A quilty kind of week

Someone on one of my email lists asked if quilty was a word, and the decision was that if we use it enough, it is. And since it fits this week....

Monday started the week with a  meeting with my new art-quilt friend who I met at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago. We both brought things for show and tell, me my quilts, her some works in progress and pictures of the amazing dolls and other items she's made. We talked for two hours about fabric and supplies and publishing and studios and sewing machines and a zillion other things, only breaking off when we realized our SOs/husbands would be wondering where we were. Such fun!

Tuesday it was on to provide the program at my quilt guild. I focused on threadwork and my technique for painting my quilts. Great audience, of course, and they asked a lot of good questions about materials and techniques. My program title? "Playing with Thread."

Besides having fun, this was a great chance for me to review my work and think about how I'm adapting and changing my techniques.

Since then, I've been working on a couple of pieces in progress and planning a new piece. This weekend, I need to get several pieces framed – I'd waited until the program was over to make them easier to transport. I should have something new to post by the end of the weekend.


More later.

Getting real (istic)

My work tends to be more stylized than realistic, suns with wavy rays and little spirals for waves. I'm absolutely amazed and impressed at the very realistic works many quilters make, but don't have the desire (or maybe it's patience) to try those types of pieces myself.

But, I have been experimenting with something in between. After finally getting my Singer 500 fixed, I've been trying out thread painting using zigzag stitches. It's a completely different effect than I get with my straight-stitch Singer 15-30 treadle. And after making a couple of different lighthouses, I decided to try a more realistic version.

So here's my newest piece. The lighthouse and the boat were outlined on white batik fabric fused onto white felt. They were thread painted on my 15-30, and a tiny bit of fabric paint applied in the open area of the railing.

The trees were thread painted using my Singer 500, set on a simple zigzag. I used a tulle base in a hoop.

The background was pieced, using my favorite batiks, and quilted, then the components appliqued on.

The first one is finished and a second one in progress.

I'm debating what to start on next. More sea turtles or something different?

 More later.

Tools & Gadgets – Silhouette SD die cutter

Okay, I sew on antique sewing machines. But I still like tools and gadgets, and just got a new one to share.

A while back there was a discussion on one of my email lists on software that let you create your own design for one of the personal die cutting machines. I was intrigued, but discovered that the software didn't support Mac, and didn't really "need" one, so moved on to other things.

Silhouette Studio work space

Recently a project came up for work, and I decided a die cutter was the way to go. I started doing some research for a die cutter that met my criteria. It had to work with a Mac, you had to be able to design your own patterns, and the price had to be reasonable.

I found the Silhouette SD, from Silhouette America. It had very good reviews, met all my criteria and I got a great deal on it by buying from Overstock.com.

I've been using it to cut adhesive vinyl for the project for work, with excellent results, and tried it out this weekend on fabric, with acceptable results which should get better with tweaking the settings.

Here's a review.

heavy adhesive vinyl cuts very well

The SD comes with the Silhouette Studio software, which installed easily on my Mac, and I'm sure would do so on a PC as well. There's a good video tutorial, but I jumped right in and found most of it pretty intuitive. The software creates vector images, like Adobe Illustrator, which I've used for years, so I picked it up quickly. One of the nicest things about the software is that it will load TrueType fonts from your computer, so you can use what you already have. I only found one or two fonts on my computer that didn't work in the software.

The software comes with a library of 50 or so images, and you can download images from the Silhouette site at a cost of about $1 each. I like the idea of buying just what I want, rather than paying big bucks for a collection I might not use.

fabric prepped with MistyFuse

One of the nicest features, and one that takes a little practice, is that you can import images in other file formats, then "trace" them to create a cuttable SD image. I was able to import an image from Adobe Illustrator, trace it, and with just a little work, make it a cuttable image.

