Ending the year in a sew sew mood

Once again, a little Christmas spirit arrived in the mail.  I am always cheered  when I open the envelope containing an ornament from  Kathy Loomis.  This year it was no different.   I am always in awe of her creativity.  Every year she comes up with something really neat.  I am glad she described how she made the one she sent this year because I was studying it to see if I could figure out what she use and how she constructed it. 

I no longer go through the motions of decorating for the season. My Christmas cactus is in full bloom and I brought three small  pots of Red Poinsettias that I grouped together on the table behind the love seat.  That was it. 

With no little people around who are waiting for Santa it just isn't the same.  But the ornaments are not just a things for a season.  Rather they have  a permanent place in my art space and decorate my places all year.  This one will hang from one of the thread guilds on my Janome.  Last year's hangs from a similar guide on the HQ16. 

Wishing everyone a joyful and creative New Year

Piecing: a new path

It's not that I have forgotten how to piece, it just that it's been so long since piecing was how I created so a few days of practice was what I did.
I practiced piecing curves and making intersections meet and achieving accurate 1/4 seam allowances and a few other techniques.  I've had to relearn my sewing machine too.  For some time all the Janome  was  used for was sewing on facings and making sleeves.

As I was designing and thinking of colors and fabrics for the  compositions, I realized that not many of the pieces of fabric I had in the house matched what I was seeing I'm in my head.    I picked these out because that sort of fit.

And there I was thinking the last time I posted that I would work with what I had on hand.  HAH!!!   Truth was, the fabrics I had on hand was purchased mainly to be used as backs for the work I painted.

So off I went yesterday to buy fabric that works with my vision.  All I brought was Kona solids. 

 I had to raise a table to cutting height for comfort. 

Had one 1 yard bold of Kona PFD in the house so I spent some time in the garage dyeing some colors to go with the Kona colors I purchased yesterday.  I am also waiting from some I ordered online to arrive as well.  Looks like I am back to building a fabric stash again.

I roll out of bed now, ready to go to the studio instead of to the treadmill first thing.

Don't fear, I am still walking religiously.  Just doing it either before lunch or at the end of the day an hour after supper.

Will let you see what's on the design wall when it is more than a vision in my head.

Update on my return to piecing.

I am doodling my ideas, and plotting them out on 4 squares to 1inch  graph paper.  I have several ideas  that look promising and one old idea I'd like to revisit. 
I am finding it hard not to see flowers when I doodle or draw circles.  I am going to stop fighting that and see where I go.

Since I am still  in the early planning stage for one of the compositions I want to make, I did decide to  work with the fabric I have on hand and supplement them with some new purchases as needed. 

I smiled thinking there was once a time when I was in the running to win the "who ever dies with the most fabric wins" competition.  Today that is no longer the case.  Here are some of the fabrics  in my small stash that are speaking to me.  This collection represent about one third of what I have on hand. 

Good thing I have two well stocked quilt/fabric stores.  Both depending on traffic are about 15 minutes away.  My first choice is The Sewing Studio which stocks more than just quilters cottons.  I think I've said before that they remind me of a mini Baer Fabrics (that's a reference that Louisville and Southern Indiana sewers understand)  and The Bernina Store in Lake Mary which is more of a traditional shop for quilters is. 

I know if I continue on this piecing path  I will have to get back to dyeing fabric and beefing up my stash with commercial prints that play well with the hand dyes.  But for now, as I said I am using what I got.

When I was about to get started on one of my ideas a light bulb went on and I had one of those slap to the forehead moments that brought my momentum to a screeching halt.  I had gotten way ahead of  myself when I put that 48" x 80" piece of freezer paper up on my design wall.

You see I am a planner and a plotter.   When piecing I work from full size freezer paper cartons/ patterns.  I do not have, not one,  free wheeling improvisational bone in my body.  So in returning to my piecing style I was missing a step.  What I forgot was; in order to go from scaled drawing on 4 squares to 1inch  graph paper to a full size drawing I needed   48" wide alpha numeric paper and sadly I have none in my house. 

