Barbara's Daydreams Quilt--Dream Doodles

I'm going to try to post from my iPad because we are visiting grandchildren in Northern CA. I will add details when I see if this posts well.

Judy W.'s "Dream Horse"

Judy W's ~ "Dream Horse"

My lifelong obsession with horses is hands down the most consistent subject I daydream about.  I gravitate to horses like bees to pollen.  I love everything equine, even the smell of their stables.

From my first initial pony ride as a child, to present day, horses have captured my hearts desire to be near them, touch them, smell them, feed them, ride them, read about them, and on occasion draw them.  This is the first time I have specifically hand drawn a horse from memory and translated it into a quilt. 

This pictorial portrayal is straightforward, nothing fancy or cutting edge here.  The horse applique was cut from the shiny side of rust-dyed satin that I'd backed with  Wonder Under fusible stabilizer.  I used Fray Check to keep the edges from unraveling. The word HORSE is cut as one piece from fusible-backed brown cotton fabric.  I positioned the horse between the letters to create a frame before ironing both to the blue background fabric. To avoid stitching the horse head edge, I spot glued it for reinforcement.  Mane and face features were free-motion thread stitched.

A wood grained border fabric depicts a stall and rawhide lace was anchored with Fast Grab Aileen's Glue, to frame the piece.  (Great glue for a no sew item).

As a child I often wished for a horse but my parents reply was usually, "if wishes were horses then beggars could ride", or simply stated, "dream on!"  So for now the dream continues.   I'm considering donating this piece to the Friends of Pets Quilt Auction this Fall.

 

Linda's "Day"Dreams

     I do not daydream. I dusk dream. When I hit the pillow in the evening, at a time I should be sleeping, I start to plan my paintings. I wonder how to celebrate 50 years of marriage, imagine new projects to enjoy with my grandchildren, and think about friends near and far. The quiet period, with nothing to disturb my dusk dreaming, along with my being a night person, can be productive.

     This quilt started out as a nightwalk on a beach in Maine or the Vineyard, but the sand became stars at night. I love the coast...walking and picking up shells. But stars at night with an assortment of pillows, topics dreamed on the pillows from that week in June one day about a month ago (baking, painting plans, quilt shows, friendly spider Charlotte near my computer), are reflected in this piece. I REALLY wanted to portray the bear who made it all the way to the ocean on Cape Cod and was taken 100 miles back into Western Massachusetts, but again made it 100 miles back to a tall Brookline tree before he was downed. He had big daydreams and the admiration of many. Mine should be bigger!

Rita's Daydream

The  image that came to me with clarity was gazing at clouds, finding shapes, and enjoying the daydreams  from those imagined shapes.  Is the little girl in the quilt daydreaming of a south sea adventure in her own little sailboat?

The background was created using a technique developed by Anna Faustino and detailed in her book, Simply Stunning Woven Quilts.  I started with two log cabin blocks with the square in the upper right corner.  The blocks were cut into strips between the seams, one vertically and one horizontally, and woven together.  I cross hatch quilted the woven square using a serpentine stitch and variegated thread.  The black design and the clouds are fused on top of the background square.

This quilt is gallery wrapped around a 12 inch x 12 inch x ¾ inch wooded frame.

Sara's Daydreaming

I had trouble with this theme. I am frequently distracted and unfocused from what I am supposed to be paying attention to but I don't seem to have clear daydreams - more like a cloud spun through a maze or a hamster on a wheel. I thought of showing a closet of size 4 dresses but I am not into producing realistic images. I also want to use the 12 by 12 format to try out different techniques. The end result is I remembered a class I took at IQF last year by Laura Coates Perez entitled  "Tea Bags and Ephemera". It involved attaching ephemera to fabric with matte medium. The teabags were used to trace or print images. Rubber stamps and shiva paintsticks tied things together. In my house one of the issues is finding the rubber stamps and or ephemera you know you have but can't get to. That gave me some (probably well needed ) limitations.

