Banana 2

The bananas have not been forgotten.  Every day they have been looked at, thought about, and then set aside.  The question, "Where to go from here?" never had a satisfactory answer.  It wasn't till I popped in the DVD on thread painting (remember that from the pears) did a make or break possibility arise.

Having vast resources at my finger tips does help - okay, I am a compulsive quilt shopper when it comes to books, fabric, thread, DVDs and anything connected to the hobby. The bookshelf, attic, and wardrobe are over-flowing!


This does not make me an expert especially when it comes to thread painting.  But the bananas are another learning step so whatever happens to them is good, (not beautiful but good).  So that said, here is what happened to them today.

I am thinking of doing French Knots around the outside of the plate and then using fabric paint for light and dark shadows....this could be interesting.

Book recommendation:  While at Costco I spotted Bill Bryson's new book "At Home".  Years ago I read his book "A Walk in the Woods" and thought it was one of the most witty books I had read.  Well, he is back.  While sitting in the car waiting for Bill as he did a quick (no such thing) trip into Lowes, I picked up the book and began reading.

This is not my thought but Bill Bryson's and from the introduction to his new book:  

"Sitting at the kitchen table one afternoon, playing idly with the salt and pepper shakers, it occurred to me that I had absolutely no idea why, out of all the spices in the world, we have such an abiding attachment to those two.  Why not pepper and cardamom say, or salt and cinnamon? And why do forks have four tines and not three or five?..."

...and so I am lured into wanting to read more.
 
What better time of year to curl up with a good book, a glass of wine, and a comfortable chair in front of the fireplace.

Happy winter days!

On a Fruit Roll !

It was either fishing or bananas.  Bananas won out.

The pear quilt was a breeze compared to the struggle with bananas.  If nothing else, it is another learning curve - both in quilting and photography.  You're asking, 'just how hard is it to take a picture of a bunch of bananas?'  Not very, except when you want to make it into a fruit quilt/pattern.

For some reason this blog picture looks a lot better then the one I was working from.  There is a bit more contrast.  But that said, the lesson learned is to set up the picture with a strong direction of light to give heavier one way shadows. 

I use a light box for making the drawings for the templates.  How easy does this look! Notice there are no shadows drawn for templates.  Oop's!

First thought was to use contrasting colors.  The plate was going to be purple but as you can see it is red.  That is proving to be a bad decision.  I am now wishing I had stay with the white as in the picture and used a black background.  But the fusible applique is already ironed into place. So we will play with what we have.

Thank goodness for a bit of watercolors. By the time I had to seriously think of those darn shadows all the pieces were fused in place.  For the shadow between the bottom banana and the next one is done with fabric and a yellow/brown mixture of watercolor paint.

And this is as far as this one has gone.  

I've finally had the time to set up my short-long arm quilting machine and get the Christmas quilts on them.  Good days and bad days with that piece of equipment but I think I finally have the hang of it.  After hours of pulling tangled thread from underneath the quilts, taking out the bobbin and everything around it to clear out that mess of threads, breaking thread, setting tension.... the last quilt is on the machine.

I'll post the Christmas quilts after Christmas as they are secret gifts!

Also for the month of November I am on call for jury duty and have to call in every night.  So far my number has not been called.   And then three days a week I am doing Zumba.  And then there are the books I can't keep my nose out of and also the morning hours spent on the computer looking at other people's quilt blogs.  No wonder the poor bananas are still hanging on the design wall.....

Happy quilting!

Ta Da!!!!!

It is finished !!!!

...and yes, there is another one on the drawing board.

Happy Day !

Thread Painting

To call it thread painting is to use the theory very loosely.  I still haven't master the art of free hand machine quilting so I go back to what I am comfortable with.  Good old straight stitching with lots of curves!  

 

90% is done with straight stitching but the stems and the small shadow between the pears are free handed.

Moving right along with the stitching.  I have three layers that are being sewed through: top, batting, and stabilizer.  I would have put a backing on this but I am thinking of going with an envelope back because I have never did a backing this way.  

