GelPrinting Challenge

During March I took part in a gel printing challenge organised on Instagram by Birgit Koopsen.

It was quite time consuming (in a nice way!) so I tended to do three or four days at a time just in case I wasn't able to do a day.   We were also away for part of the month at our caravan so I took loads of stuff with me but of course as all you crafters will know, despite taking loads of stuff, there is always one or two things, or even more, that you should have included!

I enjoyed the whole process and learnt so much on the way thanks to Birgit who not only posted each day with us but also included videos many days which gave me loads of new ideas and techniques.

I did three or four prints for each day so now have well over a hundred A5 sized prints.  I decided to get a scrapbook to keep many of the prints to inspire me in the future so as soon as I get started, I will share it.

I also decided to print a fabric piece each day and make postcards.  I've done the first few days and have nearly finished stitching the rest - some on the machine and some by hand - so I will have to have a day of finishing off.   I might well send them to people I hope will appreciate them.

Just to give you an idea of what I did here's a compilation of the 15 'best' ones.   I'll get together some compilations of each day and post them in a few days.

You can also see the whole collection on my Instagram account @lccreatingchaos.

February JQ

For my February Journal Quilt I continued my journey around the colour wheel, moving from red to red and orange.  It's not strictly on the wheel but a combination of two colours suits my plan for this year rather than the accepted red-orange.

I started with a piece of the same red fabric I used in January, placing it on the corner slightly to one side and used different width strips in a combination of plain orange and red fabric as well as some orange fabric I printed with red fabric paint using bubble wrap on a gelli plate.  I also put in some extra folded strips of red for accent.

It's the quilting of the finished block that always gets me stumped and this was no exception.  In the end I opted for quilting in the ditch on each strip as well as free machine quilting in a bubble pattern on the plain orange strips using an orange, red and yellow variegated thread.

The finished quilt was then bound with some fabric that had also been printed with the bubble wrap.

Once again I found the second print was better than the first but I think this is because I was putting too much paint on the gelli plate - this must be a difference between fabric paint and the acrylic paint I normally use - so next time I will be more sparing with the paint.

What am I up to at the moment?

I've been busy recently creating lovely little things to sell at a craft fair I have booked in August.  Sadly that hasn't left me much time for creating my textile art.

However, I am very pleased with the things I have made which include several items using cover buttons using vintage and vintage-style fabrics.   There are buttons, hair clips and bookmarks.

 



There are also some brooches, some made from felt - both needle made and wet made - and some from fabric.

I've also made some heart hangings which incorporate a lightly stuffed heart mounted on a decopatch covered board and include a 'heart' saying such as "Home is where the heart is" and  "A heart that loves is always young".

I also have some textile art that I have previously made so I will also be including them.

 

 

Many of these items can be found on my Folksy shop, Created  by Lynn.   I also have a page on Facebook under the same name.

Postcard Swap

One thing I did over the summer was organise a postcard swap with some friends. I was 'volunteered' to do it and chose the theme "A Day Out" which I thought was quite wide and would suit everyone.

I wanted to try out a method Angie Hughes used in her book "Stitch, Cloth, Paper and Paint". It starts with calico soaked in PVA glue and adding lace and paper for further texture. Machine stitches were then added in slanting lines to create the feeling of grasses moving, and finally the whole thing was painted with acrylic.

I have been amazed at the roadside flowers this year - there have been so many you can't fail to have see them and be inspired. I added snippets of lace and fabric as well as hand embroidery before making them into fabric postcards.

I'm not totally happy with the results and as I only posted them yesterday, I haven't had any feedback from the recipients. I think the painting is a bit too heavy and I should have varied the colour a bit .

I've since done a Journal Quilt based on the same idea which I will post when I have had my sort out.

Easter Postcard Swap

I took part in an Easter Postcard Swap with a group of friends and felt inspired to create something akin to a Faberge egg. I started out layering several layers of glitzy fabric with the intention of quilting a grid over it and cutting away the various layers to show the different fabrics underneath. It didn't quite come out as I intended and not wanting to waste the fabric (and the time it had taken to quilt the grid) I was determined to make use of the prepared fabric. I put different coloured foils over the top of the fabric and liking the result I added the beads and sequins to give it a real sparkly, glamour look. I then appliqued the egg shapes on to a neutral background and added the "Happy Easter" greeting. Et Voila!

Just two of the eight that I made. All similar of the same theme.

More postcards

I've been having a clean out and found some half made fabric postcards so I finished them and will probably put them on my Folksy store. I've neglected it recently and feel the need to go back and try again.

They were made with some scraps of blue batik fabric that I had left over from a quilt I made last year.

Christmas Postcard Swap

Once again I took part in a swap of Christmas Fabric Postcards and received the following cards from Jayne, Mavis, Jan and Jacquie .

They are all so different which is part of the fun of swapping. Each time I take part in these swaps I get excited planning my design and then waiting for them to drop through my door.

Thank you so much to each of you for swapping - looking forward to the next one.

Birthday postcards

Had to take a break from the EmbellishStitchEnrich work this weekend as i had to get some Postcards made for some upcoming birthdays. I suppose it wasn't much of a break as I embellished sari silk for the background and added hand stitching and buttons to finish.

