From Edge 2 Edge Blog

Red Rock Sunrise - SAQA Benefit Auction

5/14/2021

I had a lot of fun this year creating my 12 x 12 inch SAQA Benefit Auction piece. These little pieces take more time than I think they will. The main reason is that I still go through a full design and critique process like I would when creating a larger piece.

For this piece I went back into my stash of fabrics that were either digital or inkjet prints. I was happy to realized that the mountain fabric I had purchased was in the same color scheme as my own design I had printed at Spoonflower several years ago. From there it was just a matter of deciding on my final concept and design. I love layering textures and unexpected elements in my pieces. The two bands of different rock and sky pieces were cut offs from one of my Arizona themed pieces. I love the contrast of the brown tones against the main color of pinks.

The original printed fabrics didn't have strong enough contrast for me between the mountain layers. For this reason, I got out my Derwent Inktense pencils and blocks to punch up some of the colors and add in some extra details. I also knocked back some areas that drew the eye away from the focal areas. I used Aloe Vera gel as my blender medium as the Aloe gel provides a more controlled application than water. Then I heat set the color application to make it permanent.

I hand colored some scrim and laces to add texture and color contrast.

Pieced with commercial and digital printed fabrics. Hand colored laces and fabrics with Derwent Inktense.
Machine quilted.

This quilt will be available for purchase on the SAQA website to support the exhibition and outreach programs. This year's auction will take place online from September 10 through October 3.

Visit the SAQA Benefit Auction webpage for more information.

Click on the thumbnails to get information on each step of the process:

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In Process...

4/28/2018

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This is a work in progress. I have added some additional color enhancements to the base design. Not sure what I am going to add next, but I know more work is going to be done. The quilting is done on it so anything I add will be to bring out texture or create more flow across the piece. The original piece was a black and white design that I had printed at Spoonflower.

The first image is the base I started with. It had some additional yarns and ribbons attached, but after looking and studying the piece for months on the design wall, I decided they added nothing to the original design. I spent the morning removing all the extraneous fluff.

If you study the piece, you can see where I altered the original design with stronger color. I recently watched an artist painter on YouTube that talked about connecting the shadows. I took that to heart on this piece and I do admit, I like it better with the main color pieces being more linked together.

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Tranquility and Turmoil

12/26/2015

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I guess those two words could easily describe the last week before Christmas. Lots of prep and getting cards, presents and food ready for the holiday. Work was a little crazy so I worked two days that I was originally planning on having off. The good news, I got all the stuff done that I needed to, so the rest of my time off is worry free. I hope that everyone had a great Christmas with family and friends.

Today was spent putting some finishing touches on my quilt for the SAQA Tranquility exhibit. David thought I was nuts to be splashing paint on something that was all quilted and bound. I am starting the first processes on my Turmoil quilt for the sister exhibit. Now the fun part of waiting for the paint to dry. As soon as it dries on Turmoil, I can start my "pre-sewing" like I did on Tranquility before I sandwiched it for the quilting. I am working on quilting designs to convey the turmoil feeling. Both pieces were cut from a design that I had printed in black and white from Spoonflower.

What are you doing for your "end of the year" activities? Spending with family/friends or trying to get a little art done (or both}?
Check out the SAQA calendar to see if there are exhibits in your area to see over the holidays.

Tranquility - detail

Turmoil - detail

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Working on my Tranquility quilt for SAQA

11/29/2015

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I have been sewing frantically the past few days over the Thanksgiving weekend to try to get this piece ready for more "color work". I want to finish the base quilting so I can overlay more color. I can then decide if it needs more stitch work. This is a very small detail of the whole piece. I want to finish this before the end of December so that I can start on the companion piece for the Turmoil exhibit.

This piece was started in Photoshop and printed at Spoonflower in grey scale. Using a variety of paints and inks I layered in the base colors. To increase the depth of the piece I will layer in colors with more inks, paints, etc. I love doing this technique although it is a bit scary adding the additional paints as there is no going back.

I have been having a lot of fun stitching out with a variety of colored threads. The Baby Lock machine I have makes changes threads a breeze and I no longer avoid color changes like I used to.

