Object Lesson with Laura Wasilowski

Many of you were anxious to see a picture of moi wearing the shirt that I blogged about here. Now you can't say that I never do what you ask!!! Here you can see the delightful Quilter, teacher,artist and Chief Administrator of the Chicago School of Fusing, Laura Wasilowski!! I was so fortunate to take a class with her last week at Artistic Artifacts in Alexandria VA.

Laura is a total delight!! She is a font of knowledge about so many things to do with fabric and art quilts and fusing. She dyes all of her fabrics and sells them along with glorious hand dyed threads and her books and her wonderful quilt patterns, HERE. Prior to taking this class I was not fond of using fusibles in my textile work because I was never really happy with the results. Here was my chance to learn from a Master.

And oh boy, did I LEARN!!!

And did we have fun learning!!!

Little did I know that Laura would teach us using interpretative dance routines and song!!!

What a riot!!! What FUN!!!

We were each given two large pieces of Laura's glorious hand dyed cotton. One was a gradation of pastels and the other a gradation of bright brights!!!

Thenw e learned that the only product to use for reliable results and a nice "hand" to the fabric, is paper backed Wonder Under. then we learned all of the ins and outs of using the Wonder Under-" Iron to the Edge and Beyond Everyone, To the Edge and BEYOND!!"
Did you know that if you live in a humid climate (that would be us here in Northern VA) that you might need to let your fused fabric sit for up to a half hour before removing the release paper backing?? Did you know that you should never throw out those sheets of release paper as they are the surface that you constantly create on, as you are working with your fused fabrics???? Well I certainly did not!!

Once we had our fusible attached to our fabric we did a few exercises. We each made several small collages using our fabrics.

This is a badly composed picture of the collages that I put together. Laura also warned up not to allow anything to become too Precious as we would need to be willing to cut up these patterned collages to use in future work.
After a quick break for lunch we were tasked with building a composition based on a single object. Surprise of surprises, I went with a floral element. I know, you are all Shocked!!!!

The wonderful "stripey-ness" of the green portion of the brights fabric really spoke to me as a field of grass. I have been wanting to make a Poppies quilt for my self ever since I made a Poppies quilt for a dear friend. Here. this was my quilt after all of the fusing was complete. I am still not sure if I am done with this portion however. I am contemplating adding two more blossoms somewhere towards the middle of the composition.

Is the center too bare of blossoms? Would adding two more make things too crowded????

I would love to know what you think! is it OK as is, or do I add several more blossoms to the center of the composition?

While you contemplate that question , take a look at the fabulous creation by my wonderful friend Jenn Walker! Isn't this fabulous??? i just adore Jenn's work and she has done it again here!!!

Below you can see how I have treated the poppy centers. I had decided early on in the process that I wanted to bead the flower centers. I know, I have SHOCKED you again!!!
I am so very pleased with the results!! I used a mix of matte finished seed beads and peacock luster coated black #8 beads to create the stacked stamens. They add that wonderful texture and dimension that I love to incorporate!!

This is far from done however. Aside from the Blossom count dilema, I will be adding lots of hand stitching with some of Laura's yummy hand dyed threads followed by some free motion machine stitching to quilt the background. This is not the last you will be seeing of this quilt!!

In the meantime, if you are not familiar with Laura's wonderful work, hop on over to her web site and BE INSPIRED!!!
And if you ever have a chance to hear her speak or to take a class with her, grab the opportunity!!!
You will NOT be disappointed!!!!!