Layered leaves, Fractured landscape, done and up

     One of my pieces in the Fox Run show is the Layered Leaves hanging, 24" x 30".  It is discharged black fabric, applique leaves (no fusible or raw edge), quilted by machine and hand, and bound. I used Superior's Twist thread for quilting and perle cotton for the hand stitching. 

     Another piece, Fractured Landscape, was made from leftovovers  in my other landscape, Summer Wonder. I sewed the pieced squares to heavy weight interfacing and zig zagged the edges with the Bernina 830. I glued the squares to smaller sized matboard and then glued them to a 10" x 10" wooden pallet (coupon at Joanns) I whitewashed.

Again, the colors are off- the blues are too acid and the greens are too dark. I took the photo outside, but it didn't help.

Discharged leaf art quilts

      In my last post, I wrote I have to work at what I do. I always had strong visual ideas. I had no art in school until high school which was was rudimentary busy work. I had no art supplies. Initially, I did not go to art school (art ed) as I was discouraged by counselors forecasting looming layoffs in teaching (it did happen). I didn't get my graphic design degree until much later and my art ed certification and masters at 42. I struggled to learn fundamental art and design concepts and skills and college did not help. Back then, art at the SUNY schools was all about feeling and abstraction and therapy and making marks. There was disdain for techniques and color/values/composition-they said it had no soul. I had to learn on my own sketching, examining, taking workshops to what was close to where I wanted to go. One of the reasons I became an art teacher was to bring children a solid art program. 
     Art is my passion in creating and finishing. Process and product are not separate for me. When I am done with a project, I want to move on.

     Since last summer, I had a bunch of fabric that I discharged leaves. Real leaves were harmed in the making of the discharged fabric. I weighted them down with pennies and sprayed the bleach/water mixture over all kinds of blacks, dark greens and other solid colors. The black worked best, but I did use the green in two border strops. 
     Everytime I took the pieces out, I had no clue. Well, now I am forced to come up with some work for shows. I made two at once because when I stuck working on one, I go to the other.
     I have this hate relationship with fusibles. When I needed leaves, I cut freezer paper leaves out and wrappd the edges of the batiks to the back and used a glue stick and dry iron. I removed the paper and then used a blind stitch on my 70's Bernina with monofilament from YLI and an 11 needle to applique them onto the backgrounds. I made a lot more leaves than I used. The sketches I made were not what it ended up like. I don't like doing applique, but sometimes, you just need it.

In process figuring made fabric border

Finished top of art quilt, 24 x 24, but not quilted

The rectangle art quilt, 24 x 30

     The mess of fabrics from making these was put away, but then the landscape quilts fabrics have spilled over also (not seen).

Always keep learning

     Our guild sponsored a 2 days of classes with Karen Kay Buckley,  http://www.karenkaybuckley.com/index.php. We split her time with other guilds so we could split her expenses. The two other guilds had lectures and classes. I am not much into applique, mostly because my hand sewing is, um, lacking skill and I hate fusibles. Karen does not use fusible. She taught a machine applique class, Kansas Rose, and a hand one, Modern Dahlia. If you ever get a chance to see her, she is an excellent, superb, teacher. I did not finish either project and I will finish the hand one by machine.
   She taught us by using a heat resistant plastic called Templar and Magic Sizing painted on the seam allowance, to turn under the edges so the piece can be sewn on. In the machine applique class, we used clear YLI thread and a blindstitch at 8 stitch bites per inch to secure and I think it looks great. I laughed and laughed at the size of the needle and eye. In my wildest dreams, I don't think I could hand sew an entire block at 8 hand stitches an inch with this needle. 
   I have some other projects to finish before I get to these.

Leaves, stems and flower machine appliqued down with YLI clear

Ha, ha, tiny needle. My attempt at hand applique.

Both projects in process with fabric selection. I have excellent directions from Karen to finish.