I started by soaking muslin in a very dilute solution of water and Golden iron oxide paint. I was going for mottled and rusty which happened in few places but it did add a pleasant yellow/orange background. I ended up doing 2 pieces. The top piece has silk rose petals, English and Arabic text cut from discarded books that my husband found in a library trash area, magazine images, a teabag, Chinese Joss paper and some rubber stamps. I used Shiva paint sticks on top of the image. I was getting impatient waiting for the matte media to dry so I started another using flowers I found in an old copy of Oprah magazine. I rather like that one better.  Quilting is done using invisafil thread. Since the quilts were using non-traditional techniques, I decided to finish them the same way - I zig-zagged silk sari yarn to the border of the quilt and then pinked the edges to meet the yarn border. I used a continuous piece of yarn for the sides and tops and one piece across the bottom to tie bows in the corners. They do represent the swirling chaos in my mind!

Andrea - New Theme

SPIRAL

I do hope you enjoy working with this theme.  After months of thought and many lists, the word SPIRAL came to me a couple of weeks ago, in a kind-of  "AH-HA" moment, and I knew it was "the one".

Judy S.- Daydream Life

Daydream was a dilemma for me. I flipped the calendar at my studio and my mouth fell open that Reveal Day was so close. Thank heavens it isn’t the 2^nd! Thoughts were running through my head, but nothing was coming out to the forefront that I could sink my teeth into.

The thought of my daydream of having my own books, patterns, and videos on quilting seemed selfish but, I want to share my love of quilting and sewing with everybody! I just couldn’t find anything else that I really wanted to depict, so here it is. Maybe it is time to put it out there in front of my face in a concrete way. Stop being a daydream and work on making it a reality.

I did produce a video on machine quilting on the domestic sewing machine and if you look at the close-up of the patterns on the pegboard they are the first 2 patterns that I created. These have been the steps made toward that goal.

It was so much fun creating this quilt. I made a really rough sketch of what I wanted to make. Then I started working with fabric. I love showing my drawing and then the quilt because I really can NOT draw. My students in Temple, TX didn't believe me, but now they are believers. My medium is fabric! Cutting out things with scissors and rotary cutter are how it works for me. 

The TV camera came first. Since I work at Temple Sew & Quilt, I made my TV show Quilt and Sew. One of the books on the shelf in red is called "Zipper Fun". That one is for a young girl I am teaching to sew because we had a tussle with putting the zipper in the dress. I promised her the next one would be easier. I found the perfect piece of fabric to make the pegboard for hanging the rulers on. When I was making the  little quilt on the wall, the pieces I cut off turned into scraps on the floor. My Mom would have us sweep the floor after we were done cutting things out when I was growing up. Now that I think about it that was very clever. It was more fun to sweep up all those little pieces of color and texture then just the dirt.

I have learned that "Dream, Create, Inspire" is what helps me bring more to my students and friends. I am always "Dreaming" up more idea's on what I want to share with them. In class I help them to "Create" those projects. What I really enjoy is seeing how one technique or project "Inspires" others to embellish, sew, quilt, or just delight in what is there for them. To all my students, family and friends Happy Quilting!!!

Andrea's Daydream-another view!

Andrea's Daydream

My Garden Cottage

I daydream of someday, hopefully within the next couple of years, moving into a small weather-ed grey cottage surrounded by flowers with a backyard large enough to construct  a very, VERY large studio!

Pieced and fused using commercial and hand-dyed, silkscreened fabric.

Alice's Daydream Quilt--Grandkids' Daydreams

I’ve spent so much time with our four grandchildren this summer that I decided to focus on their daydreams.  Our granddaughter is 11, nearly 12, and her life right now revolves around her friends.  The little boys are all three totally focused on sports!  The two Michigan boys (nearly 11 and 8) played both Little League and were on select, “travel” teams, and so their daydreams center on baseball.  The California grandson (nearly 9) is an expert swimmer and on his local swim team.  He was in the relay finals, and his team won all three of their relays, and so I have him daydreaming about that event.

