Even the Kitchen Sink!

History in my sink!
Photos provided by our local museum will soon be sewn into raffle prizes by our quilt guild. The town is celebrating the 100th anniversary of both the D.A. Thomas, a steamboat that transported goods and people up and down the Peace River, and the completion of the rail line (and the station) connecting Peace River Crossing (now the town of Peace River) to the rest of northern Alberta and BC.

Processing photos printed on fabric
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First prize will be a generous lap quilt. Its photos will be framed up with "photo corners" reminiscent of times gone by.

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Second prize (wall hanging) will feature photos surrounded by crazy quilting as another nod to the past. I don't have a photo of it yet, but I do have a photo of third prize, in progress - soon to be a bag. We plan to finish piecing all three projects by the end of May. I'll keep you posted!

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A Quilt for Fort McMurray
We have been watching in horror as wildfires have ripped through Alberta, and are especially distressed for the people of Fort McMurray who have lost homes and businesses. Brynne heard about the gathering of quilts for those who have been displaced, and promptly pieced a quilt to donate. She wanted to quilt it herself, so we spent an evening getting it done.

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This was Brynne's first time free-motion quilting, ever!
(My old machine that she uses for piecing doesn't allow that function, so when I say first, I mean it!)
In fact, this is her second quilt, ever!

Her quilt needs trimming and binding, and then we will get it to a collection point in Edmonton. Delivering warm fuzzies to someone who could use a hug is commendable, indeed. Nicely done, Brynne!

Making Backgrounds
Tonight was my turn to present an activity at guild, and I'd promised something about doodle quilting when I signed up wayyyy back in September. Doodle quilting is quite fun, no matter how you do it! I tend to use one of two approaches:
  1. Doodle on plain white fabric and then add colour
  2. Paint a background and then doodle on top
Rather than carrying my machine to the meeting, I prepared samples to show my process. Here is the doodle I prepared using the first approach.

Doodle on white fabric - too early to add colour, but it will happen!
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The inspiration for this doodle was a photograph I'd taken in 2009 when we were in Japan.
To be continued in a later post. For now, I'd like to focus on approach number two!

I thought it would be fun for people to prepare backgrounds for doodles of their own, and it was!

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White fabric + Neocolor II pastels = beautiful backgrounds!

Pastels can be added "wet" or "dry" for different effect. When pigment is added to wet fabric, the colour tends to be softer and less controlled, like this:

A bit more stitching to add before it's done, but you get the idea!
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When applied to dry fabric colour tends to be more vibrant and there is a bit more control over colour placement and blending.

Adding "dry" colour
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Ha! Bet you thought I was crazy for a second, didn't ya?

It's not too beautiful at this stage, but it gets better, I promise!

Even though the colour is applied dry, water must be added (brushed on) to dissolve the pigment and meld it with the fabric.

After water added to dry colour
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Better!

Now, back to the group.

Here is a beautiful example of working on wet fabric. When this dries it will be even softer and less intense - exactly the effect its maker hopes for! (She loves pastel colours)

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The spirit of experimentation and play was alive!

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This little painting could stand on its own - wish I'd thought to take a picture when it was finished.

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 Rounding Out The Week . . .

 Pre Mother's Day trip to the greenhouse - it smelled so good in there.

That delicate frill at the top gives me a thrill!
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Quilting, quilting, quilting!
Did several of these little numbers. Each was slightly different, so I changed up the quilting designs, too. The idea of swirling snow was the guiding notion behind my choices.

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The next two shared a backing so it was more efficient to use the same design on both.

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Four generation road trip on Mother's Day. My Mom, daughter, granddaughter and I went shopping together!

Whew.
I thought I'd made more quilting progress, but gosh . . . so many things to do, so few hours in a day.

I regret nothing!!!

Well, maybe staying up so late.
It's now 3 a.m. and tomorrow waits for no one.
G'night!

Try, Learn, & Grow!
Carole
P.S. I'm also on Instagram under my blog name, FreshofftheFrame

Comments

  1. Wow, what an awesome grouping of projects. And go Brynne! It sounds like you have someone to spend hours having fun sewing / quilting with, and that makes my heart very happy. :)

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  2. do you have an address for quilt's to be sent for Fort McMurray? I'd like to send one along. Thank you

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  3. How big are those blocks for her donation quilt? I'm not sure I can find the time, but I have fabric and a quilt like that would be a snap to stitch up to donate. Sounds like you had a great Mother's Day with four generations. That's not something to be taken lightly to have all four together :)

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  4. Oh my, where to start. I love using the "photo corners" to add to the antique look of the quilt. It's an inspired touch. Congrats to Brynne, what a beautiful finish. I would love to have been there for the doodle quilting and the greenhouse visit. Our greenhouses aren't open yet.

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  5. Lots of progress on many fronts. The quilt as you go looks awesome around the photos. The big blue quilt is amazing.

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  6. 3am?! That's pretty late! These days if I manage to write a post it's bound to be after midnight but I think 2.30am has been about my latest, and too often the need for sleep just has to win and the post doesn't get written. So I admire your staying power! Great collection of projects on the go too, love those photo corners and all that experimenting, your guild always sounds such a good one to be part of. Lovely family moments too, both Brynne (the scale of that fire was just terrifying) and your Mothers' Day, life sounds full in a very good way, but hope you got some sleep too!

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