Pillows

I made these 2 pillows for my daughter who recently moved to an apartment.  The blue & green segments with screen printing are hand dyes and the screen is of money plant, made from a photo I took when the plant was going to seed.  The other fabrics are commercial prints.  I did the printing and put the tops together at "quilt camp", and did the quilting and fnishing at home.

                                          Above is a close-up of the quilting.

"Quilt Camp"

Earlier this month I spent 2 weeks with a friend at her lake house where we have a "quilt camp" retreat - a chance to try various surface design and dyeing techniques.  We have been collecting rusty bits for a couple of years and used them to rust fabric.  Here are 2 of my rusted pieces and some of the rusty objects we used.  The piece in the top picture has some additional texture added with gelatin plate printing.

Mixed Media

At the May VCQ (Virginia Consortium of Quilters) meeting, I took a class with Catherine Etter using mixed media - fabric, paint, paper, discharge and other embellishments.  This is my (unfinished) piece, elements are glued down but not layered and stitched.  A few more things may be added in the process.  It was a fun day, learned several new techniques.

Stink Bugs!

I see it's been over a month since I added to the blog - my intention was at least once a week!  I'll try to do better!

These are my "Bloomin' Stink Bugs!", postcards that I did for a Virginia Consortium of Quilters postcard swap.  I used the shield shape of the stink bug's body in 2 sizes to create a flower-like design and screen-printed it on a hand-dyed fabric that has a first layer of gelatin plate printing.  Paints are Jacquard Lumiere textile paint.  Machine stitching enhances the flower design.

Finished Pillows

Done!  Ready to go to my sister tomorrow!  I added cording covered with a hand-dyed fabric around the edges and a textured batik print on the back.  These are for her brown sofa, I think the colors will pop against the brown.

Quilting the Pillows

Here are a few close ups of the quilted pillow tops.  I stuck with just defining the shapes of the screen prints on this project.

Screen Printed Pillow Tops

I'm working on these 2 pillows as a gift for my sister.  I started by screen printing some snow-dyed fabrics (only the orange is a commercial fabric), cutting them into rectangles and then arranging them on a muslin and batting foundation. They are fused to the foundation, then I stitched on the knit trim where the pieces meet.  Next step - quilting.