Currently Browsing: in progress

detail of stitches holding fabric collage together
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Creative Chrysalis

145 – Stitched, Ironed and Ready To Return

September 10, 2022

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…

art quilt with believable imagery
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Creative Chrysalis

142 – Toxic Spill

August 4, 2022

Progress is being made on big Fear Quilt, despite interruptions mentioned previously. Anyone who has tried to keep a blog going consistently…

photo shows detail sewing in progress
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Creative Chrysalis

135 – Threading The Needle

December 30, 2021

Tweezers are my best friend for threading a needle! I’ve gotten so used to tweezers for holding the thread close to the…

fabric collage removed from design wall
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Creative Chrysalis

133- Sewing Begins!

December 6, 2021

Thanks for your patience in awaiting an update on how the big Fear quilt is going. I switched gears from collaging fabric…

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Creative Chrysalis

132 – Fun House Mirrors

October 28, 2021

I posted quite a mess of a picture a few days ago, and I wondered if anyone could guess what it was…

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Creative Chrysalis

131 – Can You Guess What This Mess Is?

October 25, 2021

Have you guessed what the mess in the photo is? Doesn’t look that great now, but keep watching. I am teasing you…

fabric collage in progress
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Creative Chrysalis

130 – The Devil is in the Details

October 5, 2021

I’ve made graffiti artists in my fabric collage art quilt who were going to be spray painting on a mural, but now…

quilt studio design wall with drawing traced onto fabric
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Creative Chrysalis

97 – Rolling Along

January 16, 2021

I have three remaining feet of drawing to trace onto muslin. I taped foam core board to the wall as a temporary…

art studio design wall showing work in progress
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Creative Chrysalis

96 – The Tracing Begins

January 15, 2021

A little struggle ensued between me and the 11’ long drawing, but we finally came to an agreement. The horizon line needed…

Artist Susan Polansky using a laser level in the art studio
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Creative Chrysalis

95 – Let Me Get This Straight…

January 12, 2021

This design wall is made of two 4’ x 8’ Styrofoam panels covered with flannel. I won’t be able to work on…

animated .gif of art quilt in progress
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Creative Chrysalis

93 – Moving Along

January 4, 2021

My thoughtful husband put an overhead camera set-up on my studio ceiling. My work takes a long time to go together, so…

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Creative Chrysalis

43 – Where will everything go?

June 10, 2020

Now that I’ve decided to do a landscape view, and have more of an amusement park look rather than a solitary funhouse,…

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butterfly

13 – So much greenery

January 11, 2019

The assembled quilt has been loaded onto my A-1 longarm sewing machine. Not only will the stitching hold down the fabric collage…

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butterfly

12 – Where will the butterfly land?

January 7, 2019

Before quilting, I need to play with the position of flowers (I’ve painted a smaller second one) and butterfly on the painted…

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butterfly

11 – Soft as a butterfly’s wings

January 2, 2019

Added some paint to soften the edges between black border and fused color spots. I’m liking it! #butterfly #wings #fabriccollage #saqawip #fabricpainting…

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butterfly

10 – Building a butterfly

December 20, 2018

Building a butterfly with fabric -the photo shows back and front. The black fabric has fusible on it, which made it easier…

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butterfly

9 – The black of a butterfly

December 16, 2018

Flower painting has been put aside – now for something completely different, creating the butterfly. Hard to go to straight black after…

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butterfly

8 – Oops-your background is showing

December 14, 2018

My painted flower had a transparency problem. The background was showing through, especially the trellis lines, even with a white backing applied….

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butterfly

7 – Do you see a problem?

December 13, 2018

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…

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butterfly

6 – Leaves and stems appear

December 4, 2018

First steps…painting a background for a new quilt using my photo for reference. I’ve maintained some areas of white by ironing on…

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butterfly

5 – Making a mess is fun

November 28, 2018

“Controlled mess” is so much fun in painting! Here I’ve protected areas that I want to keep white with freezer paper templates,…

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butterfly

4 – Winging it with paint

November 25, 2018

Using a black and white photocopy enlargement underneath the fabric, I’ve painted the main structures. I can wing it from here by…

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butterfly

3 – Beginning the background

November 19, 2018

The background begins! #artworkinprogress #paintedquilt #saqawip #susanpolansky

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butterfly

2 – A perfect background!

November 16, 2018

My photo from the summer is perfect for the background of the flower I painted in Andrea Brokenshire’s fabric painting workshop! #artstart…

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butterfly

1 – What to do with a painted flower?

