Fun With Fabric Paint

It's school vacation week here, so some of us who volunteer at the Leominster Art Center have been running art classes. Yesterday I had a small fabric painting class, where we decorated bandannas. During the class, I was busy and forgot to take pictures.But afterward, I photographed my bandannas so that I could show you what we did.

First, we used Dye-Na-Flow paints, which are very liquid, on wet bandannas to create a sort of tie-dyed/marbleized look.

 Next, we drew on another bandanna with fabric markers. With brushes, we painted our drawings. We also made foam stamps, and stamped on the bandannas with the stamps we made, as well as with commercial stamps. We also used stencils and sequin waste for more interest. Kids always seem to like using the sequin waste. Maybe because it's sparkly? Or maybe because you can splosh on a lot of paint without worrying about it, and still get a really cool effect?

I was going to have them go back to the first bandanna, and add more detail, but we got so into what we were doing on the second one that we ran out of time. Afterward, I used up all the leftover paint on this one.

Then, it was time to clean up. Underneath everything was a piece of muslin that we were using for a drop cloth. In the background you can see some of our stamps.Why do the drop cloths always end up being the most interesting piece?

I'm especially loving this section. It just might find it's way into a quilt sometime soon.

I only hope the kids had as much fun as I did!

Monsters

While volunteering at the Leominster Art Center yesterday, I finished up a few new monsters. First, a roaring lion that was a special request.

And this motley crew. The red one looks seasick, the blue one reminds me of those Easter Island characters, and the one in the middle has me a little worried!

The scene from behind. 

I also got to meet a new artist who is exhibiting her paintings at the Center. Her name is Emily Darling, and she paints in oil with a palette knife, and very bright colors. She has hung some paintings of art supplies, and I am coveting the one of a pile of scissors. I think it would be a perfect accent for my studio ( if I had a studio, and not just a little space at the kitchen table). Maybe if I get the picture, a studio will magically appear around it?  It could work....

Catching Up

OK, I did finish that autumn quilt on time for the show, but then I lost possession of the computer to a kid with a school project, so I couldn't show it to you! And when I got it back, I had to catch up on the bills, etc,. first. This included renewing my car registration. This was a scary prospect, because of what happened last time.

Last time I renewed my car registration, I took advantage of being able to do it on-line, which seemed great, took 2 minutes. But then, the registration never came in the mail. A trip to the Motor Vehicle Department (and a long wait) revealed the problem. The final letter of my plate was not actually a letter. It was a number! I had renewed someone else's registration! So you can see that I approached this on-line registration with some nervousness this time. When it came time to enter my number, there was this big, red warning: If your registration expires in October, the final character is the number 0, not the letter o. I'm thinking maybe I was not the only one to make this mistake????

Anyway, back to the quilt. I left you as I was about to start some threadwork on the top.

Did I mention that I love thread? Here is a detail of the threadwork on the trees. I forgot to take pictures until after I had layered and pin-basted the quilt. 

And here is another detail of the foliage in the graveyard. For the tall grasses, I actually ran two threads, a tan and a green, through my needle at the same time. I've never done this before, and I really like the line it gave me.

Then, it was time for the quilting.

I decided to use a dyed cheesecloth for the binding. This was something else I had never done before, and I really like the way it looks. It seems to suggest a frame, without being a frame. As the quilt is handled, the cheesecloth tends to roll, and shrink up, like cheesecloth does, and I like this rustic, textural effect. You can see this in the next two pictures.

Here is the finished quilt, hanging in the Art Center. 



West On Route 2,
20"x21"

 Overall, I am happy with how this turned out. It's not quite what I planned, but I like it anyway. I learned a lot making it, which I will be able to put to good use in future quilts. Can't really ask for more than that.

And to thank you for waiting around while I got back to posting, a gratuitous picture of bunny butts!


Ginny, reaching into the cage to see if Weasley has anything good left in that dish.