Painting Cloth to match my New Buttons

 
On my last trip to New York I visited the garment district. It was in there where I found unusual buttons with chocolate brown and chartreuse colored lines.
Once home, I put a piece of rayon fabric on my table and prepared the fabric reactive dyes to match my buttons (Brazilian nut and Chartreuse from dharmatrading). Then I thickened them a little, turned on salsa music full blast and started to pour the dyes on to the cloth.

Oh, how much fun I had dyeing with just the flow of the melodies I heard. When I was done I felt content, in my happy place.
After batching (waiting for the dye to stick to the fibers of the cloth), washing and drying, I used this artcloth to sew a garment for myself. Once it was finished, I used Aurifil 28w cotton thread for details. I chose this thread because it shows off the topstitching beautifully and at the same time it's sturdy.
And here I am showing off my finished garment, which I called *My Guacamole Blouse*
 

*My Painted Garden*- My latest article in Simply Moderne Magazine

My latest article is out in the summer issue 2016 of Simply Moderne magazine#5. In it, I show how to work with transparent and opaque paints on fabric.

                                                   My article is published on page 66.
The fabric paints are from Prochemical and Dye I used their PROfab paints.

Once I finished painting, I used Aurifil 50w cotton threads to sew the inside details.

I used 28w cotton thread to sew around the border. Using this thread with a close zig zag stitch creates a  pronounced border while adding stability and also covering the loose threads from the raw edge.

I hope you will do this project and set a festive table to celebrate a nice meal surrounded with friends and family.
 

MQX Quilt Festival New England *New Traditions in Textile*

*PEACE* a paper and fabric quilt
 
I'm honored to have received a teacher's ribbon from Candace West at the MQX Quilt Festival New England 2016 for my quilt "PEACE". I entered a new category called *New Traditions in Textiles*

You can read more about this quilt HERE







Hanging with the quilt was this card, were I explained how I constructed this work of art.

I used Aurifil threads, which are perfect also for working on a mixed media piece.

Thank you Janet-Lee and Mary, founders of MQX Festivals for opening this new category. There are many of us who like to work with unusual materials.

Working with Thick Threads/Quilting Arts Magazine April/May 2015

 
Be sure to pick up the April/May issue of Quilting Arts Magazine—I am featured on page 80! In my article I show you how to work with thick 12w and 28w cotton threads. I used Aurifil Threads.
First, we add bold embroidery stitches. 
Later, with the same threads, you learn how to prepare your quilt sandwich to work with them in the sewing machine. You can also read more about it HERE while working in the bigger quilt.
 

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Creating Texture on a Paper and Fabric Quilt with Aurifil Threads

 
*Flowers for Sophia*- a newsprint infused paper and fabric quilt (32 inches by 30 inches)
 
From the picture below you can see how the quilt started. The flowers where painted over an infused newsprint fabric. It looked nice but flat, so I decided to go to my drawer where I keep my threads and..
 ..chose Aurifil 28w thread for machine stitching....
..and12w thread for hand embroidery. Then I applied some seed beads.

I love how the different thickness of threads with a combination of simple stitches made the quilt *sing* creating texture and dimension.


 I'd love to spark your creativity at one of my *Workshops: Painting and learning how to work with paper and fabric*

And you can watch the videos on how I made one of my paper and fabric quilts with the links below:

  How I did my Quilt *Orange Blossoms* 

                    How I did my quilt *Orange Blossoms* 2   

 


*Paper and Fabric Quilt* for Quilt Alliance Contest Entry 2014

*Country Home*
16" by 16" paper and fabric quilt
This is my donation quilt for the Quilt Alliance Contest "Inspired by" 2014
 
 
This year's rule was to create a small quilt based on the Alliance's quilt index. The index is composed by a variety of quilts that span from traditional to modern, and it allowed me to be inspired by a quilt named *Christmas Eve in the City* by Kathy Jolman (you can see the quilt here.).
 
To make it more challenging I decided to use the charm pack of rainbow fabrics they sent me last year by enrolling in the program "Quilter's Take Manhattan". I watched the program from home since I was not able to travel.
I decided to iron the 2" squares on wonder under -paper backed fusible interfacing- and grouped them by color family.
With the help of the machine Accuquilt Go I cut out small circles. Then with a manual puncher I cut out tiny circles, form flowers and tree canopy shaped (green color family).
Afterwards, I infused newsprint on silk based on my own technique where the end result is a pliable and washable fabric easy to sew. Then, I ironed the tree and flowers in place, leaving an empty space where I drew and sew the cat and bird.
I chose Aurifil 50w thread for the background and Aurifil 28w for the cat and bird.
After finishing the free motion quilting, I hand embroidered the lower part and sewed beads on the tree canopy.

Detail of the infused and trapunto newsprint house.
 
I hope you will join me and participate in this contest. You can read more about it here. You still have plenty of time since the deadline is June 1st.



Design your own Stencil/When the words *I Love you* are not enough


*Ethnic Heart*
stenciled, hand-embroidered and machine quilted


If you have read my previous posts you will know that I been making my own stencils in a Silhoutte Cameo machine. In this case, I combined and modified two of their designs to achieve this particular one, which I called *Ethnic Heart*.
After the stencil was cut, I decided to do a monochromatic quiltlet and chose two shiva paint sticks to colored in on a white piece of satin fabric.
With the help of the sewing machine I sewed with thick Aurifil 12w thread all around the shapes. Once finished, I chose a 28w thread from the same color family to embellish with hand-embroidery.
This was an excellent project to do while watching the Winter Olympic Games...pausing my work when the ice skating performers were on, since it is my favorite part!
 I never chose white thread to sew on white fabric. I love to choose a light colored thread to give the piece a lightly colored background. Especially good are 28w Aurifil thread, which gives you just enough coverage that it plays beautifully with the light and adds interest to your piece.
Started sewing freely around the heart.
This is the finished quiltlet. It is for one of my dearest friends, to let her know how I feel about her because the words *I Love you* are sometimes not enough!
Happy Valentines Day!


Be Kind a *Paper and Fabric* Quilt

*Be Kind* is a small 10" x 7" quilt I made with *paper and fabric* for the next 2014 SAQA Trunk Show. They are celebrating their 25th Anniversary! All the quilts will be mounted on a black mat. The great thing about the trunk shows is that the quilts travel and many people get to view them first hand. Each artist has their own style.
When the paper-cloth was painted and dried, I started doing the appliqué. With the help of my sewing machine I sew around each motive, in this case the flowers and little person, with thick 12w Aurifil thread. Afterwards, I did hand embroidery.
When finished sewing all the details by hand...
I did free-motion quilting on the background.
The world can be a better place if use this is a moral: *Be Kind* to each other.