Pohutukawa

Christmas is upon us, so something Christmassy. The Pohutukawa symbolises NZ Christmas for me.
Textile inked some calico in different strengths of green.
Pohutukawa flowers. Drew 6cm and 4 cm circles on wash away stabiliser. Put the stabiliser in an embroidery hoop. Using red variegated crochet cotton in the bobbin, I sewed straight stitch from edge to edge, 1oclock to 7 o’clock, to 2 o’clock to 8 o’clock, etc, making sure I met and crossed in the centre.
Changed the tread to normal cotton and did none more large flower, then zigzagged 30 gauged beading wire to the flowers, about 8 times, making sure the thread is touching other thread.
I also just sewed 4 lengths of beading wire with zigzag stitch over the beading wire. Cur all the threads on the outside of the circle and washed it all away.
Leaves – painted Lutradur (sp) with textile ink, and then rubbed some Shiva paint sticks over when it was dry. I cut heaps of leaf shapes.
Onto the green fabric I zigzagged some red flowers, then stitched the leaves into place. I folded some over to give a 3D effect. Stitched some more red flowers and added more leaves.
Hand stitched the “wash away” flowers to the stitched one and manipulated the wire.
Unfortunately the picture doesn’t do this piece justice, but it is so 3D you expect bees and flies to land on the flowers.
Perhaps the quilt could benefit with brown stalks or yellow beads on the tip of the sewn down flowers.

Overflows

Want to try out “tufting” stitch, so need a quilt with “water” or motion to splash, so decided on a love waterfall, so I can tuft the bottom of the waterfall.
Found some white fabric with hears and OXO on it for the waterfall. Scraps of blues, greens and a purple one with holly – it is Christmas time.
Turned under the edges of the scraps and laid them onto some iron on interfacing – glue side up. Initially I was having a” square” look to the piece, but then turned the blue square onto point, and I liked the effect, as it breaks up the whole square look into a more random piece. Ironed the back so all the pieces have stuck and free motion zigzag finishing with the blue square.
Reverse bobbin with variegated red/pink crochet cotton in the bobbin, and pink thread in the needle. Lots of swirls and spirals creating movement, all travelling through the blue square. What now – heart beads sewn at the ends of the swirls? Appliqué hearts on the edges? I created this piece as a tufting exercise, so do I put the tufting around the edge of the blue square< or do I tuft the top edge of the hearts near the blue square?

I practised tufting on some scraps, but I am not happy with the results, so maybe some “jazz’ yarn for a fringe? Decided to cut some hearts from the white/red print and scatter them around the outside and appliqué them. Some 3D paint was drawn around the edges. When the paint had dried I covered it with baking paper and ironed it to set it. Perhaps the iron was too hot, or the paint not dry enough, but the pain lost the gloss. Monica suggested using a hair dryer to heat set the 3D paint, I wish I knew that before I ironed it.
So much for my tufting exercise, but I did learn something about 3D paint!

Dirty Laundry

Really wanted to try out the “bleach Pen” by Clorex, so on some different coloured scraps I followed the patterns on some ,and just drew spirals on the others. The pen is easy to use, but the purple fabric didn’t change colour at all. The batik green reacted super quickly, and the others at different rates. Them all in a bucket of water and rinsed them several times.
As the “Bleach Pen” is designed for stains on dirty clothes, I have decided to make a clothesline and have the bleached fabric hanging from the.
Grass – some hand dyed green fabric from Shari Cole was perfect. I cut it into three strips and fringed the edges.
Laid the strips irregularly onto fusible stabiliser, with the adhesive facing up. Found some scrap faded denim that was perfect for a hot sun drenched blue sky look.
Cut miniature clothes outlines from the bleached fabric, - pants, single, skirt, tablecloth, tea towel, and briefs from a lace scrap.
Originally I was using crochet cotton for the “line” but it was too thick, so I split it into 3, and used one of those strands.
Vlioflex the “Clothes” and arranged them on the washing line. I had too many for my A5 size, so discarded the ones that didn’t fit in.
Ironed everything down, but decided not to stitch around any of the clothes, except the briefs until quilting time. I think this is called raw edge appliqué, but not sure.
Quilted using some invisible thread, tried to create the impression of the sun beating down in the sky. Quilted around the clothes, and this made them stand free of the quilting.
Grass I quilted with green variegated thread, randomly, but then decided to quilt plant / leaf shapes. Much more fun,. Pink embroidery thread for the pegs. I like the briefs. Maybe I should have used brighter pink for the pegs?

Failure and Success

I wanted to do some more laser printing, so in Publisher I created a graphic about success. My success comes from learning from my failures. “In order to succeed, it’s okay to fail.”
Found a quote from Winston Churchill about complexities, and a quote from Albert Einstein about simplicities.
Printed the graphic onto yellow rose fabric and it looked awesome. Red textile paint and a very fine brush, I painted “OK” red and bold. It stands out and catches the attention. Yellow quilting in a square spiral around the words in a straight stitch.
Printed a practise graphic out onto calico and washed it by hand. The printing held.
Chucked it in to machine on a normal cycle, and the ink came out and was very faded. So, laser printing is only good for items for wall hangings, not anything that will get wear.