Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Modern Fusing


It all started with a free(!) day to play and a pile of scraps I have been collecting for a while. I call this quilt "Modern Fusing."
I started cutting little leaves out of the leftover scraps I had after making my hand-dyed fabric packs for Houston this year.   They were already fused so why not make leaves? I had no ideas on how or where I would use them, but they were so cute and so easy and mindless to make.  Let's just call this therapy!  So I stuffed then into a plastic bag and would add to them with each new color I dyed and fused. Well, the next thing I know, I have piles of these little leaves in different values of green.


Here, I've separated them by values and started to play with them on a white piece of fabric. White will always make your colors POP!
I stared with the darkest green values and worked outward to the lightest green which was a robin's egg blue.  They took on a pattern of their own as I worked.  It's kind of a leaf flower. 

I always take pictures of the messes I make when being creative. I don't know why but I like looking at controlled chaos.

 Now for the pressing of my quilt top.
Now the fun part, quilting!  I layered the quilt top with batting and a white backing fabric and put green Sulky Variegated Blendable thread in the bobbin and on top of my BERNINA 750.
I free-motion quilted veins in the little leaves and did a simple echo stitch on the background, still using the variegated green thread.

I found this robin’s egg blue stripe for the binding in my stash . This is why I LOVE my fabric stash - I think the stripe gives the quilt a fresh look.
Keeping with the theme of Modern Fusing, I folded the binding to the back and placed a ¼ inch strip of Steam-a-Seam 2 (which is back and better than ever) on the edge of the binding and fused the binding down to the back of my quilt.  

Can I get a shout out from the crowd?
Then I added this twisted piping to the edge of the binding. I have been making this braided, or twist, cording using the leftover strips from my hand-dyed fabrics.  I'll show you how to make this in the next blog.
I played around with different presser feet to find the right foot for couching this twist down. That was tricky but with the right presser foot BERNINA # 20C it was a breeze. The open foot held the piping up against the binding.  The needle would catch one side of the twist up against the binding edge.  As I sewed I was also caughting the back of the fused binding. 

 I added seed beads to the leave for a little bling. 

 Here you go, my Modern Fusing wall hanging.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Dogwood


I have some new patterns coming out in the New Year! This is creatively called...wait for it... DOGWOOD!  I have been mulling over  this class idea for some time - I'll be using a white flower to show how to use values of white fabric in your art work. 
After I got the first flower done and placed it on the dark background fabric I could see the dark fabrics showing through and dulling the pure white fabric color that I am trying to keep REALLY white. 

The solution was to  flip over the flower and add another layer of pure white fabric to the back of the flower, but only in certain places. Then I could purposely use the shadowing in other places as another shade of white.  
So far I am up to 19 fabrics for this flower and as soon as Christmas is over I will be back in the dye studio figuring out how to dye 19 shades of white or light fabrics.

Unfortunately, right now the dye studio is full of suitcases, Christmas decorations, and patio furniture because it has been raining for the last 3 weeks.
19 white or light fabrics means light threads. Oh, and I love my #BERNINA 750 QE.  It sews through the layers of fusible web like butter.
style="box-shadow: 3px 3px 3px #88800;" Now to the computer to write all this down.  The pattern should be ready by the end of January. I will be teaching this pattern for the first time at AQS in Paducah, Kentucky in April.  See you there!


Monday, September 8, 2014

Product Testing

I was so excited to receive a surprise package from the Pellon Company full of EZ-Steam ll and EZ-Steam ll Lite.  I had talked to their VP of marketing about the problems my students where having with their fusible web but I had no idea they were working on improving their EZ-Steam ll. 

So I ran to my studio with the boxes under my arm and started to play around with this NEW fusible web. I also plugged in my video camera and started filming the results of the testing. The video below shows the results I found for the EZ-Steam ll. The best thing is that I am using it totally differently than they intended it to be used and it works great for my technique.
EZ Steam ll
So what?  some may ask. Well, you may not want to follow my blog if you’re going to have that attitude!

My livelihood has been in a tailspin since the product I used for the last 12 years went off the market to be reworked. That was almost 2 years ago.  It was Steam-A-Seam 2 and I loved it.  I am sure it has been a bigger nightmare for the Warn Company.

So I have been scrambling for 2 years to have some kind of fusible web for my students.  I buy about 3,000 yards of fusible in a  year.  Yes, I said 3,000 yards.  This is why it’s been a big deal to me.

                                                                   EZ Steam ll Lite

 Just this year, 2014, I will have taught about 36 classes and events over 10 months (I take 2 months off for good behavior).  Each class has an average of 15-25 students, so let’s say 20 students in each class.  4 of those where 4 -5 day retreats.  So if all the students just bought one yard that would be 720 yards of fusible web.  But that is not what happens, they buy from 4 -6 yards each.  That comes out to about 3,600 yards of fusible web that I need to teach my classes for one year.  So how much do you think one quilt shop would sell in a year?  Maybe 4 rolls at 25 yards each or 100 yards.  Can you see why I have been freaking out for the last 2 years? 

I recently saw a post on Facebook that made me mad!  This person thought the argument of Misty Fuse versus Steam a Seam 2 was like the fighting between the Democrats and the Republicans.  I think this person is not very educated on the matter.
There is no controversy!  Both products are good but are used in different ways for different techniques.  Did you get that? 
Hopefully these videos will help you make the right choice in the future. 

Yes, I do know that Steam-A-Seam 2 is coming back. I have ordered 4 bolts and I look forward to testing their new product and blogging what I find but I haven't seen it yet.

In the meantime I am very happy to say that we now have a choice of fusible webs to try for My Technique

 Misty Fuse works best if you stitch around the edges of each and every piece of fabric. It does not like the heavy quilting I do and i don't stitch it down on the edges.  All fusible techniques are NOT the same.  
Please educate yourself on this before you comment. This really makes me mad. Learn what artists are doing with the fusible before you post that there is a controversy.                                                             
P.S. We are artist we are suppose to be doing things differently!





Monday, July 28, 2014

IQF Houston 2014

It's never too early to start getting ready for Houston. When I say Houston all quilters know that means, the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas.
This will be my 7th year teaching at Festival. What an honor it is to be part of this amazing  faculty.  I'm teaching 6 classes this year which is the most I've ever done. Yes, I am crazy!

Quilt shop booths at the IQA Show.
I thought I would share with you, a little bit about each one of the classes.
Zinnia and Bluebonnets
First are the Zinnia and the Bluebonnet classes of course, are back. The flowers from these classes always turn out great no matter what skill level you're at. Which I had no idea when I designed these quilts. The photo above was sent to me by an ingenious student who took both classes last year and incorporated the Bluebonnet and the Zinnia in 1 quilt. It always amazes me how creative my students are. Which makes teaching so much fun.
The Bluebonnet has always been a fun class. There's so many different ways that you can customize this pattern.  It is turned out really great. I will be hand dying fabric kits for all these classes.
Making the Bluebonnet.

Bluebonnet and Indian Paintbrush
 I have remade the Indian paint brush pattern to coordinate with the Bluebonnet pattern. this is a separate pattern you can purchase to go with the bluebonnet.
Bluebonnet
I thought that some of my students that have taken both of these classes in the passed, would  like to try something new. So this year were doing the Clematis flower. Which can be done in many colors, not just purple. So I'm hand dying fabric packs for this class in at least 3 different color ways. I cannot wait to see how these flowers turn out. They hopefully will be beautiful. At least in my head they are.
Clematis
Then like this isn't enough.  I have 3 Renegade Thread Play class. Yes, I said 3! What was I thinking!
This is going to be great because all 3 classes will be in the BERNINA  room. Which is my favorite sewing machine.  In this class we will go through all the techniques you need to know, to finish your flower quilts. Then all the students will receive in their kit my Fresh Picked Pansy pattern to try out these new techniques on a flower. We will only make 1 or 2 pansy flowers to practice on and then they can make the whole quilt at home.
Fresh Picked Pansy's
Hope to see you in one of my classes. If you have any question about the class supply list, please email me at: melbula@comcast.net and hopefully I can answer your questions. If you can't get in the class, I'm sorry ahead of time.  But I have no control over that process. 
You can always invite me to your guild and we can make beautiful flowers there also. 
See you soon!