Friday, March 15, 2013

Kathy's Communication: Words, Gestures, and Actions


What a challenge this was !   Not because there weren't enough communication ideas, but just the opposite !  Having to limit myself to just one idea.... Or did I  ?    I started making a list of ways to communicate and came up with so many ideas that I just couldn't decide which of them to use, so I culled my list over and over again, and came up with my final list.   

The next challenge was to figure out how to get all those words printed onto the fabrics.  [Andrea.... I really wish we lived closer together !   I would have put your silk screening skills to good use and given your Thermofax machine a good run for its money !]    Not having access to the silk screen necessities, I improvised using the supplies I had on hand..... many that came down with me from Anchorage 3 years ago.   I printed all my text onto "Premium Coated Canvas" that I bought at Office Max - worked like a dream, and was actually very easy to sew / quilt through.    Next, using Pages on my MacBook, I figured out how to put a 'shaped box' outline around the title: Communication, then printed it onto  silk fabric using "Ink Jet Printing" by Jacquard.   The Habotai Silk comes on an 8-1/2" x 120" roll and has a paper backing so you can run it through your printer.   OK.... a bit of  a problem with the silk.  After I removed the paper backing, the silk kind of took on a life of its own.  It squirmed around all over the place and I never could get it to settle down.  Mistyfuse - where were you when I needed you !

Having somewhat persuaded the two fabrics to play nice with each other, I basted them together and then decided to use black and white piping between the text layers and the borders.  I learned about adding piping from classes I've taken with Rachel Clark, Linda Lee, and Loretta Tibor (Anchorage, AK teacher extraordinaire !)  After the piping I added borders using fabric that had vintage postal symbols on it (canceled stamps, envelopes, letters, etc.)  Why did I round the corners of this little quilt ? Because the Habotai Silk that had a life of its own got kind of crooked and made everything else look crooked !  What to do ?  Whack off all those corners, allow the quilt to speak for itself, and make the most of this creative opportunity (or sit down and cry !) 

Back to that silk again !    It continued to distance itself from the background words to the point where the words were unreadable.  Time to call in the troops !   Get out all those buckets of beads I've been hoarding, get out my hand needles and 50 wt. threads, and start stitching.   And for those of you who know me well, any kind of "hand work" drives me c-r-a-z-y.  Yet there I sat hand stitching every one of those lovely little beads; I must admit they do look kind of cool in a weird sort of way.



Would I change the way I approached this quilt ?  You bet !  Did I learn a lot about the compatibility of certain products with other products ?  Oh yeah !    Would I like to have a "Do Over?"  Yes !    Perhaps learning all these things is one of the reasons we continue to challenge ourselves and the reason we share our trials, tribulations, successes, and triumphs with each other.    

And now..... On to the next challenge:   CANYON(S) !    Peace & blessings to all.....   Kathy

12 comments:

  1. Kathy, all your work paid off! This is such a striking quilt.I have never heard of that coated canvas! I need to tell you about the workshop that Carolyn, Sara, and I attended at Quilting Adventures! We worked on canvas there, too, that we coated ourselves. Maybe we can have one of our local art group gatherings and I can show everyone this technique? Anyway, despite all your challenges and things going wrong, you came up with a true work of art! PS And that birthday gift from Judy from AK was wonderful! PPS I've written a post about the Katie PM workshop at QA; see "Texas Mavens at Quilting Adventures" from March 11!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kath, I could feel you 'communicating' with your quilt as you faced each challenge. I'm stunned to see hand stitched bead work! ha. The fabric sure supports the theme - I need to find that fabric for some note cards I'd like to make. Thank you also for photographing the supplies you used. I soooooo wish I'd had the forethought to do the same. Now I will just have to buy every ink jet fabric sheet product JoAnn's offers to find what I used. Something to save my 40% coupons for. :) By the way, Happy BD to UUUUUUUUUU early.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Recently--oh, maybe several months ago--Quilting Arts magazine had a great article comparing various brands of ink jet fabric sheets. They came down in the end to recommending two brands. I forget what one of them was, but the other was Jacquard. I don't think that JoAnn's carries that brand, but I found it on Amazon for a competitive price!

      Delete
  3. How ambitious of you and what a learning experience you had!! Your list is quite impressive and ingenious, but what is knee-mail?
    I love the wealth of methods you portrayed and how you kept the focus by bordering all of them in black and white. The border provides just the right contrast and sets it all off so well. How fitting that the last(?) post covers just about everything.
    Well done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Nedra ! "Knee-Mail" is just another way of saying "Prayer." I saw one of those really cute little signs one day that said something like, "God always answers knee-mail" and it sort of stuck in my brain ! Thanks for asking :-D Kathy

      Delete
  4. I love your approach and the way you got to the finish with this. I love this 12 by 12 format and have added the challenge to try out techniques - some have worked better than others but I always learn in the process and that is "a good thing"

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love your list and so glad that you persevered to produce a piece that visually communicated what you wanted to express! (Yes, it would be great fun if we lived closer together and could help each other, as I need quilting and computer designing help! ).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. G-R-E-A-T ! ! ! I'll be your studio apprentice, and you can be my studio apprentice ! It'll be super great to finally meet in Houston for the Int'l Quilt Festival - so many exciting things to talk about and learn from each other :-D

      Delete
  6. Kathy- Great Job, and wonderful list, it was fun to read, and fun for you to walk us through your learning process.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great list of words for communication! Even though you had struggles making this quilt, it turned out great.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love the list of words, Kathy. And thanks for a great explanation of how you created your quilt. Good job!

    ReplyDelete