spring at last finished + postcards

And this is how the quiltlet for the Another Little Quilt Swap looks when it is finished. For the daffodils I used fake decoration flowers with seed beads and I added a little metal lady bug on one of the tulips. I am very early to have this one done as the mailing date is July 1.

When I was cutting the fabric for the tulips I did not count how many I had done so I ended up with a numer of left overs. These together with some green fabric scraps turned into these fabric postcards:

pounded fabric

This picture is another one of my pounded fabrics. However when I made this one, I did not pay attention to what kind of paint I picked. When I took the fabric out of its bag I saw that I had used transparant Setacolor and the bag had been in the sunshine some of the time. At first I was disappointed but when I had a good look at the fabric I started to love it more and more. Here you see a detail:

It did not turn out as I had expected, but I am going to do some more experimenting met transparant paint as I love the way it turned out.

give away winner

It is time for the result on the give away. In total 19 people left a comment. I used a random number generator to decide the winner which is number 11 or in other words ......... Judi.
Judi, I put the fabric in my suitcase and mail it to you when I am in the US.

spring at last part 2 and Dutch group

I have started to add applique to the quiltlet I am making for the Another Little Quilt Swap and this is how it looks now. For the tulips I used one of my handdyes. The fabric for the leaves are two different sun prints. If I can continue like this, the quiltlet will be finished in a couple of days. More pictures will follow later.

As you may know I also run another group http://challengequilts.blogspot.com/ With this group we make a theme based quilt (20"x20") four times a year. I heard from several people that they would like to participate but that the English language was a problem. For this reason I decided to start a yahoo group in which we will do the same only with Dutch postings. If you are interested in joining this group let me know and I will send you an invitation.

spring at last

As you know I am participating in Kate's Another Little Quilt Swap. Today I started working on the quilt. I cannot say for whom I am making it, but I can show pictures of how it is coming along. The picture above shows the beginning of the quilt. I used a shibori piece of blue fabric and a parfait. They are glued to a backing fabric. I will be adding applique on, but whenever I use this technique I machine quilt the piece first. For me this is much easier this way. As you can guess from the title spring flowers will be added. More pictures later.

resist

Here are two pictures of the same fabric. The one on the left is how it looked first, dyed with golden yellow. For the second step I applied Elmer's glue on it. For this I used what was probably the wrapping of a box of chocolates, one of those plastic containers with a motif on it. I applied the glue with a foam brush, pressed it lightly on top of the fabric and repositioned it. Let the glue dry for 24 hours. For the final over dyeing I used cayman island green and mixed the dye powder with soda ash water. Because the glue is watersoluble I did not want to use lwi but applied the dye mixture with a foam brush on to the fabric. After batching, washing and rinsing it looks like the picture on the right.

pounded fabric plus give away

After a week of (im)patient waiting I could open the plastic bags with the pounded fabric. This is what they look like. I used different textile paints (Trapsuutjies, Setacolor opaque and Probrite) diluted with water. Because paints were used instead of dyes the hand of the fabric changed a little bit. Each piece of fabric is the size of a fq.
As this is my 100 posting I am giving one of these fabrics away. All you have to do to make a chance of winning one of them is to leave a comment behind the coming week. Next Sunday I will pick a name.

shades of spring quilties part 2

And here the the 2 other quilties I made for this swap. I finished them yesterday but Blogger did not allow me to post pictures. For these quilties I used handdyed fabric, small buttons and beeds. This swap is now completed. I can put them in an envelop and into my bag. As I will go to the US next month, I intend to mail them from there.

shades of spring quilties

Amongst other things I am participating in Lenna's creative swaps. This time it is 'shades of spring quilties'. Size of the quilties is 6"x6" and the colors to be used are brown and robin egg's blue. On the pictures you can see 3 of the quilties which are now finished. In total the swap is with 4 pieces. I make an extra one for Lenna as swap hostess gift. For these quilties I used paper, handdyed fabric, ribbons, buttons and printed fabric.

Further I have been thinking about an idea for Another Little Quilt Swap organised by Kate. I know who my partner is - but I cannot mention her name here :-)) - and what she likes/dislikes. This quilt has to be between 12"and 20". I will be using my own handdyed fabric for it. Background will be made from blue and green fabric and on top of that I will applique. For the applique I will be using green and red or orange fabric. There is nothing yet to show as I have not yet started to work on it. Pictures will come later.

fabric postcards and pounded fabric

With my Dutch journal quilts group we have an exhibition in Groningen next month. Five of my journalquilts will be present there and probably one or two bigger quilts as well. Next to that there will be fabric postcards for sale. On these 2 pictures you see some of the cards I am making for this occasion. All of these were made from left over scraps. The coming weeks I will make more cards.

Further I am in the process of making pounded fabric. With this technique you apply diluted fabric paint on scrunched wet fabric. When this is done the fabric is placed into a plastic bag and than the hardest part comes. It has to remain in that bag for a week before you get the result which is lovely. I know this, because I have used this technique before :-). So stay tuned if you want to know how it looks.

color play and nomination

Coming month's swap for my surfacing group is called color play. That means that all participants have to create a 4"x6" (10x15 cm) piece on which only one color is used. All materials are allowed. On the 3 samples you see here I used some clay faces, lace, decoration flowers, punchinella (sequin waste), fibres on a piece of raw silk. I free motion quilted the pieces and after that I added some cardstock at the back.

Jacqueline gave me (and 9 other Dutch bloggers) a nomination for blog 'that gave her inspiration and made her appreciate the blogosphere'. I am honored! Don't forget to check her blog, she makes lovely things.

this and that

Today pictures of work in progress. The top picture is a part of a white on white quilt I am working on. Background is white dupioni silk on which I have placed a sheet of handmade paper. Because the paper has thick edges, the only quilting I could do on it was in between so I settled for loops, on the silk I did freehand spirals. Next step will be to place a piece of white bark on it and attach it with probably white silk thread. I cannot use my machine for this as it is way to thick.

On my Surfacing group we are starting a complex cloth round robin this month. Yesterday I dyed this fq for it using some left over dyes in blue, red and bright yellow. It will go into the mail to Vicky today so that she can add her layer to it the coming month.

And because I have still spare time I joined Kate's Another Little Quilt Swap If you want to join, there is still space. It involves making a small quilt (between 12"and 20") and send it to your partner before July 1.

stamping

With my dyeing group we are doing a stamping swap this month. On the pictures you can see the fabric I created. I used different commercial stamps, a styrofoam carved stamp, a tjap and a sponge to create this complex cloth effect. All was done with thickened procion dyes. The colors I used were boisenberry, brightest blue, stormy grey, lemon yellow and turquoise.

bakers dozen

The present theme for the Bakers dozen group is: your favourite thing. Well , there are a lot of things I like, but I would not know what to do without my sewing machine. I have to admit I have a more sofisticated module than what you see on my quiltlet, but it gives an idea. Background is a lopsided log cabin made from my handdyed fabric. As embellishments I have added some buttons. For quilting I experimented a bit with McTavishing using a variageted thread.

symbols

For one of Pamela's lessons we had to make a composition of symbols. For this task we had one hour. I decided that I wanted to do something with nature, as this is always an inspiration source for me. For this journal quilt I used several of my handdyes. Only for the cat I used commercial fabrics. I created some free cut flowers and as my cats love to be in the garden, one of them had to be there as well.