The Just-Try-It Art School, sketch on fabric

Art School of Experience 12" X 16.5"

I did this little sketch with paint sticks and texture sheets when I led a workshop recently. It's small done on a scrap of muslin. The purpose was for people to become comfortable seeing how colors overlapped, how texture sheets behaved, and how drawing a circle felt on fabric.

When I got home I stamped and stenciled the words, scissors, brushes, tree and clock. Added some shadows with pencil. I like the overlap making the orbs look see through.

When I get ready to quilt I make sure the top is squared up  then choose  threads for this project and put them by the machine..

Lots of free motion and repetitive lines on the orbs, metallic threads that really catch the light. Some art deco lines along the side borders. Free motion following the texture of squares.

Free motion around the stamped brushes and scissors

See that spiral stitch along the bottom border? That is my favorite program stitch on my old Bernina 1630.

It is not on any new machines or other maker of machine. There are similar ones but not the same.
My Bernina is tired and needs to be put out to rest but I just don't love any other machines.
And the cost!!
I've been saving my pennies but...


I used my black with iridescent metallic colors for the inner border and binding. I have used this favorite fabric many times and there is now less than a yard left. It's now vintage but fabulous.
There are some fabrics that you buy, and when you get home decide you wish you had a bolt of it. This is one of them for me. I've never seen another like it. Therefore, to save it, and because this is a small piece, I did a single fold binding. I wanted it to look like a framed piece so I did a large half inch finished edge treatment and like it a lot. The final choice will be whether to put on this applique from Loralie designs...

and where to place her. I got her at the Houston show one year to put on a purse and regret not buying several others at the time. She wasn't cheap but isn't she fabulous?

or should she go here?

The whole thing was a demo piece while teaching, and it has the feel of a still life to me.
I like the circles that feel like they have weight like ornaments or glass orbs
 I love the clock to remind me that time flies
 I like the tree to remind me to grow
I like the bird to remind me to sing
I like the words imagine and "sewing mends the soul"
Life is an art school, the Art School of the Experience

sketch of the day... on fabric

flower sketch  10"X 8"

It's not very seasonal but it was a sketch of the day, done with portfolio paint sticks on fabric.
Recently I led a workshop for my friends using paint sticks and texture sheets on fabric. One of the exercises was to draw orbs free hand blending colors. The next exercise was to draw a simple flower shape, to see how to control stretch of fabric while drawing straight lines. Then they were to start drawing their own compositions.

A friend gave me a little scrap of the striped fabric, when I got home I saw how my little demo piece looked on it. In order to keep the stripes going I had to do some fussy cutting and stitching.

I wanted to do some quick simple quilting. I started with couching the metallic fuzzy pink around the image. Then stitched repetitive lines with pink then red, rayon threads. I finished by stitching the border lines with sulky hologram metallic hot pink.

You can still see the texture plate through the stitching.

When you teach a technique, you end up with a lot of samples, and unfinished bits and pieces. Often they get thrown away. With my goal of a sketch a day this month, I was happy to turn this into a finished quilt.

Is it a plumeria? A poinsettia? I don't worry myself with reality. It's a flower, bright and pretty. I like the blue and green done on fern texture sheets giving the flower a place to rest.




 It was fast to paint, I'd say 5-10 minutes. It was fast to quilt, I'd say less than an hour. I bound it with black, done on machine.
I have no idea what to do with it but it was lovely to work on, and I like that the border fabric was a scrap given to me by a friend.
I have learned so much about drawing this month. I am no longer unnverved by a blank white page. I start making marks, add to them, move fast, enjoy seeing an image develop. I have turned three of my sketches into quilts so far this month, and will share the others soon.

face study

I love faces. I really look at people and their faces. I am aware of my drawing limitations but have decided to embrace my style.
There is always more to learn but right now I will just allow myself to draw, paint, and play to encourage that part of me. The very fact that these are flawed is why I am sharing them with you instead of hiding them away in a file, or the circular file. I am exhibiting courage in showing what I made!

These are the materials I used today. Paintsticks, pencils, embossing sheets and some muslin precut squares left over from some long forgotten project.
Don't know exactly what I thought I'd make today, but on my walk I thought, what if instead of gray, my hair came in purple! How cool!
So I thought I would sketch a woman with purple hair.

That turned out to be the bottom one, and she looks downright scarey. Whatever. As these things go, the whole project grew into a bunch of attempts . First the ones I like best...

She looks like me in my youth. Sweet. Full of promise. I love this one and it was the quickest to make. It was also the last one I made, which might say a person needs to warm up. Another lesson here is if the first item comes out all wrong like my scarey woman, keep going.

I like her a lot. She kind of looks like I feel nowadays. I don't have purple hair but I might. I love the thoughtful way she is. She is open too, and content. I like her a lot.

Next I like the wild abandon she shows! That's kind of like me too! Her hair is blowing freely in the wind, she's laughing, she's looking ahead!

