A Revelation

Do you remember the guy who invented the nasal strips who said that he woke up one morning and realized "outside the nose!!" was the way to go. And then there was the man who designed the needle for the sewing machine. He too dreamed about putting the eye of the needle at the other end.
Well I woke up this morning with a solution to something that I have been pondering for a long time--and it was so simple that I am mad at myself for trying to make it so difficult.


I was trying to figure out a way to incorporate some printed paper into my work. I want to add newspaper to small areas of my quilts. I want to stitch them on with black thread and lots of circles. I want a reverse applique look but I really wasn't eager to cutting small bits of fabric away. too tedious even for me.


So the solution I woke up with--not reverse applique-just plain applique!!!! DUH!!
Really, I didn't think of it until now.  I don't know what  I was thinking.

I tried it out on a little postcard this morning.  Really, I was contemplating doing reverse applique and cutting out those little circle.

I am so glad I didn't do it that way.

I can see so many possibilities with this idea. I can just do this, or I can paint a little bit on the surface of the paper before I stitch it on, or I can paint over the paper after it is stitched, and I can tear a few circles out of the paper so that the background show through more.

I am going to use this lots. Look for it in some of my next projects.

Just for the record, I am not afraid of doing a lot of stitching. Right now I am working on a log cabin series. I have made two tops and am working on the quilting. The blocks are  4 inches with lots of logs in each one. I am now quilting in the ditch around each log. Lots of stitching going on!!

Thanks for stopping by.

karenwhojustwantstosleeponit

One Thing Always Leads to Another

I am having my fibre art friends over on Thursday so I decided that we would try a little texture printing on fabric.
I made a few designs on paper and cardboard using a glue gun.

Then I wanted to seal them so that we could use them as texturizer sheets and put them through my pasta machine with paint on them to transfer paint to my fabric. I didn't have any gesso but I did have a can of house paint.

Now I am waiting for the paint to dry. I am not sure if it worked or not. The paper is sticking to the plastic work sheet. Maybe needed to use heavier cardboard or stock. I will wait until it dries a bit and check.

But in the meantime I remembered that I needed to paint this papier mache bowl that I made a long time ago and has been sitting and waiting the next step since Hallowe'en.

Well it's got at least one step further in the process. When my little friend Arianna comes next time, she will note the progress.

So when I was looking for something to set the bowl on to dry, I found the candlesticks that I had painted (badly I might add). I could set the bowl on top of the candlestick to dry.

But then, I might as well give the candlesticks another coat of white.

I think I'll stop now. It's just about time for lunch. I am putting the paint away.

Thanks for stopping by.

karenwhoalwayshasaprojectonthego