the color journal quilt

It was beautiful out yesterday. I had been waiting for a day like that to take photos of the color journal quilt. It is really and truly finished and officially into chilly morning usage in our home.

This quilt was a bit of a test on construction. I had stitched the diamond pattern running stitch on each individual block with just a light piece of fabric on the backside to support the stitches. I used a flannel sheet as batting and cotton as the back and quilted the large diagonal lines to hold all of the layers together in the end. I was so happy to pull the quilt out after washing and drying and see no distortion between the unstitched and heavily stitched areas on the front. With not a lot of quilting through all the layers it has more of a comforter feel and the weight of it is really nice. Creating dense areas of stitch on each block as I go along adds texture and pattern with not a lot of bulk to stitch through. This frees me up to quilt the layers together in more of an open pattern for the comforter feel in the end construction. 

 

This is one of many funny attempts to photograph the quilt outside by myself using the timer. I just had to show the redbud trees. I met someone recently who had moved here from the west and didn't know about the redbuds. They are a favorite of mine.

Mycopigments workshop

On Sunday I attended Alissa Allen's Mycopigments workshop in Bloomington. The beautiful colors shown above are Alissa's dye results made during the Sunday workshop using ethically harvested mushrooms and lichen. The workshop was lots of fun and so informative. More info on Alissa and Mycopigments can be found at Mycopigments.com. You can also find workshop offerings on the Mycopigments Facebook page.

The workshop took place in the Indiana University School of Fine Art Textiles Area. Dye color samples lined the walls of the room and students were coming and going working on projects. It was wonderful to be in the midst of all the learning and doing - the humm of it all. I met some great people from Bloomington and IU Textiles. It was all pretty great. Did I say it was great? Thanks Alissa and IU Textiles. A walk in the woods will never be the same.

these live with us now

Tidying my studio is on pause. I am sewing some of the cloth I have found again into some things that can live out in the open with us now. The lighter side of the log cabin block is indigo from an online class with Glennis Dolce at ShiboriGirl. The indigo star in the center was also made during that class. The block on the right was made during one of Jude's Contemporary Boro classes. It seems like both of these learning experiences took place about 3 years ago, which is hard to believe. It makes me hesitant to put any of my favorite pieces of cloth back on a shelf or into the cupboard. Better to get them all out among the living I think.

color journal II :: a few blocks into April

 Green is here. The Redbuds and Virginia bluebells are showing off their pink and purplish blue buds.

A favorite green from our garden right now - the emerging lady's mantle leaves. Just fuzzy enough to catch dewdrops and rain.

These are the blocks I have so far - a seasonal gradation.

I finished the binding on the first color journal quilt this weekend and it has been through the wash. I will try and photograph it a bit better at some point. I was thinking as I looked at the April blocks I just made that the green and purple color combinations are a favorite, on the first quilt and also the new blocks. Noting that here to remember.

10/100 blue paint blocks

I have been painting one 7" block each day since April 6 with an end goal of 100 total blocks. (Read more about the 100 Day Project here.) I am using Pebeo Setacolor transparent fabric paint and sometimes a Pitt pen here and there. The first block is painted in Pebeo "indigo" colored paint (which I almost immediately realized I didn't have as much of as I thought and could no longer order) and all other blocks are painted with "cobalt". Oh well, I like the cobalt color more anyway. These are my first ten blocks. The first 25 will make one big 5 x 5 block and so on until I have four big blocks to sew together at the end. I like the idea of keeping them in quadrants of time - to really see what if anything might have changed along the way. 

Simply painting and drawing on each block has made it easy to keep up even if I don't have much time left in the day to do it. 

They have settled into a negative then positive space rhythm that I enjoy working out along with whatever has come to mind to paint. 

I have found myself looking forward to sitting down to work on these each day, even at the very end of the day. The very quiet and centered blocks are my favorites so far.

I will post a new block each day over at my Instagram page if you care to follow along over there. No pressure though, because I have plenty more to talk about at this place too. 

As always thanks to all who visit. I have had a bit of a lull in posting as I try to catch up with Spring, but will be back to stitching soon. I find all my time spent with hands too busy to stitch leads to more daydreams of all the things I will stitch when I can.

color journal II :: yellow in April

The forsythia just off our front porch is in full bloom.

 The daffodils are going all out too.

I have been busy indoors with some serious spring cleaning. Hoping to wrap it up soon and get back to more stitching as there are so many unfinished projects being unearthed as I tidy.

I have managed to find time to paint one fabric block a day along with The 100 Day Project (began April 6) and have been posting these over at my Instagram page. It's been great fun and I hope to say a bit more about that soon.