I am taking a couple of textile design classes at FIT this semester.  First is Photoshop and the second is screen printing.  I am enjoying both very much - although I find Photoshop a bit challenging as there are a lot of technical terms I need to memorize!  My first assignment for the photoshop class is to create a tile design using photoshop to flip and rotate the image.  Finished product is 8"x10" image that will have 20 2" blocks.

Above drawing is my original that I began with.

Then I selected a 2" square to work with.

Then using the 2" image, I created a 4" by copying the image onto a new document.  Now I can play around with any of the 4 2" square by rotating it 90 degrees or 180 degrees.

Here are the three that I made for my assignment:

It was a fun project and I am happy with the way each came out so differently!

Awhile back, I signed up for a talk given by Tula Pink at my LQS - City Quilter's. I'm so glad I did because her talk last night was so enjoyable. She gave an 1.5 hour presentation of her previous lines with Moda and Free Spirit (as well as her upcoming line - Salt Water) and her ideas for her designs. She talked about the steps she goes through to come up with her ideas. She begins with a pencil sketch on grid vellum paper. She draws just a portion of the whole idea because it is then flipped and mirrored on fabric to create her beautiful damask designs such as the owl from Full Moon Forest and Hushabye and the frog in Prince Charming. She also uses Illustrator to input her ideas into the computer. She also talked about how about 6 years ago, there weren't any interesting "modern" fabrics except for kaffe Fasset and Amy Butler and with her interest in screen printing, she decided to design her own fabric. within just hours of uploading her designs on her blog, Moda contacted her to do a line of fabric and that's how she got started!

Tula was charming and it was fun to see her ideas on paper as well as to see some of her beautiful quilts completed (she doesn't quilt herself but she does piece everything herself).

Here is my first quilt as you go quilt.  I finished quilting all the blocks and they are all ready to put together.  I used Joel Dewberry fabric called Modern Meadow.  It was from a few years ago.  Each block has been trimmed down to 6.5" and will be 6" finished.  I used mostly solid prints for the backing.  I'll post a photo of the back once I stitch all the blocks together.  Each block will be sewn as if I am piecing a quilt top.  Once finished, excess batting can be trimmed off to make it less bulky in the seams.  But because I used the thinnest Dream batting (Request), it really won't be that bulky.  I love this line of batting the best.  It is the softest batting made out of 100% cotton and super thin.

It took me awhile but I finally decided on the fabric for the binding.  It is the red dot print from Amy Butler's Lotus line.  I love binding with polka dot fabric.  I like to bind quilts with a colorful graphic print so I have a stash of polka dot fabric and others that are chosen for that in mind.

Quilt back has strips of prints plus Ash solid from Robert Kaufman Kona.

I am currently finishing up the quilt as you go blocks that I started at the beginning of summer.  It is almost all done - last few blocks to do.  I decided to add the blue botanical print from Moda Cake Rock Beach by Joelle Hoverson.  It is not a recent line - it's from a few years ago.  I lucked out awhile back when I stopped by Purl and saw a bolt of this fabric!  The blue is beautiful.

I can't vacation in Cape Cod without going to one of my favorite quilt shops.  I had a little time today after dropping my son off at camp so I made it over to the quilt shop.  Most of there selection is traditional but they do carry some designer fabrics and a few Japanese prints.  They have a whole room with fabrics that are discounted as well as a big section with books.

 I found some old favorites too!

Last night while watching the women's team gymnastics, I finished sewing my second sashiko block.  It is a basket weave pattern that is less dense than the first block.    Some of the sewing could be even better but I am happy with the way it turned out.  It's a great project to have while the Olympics is on TV - meditative, relaxing and portable.

I've been very interested in Japanese Sashiko for awhile.  I took a couple of classes at City Quilters in the past year.  I prefer machine sewing to hand sewing but I love having a few hand projects for those times when I can't be near a machine.  I love the simplicity of white cotton thread on blue indigo fabric and the geometric designs. Sashiko requires a LOT of patience.

In my last sashimi class, my teacher Judy showed us the sashiko project that she's been working on and I decided to replicate the project.

I purchased a 2 yard piece of Japanese indigo fabric.  I drew boxes that measure approximately 8"x10."  Each of these boxes will have a different pattern.  These patterns will have to be drawn onto each of these boxes.  I use Clover white pen for fabric and also chacopy paper also by Clover.  I photocopied a pattern from sashimi books and cut it to fit my 8"x10" box.  Then I take 1 Chacopy sheet to place under the pattern and taped it to the box using masking tape.  You have to take care to be very accurate here so that it fits into the box perfectly. Then using a ruler and a ball point pen, I went over every line of the pattern so that it gets copied onto the fabric.  This is a long process so get comfortable! Once finished, pattern and chacopy paper can be removed but make sure to check that all lines have been drawn onto the fabric.

Once all lines have been copied onto the fabric, pattern and Chacopy paper can be removed.  At this point, it would be wise to use the Clover white fabric marking pen to go over the lines.  This is because the chalk from Chacopy paper rubs off.

Now the sewing begins. I like to use plain white cotton sashiko thread. I also use a long sashiko needle.   To start sewing, I put a quilter's knot, winding the thread around 2x and then begin sewing from one end of the grid to the other.  Each stitch is approximately .25."  It can be slightly smaller but whatever stitch length you pick, it's best to be consistent throughout the project as that will look best.

So I got my first box sewn and I love how it came out!