The care and feeding of a fabric stash

My friends roll my eyes at me when I say be careful buying all that fabric BUT I warn them with the full knowledge of the power and demands of a huge stash.   Dare I say ASK ME HOW I KNOW?

Back when I started quilting again I read that Ruth McDowell had three six foot book cases of fabric and thought that was a good goal to strive for.  Fast forward 15 years, I have gotten there...and maybe more than that.

BEWARE!!! It's very easy to acquire heaps of fabric but much harder to use it up said she who has fabric in every concievable spot in her bedrooms.

The following was stored in the guest bathroom pullout laundry basket (THINK BIG BOX!)

Asking for care and feeding!!

This is just a small sample of the quantity.  These are all SILK-yes silk- dupioni by the yard in just about any color, chiffon by the yard, hand dyed raw silk, velvet silk, shiboried charmeuse...you name it it's in this pile.

Here's a link to various kinds of silk...I think I have them all covered!!

Which leads me to my first point.  You have to fold and sort your fabric stash.  WHO KNEW?  I thought that was what laundry was about! And my stash is NOT laundry.  It's supposed to be FUN!!   This is part of the heap folded...it did not all fit in a huge many quart tub.

Here's the rest of the heap.  This is just the velvets and heavier silk.  

How long did the sorting take...a couple of hours!! Quite a few sneezes!! All that dust!  Did I say there is more yardage of raw silk in the hall cupboard...a lovely turquoise and a   pinky red.  

Multiply this heap by 30 and you have the extent of my problem.

Does size Matter?

It's a question that my friend Marsha and I have been talking about over breakfast in the morning on Tuesday. Why is it that a piece of art works at certain sizes and not at others?

Here are two examples:


Pumpkin by Andrea Wilson, lithograph print. This tiny kitty is perhaps 4" tall and sits in the middle of a sheet of beautiful creamy paper. Part of the charm of the print is the tiny size of the kitty on this large sheet of paper.

Ok. It's not Christmas...I know that.

I did quite a few of these Santas for Christmas as cards to family and friends. He was a hit with everyone that received one. Made frame shops quite a bit of money!






I also did a few larger ones for the Inner Bean and for the Gallery on the Row which I was a partner in. Not nearly as charming...

Was it the fact that they were done in acrylics or that they were MUCH bigger!

Another thought on size. Saw a lovely airplane oil painting last Night at the North Augusta Art Guild. Just a beautiful painting EXCEPT one plane had a big yellow nose. It was the focal point in the painting big yellow round....was it out of proportion or did it just not translate well from the picture he used to paint it because it was now huge?

As I said does size matter?  What do you think?


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Latest work

The problem with a blog is that you have to keep adding photos and typing...what if you have nothing earth shattering to say that day or that week or even that year...I can hear my friends getting a good giggle from all of those...but its easier to say than to continually write it...you get out of the habit...so instead of writing i guess i will just post some photos of what i am working on...IF i can upload them from my photo stream...hope they are there!!

added some of my hand dyed raw silk and that terribly expensive yarn I got from Carol Taylor (YES $55 a skein is ExPenSivE!!) to this old ufo...i like it now...hmm i liked it before but now it just needs a back HURRAH!!

The iris are very large...done on kona pfd 54" wide with portfolio oils and caran d'arches II.  First the fun part... I drew the iris and wet them with a large haiki brush and let the colors run and blend...Try it...lovely drippy runny stuff...

Then I started the thread painting...I do love my new Janome Horizon BUT ...how much thread is enough..

Iris UPCLOSE

Thread painting on the leaves...

Another close up shot of the iris ...

Biggest problem with this is taming the curves into flat submission....i think the thread painting is largely done...

Now for the borders...that may take another two years of cogitating over them!!  Opps got to get a move on...has to go in the guild quilt show in October...or maybe i should enter it in Houston Show?!  We SHaLL SeE!!

Carol Taylor's Trunk Show

If you get a chance to go to her lecture/ trunk show DO! It's great!
She did a slide show that lasted about a half an hour and then had a show and tell of some thirty fabulous quilts.

This was one of her Gong class sample.

These are two more gong class samples with small pieced borders.

The arc I texture quilts. LOVED these! She tells how to make these on her EXCELLENT quilting arts video. I highly recommend her video! Terrific instructions.

She shows how to couch and to do the defaced bindings. She doesn't like raw edges or bound art quilts.




Judy Lockhart holding one of the arc I texture quilts. The pictures don't do them justice...they twinkle with all kinds of sequined fabrics.
The second class quilt.....couching.

The lecture.

Sorry the pics are not better. Somebody should have turned off the slide show!

This is Carol Taylor(left) holding the beige to brown arc I texture quilt.

Carol Taylor(left) holding an even longer off white/beige to brown arc I texture quilt.

Tari Griggs holding the yellow to dark blue arc I texture quilt.

Carol is the piecing queen! This huge quilt is pieced and each of the small shapes are neatly appliqués down with satin stitch! All hand dyed fabrics that she mostly dyes.

Odd pieced shapes...really red and black

One of here many gong quilts. Dark blue to lights. Large to small.

Tiny strips pieced together to make squares. Amazing quilts!

Another one made of tiny stripped pieces.

And another!

A detail!

The back where she interspersed satin stitch with straight stitch while quilting.

Ok I liked this one so much I posted it twice! Sort of a Gee Bends on steroids....but oh so square and neat!

A triptych

Made from sheers. This one won a first place or best of show at AQS.

Leaves. Ever so neatly, precisely with the most beautiful satin stitched!

Another beautiful satin stitched leaf quilt.

A jillion little pieces. Wish I knew how long it took her to sew this huge monster together!




Her famous Coral Reef quilt from the late 1990s. Gorgeous thread painting. For a price it can be yours!!

What I am working on

Took a class from Carol Taylor. Loved the crop Circles but then I have always admired her Gong series and I have made many many drunkards path variations.




Here's what I started in that class. Really liked the quilting with the 12 wt sulky variegated.




Spent way too much money on it but the effect is really nice. I used the dual feed foot on my Janome to sew all those circles!






The following Monday I took the couching class ....the quilt I made is hmm well perhaps I will turn it into placemats?

I do like the two pieced borders and think I will use that technique again. Let me add i already knew how to couch but did like the way she used metallic threads when she couched. I think I had every color she was selling.






I did indulge in buying these two skeins of Great Adirondack yarns. Lovely hand dyed variegated skeins of all kinds of different yarns. Some people spent large sums so i felt good with my $110 worth of yarn for these two skeins.




This has been laying around the sewing room forever to finish. Tired of messing with the couching class quilt I decided to finish this small quilt. I dyed all of the fabrics. The edge is a hand dyed raw silk.






Did I say I have too much silk...velvet dupioni by the yards, shibori hand dyes that I did. Chiffon.







You name it i have it!



Lastly I have been madly knitting up some sock yarn. Just what one needs in Georgia and SC in the spring right? Hand dyed yarn from Yarn paradise in Biltmore Village in Asheville. Yummy stuff. Rarely splits! Important when you are speed knitting.



This one was past the heel for almost a year...love the color but oh my it splits so much! Think I got this at the lys in Decatur on Ponce. a great store but nope won't buy this yarn again!




.

Lovely soft yarn from a silver threads in Franklin NC. Love it...it's splits but who cares?




Baby socks for my grandson Henry.





Did I tell you I have a grandson? Henry with his Uncle Ben at Christmas.


Next posts: Carol Taylor's trunk show, the Charlotte quilt show and one of my art quilts approaching completion.

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