145 – Stitched, Ironed and Ready To Return
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…
Currently Browsing: in progress
Creative Chrysalis
142 – Toxic Spill
Progress is being made on big Fear Quilt, despite interruptions mentioned previously. Anyone who has tried to keep a blog going consistently…
Creative Chrysalis
135 – Threading The Needle
Tweezers are my best friend for threading a needle! I’ve gotten so used to tweezers for holding the thread close to the…
Creative Chrysalis
133- Sewing Begins!
Thanks for your patience in awaiting an update on how the big Fear quilt is going. I switched gears from collaging fabric…
Creative Chrysalis
132 – Fun House Mirrors
I posted quite a mess of a picture a few days ago, and I wondered if anyone could guess what it was…
Creative Chrysalis
131 – Can You Guess What This Mess Is?
Have you guessed what the mess in the photo is? Doesn’t look that great now, but keep watching. I am teasing you…
Creative Chrysalis
130 – The Devil is in the Details
I’ve made graffiti artists in my fabric collage art quilt who were going to be spray painting on a mural, but now…
Creative Chrysalis
97 – Rolling Along
I have three remaining feet of drawing to trace onto muslin. I taped foam core board to the wall as a temporary…
Creative Chrysalis
96 – The Tracing Begins
A little struggle ensued between me and the 11’ long drawing, but we finally came to an agreement. The horizon line needed…
Creative Chrysalis
95 – Let Me Get This Straight…
This design wall is made of two 4’ x 8’ Styrofoam panels covered with flannel. I won’t be able to work on…
Creative Chrysalis
93 – Moving Along
My thoughtful husband put an overhead camera set-up on my studio ceiling. My work takes a long time to go together, so…
Creative Chrysalis
43 – Where will everything go?
Now that I’ve decided to do a landscape view, and have more of an amusement park look rather than a solitary funhouse,…
butterfly
13 – So much greenery
The assembled quilt has been loaded onto my A-1 longarm sewing machine. Not only will the stitching hold down the fabric collage…
butterfly
12 – Where will the butterfly land?
Before quilting, I need to play with the position of flowers (I’ve painted a smaller second one) and butterfly on the painted…
butterfly
11 – Soft as a butterfly’s wings
Added some paint to soften the edges between black border and fused color spots. I’m liking it! #butterfly #wings #fabriccollage #saqawip #fabricpainting…
butterfly
10 – Building a butterfly
Building a butterfly with fabric -the photo shows back and front. The black fabric has fusible on it, which made it easier…
butterfly
9 – The black of a butterfly
Flower painting has been put aside – now for something completely different, creating the butterfly. Hard to go to straight black after…
butterfly
8 – Oops-your background is showing
My painted flower had a transparency problem. The background was showing through, especially the trellis lines, even with a white backing applied….
butterfly
7 – Do you see a problem?
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…
butterfly
6 – Leaves and stems appear
First steps…painting a background for a new quilt using my photo for reference. I’ve maintained some areas of white by ironing on…
butterfly
5 – Making a mess is fun
“Controlled mess” is so much fun in painting! Here I’ve protected areas that I want to keep white with freezer paper templates,…
butterfly
4 – Winging it with paint
Using a black and white photocopy enlargement underneath the fabric, I’ve painted the main structures. I can wing it from here by…
butterfly
3 – Beginning the background
The background begins! #artworkinprogress #paintedquilt #saqawip #susanpolansky
butterfly
2 – A perfect background!
My photo from the summer is perfect for the background of the flower I painted in Andrea Brokenshire’s fabric painting workshop! #artstart…
butterfly
1 – What to do with a painted flower?
I made this painted flower in a workshop taught by Andrea Brokenshire. She’s a very talented quilt artist and generous teacher. Only…
India quilt
33 – Washing away the stabilizer
Going going gone – biggest section of stitching and wash away stabilizer in the bathtub. I put an envelope of netting to…
India quilt
32 – A mess of loose ends
What a mess, right? After stitching on a section of my quilt-before quilting-and before washing away the stabilizer (clear, shiny on the…
India quilt
31 – Marking outlines with pins
When I remove a section of my quilt composition to do some stitch work, I carefully mark with pins the space it…
India quilt
29 – The deadline is looming
I’m in the final stretch of making my complicated #indiaquilt for #neqmexplorations ,- it has to be finished and photographed by Aug….
