Showing posts with label Gunnel Hag. Show all posts

Thursday, October 19, 2023

FMQ Journal Covers at Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 452 of Free Motion Mavericks. I have finally done some Free Motion Quilting (FMQ), but not on my niece's quilt yet. These were fun squirrels that I pursued for the upcoming Fall Fling marketplace with Out Of The Box (OOTB) Fibre Artists.

Making Journal Covers

The Fall Fling is like our Spring Fibre Fling except that everything on exhibit is for sale. I've been slowly getting ready for this event and am finally ready. Here are my first two finished journal covers.

Blue and Green Journal Covers

The fabric for these first two covers is made by Gunnel Hag, a Canadian textile artist. Every once in a while, I go to her Etsy shop and treat myself to a couple of pieces of fabric. They are always colourful and fun.

I also bought very thick journals to go in the journal covers. They are as close to a hand-made look as it gets and have lovely scalloped page edges. I also love the fabric that I used for the lining. If they don't sell, I will be very happy to keep them, although I have so many journals already 😁

The inside of the blue journal with one of my favourite fabrics

The inside fabric of this journal is a green ombre with purple, pink and blue dots. I used the dark green part for the lining.

The fun ombre fabric lining with purple, pink and blue dots.

Here are photos that show the FMQ on the journal covers.

The blue fabric was very difficult to FMQ and I should have listened to my intuition when it told me that I shouldn't follow the lines of the diamonds. It's a good thing that I started on one end so that when it didn't work out, I moved over and quilted in a spiral. It also helped that I used dark blue thread, so it doesn't show up much.

FMQ the diamond patterns in a spiral shape

Front of the journal cover

Back of the journal cover

I did, more or less, follow the shapes in this crazy ribbon shaped fabric. I started with a turquoise/brown variegated thread that looked quite good. About halfway through, I stitched around the brighter yellow/green with a bright lime green thread. I then finished up with the original variegated thread.

The FMQ on the green journal cover

The front FMQ of the journal cover

FMQ the pink journal covers

For the next two journal covers, I chose one of my own hand-dyed pink fabric.

Two pink journal covers

For the first journal cover, I FMQ it with just the top fabric and batting. I've done this before without an issue, but this time, there was a huge drag. I even checked to make sure that I had lowered the feed dogs. Yup, they were down, so for the second cover, I added a backing fabric. That really helped.

FMQ pink fabric with a meandering flower

FMQ with the batting at the back

For something different on the second journal, I did some vertical FMQ. In the image, you can see my practice page. I went through my FMQ journal to find some designs that would be easy to do vertically.

Vertical FMQ designs with practice sheet

Here are my two FMQ journal covers.

First pink journal cover with Meandering Flowers

Second pink journal cover with vertical designs

When I did my second pink journal cover, I remembered to stitch my label before I put the whole thing together. I was so proud of myself, until I realised that I had sewn it inside the journal cover! It's a good thing that I was able to fold and sew it back out. 😓Aren't the lining fabrics gorgeous?

I was able to stitch the label again so that it peaks out!

Poster for Fall Fling 2023 Marketplace

I have a total of 11 pieces for sale in Fall Fling. Most of them you've seen before, but I will show more of them on Instagram. I'll check to see if I've blogged about each of them. If not, I'll include them soon in a post.

What I learned

Making a quilted journal cover is always a little tricky because most journals are not the same size. It's not complicated, but since I am accuracy challenged, I really have to be extra careful.
My first journal cover, the blue one, was a little tight because of the thickness of the journal. I thought that I had added extra space for that, but not quite enough. It looks fine, but the green one fits the journal much better.
For the pink fabric, I knew that the fabric would be tight, but it did work out. At least this journal is thin, so no extra fabric needed for that!
For the FMQ, as I mentioned earlier, I knew that I shouldn't try following the diamonds, but I just couldn't help it. After a few inches, I knew that I needed a plan B - so a spiral it was. It's always a great go-to when you want movement in your design. I balanced the wonky diamonds by adding a few on the other side of the fabric. I was lucky that I had more than enough fabric, so only an inch or so shows up on the journal cover.
I'm also lucky that I used a navy thread that blended in well.
I feel like I should explain my bizarre thread choice for the green journal cover. I ended up using a turquoise/brown variegated thread because the top of the fabric has some subtle turquoise where the green and blue paint has blended. After making the first journal cover with the blending thread, I wanted a little bit of pop. Adding the bright lime green thread in areas was a good idea.
I was so proud of myself for finally remembering to add my label before I sewed the journal cover together. I could have pulled it out, but since the label is quite long, I was able to fold it and stitch it down so that it shows.
I love my choices of lining fabric. I believe that it adds a lot to the look of the journal cover.
I was also surprised that FMQ without a backing cause so much drag. Adding a piece of fabric as a backing for the second pink journal cover did the trick!

Free Motion Mavericks

Last week Donnalee's oldest daughter came for a visit and some quilting lessons and practice. How wonderful that mother and daughter have the same passion! Here are a couple of her finished projects.

Table topper and runner by Donnalee's daughter

Gail has been busy pattern testing this lovely quilt for her friend. If you go to the original post, there is a link to the pattern.

Starry Path made by Gail

It's now your turn!

Sunday, April 10, 2022

Journal Cover for Quilting Agenda

Hi! This project is a Squirrel as well as a useful way to procrastinate. More about the procrastination later 😊

Mark Making

I'm always nervous about working with paint but the few times that I've painted on fabric, the results were interesting and relatively successful for a beginner. I've been using Colour Vie pigment system which was created for Gunnel Hag, a amazing artist who became allergic to the paints she needed to create her surface designed fabrics. She's a Canadian artist who spoke at one of our Out Of The Box Textile Artists' group a few years ago. I've bought a few pieces of her fabric and made my last agenda journal cover with one of those pieces. When I saw that she had a couple of online courses, I tried out the "Make your mark" course.

Finished agenda cover

I started by painting the first piece of fabric. I was hoping to get some nice purple where the blue and red meet but that didn't work out so well. Once it had dried a little bit, I added marks on top.

There was a bit of paint on the plastic underneath the fabric, so I imprinted the next piece of fabric with it and then started making various marks. You can see below a square jar that has elastics and cord around it. Those are the marks on the fabric.

Paint and marks

Making marks using the jar wrapped with cord

This was my second piece. I used an assortment of items to make the marks - a fork, a potato masher, the bottom of a plastic container, lids etc. I did figure out a few things that will make my next practice pieces better.

Marks on the fabric

Adding stitches

I've been using a perpetual agenda since January 2020 but I was running out of pages. Here it is, made from Gunnel Hag's fabric.

Agenda cover made from Gunnel Hag's fabric

You can understand why I was reluctant to switch agenda's. I could have re-used the cover but I want to keep the agenda the way it is. It seems to be an integral part of it and was used a great deal in the last two years.

I wondered if I should over-paint the piece but decided to see what adding thread would do. Instead of free motion quilting (FMQ) the whole panel, I only quilted what I needed and was able to use the extra pieces for the inside of the cover.

FMQ fabric

I used four different variegated threads to quilt it. I looked through my FMQ journal to find designs to play with. It was great re-visiting the designs - some of which I haven't used in quite a while.

I measured many times and the journal cover came together without any issues. I used Christina Cameli's Free Motion Quilted Gifts on Craftsy.

Front of the Agenda

The sides of the cover are made with the extra fabric that wasn't FMQ

Back of the cover

You can see the whole agenda cover here.

Front of the agenda with the elastic

I really love it. It went from a simple design on the fabric to something much more complex. That is a very good lesson to learn! 😊

Procrastinating

My first procrastination is in writing this post instead of starting to fill in my new 2022 quilting agenda. I'm almost afraid to see everything that I have going on in the next two months. That is why I made the cover....but it's going to be hectic!

My second procrastination is from working on my next slow stitching project that will be in the ArtPontiac show. I think that it's been over a year since I last worked on it. This is the last photo that I found of it, but there is more done (thank goodness!) More about this piece soon I hope!

Beaded and embroidered piece on biodiversity

What I learned

As I mentioned, adding the FMQ was essentially over-painting with thread. That means that making simple designs with paint can lead to some lovely, more complex fabrics.
When I added the paint to the mark-making items, I should have used a brayer or some other way of adding an even layer of paint on the objects. There's nothing wrong with uneven marks but it might look more professional if it was even. This would be especially good for items like the potato masher.
It would be great to make another journal cover, but this time to actually plan where the marks would go. I wish that I could have put the large circles at the front of the cover, although they are interesting on the spine.

Related links

Gunnel Hag, Make Your Mark On-demand workshop, Colour Vie
Free Motion Quilted Gifts on Craftsy with Christina Cameli
Post about other FMQ journals

Making a journal cover with practice piece, December 14, 2019 (My first one)
Finishing up One Monthly Goal - OMG, January 31, 2020 (Agenda cover)
Free Motion Mavericks, February 06, 2020 (A production of quilted journal covers)
I heart Project Quilting, February 09, 2020

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun parties. Let's see what's going on! Patchwork & Quilts, Slow Sunday Stitching, Off the Wall Friday, Put Your Foot Down, Beauties Pageant, Peacock Party, Monday Making,

Design Wall Monday,

Project details

2022 Quilting Agenda cover

5¾" x 8½"

Materials: Fabric marked with Colour Vie, variegated thread

Techniques: mark making, FMQ and sewing

Sunday, April 01, 2018

March finishes and April beginnings

I've had a great time with a friend. A weekend full of playing, gabbing and eating. Of course the playing involved textile - and even paint!

Colour Vie Pigment System

In the fall, Gunnel Hag was a guest speaker at the September Out of the Box meeting. She is a textile artist who became allergic to commercial dies. She worked with a company to develop the Colour Vie Pigment System which is water-based and eco-friendly. I bought a starter set at the meeting and was hoping to visit my girlfriend, the artist, to try these out. Well my girlfriend is visiting this weekend and we've been playing with Colour Vie.

We did some experimenting with the colours and this is my practice fabric. I think I'm really going to like making marks with Colour Vie.

Trying out and making marks with Colour Vie

Do you remember the FMQ project below from my Learning Quilt-Along ? Lyne and I have started painting little bits of it. It's pretty slow going.

The back of the wholecloth quilt

The blank canvas that we are painting :-)

The painting is coming along. I'll share this with you in a future post.

Starry Bright Sky - Block 3, Origami

For our third month, Alida had us create a star with fabric doing origami.

Origami star

Free-Motion Challenge Quilting Along

I've joined Angela Walter's Free-Motion Challenge Quilting Along. I've missed a few weeks but hope to catch up, or just to do them when I can. I was hoping to make a quick Quilt-as-you-go quilt based on Angela's suggested quilt top, but that's not going to happen. I am doing a Quilt-as-you-go technique but only with solid blocks.

Every week Angela presents two FMQ techniques. Week 6, when I started, was Machine Quilting Wavy Lines & Serpentines.

Wavy lines block

Back of the wavy line block

I've been drawing the serpentine block for a couple of days. This one is very difficult for me.

One Monthly Goal

I'm hoping to finish my Postcard from Sweden quilt top by the end of the month. Technically it needs to be ready for April 3rd and then quilted by April 11th, but that's only 10 days away....so who knows.

I do have a more recent picture of what is done so far.

April OMG -

Postcard from Sweden quilt top

Great news! Susan of Midweek Makers featured my quilt top on her colourful quilts to herald spring! Thanks Susan 😊

Fibre Fling 7

Fibre Fling 7

To-Do Tuesday: This week I have to finish getting ready for Fibre Fling 7.

I have two quilt labels to sew on the back of my quilts and I have to prepare the bags to delivery the quilts in.

What I learned

I really enjoyed making different marks on the practice fabric with Colour Vie. The medium is really great to work with.
However, painting all of those really small sections of my wholecloth quilt reminds me too much of the paint-by-number that I ruined when I was a kid. There was no way that I was using more than one brown to paint the ceiling of the Last Supper!
There are a lot of very fiddly little areas to paint (like the paint-by-number), although I least I get to choose my own colours.
The Starry Bright Ski Origami block was very difficult to make. I learned years ago that I don't do origami! That's my son's strength, so I did the first part of the folding and he completed it.
I am looking forward to doing some of Alida's extra textured 3-D blocks.
I'm really enjoying Angela Walter's videos of FMQ designs. I've always had problems with "S" curves, which she calls serpentines. I'm sure that if I practice them enough that I'll get them. I start off well but eventually the echoing either starts getting flat or too curly 😊
I decided that since I'm starting the FMQ challenge late, that I would do a quilt-as-you-go quilt. It's going to be fairly simple, and I can join each quilted block (of different pinks and purples) once I'm done.
I'm following Jera Brandvig's instructions in Quilt As-You-Go Made Modern, for joining the blocks.