Creating Stencils

For most of my quilts I've used freezer paper stencils with textile paint, paintsticks or oil pastels.  Some designs I've drawn or traced then cut with a blade.  While I've become quite accurate with my cutting it takes time and is difficult to get precise small pieces.

Earlier in the year, after some research, I purchased a Silhouette Cameo.  With the combination of the Silhouette software and the magic little blade my world of cutting freezer paper has become way bigger.

For my current project I wanted to repeat the technique that I used in my quilt 'Out My Window' using freezer paper stencils with paintsticks applied over the painted background (the swirls).

'Out My Window' detail

The Silhouette Cameo uses a 12"x12" carrier mat, whatever is to be cut is 'stuck' to the mat and feeds into the machine and the design is cut.  

trimming freezer paper to fit the mat

smoothing the freezer paper to the sticky mat

  






 
After a bit of use the mat looses its stick.  To 'clean' the mat a quick way is to lay down printers tape then remove the tape - this returns some of the stickiness and removes all the stray pieces of paper or whatever else has been cut previously.



This is my first mat - still working well despite the interesting cut patterns.

Using the Silhouette software the design is created then 'sent' to the machine for cutting. I'll explain a bit more about the Silhouette software in a later post.

completed cutting

 

slightly better view of cut images

 




















The cut pieces easily peel off ready to be used ...

Another Outing

My quilt 'Knit One, Paint One'  gets another outing next week.  See here and here for previous posts about this quilt.

It is part of SAQA's 'Redirecting the Ordinary' Exhibition that will be showing at 'Quilt! Knit! Stitch!' in Portland, OR, during August 13-15. 

I was sent a jpg to use ...

The next appearance will be in France at Carrefour Europeen du Patchwork, Alsace, during September 16-19.  Now that would be a nice place to visit ...
 

Knit One, Paint One, Repeat

My quilt 'Knit One, Paint One, Repeat' has been hanging at Nancy's Stitch Studio for a few weeks now.  It is mostly the same as 'Knit One, Paint One (see here) except the colour is less blue and slightly lighter to fit the colour scheme for their new shop.

Kint One, Paint One, Repeat

In March I posted about my initial progress with the quilt (see here).  

A couple of detail pictures ...

finished quilting

back view

It takes a bit of getting used to seeing the quilt when I enter the shop.  A nice feeling and now to remember to enjoy seeing it as it is and not thinking about what I could have done differently or better. 

Places of Anzac

Places of Anzac

'Places of Anzac' is my entry for the Lest We Forget Quilt Challenge that will premier at the Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne, Australia from 16-19 April 2015.  

The 100 or so quilts will then travel to the other Craft & Quilt fairs in Australia and also Hamilton and Christchurch in September.

The quilt measures 25cm by 25cm.



 
The fabric is rust dyed and the letters are stencilled with paintsticks.  As the letters are quite small I've only used trapunto on the large letters - the ones that spell 'Anzac'.

The five places are locations on the Gallipoli Peninsula that bear some meaning to the Anzac campaign.  

K1, P1, rpt

Earlier in the year Maureen at Mystic Quilter blogged about working in a series.  I thought this was a great idea and that I could work through either Jean Wells book 'Intuitive Color & Design' or Elizabeth Barton's book 'Inspired to Design; Seven Steps to Successful Quilts'.  

So instead I've been working on a commission for a second Knit One, Paint One quilt.  

Knit One, Paint One

Same pattern just a slightly different colour.  While I'd kept my original pattern I needed to recreate the freezer paper stencil - this took longer than I remembered with the original quilt!

Adding the colour was relatively fast.  To emphasise the white 'knitted stitches' I add a layer of batting and quilt around the shapes, then trim away the batting.

Stitching the first layer of batting

Freezer paper stencils

I'm currently about half way with the stitching and trimming.  The next stage is to add another layer of batting, the backing and finally quilt it.

Quilts on show

Quilt Symposium Manawatu is currently on in Palmerston North.  I can now show my four entries - the rules stated that quilts couldn't be shown before the event.