November 14, 2018

I made this painted flower in a workshop taught by Andrea Brokenshire. She’s a very talented quilt artist and generous teacher. Only…

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India quilt

33 – Washing away the stabilizer

July 27, 2018

Going going gone – biggest section of stitching and wash away stabilizer in the bathtub. I put an envelope of netting to…

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India quilt

32 – A mess of loose ends

July 22, 2018

What a mess, right? After stitching on a section of my quilt-before quilting-and before washing away the stabilizer (clear, shiny on the…

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India quilt

31 – Marking outlines with pins

July 19, 2018

When I remove a section of my quilt composition to do some stitch work, I carefully mark with pins the space it…

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India quilt

29 – The deadline is looming

July 15, 2018

I’m in the final stretch of making my complicated #indiaquilt for #neqmexplorations ,- it has to be finished and photographed by Aug….

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India quilt

28 – Building in sections

June 25, 2018

After stitching a section and washing stabilizer away, I add it back to the rest of the quilt. #indiaquilt #fabriccollage #saqawip #neqmexplorations…

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India quilt

27 – Quilt sections built from tiny pieces

June 23, 2018

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…

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India quilt

26 – WashAway Stabilizer and Stitching

June 20, 2018

My version of life on the wild side: I haven’t used this kind of wash away stabilizer before, so here it goes…and…

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India quilt

24 – Not the typical way of fusing

June 3, 2018

I pin up bits of fabric that I cut with a freezer paper template or by freehand guesstimating the shape, but none…

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India quilt

23 – The perils of liking your work

May 24, 2018

When work becomes “precious” because you like it, it’s difficult not to get caught up in playing it safe, but that sucks…

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India quilt

22 – Stitching a miniature billboard

May 17, 2018

This will be a billboard on #indiaquilt – don’t know if it’s legible, but it doesn’t need to be. (a number of…

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India quilt

21 – Translation, please

May 15, 2018

I’m going to make a billboard sign with thread work. Not sure how legible the characters will come out, if it will…

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India quilt

20 – Fabric auditions

May 8, 2018

Fabric auditions. Worst part about this is putting away all the ones that don’t make it! #indiaquilt #saqawip #neqmexplorations #fabriccollage #susanpolansky

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India quilt

19 – The biggest character gets dressed

May 5, 2018

Time to work on one of the bigger people, but I’m still using tweezers. #indiaquilt #saqawip #neqmexplorations #jaipur #fabriccollage #susanpolansky

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India quilt

18 – Woman in the green sari gets company

May 2, 2018

I showed the green sari woman getting created, but here she is in position with some company. #indiaquilt #saqawip #jaipur #neqmexplorations #susanpolansky

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India quilt

17 – A Sari made without sewing

April 27, 2018

Working on the little people; saris are fun because you can sneak in an unexpected burst of color. #indiaquilt #saqawip #neqmexplorations #jaipur…

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India quilt

15 – Cutting templates

April 19, 2018

Tools I use for cutting freezer paper templates for #indiaquilt A mini cutting mat is easy to move around, making it quicker…

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India quilt

14 – Making some good guesses

April 16, 2018

Some fabrics might be replaced a few times, just as a painter would revise their colors, until the right balance is created….

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India quilt

13 – An overwhelming moment

April 14, 2018

Beginning to put together a complicated quilt, when I am facing the actuality of the how many steps it will take for…

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India quilt

12 – Freezer Paper templates

April 12, 2018

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…

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India quilt

11 – Using a plumb line

April 7, 2018

#indiaquilt – full size at 30” x 50.” I use an improvised plumb line (a string with a weight on the end)…

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India quilt

10 – Fabric building materials

April 5, 2018

Gathering building materials for my India quilt. On the left are printed bricks and stones, on the right are similar textures. And…

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India quilt

9 – Final composition achieved!

April 4, 2018

It’s not a perfect photoshop edit, but it’s what I need to make a quilt from. I love making my own reality!…

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India quilt

8 – Layers in Photoshop Elements

April 2, 2018

If you’re wondering how I’m working with photos for my India quilt… #photoshopedit #fabriccollage #neqmexplorations #susanpolansky

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India quilt

7 – Bringing life into the picture

March 30, 2018

Once I created the background for my #indiaquilt I can figure out how to bring it to life, and the foreground figures…

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India quilt

6 – Planning the composition

March 25, 2018

India quilt composition. So many hours in and I haven’t even started thinking about the fabric! Need to buy some “building materials.”…

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India quilt

5 – Making a vertical from a horizontal

March 22, 2018

India quilt composition in progress. #photoshopedit #ilovephotoshop #artistsoninstagram #neqmexplorations #saqawip #jaipur #susanpolansky

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India quilt

4 – What story do I want to tell?

March 17, 2018

Of course my India quilt will have people, and maybe a few animals (like the cattle and dogs that were everywhere.) Fantastic…

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India quilt

3 – Uplifted by kites

March 16, 2018

Kites dotted the skies wherever we traveled in India. I like my quilts to have meaning, and kite flying seems so symbolic…

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India quilt

2 – What do I post?

March 14, 2018

India quilt begins. I’m not sure what to post of my progress. I make lots of small changes on photoshop to create…