Icicle Postcards

Following on from my previous post, I've used the photos of icicles around my house to make some postcards for a Trading Fabric Postcard swap.

I used the photos which I printed on to fabric. My original intention was to just use the photo and add highlights in some way but I found the actual icicles too small to be able to add anything without it looking a mess. I therefore decided to just use strips of the photo and added strips of angelina fibres, fabric with added foil 'hot spots' and toning fabric.

Although they aren't quite as I had originally imagined, I am pleased with the way they come out so I home the recipiants will enjoy them. Two are bound for the UK, one for USA and one for Australia.

Thanks to the snow!

Thanks to the snow I've had more time at home to create!

I've finished a set of fabric postcards for a swap I'm taking part in on Fun Friendly. Encouraged by my results with the foils, I decided to try some more. The theme of the swap is "January is ...." and as my main thoughts in January is to get rid of the left over Christmas food, my thoughts turned to that subject. Due to serious dieting I was even more keen to get the food out of the house as soon as possible!

With food, in particular chocolate, in mind, I incorporated some foil wrapping from various chocolates that had been consumed over Christmas as well as some that just had to be eaten to get rid of them.

The background fabric this time was some cotton I dyed last summer, plus layers of foil, sweety wrappers, fabrics and organza. I think I was a bit too heavy handed while iron the fabric to the vilene and backing as I think just a bit too much of the organza has been "zapped". The bead stew was fun creating from various pots of beads and sequins but a more more tedious when it can to stitching them all on.

All I need now is for the snow to go so I can get to the Post Office!

Christmas Postcard Swap

A few weeks I wrote about the christmas postacard swap I had done with three other members of Greenstede Quilters. I wanted to share the three postacards I got in the swap as I think they illustrate just how different fabric postacrds can be.

The first one was made by Val and is her first ever swap. The photo doesn't really show up the really neat hand stitching all around the applique.

the second one was made by Jacquie and incorporated some fabric painting.

The final one was made by Jayne - buttons do it for me!

Thanks to all three of you for swapping. We must do it again sometime!

Birth Postcards

When each of our granddaughters were born I made fabric postcards for family members as a way of celebrating their births. This was mainly because both of their mothers are quilters and I didn't get a look in on making them quilts. With the arrival of our new grandson in November, I've again made postcards to celebrate his birth. Each of the postcards are a little bigger than normal as they are approximately 7" x 5" but as I needed to get photo and information on them, I gave myself permission to do so. Here are the postcards for each grandchild.

Major update

Thought it was time to get some photos on this blog so I'm catching up with the Christmas Cards and Quilt that I mentioned in my last blog.


A challenge was sent out at Greenstede Quilters, the group I belong to in East Grinstead, to take part in a Christmas fabric postcard swap. Only four of us put themselves up for this challenge so well done to Jayne (who organised the swap), Jacquie and Val. As it was such a small group we all made one for each other.


I decided to have a go at making "inchies" for my postcards. I used a Christmas fabric which I bonded to both sides of some pelmet vilene for the background. I then free machine quilted over the fabric in a swirly pattern. I then cut up in to 1" x 1" squares and zig-zagged around the edges before adding beads and sequins to finish. For the postcard background I first printed some gold stars over some red Christmassy fabric and again free machine quilted, adding some star shapes to a random swirl. I finished the top by adding three of the Inchies in a row.

I also used the same Inchies for my christmas Cards this year but they were all sent before I thought about photographing them!

I have been busy!

So long since my last blog but I have been busy with various projects. I've made loads of fabrics postcards, may of which have been sent without me taking photos! Here are a few though which did get last minute photos taken. They both look very similar in the photos but in reality they were different. Yet again I've used by Needle Felt machine to incorporate fabric, felt, fibres and threads and added buttons for embellishments. These were sent to my friends Jacquie and Jayne for their birthdays.

I'm also taking part in a Birthday Card Swap with Yahoo group Trading Fabric Postcards and these are two that I sent recently. They were collages of different lace and shiny fabrics all kept in place with netting with buttons added.

Also been busy working on christmas cards and finishing a mystery quilt for my quilt group so as soon as I have photos, I will add them.

Time to catch up

I can't believe how long it is since my last blog. That's what happens when a working girl goes back to work!

I have had some creative moments in between time, mainly taking part in postcard swaps.

The first was "Primary Colours". I've always enjoyed working in primary colours. When I look back over the years, when I'm stuck for ideas I resort to wokring in these three colours. I added in the black to give some good contrast. They'll be in the post tomorrow so I hope they are enjoyed by their recipients.

The second group of postcards was for a swap entitled "Old Victorian Style". As I had some Victorian photos of some family members, I decided to include them in the designs, printing the photos on to fabric and incorporating ribbon, buttons and lace.

The final group was a swap called "Opposites Attract". I have to admit I was a bit stumped for ideas when I first saw the title but then there was mentioned black/white so I went with this theme. I had some fabric which I bought some time ago as I was attracted to a black/white theme and as some of the fabric had circles and some had lines, I thought this was another 'opposite' too. I resisted the urge to add some colour!