And the Winner is...

The comments were thoughtful and inspiring - 117 comments over all.  I had to laugh when I read how many blog commentators thought this quilt portrayed them ;-)

AND THE WINNER IS:

Mary at themerrymermaid

Send me an email at patkumicich@me.com 

with your snail mail particulars and I will ship it out right away!

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Celebrate! - Blog Giveaway

I'm celebrating two things today.  First it's been a year since I started blogging and second Pink Saturday is celebrating its 2 year birthday.

In honor of the occasion, I made this little quilt (9.5 wide x 11 long) entitled "Celebrate!" and I'm giving it away.

All you have to do to enter the drawing is leave a comment about a celebration in your life.  Only one entry per person, please.  (If you don't have a blog with an email address available, please add your email address with your comment.)

On Monday, May 31, 2010,  5PM (EST) I will add up all the comments, put the total into a random number generator and announce the winner.

GOOD LUCK!

Lunch at the Club: A Quilt

I was invited to participate in the "An Artful Deck" a number of years ago.  I was looking at the "deck" a couple of days ago and I thought I'd share my piece of artwork with you.  This project was the brainchild of patsy Monk.  You can learn more about patsy and the project on her website.

Each artist was invited to create a quilted card from their usual art medium.  I drew the 5 of Clubs.  Can you find them?  (See below)  All the cards measured 18w x 28H - making a very eye catching display.  The exhibit travelled around the country for approximately 2 years.

"Lunch at the Club" (2004)

Answer: (sǝɥɔıʍpuɐs qnןɔ 2 puɐ ɐpos qnןɔ 'qnןɔ ʎɹʇunoɔ 'qnןɔ ɟןob)

This quilt is machine pieced, hand and machine appliqued, free motion machine quilted.  The waitress' face, bottle, glass and sandwiches were scanned into my computer and ink jet printed on cotton, enhanced with paint, stitched in place.  The beading and other embellishments were sewn by hand.   

Thank you for visiting my Pink Saturday blog!

We Are Family

I designed and made this quilt "We Are Family" in 2002.  It once hung in the dining room.  When we redecorated, it found its way into the closet.  I took it and a number of other quilts with me when I spoke at the Pelican Bay Women's League on Wednesday.  I wanted to show the ladies how my work has progressed in the last ten years.

Everyone in my immediate family (husband, children and grandchildren) traced their hands onto paper creating a template.  (Actually, I couldn't finish this piece until Abby, our youngest granddaughter, was born.) 

The entire piece is machine quilted with the exception of the heart in the center which is hand quilted. 

I made narrow piping and stitched it around each hand.  Each person's name was free machine quilted down the center of their hand.  I used a thread that nearly matched the hand's fabric.  I wanted everyone to really search the quilt to see where they were on it.

I'd forgotten how much I love this piece.  I can assure you it no longer hides in the closet!

Thanks for visiting my Pink Saturday blog.

More Transfers!

There seems to be no end to ways one can transfer an image to paper, fabric, wood, etc.

Laser Print/Citra-Solv/Rusted Fabric

Laser Print/Citra-Solv/Water Color Paper

 Citra-Solv cleaner is meant for cleaning wood, linoleum, tile - hah!  This stuff is also great for image transfer.  I thought only toner-based photocopies could be transferred with this method but found that prints from my laser printer worked.

Method: Place laser print face down onto substrate, using a foam brush, apply a light layer of Citra-Solv, burnish with spoon, brayer or bone folder.

Apollo Film/Golden Soft Gel Matte Medium/ Water Color Paper

Method: Spread a smooth layer of gel medium on substrate the size of the image to be transferred.  Place transfer film face down on medium, burnish with bone folder.

Apollo Film/Golden Liquid Matte Medium/Pima Cotton

Method:  Brush on smooth layer of liquid matte medium the size of the image to be transferred.  Place transfer film face down on medium, burnish with bone folder.

Matte Photo Paper/Golden Gel Matte Medium/Pima Cotton

Method: Print on photo paper, spread matte medium directly on image.  Place image side down on cotton; burnish well and let dry over night.  Once dry,  dampen paper with water and rub gently until all paper residue peels off.  Allow to dry.

