexpensive. It also has the advantage of not damaging the piece in any way, so you or a future owner can change your mind.

After posting, I realized I had an earlier, briefer post on this method, and had credited the idea to Deborah Boshert of Deborah's Journal. She should have credit for the idea, but I take credit for shaving down that foam board! Although it still takes muscle to force it into the frame, this helps a lot!

1,000 Quilts To Houston

Ami Simms is taking 1,000 Alzheimer's quilts to Houston again, so if you're going to be there, pay a visit.

Time to Reveal?

Geometry in Bloom 22 x 22

Machine applique and quilting, fabric manipulation (texturing, weaving) beads

Today is the deadline for the Hoffman Challenge, so it should be a good time to post my entry.  I scheduled this post before I left home, then deleted it.  I've seen some beauties on the web, and don't have much confidence in mine.  However,  I decided what the heck, and here it is.  (Because of Picassa, I could retrieve the picture.  Did you know that unless you specifically delete a photo, it stays in your Picassa album, even when the post is gone?)

I didn't like the challenge fabric.  I don't like this color, a minority opinion, I know.  The design seemed to be too prominent for a secondary fabric and not strong enough to be a focus fabric or to fussy cut.  I didn't intend to enter.  But once this idea came, I went with it.  I love the colors, and especially the ombre background fabric, and it was fun to make.  Whatever the outcome, I actually like this the best of all the ones I've made.

After a week babysitting grandchildren,  I'm heading off to Australia as this posts.  See you in mid-August!

Fixed?

Thanks, everyone who offered suggestions about the bleed.  I tried Tide stain stick, and it faded it a bit, but I could also see more bleeding appear around the edge on the front of the quilt from the wetting.  I decided against a full washing because I was afraid of worse bleeding that would come through to the front, and also I was concerned about too much shrinking with the wool batt.  That would have been a totally different look than I had planned, and I don't know how it would have affected the total look.

So, I took out some quilting stitches, and used something called Pentel dye sticks, which seem to be very waxy and crayon-like.  It then occurred to me that actual crayons might work too, so I added them.  Wish I'd thought of that first because the color match was better and the sharper point worked well with the pattern on the backing.  Then I used a hot iron to set both and remove the waxy stuff.  It's better; it looks like a slightly darker section of the fabric, and doesn't jump out at you like the pink did.  But if you look closely you can see something is odd.  (There is actually less pink visible in reality than in this picture.)

I was afraid I'd made the wrong choice and was too timid, but just heard from someone with a horror story about trying to remove a bleed with Synthrapol, so I feel better.  Next step will be to distract by adding a very elaborate label!

I'll also try to remember that the oil spill is worse.

Help!

Just now when I unpinned my challenge quilt from where it had been drying after I spritzed it and blocked it, this is what I found.  It's the back, it does not show on the front, and this is the worst one of two spots where a particular fabric seems to have bled.  I tried dabbing it with a solution of Synthropol, but it didn't help and I'm afraid rewetting will make it worse.  Any ideas?

I'm feeling a bit ill about this, but unless someone knows what to do, or I think of something, I think I'll just trust to the judges' mercies.  The only other way I know right now is to wash the whole thing with Synthrapol, on the assumption that it's ruined and nothing can make it worse.

P.S.  Several people on the Dharma website said they had used Synthrapol to remove bleeding from quilts or  pieced blocks.  So maybe I'll try that. Scary.  But I guess the Synthrapol would prevent that nasty fabric from bleeding more, which is what I'm really worried about.   I have to bind the quilt first though, so this will be a tense time.

You Can See the Elephant Now...

Time to reveal my Hoffman Challenge entry:

From this:



to this:


I Dreamed of an Elephant 29 x 35

I really did dream of an elephant: Since paisleys are originally Indian, I looked through my art books for Indian designs, seeing if that would give me an idea for this fabric, but I had no success. A week or so later, I dreamed an elephant with trappings featuring this paisley tree design. This is a rather common Indian or Moghul motif; I'd put it in the subconscious memory file, and it popped out later. Deciding on a setting for my elephant was much harder. I combined two Dover book drawings to make the elephant and rider, drew the palanquin myself based on other designs and paintings, and then I was stuck. After lots of thinking and advice, I abandoned my original idea, and planned the arch based on Persian carpets in The Grammar of Ornament.

