crafty mcgee

Flying Squirrel Jamboree!

After last week's little adventure, it was a real treat to have a project turn out exactly the way I planned. Here's the fabric I printed up for Bethany's fat quarter swap. The base is gocco printed, and the colored dots are from a sacrificed sponge brush. I've always found it a little tricky to print fabric with the gocco - the fabric tends to stick, and you have to put consistent pressure on the stamp printer to get the image even. But then I had a real light bulb over the head moment -

my knitting blocking board! I lay down a couple layers of newspaper, pin the fabric down, and stamp away! The board is made of fabric, so it has just enough give that the image always comes out even. Another plus, it's 48" wide, so it's simple to print an entire yard of fabric lengthwise. To finish the width, I just slide out the top layer of newspaper and move the fabric. It's the perfect printing surface. I love it when I find multiple uses for things. I've always felt a tad guilty for buying that board, since I only use it a few times a year. This will no longer be the case!

And because the gocco is so great, I was able to clean off the screen and print up some more colorful cards. The fabric ink doesn't come in so many colors, and I really wanted the graphic element of the circle in the fabric design. So far, the only other fabric I've seen for this swap is Mimi's (you need to scroll down a bit), but if hers is any indication, some great stuff is on the way!

What should I call this post?

Maybe...."Think Fast"; "The Importance of Contingency Planning"; "Holy @#$*/!"; "Adventures in Chemistry"? It's so hard to choose, they all apply. So here was the top of the quilt - finished.

Looks good, no? But not old enough.

I sacrificed a pot of coffee (decaf) and soaked the top for about an hour. Then....(insert ominous music here)

Like I said, holy *^$@<! The background fabric looked fine, but everything that had Stitch Witchery behind it stained, and sucked up the coffee like dye. After my initial shock, and disgust with my need to be a smart aleck, I did wonder whether or not the reaction would have been the same if I'd used cold coffee - but I don't think I'm curious enough about it to do an experiment. After an afternoon with a sponge brush and a bottle of bleach, I had this:

Well, that wouldn't do, so after a couple of washings and some fabric paint I ended up with something I really liked, and finished it up.

I am sorry that the pretty patterns I picked out got lost, but now it looks really, truly old, and like it has a good story to tell. The amazing part is that I'm finished on time, in spite of a very hot day when nothing got done, and what shall now be known as "the coffee incident". I hope my swapee likes it, I know that some folks don't appreciate my "creativity".

"....found at the the bottom of an old cupboard"

In an attempt to get back into the swing of things, I joined Round 2 of the Doll Quilt Swap. The phrase above is how my secret swap partner (I'm pretty sure she doesn't visit my blog) described the kind of quilt she likes. Also "not too keen on brights". So a challenge for me!

The quilt pictured above has probably spent its share of time in the bottom of a cupboard, but it's actually just a very old baby quilt that's been in my family since before my birth way back when. I have not manipulated the photo in any way, it looks exactly like this. I'm using it as a point of reference for my quilt. I don't have (and couldn't find) any suitably old-looking fabrics, so I used beautiful, vibrant Japanese prints from the great "Petit Pattern"  books (I'm the proud owner of the whole series), washed them out in Photoshop, and printed them on some Printed Treasures inkjet fabric. Here's what I made:

Another unmanipulated picture...you think they are pale enough? Here's a start of the quilt -

I have a few other cunning plans to make it look even older. It has to be mailed in about a week, so check back soon for the final product. I'm also really excited about joining Bethany's fabric swap, which also has to be done soon. And I'm still doing admin duties for A Month of Softies and this month's theme is "Outer Space"...so this space will be active at least during the month of July.

I tried to answer most of the comments, but I apologize if I missed anyone. Things have been kind of flaky lately.