Category: Tutorials

  • Making textile paint and fiber friendly acrylic ink

    Making textile paint and fiber friendly acrylic ink

    After having a bit of trouble quilting Polychromatic Predilection, painted with acrylic inks on my new-ish Bernina 750, I decided I wanted to see if it was possible to make a more fiber-friendly acrylic ink. In the past, I never had problems with stitch tension when quilting painted textiles… until I got a new sewing…

  • Succulent Love complete

    Succulent Love complete

    A couple months ago I posted about painting a new piece called Succulent Love, and in the mean time, I’ve had a couple teaching gigs and a vacation trip and have been working on preparations for teaching at International Quilt Festival at the end of October. I don’t think people realize how much prep is involved teaching at conventions,…

  • Discovering the hidden perks of a truckload of dung

    Discovering the hidden perks of a truckload of dung

    Update: I was very excited to learn my quilt ‘8 of Cups’ won a blue ribbon for Best Use of Color at Pacific International Quilt Festival while I was at Arrowmont! 🙂     Believe it or not, ‘Discovering the Hidden Perks of a Truckload of Dung’ is the title of the quilt I just sent off…

  • Making Black and Bloom all Over

    Making Black and Bloom all Over

    I love getting really focused and tightly rendering a representational image while painting, but recently I have been trying to get looser and more gestural with my painting, kind of like the direction I take with some of my mixed media work, but pushing it even further. For my latest quilt, which represents my present emotional state of…

  • Making 8 of Cups

    Making 8 of Cups

    The 8 of Cups came about after getting my heart broken by a guy I was dating. I began by drawing an anatomical heart from an old medical illustration engraving, extending the arteries into curving vines to represent new growth and life. I feel like when I create imagery that is painful but transformative, it…

  • A Simple Resist Technique with Acrylic Inks

    A Simple Resist Technique with Acrylic Inks

    One fun little technique I found works great with acrylic inks (this would also work with Tsukineko inks) is to draw on fabric with a colored pencil or china marker and paint over it like a simple resist. Kind of like in grammar school when you colored with crayons and painted india ink over the…

  • Felted Soaps

    Felted Soaps

    Did you notice the recent Anthropologie catalog had felted soaps for $14 each? You want to make some of your own for gifts? Well here is what you do: You need a bar of soap, I like glycerin soap for these but other kinds of soap work well too, roving and pantyhose. I cut the…

  • Painted ipad Bag

    I have been wanting to buy a case for my ‘new’ ipad, but have held off because I read the ipad 2 cases didn’t work with the new ipads because they moved the magnet that puts it in sleep mode when you close the cover and there aren’t that many options in covers for the…

  • Felted Wool Ornament time!!!

    Felted Wool Ornament time!!!

    I know it’s barely Thanksgiving, but it’s time to start making felted wool ornaments! They make great hostess gifts for holiday parties and are perfect for ornament exchanges. Warning: once you start making these, it may be really hard to stop.   Decorating felted wool balls with felt cutouts and embroidery floss makes for the perfect portable…

  • Making Felted Pumpkins

    Making Felted Pumpkins

    To make felted pumpkins you will need: wool roving in pumpkin colors left over yarn, wool works best but other fibers will work too pantyhose orange and green embroidery floss or pearl cotton long embroidery needle scissors. You can also make Dia de los Muertos skulls too, by making white felted balls. Cut 2 oval pieces…

  • Make Tea Stained Fabric

    Make Tea Stained Fabric

    Over the last couple weeks, I have been preparing a lot of fabric for the workshops I’ll be teaching in the next several months.  I have torn yards and yards of white fabric and handdyed a variety of light colors to use in the Tsukineko inks classes and also made tea colored painted fabric for…

  • Spring has sprung, time to felt some eggs

    Spring has sprung, time to felt some eggs

    Since Easter is right around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to repost this tutorial on making felted eggs. These are really fun to make and stitch, enjoy! Roll yarn into oval egg shapes close to the size of desired egg as a form for the roving to be wrapped around.  I usually…

  • Felted Eggs

    Felted Eggs

    While I was poking around on  Pinterest I saw quite a few pretty dyed eggs and thought it might be fun to make some felted eggs. After all they aren’t going to spoil between now and Easter 🙂 It might be fun to also add some decorative stitching with embroidery floss and adding some cut out…

  • Painting with FW inks

    I have begun working on a new quilt for the next exhibit being curated by Leslie Tucker Jenison and Jamie Fingal to follow last years exhibit Beneath the Surface. The 3 of Swords quilt I made for Beneath the Surface, was a departure from my usual style. My work although often inspired by life experiences…

  • Felted Wool Ornaments

    Felted Wool Ornaments

    With the holidays here, I thought it would be a good time to repost my tutorial on making felted wool ornaments. To make the ornaments shown in the 2008 issue of Quilting Arts Gifts, you need to make felted wool balls. Warning: once you start making these, it may be really hard to stop. To…

  • Ink Potion No. 9 with Tsukineko Inks Tutorial

    Ink Potion No. 9 with Tsukineko Inks Tutorial

    I just bought a relatively new product from Tsukineko Inks called Ink Potion no. 9 to find out how it works with the All Purpose Inks. One purpose of the solution is to help blend ink colors. From my estimation this could be a good alternative to working with aloe vera gel to lighten and…

  • Metal and Canvas Books

    Metal and Canvas Books

      I began by tearing canvas into 4″ x 8 ” pieces and painting both sides with gesso. I think if I were to start again I would tear them into 4 ” x 8 1/2″ pieces to allow for the bulk of paint and collage. When the pages were folded in half the book…