I enjoyed this project. No matter what the outcome, it's the first challenge I've made that doesn't feel wrong to me--not my style, not what I intended, not satisfactory. I missed it when it was gone!

More Glimpses and a Poem

The Blind Men and the Elephant
by John Godfrey Saxe

There were six men of Hindustan,
to learning much inclined,
Who went to see an elephant,
though all of them were blind,
That each by observation
might satisfy his mind.

The first approached the elephant,
and happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
at once began to bawl,
"This mystery of an elephant
is very like a wall."



The second, feeling of the tusk,
cried, "Ho, what have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear,
This wonder of an elephant
is very like a spear."


The third approached the elephant,
and happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
thus boldly up and spake,
"I see," quoth he,
"the elephant is very like a snake."



The fourth reached out an eager hand,
and felt above the knee,
"What this most wondrous beast
is like is very plain" said he,
"'Tis clear enough the elephant
is very like a tree."

The fifth who chanced to touch the ear
said, "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
deny the fact who can;
This marvel of an elephant
is very like a fan."

The sixth no sooner had begun
about the beast to grope,
Than seizing on the swinging tail
that fell within his scope;
"I see," said he, "the elephant
is very like a rope."

So six blind men of Hindustan
disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
exceeding stiff and strong;
Though each was partly in the right,
they all were in the wrong!


I'm quilting my Hoffman, and since you're smarter than the six blind men, you can probably fill in the rest. More later--

Playing with Paisley and Paint

I spent yesterday afternoon moving little paisley motifs from the Hoffman Challenge fabric around trying to get a look I liked. That was not fun, as my son used to say. I think I finally solved the problem though, (solution not shown) and now will have to buckle down to the applique.

To have some fun, I stamped a little bit of fabric with a stamp cut from foam core. It's intended to be a lilac leaf, and I'll use it as background for a small piece or a couple of postcards with a stylized lilac blossom and leaf appliqued on top. Foam core makes a fairly mediocre stamp. It's so thin that it's hard not to get smears around the edge, and it only holds enough paint for one dark stamp so that's why I have a mixture of dark and light shapes. That effect seems pleasing to me, but I'm not sure about the smudges and the brush strokes that show. I'm sure I've read about other materials that make good, quick, easy, and cheap stamps, but I can't remember what they are now. If anyone knows, I'd appreciate a comment.

Tantalizing Glimpses?

I'm working on the Hoffman Challenge. It's past the point of being fun, and has become a list of steps to finish, including a few questions about exactly the best way to do some of them. I feel like I did in grad school when I could see the answer of the essay exam before me, but was totally bored with writing it. There's something wrong with that.

Fortunately, it's a beautiful day here, so I think I'll go for a walk or plant something. Everyone have a good weekend!

It's Actually Very Pretty

In the middle of the night I had an idea for the Hoffman Challenge. Although I had done some thinking about it, this fabric had left me totally empty of ideas. But in the way that these things work, a variation of a previously rejected idea struck unexpectedly. So maybe after Christmas, if I ever finish stitching stars, I will do some preliminary work on a Hoffman entry for 2009.

In the meantime, I decorated my Christmas tree. It's odd, I always complain about how much work the tree is, but when it comes down to it, it's actually the only Christmas decoration I really like. I love to sit in the evening and look at the lights, and the ornaments all have a memory associated with them: gifts from friends, the children's projects, travel souvenirs. That's the way a tree should be, I think. All the other Christmas decoration stuff is just--stuff.

