A Little Painting--#2 FAL2017 Finish for 1st Quarter!

The project

I finished a passport project from JoJo.  This is finish #2 for the quarter!!! It is a head wrap and the flower utilizes fabric paints to shade it.  I shared my fabrics and plan in my FAL goal for the quarter post.

The supplies

I had these Tsukineko inks from a class I took a number of years ago. I may have opened the bag a couple times since then; but, I haven't opened the bottles!  I remember buying the jacquard metallic and blender supplies after the trip; but, only used a little of the metallic ink. I spent a little time looking at YouTube videos about how to use these products because I had forgotten!

Frankly, the supplies intimated me! Goal #2 for me this year is to "expand my box." This was a great project to encourage me to play a bit! I stitched the flower sections. JoJo's directions were to make little pillows for each petal and then add some paint!

The palette

It doesn't take much ink to play. That is just a few drops of the ink. In retrospect, I should have prewashed my scraps as they would have taken the ink easier; but, getting the fabric wet and then painting with a brush and/or the fantastic brush sticks worked.

Flowers before painting

Shaded flower--wet

Metallic paint added--wet 

The process, once I started, wasn't difficult. I started with the lightest color and went toward the darker attempting to shade. It didn't take a lot of time to paint and clean up was a snap!

I opened the metallic gold container and added a little to each petal. Then I let them dry overnight.

Appliquéd using the blanket stitch

The following day, I heat set the paint with the iron and arranged the petals into a flower shape.  I blanket stitched them to the towel.  Notice the centers are lighter and that metallic paint makes it appear like there is organza on the centers.

JoJo's next steps were to draw your pattern for the wrap. I used a piece of freezer paper which worked well. Her directions were easy to follow.

The towel that I used for this project had a hole in it; but, it was still a great towel. When I was cutting out the first head wrap, I saw that I almost had enough towel left to make a second wrap so I did! One towel with a hole became two gifts. I call that repurposing at its best!

First finished flower

Then, I added dimension to the petals with free motion quilting. It was challenging to stitch those petals because the towel is thick!

I can't get over what a difference the paint and thread made to the flower! At this point, I decided the project needed a little embroidery. Being confident with my embroidery software and machine is goal #5! So with the help of Miss K, we picked out a couple letters and stitched them.

Miss K kept the machine going. She was an excellent monitor! I think she would enjoy embroidery especially since she prefers shiny threads and I have shiny threads in my thread stash!

Second finished flower

We used two pieces of tear away stabilizer in the hoop, floated the towel with a piece of wash away stabilizer on top. Each letter stitched beautifully!

Although Joie, my Bernina, kept giving us an error message that her bobbin needed replacing every 30 stitches! Her bobbin was plenty full so I don't know what was up with that other than it took much longer to stitch the design!

She is spending the day at Quilting Delights getting a check up from Aaron. I appreciate the customer service from that shop! Often, I'll call and explain what I'm experiencing. He or the owner, Thea will either tell me a couple fixes or he or she will tell me a good time to bring it in. Often, I can pick it up later that day!

The last step was to stitch the long seam and enclose a hair band in the top of the head towel. I didn't have a hair band that matched the towel so I chose a hair band that worked with the flower.

 Miss K thinks these are for her mama and her auntie. I had to chuckle because she didn't put it together that the J and the K are the first letters of her's and her sister's names!

Adding the embroidery. Miss K knows how to clear the
screen and start the embroidery.  She loved "stitching!"

She was more interested in finishing the project so that we could wrap them! She does love to wrap packages! Won't she be surprised when she opens one of these next Christmas?

Why make a head wrap for a 3 and a 4 year old? They take swimming lessons in the late afternoon so they are going home with wet hair and it has been cold here! This way, they can wrap up their hair and be fashionable at the same time! By next year, they will both be able to manage the "wrap."

First finished head towel

Both head towels ready for gifting!