DESIGN. . . Do Over

Have you ever had a do-over? You know, started to make something that you thought would be fabulous, spent lots of time making it, eventually reaching a point of no-return the piece is just awful and find no need to continue?


Yes, you have guessed it...I have such a piece. A year ago, our quilt guild had a challenge to make a quilt with the theme Harvest. My vision was to create a vintage tractor in the field at harvest time beginning with only white fabric of differing textures.


I began with the drawing of the quilt.

I transferred the drawing on varying textured fabric, fussy-cut it, and adhered the layers to my background (sorry this is tough to see).

My next step (this is when trouble came a-brewing) was to color the quilt using colored pencils, paint and dye. Did you hear that crash? My vision and technique had a head-on collision resulting in the quilt below. I debated if I should throw it out; at one point, I believe it was in the trash can. Even my dear husband told me that "not all my creations can be successful" (trust me, these pics make it look much, much better than it is in real life).

Now a year later, I have honed my skills and started using Golden paints (these paints are the platinum of paint). I fished the piece out of storage and am painting my heart out. Stay tuned for the finished piece (hopefully no collisions on the road ahead). Stay tuned for its final destination.

DESIGN...Planning a Large Coin Purse

I am taking a fun on-line class with Alisa Burke.  If you are unfamiliar with Alisa Burke, here is her website and her blog.  

Here is the design process for an over-sized coin purse that I am making.

I started with a couple of photos from Design Seeds that are my inspiration [If you are unfamiliar with  Design Seeds, see my post here]. I took the inspiration photos and did water-color drawings in my sketchbook to test drive which one I would use.  I decided that the first (lotus flower) would be the outside of my purse.

 Here is the double pouch purse frame that I am going to use.

 Plans for inner pockets...

And my color scheme using hand-dyed fabrics and Golden Paints.

Stayed tuned for completion of the project.

CHALLENGE: Up for a Challenge

A few months ago, I was invited to be part of a challenge group called Up for a Challenge with 12 members that create 12" x 12" quilts based on a quarterly challenge.  Our first challenge was 'Island'.  Below is my creation.  To see all of the members' works, hop over to our collective blog:

http://upforachallengeartquilts.blogspot.com/

fractal  (ˈfræktəl)
— n
1.	a figure or surface generated by successive subdivisions of asimpler polygon or  polyhedron, according to some iterative process

I have been intrigued with fractals for a long time. When looking at fractals, I envision islands, thus my creation Fractal Island.
The main fractal portion is covered in a fine wire mesh.That I embroidered, painted and sewed through.

There is a cluster of seed beads that follow the spiral.   Lastly, trumpunto was used to give the piece 3-dimension.

This has been a fun challenge!

Kathy Kerstetter

Kalamazoo, MI

Inspirational Wednesday (Portugal 3)

“The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” 

– Samuel Johnson

I loved all the cement work in Portugal.

Inspirational Wednesday (Portugal 2)

Architecture arouses sentiments in man. The architect's task therefore, is to make those sentiments more precise.

-Adolf Loos

Portugal has the most outstanding door knockers...and door handles...and doors.  Enjoy!

 

Inspirational Wednesday (Portugal 1)

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

 – St. Augustine

When I return from a trip, I am full of ideas and things I want to make. One of my most inspiring trips  was to Portugal and Spain with my sister, Jill, and my niece, Katie.  During the month of April, all of my Inspirational Wednesdays will be from this trip. 

My niece, Katie, and my sister, Jill, at a sidewalk cafe.

While we were in Portugal, all the stores we having clearance sales.  I stocked up on fabric (40 meters of it!).  Interesting that all fabric is kept behind the counter and only men cut your fabric...hmmmmm.

Label, Label, Label...

 We adore chaos because we love to produce order. 

--M. C. Escher

I cannot say that my studio is very neat, but I do feel it is organized.  I learned (the hard way) to mark everything in my studio. Below are the lessons I learned and how I changed things.


I love to experiment with anything new and different in the mixed media world; I have learned that what a absolutely needed one day, I have no idea what it is a few months down the road.  To remedy this I now put the following things with items that I may question at a later date:

• Instructions that came with the item
• The cardboard packaging 
• Any good information that I read about the product on a newsgroup
• The page from the catalog that I purchased the product from

Backside of the Perfect Pearls package with instructions

My bottle of Paverpol has a baggy taped to it with  a print-out from a newsgroup regarding the use of the product.

Sewing Machine Feet

I have the original card that was packaged with each foot

There are times that  when I need to reorder an item; the lesson I learned is that it is much easier if I know what I purchased previously and where the item was bought. 

Again, I keep packaging or just note on the item the details of the purchase.  

For every embroidery thread that I own, I have the cut the original tag down  to make sure  I retain the name of the company and the color of the thread.  I fold and tuck it in the edge of the card that the thread is on.

I know this picture is tough to see, but when I buy beads, I label where they were purchased, brand, color and size on the storage container.

Closer view of storage container.  The beads in the top container  were purchased at the store, Little Bohemia, whereas the ones on the bottom are a mixed called Margarita.

The last lesson that I learned was about how time flies.  I will often purchase something to find that it is dried up.  In reality, I do not remember how long I have owned the item.  Now I mark everything that could dry-up with the date that I puchased it.

Above: I date all paints

Below: My paint box with dated jars.  I also put a dollop of paint on the top of the container to help identify the color.

Above: Pens marked and though these are older, they are still good!
Below: Stamp pads dry out so fast, the dates are helpful

What are your favorite studio tips?