These are the projects that I completed for my Sulky Online Teacher Certification Continuing Education Course in November of 2016. I am now certified by Sulky to use the materials and teach the classed connected with these two projects.
This online class was offered by Sulky through
craft online university. I learned many new techniques and it gave me confidence to try new things. It also taught me a lot about the Sulky products. I do like the
KK2000 temporary adhesive spray. It loots like a small can but it is really concentrated and goes a long way. They say it is even save to use inside. Thank you to Sulky for providing this opportunity.
The vase of flowers started with a blank piece of white fabric. The base image was created with regular crayons. I have already played with this technique further with my 3 year old grandson. It provides many possibilities and the problem I have with taking a course like this is seeing so many new ways to do things with the techniques. This piece is also an exercise in letting go. The snips of cloth are supposed to land randomly but I did help them fall in the right places. It was fun to build the image on top of the crayon drawing.
I do like the way this piece turned out. I don't know if I will ever teach a class on this project but I know I will use the techniques and I am also glad to know more about the Sulky products that I used to complete it. I have a couple of my own photos that I plan to use for similar projects once we get past the fast approaching holidays.
The second project is one of four panels to be used to hang your own calendar. It is the orange flower to the right. When finished for a calendar holder it would have button holes at the bottom to use for attaching the calendar. Later this year I plan on during a blog or video on ways to mount or hang a small quilted piece. I have some idea for this one. The piece added to my appliqué skills, taught me to do a thread weaving and added couching to my repertoire. I was surprised how easy the couching was and it made me try out some additional features on my new Brother machine.
For my birthday in December, my daughter gave me the "Welcome" hanger shown below. It has given this wall hanging a permanent place by our front door. This is the last blog draft that was waiting to finish from 2016 onto the blogs of 2017.
The spring fabric burst from the shipping bag with excitement. They joined other fabrics on the work table. The brown tones had been pushed to the back of the table when the Christmas projects began. They were afraid that they would now be sent to 'the stash' never to be seen again. The blue tones on the table were happy to hear the next challenge was for flowers that needed a 'Carolina Blue' sky. Two shades of blue batiks were cut into strips and brought to "the Brother" machine. The strips were cut and staggered like rain in the sky. The challenge was to create a quilt with Carolina Lilies. The lilies were appliquéd on the Carolina Blue sky.
The finished size of this wall hanging is 23" wide x 21" tall and was made in Webster, NY by Ed the Sewing Husband. Since Ed lived in NC for a few years he knew there had to be a Carolina Blue sky. The green stems were added to the sky. A blanket stitch on either side of the stem added texture. The leaves on the lilies are snippets from the Sulky project blogged about earlier. Orange flower pedals were appliquéd and fabric paint added the spots on the flowers. Free motion quilting was added to look like rain falling on the lilies. Into each life some rain must fall. From this rain springs beautiful flowers. In this case the flowers are Carolina Lilies.
The exciting thing about doing this challenge is that it brings me back to my original goals in quilting. I have spent the last year on my skill set. I am excited to get back to art quilts. With the Brother Dream machine I can add embroidery and many other details. This is the beginning of a new chapter in my quilting journey. Thanks to Kim for this push in the right direction.
