Paint, Prints & Pebbles

One fine day in July I thought it would be fun to make some sun prints, so I dragged everything outside and got busy. Turns out it wasn't so fun.

A frustrating, intermittent breeze lifted my boards, flipped the fabric edges, and blew my leaves out of place. I was forced to use rocks as weights to hold things in place, which I thought would be a fine solution.

Turns out it wasn't as clever as I'd hoped. Some of the rocks printed, too. Doh!😖

The second print confirmed the rock printing phenomenon. 

After much swearing, chasing of leaves, and stomping around the garden, I packed it in and moved to the basement. No wind there!

Weirdly, some of my fabrics didn't feel like 100% cotton. I'm not even sure why they were in my stash, but I decided to paint them anyway. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

As I was taking pictures I had a monumental slip and fall, thanks to a piece of waxed paper that got away from the pile of pressed leaves tucked under a table. 

My poor tailbone smashed onto the concrete floor! OUCH!!! An abrupt end to my play day.

The next day, I limped downstairs to see the results. 

Some prints were successful, and others - well. They'll make great supporting players in my work, but are rather disappointing on their own. Not really a surprise. These paints don't do well on poly-cotton blends.

I used an unimpressive print as a background to help show off a better one.

You may have noticed that several of the fabric pieces on the painting table were odd shapes and sizes.  I figured I might as well paint everything, and figure out what to do with those bits later.

While looking things over, I noticed that a few bits looked rather pretty together. I sewed them into a little composition that makes me happy. (If you weighed in on the purple/pink placement, thanks!)

I'm now considering this batik for an accent - somehow, some way - maybe. We'll see.


Despite my unfortunate injury, I've been able to stand without much pain. Client quilting goes on!

Fresh off the Frame

First up - pebbles and swirls for days! (daze? ha!)

Before:

During:

After: (Whew!)

Next up - pantographs on pretties!

Whirls pantograph:

Modern Twist pantograph:

Dragonflies pantograph:

Memory Quilt #1 - Hearts in Bloom pantograph: 

Memory Quilt #2 - Modern Twist pantograph:

Memory Quilt #3 - Techno pantograph:

Knowing the reason for memory quilts is emotionally taxing for all involved. It helps ease my own heart to imagine how these quilts will offer immediate comfort, and I hope they will eventually trigger happy memories when the time is right. 


Linking Up With:

Monday Making @ Love Laugh Quilt

Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation


Try, Learn & Grow!

Carole

Comments

  1. I think your sun prints came out great even with the stones. We tried everything to get the leaves, etc to stay in place and the worse idea was under plexiglass. Best idea is sunny porch or sunroom!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so sorry to hear you fell; back and tailbone pain is no fun. I have a feeling you'll find creative ways to use all the sun prints, and the pieces you have started are lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the sun prints. Your poor tailbone! That feather. Wow. The quilting goes with the feather so well. And so many pebbles (eek!).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, wax paper is the worst! Soooo slippery. I'm sorry you fell, but glad to hear you're recovering and able to keep quilting. Your sunprints turned out really nice, especially after you used the various parts together in such creative ways. Pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Carole, thanks so much for letting us in on your sun-printing adventure. I've been experimenting with only a little bit of success. It turns out that some of the rules shouldn't be broken, so it's great to see what seems to work and what doesn't. Do you have fluorescent lighting in your basement? I hope that you are feeling better - falling on a cement floor is hard on a body! Take care.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Comments make my day! Thanks so much for taking time to leave me a message.