Results of Fused Collage Kit

Susan has created an attic window variation for her composition of a mother and child. She has fused hand-dyed cheesecloth and the cut out picture to a hand-painted background. Individual flower motifs are added for interest. The one in the foreground has been fused to felted wool and placed over the tulle which covers the entire piece.

Sue used her picture in its entirety and placed it over her other elements: hand-painted background, hand-dyed cheesecloth, and Angelina. A layer of tulle covers the entire piece which is machine quilted and hand-embroidered. A silk flower and bead have been added as embellishments.

Sue Anne used her picture on the background in the upper right corner. To enlarge the image area, she fused snippets of fabric to match the picture and thread and silk ribbon to cover the bottom. An Angelina cloud masks the left hand seam. She then bordered the piece on two sides with printed fabric and beads.

Jamie used a piece of fabric that had been screen printed with turnips, leaves, and diagonal shapes as her background. The hand-dyed cheesecloth is laid over the Misty Fuse, with the other elements placed on top. The leaves were cut from several silk philodendron leaves and thread painted before Misty Fuse and black tulle were laid over the entire piece. Minimal machine quilting has been added.

Stacked Silk Results

Jamie used the four different silks in this piece call "Illuminated Snowpeas". The center is the painted raw silk which was stitched by machine and then shaded with watercolor crayons. The other silks form the patchwork around the perimeter of the piece.  A seed stitch has been added in the areas between the snowpeas to provide the quilting.

Sue Anne has used the raw silk piece for the background of her quilt. In order to subdue the bright colors of her original plaid, she over-dyed the silk with a light version of the orange Dyn-a-Flow. It is now a more muted and subtle background. The silk used for the side panel and the flower petals is an hand-dyed charmeuse silk.

Sue cut her stacked and painted silk into strips for the wall that her frog is climbing. The piece is embellished with beads.

Molding Paste Results

Sue has used the molding paste to create her poppy petals. Each petal was shaped onto a piece of coordinating fabric, allowed to dry and cut out to become an applique. Each petel was applied individually to the pre-quilted background. Because of the multi-layers, she was unable to sew through the center to apply the beads. They were sewn to a black piece of fabric and then appliqued on. The single bugle beads were hand sewn to the petal directly. See the following photo for a closeup view.

Susan has combined two tart lessons into one quilt. She applied each section in a quilt-as-you-go manner, starting with a previously quilted piece made with flour resist. Each section is individual in its style. The molding paste was shaped to resemble river rocks or stepping stones. The grey squares at the bottom are raw edged applique. The narrow gold piping connects each section. She embellished the stones with gold foil and the piping with beads. See the following close-up.

Jamie completed her next alphabetical fruit/vegetable using the molding paste for the raspberries. She cut a stencil in the shape of the raspberries and applied the molding paste directly to the background fabric which is a photo ink jet printed onto cotton. Paint and machine stitching were added around each cell of the raspberry. Adding the blue strips and squares for contrast, the quilt was then machine quilted.

Sue Anne spread the white molding paste over the surface of a large piece of muslin and let it dry. With gel medium she glued bits of paper and fabric to the molding paste and when that was dry, she added a wash of color. Stitching and embellishments were added lastly to finish the piece. The bird is molding paste applied to a separate piece of fabric.

Sue Anne's second piece was made to improve her collage process, but generally it was constructed as described above.

Metal Tags Results

Susan had alot of fun making tag after tag! Each one is different and Susan used a variety of materials and techniques. See the following photo for a close-up of a portion of her quilt. Her presentation of the tags on her gridded quilt gives the viewer a slight optical illusion.

Sue Anne's metal tags fill a small booklet. She has incorporated text, charms, paper in creating little works of art.

Jamie used her tiles to spell out Quince - her latest in the ABC's of Fruits and Vegetables. Each were painted with silver paint and rubbed with Lumiere paint. Painted and glittered cardboard letters were glued to the tiles. The quinces were paper-pieced.

Results of Pantry Dyeing

Jamie's piece this month uses a pomegranate as a motif as well as the "dye" for some of the elements. She used a pomegranate tea for dyeing cheesecloth and embroidery floss; the light background fabric was simmered in pomegranate juice; and the halo around the fruit has been painted with cold pomegranate juice after the piece was quilted.

Sue says her kitchen was a regular chemistry lab as she tried to find just the right red for some of her leaves. She has dyed used dryer sheets and wool as well as using commercial fabrics overlayed with organza. The yellow wool is a combination of tumeric and dry mustard. The dark red is a combination of paprika, chili pepper and other red spices. All the leaves have been machined stitched prior to being placed on the background which was created by spritzing a bleach and water solution over a maple leaf stencil. Sue has achieved her dimensional piece by also using her heat tool to melt the organza and dryer sheets.

Sue Anne dyed her family memory quilt with tea and coffee. By letting the coffee-dyed crotcheted dry in a warm place, she was able to get a very dark color. The background is an old huck towel with its own stains plus some that Sue Anne added by spritzing with coffee and tea. The floral applique is from old drapes. A piece of mica covers the photo in the center. Trims and threads used for embellishment have also been dyed with coffee and tea.

Susan combined two Tart techniques in this piece. After quilting the striped background, she added two used dryer sheets: one dyed with black cherry Kool-aid and the other with paprika. The two-toned circles have been cut from her painted and embossed bamboo batting. Bead embellishment highlights the entire piece.

Results of Embossing Bamboo Batting

Sue Anne used her embossed batting to make appliques for this bright and springy piece. The batting was embossed before she colored it. After cutting out the shapes, she painted the edges to eliminate the uncolored batting. The background uses raw-edge applique, quilting and stamping to add layers of interest. Sue Anne used a number of embroidery stitches and beading to attach her appliques.

Jamie's piece is a combination of textures:  pieced and quilted background, embossed and painted batting, thread painted olives and leaves, and smooth wallpaper bottles. The bamboo batting was embossed lightly and misted with several colors of paint.

Sue's batting was embossed purposely with a tree shape. She built her texture plate using old silk flower stems and cording. The background around the trees was painted with a golden brown paint and set into the blue background. Believe it or not, the tree looks like it was made to fit the background branches, but wasn't! The beading represents leaves and bluebirds.

Gelatin Plate Printing Results

This is Jamie's finished piece using gelatin plate printing and reverse applique. Squares of white fabric were printed with paint sponged onto the gelatin plate. Amounts of orange and yellow paint were used in varying amounts. The black fabric was backed with fusible interfacing before cutting out the shape of the nectarine. After fusing the black fabric over the printed fabric, the squares were skewed and sewn together with the green background strips. The entire piece was machine quilted. Jamie then added watercolor crayon and Shiva paintstiks highlights.

Sue's piece was very well planned and sketched out before starting in order to combine the gelatin plate printing and the reverse applique. The orange and green colored areas were printed on the gelatin plate. But before printing, Sue ironed a freezer paper pattern to the white fabric so that the trunks were masked to prevent being painted. The black fabric was fused to the painted background after removing the three large areas. She then "connected" her tree trunks by painting the black fabric white. By using the brown thread painting she tied it all together so that it appears that the birches are appliqued over the entire piece.