Design Wall Oct 25

I have finished this baby quilt top and it is up on my design wall so I don't forget to quilt it :) This was the other top I worked on while at our guild retreat a week ago.

This really needs to be quilted as the baby has already been born...and I need to mail this half way around the world!

Check out other design wall inspiration at Patchwork Times!

Bleach Discharge

      

at our retreat one of the participants showed us Bleach Discharge. 

It is something I'd read about but had never tried so I was interested.

First we spent time laying various things out on our fabric. (The stones were to keep the leaves from blowing away...) And then we sprayed over the fabric with a bleach/water solution of 50/50 and let it set in the sun until we were happy with how much color had discharged from the fabric. At that point we rinsed the fabric in water and then used a chlorine stopping agent so that the bleach would not continue to eat away at our fabric. Then we rinsed them again and set them out to dry:

I think my piece turned out pretty cool. I have some ideas
for an art piece swirling around in my head...
let's see if it all comes to fruition ;)

Most of us used a Moda black for our discharge pieces. I understand that different fabrics will give different results. Some black fabrics will discharge gray, some more of a purple...test before doing this on large or important pieces!

Quilt Retreats are Great!

Our Quilt Guild held a retreat last weekend and it was WONDERFUL to get away and dedicate a whole weekend to my machine.

I think everyone had a great time. AND *I* had a productive time.

I finished one top that I had set aside when it was 3/4 done (I'll blog that one later this week) and went from a Jelly Roll to a completely pieced field over the weekend.

The second picture is just before I sewed the field together. We rearranged a couple blocks after I took the picture...but I forgot to take a picture of the completed field.

I will sew two borders on the field before I quilt it :)