Celebrate and Modern Amish

This is my Illustration Friday piece using skeleton leaves and colorful yarn. I felt like celebrating nature.


I created Modern Amish for a challenge where we were to begin with a traditional pattern and make it contemporary. I love Amish quilts with their use of simple shapes and solid fabric. I used hand dyed fabrics from Cherrywood that I have been hanging onto for a very long time. I chose the simple Bars quilt design and broke the bars into a lot of little pieces. The Amish always seem to throw in a zinger fabric and mine is the red.

I quilted heavily across the surface of the quilt ignoring the pieced design and just having fun.

IF: Time and a velvet container

Diane Ericson gave us an assignment to make a container for something we hold dear. I began with my hand dyed velvet and started beading in a circle. That turned into the flower in the center. I continued with swirls and just let myself play. Very enjoyable and relaxing.
I topped it off with a couple of large beads in the corner.

The Illustration Friday word was Time and since I have been playing with rusting fabric, I decided to use a piece of it for this week. Rubber stamping and some old lace which I stained in a cup of tea finished it off. I have had a lot of fun rusting fabric. I walked Rascal along the railroad tracks and picked up lots of rusty metal things. I layered fabric and metal things on a rusty cookie sheet and put another layer of fabric on top. Then more rusty things and more fabric. I poured a solution of 1/2 vinegar, 1/2 water over the top and left it in a trash bag for about 36 hours. Voila...rusty fabric.

IF: Flawed and beaded bag

I am taking a class with Diane Ericson and her first challenge to us was to create a container for something you like. I decided to start beading on velvet to create a bag to hold special cards that I look at daily. I began with the flower in the middle and let the project speak to me as I went along.

I have been taking a watercolor class and realized very early on that I am not meant to be a "painter" who does landscapes or anything realistic. I just like to play with the paint. Since we began by making a lighthouse, I knew that it would be the perfect way to express the word "flawed". I am having a lot of fun doing the word that comes up every Friday. I ponder it during the week and usually get around to making something on Thursday...just before the next word is revealed.

I spent a good part of Saturday playing with gelatin printing. Rayna Gilman's video and book inspired me. Debra joined in the fun and every piece looks different and wonderful. Now I need to figure out how to use them in my quilting. We printed on black fabric with lumiere paint so they have real sparkle. I will try to post some next week.