Through an Internet search I found several sources for the paper.     I ordered some.  The shipping notice said it should be here by FedEx in 2-3 days.  Yeah! Years ago back in 1988 or 89 I ordered 4 or 500  feet of the stuff, but for now,  until I know for sure this is my new path,  I ordered  1/4 0f that amount.  

I've been away so long

mainly because I had lost my enthusiasm or muse if you will was taking a long very long vacation from which I could not coax it or her back from.  I have not made anything new for,,, I can't remember.  But about five  days ago at the back of my mind came this urging that got stronger and stronger until two days ago I got up wanting to do something new. 

So I looked through all of my flower photos and back through all of my past works.  I looked through some of my sketch books too.  To my surprise what got me wanting to get my hands on fabric again was some early 2000 quilted works I had pieced with joy back before I moved to Florida, back when npt sp simple piecing was what I loved doing, back before when selling my work was not top most in my mind and back before when I created works in series for solo exhibits was my  priority.

I have for some months been mulling over whether I want to continue being a vendor at local quilt shows.  I have decided that after March 2017 I will stop.  I have also decided that I will no longer get on a plane to go teach, but I am still open to teaching in Florida.  My last trip is scheduled for NY in March 2017.

That settled, I plan to work on projects for my own satisfaction.  They may or may not be ones that I will enter in national quilt show competition.  I know I will not work to a theme just to entry.  Rather I will create what I want and if it fits I will submit it for consideration to shows like AQS, or the Mancuso's or possibly if I think what I am doing warrants consideration, I will enter  Visions or Quilt National or several other art quilt venues. 

So thinking all that I said to myself, "Juanita, if you are going to be doing a lot of piecing again, you need to reconfigure your work spaceyou can get to the  design wall.  Done.

My way of working on a pieced design is to  doodle  my idea on a piece of paper and refining it on 1/4" grid graph paper. From that refined drawing  I scale it up on freezer paper.  The freezer paper line drawing becomes my pattern or templates.

By style, most of what I have done since 2009 has been whole cloth painted works and of late most of those have been rather small ( 20" x 30" or less) .  But now, what I am  thinking and planning to do will be large. 

Its been some years since I have worked large do long that to my surprise I was shocked when I began to pull off  2 lengths of 24 wide freezer paper to made my 48" x 96" full size cartoon for this idea I have.  I also under estimated the lengths and had to add 18 more inches.

I won't say that  when I left my works space last evening that I was overwhelmed at the prospect of making something that large again but I was,  shall I say,  I was second guessing my decision to jump back into working by starting with this large a piece.

But I must say that for the first time in months I bounced out of bed thinking I got to hurry up and  get dressed and what can I fix for breakfast that is quick.  I can't wait to get to work.  Fabric!

 I like the fractured random pieced  technique I used for this piece back in the 1990's.  

  I liked piecing this one too and working primarily with my own hand dyes.  If this is the way I find myself wanting to go, here in Florida, I am looking at least 5 maybe 6 months of being able to dye fabric in the garage without suffering from over heating.

 Another pieced work where both the hand dyes I love and the commercial fabrics played a big role.

 And another one using circles, a favorite design element. 

To give you a hint of what I am thinking,   I am seeing circles and other things, but not flowers for now. 

I am hoping this is the beginning of me getting back to my life as a quilt maker.

Summer of the good read and a few movies

I am  going to blame my 6 plus weeks of not being very productive in my studio this Summer on Barnes and Nobles.  You see they sent me a coupon for almost $90 because of some settlement involving me buying books for my Nook.  I like nook books.  Saves me having to do something with the piles that result when I read paper printed ones. 
I let Olivia spend about half of the credits to get a few books or what ever before she left for home and I went to BN to redeem the rest one day when I couldn't think of anything more exciting to do.
It  has been a long, really long time  since I have done nothing but sit and read and sip iced tea.
Ahhh!
 
