Coventry, RI Library Exhibit

Joan Blade Johnson and Melanie Johnston of the Quiet Corner Art Quilt Group have a few items on display at the Coventry, RI Public Library, 1672 Flat River Road  Coventry, RI 02816,

(401) 822-9100. The display will be up through the month of June 2012.

May!

This month's challenge was to be inspired by the word "may."


Marcia: This is my impression of May.

 
Cathey: May is when the dogwood blooms. In this piece I used one of my ice dyed fabrics for the background. I used Joan Shay's petal play process to make the dogwood blossoms. They are double sided white silk fused together with Heat 'n Bond and left dimensional on the piece.

Melanie: I think of spring as the time when the birds lay their eggs. I used Jane Dunnewold's dye and soy wax techniques on silk to create the background. I added satin eggs to the nest. A tree branch is quilted in and the background densely quilted with 3 filler stitches.

Hope: In this piece I  brought together several several elements that evoke May and spring to me. The background was created from various commercial and hand dyed fabric strips. The dragonfly wings are made from an iridescent film.

Pat:  May is when the ferns push up out of the ground and unfurl all their beauty. I added a touch of colored pencil to this zen mandala drawing and plan to turn it into a small quilt.

DOT Show

Come see our show at the DOT Corporate Offices 2800 Berlin Parkway, Newington, CT.
May 7 - June 25, 2012

Ice Dyeing

QCAQ Member, Cathey LaBonte was a big hit at the recent Narragansett Bay Quilters' Association show in N. Kingstown, RI.

Check out the pictures, then scroll down for instructions

           

The Results!

ICE DYEING

Materials:

1. white cotton pfd fabric (prepared for dyeing), or prewashed white cotton fabric
2. Procion MX powdered dyes
3. soda ash
4. Synthrapol
5. Ice
6. containers to dye in (plastic sweater box, Styrofoam ice chest, kitty litter box, etc.)
7. rack to put inside the container to hold fabric above melted dye/ice
8. container for soda ash water
9. dust mask, gloves
10. towels to clean up
11. cup and teaspoon – dedicated to dyeing

Steps:

1. Mix 1 cup of soda ash in 1 gal of hot water
2. Soak the fabric in this solution for 20-30 minutes
3. While you are waiting, select the dye colors you will use. 3 colors is a good number to work with per piece of fabric.
4. After soaking, wring out the fabric and place on the rack inside your container. Scrunch or fan fold your fabric.
5. Place a layer of ice over the fabric. Be sure fabric is fully covered.
6. Don your facemask & gloves
7. With your gloved fingers or the teaspoon, sprinkle approx ¼ tsp of each dye over the ice. Place the dye in a more “spotty” fashion as opposed to dumping it all in one spot or scattering it evenly.
8. That’s it for now. Leave it all alone overnight or up to 24 hours. The ice will melt and create a beautiful pattern.
9. After the waiting period, rinse the fabric in warm water until the water is just about clear. Add a little synthropol to the last rinse and let the fabric sit in that solution for 10 or 15 min. Then rinse again.
10. Machine wash the fabric & iron. Beautiful!

For additional information, please refer to Quilting Arts Magazine Aug/Sept 2011 or this blog: http://www.bloombakecreate.com/2011/02/ice-dyeing/

Citra Solv

The challenge for this month was to use Citra Solv in a project.

Marcia: Silk & Citra Solv
I made 2 long wall hangings this month. The read and black one includes a little bird I transferred on to fabric using Citra Solv, the other uses a piece of shibori indigo fabric I hand dyed. Both use silks that I have been collecting for a while now.

Hope: I did not have access to a carbon printer or copy machine so I tried using Citra Solv with National Geographic magazines. I found that technique described on the internet. The result on fabric was not satisfactory. I had some pale coloring but that was all. Guess I will save it and build more surface design over the plae image.
Earlier this month I took a workshop with Jude Larzelere. This was an interesting, new technique. I made the piece with deep jewel colors and some of my Australian fabric.

Joan: Fractals
I did not do the Citra Solv project but I have been experimenting with a couple of techniques. In the yellow/orange piece, I used a piece of ice dyed fabric and quilted a central design inspired from a Dover art book on the sea. I am trying to decide if the light colored thread shows up as much as I would like.

For the blue piece, I printed a fractal (computer designed by Jared Aiden Wolf) on fabric, quilted it, then printed the same fractal on  silk organza and offset overlayed it on the quilted design. It gives it an eerie effect. I can see a person or soul in it.

Here is a second fractal, also computer designed by Jared,

Melanie: "Old Couture"
I used Citra Solv to transfer images of old dress forms on to hand dyed fabric. I then overlayed a flocked netting reminiscent of an old hat veil. I added some old lace, fabric "strings" and old buttons.

Cathey: T-shirt
I decided to decorate a t-shirt with a Citra Solv image. I made this mistake of washing the t-shirt with my husbands laundry that had been pre-treated with Citra Solv to remove some greasy stains. That caused the image to dissolve a little in the wash so I had to re-do it over the faded image.

Exhibit at the Mansfield General Store

Come see our exhibit at the Mansfield General Store through March 2012:
534 Storrs Road 
Mansfield Center, CT 06250

(860) 450-0597

Kaffe Fassett Challenge

For this month's challenge, we used the NBQA fabric challenge. As part of their April 2012 quilt show, NBQA members were offered a fat quarter of a Kaffe Fassett fabric and use it in a quilt, art quilt or wearable. The requirement is that there is some recognizable fabric on the front of the piece.

Cathey: Kaffe Curves 
My piece was inspired by Louisa Smith. This is my second piece using her strata and curved piecing technique. I actually do not like to do curved piecing so I fuse, then topstitch the strata pieces to the whole cloth focus fabric pieces. I used ribbon along the stitching lines to emphasize the intersections and set off the curved strata sections. I also used some silks and my "ice dyed" fabrics in the piece.

Linda: Flowery Tote Bag
I like making things that are useful. I love the unusual design of this bag with the turned down pocket. It has lots of pockets inside and out.

Joan: Circles & Curves
I used bright colors inspired by the fabric, then placed circles of the focus fabric on the colors that I thought would make them "pop." I heavily quilted the piece with curved quilting, following the curved piecing and used accents of "bubble quilting" in some of the centers. In the blues, I used metallic thread for the quilting.

Melanie: There are many paths through the flowers
I loved the bright colors in the focus fabric and wanted to use some of my coordinating hand dyes, silks, satins, and even velvets. I also wanted to try a variety of piecing patterns in an eclectic assortment. I heavily quilted the piece using a variety of free motion patterns.

Marcia: House or Tent?
I used strip piecing to create strata, then cute and assembled the strata. The result looks sort of like 2 level house with an attic, or maybe a circus tent. I am still trying to decide on the name. I used some of my silks along with the focus fabrics and lots of others from my stash.

Pat: Kaffe Extended
I actually made 2 pieces. I was inspired by something I saw a while back. The idea is to cut a  a piece of the focus fabric, and extend the design into the rest of the piece through the quilting. This first piece is named "Ghost Flowers."

The second piece uses more precisely cut motifs from the fabric and building the design out from those pieces. This piece is "Window Boxes."