There are two ways to save images. You can save items into your library, which you will import to a file later. Or you can start a file and create the images on the file. You can combine these by creating new images or text and importing from the library. It's easy to create text and change fonts, but I found it a little difficult to go back and select the text for editing after I'd moved the cursor away.

fabric loaded on carrier mat

The machine itself is, I guess, pretty standard. You load the media under a roller and it stays in place until you eject it, useful if you want to make more than one cut. It has a cartridge with a blade in it, and three caps, which you use to change the depth of the cut. It's very easy to get the cartridge in and out, and change the caps. You can also buy special pen cartridges, so you can "draw" on your design as well as cut it. It comes with a sticky mat that you use to hold your media in place, if it doesn't have a backing to do the job (as the adhesive vinyl does)

in the die cutter

The machine is small enough to be easily portable. I'm planning to make a carrying case to keep it and the accessories in. It connects to your computer with a basic USB cable, or you can save the designs on an SD card and insert them into the cutter. I haven't tried that feature yet.

When you are ready to cut your item, you "send" the design to the Silhouette from the software, and choose from a large number of settings, for different materials, different speeds, and different blade depths. Once you've sent a particular file, the settings are saved with that file, so you don't have to enter them every time.

letters cut out

My first project was applying our business name to these buckets, using the premium vinyl from Silhouette. It cut well and looks good when finished, though it is quite tedious to remove the excess vinyl from the backing. After removing the excess, I used their transfer paper, a tacky paper that comes on a roll, to pull the letters off the backing, keeping them in place, then placed them on the buckets. Blue painters tape would probably work well, too, for smaller cuts like these.

letters quilted and applied to project

The fabric was a little more difficult. I prepped my fabric by pressing it and pressing MistyFuse to the back, using parchment paper to keep it from sticking to my iron. Then I removed the parchment paper and placed the fabric on the carrier mat. For the most part it cut well, except for skipping cuts at some interior and exterior curves. I think I had the machine set to cut too fast, so it caught, then skipped.

But a little trimming with applique scissors and my letters were cut out and ready to use.

I think next time I'll try leaving the fabric on the parchment paper and using it as backing instead of the carrier mat. I'm confident that with a little tweaking, the cutter will do a good job on fabric.

When time permits, I'll experiment some more and report back.

More later

Timing is everything

Sometimes a matter of minutes is the difference between something good (or bad) happening or not happening. A couple of days ago I was running errands, including picking up some things at the hardware store. They didn't have everything on the list and I dawdled around a while, trying to reach the person I was buying them for. After a while I decided to stop by the Goodwill store next door.

I've been looking for frames for my quilts every time I stop by. So I headed to the back of the store, where everything was a jumble, shoved together to make room for the crew painting the back wall. As I tried to wrestle a couple of frames apart, another customer helped out by moving a bedframe leaning on the display.

We started chatting as we looked at the frames and quickly discovered that she is an art quilter, too! We had a great chat (getting out of the way of the painters) about work and sources of materials, and exchanged contact information. I'm looking forward to getting together with her soon. It will be nice to know an art quilter locally, since the ones I know are online.

detail - the turtle was quilted separately, and painted then appliqued
on the quilted background

Well, timing is looking good in the studio, too. After my marathon binding session last weekend I had about 10 pieces to hand-stitch the binding, so I took them along to Tybee. Got several done while visiting with the knitting group Thursday and watching the season premiere of Project Runway Thursday night.

It's supposed to hit 100 degrees here today (heat index 110), so I'll be hibernating in my air-conditioned studio. I have a couple more pieces in progress to finish and an idea for another new piece to start. Plus I now have a half-dozen or so pieces to frame.

One of the pieces I finished was the sea turtles quilt I mentioned a few days ago. After making all the turtles individually, I pieced and quilted the background, then appliqued the turtles on. Sea turtles have been on my mind, as it's nesting season on Tybee, so expect to see more turtles in the near future!

Sea turtles finished and waiting for framing, about 13 by 18 inches

More later.