I am still walking on my treadmill everyday.  My goal was 3 miles in an hour when I started.  Haven't quite gotten to that point yet, however  I am doing 1-1/4 miles in 31  minutes twice a day. Which I find is better than walking for an hour straight.  Soooo boring.  I did that once upon a time when I had to get in the car and drive five miles or so to do it.  Back then, when I lived in Missouri walking for an hour didn't seem so boring.  Back then I could look at other people huffing and puffing and sweating like me, but  here alone with nothing going on outside my window or on the television I get so bored just putting one foot in front of the other so I tell myself to just walk as fast and as far  as you can for 30 minutes.  So that is what I do.  With the treadmill down the hall from the bedroom, it's no problem to come back and do 30 minutes later in the day telling myself once again to just walk for 30 minutes as fast and as far as you can.   

Back at the start of  Spring I missed the deadline to apply to be a vendor at the well attended 2016 Quiltfest Quilt Show in Jacksonville, FL I chose not to be a part of the show in 2015 even though  I did very well there in 2014.   Since I missed the deadline, I'd put it out of my mind.  But then two weeks ago a vendor friend who did not want to use all three of the booths she had  paid for asked if I wanted to use part of her space and after doing an inventor check  I said yes.  So anyone who is planning to go to the  Jacksonville show, September 15-17  look for me. I will be in booth 701 listed in the program under Birds Nest Quilt Shop.  I will have a 10 foot space on one end or the other of her space. 

Happy Fourth

     I passed on getting on a plane to go to Vegas for the Fourth. Too hot.  Orlando is hot enough for me thank you very much.  I've done Vegas before but Olivia, the grand-daughter, hasn't and she through she'd like to see it so off to the airport she, Rene and Justin went this morning.  I will be a one backpack trip kind of trips.  They will be back on Wednesday.   Below is a picture of Olivia and my youngest great grand daughter Ni-yah for short pronounced with a long I.  Ni-yah lives in Detroit, she is almost three years old.  She was here with her Mom for a few days a week or so ago.   

     Nothing exciting around here to report on.  Just the same old same old.  I am waiting for the cable guy to come.  I was surprised that they would make house calls on a holiday.  I am still finding pretty flowers for inspiration.  I spied the pinks ones blooming near the road by a mailbox in a neighborhood I ventured into on Friday because of an "Estate Sale" sign. 
     My friend Lois picked up a few small things.  Not me.  There was nothing there that spoke to me in the well organized rooms of stuff.

 

    The ugly buzzard like birds that make their home in the green space behind my condo must have had babies this spring.  I say two smaller versions of them sitting on the fence but I didn't bother to take a picture.  But when I began seeing flits of red in the trees back there I tried to capture what were Cardinals.  There were two of them.  Babies too.  Here's one.  had to use the zoom feature on my camera to get this.   Too quickly they were gone.

     The treadmill and I are bonding.  They say it take twenty-one days of doing something for it to become a habit.  It feels pretty close to being just that although I have a few more days left  to go to reach that three week mark. 

The flowers in my little garden

were in full bloom this morning.  What a great sight that greeted me when I pulled the blinds to open them on the slider today.  Couldn't stop myself from grabbing my camera and stepping outside to what was a very humid day to snap some pictures.  I love these but they are far to complex to paint and quilt although I'd really like to give it a try.  Will let you see if I am at all successful in doing them justice.

Finished hand stitching down the facing on the two pieces I showed you a couple of days ago.  I upgraded to Windows 10 again.  Now that I have time to fool with it if it gives me grief I am giving it one more change to not frustrate me. 

The one thing that got me last time was I couldn't upload my pictures to this blog.  But as you can see that is not the issue now.

The large box in the garage went out for waste removal so now I can back the car out and hang yardage of silk broadcloth in the garage to dry.  Soy milk in refrigerator is waiting. 