I have a huge stash of commercial quilting fabric with “juvenile” themes, and so I was delighted to find baseball players, young girls having fun together, and swimming boys and girls.  I made extensive use of Wonder Under fusible for this quilt, fusing this product to the backs of all the fabrics just mentioned, plus browns for the boys’ hair, some gold swirly fabric for Lia’s pony tail, and then various colors of fabric for their shirts.  I decided to use a piece of a discarded crazy quilt project for the daydream “thought bubbles.”  I wanted them to have some dimension, and since this project was stitched onto batting already, it worked well.  I cut the bubbles leading up to the thought bubbles from a multi-colored polka dot fabric.

I used some previously painted sky fabric for the background, which I machine quilted.  The larger appliqués were first fused to the background and then were machine appliquéd down with a tiny zig-zag stitch.  (I simply fused the simpler, smaller shapes down with the Wonder Under.)  I backed the quilt with the swimming-children fabric, and I used the sky fabric for the binding.

Carolyn's Daydream: Lost in Andalusia

Kathy's Daydream: "Dream Catcher"

 The first thought that came to my mind when we received the "Daydream" challenge was something we'd often see in Alaska that represented the spiritual world in the Native Alaska culture.   "Dream Catchers" are available in many of the local shops throughout Alaska; the most sought after are those made by Alaska Natives (any of a number of Indian, Eskimo, Aleut, Athabaskan, etc. tribes), and other resident artisans.    Dream catchers incorporate beautiful natural materials, and often have what appears to be etherial-type webbing that represents catching (encapsulating) the dream.   Another "daydream" type structure is the Mandala, and it was from these two concepts that I made this quilt.

"Dream Catcher"  Overview

I traced my image from a Mandala coloring book, selected 7 fabrics, layered them on top of each other, then machine stitched the Mandala pattern through all 7 layers of the fabric.  I removed the paper pattern, then with my smallest (and sharpest) scissors started cutting away layer after layer of fabric to reveal the color I'd assigned to each section of the mandala.  This mandala in many ways reminds me of a stained-glass window!  I used a technique developed by one of Alaska's premier artists, Susan Schapira, called "Contemporary Reverse Applique."  This technique involves cutting and removing the fabrics from the top down rather than applying (or appliqueing) fabrics on to the top of a base fabric.  In this case, my top fabric is black.   After the cutting was finished, I free-motion machine quilted this piece using 30 wt. black rayon thread on the top, and 60 wt. mono-filament thread in my bobbin.   Starting from the center motif, I used a radiating type stitch that represents motion and movement.... perhaps the ascension of the dream into the heavens. 

"Dream Catcher" Back of Quilt

Hi Alice, I'm kind of winging this and I just want to see if I'm doing this right. If so, I'll continue and write a little about myself. Wendy

I'm back............

I temporarily went away, but I think I am back!!

ANOTHER REVISED SCHEDULE!

Mavens, now that Petra has decided to pursue other interests and Wendy has joined us, I have revised the schedule.   Some of you will notice that your assigned month has been changed.  This affects everyone from Barbara on down, because Petra had formerly been the theme-chooser for November 15, 2012.  Anyway, here is is.  For those of you on this list, it might be a good idea to print this schedule off:

Andrea: theme #7 on July 15, 2012, for Sept. 15, 2012's quilt.

Alice: theme #8 on Sept. 15, 2012, for Nov. 15, 2012's quilt.

Barbara: theme #9 on Nov. 15, 2012, for Jan. 15, 2013's quilt.

Judy W:  theme #10 on Jan. 15, 2013, for Mar. 15, 2013's quilt.

Kathy: theme #11 on Mar. 15, 2013, for May 15, 2013's quilt.

Sara: theme #12 on May 15, 2013, for Jul. 15, 2013's quilt.

Nedra:  theme #12 on July 15, 2013, for Sept. 2013's quilt.

Wendy:  theme #13 on Sept. 2013, for Nov. 2013's quilt

Kathy H's Dream Studio!