Back in the studio

And it feels good!

A string block became the center of a new pillow sham

A whole chain of diversions had conspired to keep me out of the studio for about three months, but in the past couple of weeks I've gotten back in the studio and am having a great time.

The first evening I went back in to work I turned on the new air conditioner and just looked around. I didn't even know where to start. I spent a couple of evenings just taking stock, seeing what projects were in progress, and what I needed to finish them. I still wasn't ready for anything too challenging, so started by taking a string block, setting it on point and quilting and finishing it as a pillow sham for our new apartment. Along with that, I pulled out some already quilted string and crumb blocks, which I took to the apartment and finished as potholders.

These string block pot holders add a colorful touch to the
kitchen and are useful

Then it was back to my art quilts. I do a lot of my pieces in components, preparing backgrounds, and making other parts separately, then applying them to the background. I had quilted this lighthouse, plain white fabric layered on felt and heavily quilted with variegated thread, but it didn't work with the background I originally planned. So my first project was to create and quilt a background. I love this orange fabric with stars and it worked perfectly with the bright threads of the lighthouse. The original background, pieced and painted with a sunrise, became the background for a palm tree.

This lighthouse is closely quilted
using colorful variegated thread.

With those done, I went through the stack of nearly finished pieces and picked out and cut binding fabric for each one, and this weekend did a marathon binding session. Not my favorite part, but now I have a stack of handwork I can work on while watching TV or visiting with friends.

With several of the quilts nearly finished, I decided it was time to start some new work, sea turtles! Here's the first herd of turtles. For these I fuse the top fabric to felt, using MistyFuse, then quilt and paint. After I cut them out, I paint the edges to seal them. More on the turtles soon, but for now I have other work to do.

More later!

This palm was appliqued to the painted
background

A herd of turtles! I fuse fabric to felt, then quilt and paint. After cutting out, I paint the edges to seal.

Photo Friday – back roads

I know it's not Friday, but I don't want to wait another week before I get my blog back on track.

I enjoy traveling back roads. There's less traffic, less stress and more interesting things to see. A couple of weeks ago as I was traveling home from North Carolina (more about that later) I was driving down U.S. Highways 321 and 301. I couldn't help looking at all the old motels and relics of the days when these roads were the way to travel. Beginning in the 1930s, automobile travel became more and more popular, and roadside accommodations grew to serve the travelers. From campgrounds to cabins to motor courts, the lodging evolved and following World War II, the major north-south highways were lined with motels to serve vacationers.

After the Interstate system was begun, most of the travelers changed routes and the boom days were over. In the more prosperous towns the roadside motels were torn down for other growth, but in some areas they still exist. Along the stretch of 301 and 321 I traveled, there were some that are still in business, while others are dusty ghost towns.

I found the Vintage Roadside site to be full of interesting information on the history of motor lodges, as they were first known.

Here are a couple of pictures of sights that caught my eye.

A large motel, appears to be still in business

The Interstate, which apparently was a large truck stop and restaurant complex. Now a ghost town.

A great sign on a roadside restaurant

And another great sign on an old motel

A couple more projects

Exciting news, I sold one of my art quilts last weekend. The quilt, Log Cabin Lighthouse, was one of my earlier pieces, so I'm happy to see it go to a good home. Of course now there's an empty spot at the restaurant, so I need to pick out another quilt to display there.

I'm still not back to serious work on my art quilts, but I've made good progress on the decorating front. It's still being creative, right?

Here are a couple more projects that are finished. For the kitchen curtains, I made the trim using the invisible seam technique I learned for pillowcases. It worked great, with no raw edges left showing.

I had several sets of decorative window shutters tucked away in my storage room. I thought the small ones would be great decorative pieces, but I made them useful, too. The coral one hangs in the kitchen as a key holder. The blue is in the bathroom. The hooks are from the hardware store and I found the glass shell ornaments at one of the local stores.

More later.