Aqua Panels

Now Sew HSTs

Harakeke

Market Fresh

As well as the Symposium exhibitions, Aotearoa Quilters' (AQ) also has exhibitions.  The 'Growth' Challenge makes an appearance as it tours the country, so I'll see 'Increasingly Modern' again.

Increasingly Modern

Out my Window II

AQ also have a Silent Auction, I've donated 'Out My Window II'.  This is a bigger version of 'Out My Window' that was part of the 'Beneath the Southern Sky' travelling exhibition.

The purpose of the silent auction is to raise funds for AQ, while showcasing quilts from well known (!) NZ quilters.  Not sure how I managed that, maybe because I know one of the organisers!!

 




and finally AQ's Purple 12x12 challenge.  The triangles are painted iwth textile paint and the ric rac is coloured with oil pastels using freezer paper stencils.  The scooters piece is commercial fabric, quilted and trapunto-ed.

my three entries

Secret Santa

Every Christmas my stitching group make a secret santa present for one of the other members.  Each year I try and do something different and a bit me.  I have a great collection of handmade Christmas decorations. 

what I made with a tin of Whittakers chocs

what I received - checkout the beading!

 












This year my first effort was a disaster!  The more I kept going the worse it got.  So a couple of days before the Secret Santa handover I abandoned it and started something new. It had to be something achievable in a rather limited timeframe!   

I mostly followed the instructions for nesting bins here (the smallest one), adding a bit of decoration - making it a bit obvious as to who the maker was!  

One very good tip was to iron the Pellon batting to the lining and not to the front fabric.  The front is a linen mix so I wasn't confident that I'd be able get the Pellon to adhere evenly.  So if the Pellon doesn't adhere evenly or comes away, it doesn't matter as it won't really show.

 

stencil, paint and PearlEx pigments

For the pattern I used some of the elements of the lining fabric to create a freezer paper stencil.  

The paint is Pebeo Setacolor Shimmer Gold mixed with PearlEx pigments and the stitching is Madeira gold holographic thread - that just sparkles.

painted and stitched

closeup

Increasingly Modern

Aotearoa Quilters has a travelling exhibition called 'Growth', entries were due by 1 July.  My quilt 'Increasingly Modern' has been selected along with 19 other quilts.  Its first showing is at the Percy Thomson Gallery in Stratford (Taranaki).

Increasingly Modern

At first I struggled with this challenge as I couldn't get past kids growth charts!  The quilt was a bit of a last minute effort, I had been looking through some photos and came across my quilt, 'Painted Chocolate Blocks'.

Painted Chocolate Blocks

That sparked the idea of using the same technique to some how (!!) create a quilt representing growth.  I eventually decided to represent, as a graph, the growth of modern quilting.

 

I drew a diagram to work out the layout, there is even a bit of Fibonacci series in the sizing of the squares.



 
The shapes are painted using freezer paper stencils and Pebeo Textile shimmer paint - the glittery ones.

painting in progress

Then the quilting, this was a slow process.

I quilted around each painted block in a similar colour - the advantage with this is if there are any imperfections in the painted line the stitching sort of blends it out and the eye only sees (hopefully) the straightness of the stitched line.  

I mostly used my current favourite thread - Madeira Polyneon.  I've found I can't finished off the threads using the machine either with its knotting off stitch or several small stitches together.  It leaves either a noticeable blip of threads or they unravel - mainly a problem with these shiny polyester threads.

quilting and all those threads

I start by pulling the threads to the top when I start and finish each piece of quilting.  Then threading to the back and burying the threads later.  I tend to do some quilting then threading off and a bit more quilting, etc.  instead of leaving the whole lot to the end.   




As I quilt (and thread threads in) I often listen to podcasts on my iPad - one I'm following is Charlotte Scott's click here to listen.

For the white quilted area I wanted a wonky look that matched the painted squares.  While the blocks may be wonky they need to be vaguely straight.  To help with the 'straightness' I tacked horizontal lines and then quilted the squares mostly within these lines.  When I'd nearly reached the top I did check that the top row of blocks would line up with what would be the top edge of the quilt.  

angled closeup

 










The purple line is a piece of ribbon, hand stitched then machine stitched.