Greetings again, Mavens and others!  I just posted about my fun day silk screening with Kathy H., one of our fellow Mavens.  Now I want to show you photos of her state-of-the-art studio!

Behind Kathy's machine is a gorgeous piece of art which functions as a bulletin board.
This was fabricated from steel which was blow-torched, resulting in various and gorgeous
colors.  My picture doesn't do it justice, because of the flash reflecting in
its surface.  But believe me, it is beautiful.

Moving around to the left you see shelves with books, DVDs, etc.
with a work surface running along the wall beneath the shelves.

More of the same wall, the other side of the window.  Kathy's Handi-Quilter is here.

Behind a curtain are shelves on rollers where more supplies are store.

Here is that closet with the curtain concealing its contents.

The 4th wall holds more shelves.  Kathy decoupaged fabric on the
sides of these shelves to make them more attractive.

In a study/guest room is a big closet where all of Kathy's quilts
are stored.

Behind the door to her studio, pegboard and tools.

On the back of the door, a shoe caddy with more tools.

This and the next pictures show the high shelves storing more
necessities.  Batting above.

Threads of many varieties stored in bins, carefully labeled.

A close-up of the thread bins.

Adventures in Silk Screening with AB and KH!

 Mavens, one month from today our Daydream quilt is due!  Time seems to fly faster between each reveal and the next!

Kathy H. invited me to Gatesville (43+ miles from my front door to hers) to do some silk screening.  She had given all the local Mavens and a few from our guild a demonstration lesson some time ago, but time ran out on us and we didn't get to do much actual screening.  But kind Kathy invited me over for a day of fun.  We screened in the morning, ate delicious sandwiches her husband assembled for us, and screened some more after lunch.  Then Kathy gave me a quick lesson in free motion quilting.

I thought you fellow Mavens would like to see some photos of us at work and some of the results of my screening.  No doubt someday some of this fabric will end up in a quilt for Material Mavens.  I'll soon post again with photos of Kathy's state-of-the-art studio!

Kathy generously let me have some of her rust-dyed fabrics to experiment with!  And of course, all the screens were hers.  I brought my own paint--some of it was Setacolor, others were Liquitex.  And the green was Kathy's--forget its brand!

Kathy digging through a bin of rust-dyed fabric.

Alice ironing some of the pieces she chose to screen print.

Top, rust-dyed ticking with two different screen prints.
Bottom left, a leaf print and a wonderfully intricate circle.
Bottom right, blue bull's eye with a hard to describe gold screen print--you may have to click to enlarge to see it.

Yet another piece of light aqua screen printed with a big screen, complicated
design, and more of those wonderful gold circles.

Close up of the dark fabric with the leaves and gold circles.

Mystery Quilt Mosaic

Here all the Mystery Quilts in a mosaic.  Starting at the top, the quilts were constructed by Mavens Barbara, Carolyn, Andrea (first row); Judy W., Linda, Petra (second row); Alice, Patti, Nedra (third row); Rita, Judy S., Sara (4th row), and then making up the 5th row, Kathy.  

Sorry it's taken me so long to assemble and post this, but I've been out of town and away from an accessible computer.

Anyway, these quilts are all so beautiful and varied, and it is so much fun to see them all together.

This particular program arranges the photos in no particular order than I can discover, but somehow, the arrangement ends up looking spectacular!  

Enjoy, and send your friends an invite to look at them all!

Patti's Mystery Quilt - Baby Greta, Who will she be?

My daughter is having her first baby, and our first grandbaby, on June 15th.  We do know that they are planning on naming her Greta but the rest of her persona is a mystery.  Who will she look like?  What will her personality be - very active like dad or more patient like mom.  I decided just to do a torso and a few days later wondered if I should have included her head.  I was so focused on her belly and thoughts of the baby, I never really paid attention to the lack of a head.  Oh well.  I did machine applique and free motion quilting.

Congratulations for all those who said Monarch butterfly. There should have been a prize. It's been brilliant hearing everyone's suggestions. Again the quilts are all totally imaginative and brilliant. Well done everyone