In search of Brown

Let’s start with the most important part of the day – who won yesterday!! Raspberry Splash will be going to Randomnumber #28 – sue viall said...
Omg I pressed the wright button,it was not a raspberry colored one that's why I couldn't find one !!! I love that color,my nails are purple. Let’s see how splashily you can make use of these raspberry colors!! email me your address frieda@friestyle.com and I will send this packet to you.

I have spent a lot of time in search of the perfect brown. And what I have discovered along the way is that 60%orange and 40%blue is the perfect brown. While I am not a brown kinda gal, I do love to use it especially in the winter.This combo is is a seven step fat quarter gradation from Orange to Violet with some really pretty browns in the middle. All you brown and blue people should love this.
Leave me a comment today about brown.

• Why you like brown
• How you have found it helpful in your sewing room

Pine Trees
Notice the Brown behind the Pine Trees!

60th Birthday–my sister

My only sibling and sister turned 60 on Saturday. It really seems like a big deal because I am not that far behind.  My husband turned 60 last year, but it didn’t seem like such a thing, only because he isn’t related to me by blood and well he is 4 years older than me and always will be. My sister however has been in my life since I began and everything that happens to her eventually happens to me. 
I am currently at my kids house grandbaby sitting.  My husband was here with me for the weekend but he has gone home now.  Our daughter-in-laws sister got married this weekend and all of her family and relatives were involved in the wedding so we HAD to come here to watch the grandboy. It is great, I get whole days alone with him. Woo woo. I am loving it. I am working on his first Halloween costume,  he is going to be a little white and black dog. He has a little french bulldog in his family, so it seems perfect. The kids live in PA and we will be driving to Boston to help my sister celebrate this coming  weekend.
I have many gifts for my only sibling, a pair  hand kit socks made from Sophie’s Toe Sock yarn in lavender, a pair of great earrings from my friend Sandy of  OF NATURE and a small wall quilt to match the colors of her bedroom. She  never reads my blog so I will post a picture for you here.

I have been walking around this little lake by my house everyday with George and there are cat tails growing along the banks, so of course I had to start making Cat Tail quilts. I am loving them and the color is perfect for my sister’s bd, her room is green and purple.

This little quilt is about 4” wide  by 12” and is trimmed with my hand dyed 4mm silk ribbon then sewn to a peltex frame that has fabric fused on both sides and then cut out with a decorative rotary blade.
It is just wonderful.

Artist Monday

I want to share with you an artist who I think is doing some wonderful work.

I went to my quilt group this last Wednesday, I belong to PAQA a group that meets in the Chicago land area. I don’t get there very much because of all the traveling that I do. SO, I really enjoy it when I get to go and see all my quilting buddies.

My friend Darcy Berg was there with some wonderful art for sale. I had to buy this little quilt from her, it was too wonderful. It is mounted on a painted stretcher canvas. It measures about 5” x 5”. It is a picture  that she took and then manipulated in Photoshop. She then printed it on fabric and added more interest and detail with paints and thread. If you would like to see more of her work please go to her website.

If you live in the Chicago land area she will be teaching at the following venue:

Shibori: Dying Texture into Fabric
June 14, 21 and 28, 6:00 - 8:30 p.m.

and

Photography Meets Art Quilt
Tuesdays 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
August 2 - 23, 2011

Here's the link to the Hinsdale Center for the Arts: http://www.hinsdalearts.org/

Darcy Berg
http://www.darcyberg.com
http://cleverturtle.blogspot.com

Traditional frames

Of course you can always go the traditional route and just frame your small quilts. For some reason I hate to see fiber behind glass. But it sure looks professional.

TimTex frame

A new idea that I have used recently is to create a frame using TimTex ®, a heavy interfacing.
Picture #5










I used a wavy blade in my rotary cutter to cut out the frame for this art quilt.
Using fusible web, I attached my complimentary fabric color to both sides of a heavy piece of TimTex that is cut at least three inches larger all around than my art piece. I then trim this TimTex sandwich with a decorative rotary blade in my rotary cutter to the size I need. (Use the decorative blade(s) of your own choice). This creates a frame that I can center my art on. In the center of the back of this frame, I place a cord that will act as a hanging loop. The cord is attached by creating a loop with tails. The tails are caught behind a piece of square fabric that is fused to the back in the center of the frame. I stitch around the edges of the square to secure this fabric, and the cord tails are stitched down behind the fabric square.
Picture #6
I used a pinking blade in my rotary cutter to cut out the frame for this art quilt.
I use the same method of applying Velcro to the frame and the art work as I have mentioned before.

The back of the frame with a loop or I-cord applied to hang the frame.

The back of the frame

Someone asked about the framing wire on the back of the plexi-glass frame. Here is a picture of it. I used plastic coated wire, but really any wire works fine.

More framing

Years ago I discovered a nice and inexpensive technique to create a frame for my smaller fiber art pieces that I still use to display my art. I use ¼” clear Plexiglas cut at least 2 inches larger all around than the art work. Any framer will be able to sell you ¼” clear Plexiglas. I attach a piece of framing wire to the back side of the Plexiglas. To attach the wire, I use a new sharp drill bit in a power drill to drill 4 holes in the center back of the Plexiglas and run a piece of picture framing wire through the four holes. The four holes are determined by measuring down from the top of the frame three inches, finding the center of the frame, and drilling the 4 holes parallel and equally distant from the middle. I place sticky Velcro on the Plexiglas and sew pieces of non-sticky Velcro to the back of the fiber art piece. Then I attach the fiber art piece to the Plexiglas. By framing your work in this way, the fiber art is still accessible.

Picture #3