Overly Challenged

I'm passing on the April TIF Challenge although I did have an idea for how to handle the "attitudes to change" theme. I've just completed two other challenges and that seems plenty for the moment. Here they are:



"It's a Ming Thing" 36" x 36" machine applique, machine quilted; original design

I have a love/hate relationship with this piece. The method I used, drawing two/thirds of it and then cutting fabric from templates based on the drawing, worked well as far as allowing for the circular construction, but made it difficult to audition fabric choices until a late stage of the process. I originally intended it to be blue and white like a Chinese plate, and the general six part design is based on a plate I own. The fish was blue enough, but when I put those gold and white flowers on, the gold became so distracting that I had to add more to even it out, and the look is not at all what I had envisioned. This became even more true when I added the dark gold background around the "plate"; I thought it added richness, but then I thought it was drab. Now I honestly don't know. It seems to depend on the light. But it's done, including the label that was pinned on when I took the picture. And it IS straight, in spite of the ripple at the moment.


"Big Momma Kitty" 27" x 27" machine pieced, machine quilted; pattern by Janine Holzman

This was done for two guild challenges, as I explained last week. I like it. Nuff said.

Tip for Squaring Up

Yesterday I made the unpleasant discovery that the square background for my Hoffman circle wasn't perfectly square in spite of all my supposedly careful marking and cutting. Since the circle has to look exactly centered, I couldn't just trim. I was hopelessly confused about what part to cut, but solved the problem by making a square of paper the correct size (34 inches), and then putting that over the inaccurate piece. I could see the outline of the circle through the paper, so it was relatively easy to move the paper until the circle was centered, and then cut along the edge of the paper square. I don't think I had this idea by myself. It's one of those things that I read somewhere and had buried in the unconscious until needed. I thought I'd pass it on. The top of the Hoffman is finished now; I'm sending my sewing machine to rehab before I quilt it. We need time apart, for sure!

Plan Ahea...

I successfully handled the tricky construction bits of the Hoffman, but then when I looked at it, I realized I had to add these additional shapes--too much blank space in the dark blue areas. I had put these shapes on and taken them off several times in the past, but had convinced myself I didn't need them. Wrong. And it would have been SO much easier to do the applique when I had a small piece to maneuver, or even a 30" circle instead of a 36" square. I think the moral of this is, if you think maybe you should do it, do it. This definitely applies to ripping out, and I guess to adding too.



And here are some pieces to be in the Take It Further Challenge, when I get to it. I seem to be able to only work at one thing at a time, partly because of obssessiveness, and partly because the mess from one project takes over the entire work space.

Are We Sick of This Yet?

This is about as good as it's going to get. I gave up fighting the gold on the flower and added more, including gold as the backing to the plate/circle. There will be more gold thread accents, probably as part of the quilting. I'm starting the assembly now, hoping that everything will fit together.

My Hoffman challenge quilt is finished! It's labled, sleeved and put away for now. What a good feeling. I now have been "commissioned" to make a baby quilt for a young colleague of my husband's. I bought this panel cheap at Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago, and then came across the coordinating solid blue. I really intended to just do a quickie with wide blue sashes around the squares, but some sort of pride wouldn't let me do that. After trying several settings, I remembered the Children's Delight block in Quilts from the Quiltmaker's Gift, so I'm using that. The color scheme is a little odd for a crib quilt--hope these people like it. I THINK I do. But isn't it too bad that manufacturers don't make the fabric between the blocks wide enough that you can use the original as a bit of a sash too? I wonder why they don't.



Ignore that sideways letter--I'm just auditioning here! The cornerstone will finish up as a 9 patch with another chartreuse polka dot square.

Hoffman Challenge

Has anyone else bought the new Hoffman Challenge fabric? What do you think? Mine finally came--I find it pretty, but quite uninspiring, at least so far. If you're thinking about ordering the Hancock's of Paducah pack of fat quarter coordinates, be advised that they are all busy multi-colored prints, several of them the same fabric in a different colorway, only a few tone on tones, (all three green), no variety in value or in type of pattern. I wish I'd saved my money.



Photo as requested. I aim to please.