Quilting is done

Yesterday I blocked and trimmed it down to size before I stopped for the day.  Today I will sew the binding on this piece and the last one so I will have some hand work to do while I sit and chat tomorrow when the Friday ladies meet. 

There have been a few things in my life that I have wanted to kick myself for buying, but my treadmill is not on that list.  I really like the idea of rolling out of bed and into my walking shoes to go for a walk in my nightgown.  I must confess that I am a MSNBC political junkie.  So I watch Morning Joe while I walk. 

The treadmill is in front of the window so I can watch my neighbors drive by on their way to work and I smile thankfully to myself.  So glad my days of getting up, dressed and out the door to work are long ago over. 

On this Sunday

the news that greeted me this morning when I turned on the television to keep me company while I walked on the treadmill was bad, so sad and as the morning went on it got worse.  103 people shot, 50 died.    
     I normally don't work in my Studio on Sundays, not that I consider making art laboring, it's just that I figure I could do something else, like see a movie or read a book.  My mind wouldn't entertain either one of those activities so I did what brings me peace.  I painted.

Just finished

quilting and adding the acrylic center details of this small piece (15" x 20").  Still needs facing and sleeve.    I painted this while I was in Virginia at the Girl Friends Retreat.  For the last few days I have been going through my collection of flower photos looking for my next project.  I have selected a few that I have to enlarge  to full size.   

       I looked through my soy soaked silk stash and found I don't have a piece that fits the size I have in my head to do.  I made a batch of soy milk, tore off a length of silk to soak.   I was going to but didn't put the silk in the basin to  soak and  hang it in the garage to dry, because it started to rain and I didn't want to dodge the rain drops after I backed the car out. 

  But more importantly I'm not all that upset about the rain because I forgot I have a rather large box in my garage and a wooden pallet that is in the way of the clothesline that is stretched across the width of the garage. I can't get to the clothes line if I wanted to, at least not most of it.  Might be a few more days before I can, at least Monday and if all goes worse, Thursday.  The next two times the  trash man comes.    

.

     The full story of the large box is,  a treadmill was delivered last Thursday and brought into the garage with an motorized  hand  dolly . Rene and  Steve, my very tall, strong  and 30  something y/o neighbor managed to get it into unpacked and into the house last Saturday.  I decided to put it into the front bedroom that I am using for painting and studio supply storage. Thought it would be nice to look out at the street as I walk each morning.  I am determined to walk myself back to the fitness level I had when I first moved here and walked a minimum of three miles each day first thing each morning.

 

      Rene, my daughter who  is quite handy began putting it together and Justin the grandson came to finish the job on Sunday evening.  But once he did, it did not work.  I called the manufacture, left a message about my issue  and they determined when they called me back on Monday morning that I needed a new part.  That part arrived today.  Not sure when the service tech, they promised would call me and come to install what looks to me like a Motherboard, will do that.  Waiting for the call.  In the meantime, I'll work on enlarging some images and maybe work on something smaller.

My Etsy shop is open.

     Yesterday I had an enjoyable day was with the group of ladies who gather on Fridays to chat, eat and do hand work of some kind; knitting, embroidery, crochet, sewn down bindings hand piece or applique.  You get the idea.  We do our own thing.  I took my little box of Hexies I've been working on for years to keep my fingers busy.  If this becomes anything, it will require me working on it for many more years.

     One of the ladies reported that she had just sold a quilt from her Etsy shop and we were all happy about the amount she sold it far.  I hadn't considered Etsy as a place where I would consider placing my work for sale.  But her report gave me pause and I decided to open a Etsy Shop to sell my quilts instead of opening a store through my website which I had considered doing.


     Working with their site was easy, really easy.   So far,  I've got about 17-18 items on the site.  I am planning to add others as well as kits and patterns and some supplies, at least the stuff that my student ask, " Where can I get that?". 


