Quilt Show Thoughts

As I am writing this, I have just finished my pre-Quilt Show duties and am waiting for the Preview party.  The Quilt show is on Friday and Saturday but the Thursday night before, the Quilt Guild members get together to enjoy the show before they are busy taking care of our guests during the actual show.

We hear who won ribbons and get to see the bed turning.  A bed turning is an old tradition in Amish Country.  For those women who sell quilts, they would pile the quilts flat on a bed one on top of another.  When some one wants to see the quilts for a possible purchase, the quilter just pulls back the quilts one at a time.  Laying them flat helps keep out creases and allows the potential customer to see how a quilt would look on a bed.

For our bed turning we actually use big 8 foot tables to lay out the quilts and certain (usually tall) members will hold up the quilt for the audience to see (It is actually on a stage so everyone can see the quilts).  We often have quilts belonging to a member or quilts with a certain theme.  During the show we do a bed turning twice a day for our guests.

I like our Quilt show.  Not just because of the quilts and vendors and seeing my work on display but because of the people.  I often get to see people I don’t normally see who come to our quilt show.  Old neighbors, coworkers from the college where I teach who may have retired or work in another building I don’t get to visit often, former guild members are just some of the visitors.

But also I get to visit with current guild members.  Yes I see many of them every month at the meeting but it is hard to visit during the meeting when we have a speaker. But now we get to share.  We might talk about the quilts and which ones we like, which ones we may want to create or we talk about our families or other things we are doing.

I usually do demonstrations of quilting techniques; this year it is making yoyos.  And not only do I get to teach a show visitor something new, I get to hear their stories.  I usually hear about the quilts their mother or grandmother made.  Or the successes or challenges (I don’t want to use the word failures) they experienced.  It is a great sharing time. 

And that is really what the quilt show is about – sharing.  Our guild shares their time and energy to present a great beautiful show.  Our entrants share their creations by entering them in the show. The vendors share their products with us and our quilt show visitors (and we in turn share our money with them. haha). And everyone in one way or another shares their love of quilts, fabric, color and design.

It is a lot of work to put a quilt show together and I am usually exhausted (I joke that my feet usually hurt so much they threaten to divorce me). But I am always sad to see it end.    It feels like a mini vacation. It is so nice to spend time with such creativity and creative people.  I like our quilt show.

© 2019- Cheryl Fillion

Take In A Show

I am in the middle of getting ready for our annual Quilt Show, so I thought I would post this blog again.  This is just a gentle reminder that taking in a show is a great thing to do for you and your community.

As I am writing this, I am frantically finishing up my entries, getting the items ready for the hand work demonstration I have organized (to go on during the show) and trying to figure out what to make for the potluck our guild provides for our vendors and volunteers.  

I just posted on my Facebook page about the show, inviting all my local friends to attend.  Have any of you been to a quilt show?  It is a fun place to go if you like quilts or if you like color, patterns and texture.  But it is also a good place to go to increase your creativity.

In fact, attending any craft or art show is a good idea for the same reason.  You can see what is trending, as they say now, in patterns, designs or colors. You can get inspired by a different way to do a design.  One quilt show I went to many years ago, displayed a quilt with a skeleton of a dinosaur which had its head and tail extended off the main body of the quilt. I never thought of having part of the design expanded like that.  

Something you see at a quilt or art show might just click a memory of yours that you would like to capture in paint, or ink, or fabric.  It might give you an idea of something to make for a loved one. With quilts, it might show you just the arrangement of quilt blocks that you were looking for or just the pattern you wanted to make.

Even if you are not a quilter or a painter or photographer, going to an exhibit or show can still give you ideas.  The artist or the quilter’s perspective may show you a different way of looking at or thinking about a subject matter or just the world in general.  

When you go to a quilt or art show, you are supporting the arts in your community and that in itself is a good thing to do.  If you are reading this, you are probably interested in creativity in one form or another.  Think about how your life would be without what you create.  Don’t you want to make sure creativity in all its forms is available for everyone?

So do yourself and your community a favor: go to a show.

©2019 = Cheryl E. Fillion

The Same But Different

For the last couple of years I have been thinking of a project I call the Same But Different.  The idea is to have the same design but do it in different techniques (like embroidery, appliqué, punch needle, needle felting etc.).

