"First,give yourself permission to fail"were relevent.
The best way to learn tecnique is simply to practice and experiment.Not every art quilt you make will be a masterpiece.
This mess was another trial run:
A few weeks back on January 11,I played with a prepared artist's board,bits 'n pieces of braid and lace and Lumiere paints.
I got to wondering how prepared canvas pages would work as post cards,so yesterday I found out:
I can get four (nearly) 6x4 inch rectangles from a page.I used PVA craft glue to adhere the bits to the canvas;Gave the whole a coating of Lumiere #554 Sunset Gold and then tried out Halo Blue gold(yuk) and pearlescent magenta on various bits.
Next time I'll try the quilters spray as adhesive.
Now to determine how the machine stitches on the canvas.
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As I'm involved in a "one a month" (Art) journal quilt I thought I'd try out my ideas in a smaller format to see if they would work;
I hope to continue with my theme of the Murray River,and this month I wanted to look at the blue-green algal blooms that generally occur with summer heat and poor river flow.
Having just acquired some Angelina fibres I wanted to try blending them with silk tops already in my stash:
So the upper pic is my interpretation of blue-green algal blooms;
The lower pic was a bit of a play:
Trash bag or confetti quilting with a lace motif painted in Lumiere paints and the leaf an (Ozecraft) dye.
All good fun and fairly satisfactory
These five skeins of recycled (sari) silk yarn were just delivered to me!
I'm going to have FUN working with these and some silk tops I purchased from Elaine a few months back.
She has the most interesting yarns and fibres which she spins and dyes for sale on her site Highland-Cottage-Crafts
I'm sure she'd like to to pop in for a peek at her goodies!
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This time a West Aussie slant on things........
if you'd like to know more about quandongs
or even the wildflowers of W.A. or the Sandalwood industry
an industry which had its roots back in 1846 when the Sandalwood was harvested for the Incense trade,keep looking,and enjoy a little of our history.
Western Australia has a wealth of natural history that is sometimes overlooked,except in Spring when the tourists come to enjoy the floral sights that can stretch for miles.
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Quandongs
Let me flesh this posting out with some background:I was born in Western Australia and spent my youth there.In the 1960-70s period we used to spend a lot of time at Mullalloo beach and Quandong bushes grew in the sand dunes.My M-i-L educated me to making quandong jam and fruit tarts.If I describe the cooked fruit as similar to cooked Quinces in colour,texture and flavour you might know where I'm coming from.
The info below is taken from the Nullarbor Travel Guide
A single Quandong Berry
Santalum Acuminatum or the Quandong
The Quandong is a truly unique native Australian fruit. Found in the arid and semi-arid regions of all Australian mainland states , Quandong trees have been classified as belonging to the santalum genus of plants. Ideally adapted to arid environments, the Santalum Acuminatum species is known to be a semi-parasitic plant. Quandong trees can tolerate high soil salinity levels and often rely for their complete water requirements from the root systems of host plants. Across their native distribution range, Quandong trees typically grow 2 to 3 metres in height, with a dense leathery crown of leaves perhaps 2 metres wide.
A Quandong Tree in Fruit
Aboriginal Bush Tucker
Traditionally the Quandong was an important food source for Australian Aborigines. Amongst male members of central Australia's Pitjantjara people, Quandongs were considered a suitable substitute for meat - especially when hunting game was in short supply. Around the Everard Ranges, Quandong gathering and food preparation was considered Pitjantjara women's business. Ripe red Quandong fruits would be eaten raw or dried for later use. Typically Everard Ranges women would collect Quandongs in bark dishes, separate the edible fruit from the pitted stone, and then roll the edible fruit into a ball. The Quandong ball was then broken up for consumption by the tribal group.
Medicinal Uses of the Quandong
Amongst Australian aborigines Quandongs were much valued for their medicinal properties. Specialised uses of the Quandong included a form of tea which was drunk as a purgative. Quandong tree roots were also ground down and used as an infusion for the treatment of rheumatism. Typically Quandong leaves were crushed and mixed with saliva to produce a topical ointmnet for skin sores and boils. Encased within each Quandong seed is an oil rich kernel which was also processed in a similar fashion to treat skin disorders. Quandong kernels could also be eaten and some tribal groups were known to employ crushed kernels as a form of "hair conditioning oil". Ingeniously Australia's aborigines appeared to be aware that Quandongs were a preferred food source of emus, and that a ready supply of Quandong seeds could be found in their droppings.
Emu Droppings and Quandong Seeds. Yum!
Western Australian Emus in Quandong country.
One of these emus is responsible for the above scat.
Our best guess is the thirsty one!
