Friday Favorites

Well, (deep subject) it looks like I did not make it into the No Holds Barred show.  This was my first attempt to get into a show that didn't have to take my entry.  It is disappointing but I am philosophical.  I submitted one piece and a proposal for second piece.  The first piece I love.  I made it for myself and now that SAQA has passed on it, I will hang it in my office.  Nothing lost there!  The second piece involved some welding that I would have been complicated to do right now.  So, now I will complete that piece this summer when I have more time and the outside weather is more agreeable.  Nothing lost there.  Life will go on. On to Friday Favorites.

You know how much I love bloggers who do all my testing for me. This week I found several.

Lynn at Fibra Artsyta tested the washability of Simply Screen textile paints and she loves them. I am still buying one of this and one of another type of paints so I am happy to have her evaluation and to see if my local art supply store has this economical brand.

And then I came across Terry Jarrard-Dimond experiments with Soft Scrub as a discharge agent.  I had never even thought of it as containing bleach.  I think I will have to add it to my repertory. Terry actually spent the next week on Soft Scrub again. These posts are week #1 and #2 of her 2009 commitment to experiment weekly.  I have started going through her old posts and have found some other "Ah HA!" posts to remember. Even more interesting, I learned how she approached her weekly experiment.  I think I will use a similar approach when I start my monthly experiments for "And then we set it on Fire"

Sue at Quilts to Dye For Blog painted some silk with Setacolor and then  Genesis and compares the effect of both types of paint. I have not heard of Genesis before, have you? Big difference in the results of the two.

Melanie Testa at Every Single Day  has committed to drawing lines every single day.  Most, if not all, of her work is on paper but I see no reason why my lines could not be drawn on fabric.  Melanie also uses a ruling or folding pen that she made.  I want to make one for myself.  It sounds like it would have a lovely mark.  I have no plans for Saturday and a November ATC exchange with a  theme of lines so perhaps I'll make my pen, draw some lines on fabric, and turn them into ATCs all on Saturday.

Enjoy your week!

Friday Favorites

 Happy Friday!  My week has been full of work on my Interpret This!  art quilt.  You have to wait till Monday to see it but I am liking it a lot!

Here is my list of blogs that I learned great stuff from during this week:

This is perhaps the best explanation/instructions I have seen for how to put a facing on a quilt rather than a more typical binding.

Chris at Dye Candy is starting a new blog specifically for art quilts.  I will let you read her description of the site but it sounds like a good site if you want to connect with other art quilt artists or those who want to buy art quilts.

Ever try to take a picture of your quilt so that it looks as gorgeous as it really is?  And how did that turn out for you?  Mine always is wonky.  Here are some instructions for how to straighten the perspective problems using Photoshop Elements.

Quilter Beth had a wonderful day of screen printing using freezer paper, glue stick resist, and  thermafax. She had problems with the thermafax screen because they did not frame it.  I agree.  Little thermafax screens seem to do well with just duct tape edges but the larger screens need more stability.  I got to burn some screens last Saturday with my SAQA group.  Here are my pictures of my feather screen print.   I know they are really hard to see--the colors of the paint are close to the color of the dye.  What was I thinking?