Online class now has video

If you haven't already taken it, don't forget to sign up for my Artistic Free Motion Online class. It's packed with lots of information and pictures and I've added a short video for the class, so you can also see me quilt. The next session starts on March 7, so if you've thought about learning to quilt your own quilts, now is the time!

First instant art quilt back

Here's the back of the same quilt. I sewed a whole piece of fabric to the front of the quilt, then cut a slit for turning near one end, but leaving enough for the wavy border. Once the quilt was turned and firmly pressed around the edges, the wave was marked. Leaving a seam allowance, I trimmed the remaining fabric from the center (saved for something else), and hand appliqued the binding down with needleturn applique. The hanging sleeve will cover part of the wavy edge, but I wasn't sure which side would be up at the time I was stitching, so carried it all the way around to leave my options open.

First instant art quilt finished

This was a fun quilt to do, and I'm finding that I love painting on quilts after I've finished quilting them. Instead of a traditional binding, this quilt has a scalloped facing that was applied in one solid piece, then the center was cut out and hand appliqued to the back. The only thing left for me to do is add the hanging sleeve.

Checkerboard Stars

Susan, the owner of my local quilt shop, challenged me to design a quilt to feature the large, ~12" birds on the Williamsburg fabric that she got in, so this is what I came up with. She cut some kits and has them at the shop. Eventually, I'll get it made up in something from my stash.

First instant art quilt

This quilt still needs binding and a sleeve, but I just finished the quilting and thought I'd post it. The quilt is one of my projects from the "Instant Art Quilts" class with Ellen Lidner (http://www.adventurequilter.com/), where I'm trying my hand at abstract quilting again.

Watercolor crayon silkscreen

I've been wanting to try this, so while watching TV tonight, this is what I managed to draw on a prepared silkscreen. As soon as I get a chance (which might be a while, considering all the things I'm trying to do right now), I'm going to use textile medium (and maybe gel medium) to screen it onto some fabric. If it works, and I get bored, maybe I'll use fabric paint to screen with too, since I'm thinking yellow might be nice, or maybe even blue. I do realize if I do this it will alter the color of the crayon colors, but they would be compatible , especially if I try yellow before blue.

Janet's Influence - painting finished

Yeah!!! All the painting is finished, so now all that's left to be done is the usual, squaring up, binding and adding a hanging sleeve.

Janet's influece - painting begun

After a lot of experimenting on scraps, I'm finally painting, and although it's taking longer than I thought, I'm loving the process and I really think it is a breakthrough piece for me! So far, I've mostly been painting in the same order that I quilted it, because somehow it makes more sense to me. Of course painting from bottom up means that sometimes I have to wait for paint to dry, or work upside down, and with all the leaves, I'm wishing for more green paints!