Check out this drawing at Connecting Threads!

It would be great if I won this, since my birthday is the day after the drawing entry deadline, but if not, it is still great to read about this author and her exciting ideas!  Bop on over:

Connecting Threads interview with Anita Grossman-Solomon and a drawing!

Projects planned for cyanotype class

     I have been asked to teach a class on Cyanotype printing, and have tried to decide what to do! Did they just want to learn the process, or do they want a finished project? We are still planning, but I thought I would record my ideas.

     If we just learn the process, the class members can send me photos ahead of time, and I can make the films. We could then expose some fabrics and learn the Sepia Tones process. They could then use these fabric squares in any project they chose to do on their own after class.

     However, if they want a finished project – I need to come up with something. I had 2 ideas.

     First, we could print a design that would be a finished panel, that could then be cut out and completed after class.
     Thinking along the lines of the Butterfly Prayers (did you read the story about why I made the quilt?), I thought of a new item that could be used in class. What brings comfort to people who are hurting, physically or emotionally? A hug, a teddy bear, a note from a friend. Well, combine all that and you have a beautiful teddy bear, with hand written notes from friends, that they can hug when they hurt, whether they are alone or among a crowd of well wishers. Something they can cry into to, or fall asleep with. Something they can leave close at hand, for whenever they need a little comfort.
     If we just printed a teddy bear shape, that would be pretty boring. And if we had hand written prayers made into film, that would be pretty time consuming and costly, and limiting to the one bear. What we needed was something that could be used over and over again.
     So, I designed a teddy bear, that is pretty even without hand written prayers, but can be personalized easily, quickly and inexpensively as the occasion arises. The panel is designed so that it may be embellished and personalized.

     Second, since my quilt, Decade of Love, was the cause for asking me to teach the class, maybe I should design a quilt using the cyanotype process.
     Wanting to keep the costs low for the class, that would mean not buying a lot of the cyanotype fabric. But, how can you make a quilt, without a lot of fabric?
     Well, you could do as I did on the Decade of Love, use the cyanotype as only a portion of the total fabric. That would limit the cost but allow the cyanotype prints to shine in the pattern, as well as teach the process.
    I had a project bubbling in the back of my mind, for my nephew who will be leaving for Bible College this fall. I wanted to make him a quilt to let him know I am praying for him, with the same “feel” as Butterfly Prayers, but of course, I cannot give him butterflies! He is a guy! And the films for the Butterfly Prayers quilt are specific to the person it was made for, and I would have to get everyone in church to sign again (it took me about 2 months before, everyone wanted to think about what they wrote, because the lady is so precious to us all). That would not work! Besides, what if I want to do another quilt? My second nephew will go to Bible College next year. I needed something that was more generic, but with the same love and attention of Butterfly Prayers.
     So, I decided to design a quilt pattern with Cyanotype printing and use precut fabrics to add simplicity in assemblage and give it a scrappy look! Cool!
     The cyanotype fabrics would be only a small portion of the total fabric, so the cost is again limited.
     Instead of specific hand written prayers, this time I would use sketches to show we are praying for him. That way it would not be too “girly” and would be a generic that could be used for others as well.
     The company that I buy my fabric from has come out with colors (when I began doing cyanotype, the only option was white fabric that was chemically treated for the exposure). For my nephew I wanted the original blue (his favorite color) but the class may want to make a quilt for a girl – maybe the pink or orange would be nice!
     So, the quilt pattern was adapted to be for either gender, and could be made in a couple different sizes (my nephew is tall, and would need a few extra inches to cover him, more than the girls at church who are headed off to Bible College, they are really petite).
    
     I will be in the process of sewing one up soon, I am awaiting the cyanotype fabrics, and need to finish working on the sketches to be printed.

     Now, I was ready! I had two projects to offer the class! And the fact that I managed to get a personal project designed at the same time was truly a blessing from the Lord!

A closeup of 2 of my quilts at the Employee Quilt Show - Cyanotypes!

At the UNL Employee Quilt Show I had 3 quilts. One I talked about a little last time, and that was Ethan’s Diploma.

The other 2 were quilts I had made using a Cyanotype processing to print the fabrics.

I want to explain a little about the quilts first, and why they were made, so will reprint the story that hung beside them at the Employee Quilt Show.

