Saturday, September 19, 2009

Lovely batik scraps

From Chris Gray, I received a parcel with wonderful small batik pieces.
They are so beautiful that I wrote to Chris, I have inhibitions to cut into them, but she wrote back: "just get the scissors and go for it!"

Okay. I started with korak tiles which I can arrange and connect in the way of collecting, neither planning how large it will be in the end, nor which fabrics I'll find to make the backing and frame. I arranged the pieces on the red fabric which I cut about 2" larger than the final tile. I wrapped the edges twice towards the inside of the square and used small stitches to connect the parts. Again, this is hand-sewn from the front. This is a very good method for a quilt-as-you-go project.


And there is something else to show.

Judi Hurwitt has a beautiful photo of a hummingbird in her blog.
She kindly gave me the permission to use it as a template. I did this drawing and then one with a textile felt tip pen on t-shirt fabric. This was not such a good idea, the drawing did not turn out exactly as I wanted it to be. It is clumsy and awful, compared with the paper version. The fabric gave in to the pen movements, a not very satisfying result. But here it is, ironed and framed with a dark green fabric. I started quilting it.








T-shirt fabric is amazingly tough and resists my hand quilting; I think I'll not use that stuff again which is a shame because it reacts well on lino printing. Too bad it is so unpleasant to hand quilt.

8 comments:

jude said...

fabric has its own personality. a whole list of different characters.
you should put a few of those tiles in the shop. i think they are great!

Deb G said...

Have you seen the Alabama Chanin things. They do a lot of hand stitching on knit fabrics. I think a really sharp needle is needed.

Here's a link if you want to look:

http://alabamachanin.com/collections/fabric

Judy said...

I have the Alabama Chanin stitch book that Deb wrote of (above), and it is great. I love to do hand stitching on cotton jersey.....maybe you just need to give it more time?
I love that little hummer that you've done! and those batiks are fabulous!

xo

Eva said...

Deb, these fabrics are so amazing! Who on earth can do this and get payed decently?
Judy, maybe I really have to find the trick.

ArtSparker said...

It has the same inquiring attitude on the fabric.

kartika said...

Thank you for stopping by - you are an amazing artist! I absolutely love your work and this blog and will follow you! Kartika

Unknown said...

Eva, I'm so sorry that I lost track of this, I wish I had seen it when it went up! Your sketch of my hummer is absolutely lovely, well done! You do the little guy justice. :D

I understand your t-shirt fabric woes, however- it is very tough stuff- but I think your rendering of the hummer takes on a real whimsy in that version that feels fitting. :D

Adorable design!!

(Thanks to Martha for the head's up!) :D

Paula said...

Your Hummingbird is beautiful!!!! I just found you and I will follow you. Your art is great, I like what you are doing.