European Use of the Quandong
Australia's early pastoralists also discovered their own unique uses for the Quandong. Away from homesteads for weeks at a time, stockmen would often bake dampers infused with Quandong leaves. The result was apparently a refreshing change from the usual damper. When in season - between October and February - many farmers would also take their families out for a Quandong picnic. After gathering Quandongs the peeled fruit was used to make a variety of jams, chutneys and Quandong pies. Such treats were often the only delicacies to be had - especially during drought and depression years when money was short. Today successive generations of rural Australians continue with their Quandong picking traditions. They often do so however, in contravention of state laws that prohibit the harvesting of wild Quandongs. In all truth it seems old habits die hard, and for many people the forbidden fruit is all the more tasty because of it.
Domestication of the Quandong
During the past 30 years the Quandong has become a firm favourite of Australia's burgeoning bush food industry. Commercial Quandong plantations are now an economic reality. True domestication of the Santalum Acuminatum species remains some way off however - not altogether surprising given that established fruit varieties such as apples have been undergoing continuous selection and development for thousands of years. Since 1973 Australia's CSIRO has been actively conducting scientific research into developing improved commercial Quandong cultivars.
The aim of such research has been to produce a bright red Quandong with good eye appeal, improved flesh texture, and a palatable mix of Quandong flavours, tannins and food acids. To date the quest for the perfect Quandong has proven elusive. Should CSIRO be successful however, then the Quandong will have become only the second Australian food plant species to have been successfully domesticated. Bring it on CSIRO!
Quandong Tree at Pildappa Rock, SA
Queer Quandong Facts
Fossilised Quandongs have been discovered in the coal seams of Southern Victoria. Apparently these fossils date from 40 million years ago - a time when Australia was still linked to the Antarctic continent.
Australian people often refer to Quandongs as the Wild Peach, Desert Peach or Native Peach.
Quandongs have a vitamin C content higher than oranges and and almost certainly saved many early Australian explorers from scurvy.
Quandong fruit can be dried and frozen for 8 years or more, without losing any flavour whatsoever.
Quandong trees possess an aromatic wood that was traditionally used by aboriginal people in "smoking ceremonies".
Rural Australian children often used Quandong seeds as Chinese Checker pieces.
The President of the New York Explorers Club once imported Quandongs for one of their annual dinners - along with some Polar Ice!
To date the only Australian food plant to be successfully domesticated is the Macadamia Nut.The Macadamia Nut was successfully domesticated in Hawaii. Will the Quandong be the second domesticated food plant?
And a bit more trivia,regarding
swaggies,tuckerbags and jumbuks..
all which appear in our unofficial national anthem "Waltzing Matilda"----
For most people, the words of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ embody the free spirit, resourcefulness and defiance of authority associated with the Australian national character. The melody is memorable and spirited.
Some scholars and folklorists argue that the song is a political statement in much the same way as classic children’s nursery rhymes attacked political figures in earlier centuries. The song is not an explicit attack on the squatters’ refusal to pay shearers higher wages. However, it has been argued that the plot of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ is based on the conflict that raged between these two groups in the 1890s before the song was composed.
When Allan and Co. published the Marie Cowan version of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ in 1936, they felt it necessary to print a Glossary Of Australian Terms to explain the ‘dialect’ used by Paterson (view image).
WALTZING MATILDA The act of carrying the ‘swag’ (an alternate colloquial term is ‘humping the bluey’).
Matilda is an old Teutonic female name meaning ‘mighty battle maid’. This may have informed the use of ‘Matilda’ as a slang term to mean a de facto wife who accompanied a wanderer. In the Australian bush a man’s swag was regarded as a kind of de facto wife, hence his ‘Matilda’. (Letter to Rt. Hon. Sir Winston Churchill, KG from Harry Hastings Pearce, 19 February 1958. Harry Pearce Papers, NLA Manuscript Collection, MS2765)
BILLABONG A blind channel or meander leading out from a river.
COOLIBAH Sometimes spelled coolabah: a species of gum or eucalyptus tree.
SWAGMAN An Australian tramp, so called on account of the ‘swag’, usually a chaff bag, containing his ‘billy’, provisions and blankets.
BILLY An open topped tin can, with a wire carrying handle, used as a kettle for boiling water into which tea was thrown.
TUCKER BAG A bag for ‘tucker’ or food; part of the ‘swag’.
JUMBUCK A sheep. The term is a corruption of ‘jump up’ (Macquarie Dictionary, 3rd rev. ed. Sydney: Macquarie, 2001)
SQUATTER A grazier, or station (ranch) owner. Note that the meaning of the word changed later in the twentieth century to mean a person who occupied or resided at a property illegally.
Yesterday I received a bundle of old cards from Gina after asking if I could have some of those she was offering to new homes.
It wasn't until I actually rubbed a finger tip over this card that I realised Gina had not sent me a stitched bouquet and faggot edging.
I can feel a stitching spell coming on...........that spray of flowers should look good in a heart!
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For some reason "mrBlog" doesn't like the link I put up for you to view
"Kim in Fargo " CQ purses.
So maybe if you cut and paste the link below you might have success,that's if clicking on the blue link is still on strike!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kim_in_fargond/
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to have another look at her CQed evening bags made for herself,her sisters and her mother.
