This and That

So I've been working on a little of this and a little of that.  That's another way of saying I'm just doing what I feel like at the moment.  One day it might be sewing, another day it might be artwork, or it could just be doodling. 

Artwork. 

I finally finished the collage I started working on some time ago. This started as a canvas covered in narrow strips of fabric, painted in shades of purple and used and the backdrop for the smaller squares the small squares are made from thin strips of various purple fabric prints collaged onto painted card stock paper that was then cut into 1 1/2" square and the edges dipped in dark purple paint. The squares were then glued to the background canvas and coated with clear acrylic gloss medium. 

Doodling. 

I decided to try to turn this doodle idea into a font using the iFontMaker app on my iPad so I could use that font in another idea I have to create a print in Photoshop. 

My cell font idea. 

Sewing. 

I love all the new fabrics with unexpected prints especially all the text and graphic elements. And I love the Grunge Basics line of Moda fabrics especially the turquoise blue, so I decided I needed a new pen/pencil case made from this fabric because it will be something I use every day. 

I didn't like how the first one came out (that little misalignment is driving me crazy) and it wasn't quite the right size for my collection of gel pens, so I made another one.  

This is perfect and big enough for my growing gel pen collection. 

I started using gel pens when I found out they don't bleed through any paper especially Moleskine paper and I have several Moleskine notebooks and planners I write in daily.

How many gel pens in your collection?

And I had this little crazy piece of over stitched patches that I made just as an experiment and decided to make it into a little bag. 

It's full of sharpies. 

Thanks for reading. 

Aileen

Sewing and Doodling

When I'm not very focused on any specific project I resort to finishing up something from my collection of already sewn quilt blocks. Two benefits to this, I get to check something off my list of things to do as completed and I don't have to think too hard. I just sew.

Small and mini quilts I finished in May:

When I'm not sewing I'm just doodling or painting something abstract. I think the doodling and abstractedness is all a reflection of my unfocus. 

Well, this turned out strange, a collage of nothing and everything. This collage never looked finished to me and I didn't have a clear direction I was going with so I just kept writing various symbolic information on it until I got tired of doing that.

Thanks for reading. 

Aileen

Still Sewing

I'm still sewing. I don't usually sew this much in the summer but it's been so hot and sunny I like spending time in the craft room in the cool basement. 

So I made another table runner. This one was an experiment in doing a simple row by row tribal design. Not much planning went into it, I simply did each row differently as I went and tried some different ideas. It helped that I had a bunch of coordinated fabric on hand from a previous project idea that I never did. Now I have used up some of that fabric, made something useful, had fun doing it and most importantly, the cat likes it!

But now if I could just decide what to do next on this collage. I started it several months ago and stopped mid point, not sure what I wanted to do next. And I have been looking at it everyday and still haven't had a sudden impulse to do something else to it. But I know it's not finished. 

Thanks for reading. 

Aileen

Purple Collage - Fabric, Paper, and Acrylic Paint

Several weeks ago, after I cut 4" squares from over 100 different purple fabrics, I started work on a collage project.  

First I made paper collages of the purple fabric scraps. 

Then I started on the background canvas. I'm using trash trim strips of fabrics saved from various quilting projects as a texture layer on the canvas. I use gesso or acrylic medium to 'glue' the fabric to the canvas.

 

 

After a texture layer of scrap fabrics has been added I start adding more paint to create a multi-shade abstract background for the pieces of purple collage that will go on last. 

There is really a lot of texture here. But I'm not done painting. I really don't want the colors of the bottom fabric layers to show, just the texture. 

I plan to add more color to this layer and the texture provides nooks and levels to fill in with different shades of purple and colors. 

But the ultimate goal is to add pieces from the purple fabric collage pages for the final composition. 

Here I'm auditioning a possible size and layout for the purple collage pieces. These are 1 1/2" square and the edges have been painted dark purple. The background will have more color than shown here but I plan to have it light enough to provide good contrast.  We'll see how it actually comes out!

Thanks for reading. 

Aileen

Multitasking Projects

When I was working in my profession, multitasking was an essential skill for success. While working with dozens of technical professionals across multiple projects with several different computer systems, operating systems, programming languages and systems to contend with, multitasking was the only constant. It's what I've always done. It's what I still do. Even though now I am spending most of my time on hobby activities I will switch between multiple projects in any given day. From the outside it may look unfocused and haphazard but I make forward progress in most things over time. My craft spaces are well organized and I can switch between projects easily and it works out well because I can accomplish more than one thing at a time, there is no wasted time. For example, some artwork and collage work required breaks in time to allow for drying or pressing.  I can sew or work on digital art during those breaks. I also get tired hunched over a sewing machine too long or my hands hurt after hand quilting too long or I get tired standing over my art table too long. Switching from one task to another let's me keep working on projects but allows me to choose what I feel up to doing that day or hour. 