And somehow more purple is creeping into my work!

SAQA 2014 auction

Every year SAQA holds a benefit auction where members can donate a 12x12" quilt.  
While this year's auction doesn't start until September, the quilts can be viewed on SAQA's website (see here).  My 12x12" quilt 'Kikorangi Kowhaiwhai' appears on page 2a.

Kikorangi Kowhaiwhai

Back here I posted about how it was made and at that stage it didn't have a name.  So thanks to Ms Lottie for suggesting the name, Kikorangi is Maori for blue and Kowhaiwhai are the Maori curved patterns.









When I've completed a project I usually keep the stencils.  One advantage with using freezer paper stencils is that they can be reused.  Cutting them with a craft knife means that both images can remain intact. 

I've been able to use the opposite image to create two blocks for a friendship quilt that some friends are putting together. 

I didn't have any of the sunprinted fabric left so needed to whip some up - starting late in the afternoon wasn't the cleverest of ideas - now that we're in Autumn/Winter the sun is not so warm.  The effect of the salt was more subtle as I'd needed to let the fabric dry inside.

It'll be interesting to see how my painted blocks fit with more traditional pieced blocks.  It should be a great quilt as the quilter putting the blocks together is going to hand quilt it.  

sunprinting with salt

freezer paper stencilling with paintsticks

stencils removed

SAQA 2014 Benefit Auction

I've completed my SAQA 2014 Benefit Auction 12x12 quilt, except for a name.  Until I have a name I can't do the label ...  

untitled

I keep thinking of names but they all have 'kiwi' in them.  The US (and elsewhere) call kiwifruit 'kiwi' - this quilt is nothing like kiwifruit!

The auction starts in mid September and quilts need to be in the US by 1 June - so a little while for a name!





 
I started with a piece of sun printed fabric that had been sprinkled with rock salt.

The designs came from a couple of NZ Quilter magazines with some modification to fit in the square shape.  Again I used my current favourite technique paint sticks with a freezer paper stencil.

freezer paper stencil

Once the design was painted I used some boofy batting and stitched along the outline of the shapes.  The batting was then cut away and a layer of cotton batting added along with the backing.  

back view

The design was outlined with a Madeira metallic thread and the rest densely quilted.

front in progress

The piece was then faced.  Now back to a name ...

a bit of background

Here I posted about my quilt 'Knit one, Paint one' that is part of SAQA's 'Redirecting the Ordinary' Exhibition. 

"Redirecting the Ordinary" is about turning things around, upside down, inside out, backwards, or how even just a minuscule course correction can charge up the humdrum, turn the common into the uncommon, and make the expected unexpected.  

Some background to how the quilt has been created.

After drawing the pattern and cutting (a lot) of bits of freezer paper, the whole quilt was coloured with mostly one oil pastel and a tiny amount of the darker pastel.

freezer paper stencils on white fabric

oil pastels, stencil brush, freezer paper stencils

I no longer bother attempting to wash my stencil brushes - while some residual paint or pastel can be removed the colour mostly stays.  I now have quite a collection of brushes and tend to just match the colours.  

For some reason my local art shops have stopped selling the smaller stencil brushes so whenever I see them at quilt shows or elsewhere I stock up on a few. 

When I start a new project I usually (!) create a sample (or two).  This is where I try out colours, techniques, patterns, then later thread colour, quilting patterns.  This has helped reduce the number of abandoned efforts - unlike patchwork painting doesn't have an unpick function! 

sample

The first stage of quilting is stitching around each shape then cutting away the batting.  I use the same or similar coloured thread to the final quilting thread.  Then another layer of batting and quilt again around the shapes.  This extra layer of batting (Trapunto) gives more definition to the shapes.

I don't use washable thread, as some do for Trapunto, as I don't want water near the quilt.  Even though I've heat set the pastel I don't need any surprises such as the pastel fading.