Handprinted Fabric Swap III

Leslie Keating's Handprinted Swap is in it's third instalment and I'm participating once again! Each of these four fat quarters was lovingly made for one of my fantastic partners and it ready to be taken to the post office.

I love each of these prints for very different reasons and they're all made with different techniques. This first one was stamped using a hexagon cookie cutter from the kitchen. My husband is pretty much obsessed with hexagons.




I hand-carved this rubber stamp of a kite and have been perfecting it for weeks. And, I even got the yellow inside stamp to line up (mostly)!




These curved lines sparkle in the person. There's a bit of shimmer in the paint and the copper and purple colours look amazing together.




I think these yellow and white squares look great on the grey fabric. They're  printed with a template I had from a class I took last year and I love this combination.



K.

Quilt in Action

I love quilts in action. This is when they're at their best - keeping a loved one warm and snuggly.

This is little Miss Sophie. She is my cousin's daughter and is just a few days past a month old. She is a rapidly growing little girl that will soon catch up to her cousins (my grandma now has 5 great-granddaughters. Wow). This photo was taken by her (very much in love) Mommy.

You'll recognize the quilt as my confetti quilt from back in the spring. The little lady seems to be getting good use out of it!

Enjoy!
Kristy

Bee Blocks on Pinterest

Way back in February, I undertook a personal challange to create a collection of quilting tutorials that would make excellent blocks to be used in a bee (see my post here). It's coming along nicely. You can see the entire collection on Pinterest here.

I've tried to be very selective and only pin blocks that have excellent tutorials. A few blocks have slopped through without instructions but these are generally "free" or liberated blocks and for those, a picure is all you really need.

I never realized how popular star blocks are!! I mean, I knew a lot of quilt blocks were based on stars, but there are more than I ever could have imagined. The one below is my favourite! It's paper pieced, but I love that it has 7 points. Paper piecing does scare me a little and I have yet to attempt it, but it does look amazing.

Source: ihavetosay.typepad.com via Kristy on Pinterest

I also love this block! The tutorial is more general and could be used to make some beautiful things that look nothing like this block. This is why quilting is kind of exciting to me. So may different things can be done with an easy concept.

Source: fromthebluechair.com via Kristy on Pinterest



Anyway, I hope you'll consider following the Pinterest board. The more inspiration the better!

My Sketchbook

I have a dirty little secret. I haven't shared it with anyone but I thought you would all like to know anyway.

I have a sketchbook.



It all started as a way to play with textile designs but it has morphed into a place where I can play with designs and colour in a very non-formal kind of way. Sometimes I will doodle or sketch on other pieces of paper and transfer them into my book. Other times, I will just paste the errant drawing into the book.



I like that I can take it anywhere and that it's just for me. I don't need to share it with anyone. Sometimes, I show Matt what I've done. Sometimes I don't. 



I also like the philosophy that the goal of a journal or sketchbook is to fill the page with colour, as epitomised by Alisa Burke. As a quilter and someone who plays with fabrics, my creative life is always about colour and my sketchbook should be no different.



Anyway, I hope you enjoy some of these pictures. I may share other pictures from time to time if you're interested in these ones.

Kristy


other journaling resources
- keri smith - 100 ideas (here)
- 52 projects (here)
- tania - collage style (here)
- kim's wonderful sketches (here)
- whip it's visual diary (here)
- my zentangle pinterest page (here)
- my fabric printing ideas pinterest page (here)

Handprinted Fabric Swap - All Done!

After the hub-bub of a busy week, I did manage to get the fabric for the hand printed fabric swap into the mail on time. There was a short while there last week when I wasn't sure I was going to make it. But, even with a good nap yesterday, I got to the post office before it closed.

These were all done with thermofax screens. None of them are perfect, but I hope that the recipients like them all the same.









[edit: highlighted by leslie here]

Handprinted Fabric Swap

The ever talented Leslie Keating is hosting a hand printed fabric swap. We send out four fat quarters of fabric that we have printed ourselves and received four fat quarters back. It's an awesome kind of swap to set up. Anyway, I've been playing with various techniques for the past few weeks (and even long before the swap) and I wanted to show you all in blog-land what I've been working on.

handprinted: a fabric swap

I don't think I mentioned it but over the winter/early spring my mother-in-law and I took a screen printing class at the Contemporary Textile Studio here in Toronto with Sharon Epstein. Sharon ran the class through a six week intensive course on the very basics of screen printing. By the end, we were printing all kinds of things. I managed to screen print several pieces of cotton that will work very well for quilting.





Since signing up for the swap, I've also been playing with  other techniques. This print was made by cutting squares out of a mylar sheet and using a sponge to apply screen printing ink. Why the screen printing ink? Because I had some at the time and I knew it would take to fabric well.



I've also been playing with lion block prints. I'm not overly happy with this print, but it's not awful.



I do like the triangles in this lino print. I applied the paint with a sponge roller from the dollar store and I really like the texture that results. And the blue rings? They're my absolute favorite. Although I know I have to send something to my swap partners, it's not going to be this fabric. I love it.



This print was done with thermofax screen printing. I have quite a few of these screens but I have yet to do anything substantial with them. I think these might be the best bet for the swap. I like the crispness of the print and I like that they're easy to do a repeat with. Best part? They're easy to use and easy to clean up after. These screens were made by Lynn at Fibra Artysta. She'll make your design into a screen print for you for a very reasonable fee (and mess free, on your part).



Happy printing!

Kristy

May Bee Blocks

May is now done and both bees I was in have come to an end. *sad face* So, let's see what I finished off the bees with.

Christine from the Sew Modern bee asked for these garden path blocks. I think that's the correct them. I love grey and yellow and these blocks were a delight to make. She had pre-cut the fabric so it was very very easy.

Kelly asked for these huge shoo-fly blocks for the Hip to be Square bee. And, the fun part is that each block made 4 "bonus" HSTs that she us going to use for another project. I love efficient blocks!

Now, because these bees are over, I've signed myself up for two more quilting bees (one that I am running) and a hand printed fabric swap (more on that later). No rest for the wicked, eh?

Kristy