The downside is that when I try to write a post about what I have been doing it is always about multiple things. Because that is what I have been doing in a week, heck even in a day. But the secondary upside is it is more like cross training. Work I do in designing quilts may give me an idea for a collage, a collage may end up as a book cover, bookbinding may spark an idea for Fabric design or a quilted piece may end up as a book cover.

This is my current round up of activities:

A new indigo butterfly fabric repeat print. I created new flower shapes in the ArtRage app on my iPad, pulled all the elements in a little tighter, filled the blank space more with flower elements and increased the number of butterflies. I like this one and it has given me ideas for using other iPad apps to create the basic elements of another fabric design. 

My first little book and what am I doing wrong? It's still cute. Everyone who sees it likes it. But there is a problem. See the little ribbon. I didn't plan on putting that on the book. I had to add it to hold the little book closed. It kept popping open. I put it under heavy weight for a day, even hammered the bound edge some, but the top cover keeps popping up. I don't know if it's my binding technique, the weight of the binding string I used, the size of the signatures, or something else. So I decided to do a few experiments to eliminate possibilities. First I rebound it with different size string.  What you see here is the second binding. That helped some but didn't solve the problem. Rather than remake this one a dozen times I made several little books with simple cardboard covers varying the signature page count and string size. This is just one of many I've made and I still have not completely resolved the problem but the smaller the string size I use the less the problem becomes. 

This is terrible, I took it apart and did it over.

 This is better but still popping up some.

 Finally, this one is lying almost flat.

 The next set of little books are even smaller.

Purple scraps collage. Remember that pile of scraps from a previous post? Well, this is the beginning of something.  I still don't know what yet but these are some initial collages of some of the scraps I saved and they are sure to be scanned and then cut up and used some other way.

Digital Collage of Fabric and Paper Collages

Tarot card bags. One crochet with a cotton and silk blend yarn and  the second is a scrap patchwork bag that is lightly padded.

 Front and back.

Color test fabric and new geometric pattern. More color testing of Spoonflower cotton fabric and I'm working on a design for a multicolor geometric print.

One yard multicolor test print.

 

 My favorite colors and what I'm working on a design for.

Color codes.

Buried under Purple Choices

I have over 100 different purple fabrics in my collection. I had a plan, many many years ago, to make a purple quilt for my Mom. I decided on a design, bought light purple/lavender fabric as the background and began collecting purple prints for the main design elements. 

The Overlapping Purple Print Design Plan

That was so long ago. I never got that quilt made. My Mom died years ago. But I still have all this fabric and just recently it has been on my mind. With all the other projects I have on my plate right now I don't know why this has come to mind. I don't know why I feel compelled to look at this again after all these years. It's beyond my comprehension. But I'm going along with it and to see where this goes. 

I decided I wasn't going to make the quilt I designed for my Mom but I've gone through every single piece of purple fabric I have and cut one 4 1/2" square from each print. It's been an interesting journey, looking at each one of these pieces of fabric and trying to remember why I have it and where I got it. I know I've had some of this fabric for over 20 years. Some if it seems ugly to me now and I can't imagine ever having bought it. Some if it I can't renumber at all and probably got it when I was subscribed to a monthly fat quarter club. But that was a choice also. I choose to blindly get fabric sent to me every month even when I didn't like a lot of it. But some of the fabric I love and clearly remember where and when I got it. 

At this point I'm playing with design ideas. I think I will at least sew a quilt top. It may never be finished beyond that. I have several unfinished tops because that's the part I like to do. But I haven't decided if I am just going to make it with only one square of each fabric or go ahead and cut more squares. 

Quilt size calculations and new design ideas.

One square of each print could easily be fashioned into a lap quilt or a larger wall hanging. I have enough fabric, if I repeat prints, to go to any size larger I want. But I don't need another bed size quilt and there is a better chance I will actually finish it if I keep it small. 

And now I have this huge pile of trim scraps! Normally it would all just go in the trash but since I've started doing collage art and mixed media, a pile of what used to be trash now looks like a pile of opportunity to me. There are a number of things I can think of to do with this "trash" including collage elements or fabric beads.

 

The purple trims trash piles.

You see here some of the trimmings already stiffened with a mat acrylic medium wash laid out on freezer paper to dry. It's a very easy way to make fabric usable like a paper, stiff enough to cut small shapes with no fraying but still pliable. I do this first when I plan to use fabric as a collage element.

So besides one or more purple quilts to add to my project To Do list, I'll also probably do 'something' with the scraps. I may end up doing that first. Art and collage is so much easier than sitting and sewing for hours and I have a whole lot more wall space for art than beds to put yet another quilt on.