Art Quilt Week 5

I know… starting with Week 5?  I will get the first 4 up and back date.  Promise!

YES! Finished up my 5th art quilt for my self inflicted challenge to complete an art quilt each week!  Almost thought I wasn’t going to be able to finish this one on time as I ran out of the colored thread I wanted to use. But thank goodness for Amazon Prime and had new thread in 2 days. LOL  It measures 18″x24″ and most of the fabrics, except for the solids, I had hand dyed previously.  I also added just a little bit of some watercolor inks to give a few areas a little more depth.  What I also did different on this one was add a little extra shredded up batting to certain areas so that it had even more depth.  Very hard to see in the photos, but in real life, it turned out just like I had hoped.

Some Detail Images

This one was made from a small 8×10  water color ink quilt I had made last year. I really loved it, but wanted to do a bigger one… In fabrics, not painted.   I scanned in the small one.  Changed it to a black and white format and played a little with the contrast and levels to get good contrasting values to use as a template for a larger one.  I then uploaded to my trusty nearby Staples for printing on a large 18×24 Engineering print. They are starting to wonder about me and printing these florals. LOL But after I explained what I was doing it made more sense to them. Now they made me promise to bring in one to show them. LOL

So here’s the original one I did last year. Painted on whole cloth piece of cotton fabric and then did thread sketching and quilting.

MY PROCESS BRIEFLY

I promise to take photos of my ENTIRE process next one! This has been an evolving process the past month and I have tried MANY techniques to get here.

After I received my Engineering print, I used a black permanent  marker to outline my values to create a template and numbered them  Then I taped it to a window (my south facing sliding doors), and laid freezer paper over and traced and numbered again.  Smaller ones I can use my light box but it’s only 12″x18″. Doing this served two purposes.  I will have my original print to refer to as I assemble the quilt, and doing it on freezer paper I would then cut up the pieces and be able to iron them temporarily to the front side of the fabric as my template pieces for cutting.

At the same time I traced it completely again onto a piece of Fusible Mid-Heavy Weight Stabilizer webbing. No numbers, just the basic outlines using a Frixion Pen that would iron away later.  (Won’t do that again, will do on muslin like I did the last one.  That fusing caused me a lot of issues while thread sketching and also the weight was just too stiff for my liking.  Does make for a very nice finished stiff art quilt though as I thought it would. LOL Maybe add after the thread sketching is completed.  Will test out and let you know.

Anyways…. Then I take all those numbered pieces, iron to the front side of my fabric swatches, added my fusible web to the back of the fabric and spent the afternoon cutting them all up and kept each value organized in little trays. Then it was puzzle time!  Actually, this is my favorite part next to the thread painting. lol  Yes, I’m a puzzle freak!  I don’t iron it down until every is there completely.  I use a very tiny smear of Tacky Glue in the center or ends of each piece to temporarily hold them or pins.  Why? because I have put one together that I ironed and as I worked around the piece, I decided to change it up a bit.  Can’t take it back off or move things slightly to fit better if it is already ironed down, but using just that tiny drop of glue I can lift it off and move easily.

Here’s one photo are it partially going together.  See the  freezer paper on top.  I LOVE when I get to take it off and reveal the colors below.  It’s kinda like opening a Christmas present. LOL  After I have this portion done, I hang it up on the design wall and decide if I want any more detail added.  Little bits here and there sometimes make a huge difference in the overall piece I think.  

All put together here and ready for the thread sketching and quilting.  What a difference the thread sketching makes in my humble opinion. Looks so plain and simple at this point.  I don’t square it up until after all the sewing is completed. It will get a bit wonky during the process depending on how densely I sew different areas.

Took me a few days (had sewing machine issues and had to do a total clean out again.)  Sorry, I know one person for sure is going to wish I had taken photos of that and how to do. LOL  I will next time. But with as much thread that has gone thru that poor little 30 year old machine this past month, no wonder she needed it! LOL

 

So here is an overall photo of my October Quilts besides my small Art Girl I did as my first one. WHEW!  Onto the next!  Going to do a Magnolia Tree branch. Got all my fabrics dyed the other day waiting for that thread to arrive. LOL

Hope you enjoyed seeing into my Studio and if you have any questions on anything, please feel free to ask. I’ll do my best to answer.  Do you art quilt? I’d love to see what you are up to also!