So this is a little ballsy, but I am making a double-sided game board! One side is checkers and one side is chess. I have here a view of both sides and some of the finished game pieces. This is going to be functional and you will actually be able to play the game – which is awesome. My only issue right now is quilting the board so that the two sides are lining up just right – which is a lot harder than it sounds.
So for our final piece we were told to make something great . . . so I decided to explore quilting some more. This is a mildly complex quilt block that is rotated to create a larger design. If I could go back and do this one again I think I would change up my colors so that I had two interacting shapes as opposed to one dominant shape and one background shape. Either way, I’m still happy with how it turned out.
Water everywhere! These are my finished 3 independent study waterscapes. Approximately 17 in X 23 in (they were 18X24 before binding) and they are all of different water scenes. The first is a view of a prismatic pool in Yellowstone national park, the second is the dock polls down at Thomas Edison’s estate in Florida, and the last is of Artists point at Lake Superior. All have block-quilted fields and appliquéd piecing. All are then free-motion sewn and the last piece has layers of organza and tulle.
3 views of Louisville KY
Our latest class project was to use a map of our favorite place ever and use that as a “place of departure” for our piece. I decided to do a large print of the city, broken into 3 sections with a large overview of Louisville, a close up of Bardstown Rd, and a view of Old Louisville. This is it!
So I’ve got a project going now for class, and I’m still trucking on my independent study. Here are some photos of what’s up. This project is a map of our favorite location – naturally I chose Louisville. This is a break down of the city into zip-code zones, the overall city of Louisville. There will also be a panel of Bardstown Rd and a panel of the Old Louisville Downtown area. Pretty fantastic stuff.
Break down of zip-code boundaries for the city.
And this is my next independent study piece. This is a deteriorating dock at Edison’s estate down in Florida. There is a lot more sewing on this one than there was on my last piece, but not as many tiny fabric cut-outs so it all evens out.
Come on Edison buddy, you can do better than this!
Complex cloth done! Take that! Anyway, enjoy.
1. Foils 2. Discharge & Over-dye 3. Layer 3+ different kinds of Fabric
4. Discharge & Print same screen 5. Discharge & Print Text 6. Direct resist
7. XOXOXO 8. Funtivity 9. Recondite
So when I started out on my independent study journey my first thought was to make Temari Craft balls. I quickly nixed that one, but now I have this cool book! The whole thing if full of detailed instructions as to how to make a temari ball. First you have to cover a Styrofoam ball in batting, then add a layer of yarn and finally wrap it in sewing thread until you don’t know what to do with yourself. Then you measure out the ball into quadrants and start embroidering with pearl cotton thread – size 5. It is really prety neat and not super difficult. Diana has a few books out on temari, but this book has really great beginner level instructions. The book has 12 traditional patterns ranging from very easy to more intermediate/advanced level. This would be a fun thing to pursue and see what kinds of patterns you can create. Super fun and not too hard to pick up. The book is easy to follow and has a good pattern selection. Definitely something I’ll pick back up later.
So when I registered for classes I thought it would be a great idea to take a costuming class. It was supposed to be pretty easy and a lot of fun. That was a bunch of hooey. The class was miserable, so I dropped it . . . unfortunately pulling me down to 10 credits and making me a part-time student. In order to bring me up to full-time status Dr. Shoaff turned into the good fairy and granted me three wishes (and by three wishes I mean three credits of independent study). I made the great mistake of not starting until midterm, so now my room is an explosion of fabric and I’m sure I’m breathing in too much cotton dust. Anyway, I’m doing a set of four 1.5 ft X 2 ft quilted pieces that are waterscapes from various places around the US. I am recreating photos in fabric. This is my first piece, definitely still in progress, but coming along (which is good b/c its due in two days!).
The very much "in process" piece
This is the original photo
So we started with a whole lot of fabric. We pinned rusty pins to the corners and tied it all up in knots. Complex, I know. But really that’s just the beginning. Then we dyed it three times, different knots every time and different dye colors. Hard to keep track of it all . . . or it would be if Dr. Shoaff wasn’t a wizard and didn’t have record sheets for us. Now we have zero excuses for not knowing how each piece was made. Now I can’t BS my way through this one, bummer.
So the dye baths were only the beginning, if that’s where we got to stop it’d be called “mildly interesting cloth.”
Next we’re going to print, discharge and foil onto the pieces and create adorable little 10X5 works of complex wonder! Get excited. It will be difficult to contain yourself with the incredible awesomeness, but please try. These will be some of my thermofax screens for the project. Enjoy the anticipation.
In case you haven’t noticed, most of my imagery is beach related. I just spent a week in Myrtle Beach, SC (its ok to be jealous, it was pretty awesome) so I am on a ridiculous ocean kick. So that’s what you’re getting because this is what you missed:
So while you were all distracted by the incredible phenomenon of the loom, I pulled a fake out and finished my quilt, which is about to be fabulously displayed at a quilt show in St. Louis. No big. Just a quilt show. For the first quilt I’ve ever made. Did I mention I might be really excited about this? Did I also mention that I am actually not as conceited as this blog would suggest? Just checking. Its pretty easy to get confused. You can go back to enjoying my fantastic work.
Bek of Burkenstock 