First is Butterfly Prayers, a quilt made for a dear, dear friend.
Style Pieced cyanotype prints & cottons
Pattern Self designed
Credits Thanks to every member of Fellowship Baptist Church for writing out their prayers for this dear lady.
Size 41" X 41"

Butterfly Prayers was created for a woman I consider one of my closest friends and adopted mother. She is a widowed Pastor’s wife, a faithful servant of the Lord whose aged body is now limiting not only the service she desires to perform, but her very abilities to function in her home from day to day. Some days her body limits her ability to leave her bed, yet her spirit soars across the miles each time church services meet, and we feel her presence while missing her smiling face.

When considering making her this quilt, I wanted to remind her it was not only ME praying for her, but the entire church family. They all willing and lovingly wrote out their prayers for this dear lady who has been a testimony and blessing to us all. From the Pastor, Officers and Teachers, down to a 3 year old child who only put one hump on the M of her name, but daily, without prompting, she remembers to pray - they all wanted to be involved and show their love for this sweet, dear lady. I photographed my granddaughter Lily praying and imposed that pic onto 2 of the butterflies.

Once everyone had written out their prayers, I cut them into the shape of butterfly wings and had negative "films" made. Then the butterflies were scattered over a specially treated fabric and exposed to the sun to create the print. The quilting was done using flowers and butterflies as the stitching.

I think this is the favorite quilt that I have ever made.

This is my granddaughter, Lily, praying.See the 3 year old's signature with the one hump on her M?  That is my grandaughter, Emelia.

See how I reshaped the written prayers to fit the wings?

This poem explained my thought processes in making the quilt.  I had written this poem for my first version of the quilt (not a cyanotype), which was made for another dear friend.

The second quilt I made using the Cyanotype process is Decade of Love.
Style Pieced cottons
Pattern Inspired by Maple Islands BQ
Credits My daughter, Diana of Peters Photography, took the photos of the children. Machine quilting by Trudy Rhoads.
Size 42"W X 40"H

Decade of Love is a celebration of my daughter and her husband’s life together. While there have been many milestones in their lives – the quilt shows six special highlights – their children, who are the most blessed events in their married life. The children are the events which will touch and possibly change the world around us – as they have touched and changed me and mine. They are the events we will remember the longest, with the most emotion.

The quilt was created to tell my daughter and my son (I don’t think of him as my in-law, just as my son) how much I love the two of them, and thank the Lord daily for the help they are to me and my husband, and how we consider them our very best friends. Also, to praise them for how they are raising our grandchildren, to be responsible and caring persons.

Jaysen was 9 at the time the pic was taken,

Avianna was 8,

Isabel was 7, and is wearing MY grandmother's pill box hat with dotted netting over her face,

Lillian was 5,

Emelia was 3,

and Damon was 2.

Their beautiful faces made it a really hard decision how to quilt it – I didn’t want thread all over their faces (peanut butter and jelly or pizza sauce is more the norm!). I decided on a simple stitch along all the seams.

I will blog more later about plans I have for a Cyanotype class I will be teaching, and the patterns I have designed for the class.

Getting caught up - finally! (hopefully)

Wow, things have been crazy! First, was the UNL Employee Quilt Show. It started because someone in my office has headed up the UNL Staff Art Show for several years, and last year she was approached by a few people about including quilts. So, she talked to me, and helped me branch off from there!

Below are a few pics from the UNL Employee Quilt Show (1st annual), and a link to the write up in the UNL employee newspaper, the Scarlet!  Scarlet article

As the article says, we hung for 2 weeks at the Rotunda Gallery on city campus, then moved to the International Quilt Study Center and Museum.

Here we are at the Rotunda Gallery

If you click the last pic above, you can see a little better, that machine by the window.  I call it my Dumpster Dive, and will have to devote one entire post on that!

Here I am with my quilts at the Rotunda. Oh, and thanks to Mom and Brenda for the beautiful rose corsage to wear to our Opening Day Reception!

I will write another day about these quilts.

Here we are at the Quilt Center International Quilt Study Center & Museum

I can't seem to find a closer pic of my 2 quilts at the IQSC, see them on the left?