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Woo Hoo Spoonflower! (and Mood Fabrics shopping)

10/2/2015

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Just got notice that my Spoonflower order (submitted Sept 27, 2015 late afternoon) shipped today. That means that I should be getting it really soon and can start on my next piece. I am anxious to see the final product as I used some new techniques and software for this design.

I will post some photos of the pieces that I receive and detail the differences between the two fabric choices that I made. This is another black and white design that I will be "post" coloring so I will start experimenting with some of my coloring agents to see which I prefer. I have a "look" pictured in my head and I am hoping that I will find the right product to get the look I want.

On another note, I am a Project Runway junkie. I love to see what the designers come up with and love their trips to Mood Fabrics. There are so many bolts sticking out from everywhere and the colors are amazing. So while I was working on some "home-work" this morning, I took a virtual trip to Mood to see what they had on their website.

I was pleasantly surprised by the way the Mood site is organized and how many choices there are on selecting fabrics. There is an option to order swatches of your choices (and they recommend that you do) and the price is reasonable. It appears that any swatch you order is only one dollar (Yes! $1) and then shipping. If you select several swatches it does average the cost down to get the samples in your hand. Mood also codes the fabric with a nice little popup of the explanation if you hover over the code. This code will tell you if this is a fabric that is reordered often and available most times, or if it is in danger of going away soon.

Check out these other abstract fabrics!

Mood Fabrics is in Los Angeles at 645 S. La Brea Ave. so there is a possibility that in the future I will be making a pilgrimage to see it in person and sharing my experience. Anyone want to go?

STORE HOURS

Mon-Fri:10am - 7pm

Sat: 10am - 6pm

Sun: Closed

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Working on a New Spoonflower Design

9/27/2015

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I have been working madly this weekend to get a new design uploaded to Spoonflower. This is another black and white piece that I will be adding color to after I receive it in hand. My hope is that I will be working on two pieces for the upcoming SAQA exhibits of Tranquility and Turmoil.

Tranquility is due to be submitted in January and Turmoil is due in February. In between I need to get photos reviewed and/or taken so that David can submit work to the "No Girls Allowed" exhibit at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum. Guess what I will be doing on my next off Friday?

I committed to a 3 yard print order and I also did a sample print on a different fabric. I have enough fabric to experiment on and get my pieces designed. Both are the whitest cottons they have. I have a small Spoonflower swatch book so I was able to compare the fabrics.

It is a good idea to take advantage of all the samples and tools that Spoonflower offers. They have the fabric sample book which is great to see up close and in person the weight, weave and whiteness of the fabric. Since I will be using transparent paints, I wanted a really clean white.

If you are printing colors, Spoonflower also has color profiles for each fabric to use in Photoshop. They are available for both Windows and Mac. Instructions are clear on the page where the download is on where to place them in your computer so the program has access to them.

I can't wait to get my fabric and get started painting. I spent some time on Saturday testing out some stitch designs on a sample fabric. I will be excited to stitch it on my new design.

What are you working on? Are you submitting to a SAQA exhibit?

Very small detail of my design for the SAQA call for entry

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Test Swatch Comparision: Spoonflower

9/20/2015

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I have not always followed this rule because most of the time the printed fabric outcome has not been critical to my final project. I tend to do more color manipulation of my pieces either before the quilting or after. My recommendation is that if the final color output is critical to your design, you take advantage of the test swatch option. It is money well spent as I will demonstrate.

The original piece I printed for this design was on cotton. I did some 'after Spoonflower' manipulation, but not an extensive amount. The below samples were printed on Poly Crepe de Chine and Silk Crepe de Chine. The design was created in Photoshop from my original photographs.

As you can see, there are two very different results and neither of them wrong, just different. The poly fabric is very true to color on the original design. The silk would have to have the saturation pumped up if I wanted the same results. The original cotton printed piece is closer in color to the silk. The poly is smooth, so the edges of the design are crisp. The silk has a sandy texture so the edges are softer. If you wanted a softer, more watercolor effect, the silk would definitely give you that result.

Poly Crepe de Chine / Silk Crepe de Chine

So here's my recommendation: decide on the look you want, decide on one or more fabric choices that would be suitable for your project, and get your test swatches printed. If you want just one fabric, consider uploading different saturation levels of your design and get your swatch samples made. I promise that you will be happy you did the test prints.