Matte Photo Paper/Golden Gel Matte Medium

Method: Print on photo paper, spread thin layer matte medium directly on image.  Let dry.  Repeat twice more let dry between coats.  Once dry, soak paper in water and rub gently until all paper residue peels off.  Allow to dry.  This transfer can be adhered to another surface using matte medium.  (See below)

Matte Photo Paper Transfer/Brown Paper/Acrylic Paint

DASS Film/DASS SuperSauce/Brown Paper/Acrylic Paint

Pro Chemical Disperse Dye/Cotton-Poly

Method:  Transfer dyes are used by first applying color to non-absorbent paper, allowing the paper to dry and then transferring the color to a synthetic fabric by pressing with an iron.  The pink background shape  was transferred in this way.  (Black and green elements were machine appliqued over top.)

Sheer Heaven/Acrylic Paint/Water Color Paper

Method: Sheer Heaven coated with acrylic paint - let dry, spritz Sheer Heaven with 70% isopropyl alcohol, transfer to water color paper 

This Won't Hurt...

How many times have you heard this just before the nurse gave you a shot?  Here's Florence wielding a very large, scary needle - do you think it will hurt?

She's sitting on a stool which was crafted out of a cardboard core and cereal box

Ceramic tile adhesive was spread over the entire stool.  Once dry, it was painted with gold paint.  Vintage medical dictionary pages were glued in place around the center.

Since Florence is new to nursing, she researched the proper way to give an injection.  The book was made in Photoshop Elements 8.0

The nurse's cap is made of card stock; uniform fashioned from scrap fabric and machine embroidered cross; an infant's oral medicine syringe complete the ensemble.

She was fun to make and I hope made you smile.  Thanks for visiting my Pink Saturday blog.

Image Transfer - The Saga Continues

I'm having a lot of fun experimenting with different image transfer techniques.  These are pictures of  flowers growing in my yard.

Materials: 8x8 stretched canvas, gesso, DASS transfer film, DASS SuperSauce

Technique: gesso canvas, apply DASS SuperSauce, transfer image

Note:  This is my favorite result thus far.  On close examination one can see some air bubbles in the print, this is my fault.  This is new to me, so further practice is needed.

Materials: painter's unprimed canvas, TAP (transfer artist paper)

Technique: inkjet print image on TAP, transfer image using household iron

Note:   did not work (for me) on canvas - a lot of the ink did not transfer - the hand of the fabric is very rough

Materials: pima cotton, TAP (transfer artist paper)

Technique: inkjet print image on TAP, transfer image using household iron

Note:   this image is much clearer - all of the ink transferred in just a few seconds.  Next time I will trim more of the white edge off before transferring it - it's hard to see here, but it does show up on the white pima

Materials: Lutrador, TAP (transfer artist paper)

Technique: inkjet print image on TAP, transfer image using household iron

Note:   it appears that the image did not transfer well but that's because of the texture of the Lutrador.  Actually, the print came out quite well.  Again, I would trim more of the white edge off.

Materials:  Strathmore Iron-On Transfer Sheets, pima cotton

Technique:  inkjet print image on transfer sheet, transfer image using household iron

Note:  surprisingly,  this paper looks and feels identical to TAP - but as you can see here my results are very different.  Whereas, it took a very short time to transfer the TAP image with a hot iron, the directions on the Strathmore read 2-3 minutes of constant movement with a hot iron.  My arm was tired before the stated time was up and most of the ink stayed on the paper!  I did it twice - neither result is satisfactory

Materials:  Strathmore Iron-On Transfer Sheets, Lutrador

Technique:  inkjet print image on transfer sheet, transfer image using household iron

Note:  the transferred image is on left - again disappointing results!

Materials: Ink-Aid white matte precoat, pima cotton 

Technique:  Apply one or two coats InkAid to pima cotton (let dry thoroughly between coats).  I only applied one coat of InkAid on this sample.  Inkjet print directly on pima cotton

Note:  The top print is fabulous!  I only show the second one because at first I was really disappointed with the printed results - then I realized the print heads were clogged.  Once I "cleaned" the print heads, the results were dramatically different.  I printed on the reverse side of the cotton - waste not, want not!!

The hand of the fabric is much like that using DASS film and Purell hand sanitizer.

You may have different results with these materials and techniques.  I'm looking forward to experimenting some more!

Gone To Shell in a Hand Basket

I found some great shells on the beach this morning!

A Case of the Dizzies: A Quilt

Inspiration comes from many places.  In this case, my husband's vertigo was the source.  He would say "I've got the dizzies this morning."  That got me to thinking...

The green represents that sick feeling one gets in their stomach while dizzy.  The wide rickrack trim is Pepto Bismol pink.   The black and white swirls create the illusion of the dizzies, of course!  At one time, my husband could not look at this quilt.  Now it hangs in the den where he spends most of his time!

detail shot

I'd like to know what inspires you.

Thank you for visiting my Pink Saturday blog post!