may theme: I Can't Resist!

I finished both my Sketchbook page and my journal quilt just in time.

You Can't Resist was a great theme for me: I am organizing a Soy Wax class with Melanie Testa and guess what? The title Melanie had chosen for the class is ... YES: You Can't Resist!

I had a package of the appropriate quality of soy wax at home in order to test it. Last week I spent two afternoons in my studio, happily creating with soy wax and thickened dyes. The blog post is not ready yet, but in the next couple of days I am going to upload photos on my personal blog.

Marlis Egger | Journal Quilt - 8" x 8" | soy wax resist | fiber reactive dyes
(I'm still exploring the potential of my favorite letter, the B...)

You Can't Resist! (whole spread opened up) - candle resist

april theme: branching out - out on a limb

Marlis Egger | Journal Quilt | 8" x 8"
hand dyed fabric
textile paint
hand quilted

Hi everyone, Marlis here.

Can you believe another month is nearly over???

When the new theme was announced I thought oops … what shall I do with THIS?? Branching Out – Out on a Limb. I was glad that Jane Davis told us something about her theme:

Branching Out: expanding skills, sprouting new ideas, discovering unknown territory

Out on a Limb: (flip side of branching out) taking risks, facing fear of failure, getting into discomfort zone, facing Inner Critic, taking the plunge with courage.

If this wasn’t a perfect theme for me right now …??? (I’m in a transition period of my life)

When I am painting (printing, stenciling etc.), I often avoid getting into discomfort zone because once I love what I did, I don’t want to ruin or spoil my cloth (or even my paper…). So I stop – instead of building up layers.

In my sketchbook I decided to start with the very next page - turquoise with some white circles (resists). The first layer was stamping with a cork, the second stamping with an empty spool of thread, the third stamping with a self made eraser stamp, the fourth some bold brush strokes and last but not least three of my beloved ;-) curved, black crosses.

I took exactly the same steps to creat the journal quilt, starting with a piece of hand dyed turquoise fabric.

Sketchbook page, front

Sketchbook page, opened up

spilling over

Hi everyone, Marlis here.

Creating the Sketchbook page was not difficult this month: for the last couple of years, I have been working a lot with subdued colors (beige, grey, but also black and white plus an accent color), so my Spilling Over was colorful indulgence. After I added stitch and turned the page, I noticed all those beautiful holes and stitches - and had to create a second page using these stitched lines as a guide ... and dive into more color. And fun I had!

The tricky part however was translating the page into fabric. I challenged myself to work differently from how I usually work. To go out of my comfort zone. To be messy. To be imprecise. To spill over ;-).

Journal Quilt

Sketchbook | first page

Sketchbook | second page

opposites | my journal quilt

Hi, Marlis here. It’s hard to believe that another month is almost over. I had a lot of fun working with this month’s theme OPPOSITES – in the sketchbook as well as with fabric.

Opposites. So many possibilities: black/white, shiny/dull, patterned/plain, organic/geometric, vertical/horizontal, circular/angular – to name just a few. The next blank page in my sketchbook was aqua green, so I decided to opt for the color first. Aqua green’s complementary color is red – not my favorite color combo. But sometimes we should get out of our comfort zone, shouldn’t we?

When I prepared my sketchbook, I applied a candle resist to some of the pages before painting them. More often than not, I used one of my favorite marks: the “curved” cross. A couple of months ago I started to use this mark extensively and in various ways: stitching, drawing, stamping. I even carved some stamps out of erasers. I guess, I have to think about why I just love these marks…

To finish the pages, I added some drawings and the flip-out part is created in the opposite color scheme: red on aqua green.

highly prized | my journal quilt

Hello everybody, Marlis here. I introduced myself ages ago but haven’t posted since. I’m glad Frauke and Kit came up with the Challenge idea. I am participating in the Sketchbook Challenge and, being a quiltmaker, I’m more than happy to join this Journal Quilt Challenge. I quite like the idea of working with the same theme in two different mediums (paper and cloth). My goal is to make one Journal Quilt a month in the size of 8”x8”.

When the theme “Highly Prized” was announced, I did a quick brainstorming. What do I prize highly? My husband, my cats, the view out of my living room window, Sushi, a glass of Prosecco, my daily walk, my friends ... and a lot more. I can’t draw (or that’s what I thought before I joined the Sketchbook Challenge…), so I picked the most difficult topic <g>: my cats, or more specifically Flori Cat. For the Journal Quilt I used a digitally processed version of the same photograph I had used as reference when I made the pencil sketch and printed it on fabric. I made my own stamps for the paws (from erasers). The piece is freehand quilted following the irregular lines of the background fabric. Very simple - but that's the way I like to work (my motto is "less is more").

Btw: this is my sketchbook page:

Hi from Switzerland!

My name is Marlis and I live in the Italian part of Switzerland with a very supportive husband and two cats. I'm an art quilter (www.marlisegger.ch), blogger (TEXTILEARTAND... www.marlisegger.blogspot.com) and course organizer (www.texartacademy.ch). During the last couple of months I have mostly been wearing my organizers hat, so I haven't been able to work in my studio very often.

As most of us, I have started with traditional patchwork. In the meantime, I have used many materials and techniques ... just to find out that the material I love most is fabric (cotton, silk, linen) and one of my favorite techniques is screenprinting (breakdown printing/DSP, flour paste resists), but also monoprinting. One of my first monoprints which I really like, is this one:

It is part of a series of 5 ... and yes: my motto is "less is more"...

I'm part of a challenge group. We are working in a specific size (16" x 20") and every two months one of the group members chooses the new theme. These are three of my quilts:

(walls: Marks)

(music: Vivaldi - The Four Seasons: Spring)

(time: When Time Goes By)

This September I had the chance to take a 4day class with Jane Dunnewold (The New Complex Cloth) and got absolutely hooked. I blogged about this experience here and here.

I'm looking forward to participating in this blog and to getting to know new artists around the globe. Thanks for inviting me!

Btw: you can find me also on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr...