Gelli Experiments

There was a discussion at the latest CQFA meeting about a Youtuber artist, YeatsMakes. I decided to check one of his videos out and tried one of the techniques he describes. This one is about making a print using a drawing done with a Chinagraph or grease pencil. I made a quick sketch of my hourglass and gave it some texture with one of the random FabMo thingies I keep around for that purpose.

My first mistake, happened in the second step, I placed the drawing on the Gelli Plate and rubbed the back of the paper to transfer the markings. Well it transferred, rather permanently (but more on that later) even without the paint I should have brayered over the Gelli Plate surface first. Guess I should have taken notes on the steps in the video, whoops!

This was the print that I pulled. I kind of like the ghostly image of the hourglass drawing. But otherwise pretty much a bust since I didn't do things in the right order.

I hadn't worked with a brayer in a while, so I was having fun rolling off the excess in my sketchbook. These will make good backgrounds for something else.

I made a whole new drawing and tried again. The black paper on the right is that drawing covered in the black paint, with the drawing transferred to the Gelli plate on the left.

Here's how it looked on the surface of the Gelli Plate before I let the paint dry. The last step is to brayer white over the whole thing, let it dry with weight on it, and then pull your print. 

Well, it worked a little bit better, but not great. More attempts at this are required. It was fun playing around with all my printing stuff, I haven't done that in years. I haven't used the Gelli Plate too much, and I'm really impressed with how it performed. 

Faux Goose Chase Columns

All those fluttering half square triangles are sewn together into columns. Much more manageable. Now it's time to sew all these columns together. Then I'll have my design wall free again so that I can work on the new batch of Orange Bullseye blocks I've recently received.

Edited to note that the above picture is missing something. I discovered when I started sewing that the right hand side was missing a black/white column. It had fallen to the floor at some point. Now it's sewn in and accounted for! For the corrected record, here's how it looked before I started sewing:

 

FGC HST AD

 

That's a lot of abbreviations, let me break it down. The Faux Goose Chase (FGC) quilt top made up of HST (Half Square Triangles) is AD (almost done). I'm down to the last three columns worth of free floating HST  to sew together. And then I'll sew the columns together.

As I've been sewing the HST pairs together, I've been encountering several of the triangles not being shall we say...full? I think that back in 2013 I made the newbie mistake of cutting several layers at a time (I think it was 8?) and not lining the edges of the fabric up well enough. And more importantly, not making sure the fabric edges were far enough away from the cutting edge of the die. So I'm very glad I had some "extra" HST to substitute in where needed.

Wandering Wednesday - Fort Worden

 

On another day in Port Townsend, we visited Fort Worden State Park. It's a former military base that was set up to defend the coast. We lucked out and had a clear, sunny day to ramble around.

The cement structures are all still there, in varying states of decay.

It has an amazing view overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca, because of course it does, that's why it was in this place high up on the bluff over the water.

There's at least one long uphill tunnel which you can go through.Yes, it's acoustically sound, we tried it out with a lot of hooting.

Certain visitors have to climb the rusty ladders.

Thankfully the ladder held fast.

You can go through a lot of the ammunition and communication rooms.

It was a fun time checking all of this out for a second time with my DH.

The doors are rusty and you can't even budge them, so no worries about getting stuck inside.

ICAD Time

Once again, it's true, I am an ICADian.

June means it's time for ICAD once again. Index Card A Day, each and everyday of June and July, something of some sort gets made on an index card.

I can never think of a theme, so as per usual, it's a mishmash of materials. 

You'll notice several of these seem to have a white frame.

That's because I could only find 3x5" cards on June 1st. Then I found my stash of 4x6" cards and just framed them up.

There's a lot of storminess and yellow going on in many of these.

Yellow/white stripe paper from an envelope from friend Jaye.

 I actually brought out the acrylic paints and used some here.

Off to a good start!

Triangle Taming

 

The multitude of HST on my design wall are getting sewn together, column by column. They've been falling off the wall pretty regularly so the design has been in flux.

I've been taking them off one column at a time, pinning them together, and then referring to the photo of the design to get them sewn together the "right way".

There are a few extras, which may end up on the side somehow in a border arrangement, or maybe on the back.

There are 5 columns sewn together, but not to each other yet, and 6 left to go. Quick, before the rest are on the floor.

One Neat Trick

 I forget where I about this *One Neat Trick*, but I got to try it out myself when I was hand sewing the swing cushions closed. Some (but not all) spools of thread apparently unscrew at the base and have an interior place to keep your needle. This was a spool of Gütermann outdoor thread. It was pretty cool to have this option to keep track of my needle when I wasn't in my sewing room! So, I was glad to find this out and now you know too.

Swing Swang Swung

More on the completed swing refurbishment, specifically the two new long cushions I was set on making. The sewing was quite simple and pretty easy. The fabric is a Sunbrella type, so it has a very strange hand compared to quilting cotton (duh of course).

It was nice that there was a very distinct right side and wrong side. The fabric I used for the bench seat cushion for my mom was very close so it was a little harder.

I took it slow to do the corners, did it several steps, individual lines of sewing and I think it paid off.

Pretty good corners. Or good enough for me.

Here's how they look out on the swing

Ahhh, very cushy. I like the feel of the memory foam, I hope it lasts awhile.

Illustrated June Monthly-To-Do

 

Last month I shared a photo of my design wall and how its crowdedness had changed for the better. It has stayed that way and is now in use again for its main purpose--designing. It's the stuff around the edges that has been getting to me. There's a lot of **stuff** around the edges and in my sightline. That's the project for this moth along with the rest of the to-dos on the list. Rearrange things in a different way, that will help a lot.

So here's my To-Do list for June:

Rearrange the boxes near and around the design wall so they don't impede viewing. See above picture.

Cut out and sew on the second circle on the orange bullseyes

.Sew down the facings and make, and sew on the hanging sleeves and labels for the Prism Triptych.

Sew together Faux Goose Chase HST, add borders?, sandwich, quilt, bind, label

Start making Pantone project blocks

Quilt, bind and label Courthouse Steps

Quilt, bind and label Kitchen Sink

Make more Japanese Houses blocks

Make blocks for the Y.E.S. coat.

June Swooning

I've always loved that phrase "June Swoon", it's so evocative, you instantly get what it means. The heat turns up even more, the garden explodes with growth and color, the days get longer and longer. It's too much and it's so wonderful, thus all the swooning.

The above monthly marker photo for June is a smash-up of two photos that were as per usual manipulated in SnapSeed. I really love that app, it's so easy and has to so many powerful tools.

The orange bullseyes with the first circle applied.

One of my beautiful peony blooms.

My One Second Everyday for May has a whole lot of flowers, but that's not a big surprise.

And finally here's the list of: What The Heck Did I Actually Do In May???  aka Monthly I-Did

I attended the SAQA online conference.

I finished quilting and bound the B/W baby quilt and my DS gave it to his friends.

I finished quilting and bound the Dotsy table runner.

I cut out and ironed and sewed on the first circles for the orange bullseye project

I finished the binding and label on Safe At Home, it's all done except the wash/dry!

I sandwiched the Kitchen Sink Quilt using fusible batting, ready to quilt.

I pin basted Courthouse Steps

I finished up my 100 Days project (but haven't posted it here yet.)

I kept going on the Secret Lives of Color quilt a long (but haven't posted it here yet).

I finished the outdoor swing cushions.

I did some hand-stitching on two older projects, one Pamela Allen class project and another beaded one.

I began a quilt design for a MQG challenge.

I completed a HST layout for Faux Goose Chase.

I got to get out on the road with my DH all the way up to Washington and back again, awesome! 

I very occasionally added to my Visual Journal.

I blogged here 22/31 days.

I moved almost everything back onto our re-stained deck and repotted a lot of the plants or planted them out in the garden.

That's a good list, which once again proves to me that all the little stuff adds up to a whole lot more than nothing. I definitely think it's officially a pattern. Checking in every month like this is still working for me as pretty good motivation for myself. I'll definitely continue to do this next month too.