JW's: Garden Greenery

Green is my Dad’s favorite color.  Growing up in a green house with green kitchen cabinets and oh yes... that pure green carpet - ugh!  It wasn’t that I detested green, I just appreciate the entire rainbow.  Funny how some things revisit my life.  Our green house exterior is a prelude to several shades of green walls throughout the interior.   Even my new studio remodel is now awash in a pale yellowish green paint. 

Actually I’m surrounded by green because my favorite outdoor home hobby is gardening with special attention to adding a variety of greenery amidst my flowers.  My husbands summer priority is keeping our lawn the lushest green on the street and then we both play on golf greens as often as possible in our spare time ~ depicted with the green grass border fabric.

My quilt subject is dedicated to enjoying God’s green earth whether it is in my garden, on the course or in my mind.  I sketched this ornamental vignette with pencil and paper to actual size, then transferred the design using dressmakers carbon to trace the outline directly to my hand-dyed fabric background.  I originally intended to embroider the scene in black thread but chose to work the lines and shading entirely with a Pigma MICRON 01 permanent black archival ink pen for the finest detail.  It is acid free and my number one choice for writing my quilt labels on fabric.

Embellishments include 1/8th inch satin ribbon, various glass beads and a wire beaded dragonfly I made almost 10 years ago.  I wanted to keep the background simple so I used (60 wt.) Madiera clear monofilament for my topstich and smoke colored  Madeira monofilament for my bobbin thread which I free-motion quilted around the drawn shapes after the beading.  I tacked the dragonfly on last.  I think more light contrast would have helped the overall look but I worked with what was on hand.  My studio is spread to all corners of the house and garage so this was more of a challenge than I usually encounter to be finished on time.  

PS.  My first photo isn't true to color or in clear focus.  I took several shots indoors and out with various settings.  I was having trouble with my camera and low batteries.  I will replace with a better photo as soon as possible.  I'm heading to the golf course - I'm in a tournament in 2 hrs.!  I have cut this blog submission close because I just finished the piece an hour ago. 

Judy W's: Cellular World

Several ideas came to mind with this theme but part of my goal in whatever I make is trying to use supplies and leftovers from my studio.  The focal point of Cellular World began as a screen print about 5 years ago when Kathy and I were experimenting with fabric art and surface design methods.  I hand dyed a white recycled bed sheet and Dover Publications provided the copyright free clip art from which I made a thermofax screen to print from.  It was some time ago but I believe I used bronze Lumiere fabric paint to silkscreen the image.

Wonder Under fusible was ironed to the backside of the dyed/screen printed fabric, then with pinking shears, the smaller circles were cut from the left over border surrounding the large circle.  Finding a suitable batik background was far easier than laying out a pleasing arrangement of cells.  Thanks to fusibles, the decision was permanent!

Using black monofilament for both top and bottom threads, I free motion stitched all the circles including the dotted batik background.  Overall, I am very pleased with the result, especially since my brain cells seemed to be entirely focused on golf this summer and my dismantled studio has not progressed toward my intended remodel since spring!

Judy W's "Interwoven: Through the Ages"

"Interwoven: Through the Ages" 

by Judy Wedemeyer

My reference to 'through the ages' is an interweaving of past, present and future  projects and memories.  (Past) is highlighted by recycling vintage black wire beaded earrings.  The flower was one of many I made a few years ago while experimenting with melting black plastic fruit tray dividers into flower bases. I was planning on incorporating them into weatherproof yard art somehow.  Batik fabric in aqua and orange tropical colors are inspired by my daughters beach themed, Hawaiian destination wedding scheduled for April 2014. (Future)  And of course (Present) is the creation of this current challenge piece.

A foundation of mixed ephemera and threads from various art quilt projects were laid on dyed cheesecloth, interwoven and then sandwiched between two sheets of Water Soluble Solvy foundation.  Included materials are painted Ludura, upholstery threads, plastic netting, dyed silk cocoon pieces and dyed cheesecloth.

