Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Lois' STRONG Quilt

I pondered a long time about the different types of strong.  It was such a good theme, so many options, thank you Tricia.    I kept going back and forth with the strength animals - As we just returned from a South African Safari trip, where the brute strength of these animals in their natural setting was awesome to behold,  and the mascots in schools of animals used to depict Strong in a collegiate mascots. Not being from the South and witnessing the strength of the support for Southern Conference Schools - their loyalty to the Mascots, Flags and Banners of these teams everywhere, and the strength of their followings have intrigued me.  So I decided to combine them in my own version of strong.

I appliqued on the red letters - obviously to give the piece a collegiate feel as my last step.


I did my applique on untreated cotton canvas.   I drew the elephant on white velum, and used Fantastic All purpose inks, and their fine tip applicators and alcohol to paint on the fabric,  I wet the fabric first, did my drawing to size on paper, then taped it down, pinning the fabric over it, so I could see through the marker drawing done in permanent marker thru the thin cotton untreated white fabric. By wetting the fabric i was able to blend my colors better and not get harsh lines from the ink.   Be sure to put plastic under the whole project so your table surface stays clean.

After the painting was done and dry, I ironed it, then cut it out. I sprayed the back of it with Web Bond TA 101 and ironed it in place on the canvas.  Then I started thread painting with my new Sweet Sixteen.

When the elephant was completed, I decided it needed more texture so I put canvas colored thread in my machine and started free motion drawing, beige on beige on the canvas. It was a fun piece to do,and I learned a
lot about using the inks as well as practicing thread painting, which I am becoming obsessed with!!!!

10 comments:

  1. Oh, Tricia! I love this! Elephants are among my most beloved animals, going all the way back to Walt Disney's DUMBO movie! This is charming and so beautifully executed. Your thread painting is superb. Thanks so much for giving us all the details of the construction process. I could easily picture each step!

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  2. This is great! I REALLY need to learn to thread paint!!! It gives such great detail and texture and yours is perfect. The elephant is gorgeous and so dimensional and I love the red collegiate letters. We do worship our teams and mascots in the south - mine were the purple and gold Tigers both in high school and college!! I'm thinking of team names now - Pensacola Pachyderms or Ephrata Elephants. Love it!!

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  3. I love your elephant. I can see how much you enjoyed your sweet sixteen! The texture on the elephant and background is wonderful.

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  4. Lois...I love your elephant also and I want your Sweet Sixteen. How is it working out? Any problems? No problems? Total joy? The background looks like chamois to me and I love it. I am excited about your paint and thread stitching.

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  5. Linda I am totally in love with it!!!!!!! Have to remember there are other things in life somedays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol!!!!
    It's been an amazing tool to combine my love of painting and my love affair with fabrics!!!!!!!!

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  6. Love your elephant! You did a great job with your shading and thread painting.

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  7. Like everyone else, I love your elephant and think he has the sweetest face! I also love how you were able to connect the theme with your recent trip to South Africa in combination with the "southern" tradition of worshipping sports teams and mascots.

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  8. Hi Lois ! What a great quilt ! I loved your narrative about your recent trip to South Africa....its influence on your design choices; your Southern allegiance to all things sport; and your descriptions of tools and techniques you used in the making of this quilt. Thread painting is where its at ! Keep up the great work :-D

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  9. Okay Lois, now I'm sold on the Sweet Sixteen. Will you give us lessons? Seriously, your elephant is absolutely stunning! It's so life-like that it seems like it is stepping out of your piece. I'm also so appreciative of your narrative about how you painted the elephant. Thanks for helping us learn about a new technique! Lovely!

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  10. Of course Carolyn. If you are ever in Atlanta. I have plenty of room for you, and i would be happy to teach you anything that I know that would be helpful for you. Sharing our discoveries is fun and what it's all about!!!!

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