My Tips n Techniques

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Improv Houses....more houses

 

I spent some time at the wheel of my

sewing machine today...



I am stitching improv houses...





This is my original pull of fabrics...

mostly hand dyes and surface design fabrics

and a few commercial fabrics.




I pawed through the fabric cupboards

again today and found a few more fabrics

that might work for this quilt:


This is a new pile of darker black fabrics...

a mix of my hand dyed and commercial fabrics.






This is a new pile of white and black fabrics...

again a mix of my hand dyes 

and commercial fabrics.




This was my best find of the day:


I forgot this was in the fabric cupboard...

It is a Marcia Derse X Marks the Spot...

I will try this out as a background fabric.





This is my new and improved fabric stash

for the improv houses...





I am liking the Red X fabric...





I also like the darker black fabric...











Next time I get out to the Thread Shed

 I will put these new houses up 

on the design wall

and see if they get along with the

first improv house blocks I made.

More To Come !


CLICK HERE to view all my improv work


CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts




May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi


Improv Houses...


I was pawing through the fabric cupboard

and found these surface design fabrics...

 


Created with black thickened dye...





Check out what I wrote on the selvage...

I created this fabric with hand made 

nature brushes and 

thickened dye.....in 2018





Looks like it was FUN making this piece !





These circles were created with a

nature brush made from feathers...





This fabric was created by putting strings under

the fabric then rubbing over the top with

thickened dye...



I also found this soy waxed fabric:


I wrote on the fabric with hot soy wax,

after it cooled off and hardened,

I put it in a dye bath.





I also pulled a few commercial fabrics

from the cupboard...



All of these black and white fabrics need

some RED...

These are some of my 

low immersion dyed fabrics...



This is what I will be playing with:


Left......Red Low Immersion Hand dyed Fabrics

Center......Thickened Dye Surface Design Fabrics

Right......Commercial Fabrics



This is my set up:


I will be sewing lots of little seams,

so I set up the felt ironing pad to my left,

cutting mat in the center,

sewing machine on the right...

this helps me work efficiently.



Here we go:


I am creating improv houses...

keeping it very basic





Red hand dyes for the background behind

the improv house...





A wonky house...






The hand dyed fabrics work well

in this design...




This house is wide at the top...

narrow at the bottom





Like potato chips...

can't stop at just one !





This is working....I'll make more !





Each house is different...














18 Improv Houses done today:

Looking forward to adding to this little village

sometime soon...


CLICK HERE to view all my improv work


CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts




May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Cattle Drive.....Kessi Ranch 8.22

 

We have a a few more cow and calf pairs

rounded up...



They are on the road and heading 

a few miles down river... 





They like to eat the grass along the road side,

so we need to keep pushing them along...





The neighbor has a long horn steer in his field...

the steer is happy to see all of the cattle pass by





Long Horn Steer





The cattle cross over the bridge...




just up the hill and through the gate...


Enjoy the Video:




CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts




May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi


Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Crosscut Blocks...


I am stitching with the 

Harlan Valley Quilters...

it's the Place-To-Be on Mondays !

 


This is what my sewing table looks like today...





After two  Crosscut projects,

I still have lots and lots of leftover blocks...





I decided to put a few blocks 

up on the design wall

and see what happens...





I am not hating it...





I am staggering the rows 

so the blocks don't line up...





I will keep adding blocks and stitching

the rows together and see where it takes me.


CLICK HERE:  Crosscut Quilt Top


CLICK HERE:  Crosscut Tote Bag


CLICK HERE:  ALL Crosscut Posts


CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts




May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Monday, August 8, 2022

Butterfly...


We have had more butterflies visit our flowers

this year than we can ever remember...



This particular butterfly seemed to follow me

around while I was watering flowers yesterday...





The pink coneflowers are beginning to bloom

here in Western Oregon...






The butterfly was partial to the coneflowers...






Perching on top of that big, round

coneflower made for easy photography...


















It takes a little longer to get the watering

done when you have a camera in your hand,

but it's worth it...





 

Enjoying the summer !


CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts


May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi