Back to Batiks

"Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue...and the dreams that you dream of really do come true."

I'm getting back to a full spectrum batik sewing project I started in early January.  I set aside when I started the online Fabulous Florals class and the winter became all about painted paper and collage. So it sat.....until now.

This is where I left it the back in January.....just finishing the oranges and golds.

And this is where it is today.  I worked my way through the greens, teals, and aquas....and am heading into the blues and indigos...then on to the purples and violets.  

I am hoping to make it into some sort of art piece for the condo.  I may end up cutting it apart and rearranging a bit....but for now I'm going to keep adding to these long landscape rows and see how it looks.  I love getting back to batiks...and I love all this color!

It looks like stained glass when I held it up to the light. 

And when you look at the whole thing you can see all the "oops" moments that can only be seen in the light. I'm trying not to have seams line up....but here you can see all that do....that's what happens when you just wing it. I think they'll just fade away once I topstitch.

Day 9 of Another 100 Days.....using some darker blues....and orange, the complimentary color of blue.

One Cup of Coffee....

....and the Michigan puzzle was done.  This was a fun one!  Thanks Emily!

I spent some time with friends Amy and Lisle chatting about the new spaces in their house remodeling project. One of the things we talked about is how to work in a permanent puzzle table into their fabulous new family room.  I like the way they think!

According to this article jigsaw puzzles:

1.  exercise the left and right sides of your brain at once.
2.  improve your short-term memory.
3.  improve your visual-spatial reasoning.
4.  are a great meditation tool and stress reliever.
5.  are a great way to connect with family.
6.  are a great for needed alone time.

I  got back to my random strip piecing today.  I like this color scheme so much that I'm going to turn it into a small art quilt giving me a chance to practice Maryline's technique before I make a larger multicolored one.  I randomly laid out the strips and can see I need more skinny strips and a better balance of lights, darks, and golds. It's so easy to slice somewhere and add in another piece.

I pulled more scraps from my stash in Lexington and will do the same in Portland.  I'll start pinning on a board at some point soon so I can stand back and make final decisions. 

I'I also started sewing solid scraps to some of my Kaffe stripes.  I'm not quite sure where this might go....because I think unless the solids are longer pieces they just look like another stripe. 

Here I randomly put all the solids to the center.....and I'm not sure that's any better.  I love the colors....and I love the fabric so I know there's a project here.

Scrap Quilt

When I need inspiration I go to my Pinterst boards.  I've been itching to sew but got a little stuck a week or so ago because I didn't have any direction.  I will go back to my purple and orange scheme...but I'm setting it aside for now because I found something I want to try.

I made my way to a Mary & Patch post by Maryline Collioud-Robert, one of my favorite quilters:  http://maryandpatch.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-making-of-new-art-quilt-with-scraps.html

In the post Maryline describes how she used her scraps to make these colorful small art quilts. I think they're fun.

If you have interest...I highly recommend taking a look at the post.  It's mostly great photos showing her process.....just the inspiration and guidance I needed.

Over time Maryline randomly sewed together scraps of similar color being sure to include complimentary colors, skinny strips, and solids. I think the solids and the skinny pops of complimentary colors are what make it really work!  

So for the next little while when I have time and the urge to sew I'm going to build up a big stash of these simple strips of color.  I was outside most of the day today walking in the woods and moving things around in the garden...but I spent an hour this morning getting a starting.

I dumped out a pile of scraps and started sorting by color.  I started with plums and purples and am inserting light and dark solids and complimentary golden yellows.

I stacked up sets of two to sew together by feeding the into the machine one after another....called strip piecing.   

I ended up with a long string of pieces to snip apart and I got as far as getting them ironed.  When I quickly laid them out I can already see the potential....and what I still need to include.  

 

I will do some trimming making sure I have those important skinny strips and then make another pile to strip piece again....and again and again.  I think I'll find this oddly satisfying.

As I write this evening and look back at Maryline's post...I realize that her prints are very simple....almost solids themselves.  I've picked some busier batiks but I think as long as I continue to use batiks throughout....it will give it a different look with nice texture.