Something About Nothing

Since this month's theme for The Printed Fabric Bee was Insects, I thought I should start the piece with lots of leaves and a little sun painting using Setacolor paints.  I placed plastic over the leaves as it was a windy day and everything inside cooked very nicely. After creating a stencil or adorable lady bugs with my Silhouette , I painted them using black Setacolor  transparent paint. And lastly I used a Zig Fabricator Pen to add little white dots to all of the black lady bugs.  I don't know if there are really any ladybugs that look like this but I just enjoyed making them! There are a lot of beautiful Insects in this months collection: If you would like to win a collection of the twelve 6x6" pieces then leave a comment at either of the following blogs: janedavila.blogspot.com theprintedfabricbee.blogspot.com Thanks for following along!   There will be an exciting announcement about The Printed Fabric Bee in the next couple of month...

Have I mentioned that I have a Webinar on Craft University coming up next week? I'll be sharing what I know about making prints using a Gelli® Plate. I'll give advice on the tools and paints I enjoy most. I will show you how I created the fabrics in my Moonlight quilt: As well as how I created fabrics like this one: I hope you will join me next Wednesday, June 29th at 1 p.m. EST.  IF you can't join us then you can download the class and listen later!  You can sign up for class here .

I needed a 12x12" piece of surface designed fabric to send to someone and so I started with some dyed fabrics and stencils I created from my drawings. My Gingko leaves drawing was the first stencil I tried. I used orange Setacolor paint on top of a brown and orange hand dyed fabric. It's a very light pattern and I think it may need a few more layers but since I didn't know what I wanted to do next, I move on to another piece. I love the way the stencil has turned out from this drawing, and I think I may make a thermofax of it too, and perhaps that is what I need to do with the ginkgo leaves above too! I had a piece of pink and purple hand dyed fabric that I used with some Color Magnet awhile back and so I stenciled over the top with Fuchsia Setacolor.  I really like how the piece turned out but I didn't think it looked like the person I intended it for. A while ago I drew this layered zentangle and made it into a large thermofax screen. I use...

The Utah Surface Design Group has a show every year at the Michael Barry Gallery .  I will have 3 pieces in the show, which I will post about once they are hung later in the month.  The group always puts together something as a group for the show.  Last year we all made artist trading cards, the year before it was aprons (or maybe it was the other way around) and this year we are doing prayer flags. I used setacolor paints on silk hankies and then stenciled over the words faith, love and live.  The flags I saw turned in were just outstanding!  I can't wait to see them all hung across the gallery together.  I think they will be breathtaking!

I've been playing catch up on my Journal quilts. Here is  #3:  Rejoice is a background of a few random fabric paints, covered by my Sharpie marker drawing of a tree branch, singing bird and word.  The bird is painted onto of the background with acrylic inks.  I quilted around the marker lines and then decided it needed a few more leaves quilted into the background.   #4:  Swirls and Circles   is fabric painted using stencils and Setacolor paints that I used to practice some new free motion quilting designs I learned from this great website .   #5:  Flower Man is made up of pieces left over from the  Journal cover  I blogged about earlier in the week.  I liked the odd shape it took and so I decided not to square it up.  Once finished I thought it looked like a fat flower man. #6:  Feathering My Nest is made from a couple of recycled (upcycled?) Shout Color Catchers  I had thrown in the wash with the fabric I ice ...

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 brin...

Summer Campish Class was a success. We were few in numbers but all had a great time painting fabric with Setacolor  paints. Setacolor is a transparent fabric paint which can also be used for sun painting.  We would have sun painted but, despite it being the middle of July, it was raining during our first day of camp.  We used stencils and stamps to create our masterpieces.  And lots of imagination.   This young lady drew her own wolf stamp with amazing details. During our second day we played with resists using corn syrup.   And on the third day we used our fabrics to create string backpacks.  Janice left a little early and didn't finish her bag but the other three finished them and did wonderful work! We had a lot of fun and are planning another "play date" for this fall.