Playtime

I've been playing.  Playing with paint - the tui behind is painted through a freezer paper stencil, the one in front fabric.

And then I've been playing with organza.  I attended a weekend workshop with Jeanette De Nicolis Meyer called "Layers of Lightness: Quilt and Collage with Translucent Fabrics" and I had a fabulous time!  We got to paint silk organza (which is soooo much easier to handle than synthetic organzas) and then we started composing little pieces with our bits of yummy fabrics.  Below you can see one of my compositions developing.

This one I'll be stitching down with straight machine stitch around the shapes.  Jeanette also taught us hand and machine pojagi seams (a traditional Korean seam used in wrapping cloths).  I love the prismatic colours on this piece - I used a white background to layer it on to get that translucent look.  Other people used patterned backgrounds with interesting effects.

Then I had a serendipitous moment when I was piling up my scraps and I couldn't help developing another composition.

I really like this one.  It has something mysterious about it.  I used a blue cotton that I had hand dyed and discharged cross patterns on as a base cloth and you can see how it has altered the top colours.  I'm busy hand-stitching these pieces down and liking it more and more as I go.  If you want to see what others did in the workshop you can see pictures here.

And I fear I'm a little addicted!  This is a composition I worked on yesterday. Inspired by a dawn sky I photographed a little while ago.  I have thoughts about putting my tui's over it along with an organza tui, but I'm not sure yet, more playtime will have to be indulged in before any decisions are made.

PS Jeanette is teaching again in New Zealand in April 2013 at the Wanaka Autumn Arts School - she comes highly recommended by me!

PPS Many thanks to dear hubby who entertained the children all weekend, mowed the lawns and cooked dinner both nights too.