I wanted to try a blue face but she looks haggard. Her eyes aren't shaped right, but she was the second one I sketched. I don't mind some aspects of it, like her ear showing. I might even like that haircut and blue isn't a bad hair color. I like the dark eyes with the white highlight. Paintsticks with no points are a challenge to use on fabric. They grab hold of the fiber and don't mix or move or blend easily. I rubbed some blue on my finger and smeared it on her face to shadow her a bit. There are three shades of blue on her.
I am not even showing the scarey one again.
Lessons learned:
1. Just do it, don't wait til you are good enough or take a class or have confidence
2. Accept your limitations and call it a style
3. Keep going, the last one will probably be your favorite, as mine was
4. Share your process with others like me, so they will know they aren't the only non-perfect artists
5. There is beauty in non- perfection
LeeAnna

Whimsical Drawings- Binding and Sleeve tutes

"Whimsical Drawings"  20" X 19"

The paintstick drawings are all quilted and appliqued to the quilt. It's done, and there is a little ornament in the center that says, Simply Perfect. HA! It was started on a whim to draw with paintsticks one evening, and for some reason I finished it.
 Remember when I asked what takes you from Meh to Must do it? (read all about it here)

Would you just look at that background fabric??
It has found it's way into three of my quilts.

I poked holes in the little cardboard embellishment with an awl, then attached it with beads.
The little drawings were quilted on batting, then binding put on and they were appliqued to the background so that they stand up like little paintings.

The fountain has a wee little metal bird attached.

It was all carefully measured before being attached to the background, yet somehow it went wonky.

Let's just say it's ironic, that the placard says  perfectly simple!

So here's the little poodle, so sassy! Quietly waiting for a passing squirrel.

Now for the tutorial on how I do the faux piped binding technique. I originally saw it on a blog (see my tutorials page for hers) and that person said she saw it in 2012 in American Quilter magazine.

Since I am showing people how to do it at the Annapolis quilt show this weekend, I thought I'd show you too!

First cut two strips, one for the binding, cut at 1 1/2" wide, and the piping color cut at 1 3/4 " wide. You'll need to piece strips long enough to go around your quilt plus 5 to 10 inches extra.

Sew these two together along the length with a 1/4" seam

Press that seam toward the piping color. Then...
Fold in half wrong sides together and press. See the cute little edge of piping color??

sleeve after basting

 Before we put on the binding let's put on the sleeve.
Cut sleeve 9 inches wide and hem the sides. Place opened sleeve along the top of the quilt, right side of sleeve to backing and baste in place about 1/8" . Draw with chalk a line about 4 3/8 from the top. Hand baste along side, chalk line and up the other side, thru only the back and batting. Fold the sleeve up to the top matching edges


 .Now you're ready to bind. With the back of the quilt facing up, and the binding ( piping color showing to you) sew around the quilt, with a large quarter to 3/8" seam line.  Miter the corners as usual.

Press binding away from the quilt. Flip quilt to front, pull the binding over the raw edge and sew along the piping color in the ditch.
This method is all done by machine.

So now the sleeve is on, the binding is done, and you're done! If you want to see the piped edge closer, please click on the first image or look at the little poodle shot.
I hope to figure out how to video tutes in the future.
LeeAnna
For other paintstick posts    click here!

paintsticks plus quilting

 A little batting and quick free motion quilting with halogram threads, then decide on background and placement...

 This whimsical purple flowery fabric has found it's way into several of my quilts. I just love it and have yardage, so I don't have to weigh the "quilt-worthy-ness" in each situation! I might not cut with abandon, but I do cut into it.

 Each little piece has been quilted with batting only and mylar threads so even if you can't see the sparkle it's there making me happy.

I'm now trying to decide how to box these in, maybe binding each in a bright fuchsia then applique onto the quilted background.
It's not for anything special, but it's fun and bright and easy since there is no place for it to go but my wall.
My widdle poodle looks a bit like Elphaba, no?
LeeAnna

paintsticks

I was out on the back porch last evening, and realized I haven't sketched in a long time. I craved color, so I went looking for these...

These two paintsticks are so much nicer to me, than Shiva, which has metallic colors, but the smell gives me a terrible headache.
This book has some plastic texture sheets, and I got if from the Nat'l Gallery of Art in DC.

I got out some muslin, and it's the cheap thin kind too. I put down some freezer paper on a foam core palette, to hold in my lap while sitting in our little haven, come see it HERE!

Recently I posted a photo transfer onto fabric of this fountain. I started by just drawing a fountain, then leaves (that aren't there in real life) and then got out the textured plates to see what could happen.

There was time and fabric left, so I drew some spirals for fun...

which turned into this snail. I would never have been able to just draw a snail, or it would have looked like a pictionary one at best. But I just started swirling color, then more color and saw the snail coming out! Then I smeared in a body and texture plated around him. I think the rubbings look like ferns.
You know what came next...

a poodle. next to a tree, all done with rubbing plates. In green orange and pink.

Of course.
You are supposed to leave them to cure for a day but I just couldn't wait a moment past noon the next day to cut them apart and press to set the color.

These are oil paints, so you need to use a pressing sheet. I started with paper, then used more muslin and a hot iron.

They are still kind of wrinkly but when I decide just how to use them, they will get really pressed.
I think my portable design wall (shown not opened up) makes it look like an art show!! How fun! I might put three of them together in the same quilt.

Or do separate ones. What do you think?

The little fan on the bottom, was to be an underwater fan, and will still be. I,er, sliced it off accidentally in my glee and haste, but it can still be fused back together. No Worries!

Here is the view, with the supervisor showing me his back.
Everyone's a critic.
LeeAnna