Thank You Friends

This morning I bundled up fabric to go out tomorrow. I am always so thankful that people appreciate my work, are willing to use it, and encourage me to continue. These are friends indeed. Thank you.

Self Promotion, Shameless

For years people have asked where they could purchase my printed fabric. "Only when I travel!" was my answer. With travel to teach halted, I've not stop making prints. And now they are sold on my web site store. So, a new chapter, er, web page. See what you think: www.patpauly.com/shop

End of the Week

I love those shots of people cleaning up their fabric, neatening the threads, tidying up. This is the mess left from printing. And the edited version, no less. I'll finish up washing, ironing, stacking. Then next week, if I can muster the energy, it's time for the design wall.

More Silk Scarves Staying Home

Someday these will be on their way to some gallery or shop to be sold. Or they might travel with me where I teach or lecture. But for now, I'll finish them and tuck them away. Heck, today it snowed, so maybe I'll wear one.

Top is Finished and Packed

This top will travel mid Januaryy to Napa and the Craft Napa workshops there. It's about 7' square. I'll use if for all my classes, but mostly the "Line, Shape, Setting" one for how to handle unique fabric you might chance cutting into.

Ready to Finish

I've about a dozen scarves hanging waiting to be sewn. (I'll bring them with me to Craft Napa). They are washed out. Compare the middle one to the pre-washed piece from yesterday's post. That turquoise is always so much darker before it's washed. No matter, I just work around that.

MIssed the Shipment

Two boxes of printed yards of cotton are on their way to the Craft Napa January workshops. These late comers may have to ride along in the hold when I fly out. My first time there, I'll be selling these at the "artists market" on Friday night. Should be fun.

Starting Again

Quilters of a certain tradition are bent to use every little scrap in the basket. These were left from the last piece, and I'll see if they can measure up to something. And, for the record, those bitty scraps I toss away. They piled up so they just about blocked the door!

Try a Little Thermofax

With a piece of indigo printed fabric as the base, I've printed a thermofax image a few times using fabric paint. Just experimenting now, but I've wanted to get myself acquainted with my thermo machine. Need to do more.

Hitting the Stacks

Multiples of a pattern or color is a good thing, as I'd have enough to use on a big piece. Each is about 40" square, so going big means I have to do this again and again and again. So, I did.

In Progress

I've got a pot on the stove, and will dunk these in boiling water for 15 minutes to get out dye that hasn't  bonded. Then back in the wash, iron, stack. I'll be bringing these to the Thursday quilt club meeting to sell. What is left will travel with me around the states.

My Life is (Sometimes) Dull

It's ironing day. A stack of just dried yards is getting spritzed. Then folded up and stuck in a large plastic bag to get all humid. Then it's iron on the big board. In front of the big telly. Total dull.

Time to Quilt

Using my domestic Bernina, the one I've been using since 1988, I'm running around the printed elements in the fabric. It's fun, mindless, and gets the job done.

Sticking to the Design Wall

A shuffle of the pile on hand yielded these two yard cuts of printed fabric. So, my challenge again: combine them exclusively, ending with a 40" square.

Easy Landing

I've a few spots in my Cape Coddie that are large enough to hang my work. Here is how the latest finished out, and you can get a sense of the scale from what surrounds it. I've been keeping these last few squares to 40" just as a challenge.

This Just In

Nature abhors a vacuum. So, when I took down the piece I'm now quilting, these bits stuck to the wall. They'll have to wait till I've quilted, and then I might, just might, pay attention to them.

Deception

This is before the washing. And trust me, it looks better here. Somehow the contrast didn't hold, and it always, always, always looks better when it's wet than when it's dry. Gotta have a few dye dogs.

Handy Dandy Rack

As I pack for a visit to the Merrimack Valley Quilt Guild this week, I am taking some of my hand printed fabrics. Here's my new rack stepping up to the job, holding the fabrics till I wash them out. Clever, no?

Heap of Love

It may look like a pile of escapees from the second grade contest to recolor a giraffe, but this is the beginning of a whole new way to look at color and printing. At least that's the way it is for about a dozen women who worked and played to make Glorious Prints.

At the Ready

I've lined up scarves, and bought a new movable rack for showing small pieces, all to show my work at Rochester Contemporary's Pop Up art show. Looks good in the middle of my kitchen, we'll see how it looks in a real gallery. Show continues Saturday and Sunday.