I found a piece of the cotton to show the comparison. The silk and cotton are similar in both color and edge quality of the design. Both are less saturated and have more of a watercolor effect. The polyester is sharper in edge quality and brighter in color.

From left clockwise: Silk (white border 2 sides), Cotton, Poly (bottom)

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My New "Craft" Table

8/30/2014

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I have been creating art on my kitchen island for years, but mostly for smaller projects. Sometimes I work in the garage on a table I have but, you know, it is in the garage. This morning was so beautiful I decided to complete a project I have had on the back burner for a while. I will not admit how long...

Here is the history behind what I did this morning. A neighbor was having a garage sale and had a table without a top. The glass got broken and they wanted to get rid of the base. It was free, so I loaded it in the van and brought it home. It has lived outside in the back yard ever since. In the meantime, we replaced our old wooden fence with a vinyl one and had the installer leave the "left overs" as I just knew I could find a use for them. They have lived in the back yard ever since.

This morning I arose, saw the beautiful morning, and decided I wanted to finish my current art quilt project outside and enjoy the bird songs and the cool of the morning. I put the table in the patio area, washed and scrubbed the vinyl fence sections and assembled them on the table. I now have a great work table (for free!) and I can still take the top apart if I need more patio space. How cool is that?

Have you repurposed any yard sale or home items into something useful? Let me know, maybe I have that stuff lying around and would like to create your project.

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Spoonflower Faux Suede Sample

6/18/2014

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Woo HOO! Got home from work tonight and in the mail was my faux suede sample from Spoonflower. A few weeks ago, they announced a new fabric for their print on demand line. They were offering a free sample print and I decided to take them up on their offer.

Honestly, I was not expecting to love it. I chose a design that I had previously printed to compare the prints. I thought because it was faux suede the edges of the design would be a bit fuzzy. I was so totally wrong. The fine lines are crisp and clean, the colors are accurate and comparable to the print I had done on the cotton fabric.

The sample piece is an 8 inch square. As you can tell from the detail shots, you can see the nap of the fabric. Despite my less than stellar photos, you can see the quality of the printing and the quality of the line edges. These are very fine lines in the original design.

I am now trying to decide what I can make with the Spoonflower faux suede so I can order a larger piece of it. Check out their other fabrics for print on demand designs.

Did you take advantage of the Spoonflowers offer for the free sample? If you did, what is your opinion of their new line of faux suede fabric?

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Working with Ghana Fabric

6/29/2013

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Ghana Batik Stash

We have a fabulous collection of beautiful Ghana batiks that David and I have been "collecting" for several years. The only problem I have with them is that they are so beautiful, I personally am hesitant to cut them up into small pieces. Not as difficult for David. He has used them before in his "Half Way to Monet" quilt.

I have now gone on the attack and have been slicing and dicing up several yardage pieces that will be in both of my current fiber art pieces. These are for the upcoming Textures show in Temecula that opens October 4th.

I am having fun designing my own fabrics and getting them printed by an outside service (currently Spoonflower but we use Fabric On Demand also). For my most recent fabrics, I used photos taken in the Temecula Valley area. I always carry a camera when David and I go on bike rides. When you are only going 10-20 mph on a bike you see so much more than when you are zooming along at 30-70 mph in a car. I look for interesting textures and elements that can be manipulated and layered in Photoshop. If you have not done any fabric design, you should try it. Very fun and gives you an appreciation of fabric designers for the commercial houses.

I cannot post photos of my latest pieces until after the show opens. David and I hope that you will be able to see the exhibit that runs until November 3rd. If you are not able to attend, check back on the website. I will try to have the photos up of David and my pieces by the second week of October.

Have a wonderful creative day and stay cool! Especially all my friends in Arizona.

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<<Previous

Red Rock Sunrise - SAQA Benefit Auction

In Process...

Tranquility and Turmoil

Working on my Tranquility quilt for SAQA

Woo Hoo Spoonflower! (and Mood Fabrics shopping)

Working on a New Spoonflower Design

Test Swatch Comparision: Spoonflower

My New "Craft" Table

Spoonflower Faux Suede Sample

Working with Ghana Fabric

David & Patricia

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