Fabulous Fractures - Swamp Fox Work Day September 2011

This September workday at Swamp Fox Quilters we were treated to a wonderful lesson and demonstration by Rita Studdard. Rita demonstrated how to do those marvelous fractures for us in a way that made it very simple to follow.
    
This is the book that Rita Studdard used:

http://www.amazon.com/Fabulous-Fractures-One---Kind-Fractured/dp/B0026XRCXW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317099822&sr=8-1

This was the Fractured Flowered
Quilted piece that first caught our attention at the Swamp Fox Quilter's Show this summer.
We got back the quilts at the beginning of September and that's when Rita demonstrated how to do this amazing technique.

We have one copy in the Swamp Fox Library for checkout or you can order a copy for yourself. I got mine at Amazon.com.

Choosing the right fabric for the quilt is important. You need large repeats but the background needs to have some print or action in it as well. If the background is too plain, then you will have large areas of blank colored areas in your quilt. You started out with 4 exact repeats by laying the fabrics directly on top of each other.

The technique consists of finding multiple repeats on fabric and then cutting them into 1 1/2 inch strips. Once the strips are cut and labeled, they are then merged by sewing the strips together. Rita suggested that you print out all your labels on the computer as an easy of way of labeling the pieces,

 knowing you have the right order and not losing any strips. She also suggested that when you choose your fabric to make sure your background is interesting as the main focus of the print so you won't have major areas of blank background on your fractured piece.

Rita is repositioning the strips as she merges two different  pieces. You have to sew the pieces together using 1/8" seams. Rita said it was aggravating trying to get the tiny seams open with an iron.
Her suggestion to solve this problem was to use a mini iron which worked great.

You can see where each of the strips has a letter and number on it to keep them in the correct order when they are merged together. Rita suggested that you use a design board which would allow you to move the fabric strips easily around. You could pin the strips to the board so the strips wouldn't lose track of where they were supposed to be.

We were all fascinated by Rita's Lesson.

After Rita Studdard's lesson, the group moved on to other venues.

Francis and I worked on Face Painting her doll. We are looking at samples of my dolls and some of books I brought.

 

Francis eventually painted her doll's eyes orange, they were incredibly beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blowing drying the face to make the paint dry faster.
Can you imagine if Michelangelo had a blow dryer,
No telling what more he could have accomplished.

This is Francis's beautiful doll finished. I love her hair and she actually has orange eyes.

Cloth doll artists are using a draftsman technique of dividing up the human face to paint their doll faces based on proportions first invented by Albrecht Durer an incredible artist, Engraver, Painter, Art Theorist, Printer in Wood and Copper and very famous for his religious themes in his art. One of his most famous engravings is his Praying Hands.

This Judy and Leah cutting out batting for a Citizen Sam Quilt.

This is one of several Charity Projects that the guild members so generously devote their time and efforts to.

This has been an incredible year for everything that has been accomplished in Workday.
Only someone who has undertaken to do a workshop really knows how much work and cost is involved. I have done several workshops for the guild over the past 2 years and am thankful, grateful and supportive of all the other members who have donated their time, energy, materials and money into doing these wonderful workshops we have had this year.
I especially want to thank the guild members who came and taught or contributed to classes or mini lessons for our guild including Rita Studdard, Francis Kelley, Sara Simons, Harrie Sue Cockfield, Karen Kirkland and Donna Chapman. Kudos to Graham Baker who first envisioned Workday as multi-faceted activity based including mini lessons and who supported me in my efforts to bring her vision to fruition.  It has been a great run.