5th Journal Quilt

After I did some sketches in my sketchbook with "stippling-alike" lines, I thought - what about drawing like this on fabric? And so I did that. My cheap pen did bleed a bit, but not too bad. Some of the shapes (that's different to classic stippling - it's all about drawing connected shapes) were filled out in the next step. Today I quilted it - I would have liked to do some quilting that fits the Sketchbook Challenge theme "Spilling over", but nothing came to my mind that I liked. Oh well - so be it. I had the idea of adding some red to the piece, so using red thread for the quilting was a logical step. As I like the simple and clean look of grid quilting, I did that - and varied the width a bit. Last step was a red binding, done with 2 rows of satin stitching. And here it is - my 5th Journal Quilt!

4. Journal Quilt!

After I used my first "carte blanche", it was about time I did my 4. Journal Quilt. I still was fascinated by the theme "opposites" - so I used it. Is there a stronger contrast as the one between white and black? To me, no - so I wanted to play with that. And I became more and more intrigued by handstitching on the surface - just a sample for this is the work by Lisa Call. Last not least, I wanted to explore the contrast of straight line and curved lines.
So; I set to work: ironed a piece of white linen of about 7", backed it with a piece of thing batting and picked a fairly thick silk sewing thread (guess it's supposed to be used for buttonholes?). Than I settled in front of a nice movie and started stitching - by hand ... and I liked it!  First, I tried to do straight lines across without marking. Not a good idea ;-)) So I unstitched my first few stitches and wondered how I could mark my line? The pojagi class I took some weeks ago came to my mind, and I tried pulling my needle along a ruler across the fabric with a little pressure. It worked ... I should have used it for ALL of my straight lines ;-)) I did 7 straight lines on one half of my piece. For the second half, I wanted a contrasting way of lines. Hmmmm ... how about circles? Yes. I started with a circle - and made it bigger as I had first thought. And I made up my mind - just one circle is enough.
I am very pleased with my 4. Journal Quilt - I will for sure explore hand-stitching further. Oh my, many more possibilities ;-))

3rd Journal Quilt: "Opposites"

This third Journal Quilt was a rather quick project. It started with a simple statement - "I wonder how stitching through acrylic paint pieces would work?" Jens heard this simple sentence - next thing I know, I had a leftover piece of acrylic paint (it had dried and hardened on the palette) in my hand. It was yellow ... and the new theme for our challenge was "Opposites" ... in my opinion, that called for purple. Out came the box with my purple scraps, and I pieced a roughly 6" square in dark-purple scraps. I layered it with a backing and some batting. Next thing I took the acrylic paint piece ... and after all the straight seams in the background, I cut it up with some curved lines. With a little help of Mistyfuse, I glued my two pieces down to my background. Than I quilted - with yellow thread, of course ... - a freehand-grid over it. Last step was finishing the piece; done with a zig-zag in yellow.
Conclusion: stitching through acrylic paint pieces works ... but: it breaks very easily. When I use it again, I'll use some very thin netting on top of it to keep stray pieces in place. I'm already glad about this Journal Quilt idea, it gives me motivation to really try new techniques hands-on and stops me from only thinking about doing it. What will I try next ??? For the 4th Journal Quilt, the theme will still be "Opposites" ...

Journal Quilt No 2 - "ART"

My second Journal Quilt was actually finished Saturday, but I did not find enough time to post it ... Sorry !
I painted the letters on my pieced background, and added threadwork with white thread on top of the white fabric paint. The binding was done with an almost black knitting yarn and a strand of metallic white embroidery thread. And the final touch ... was done with Marabu Fun Glitter Glue! I put white / silver glue on top of my letters, and added a small red line of glue to the binding. On my blog you'll find a bit more information and more pictures of the process.
Even if this piece started of as a "use what you have"-project - after the background was done, I knew I wanted to add the word "ART". Art has become an important part of my life - therefore, it is "Highly Priced". Adding words / letters starts to intrigue me, so be prepared to see more of that in the future ;-))

My first Journal Quilt - finished ;-))

While I tested an idea for creating wood-like structures with felt and wool, I suddenly realized I liked my little piece very, very much. So I measured it, hoping it would be big enough - which, in fact, was! I cut it down to a roughly 6,5" x 6,5" square and declared it the base for my very first Journal Quilt.

Surprise, surprise, my background reminded me of wood ... Something like "forests" came to my my mind - how to depict that on 6"x6"??? I spotted a fabric with dwarfs in the wood - would that work? Let's give it a try ... Thanks to Mistyfuse, the dwarf was sitting comfortably on this little piece of felt in no time. 

Next came grass - and another mushroom ;-)) The stitching was done with several threads, one of them hand-dyed (the bright green at the left and the right side). Using this one was hard on the HORIZON, I would not like to do a big piece with it (or maybe I just need to play a bit with different needles and settings on my machine ... it really looks great to me ...)

For the next step I wanted to add leaves. But I wanted also a 3D-effect ... I joined a leaf-printed fabric with a solid handdyed fabric and cut the leaves out. For the veines, I used stitching. See the tiny leaf on top of the picture? That was done without any help ... and I struggled to get it done properly. Than I heard a tiny voice in my head say - "use a stabilizer!" I did, as you see in the other leaves, and doing the stitching on them was no problem at all.

Before I sewed the leaves down on the piece, the edges were secured with a zigzag. Than the leaves were sewn on with a single stitching line in the main veine. This way, they add depth to the design and I hope, you have the impression of a dwarf, sitting hidden behind leaves !
And where's the connection to "Highly Prized"? The piece started off just because I liked my felted test-piece so much. The dwarf was just a cute thing to use. But while I worked on it and silently asked myself the same question - I realized: dwarfs are common figures in literature and fairy tales. As a bookseller, I LOVE to read, and I love fantasy stories. Therefore, the dwarf in the woods is a symbol for all the figures and creatures in my favourite stories!
Working on my first Journal Quilt was a LOT of fun. I'm happy that I was able to visualize an idea and to make it work. Now I'm looking forward to your comments and your questions ;-))

Pleased to Introduce Myself - quilthexle!

"My draft of space"

My name is Frauke Schramm aka quilthexle, and I blog at quilthexle's world. That's my virtual log, where I record my creative journey. I'm a textile artist and a quilter and I blog about my creative work - when everything goes smoothly or not, when I feel the journey becomes more difficult. Occasionally I add tidbits of my personal life and my real-life surroundings. Or some pictures - for inspiration or just for the fun of it. I find it especially important to write in an uplifting, positive and humourous style. I want my readers to leave my blog smiling ;-)) And I want to encourage my readers to jump into action - asking "what if?" takes us to the heart of our creative journey!

"Winter Puzzle"

I consider myself an "emerging artist". This year, I had two quilts at the "Festival of Quilts" in Birmingham, UK - these are the two I'm showing off in this blogpost. In the summer of 2011 I registered for a class with Nancy Crow - which scares me to no ends, but gives me a lot of excitement, too. There are sooo many artists out there who all say - "I took a class with Nancy Crow and EVERYTHING changed" - I'm looking forward to this experience.
And I'm looking forward to become a part of "The Art Quilt Blog" - to get to know more artists from all over the world. So, to a pleasant journey for all of us together! If you want to know more about my quilts, my workstyle, me ... I'll be happy to answer almost every question ;-))
Happy quilting,
Frauke aka quilthexle