01 June 2007

Watching Paint Dry

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Happy Friday to you! I'm sorry that I've been remiss in blogging this week. But I'll try to make up for the lack of posts. Probably all in one post *grin*.

See the little paint pots in the photo? That paint is about 30 years old. And still good. I hearts me my Deka paints. These are the paints I used to paint the quilt in question in the post, Proportion. For mixing my paint, I use those plastic beer cups that come with a keg of beer.

So what was I painting? Well, since I made such an unfortunate choice of fabric to combine with the focus fabric for the Challenge Quilt and that choice resulted in a large proportion of the focus fabric ending up as the backing for the quilt, I needed something quite spectacular for the front. And as I'm running out of time it needed to be one piece. I searched and searched for what I had in mind and came up empty handed. What's The Quilter to do? Why, paint her own fabric, of course.

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In the style of Mickey Lawler's Skydyes, I decided to paint my own background. CarGuy set up the sawhorses and board. I covered it with a trash bag so the wood would not absorb all my paint, and then went after it. This picture shows the fabric drying before I put on the next layer of paint to darken some areas and change the color in others. I apologize for the quality of the photo. The wind was blowing, it was sunny and I just could not get a quality shot. You will see more of this fabric when I actively start making the Challenge Quilt: Poetry in Motion.

As I was waiting for the paint to dry between layers I kept hearing this sound. A humming that kept getting louder and louder. So loud, in fact, that it drowned out my inconsiderate neighbor's radio. I turned around and saw thousands and thousands of bees just swarming in the air over my back door. Eek! They came out of nowhere and just as quickly disappeared. Totally bizarre!

Oh, and speaking of stinging insects. Tuesday I went to the commercial drive up window at the bank, rolled my car window down, stuck my arm out to place the deposit in the teller's box and was stung just above my elbow. Now, I have never been stung by a bee, hornet, wasp, yellow jacket, etc. By the time I got back to the studio, my elbow was itchy, itchy, itchy. By Wednesday morning it looked like I had two elbows on my left arm. I was also having a systemic (whole body) reaction to the sting: nausea, diarrhea, muscle aches and dizziness. By mid-afternoon I was better. Now I know what kind of reaction I get: not good.

I have also been remiss in labeling my quilts. Bad Quilter! So I visited all the quilts in my house and labeled the five (5) that did not have labels. There that is done and off my mind.

11 comments:

  1. It will be interesting to see what you do with this fabric. So far, it looks GOOD!

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  2. That is such a pretty fabric you are painting up. Good for you for making your own! Mine is going to be much more traditional. When I try to create "art" I just freeze, so I'm not even trying. When I make a quilt "make it anyway you want", hopefully somehow the artistic part shows up.
    OOh so sorry about the bee sting. Maybe you can talk to the doctor about how to be prepared in case it happens again. There was a guy at work who got poison ivy for the first time. It was ugly for over a week.
    Good for you for labeling your quilts! Future generations will thank you. I've been reading a book from Barbara Brackman - I think it's called Facts and Fabrications. Anyway, she recommends that you write down on the label any symbolism you used in the quilt.

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  3. Wow, that is amazing you have never been stung by a bee before!! It doesn't bother me, but my husband is deathly alergic!

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  4. I would definitely talk to the doctor about it, you may need to get an epi-pen for the next time. I have heard that the first time if you have a reaction - it is usually takes a while - like yours did. The second time it will be much quicker and much worse.

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  5. I love the fabric you are painting - what a great idea. You are very talented.

    And Sweetie - the reaction to the bee is called an allergy and you should probably get an epi to carry with you. What a bad way to make a deposit!!

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  6. I took a fabric painting class once - lots of fun. I've never done such a large piece - just little fat quarter size. Maybe it's time to move on up *s*

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  7. Cool fabric! Weird about those bees, though! I'm glad you didn't get stung again! Maybe the one that got you spread the word that this gal tastes good! LOL!

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  8. Very cool fabric. Be careful about the bee sting reaction. From what I understand the reactions can get worse if you are stung again.

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  9. get the epi pen just in case and I hope those bees weren't big fat blackish ones that make loud buzzes-those could be carpenter bees-we have them and they eat holes in the house fascia. We've had them sprayed time and time again-they're indestructible. When they fix our roof-they will take off the fascia board and replace the eaten fir with hardwood. The only good news is they don't sting. It's very disconcerting to see them hovering around the house-good luck-and get that epi pen

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  10. I am quite intrigued as to what the challenge quilt will look like :))

    I am terrible for labeling quilts as well. I think of all of my quilts I have labled two of them.

    Better stay away from bees - next time it could be worse. An epi-pen might well be a good idea.

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