Well, Here I am. A year ago, I thought I was finished. With art. With people. With joy. My 25 year old son, Zachary, made…
A lot of free-motion stitching has been done using my mid-arm Handi-Quilter Sweet 16 machine. I’ve put in the details, like smoke rising from the…
Progress is being made on big Fear Quilt, despite interruptions mentioned previously. Anyone who has tried to keep a blog going consistently runs into the…
Tweezers are my best friend for threading a needle! I’ve gotten so used to tweezers for holding the thread close to the end to guide…
Thanks for your patience in awaiting an update on how the big Fear quilt is going. I switched gears from collaging fabric pieces together to…
I posted quite a mess of a picture a few days ago, and I wondered if anyone could guess what it was to become. Sometimes…
Have you guessed what the mess in the photo is? Doesn’t look that great now, but keep watching. I am teasing you a bit, but…
I’ve made graffiti artists in my fabric collage art quilt who were going to be spray painting on a mural, but now I’ve created a…
I have three remaining feet of drawing to trace onto muslin. I taped foam core board to the wall as a temporary extension, using bits…
A little struggle ensued between me and the 11’ long drawing, but we finally came to an agreement. The horizon line needed to be positioned…
This design wall is made of two 4’ x 8’ Styrofoam panels covered with flannel. I won’t be able to work on the whole quilt…
My thoughtful husband put an overhead camera set-up on my studio ceiling. My work takes a long time to go together, so it’s really fun…
Now that I’ve decided to do a landscape view, and have more of an amusement park look rather than a solitary funhouse, I have to…
The assembled quilt has been loaded onto my A-1 longarm sewing machine. Not only will the stitching hold down the fabric collage elements, but it…
Before quilting, I need to play with the position of flowers (I’ve painted a smaller second one) and butterfly on the painted background. #flowersandbutterflies #fabricpainting…
Added some paint to soften the edges between black border and fused color spots. I’m liking it! #butterfly #wings #fabriccollage #saqawip #fabricpainting #realism #susanpolansky
Building a butterfly with fabric -the photo shows back and front. The black fabric has fusible on it, which made it easier to cut out…
Flower painting has been put aside – now for something completely different, creating the butterfly. Hard to go to straight black after working with bright…
My painted flower had a transparency problem. The background was showing through, especially the trellis lines, even with a white backing applied. So next I…
There’s a problem here-do you see it? (Painted flower from Andrea Brokenshire’s workshop and painted background from my photo reference.) #paintedfabric #paintingproblems #wip #saqawip #fabriccollage…
First steps…painting a background for a new quilt using my photo for reference. I’ve maintained some areas of white by ironing on freezer paper templates,…
“Controlled mess” is so much fun in painting! Here I’ve protected areas that I want to keep white with freezer paper templates, painted a streaky…
Using a black and white photocopy enlargement underneath the fabric, I’ve painted the main structures. I can wing it from here by referring to my…
The background begins! #artworkinprogress #paintedquilt #saqawip #susanpolansky
My photo from the summer is perfect for the background of the flower I painted in Andrea Brokenshire’s fabric painting workshop! #artstart #artoninstagram #artworkinprogress #fabricpaint…
I made this painted flower in a workshop taught by Andrea Brokenshire. She’s a very talented quilt artist and generous teacher. Only problem is the…
Going going gone – biggest section of stitching and wash away stabilizer in the bathtub. I put an envelope of netting to provide support during…
What a mess, right? After stitching on a section of my quilt-before quilting-and before washing away the stabilizer (clear, shiny on the front and white…
When I remove a section of my quilt composition to do some stitch work, I carefully mark with pins the space it needs to go…
I’m in the final stretch of making my complicated #indiaquilt for #neqmexplorations ,- it has to be finished and photographed by Aug. 1. This tiny…
After stitching a section and washing stabilizer away, I add it back to the rest of the quilt. #indiaquilt #fabriccollage #saqawip #neqmexplorations #artistsoninstagram #artquilt #susanpolansky…
A horizontal section of #indiaquilt removed to do some stitching. If you’ve been following from the beginning, you’ll remember that I didn’t trace my original…
My version of life on the wild side: I haven’t used this kind of wash away stabilizer before, so here it goes…and the result is…
I pin up bits of fabric that I cut with a freezer paper template or by freehand guesstimating the shape, but none of these pieces…
When work becomes “precious” because you like it, it’s difficult not to get caught up in playing it safe, but that sucks the fun right…
This will be a billboard on #indiaquilt – don’t know if it’s legible, but it doesn’t need to be. (a number of people kindly translated…
I’m going to make a billboard sign with thread work. Not sure how legible the characters will come out, if it will be more about…
Fabric auditions. Worst part about this is putting away all the ones that don’t make it! #indiaquilt #saqawip #neqmexplorations #fabriccollage #susanpolansky
Time to work on one of the bigger people, but I’m still using tweezers. #indiaquilt #saqawip #neqmexplorations #jaipur #fabriccollage #susanpolansky
I showed the green sari woman getting created, but here she is in position with some company. #indiaquilt #saqawip #jaipur #neqmexplorations #susanpolansky
Working on the little people; saris are fun because you can sneak in an unexpected burst of color. #indiaquilt #saqawip #neqmexplorations #jaipur #fabriccollage #susanpolansky
Tools I use for cutting freezer paper templates for #indiaquilt A mini cutting mat is easy to move around, making it quicker to cut with…
Some fabrics might be replaced a few times, just as a painter would revise their colors, until the right balance is created. For now, I…
Beginning to put together a complicated quilt, when I am facing the actuality of the how many steps it will take for completion, I can…
I’ve been cutting out lots of freezer paper templates. For my non-quilting friends, freezer paper(from the supermarket,) when ironed onto fabric, sticks and peels off…
#indiaquilt – full size at 30” x 50.” I use an improvised plumb line (a string with a weight on the end) to begin with…
Gathering building materials for my India quilt. On the left are printed bricks and stones, on the right are similar textures. And yes, I do…
It’s not a perfect photoshop edit, but it’s what I need to make a quilt from. I love making my own reality! #neqmexplorations #fabriccollage #photoshopedit…
If you’re wondering how I’m working with photos for my India quilt… #photoshopedit #fabriccollage #neqmexplorations #susanpolansky
Once I created the background for my #indiaquilt I can figure out how to bring it to life, and the foreground figures will be central…
India quilt composition. So many hours in and I haven’t even started thinking about the fabric! Need to buy some “building materials.” #neqmexplorations #saqawip #jaipur…
India quilt composition in progress. #photoshopedit #ilovephotoshop #artistsoninstagram #neqmexplorations #saqawip #jaipur #susanpolansky
Of course my India quilt will have people, and maybe a few animals (like the cattle and dogs that were everywhere.) Fantastic people watching there,…
Kites dotted the skies wherever we traveled in India. I like my quilts to have meaning, and kite flying seems so symbolic of what I…
India quilt begins. I’m not sure what to post of my progress. I make lots of small changes on photoshop to create the final composition…