I belong to a Sampler group and every year a pattern is chosen in different color styles.  Each month it is a different block or in this case the same block but different colors.  I chose the solid colors last year and thought to put them together like a color wheel (it also had a gray ‘background’ fabric.  I have not worked much with gray.). The block was simple: one 8 inch half square triangle and four 4 inch half square triangles.  Now I arranged mine a little different to do my project idea.

Basic Block

I started with the 4 inch squares and embroidered a different outline type stitch on the color part of the triangle with various shades of gray floss so it could bring in the gray from the back ground fabric.

Stem stitch

Chain stitch

Then in the colored part of the 8 inch triangle I used one of my flower cookie cutters to create a design there where I would use the different techniques to enhance it. The color for the design was sort of the complimentary color on the color wheel of the colored fabric (well it was one color over from the complimentary color on the color wheel.  So for red the opposite color was green, I choose a yellow green. No special reason than to just give it a little surprise from what you might think.)

Cookie cutter

The hard part was I did not know exactly what shade of color I would be getting so I couldn’t really start the 8 inch triangle designs until the year was over and I had all the blocks completed.  So as I write this, the Same But Different is still a work in progress. 

The first block I finished I used the technique of couching.  I took some fancy yarn that was in the green coor I wanted and couched the yarn around the design.  Couching is when you attach a yarn or string down on a fabric by making tiny stitches over it to sew it to the fabric.

Couching

The next block was similar to the first but this time it was with some of my spool knitting.  I spool knitted a thin cord and sewed (this time using more of an appliqué stitch) it to the fabric again following the design.  To make sure I had the right length, I measured along the side of the cookie cutter following the curves of it and then spool knitted the same length. There are slight variations in how the design looks but you can tell it is pretty much the same design.

Spool Knitting Cord

That is all I have done right now.  I will let you know how the progress of this goes. To Be Continued.

© 2019  Cheryl Fillion

New Embroidery To-Dos

I do all kinds of needle work but I started with embroidery.  I was about nine and received a crewel embroidery kit of a tree and squirrel.  I remember it was like a sampler in that in that I learned to do all kinds of stitches.  I loved it.

I have done embroidery on and off since then.  One of my prized possessions is old, very old, iron-on transfers that belonged to my maternal Grandmother. I still use them to trace the designs (I am not sure the iron-on ink would work anymore and the paper is so old, I am afraid the iron would scorch them.)  I also have some wood thread spools that she kept her embroidery floss on with her hand written color codes on the spool end.  I now collect wooden spools for my embroidery floss.

Lately I have wanted to see how far I can take my embroidery skills.  There is a new style of embroidery called Free Form embroidery or Improvisational embroidery.  You really don’t use an iron-on pattern or design like my grandmother’s transfers.  You pretty much paint with thread. You do what you want and try to create designs pretty much as you go along.  You pay attention to your color use, and texture of the thread and the pattern you create as you stitch.

I love the idea of improvisation in any form: acting, music, quilting but it is not something I am comfortable doing.  I am one who needs a plan, needs a design to follow.  So I decided that with embroidery I was going to try to improvise.

As with a lot of things I try, I started small.  Every year I make an ornament to share with family and friends.  This past Christmas I wanted to make something without having to buy any new supplies.  So I pulled out my craft felt, my embroidery floss and started stitching.

Christmas ornaments

I had seen a quilt with various size circles appliquéd on top of each other.  I liked how that looked so I started with circles.  I made various combinations of red, green and white circles.  What was nice about the felt was it stayed stiff enough so you didn’t need a hoop and since they were small for tree ornaments, they were small enough to carry with me. (I received some interested stares as I stitched in the hallway outside my classes last semester.)

I limited myself to the button hole stitch, the French knot, the running stitch,  the seed stitch and then a combination of some of these stitches to create a nice design (like the star design in center of some circles and a running stitch-French knot combo along the edge).

I never decided ahead of time what I was going to do.  The only plan I had was not to use the same thread color as the felt.  I became more comfortable with impromptu designing as I went along.  And if something didn’t look right, I just took it out and stitched it again. 

I decided to try something similar for Valentine’s day but I have to admit I didn’t get it finished and in fact am still working on it.  Don’t you hate it when life gets in the way of your crafting.   These little hearts are going to be a small wall hanging to put out every holiday.  I will post a picture when I get it done.