     Nothing ventured, nothing gained I say, so I will see how this goes.  Self promoting is key to selling I know.  So I began by putting my Etsy Shop on my blog.
It was easy to do that.  The Etsy site walks you through it.  Ta-da!  Now I need to see if I can link the Etsy shop as easily to my website "contact me" page. 


     I finally  got the last quilting done on the piece that has been on the HQ16 for months.  Blocked it, trimmed the excess, but have not trued the sides and corners yet.  Depending if it will cool enough to use the raised tables in the garage on Sunday or Monday, I will get  around to doing that.  But more than likely I will get this piece sandwiched and quilted instead.  It measures only 15" x 20" .  I painted while I was in Virginia at the Girl Friends Retreat.

     Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend and Holiday.  Honor all who have served.
And be careful if you are on the roads or in the skies traveling.

I've had the creative dahs

since I returned from a very enjoyable week at the beach in Virginia. It's been a while since I have had this feeling of wondering in the desert without knowing where I was going or in what direction to turn.  I am still working on this piece that has been under the needle for months. 

I think I spoke of getting rid of my website, but changed my mind and updated it instead.  I left out a listing of the workshops I teach because I have not fully made up my mind about if I want to continue doing so, although I do know for sure that I don't like getting on planes  to do so.  I still have one commitment in the Spring of 2017 to do.
     Because I have been stumbling around mentally and creatively, I thought I needed to get back to basics.  Long years ago I did the 12 weeks as set out in the Artist Way and for a long time after I began each day with Morning pages and I did Artist Dates but not once a week as advised.  I have slowly over the last few years gotten out of the habit of doing both.  So today I decided that I would begin again.  I also decided to re-read the book.  One chapter per week.  12 weeks and hopefully a change or a clearer artistic direction.
     I also determined that I like sitting in my front room, the one that faces the street to do my Morning pages  It is a nice bright room and I do love the sunshine. 

  I can see the side garden of my across the street neighbor.

     Because I am a fan of Jane Dunnewold I decided to order her newest book.  It came today and I am in a state of joy.  I think it will be a good partner for the Artist Way and how I am trying to deal with my creativity draught. Cab not wait to sit down with a cup of tea  after dinner and begin reading it.  Let's hope there is some insight I can garnish from her words. 

     Another  nice surprise came in the mail today.  It was a package that contained 2 yards of fabric.  There was no explanation in the package for why I got it, but I have a feeling it was sent by a fellow quilt artist who I gave some advise  to about a project she was working on  a couple of weeks ago.  She had a length of this fabric with her and I commented that I liked the pattern, or rather I like all the circles and had thought about buying some for myself  when I saw it in a booth next to mine when I was vending in Venice Beach earlier in the year.  Not knowing then what I would do with it I stopped myself from handing over the bank card. 

Having  it here in the studio, I'm still not sure what I will do with it,  Just looking at it for now is good..

Derby Day

     You can take the woman out of Kentucky but you can not take Kentucky out of her heart, especially on the first Saturday in May.    I never think of horses or the races any more.  It's been forever that I was conscious of what the name of the most favorite horse running is.  My husband was a racing fan and while I didn't bet do more than let him place a $2 bet on a horse with an interesting name for me I did  attended many races with him in Kentucky and in other States if we happened to be close to a track when we vacationed. 
     Philip read the racing form and I read a book.  One Summer day when we were at the race track in Saratoga, NY I sat in the picnic area at a bench under a tree and hand pieced some of the blocks for this double bed size quilts you see below.   This was one of my first efforts.  It is hand pieced and hand quilted, which is what most quilters did in the early 80's.

  

  

     Not sure when I did this one and can't go look on the label to see since I no longer have it.  This was hand appliqued with my hand dyes and  hand pieced border piece border and hand quilted. 