 

I still wanted to add some red to the pear on the left.  Even though it is hard to see in the picture there is just enough to balance with the dark green.  And it made me happy :-)  You can see in this photo some of the shadow stitching.

Now this could open up a whole new quilt project.  I've seen it done in large quilts where the design is totally stitched using colored thread.  But for now we will flip it over and finish it tomorrow.


Happy quilting!


 

Audition Time !

It only took one time to remember that patterns have to be cut in a reverse image if you want them to match your picture and the same holds true with cutting out your fusible appliques.

I've found using a light box helps but if you do not have a light box then a window works the same.  

Now comes the fun part (and also the frustrating part).  Finding just the right fabric to use. I did want to match the rosie red of the pear on the left but I didn't have quite the right material so after many trips to the red bin, I decided to then go with a darker green.  

 

 Not liking the pink/red at all.

Not exactly thrilled with the dark green either.

But this is only going to be a sample, test art quilt so we will see if adding stitching and embellishments helps.

At least they still look like a pair of pears!

Being lost in the excitement of doing this project I jumped ahead a step.  I find it easier to do the free hand stitching on the top layer before ironing down the fusible pieces.  OOP's. 

Back to the quilt books....I know there are a few of them on the shelf with "How to free hand machine quilt"  information.

Hey Keith - loved your pink birthday cake!!!  Is this going to be a new fad for the men in the Davidson family??

 
Happy birthday to Keith.... and happy stitching to others.

 

If You Can Read....

I've always been of the mind that if a person can read then they can learn to do anything they have an interest in.  Now that being said... for years I've been collecting quilt books and found the pictures interesting and sometimes inspirational.  Notice the word 'pictures'.  I would very seldom take the time to sit and read the content but now that endless time has been presented it was time to do some reading and use some of the quilting tools I've accumulated through time.

So this will be the start and finish (hopefully) of an art quilt.  We will make this journey together and hope the product ends up as a satisfaction and not something that gets folded and put away. 

I found this book at The Fabric Depot in Portland on my way to my mom's.  It is not that I don't have other books on the subject!  But this book has a really easy, clear explanation of the start-to-finish process of a photo art quilt (and I had time at my mom's to get past the pictures).

If you are comfortable using a digital camera and have a photo editing program on your computer then you are ready to start.  I use Photo Shop Elements as it is a trimmed down version of Photo Shop and is simple enough for even me to get around in.

What to take a picture of?  Big decision as the world is filled with the most interesting subjects.  But I wanted to start simple and fruit works very well for simple.  

This wasn't the only pear picture.  But after bringing into the photo editing program I really liked part of it so that was what was cropped and printed.

I will be using the fusible applique process with raw edges.  The outlined fruit will be the pattern.  Next big step will be going through fabric and finding just the right colors/patterns.  No matter how much fabric you have in your stash, you will never have just the right piece.  I can see already that this will mean a trip or two to the local quilt store.

Off to the loft and the fabric stash.


Happy quilting.

A Visit With Mom!

This lady is amazing!  How many women do you know that are 92 years old, lives on their own, can play a mean game of Scrabble, can argue politics, and can out-shop you any day of the year?

That's her - Mom/Grandma/Great Grandma!

Upon arrival on Thursday it was out to an early dinner.  That is after shopping at Kohl's and Target.  Put her anywhere close to a car and she is ready to go.

Friday was a doctor's appointment in the morning with one of her favorite doctors.  Dr. Weller and her have the cutest relationship between them.  Of course, they have been seeing each other for years.  

Can you tell she is happy to be seeing Dr. Weller!

After her doctor's visit we went, of course, shopping!  Today's shopping was at Wal-mart, Freddies, out to lunch at Anthony's, the farmers market, and back to Kohl's.  Maybe not exactly in that order but close.  

Another day and another happy smile!

Thanks Mom for a wonderful time!