Colors of the Sky Quilt - its OK to laugh

This quilt started because it was time to use some of my scraps. And I read somewhere that adding grey to a color scheme will 'tone it down'. So I built this scrap quilt sewing together horizontal strips of scraps separated by greys. As I was building it - the rainbow of colors led me to arrange them as a sunset - greens on the bottom changing to some blues then reds/yellow/oranges and back to darker blues at the top. And its name became - Colors of the Sky. But I think it is maybe better called - Joseph's Coat of Many Colors.

When I finished quilting it - the drop on our bed wasn't as long as I had hoped - so I sewed on a backing extension - mounted it back onto the gammill, positioned a piece of batting - and used the gammill to first 'piece' the two strips I was adding to the top - then quilt them. That addition is the green and purple on the left above. But now the quilt touched the floor - too long - so I cut off 6" of that extension and the quilt is now perfect!!! lol!!

And of course that 6" piece I cutoff did not go into the trash - it is now the beginning of another quilt!!!

Watercolors - some ACEOs

More Snow in Southwest Tennessee

We have gotton another heavy dusting of snow - as I hear, Tennessee is one of 49 states with snow on the ground today! I also had to include pictures of the strange ice cycles that grow UP from the ground here in heavy clay country. I had never seen this before - the heavy clay soil here doesn't absorb moisure - it just holds it so during a hard freeze, the ground opens up and these ice cycles grow - UP! They are 1 to 2 inches long - are 'crunchy' to walk on - and just fascinate me!

Oh, these daffodils did my heart good when I first saw almost 2 weeks ago - I thought FOR SURE spring was about to unfold! Last spring, they had bloomed before March - so I am hoping they do again this spring!!

Pen & Ink with Watercolor

This isn't quilted yet - but this is the piece of fabric 16x13, sized with soy, inked with black india ink and painted with watercolors. I am very pleased with how it turned out, looking forward to adding to it, layering and quilting the piece. Below is a picture before painting with watercolor. Below that are two paintings I have done using the same technique of first 'drawing' with ink then 'painting' with watercolors but on 140lb paper.

Pen & Ink & Watercolor

Got my ink set back out - goodness, this thing is OLD! Actually, it was Samu'l's set - but he gave it to me - although he may not exactly remember it that way! Anyway, it is a Leroy Lettering Ink Set by K&E. I 'googled' the set - found one selling on ebay for about $70. I think these sets sold for about $200 new 30 years ago! or more.

So I did a 5x7 watercolor/pen & ink - I really like the high contrast the darkest darks make in the piece. It is time consuming but it is a lot of fun for me - its one of those tasks I work at for awhile and think, oh, its been about an hour, time to take a break, only to find out it has been about 4 hours. THAT is when you know you are doing something you enjoy!!

So I decided to do another one of the piece of fabric I had sized with soymilk. I understand you should use it within a week of saturating it with soy - so, this is my current inspiration, a chipmunk in the grass. Kind of cute so far, I think.

ACEO's

In the midst of experimenting with dyed/painted fabrics, I have discovered ACEO's and how fun they are to paint!! I am apparantly WAY BEHIND on these things - but - they are original artwork in any medium - the only rule is the size, 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 inches. They are quick and fun to do! So far, just painting them in watercolor - these two above are my 3rd and 4th ones.

Ice Dyed Daisies and Soy Experiment

Ice storm last Friday and today I find daffodils up, about 6" tall - sure does my heart good. I am ready for spring as I used the fabric I dyed using the ice from last weeks storm to make this daisy top. I needed one more piece of dyed fabric after the ice was all melted - so I used crushed ice from the refrigerator - it worked great! That piece is in the lower left corner.

Experimenting with purchased soymilk to size cotton fabric, I painted on this piece with watercolors. I understand it must cure for at least 3 months before washing. All the soybeans that are grown in this county - I have been unable to find any for sale - so that is why I am trying purchased soymilk.

Ice Dying

Inspired by recent posts on quiltart.com about dying fabric with snow - I had to try my own version - using chunks of ice still outside this morning.
(Picture above) This is the same piece of fabric shown below, dried, heat set with an iron and after I have handpainted a spray of daisies on it.

This piece of unbleached muslin I pressed on top of the ink covered ice. Some of the pigment laden ice chunks stuck - you can see them shining in the picture. Interesting effect tho - after the pigment had leached out of the ice and as the ice continued to melt - it created a 'bloom' with little pigment in the middle. It is still very wet in this picture.

Ice chunks laying on top of scrunched unbleached muslin - and the tsukineko inks drizzled on top - well, OK, they are more poured than drizzled - I used a bit too much pigment.

So what happend to the fabric under all this ice? It is laying out in the garage drying - more pictures needed.