Now it's back to the real world for me as I really must go and tackle that basket of ironing.
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I had an idea of what I wanted...........dead,dying red-gums in a wetland.
A piece of quilting fabric gave me the trunks .....with some fussy cutting;
I wanted a swampy,blue-green algae effect,so I shredded some dyed silk-tops,and added some (saved) thread and fibre off-cuts;
To keep the fibres and fabric in place,I placed black tulle over the fabric and fibres;
Added the other two layers of the quilt sandwich and using black embroidery threads machined the sandwich together.I tried to accent the tree shapes with some stitching shadowing the trunk and branch outlines,as well as just swirls of fog/mist.
So you could say the result was a mish-mash of shadow quilting and solvy type thread lace..without the solvy!
And if you can "see" what I've tried to portray............
I guess that I've succeeded.
">Link Have you ever noticed how Blogs tend to go in cycles?
Several groups I'm involved with are all venturing into
Art Quilts;
Journal quilts
Fibre ATCs(Artist Trading Cards for the uninitiated) and
Postcards (again fibre, or even mixed media)
and all of a sudden I find all these wonderful sites full of eye candy and stimulation for my creativity.
SharonB over on inaminuteago refers to a posting she did January last year on using fabric postcards http://inaminuteago.com/blog/index.php as a journal because they're small and an easily portable project.
Then another of my online friends suggested looking at Postmark'dArt
to view yet more;add to that Artistic Inspirations http://artisticinspirations.blogspot.com/
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and you could spend your entire day trawling,admiring and doodling,and never put needle to fabric once!
You may have realised what I plan on doing the next couple of months........yes, mainly small stuff that hopefully I journal sufficiently to be able to refer back to at later dates
This post is for Darilyn and Tigger of Tropical Screamer &Tropical Dreamer
I always come away from my daily dose of TSTD feeling happy;but I'll never want cold pizza for breakfast D:Slices of paw-paw,mango, and stone fruit are more my style!
In the process of sorting through my (sane) quilting fabric stash yesterday,I was surprised at the number of Cat fabric FQs I've accumulated..........nearly enought to start a quilt!
And then today whilst checking out a couple of links I found a cat quilt where the cats bodies were pieced FANS.
For some reason I can't fathom mrFlickr doesn't want to communicate with MizBlog(read "me") so I include the link for you to enjoy
Eye Candy!
You want Eye Candy?Check out Pat Winter at her Home pagehttp://www.art-e-zine.co.uk/pwinter.html
and Lilla Le Vine for some CQ to die for.
Maybe,one day...........
I have enjoyed experimenting with my new set of paints!
I've found that they work well on various fabric textures and on plastic buttons
too.
Another thing I like,is that if you don't like the colour you end up with,another coat with a different colour is no problem.
This set is metallic and pearlescent colours,I think the next set will be the neopaque.
Yesterday the postie delivered a package of Lumiere paints that I've anxiously been waiting for!
I had prepared a piece of cotton fabric and stapled it to a frame and then I smothered a rectangular area with quilters basting spray
(Safety hint:this definitely needs to be done outside or in a well ventilated area!
Once I felt the adhesive was tacky enough,I started positioning bits of braid,lace and motifs in the marked area and then left it all to dry.
">Link As I commenced the FUN part today(using the paints) I realised that I need a few more textural bits added.
In the meantime,this is how it's looking and I've only used 3 colours with varying amounts of water to dilute the paint.
Incidentally the same paint has been used on the large daisy motifs as on the lace motif that's not fully coloured.
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Catherine asked how much stitching was required to keep layers together:
Not much!
The piece probably didn't even need the tulle overlay,but I wanted to try using my zipper foot to outline the beads closely,and that's why...............
I put a fairly hefty and tacky layer of basting spray on the fabric initially (next time I'll use a craft glue , and brush and dab) and I used tweezers,toothpick and rubber gloves to firmly squish the fabric confetti into the goo.
I left it to dry out for about 24 hours before I went to the next step of adding the tulle.
I'm still toying with the idea of embellishing over the quilting lines........
When is enough
ENOUGH?
Having previously "made" a fabric using Solvy and the leftovers from previous embroidery projects,I wanted to try using "confetti" as mentioned on another site to which I belong.
Maybe B and D will recognise where I'm coming from !
After choosing the fabrics to trash,I destructed them into "confetti"!
It seems quite irrational to take even small samples of fabrics and" destruct" them into minute scraps,but,there you go :
A bowl of confetti ready for the next step!
Using a piece of batting approximately 7 by 5 inches,I liberally sprayed the batting with Quilters basting spray;
(Why anyone would choose to sniff the stuff is beyond me: I did the spraying outside & still ended up with a monster headache.Next time I'll be using a bottle of craft glue)
Once the sprayed surface was fairly tacky,I positioned the confetti pieces,added a couple of sparkling buttons,some glitter threads,and waited for it to dry!
