Monday, February 27, 2012

Marmoleum "Rug" Design

This is the design for my Marmoleum "rug"/ floor cloth.  I made this design with Excel borders.

I ran an Excel macro that sets up a square grid.   I used format borders to put in the design lines and the color bucket for color.  Once I had a few squares done, I used the copy format tool to duplicate the design to other squares.

Then I copied the design into Paint and saved it as a JPG file.  I rotated the JPG file 45 degrees and "warmed" the JPG to change the colors a little.  .... the color is close to what I want.

A few zentangley things





I want to make something like a floor cloth rug but start with a piece of
linoleum (Marmoleum).  I used a Sharpee for the black lines.  And SetAColor transparent dye for the over "dyed" area.  I don't have the color I want quite yet... I am loving how dye IS transparent.


Friday, February 17, 2012

Terri Stegmiller

I found Terri Stegmiller recently and I am crazy about her art.  You can see some of her art on my Pinterest board here.   Maybe I should rename the board for her since it is mostly her work!

http://pinterest.com/donaleen/art-quilt-inspriation/



Wednesday, February 15, 2012

longing for tendrils


I like the colors and the flowers and the embroidery floss and the "dots".... my tendrils look a mess.  If I want tendrils, I am going to have to practice drawing them.  Apparently they don't come naturally to me.
I just figured out how to add a picture.  This is going to be primitive until I figure more out.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

How I am doing these watercolor quilts

This first part is ala Gilda Baron.  All the fabric started out white (or almost white).  I use various weights and types of cotton fabric.  The fabric is painted like a watercolor, using dye-na-flow.  The flowers are white organdy, also painted on with dye-na-flow. After the organdy dried, I cut out little circular shapes for the flowers....the dyed fabric varies some in its color and the circles vary in their shape.  I used pearl cotton embroidery floss to sew the center of the circles to the background.  There are french kots under the fabric circles, here and there to add some dimension to the flowers.  

The background fabric  is over a light batting  (Hobbs Heirloom).  When I sew, I can  pull up the embroidery stitches for  a little flower shaping.   When I move between flowers I can pull the floss a little tight to slightly shape the surface.   It is really very easy and wonderfully imprecise.  
I really do love fabric.  I love how it drapes and isn't meant to be flat.  So many quilt techniques struggle against the natural way of fabric.  Although I admire the technique and find them beautiful, they constrain the fabric and this hides some of its beauty... at least to me.  



water color art quilt

I am having so much fun with Dye-na-flow paint, fabric markers, and embroidery.