Monday ... fabric & encaustic watercolor

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    Thursday afternoon I was gifted some fabric.  More than just some.  Several bags, a box, and three rolls of upholstery fabric.  Plus some patterns for quilting and stitching.  The one large bag contained two nearly finished quilts that just need to be edged and one completed quilt face and fabric for the backing.  It's much more than what I'm showing here and much more than what I could probably use in 1,000 projects.  (but never say never!)

     These are the two almost completed quilts.  Normally I would not consider getting anything even remotely white for my bed, and probably still wouldn't put this on the bed if for several years (until there is no longer any danger of Gracie barfing on it, or Charlie's muddy paws) if I do finish it.  But they are gorgeous and well made.

     The pink one has pencil drawings and words on some of the solid pink pieces that have a hint of being a young girl's ideas on how to personalize it, but I'm pretty sure they will easily wash out when it has been edged and finished.

    < This is the fabric for the completed quilt face, and there was enough left of the toile print to be able to recover the white found chair for my second office table, and hopefully also the rose chair.  I'm going to try to paint match the solid fabric for the chair color.

     If I do decide to tackle finishing that quilt, I may keep it for a future time to use as a wall hanging in the office (more on that in a few months ... I may decide to move ... houses not cities or states), or may just line the back and not quilt it to be used for curtains in an office if I split it down the middle.  (Can you see the smoke coming out of my ears with ideas?)

     I was also gifted a sewing machine recently which will make either project much easier than hand finishing.

    One of the rolls of upholstery fabric instantly became a casual rug in the living room.  Kind of soft blue color, and much easier to toss in the wash to clean if needed than a conventional rug.

     I've become less fond of the bright yellow rugs that I bought when I first moved in because they show every dirty paw/boot print and I'm constantly trying to get them shampooed before they become permanent works of art.

     One of the other rolls is going to become contrasting covers for a free2me loveseat, to give it a boho vibe.  The existing fabric is sort of a crushed velvet gold ~ like the armrest cover at right ~ and so the new fabric will just cover the seat cushions.  I will probably use an envelope-type closure for them so there isn't any velcro to pull strings or have the frustration of putting in a zipper.  The colors are also in the batik quilt I bought and shared [> here <].  

     > The last roll of upholstery fabric is going to be used to recover my dining room/crafting table chairs.  It has a beachy kind of coral look that isn't my decor anymore since leaving Florida, but I think is fun for the room and any paint oops will just look planned.

     Needless to say, I have projects now lined up for months and I'm not even talkin' 'bout the art classes I've signed up for!

     Saturday's art class was on encaustic watercolor.  An interesting technique of painting with hot wax.  The basic wax to seal down the fabric I chose was unbleached beeswax that gave it a yellowish tint for the pollen in it. I painted the viola and larkspur with metallic watercolor paint.  Then I used a piece of lace as a "stencil" for the orange flower.  It gives it a 3D dimension.  

     There was a lot of learning in this class.  Initially, I painted the flower stems green but did not like how I lost definition so scraped it off later.  I was able to reheat the base was with my hairdryer to recoat the fabric.  I also could have used less orange wax, and maybe a piece of lace that was not as solid in the tatting.  I had also wanted to put a piece of old music on it, but the wax made the paper transparent so that you could see what was on the backside, and I didn't want that.

     There is a great deal of [link to click there > history in the art of encaustic painting, that goes back to the ancient Greeks.  It is certainly a technique I would be willing to try again at the Wren's Nest to use my "lessons learned," but probably not one I would invest in for myself.   Some of the creations the other attendees of the class made were quite beautiful!

     I hope that your week is off to a wonderful start.  I have Monday and Tuesday to get my craft table cleared off and the room organized before the week becomes hectic.  Friday night I will be watching Encanto with the kids at church, then Saturday will be a birch tree painting party that I'm super excited to do.  I really love birch trees, and the ones in the Michigan Upper Peninsula during the fall were just amazing.

                                                             Hugs,   Ci