Making Trees for My Crazy Blocks

Last week we went to Denver for our granddaughter's graduations.  It rained the entire time we were there so we didn't get to do many outdoor activities - I was glad I'd taken my crazy quilt blocks along because I had a lot of time to work on them.  I love trees so most of my blocks will likely have a tree on them.  I was able to make quite a few with so much down time.  Here's what I've made so far.

These are my Twisted Trees.  I hadn't tried this process before & loved it.

Twisted Tree Weeping Willow

  

Twisted Floss Pine Bough

 

These are my embroidered trees.  I really had fun with these.

 

 Oriental Tree in Bloom Using Back Stitch, Lazy Daisy Flowers, & French Knot Buds

 

Tree Using French Knots & Back Stitch.

I hope to try this technique again with the French Knots less dense.

 

Because my blocks were already made before I added the trees, I used a small hoop.  The hoop seems to have stretched the satin fabric.  I tried blotting with water and it worked on the cotton fabric but not on the satin.  I don't think ironing is going to help either.  Oh well - it is what it is. 

 

Tree Using Lazy Daisy & Back Stitch

Straight Stitch Palm Trees

 

Pine Tree Using Lazy Daisy, Algerian Eye Stitch, & Back Stitch

 

Tree Using Chain Stitch & Feather Stitch

I'm Having Fun with Rit Dye

I decided to finish off what was left in my little jars of Rit dye from the Intermediate Crazy Quilting Class I'm taking (this one is about dyeing).  I used lots of laces and trims.  Here is a collage of them wet and then one of them dry.

 Wet

 

Dry

 

There was still quite a lot of Rit dye left in the little jars, and since I had a bolt of white muslin, I decided to cut some fat quarters, and give fabric a try.  I was able to use up the rest of the dye in the little jars and now all that's left is some of the 3 basic solutions.  The first picture is of the 14 fat quarters wet and the second picture is of them dry.  I've decided that I went from fabric that was probably about two dollars a yard for plain white muslin, to fabric that's probably close to nine dollars a yard or more, because it's now considered hand-dyed fabric.  And isn't it pretty?  It looks like a rainbow.  This is so cool!

 

 

A Few More Crazy Quilting Completions

I think I'm in over-drive on crazy quilting.  I can't seem to put it down. 

 

This is one of the blocks I designed in ICQC 101 Design & Construction of Crazy Quilt Blocks.  I'm very happy to say....it's finished!  I'm  pleased with how it turned out, and all of the new techniques I learned, and tried on it.

 

 

 

Here are some pictures of how I used the tasks we did using acrylic paint.  I turned the painted background into a button garden and the painted frame into a frame for some flowers (I sponged it with some white acrylic paint so that the color wasn't so intense before I used it).  They both now live on my crazy blocks.

 

Some Finishes from My Intermediate Crazy Qulting Class

I'm learning so much in the Intermediate Crazy Quilting Class I'm taking with Kathy Shaw.  Here's the latest that we've been working on:

Here's 102E-Part 3-Watercolor Pencils (or Colored Pencils) to Alter an Image on Fabric.  I found this sweet little flower girl picture and decided she needed a home on one of my crazy blocks.  I used colored pencils that are set with Ceramcoat Textile Medium, some of the silk ribbon dyed with Rit from Task 102A, and some embroidery floss.

Here's the flower girl on the heart block I designed in ICQC-101.

 I had a lot of fun with 102E-Part 2-Markers on Silk Ribbon.  I used the Promarkers on the first two collages below.  Love using the Promarkers!

 

 

This view shows the 3 sets of silk flowers on the fan crazy block I designed in ICQC-101.

 

 

 I used three different types of fabric markers on the butterflies.  I thought they all did a good job.

 

I decided to use the fabric markers on some lace also - not real happy with the results on lace.

 

 

These are fabric pastels using the stencil method.  I appliqued some of the leaves I made onto a spray of lavender on one of my crazy blocks.   I set the leaves with a hot iron and some Ceramcoat Textile Medium to make sure they were permanent.

 

 

 

In 102E-Part 1- Painting Charms, I decided to see how both charms and buttons would look painted.  I used both Tsukineko Inks and Nail polish in gold (with a clear coat of polish over the gold polish).  I like how both turned out - they both even worked on plastic buttons. 

 

 

These are the things I dyed in ICQC 102-C - Acid Dyeing.  I used Rit dye to dye lace, silk ribbon, and embroidery floss.

  

 

The next 3 pictures are the things I painted in ICQC 102-A - Painting with Acrylic Paint.