 

     This one is not for Derby, rather it commemorates  the first time the  Breeder's Cup was held in Louisville, KY.   The Breeders Cup is a fall racing event.  I think they still hold it but  it has been years since I paid any attention to horse racing as I said. 

     I was just feeling nostalgic today as I was up dating my website and came across images of these three quilt and  I let my mind wonder to the connection they have in my life.   So I thought I would share them with you all.  If you bet, I hope you have the winner. 

New directions and thoughts

   I am thinking seriously of closing my website. I had a purpose for it when I first decided to have one, but I don't anymore.  I once took time to keep it current, but I don't anymore.  And now I don't want to go back through my images of  work;  most of which has been sold nor  take time  away from creating to update something I no longer find useful. 
     What is the alternative?  I am thinking I could add pages to my blog and get the same benefit which is directing interested persons to those pages it to see what classes I offer. Or what my current work looks like.  Not that I plan to offer classes for long.   The body is getting older and 2017 will be the last year I plan to get on a plane to go teach out of the State of Florida.  I think I said that to myself in 2015 about 2016 if I remember correctly.
   I am thinking about opening an online store  mail order kits for two or three of my smaller  painted flower patterns. The kits would contained everything one needs to get started.   I got a really  good response for the kits I took to sell in Venice on a whim.  Could have sold several time over the number that I took had I only known.  Not sure what else I will have in the store but I should have it all worked out by next month.
     Last week I had an inquiry from one quilter I met at the Venice show.  She is back home in PA.  Got there in time for the snow that fell in her area last week.  I don't think she was too pleased about that.  She said she wanted a kit at the show but I was sold out and wanted to know if I would make up a kit for her.  "Sure",  I said.   The shipping and handling is costing her just a little more than if she had gotten the kit  at the show and paid the Florida sales tax.

Since I was in the process of making kits for a class I will be teaching in Virginia in a week or so, it was no added effort on my part short of me driving to the Post Office this morning.
     Still working on the piece that has been under the needle for what seems like forever.  I am better at starting something, sticking to it tell it is done.  This piece has had too many interruptions.  I am planning to get it done before I leave on the 16th.  Take it with me and do the facing and sleeves while I am away, Maybe.  The maybe was about the sleeves not the facing.

Do you have a catch all bin for threads and stuff  that doesn't get replaced until a project is finished. 

 I do

My love hate relationship with my computer

was in full force last week, right before I was about to leave for Venice, FL and the quilt show I was vending at.  The first one this year.  I like the small city of Venice, especially the "on island" portion of it that you reach by driving across a really short bridge.
     I dropped my CPU off at Stables on my way out of town.  It was acting like it had a virus.  When I checked to see if the virus program I had purchased was even installed and it wasn't.  Needles to say I was NOT happy.  Sure enough it hadn't been so they de bugged the CPU and installed the software that I paid for along with two years of tech services. 
     Then after I got it home and was going to blog about my trip to Venice, I could get to my blog.  Not even sure how I did it this morning.  Just let me say, it wasn't how I have done it for all the past times/years. 
     There is usually a guild show somewhere in Central/south Florida every weekend beginning in January and lasting to maybe the middle of April.  Because this was the first one for the year that I have attended I can't be entirely sure my observation is accurate, but I am going to put my thoughts out there anyway.
     Two, no three things have happened in Florida in the last several months that is changing the outlook and profitability  long range  for small guild shows.  First, the Mancuso show moved to Orlando from West Palm where it steadily decreased in show floor size mainly because of poor attendance. I did that show as a vendor once and swore I'd never do it again.  The attendance was terrible.  When they opted to move to Orlando their  dates collide with an established guild here in  Central Florida which prompted them to cancel their show instead of competing with a more professionally staged one. 
The second thing is a AQS show was held in Dayton Beach this year for the first time.  AQS always puts on a quality show.  More competition for quilt guilds.  And lastly the Sewing & Quilting Expo overlapped the show in Venice and according to the guild show chair she felt that caused their attendance to drop.  Since this was my first time there and I was steady busy, not sure how I could have handled  being much busier by myself so they must have  in the past had a tremendous gate.
    I passed on both the Mancuso and AQS show even though I could have done both and driven to and from each day and slept in my own bed. 
    I like small guild shows. I get to see different parts of the State that I wouldn't get in my car and drive to alone, just to be going.  The cost of a  vendor space is reasonable and doesn't  dent the bank account even if I have a couple of not so good selling days, like this past weekend.  But I had fun.
I talked to a lost of quilters.  I passed out a lot of peppermints and my business card (post cards with contact info on the back)  At quilt show is where I get most of my teaching engagements in  other parts of the country.  I even had an inquiry about coming to Canada and another inquiry about being an artist in residence for a private school which was something I did in Kentucky back  in the 1990 for two weeks.  hmmm not sure if I want to do that again. :)
    

