Oops

Goodbye, August. The month is gone and I didn't find (or make?) enough time to make the first monthly quilt in my new self-assignment. I could lament this and feel like I have failed in some sense, but instead I am choosing to retroactively designate August a vacation month! I've probably earned it.
September will be here in two more days, and I will start my new journal-quilt-year then. Whew. That was easy. There's a distinct advantage in accepting assignments from yourself
Now let's see what September brings. I have some ideas. Stay tuned.

It is time to make a plan for '08 - '09

We are having an amazing number of beautiful butterflies here in western North Carolina this summer. They are all over our butterfly bush and they are loving a blooming mimosa tree in the woods below our house. I've been outdoors photographing them. This is a Pipevine Swallowtail on a Joe Pye Weed bloom. Yes, I wanted the color to be super saturated. Isn't it gorgeous?

I've been trying to decide what quilting assignment I would like to give myself for the next twelve months, and I think I have decided to make ONE small quilt per month for '08 - '09. However, I want each of these quilts to be larger than the approximately 9 x 12 inch quilts that I made during the last twelve months. I might try 16 x 20 inches.
The second part of my self assignment will be to have fun with at least four surface design techniques every month and to try to be organized enough to keep notes on the results.
Will I be successful in fulfilling my own expectations this coming year? Time will tell !
I'm already behind on my self-assigned quilt for this month. I've had an idea and done some thinking and planning, but so far I haven't put anything together, and it is August 17. Yikes.
Perhaps I am watching too many butterflies. But, now, really-----how could it be possible to see too much beauty---no matter how many deadlines it causes you to miss???

Here are all 48 of my journal quilts- 8/07-7/08

I am showing them again here for my own encouragement and benefit.
If I could complete 48 quilts in '07 - '08,
then I can do a mere TWELVE in '08 - '09.
Can't I?

(Scroll down and click on the older posts to see individual views and info on each little quilt...)

Flour and Water Resist

Hello, Andie from Florida! Thanks for dropping by and commenting on the potato resist / bleach discharge experiment.
Nice to 'meet' you. Your comment inspired me to go back into the kitchen and try the flour and water resist.
I used a cup of cold water and about one and one-third cups of flour, mixed into the water with a wire whisk. It was about the consistency of pancake batter. I painted it on a piece of coarsely woven off white fabric that I had pinned to a piece of foam insulation board. I let it dry thoroughly. Then I crinkled the fabric to make the resist crack, and painted it with blue fabric paint. After the paint dried, I washed out the flour resist. Above are a couple of pictures of the result. At the top is a closeup of the texture. Below that is the whole piece, which is about 16 x 20 inches. Click on either of these for a closer view.
You're right, the flour resist with paint gives a great result too. I found it a bit harder to wash out of the fabric than the potato resist, but I will definitely be trying both again. I think there are a lot of possibilities to explore with both. When I can make my own resists with non toxic ingredients that are already in my kitchen, what's not to like!!

Potato Resist and Bleach

At our July Uncommon Threads (art bee) meeting, our leader, Marilyn showed us some examples of painted fabric using potato starch resist. I had been thinking of trying this, but decided to see how it would work with bleach discharge instead of fabric paint.
The piece of fabric above is what resulted from my first try at using potato resist with bleach discharge on a piece of solid black fabric. I really like the texture effect that I got, and found that this particular fabric bleaches to a lovely rosy color, (a bonus!)
Here's what I did: I bought the cheapest grocery store brand of dry instant mashed potatoes. For the edible version, the box calls for 3/4 cup of boiling water and 1/3 cup milk to 3/4 cup of the dry potato flakes. I decided to try approximately double the amount of liquid (all water, of course), so I boiled about 2 cups of water and added the potatoes. This made a mixture that was very liquid and runny, so I stirred in some additional potato flakes until the mixture was a little thicker---about the consistency of babyfood applesauce. I also added about one tablespoon of Sta-Flo liquid starch. I had read a recipe somewhere on the internet that suggested this, but I can't find the site now.
I pinned the peice of black fabric to a scrap piece of blue board foam insulation to keep it flat. Then I applied a fairly thick coat of the potato mixture to the fabric, using a foam brush to smooth it out. I put it aside to dry on my deck in the 90 degree heat. When it was thoroughly dry, (which took hours!), it was quite stiff and I took it off the board and crumpled it so that the potato coating cracked in many directions. Then I put the fabric in a plastic tray, took it outdoors and sprayed it with Clorox bleach. As soon as it had bleached to a nice rosy orange in all of the cracks and parts with no potato resist, I put it into a solution of Anti-chlor to stop the bleach action. After a few minutes, I rinsed the fabric in a bucket of water which took off most of the potato, and then hand washed it with a little detergent to get rid of the rest. After a thorough rinse, I pressed it dry with the iron, and you can see the result above. This piece of fabric measures 8 1/2" by 14". I don't know how I will be using it, but I am very happy with it for a first try, and I will be exploring more possibilities with potato starch resist!