Oh, and while our quilts were hanging there, guess who visited, and put a pic on her blog that just happened to show our quilts hanging in the window? Quincie! Maureen Ose, Communications Coordinator, posted to the Quilt Center’s Fans page on FaceBook: You will get a chuckle out of Quilters Newsletter magazine's new mascot as she has her first tour at the IQSC. We understand she LOVED the quilts! Check it out: Quilters Newsletter Magazine, Quincies blog
By the way, do you see my Butterfly Prayers (Decade of Love is sort of in the shadows to the left)?

I have not had much chance to work on the One Couch Quilt, but it is my goal to have it done in time to include it in next year’s UNL Employee Quilt Show in March (the first show was so successful, we decided it had to be an annual thing). This year there was just a billion things to decide and do for the show, but I think next year should be a lot less stressful and quicker and easier to put together, since we have survived one year, and made lots of guidelines of how it needs done, and we found out what worked and what didn’t.

One quilt I wanted to do, to include in the UNL Employee Quilt Show this year, was one for my nephew, Ethan, for his graduation. I did finish it in time to include it in the show, and to have it hang at his reception following the graduation ceremony. Thank you, Lord!

Last year I had made three church girls quilts using clip art as the base of the design, and customizing it with their hair styles. It was a lot of fun, but didn’t look like them.

This year I based the design of Ethan’s quilt on a photo that my daughter (Diana of Peters Photography) had taken not long ago. He was leaning out the window of his car. Well, swap out the car for a diploma, add a mortar board and – waalah! Is that how you spell that (SpellCheck is completely useless in these situations, ever notice that)????

Here is the original photo, and above is the finished quilt (in the Rotunda pics). The tassle is attached afterwards, and swings freely.

Next year there are 5 seniors at church, so I have already started working on their quilts, again borrowing from photos Diana has or will be taking. It is so nice to have a professional photographer that does fantastic, unique and creative work, and is willing to allow me to adapt the photos for my quilts! Thanks, Diana, Mom loves you!

I cannot post pics of what I am working on as the seniors don’t know I am doing this for them. I will show you all later, check back in late May or so. Shhhhh – don’t tell!

How I design the quilts, is so fun, I love doing it. Hmm, maybe I should offer to make this for people as a business – would you buy one of my stained glass technique grad quilt patterns? I could sell patterns I have already made as generic quilts, and offer to custom make a pattern too!

Another technique that I love is cyanotype printing on fabric. I had 2 quilts in the UNL Employee Quilt Show that used this technique, and once that show was all done, they went to the Lincoln Quilters Guild Show (that was a solid 28 days my quilts hung).

At the show a quiltist saw my quilts, and asked if I would teach a class on cyanotype to her local quilt guild. While trying to decide what to do for the class, I contacted my fabric supplier with some questions on new products. This led to a couple emails back and forth, and I ended up showing the company (Blue Prints on Fabric) my quilts using their fabrics, and was asked if I would allow my quilts on their web site, and they would be happy to link to MY web site (which all I have is this blog, so that is why I am catching it up to date).

For the class, I am thinking of making a pattern that we can print to learn the technique, then the printed fabric can be used to make a final project. I have already started on the pattern, and think it will be great fun! The finished print will create sort of a fabric panel, with pieces to cut out and reassemble to create the final project (hint: stuffed animal). It will be customizable by the quilter.

This got me thinking of people who would not have the means to print their own, or someone who is afraid to
try it. Maybe I should print some fabric, and sell it as a panel? Hmmm.

And while working on this first pattern for the class, I came up with a quilt top pattern that will utilize the cyanotype technique but also be a pattern that others can use, who do not want the cyanotype (but, gracious, why not use the funniest technique around???). I will let you in on a secret, the name of this quilt top is a child’s favorite lunch!

More to come later when the pattern is done and ready to sell!

Well, this is quite a lot for one day. I best get busy making my patterns, so I will be ready when all the orders start rolling in, huh? Ha, ha.

Let’s see, that was several grad quilts-cutomized for each grad, a stuffed animal to print and sew, and a quilt top that will make kids drool when the hear the name, and pre-printed cyanotype fabrics……………. Wow, back to work, indeed! Have a great day, ya’ll!

There is so much going on!

It has been forever since I have posted, and I would love to tell you exactly why, but unfortunately, since ALL THAT is still going on, I don't have time today. But, I promise to get back to you soon!