I bobbin stitched a variegated metallic thread while machine quilting with a clear mono-filament top thread in a wavy grid pattern.  Once stabilized, I cold water rinsed the Solvy away, towel pressed the 'fabric' and iron dried it between parchment paper.  The tissue paper and gold foil candy wrapper pieces were embedded after the wash and dry cycle.  Unfortunately I got heavy handed with the iron and melted the green netting pretty much into oblivion. : /

Quilt Basting Spray adhered the interwoven section to the orange batik background fabric.  I ironed fusible fleece batting (Thermolam) to the backside of the batik before bobbin quilting a diagonal wavy grid in metallic thread. After quilting, I sandwiched top and back right sides together, cut a small slit in the backing to pull right side out, and then fused my quilt label over the opening.  Final step was gluing and thread tacking the embellishments to the quilt top and beading the edges.  This quilt exemplifies what I enjoy most about art quilting ~ small experiment projects which incorporate recycling, hand beading, embellishments and surface design.

Judy W's "Travel Bugs"

My travel experience to date has been minimal.  As an avid reader I consider myself more of an armchair traveler.  However, to my husbands delight I became a golf enthusiast this past summer, which sparked a mutual desire to pursue future annual mid-winter golf vacations.  Recently pet free and soon approaching retirement, our travel opportunity is growing exponentially.  Without a doubt, we've been bitten by the 'travel bug', so I chose to convey my travel theme from a whimsical perspective.

Ladybugs bear personal significance in a couple of ways.  My first dog was named Lady but I often called her Ladybug and we traveled lots of childhood miles together.  Ladybugs are also somewhat of a namesake. My nickname is Jude. I shared my idea with dear friends a couple years ago that if I had a Volkswagon beetle I would have it custom painted red with black dots, the headlights would look like eyes, and my vanity plate would say "Judebug".  Since then, we have enjoyed the ladybug theme in various gifts between us... therefore, my travel bugs are depicted by 'Judebugs'.  The letters "A" and "B" portray the term "Traveling From A to B".

My design was sketched freehand, translated to hand dyed fabric and embellished with running and back stitched embroidery, hand painted houses using Lumiere metallic, Pigma pen colored ladybugs and machine anchored three dimensional synthetic leaves.  Machine quilted details were free-motion stitched with clear mono-filament.  Unsure if I should add more quilting to the background, I refrained with the idea that I could always add more later.

Originally I'd planned to create a background fabric with Sharpie Markers and Alcohol dyeing but the result was too dark so it became the backside and binding of the quilt.  This is a dye technique new to me, which I will further explore.

I started with these colors scribbled on a white on white fabric but the result was too pale so I added darker colors that aren't being shown here.

This is the 'wrong side' of the dyed fabric, which offers a pale alternative of the original.

I had just enough fabric for both the backing and binding and a scrappy label.

Judy W's Spiral: "Staircase To Heaven"

First I'd like to apologize for being tardy with this submission.  Between torrential wind wreaking havoc and felling two significant trees from our landscape, plus a delayed front deck replacement with construction materials adding to the 'disaster status' of our yard, my schedule went completely awry.  This is the first year in a long time that I can say I might be looking forward to winter!

Now, about the spiral theme.  I was off to a slow start and no firm ideas would gel.  Time was nearly up and very few doodles were striking my fancy.  My photo of the spiral staircase inside our Alaska Railroad train car just wasn't working out so I Googled spiral staircase images and found this one, although the original was in black and white.  Using my iPhoto tools, I chose a green color that reminded me of fiddle head ferns.  The image was printed on a June Tailor Colorfast 100% Cotton Fabric Sheet For Ink Jet Printers and heat set with a dry iron.

"Staircase To Heaven" embraces my love of curved lines, spiral staircases, fiddle head ferns when they first begin to unfurl in the spring, but most of all, I love the photo angle with its upward movement that leads my thoughts toward infinity and eternity in heaven.  The black/gold spiral border print was luckily in my stash, as well as the gold spiral braid.  I chose to extensively accent the spiral movement with predominantly green and gold glass beads.  The stair treads are machine quilted with a variegated green Blendable thread.  I machine stitched the braid with gold metallic thread.  I'm not sure the details will show up well enough in this photo but my husband said, "this looks rich".  I agree with him.  It really glows in person.