My Hearts- still in progress

So maybe with a little practice and some bravery I can do more free form or improvisational embroidery in a bigger size.  And maybe branch out and use some more stitches.

PS- just so you know I finished the Christmas ornament by stitching the same color circle as the biggest circle on the back.  I stitched down with matching thread so it wouldn't distract from the embroidery on the front and then added a thread as the hanger.

© 2019 Cheryl Fillion

 

Colored Pencils on Fabric

Since I have been talking about using paint on fabric, I thought I would repost my blog on using color pencil on fabric.  Both paint and pencil are great ways to enhance your fabric or fiber art.

There is a lot of information out about using crayons on fabric. You color a picture on fabric with crayons.  Then you take that picture place it face down on paper and iron away the wax.  And you keep ironing until there is no more transfer of color to the paper (always use clean paper each time you iron).

But did you know you can also color on fabric with colored pencils and there is no ironing involved?  I do it often.  To me it is fun and relaxing and you can do all the things you did with crayon fabric pictures.  I will admit here that you do have to use a textile medium to make the color permanent on the fabric.  I’ll talk about that later in this blog.

You might be thinking what kind of colored pencils.  Any type you would find in the art area of a craft store or paper supply section of a discount store.  I have some I use that I got at a Dollar store.  Any brand will do.  The more expensive brands might have a darker pigment.  Watercolor pencils can also be used.  You use these the same way you use watercolor paints.

What fabric can you use? Cotton fabric works the best but a polyester cotton blend might work as well.  This is where you can play and see what fabrics are the best for what you want to do.  I do recommend using white or a light cream color.  If you use any other colored fabric, the color of the fabric will show through the pencil marks. 

Now what about this textile medium?  A textile medium is a liquid put on a painting that makes the painting permanent so if you wash it, the pigment will not come off or fade.  Often times it was put on oil or acrylic paintings so they would not fade if exposed to sunlight.  It is a little thicker than water and you brush it on the coloring and let it dry. This is more likely found in an art supply store or a craft store near the art supplies or glues.

The textile medium does make the fabric a little stiff but I found that once it is washed or the more you handle the picture (I did embroidery over one colored pencil picture), the fabric softens up.  If you don’t add the medium and the picture becomes wet or it needs to be washed, the picture will fade or disappear altogether.

Here is a sample I did for a class I taught.  The top heart is how it looks colored with just the pencil.  The bottom heart is how it looks after I submerged it in water but with no detergent.  My guess is with the detergent; all the color would be gone.

Just pencil

This picture is with the textile medium added.  Same colored pencil and the same fabric was used.  Again the top heart is just with the textile medium; the bottom after submerged in water.  There was just a slight change in color.

Pencil with just the medium

Some textile mediums say to heat set the picture after medium is put on.  That can be done with an iron. Ironing when using crayons removes the wax but also heat sets the pigment from the crayon. I was curious if that would have the same affect with colored pencil.  So I did another heart, ironed it and then submerged it in water.  Just ironing without the textile medium did not set the color.

Pencil with iron

When I added the textile medium and also ironed I didn’t find that it changed the color at all after being in water.  So I wonder if the ironing is really necessary.  But then again as the old saying goes, “Better to be safe than sorry.”  Remember I haven’t used any detergent with these so maybe that might make a difference.

Pencil, medium and iron

This is a technique you can use with children.  I would stabilize the fabric a bit with either iron on interfacing or stabilizer that you can remove (if you want) or iron freezer paper to the back of the fabric.  Freezer paper can be found in some groceries in the wax paper/aluminum foil aisle. Freezer paper has a shiny/waxy coating to one side so when wrapped around meat would protect the food from freezer burn while in the freezer.  

For this purpose you want the shiny side of the paper down on the fabric, move a hot iron over the paper side and it will temporarily bond to the fabric.  It helps the fabric from moving around when you color on it.

Once you have colored your picture, added the medium and let it dry, you can use that picture in anything.  I have seen entire quilts done with this technique.  From a few feet away, the quilt looked appliquéd; it wasn’t until you got up close to see if was actually colored.

If you have some colored pencils and fabric, give it a try.  Who knows what you will create.

©2017, 2019 Cheryl Fillion