Tutorial: Guide word art quilt

I don't know about all of you but I have a terrible memory.  It is great when I am reading a book I have already read before (its like reading it for the first time again :) ) and when I am listening to a joke I have heard and I can't remember the punchline and when I have heard something about someone and I can't remember what I have been told.  It is not good when I am setting goals,  needing to go to appointments or I need to remember birthdays.  So I knew when I chose a guide word for the year (read about it here )  I would need to find a way to remind me of that word.   So I did the best thing I know how to do I made an art quilt of my word.  To create and have something inspirational at the end is the best sort of creation.

Guide word art quilt

The finished top of the art piece




Cut a piece of cotton fabric (I use good quality sheeting that I have pre washed)  1-2 inches wider than the desired quilt size.  This gives room for the quilt to shrink a little after the quilting and also size to be trimmed if needed.

Textile inks

Chose 2 colours that are next door to each other on the colour wheel, black and white and the primary colour that makes the secondary colour that has been chosen.  I.E I have chosen Blue and green.  Yellow is the primary colour that makes green.  Yellow will be used to make different tones of blue and green.  Have a disposable teaspoon for each colour to get the paint out from the jar.  This keeps the colours from crossing into another jar.

Prepare an area to put all of the equipment once used.  This keeps all painted equipment separate from the working area and it is easier to pick everything up all at once to wash.

Choose 3 different sized paintbrushes to paint the background of the cloth.  I chose 1 large brush, one flat brush and one 'stomper' 

Have a variety of shapes and stamps to chose from for printing

Have a variety of textures surfaces to print from.

Take the 2 main colours and white and place next to each other on the tray.

Spoon 2 teaspoons of water into the tray

Mix the colours together.  The paint should be the consistency of a thin custard. Try not to mix too much. It is good to have a little white, blue and green still visible in the paint mix

Using the large paintbrush wet some of the cotton cloth with water.

Paint the cloth with large brush strokes. 

Keep painting the cloth until it is all covered.  Add white, blue and green to the brush to give more texture to the cloth.

Put the paint brush in the used equipment tray.

Take a large piece of bubble wrap and roll white paint onto it the print onto the cloth.

Print 3-4 time over the surface.

Take a smaller bubble wrap and roll blue and green paint onto it and print 3-4 times on the surface of the quilt top.

Using a stencil brush stencil a white and a little blue onto the surface.  

Place an old towel on the cloth and iron dry.  Or wait for a couple of hours until dry naturally.

Finished background of the quilt top

Place a piece of batting underneath the cloth.  This makes a great stamping surface.  

Mine is well used :)

Take a large circular cork and paint it white and stamp randomly over the cloth.

Use another shape and stamp it over the cloth in a darker blue.I have used an old plastic circle my husband was throwing out of his garage.

Blot any excess paint off.  This make the top easier to quilt later.

Mix yellow with the green and white and use a stencil over the cloth.  This little stencil is an old biscuit maker piece.

Stamp in dark blues another stamp randomly on the quilt.  I have used a plastic buckle I found at an emporium for 10c NZD

Last of all use a small cork in a blue green colour, made with white, black, blue and green All over the quilt top

Iron dry or dry naturally.

Printed quilt top

Rule 2 lines on the quilt for the writing to go on.  With a pencil draw the outline of the letters of the word that has been chosen.  Mark the centre of the of the quilt and work out the centre letter of the word and start with that letter and work outwards.  There are a variety of stencils on the market if you would prefer to use a ready made lettering.

Paint around each of the letters in black paint.

Add any other words to the top.  This is now ready for quilting.  

Stay tuned till next week for the finished top.

Before the wash up is done.......

Don't throw out any paint.  Use a roller to apply the left over paint to another cloth.

Print any stamps with any paint still on them onto the cloth

Wipe paintbrushes,  stamps e.t.c. on another white piece of fabric to use for another project.  There is very little waste doing it this way and also very little paint to wash down the sink.

Goal setting with a twist

This is the perfect time to write new goals and make new challenges for the year.  There is something nice about starting afresh on a new page at the beginning of each year.  The new year is a time of re focus and a new vision or redefining the vision already mapped put for you.

I have been reading a blog from a woman named Christine Kane.  Christine adds a new angle to goal setting that I would like to share with you that has thrown a completely different light on goal setting for me.  

Christine answers the question .....

"Why Resolutions Don’t Work

The reason most resolutions don’t work is that they address only one level of your life. The DO level. It’s the DO-HAVE-BE model. “I will DO this thing.” (i.e., Lose weight) “So I can HAVE this other thing” (Self-Esteem) and I can BE this thing. (Confident.)

The average New Year’s Resolution doesn’t address the core of the issue – the “BE” level.

The best order for creating positive changes in your life is the BE-DO-HAVE model. This means you start from the BE level. When you begin changing on the BE level of your life, then the DO level and the HAVE level follow more easily.

When you start only on the DO level, then all the blocks on the BE level will often become the obstacles you can’t overcome."

So how is this achieved.  Through a Guide word

Read about it here Guide word 

One word that can be used a touchstone for the year (or six months if it is mastered sooner) to live at the  be level.  

On her blog she guides the reader through the process of  choosing a word and how this can work in our lives.

Read about it here choosing a word 

This idea has changed my whole way of looking at goal setting.  One simple word to think about in my life each day.

This year I have chosen the word 

accept

She stops here but I still think that some goals still need to be made.  Otherwise my guide word could be..... just accept I can't do anything or just accept this is where I am.  

If I did this all year I wouldn't progress.

So what next?  

Make some goals with your word in mind.

Read about making goals here 
goals  

What are you going to achieve or be?

Read about setting purposeful goals here 

Purposeful goal setting 

I have made a goal to be creative every day. I have re worded this to say I will be creative everyday but I can accept that some days I may only get to do something very small and other days something large. I need to accept what I can do not focus on what I can't do.

Make a plan.  

How you want to execute the goals?

                                       In this post I have made a studio plan.  

                                                A plan to be creative in the day.

Organise your space. 

Make it a place you want to work.

For me to make this goal work I have to have a space that I can use to be creative.  I have accepted that I can't have a really flash space.  I can only work with what I have. 

A mini Studio Makeover part one

A mini studio makeover part two

Make something visual to remind yourself of your word.

It can be something flash like a piece of art work or something simple like a printed sheet of paper with the word on it stuck on the wall with blue tack.  Do something to remind you of your word.  

I am working on an art quilt of my word and will have that ready to show you in the next few days.  

I will be posting a tutorial on how I created the top on Wednesday.  

It may help give you some ideas on how to make a visual reminder of your word this year or a starting point on your own visual reminder.

Let me know what your word is :) 

Inspiring photography this week

Out in the bush

Photographs I captured this week in the bush while out and about with the children.