Judy W's Mystery Quilt: "Mystery By Design"

"Mystery By Design" by Judy Wedemeyer (12" x 12")

Every step of development from design to construction was an unfolding mystery for me.  Without a doubt, this has been one of my most personally satisfying art quilts to date.

I created a curved line alphabet, assigning a line per letter, and then spelled out M-Y-S-T-E-R-Y to draft a 4" line design.  That 4" line design was repeated in a 4 X 4 grid. (see photo below)

xerox repeat design on left, tracing paper copy on right

I used tracing paper to test color alternatives before I finalized a section on paper with colored Sharpies.  As I pulled fabrics I  simplified some of my design even further.  Using either clear template plastic and/or tracing onto fusible Wonder Under allowed me to fussy cut specific fabric areas like the batik flowers and pink diamonds and heart shaped pieces.  Ironing stabilizer on top of the xerox paper design enabled me to place the fuse-backed fabric shapes in their proper positions and make fabric changes if desired before ironing them down.

quilting with metallic threads

Quilting with metallic threads has always been somewhat of a mystery for me so I thought what better project than this to experiment with them.  Adjusting the upper tension slightly looser (4 on my Bernina), using a 90/14 Topstitch needle, Bobbin thread (like lingerie thread) in the bobbin, lubricating the metallic thread spools with Sew Aid and machine stitching at a moderate speed worked the best for me.  My comfort zone has increased dramatically after quilting this piece entirely with metallic thread (including hollow shimmer), but I wouldn't say I'm proficient quite yet.  At least I have solved some of the 'mysteries' in tackling this project head on.

The first 6 letters of my curved line alphabet. The beauty of this concept is that I can change all the lines to create an entirely new alphabet ~ perhaps mixing straight with curved lines.

Labeling Our Posts: Elemental Blog Organization

Judy commented about my use of labels at the end of my South theme posting tonight.  I'm addressing this subject here so hopefully everyone will see it and make use of labels on their own posts.  In doing so, the Maven's blog will provide a means for members and outside readers to track specific artists, themes or any other relevant  labels used.  (Alice, as Administrator you will need to add a Labels Gadget in the sidebar if you want the labels to show as a Menu).  Labels at the end of each posting act as a link to all other Maven's blog posts with that label.

Most important of all would be using our NAME as the primary label for every post we submit.  Secondly, on reveal day, the THEME should also be a designated label.  Beyond that, anything goes as long as it's relevant. I suggest keeping it simple.  Too many labels become laborious to navigate. As an example, instead of listing all the various types of Piecing, Dyeing or other techniques and Embellishments possible, just use those main labels. 

When you create a new post, select appropriate labels from the drop down menu of labels or type in new ones as needed.  Do this before you 'publish' your post.

It's never too late to revisit your older posts following these steps:

1. Log onto Material Maven's blog

2. Select - New Post in the upper right corner. (you won't actually be posting)

3. Select - Material Maven's in the upper left corner.

4. You are now on the page that shows all of the posts, since day one to present.
Note:  Those of you who created drafts and later submitted different posts on the same subject can delete those drafts. They are obsolete now.

5. Select - Edit on your most recent post.

6. Select - Labels located on the right.  It will show the complete labels list from which you will select the appropriate labels for your post, and add ones as needed.  Especially your name!


7. Select - Update located at the top of the page. After saving, it will return you to the Posts page.

8. Repeat the above steps for each of your posts.  You may have to do this in separate ssessions but since our blog is relatively new, now is the best time to bring it up to date.

I hope this encourages my fellow Maven's to make the best use of our blog posts as a reference source.   Respectfully yours, Judy Wedemeyer

Judy W. "South Bound"

"South Bound" by Judy Wedemeyer

After looking at the previous postings for this theme, I was surprised how many similar renderings of flying geese were depicted.  Originally I'd been focusing on spirals and staircases due to their downward 'southerly' direction.  Heading south kept coming to mind, probably because as a lifetime Alaskan, heading south is a  term we Northerners deem for resident 'snow birds' desiring to escape the long, dark, cold winters here.

Alaska has glorious sunsets and my neighborhood is within honking distance of Potter Marsh bird sanctuary where I can hear the geese and Trumpeter Swans call as they flock to rest at night during their migratory Fall conditioning exercises.

