Getting Sidetracked

I was going along quite nicely, working on my blackwork, trying out various stitches, etc.

I am playing around with the very geometric designs in an organic shape.

Then I realised that I had said I would go in a postcard swap in my online group and some of the people had started saying thank you for their card!  I hadn't even started thinking about mine as it is not due to be finished till July 31st.
So I had a bit of a panic and decided I had better start.  I didn't even have a technique in mind, never mind an idea for the theme - Where We Live.
Then I thought about the stained glass window reverse appliqué piece I had made for the Buda exhibition and decided that I would try that technique again. (I got it back today - now to think about what to do with it.)

I have quite a few photos - those that were retrieved when I wiped out my iPhoto library - of some of the stained glass windows in houses in Ivanhoe.  So I tweaked a few of them in Photoshop and printed them out, traced them onto iron-on interfacing and made some 5" x 7" cards.  Who knows why we are using inches instead of centimetres?  We are an Australian/New Zealand group, we should really be using centimetres.

So far I have made two.  It is different with the interfacing, it is stiffer, obviously, but also not see-through.  But I quite like them.  I hope the recipients do too. I haven't sent them yet, I have to make the other two.

Australasian Quilt Convention again

Not only did I have work in Beneath the Southern Sky, I also had four small pieces in another display, put on by the online group: Aus_NZartquilters.  The organisers of the group have a challenge each year and last year I decided to have a go, it makes me try new techniques and do some designing.  I have posted about it during the year, as I have played around with ideas.

I am constantly amazed by the generosity of people who organise online groups, challenges and then the actual collections and display of the works. I am very grateful to them for providing opportunities like this.

It was very exciting to see the work up.  There seemed to be two responses to the challenge, which was to design 12" square quilts that were inspired by any country other than Australia.

One response was to produce works that were clearly part of a theme and had similar designs.
The other response was to try various ideas and have a less visually cohesive, but still interesting, group of works. This is the approach I took.

Another version of the swans

The online group challenge is to make 12" square art quilts (which will be on show at the Australasian Quilt Convention in April).  I decided to use my swan images again.  I also decided to try another medium for getting my image onto fabric.  I used Transfer Artist Paper (TAP).  It has a slight plastic feel to it (and you have to remember to use the protective paper when ironing it!).  I thought it might give me stronger colours but I am not sure if it has.  I didn't bump up the colours the same as I did with the treated cotton, so I can't really say.

The computer image

 This time it printed out a bit pinker than I had expected.

Making an image to fit 12" square was another challenge and I ended up changing the design a little.

The TAP paper is in US letter, necessitating lots of remembering.  The printer, the printer settings, etc, had to be changed for each print. Once again, I had to print out two images to be overlapped to make the image the correct size.
It is also important to remember to reverse the image before printing as you have to iron it onto your fabric, it is a transfer.  I have only used it on cotton so far but apparently it will adhere to all sorts of surfaces, even non-fabric surfaces.
I thought I had managed it but when I measured the pieced work it was only 10 3/4 inches.  How had that happened???
Anyway, I will have to admit that my printer won't print 12" and work around this.

But I have remembered to put the quilt top together before sewing this time.  I decided to use colour in the border to try to pick up the little bit of colour that is in my pictures.  I think this has been one of my problems with the inkjet printing, the image I have been using is almost black and white, so I am not getting a good idea of what colours print well.

Using Photoshop and printing onto fabric

I have been playing around with trying to get images onto fabric, using the bubble jet printer and some of my photos.  This has been partly inspired by the AusNZ Art Quilt online group's challenge, which is to make 12" square art quilts designed with a country other than Australia in mind.  The challenge will be on show at the Australian Quilt Convention soon.
I am not sure I am going to get my work done in time but I have been quite inspired to look at some of my photos and think about how I could use them.

I tried using treated cotton and that turned out ok, a bit duller than I had hoped.  I played around with two photos I had, one from France and one playing around with the shutter speed and making the lights blur.

Here is one version.  Unfortunately, I didn't realise that the purple colour was on a separate layer and it didn't print.  As the fabric is not that cheap, and I didn't have much, I decided not to worry.  I just used the one I printed out.

I used the Liquefy tool (under Filter) to play around with the lights.

I spent so much time getting the layers right and trying to intensify the colours that I forgot all I know about quilting and didn't make the quilt top the correct size.  So I have been fiddling around trying to make it 12" square.  Using an A4 printer makes it tricky getting the image large enough. 

Due to my somewhat messy file saving, I can't find the actual image I printed.  But here is a photo of the finished product.   As you can see, the colours are quite muted compared to the photos.  A problem with printing on fabric that has such a different texture to paper - and to the monitor.  Something I will have to adjust to I suppose.

I was looking up how to spell gryphon and found that I wanted to type in griffin.  Strange, I had been writing gryphon but just had to type griffin.  Both seem to be correct. 

What do do?

I attended my last session for my course for the year today and am wondering what to do with myself (apart from doing paid work things). It is the first time in ages that I haven't had some textile work that is in the making, usually to a deadline. So I decided to have a look at all the things that I have had on the backburner - plenty of those!
I got out my visual diaries for my Aus/NZ ArtQuilters group and had a look at all the months that I have not done the journal quilt. They are only A4 size but I have got side-tracked from them and have not looked at them in months. I am hoping to play around with at least one month's theme soon. The last one I tried was Motion, so I had a look at some interesting optical illusion sites tonight.
Here are some links to a few.
link one
link two - this is the one of the spinning girl which is supposed to show if you are left or right brain dominant
link three - I specifically put the word movement into the search engine.