Tapping

Here is my first try at playing

with a fun product called Transfer Artist Paper (TAP).

My friend allowed me to use this photo of her adorable daughter:

I played with it in Photoshop Elements and morphed her into a Fairy Princess who changes ordinary caterpillars into beautiful butterflies.

 I printed the photo backwards onto a sheet of TAP.  The color shows up so beautifully but my printer did make the image more pink than I originally had it.

After cutting off the white border, I ironed the transfer onto a piece of pfd fabric.

It only took about a minute of ironing before I was able to peel off the paper and reveal the beauty underneath. 

The colors are so bright and the TAP transfer is very washable.  The only real disadvantage is that the polymer that makes the image so awesome is a little thick on the fabric.  I thought it might be stiff but it actually reminds me of a more sturdy iron-on t-shirt transfer.  The instructions say that the image will become softer when washed.

I added some sparkles using acrylic ink on top of the transfer.  This is one of the big advantages of TAP - you can paint directly onto it either before or after you transfer the image.  After stitching a border around the transfer I added a layer of organza and quilted butterflies and swirls. I think it would be fun to make an entire quilt of photos using the TAP transfers.  Especially if I were to transform ordinary photos of children into magical creatures.

If you'd like to read the story I created around this photo click here.

Catching Up

I've been a bit behind on some of my projects due to the business of summer and all but I have been able to catch up on my 12x12 Challenge Quilts.

Baseball:

When the word baseball was presented how could I NOT think about making something to do with the Cubbies.  I chose to find baseball cards of players I fondly remember from my youth such as Billy Williams, Ernie Banks, Fergie Jenkins, and Ryne Sandberg.  I then printed the cards onto muslin treated with BubbleJet 2000 and laid them out as if they were on my bed (with a Cubs comforter) being admired.

Change:

"We must be the change we wish to see in the world"

Ghandi

I painted onto a commercial fabric using Tsukineko all purpose inks.

and lastly. . .

Future:

"You are the only one who can change your future"

Dr. Seuss

The young lady is filled with drawings and words of her dreams and hopes for the future.  She is stepping forward into the cold world of her future but is prepared and willing to bring about her future. 

The young lady is a silhouette I drew onto pfd fabric and then filled using Sharpie pens, Setacolor fabric paints and The Crafters Workshop stencils. background was a batik to which I lightly added some quotes about the future using Citrasolv.  I also transferred the word "Future" with Citrasolv and then painted over it with black Setacolor for emphasis.

Ice Dyeing Part 2

This past week has been a bit insane getting children ready for school.  I really thought we had finished all the back to school shopping weeks ago but apparently there is always something to be purchased at the last minute.  I have also found that even though the last two have started high school my quiet moments are few and far between, however I have am making the most of it and managed to squeeze in more ice dyeing.

I decided to try it with smaller ice cubes this time to see what kind of difference it would make.  And the results are:

I grabbed this piece of fabric from the middle and then scrunched it together and threw on some cerulean blue dye with a sprinkle of lemon yellow.  Since it was up against the red piece it did pick up a little of the red to make some purple.  The red piece (Light red with a sprinkle of yellow) on the other hand picked up a lot of blue and stayed mostly blue. 

I scrunched this piece from side to side.  The blue stripes remind me of Charlie Brown's shirt.

Funny how just the shape of something can bring about another image.

Here is a close up of the center of the blue piece: 

The top bit is a bit stripped from laying on the wire rack.

I just love the vibrancy of this fabric and the way the color flows!

And of course the project wouldn't be complete without a collect-all fabric at the bottom:

The collect-alls always seem to have the most interesting shapes.  The bucket I put the wire rack onto has grooves in the bottom which don't allow the collect-all piece to sit in the watered down dye, allowing the piece to have so many beautiful white spaces.

Have you tried this fun way to dye yet?

I think I need to try some new colors.  Any suggestions?

Alphabet Quilt

The borders are on and it's up for the Block of the Month Club!

Ice Dyeing

A couple years ago I started dyeing fabric using snow as a resist.  I then heard about people using ice cubes with similar results, so when I read an article in Quilting Arts Magazine using this method I decided it was time to give it a try.

 Here I have my procian fiber reactive dyes on the left, pfd fabric soaking in soda ash in the middle and a rack over a tub on the right.  I scrunched up the fabric and put it on top of the rack.

 And I put a piece under the rack as well to soak up any excess dye that dripped down.

I sprinkled the dye powder on top of the ice cubes on top of the fabric.

 The powder flys around a bit and landed here and there.

 The fabrics turned out beautifully!

 A few close ups of bits I loved.

Cascade Springs Photos

Cascade Springs

We took a little family trip up to Cascade Springs yesterday.

I love the sound of the springs.

Monkey Business

Last night I taught a class of 5 friends how to make their own Magoo Monkey from Melly & Me.

They all did a fabulous job.

And 3 of them managed to make Magoo in 4 hours.

Oops we'd only planned it as a 3 hour class.

Next time this will be a 4 or 4.5 hour class.

I love how fun each monkey looks in a different fabric.

Next semester I think we will make Claudine.

She's a real pussy-cat. ;)

Alphabet Quilt

I finished the blocks for My Alphabet Quilt, 

a pattern from Amy Bradley Designs.

I feel it has taken me much longer than it should have because summer got in the way.

Not enough time in the sewing room, but what little time I did have the project went quickly and I am delighted with the results.  I will put a few borders on it but for now it is hanging at the store to advertise the Block of the Month club we will be doing with the quilt starting at the end of August.