India quilt
28 – Building in sections
After stitching a section and washing stabilizer away, I add it back to the rest of the quilt. #indiaquilt #fabriccollage #saqawip #neqmexplorations…
India quilt
27 – Quilt sections built from tiny pieces
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…
India quilt
26 – WashAway Stabilizer and Stitching
My version of life on the wild side: I haven’t used this kind of wash away stabilizer before, so here it goes…and…
India quilt
24 – Not the typical way of fusing
I pin up bits of fabric that I cut with a freezer paper template or by freehand guesstimating the shape, but none…
India quilt
23 – The perils of liking your work
When work becomes “precious” because you like it, it’s difficult not to get caught up in playing it safe, but that sucks…
India quilt
22 – Stitching a miniature billboard
This will be a billboard on #indiaquilt – don’t know if it’s legible, but it doesn’t need to be. (a number of…
India quilt
21 – Translation, please
I’m going to make a billboard sign with thread work. Not sure how legible the characters will come out, if it will…
India quilt
20 – Fabric auditions
Fabric auditions. Worst part about this is putting away all the ones that don’t make it! #indiaquilt #saqawip #neqmexplorations #fabriccollage #susanpolansky
India quilt
19 – The biggest character gets dressed
Time to work on one of the bigger people, but I’m still using tweezers. #indiaquilt #saqawip #neqmexplorations #jaipur #fabriccollage #susanpolansky
India quilt
18 – Woman in the green sari gets company
I showed the green sari woman getting created, but here she is in position with some company. #indiaquilt #saqawip #jaipur #neqmexplorations #susanpolansky
India quilt
17 – A Sari made without sewing
Working on the little people; saris are fun because you can sneak in an unexpected burst of color. #indiaquilt #saqawip #neqmexplorations #jaipur…
India quilt
15 – Cutting templates
Tools I use for cutting freezer paper templates for #indiaquilt A mini cutting mat is easy to move around, making it quicker…
India quilt
14 – Making some good guesses
Some fabrics might be replaced a few times, just as a painter would revise their colors, until the right balance is created….
India quilt
13 – An overwhelming moment
Beginning to put together a complicated quilt, when I am facing the actuality of the how many steps it will take for…
India quilt
12 – Freezer Paper templates
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…
India quilt
11 – Using a plumb line
#indiaquilt – full size at 30” x 50.” I use an improvised plumb line (a string with a weight on the end)…
India quilt
10 – Fabric building materials
Gathering building materials for my India quilt. On the left are printed bricks and stones, on the right are similar textures. And…
India quilt
9 – Final composition achieved!
It’s not a perfect photoshop edit, but it’s what I need to make a quilt from. I love making my own reality!…
India quilt
8 – Layers in Photoshop Elements
If you’re wondering how I’m working with photos for my India quilt… #photoshopedit #fabriccollage #neqmexplorations #susanpolansky
India quilt
7 – Bringing life into the picture
Once I created the background for my #indiaquilt I can figure out how to bring it to life, and the foreground figures…
India quilt
6 – Planning the composition
India quilt composition. So many hours in and I haven’t even started thinking about the fabric! Need to buy some “building materials.”…
India quilt
5 – Making a vertical from a horizontal
India quilt composition in progress. #photoshopedit #ilovephotoshop #artistsoninstagram #neqmexplorations #saqawip #jaipur #susanpolansky
India quilt
4 – What story do I want to tell?
Of course my India quilt will have people, and maybe a few animals (like the cattle and dogs that were everywhere.) Fantastic…
India quilt
3 – Uplifted by kites
Kites dotted the skies wherever we traveled in India. I like my quilts to have meaning, and kite flying seems so symbolic…
India quilt
2 – What do I post?
India quilt begins. I’m not sure what to post of my progress. I make lots of small changes on photoshop to create…