Wednesday's Wanderings #48 My New Toy & #49 WHEW!

Today I am posting 2 WWs since I am behind one.  This will bring me up to date with 5 more to go.  I chose to make 54 blocks, even though I committed to weekly or 52, but 52 isn't divisible by much.  So I chose to make 54, so I can make my 2012 wall hanging with a configuration of 9 across and 6 down. It's hard to believe that I have made 49 blocks already. Time does fly.

The block this week is about MY NEW TOY!!

It's hard to tell from the block, but it is supposed depict a bunch of 2 1/12" strips. 

And the significance?

A couple of weeks ago I went to my friend Betty's house.  I actually invited myself. I wanted to try one of the Accuquilt cutters.  She has the Studio model, which is the Papa bear of the trio.  If you follow my blog, you know that I am a  blue and white fabric lover.  I have so much of it that I keep the smaller pieces in a clear garbage bag. 

I brought this bag to Betty's house.  In 2 hours, including us talking, all of that fabric was cut up!

Most of it into 2 1/2" strips

A bit of it into half square triangles

and another bit of it into pieces that when sewn together makes a 5" block.

In less than 2 hours!!

My husband wants to know how many quilts it will make.  I don't know!

But I will pack it all to bring to Key West with me.  I think it will keep me busy for a while. 

 There are a lot of quilts that can be made with 2 1/2" strips :)

 I had a very busy  and productive year and worked very hard, so I decided to treat myself to my own Studio Cutter.  I gave up my desk, that is really only home to piles of papers.

I have not registered it yet, because they want you to name it.

Any ideas?

So I made my WW with scrap strips. 

I ironed a piece of freezer paper to the back of the fabric to stabilize it.

 I wrote on it with these markers.  The marker didn't bleed at all, but check out the label - washable. 

To keep the strips in place, I put a piece of white tuille on top of everything and quilted a grid.

My second block was based on my visit to court a few weeks ago.

I really wasn't arrested.  I went to court because of a traffic accident that I was involved in.

I was very nervous that I would have to talk to the judge.

It turns out all I had to do was say "yes".

But my DH and I joked about how I would look in an orange jumpsuit.

I asked him to bring me a coconut cake without a file.

It turns out everything was fine and I am off the hook.

Writing On Fabric

I love to put words on my quilts and creations. .  I use it as another layer of meaning and design to whatever I am working on.  To put the words on fabric,  I use anything that I can get my hands on  - anything that I can use to spell.  It can be wooden or metal letters, beads, stamps or writing implements.  I am working on a special piece now that I call "Freedom".  My goal was to write my thoughts about freedom on a rectangle using some type of pen or marker. 

My friend Kelly of http://www.pinkadotquilts.blogspot.com/  tells me over and over to share my oops as well as my successes.  She tells me that people will learn from my mistakes.  I learn from my mistakes, so I guess she could be right.  So I will share what I have learned from trying to put these thoughts on fabric.  This is the fabric I planned on using.

These are some of the writing implements I thought I could use.  As long as it won't run or wash out, I will use it. 

The first thing I did was draw lines with a black marker on the paper side of freezer paper.

Then I ironed the waxy side to the back of the fabric.  This is to stabilize the fabric for writing.  For the best adhesion, I recommend that you iron both sides with a hot dry iron.

Then using a light box or daylight window, I could see my lines to write.  If you don't care about the straightness of your words, you don't need the marked line, but you still need the freezer paper.

So I started testing my pens.  I thought I would like a metallic gold.  No.  Black? No.  Green?  No.  Thinner black?  No.  Brown?  No.  I tried so many different thicknesses and colors.  Either I couldn't discern the words or they were too much like blobs or they were too obvious and in your face.  I didn't like anything.

  I finally realized that it wasn't the pens and the colors.....it was the fabric.    Even though I looked at the fabric as a tone on tone, it was just too busy with too much contrast.  I switched to a less busy fabric and I found a pen to work.  It was a good balance.