Southern view from my back deck.

Trumpeter Swans at Potter Marsh, South Anchorage

I Googled flying geese images to determine which Sillouette shapes I preferred for my design.  After drafting a diminishing, curved flying geese pattern, which migrated in a southerly direction, I quickly chose the background batik fabric I felt best suited the environment and subject matter.  I'd never drafted a curving pattern for foundation piecing and was a bit apprehensive, but thankfully, it came out remarkably well.  The subtle striped fabric was intended to reinforce the directional pattern.  I used an iron on stabilizer as the foundation and chose not to remove it after the piecing in order to avoid fabric stretching.

Hand stitched reverse applique enabled me to insert the geese pathway onto my background with the most precision. Once inset, I trimmed the path to within a quarter inch of the seam.  Fusible applique using WonderUnder adhered the geese Sillouette's (including the white accents on the geese) to the quilt top.

My chosen finishing technique was to layer the batting, backing (face up), and then the quilt top (face down) in a sandwich, before stitching entirely around the quilt on the pre-marked seam line. I carefully cut a slit through the batting and backing to pull the quilt right sides out.  This is not how I normally do it but I needed to stitch on the tops seam line for proper alignment.  I placed the opening where my label would cover the slit, and adhered a finished label over the slit with fusible web before I quilted.  I choose this method when I don't want a binding and know I will be quilting in an all over pattern.

Preferring not to individually stitch around the shapes to permanently anchor them to the fabric, I machine quilted a simple echo pattern using a variegated Isacord thread (Saffron color) that would subtly blend with the background while simultaneously securing the shapes and echo the flying geese pathway for an added sense of motion.  I enjoyed my first Maven's challenge and look forward to our next one.

Alaskan Greetings From Judy W. (aka Jude)

Spring Fling (my SAQA 2011 Auction Piece)

Much appreciation to everyone for enthusiastically welcoming me into the fold, with a special thanks to Kathy, who knew nothing of my ongoing interest in joining the Mavens until she phoned me last week.  I’m extremely excited to journey artistically with each of you as we share our combined creative strengths.

Husband Kurt, our two daughters Kristen, Kari and Son-in-Law Joshua, and my parents all reside in Anchorage and have encouraged my art from day one.  Even my West Highland White Terrier Maggie Mae, who routinely fled from my studio when I machine sewed, now keeps me company in my basement studio since her hearing started failing this year.

My quilt journey began in a 1988 class which covered all the basics start to finish.  From that point on, I shelved most all other creative interests to pursue my quilt addiction.  I’ve taken and taught classes, had a few quilts published in magazines, developed four quilt patterns (retail) in the mid-90’s, offered my services as a consignment quilter/designer for four years, and worked in a local quilt store.  I also organized a local quilter’s (weekend) bazaar two years, with huge success. 

As an Anchorage Log Cabin Quilt Guild member since 1990, I have participated in several satellite groups through the years.  I’m currently completing a third year with a Round Robin Group.  A few years prior to Kathy’s move to Texas, she and I became SAQA members and ‘art quilt partners’ to seriously study fabric art techniques and surface design as they pertain to art quilting.  She and I produced three art quilt First Friday events.

I pursue art quilting for the creative challenge and a desire to combine the various fiber arts, beading, painting and sewing experience I've learned thus far, into mixed-media quilts. Bold colors, garden themes and texture frequently surface in my work,  and my personal goal is to try something new in everything I do.

Zentipede

This photo depicts one of my favorite, more recent art pieces.   The background fabric was a dyeing session with Kathy which I later doodled with fabric markers, machine free motion quilted and then heavily beaded - not my norm.  It is called Zentipede because it reminded my daughter and I of a centipede and the Zen comes from Zen art doodling which I'd been exploring.  I was glad to see Zentangle mentioned in a previous comment.  Zentangle and Zendoodle are the same thing.

I'm glad to announce the 'south' theme finally gelled in my mind this afternoon. I know the what, but have to work on executing the how.  This evening I completely caught up with reading ALL of the previous MM posts and comments.  So glad to be on board with all you Mavens!