Aurora

I signed up for Lisa Walton's Aurora class at the beginning of December but only started the online class last week.  Rather than dye or paint some fabric I bought some gradient fabric from The Bramble Patch.

As ever, I didn't want my work to look like the tutors so I took the principle of how to cut the fabric and made it long and narrower than Lisa's sample.  Although it is actually wider than I meant it to be.

I have made several unsuccessful attempts at photographing this fabric.  It either comes out black where it's blue or the pale bit in the middle which is a matt finish shines so brightly it's hard to tell what colour it is.  At least it's blue in this one!

Interestingly it is described as black on the Bramble Patch website.

I decided to print onto the fabric using stencils, some fabric paint and acrylic paint.

I started machine quilting.  I tried to follow the lines printed on the fabric.  I forgot to put the walking foot on but I don't think it would have made much difference.

It really doesn't look good up close.  The layers all decided to do their own thing despite the copious amount of Mistyfuse!

At this point Lisa suggests machining with thick thread in the bobbin, then some handstitching.  Currently it's going to sit in the 'I don't why I started this project' pile.

And of course there's always the option to cut it up so that I can cut out all the bits where the fabric pleated!

Thank for joining me today
Bernice

 

Works in Progress

How many pieces of work do you have on the go?

I decided I would try to finish some of mine before I started on anything new.  Of course that only lasted until I did Lisa Walton's Fantastic Fusion workshop recently.

However I have finished some.  I made this wall hanging at Leah Higgin's workshop Print, Stitch, Go in November 2019.  It just needed the binding around the edges .

Last week I cut it up and made it into a cover for a large sketchbook.

Last September I started working on Landscapes with Liske at Littleheath Barn.  I started a couple of pieces but stopped working on them at the end of February.  In fact I think the first piece started at a lutradur workshop in 2016, with additions in 2020!

The sewing is finished.  It needs a card mount and a frame.  It looks large here but it's actually only 19x16 centimetres.

The sewing is finished on this one and just needs a press and a piece of wood - preferably driftwood - at the top as the hanger.  This piece is 16x48 centimetres.

The next piece I tackled was this one.  When I stopped working on it, it looked like this.

I had started handstitching it, but when I came back to it I realised the machine stitching I had done around the squares was very poor.  Plus it didn't speak to me at all.

Regular readers will know what I did next!

Yes!  I took it all apart and cut it up.

I wondered whether I could take some of what I learned on Fantastic Fusion and make something with these pieces.  I put Mistyfuse on the back of all the pieces.

I started laying out the pieces and trying them out.  Moving them to different places to see if that worked.

Eventually I decided I needed to fuse them to a separate piece of fabric that was more or less the right size.

I squared the collage up and continued to add bits.

It eventually looked like this.

Now all I have to do is decided how to stitch it.  I'm going to use the machine and hand stitching.  I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Almost normal

Actually, almost normal might be an exaggeration!

However I did an in-person online workshop!  The tutor, Lisa Walton, was in Sydney, Australia and I was in my house in the UK.  Zooming, obviously.

Lisa talked about her Fantastic Fusion technique and demonstrated how to do it.  My fellow participants and I then worked on our own fusion squares and rectangles.

I tried rearranging the squares and adding larger strips.

Eventually I filled the whole of the cork board.

The next day, as those of you who know me well won't be surprised, I cut it up to narrow the wide strips and to add some more turquoise.

I put it onto acrylic felt with a backing fabric and machine quilted it.  I really like the patterns on the back.

And then I added a turquoise binding.

It was a great way to learn a new technique.  And probably the only way for me to learn from Lisa.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice