APPLIQUE PAINTBOX-I LOVE APPLIQUE

IN WHICH I CONTINUE WITH MY INKTENSE JOURNEY WHILE THE 100 YEAR RAINS POUR FROM THE SKY

I hang out on Pinterest a lot.  I found the idea for the above Mandala design there.  I love the repeating elements and the inktense pencil colors are so vivid.  When I make these painted pieces, I first draw them, then transfer the drawing to a high thread count cotton, prepared for dyeing, fabric-tho simply washing a piece of fabric prepares it for dyeing.  The fabric finish just needs to be removed.  Then the piece is quilted.  On this one, I wanted some darker lines and some finer lines.  The darker lines were stitched over about 4 times with the black thread while the fine lines were sewn once.  Here is the quilted piece before coloring.  

The piece below has been quilted but not painted yet.  I am no sure what I want to do with it .  The drawing is from Dover Publications-a great source of copyright free designs.  I like it for the detail and because of it's faintly Jacobean English appearance.  By the way, the four legged creature is a dog, not a deer.  

Here is another piece painted with the Derwent inktense pencils.  The inspiration for this design was Russian leatherworking patterns.  They adapt really well to this medium.

Lastly, the latest and greatest of Helen Godden's BOM Alice in Wonderland.  Isn't this just so fun and cheerful!  It measures 12x28.  Her BOM uses Jacquard Lumiere acrylic paints which are pearlescent and so alive.  I am especially proud of my color blending on the background and the flamingo.  

I will begin quilting it this afternoon then head back to my worktable and my beloved inktense paints. Quilting these blocks which are already painted is pretty nerve wracking especially as these are quilted with black thread.  Further, any stitches leave holes in the painted fabric so if one makes a mistake and wants to remove the quilting stitches, big ugly holes remain.  I removed some really bad stitching on one of these blocks thinking....Well, I will just paint over the holes to cover them up-but no....this does not work--the holes still remain.  So all your flaws as well as beautiful work will be there for the world to see. Oh well...........

AND NOW

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

(to calm you in our increasingly insane world)

A beautiful photo of an egret by Douglas Croft

HAPPY STITCHING (AND PAINTING) UNTIL WE MET AGAIN!

I am linking up with:

Slow Stitching Sunday, Bambi's Blog, Making Monday,  Em's Scrapbag, Esther's Wow, 

Midweek Makers, Whoop Whoop, Finish or Not!, and Off the Wall Friday.