Progress on the face

I'm still not really liking the two other quilts I started last week, however, the face quilt, I am starting to like. I really was tempted to head for the store and get more fabric, but i stopped my self. I have no budget right now for fabric. So up to the studio I went to find fabric, I am really glad I didn't buy any, I would have tried to match things, to get perfect color gradiants, or certain patterns. And really, It is so much more interesting to rediscover your stash and to see what you can use the fabrics for. The blue shading on the face wasnt my first choice, but after seeing it, it really helps the eyes out. the blue shading will extend up on to the top of her head and there will be more shading on the face as it gets worked out. so stay tuned.

Finally, My new website is up.

Well, I have finally managed to get my website updated, It had been many YEARS since I updated the site. WHY so long you ask? Well, my computer crashed two years ago and took all the website information with it. I also lost the program that I use to create the site, and the program I used to upload the site. But progress has now been made, It still has a long way to go, but I will be pluging away at it over the next few weeks. So stop by and say hi!
www.kadstudio.com

Moving on up.

Well the weather is finally getting warmer, and that means that I can move my stuff and myself back up to the studio. It was way to cold in the attic to even venture up there to get fabric. I just hate having to put on a coat and hat just to look at fabric. All winter I have had my things all over the living room and library (now don't get excited, the library is a VERY small room that just happens to hold books). I get a lot more done when I work in the studio. Not for the obvious reasons that all my things are up there, but for the fact that I am easily sucked into watching TV. I have no TV in the attic. So here is a little tour.

My sewing machine is usually on this table looking out the window, also a good place to be when the attic starts to cook in the summer. My fabric is nice and neat (at least for the moment) and this is the table I sit at to paint (and try not to bump my head on the ceiling) I also spend alot of time sitting on the floor, I was able to get this nice carpet put down after I bought a new one for the living room. I keep all my magazines up here, and some of my quilting books. I also have my bottons organized on the jars and plastic containser. in the baskets on top are my glue collection, basket of things to iron on, and basket of reject quilt pieces. My small ironing board is also here, behind this shelf is the staircase heading down, you will most likely here things banging down the stairs at least once while I'm up there. I tend to knock them off the ironing board. The iron, however has a knot in the cord that hangs on hooks, so I can't sending it crashing down the stairs. And finally this is my little collection of sewing stuff. I have a crank machine, some pin cushions and two child sewing machines. I have have more sewing things in my living room, including a really neat collection of pincushion chairs. Well that is the 5 minute tour. I forgot to mention, that I am never alone when I am in the studio. There seems to be a ghost that inhabits the studio and likes to turn lights on and off, move things, and casts shadows on me when I work. I have yet to get them to finish up my binding for me. And I have a hard time getting myself to go up there after watching an episoid of Ghost Hunters!

I may have lost my mind

I swear somedays I have multiple quilting personalities. I was in the mood to start things today. (now don't get on my case about the 4 or 5 others that I started a month or so ago and STILL haven't finished... they have to age a while before they can be finished and I don't qualify them as a UFO untill at least a year has past). I was feeling a bit colorful for this first one. I'm not feeling this one yet.... The next one that i have been working on is the face of this odd woman. It is painted with fabric paints and pencils. I have plans to add newspaper (yes i said newspaper) to this and ofcourse some stitching. Again, I'm not sure where this one is going, and I hope it starts to show its self soon before it ends up in the recycle bin. Finally the last piece is one that i do like. It is still in the sketch stage, I'm working from a drawing that I did while waiting for my kids to get out of Karate class. The face is fairly large, nearly 30 inches tall. We will see where this one will go.. hopefully these three will work out and not add to my crap quota!

Discovered Gold

Many, many years ago, back when the earth was new, I was given two rolls of gold paper. It is a plastic with a very thin coating of some sort of gold like stuff. It was once used in the production of dishes. This was the stuff that added the gold edge around a plate. You can see the circle where the gold was applied to the plate. I have had this stuff kicking around forever triing to figure out what to do with it. I saw an article in an older magazine (I have 10 years worth of magazines saved in my studio) about applying gold leaf to fabric and I thought I would try the technique with my gold. So the basic technique for appling this to fabric is simple. First you need to cut out a shape or design from a paperbacked fusable web. Then iron the fusable web to the RIGHT side of what you would like to add the gold too. When fused to the fabric, remove the paper backing and place the gold over the exposed fusable. (in my case this would be gold side up, yellow side down). place another piece of fabric over the top (this is so the plastic coating on my gold would not adhere to the iron (ask me how i know! yipes) When the gold is adhered to the fusable, peal off and reveal the gold now on the fabric. Another warning (besides not ironing over the plastic) is to NOT iron over the gold. This will attach the gold to the bottom of your iron. I used this to add some gold to the green crosses quilt seen in an earlier post. I will post the finished quilt when it gets done.