My cactus finally stopped blooming a week ago, so no blooms for Easter.  But 10 of the 12 battery powered candles from Christmas are still flickering. 

I am still taking pictures of the sky on days I am in the studio.  While at the market the other day  I brought myself some flowers for Easter.

And because I miss Tulips I brought these too

Happy Easter everyone.

 

Not quite a tutorial

just showing one of my former student ( Claudia)  a way she can finish her painted quilts since she hates doing facings and sleeves as much as I do.  Of course for this to work, you have to begin the piece knowing what size stretched canvas is  available. 
So I started this piece knowing I had a 11 x 14 inch stretched canvas in the house.  I also had several larger ones but opted for the 11 x 14

 


 

Using my favorite no thinking flower which is more like a doodle to me I painted this quickly to test my approach to finishing a small fiber art piece.

 I started with a piece of silk that was 15 x 19.  I layered it with a piece of 35% wool x 65% wool, leaving out the first layer of Warm and Natural that I normally use with the felt layer and backing fabric. The felt layer was cut about 11-1/2" x 14-1/2".  I also used a piece of heavy weight Pellon (R)leave in interfacing as the backing.  That was cut to the exact size of the canvas  11x 14.
I quilted the piece and was surprised that the shrinkage from quilting was negligible.   I guess due to the interfacing.  The piece was pretty flat,  no blocking was needed so I just dry pressed it to remove the Pilot   Frixion pen marks  I use this pen to draw on the silk with.  .
I trimmed the piece down to measure 1-1/2 inches larger than the 11 x 14 piece of interfacing all around

I used a generous application of Aleen's Fabric Fusion  clear glue and pinned the silk in place until it dried with  t-pins, ball head pins and  mostly tacks.   The variety was because I didn't have enough tacks and only a few t-pins, but the wood is soft enough that they all worked well.  I let it dry over night

This what the 11 x 14 stretched canvas looked like and below what the other one looks like on the back side

When the glued down in place silk edges were dry I cut a piece of interfacing 1/2 inch shorter length and width and used the same glue and glued it in place to cover the opened back a metal hanger can be added

I put a heavy book on the back to weight it down until the felt dusk cover dried

 

 

 

Time wise it was longer due to the glue I used needing to dry so maybe another kind of glue would speed it up some.  Or a stable gun if you had another pair of hands to help would be faster.

At least there was no needle, thread or sewing involved in finishing the edge of a piece and you are only limited by the size of the stretched canvas you want to buy.  I think to if I did a large piece, I would apply some archival glue to the front of  canvas that would secure the back of the quilt to it before pulling the excess to the back to prevent sagging. I hope that made sense.

 

Laura, I was quilting that piece without a backing testing out a way to finish a quilt without a facing and for a way to add a sleeve without having to do any hand work.  I worked it out, but did not like the way the edges looked.  That's why I tried one more approach, todays blog post,

Normally my quilts have four layers,

the top

the batting (warm and natural)

the felt 35% wool/65%rayon

and backing fabric (usually something cheerful and totally unrelated to the front.