Crayoning, Part 2

Once I discovered the fun of colouring on fabric, I returned to one of my first artistic endeavours - making tiles, only now out of fabric and not clay. I drew simple images on paper and then traced them onto unbleached muslin. Then I stitched the outlines, coloured them and then used an iron to 'melt' & spread the crayon.
This process brought back memories of all the times when I was sick as a child and required to stay in bed, never on a school day of course, always on school holidays. To keep me entertained (and out of her hair) my mother would give me a stack of white paper napkins with embossed designs on them. I would spend hours meticulously colouring them with my precious Prismacolour pencils. These napkins were something to behold - fabulous colours and each one different although the design was the same. But back to the fabric blocks.
I have actually created quite a few of these types of blocks using birds as the major theme. Stylistically I guess you would call this folkart. Some are quilted onto heat resistance backing as I had though to make them into potholders. But that hasn't happened; to date they remain as separate blocks awaiting an inspiration that would incorporate them into something larger.
If you have any ideas on this, please feel free to comment.

My first 'real' artquilt

For several years I've been taking pictures of a particular tree on our cottage island. The appeal was due to the unusual growths all over the maple. Each time I visited I saw the same image or a variation of it. My vision involved a creature who was to become known as 'the guardian of the forest'. On my last visit a friend accompanied me. While I was busily studying my 'man', she was happily gazing upwards. Then I heard her say - "Pat, your tree is dead". To which I replied: "No, not possible" But sure enough the foliage of the past was indeed in the past. Not a leaf was to be seen and this was in June.
My next visit to 'my' tree also involved what is known as a 'cold call' to the owner of the property. There I stood knocking at the door and being greeted by probably the tallest man I have ever seen in my life. I don't know who was more flabergasted when I blurted out, "Hi! I'm your neighbour, Pat, and I want to buy your tree." After a friendly conversation revolving around how much he should charge me, we easily agreed to a photograph of it in exchange for permission to cut it down. (I had explained that I was a 'talented' photographer, of course.)
It was not until December that my quest for the best photo to give him really got underway. I quickly realized that one shot of the complete tree would not convey the image that had captivated me for so long. In the end it was a composite of 4 photographs selected from the many I had taken, none of which were on the same day, nor at the same time of day, nor in the same season.
If you have followed me so far, you may have an inkling that putting this combination of photos together involved more than just lining up the parts; colours had to be melded as well as differences in contrast and ...
At first I thought to do a sort of sepia look, but abandoned that in favour of a slightly desaturated feel. When the completed masterpiece was printed on 13" x 19" matte photo paper, I was disappointed to say the least. It was too two-dimensional looking. Somewhere I had read that one could print on cotton fabric using an ink jet printer. Many different materials and sizes later, I settled on this one to which I added a framework of commercially dyed fabric. At that point I did not have much experience in free-motion stitching and was literally terrified to do so. I had invested so much time and effort, I was afraid that my stitching would not be up to the required standard.
In the end, the stitching was satisfactory. And on the second weekend of the Merrickville Artists Guild studio tour I sold The Guardian of the Forest. I will never forget the astonishment and feelings of great joy when I heard a voice saying "I'd like this please".

Kindergarten & crayons

The last block in my son's lapquilt was supposed to contain more stippling or meandering. To me this was too 'bare' in colour, so I began to play with the extra block of fabric I had cut inadvertently. I decided to experiment with various free motion patterns, carefully drawing the stitching lines on the fabric. I hadn't gone more than 6-7" and I could see that this was more difficult than I had thought, so I gave myself permission NOT to stay on the lines. I loved the final stitched results, but somehow something was missing. I grabbed my new box of crayons and began to crayon directly on the fabric. It was much later that I learned I was supposed to have crayoned on paper and then ironed the result onto the fabric. I didn't go kindergarten as a child, so I figure I missed that part of the crayon lesson. The more I did, the more I liked. I just went crazy. By the time I finished I realized that this block was way too different from the rest of the quilt which meant I still had one block to go. In the end I decided to do a stitched log cabin using all the fancy stitches that came with my new sewing machine (first image).

first lap quilt

Last winter I decided to take a class at our local quilting store. What appealed to me most was that it would be a 'sampler' quilt with each block representing a different form of machine quilting. I honestly despaired of ever finishing it and more than once it nearly landed in the trash heep. I have since made a solemn promise to anyone who would listen never to do another flying geese block again. It took three tries and three rippings to get it in a form that I could take to class whereupon I learned that I had not sized it properly. After piecing I decided that the flying geese down the centre were kinda lonely and so I rounded up the various leftover triangles and added some baby geese. I really did try my very best to get them all flying in the correct direction, but these babies had a mind of their own. But that's 'kids' for you.
Never one to do what I am told, I had to take these techniques to a new level while drastically increasing the time it took me to finish the lapquilt. I scanned in the border/framework fabric and printed the animals on cotton and then appliqued them. I washed the fabric just to see if it was colourfast. Guess what? It wasn't, but that's a story for another day. These animals also appear as striped beasts. To complete that block I added the cord from my son's jacket which had been in my sewing cupboard for over 20 years. Never even thought to test for colourfastness, so of course the purple bled.
PS I guess if I were really keen, I'd go back and re-take these photos since they've been taken at different times and under different lighting conditions - obviously. But isn't a blog supposed to be somewhat spontaneous? Hah! So I don't have too, right?

Makeovers and hair cuts

On March 10th, my husband's birthday, I had my first ever makeup session compliments of Lise Wattier cosmetics. By pure luck I also got my hair cut AND styled. Of course I did all of this for my husband. What do you think? I am most definitely more comfortable at the other end of the camera.

Our flat-coat retrievers

Amongst other things I am a photographer. So on this site you will see lots of pictures of our dogs, Gypsy & Leila, as well as what I create from my photographs.