flying saucer on the roof

I've had a semi-productive day today. First off, no headache! Woohoo, shouts of joy. Got my haircut, this time without the phone call reminding me I was supposed to have been there five minutes ago. Washed a load of fabric and ironed it all out. Read blogs... Okay, kinda pathetic as a list of productivity but what can ya do? That is really boring. I will try to do better.

Bonnie, one of the new fabrics I got is a pretty good match to my purple pin sheet (Bonnie loves that color with the reds, yellows, pinks, and oranges I've been working on lately). Maybe I'll add some of the new purple into my Terms of Endearment. Assuming I ever get back to sewing on it again.

Laura (who I hope likes my alien house block) has been playing with houses recently. New blogger, Barb, has got a pic of a finished liberated house quilt and several mentions of Gwen Marston... Hmm, I'm intrigued. If I haven't mentioned it lately, I should say that I learned how to make houses from Gwen's book "Liberated Quiltmaking" which very sadly is now out of print but remains my all-time favorite quilt book.

You know how I love to play with threads, making a picture with my quilting? (If you don't, you can go take a look here). Well I thought I'd show you how I doodle a picture, before I draw it onto the quilt.

One of the houses on my current project Space 4 Rent has a nice big roof suitable for something fun. Since the theme of the quilt is aliens and houses, I could have one of the aliens coming to visit, and what a great landing pad there on the roof. These are my doodles of an alien in a flying saucer. Please notice this takes no drawing skill whatsover. We're talking stick figures here.

I doodled until I had an idea of what I wanted and then I drew a similar doodle onto the fabric with a purple disappearing pen. Didn't like it, made it disappear with water, and redrew it the next day. And this is what the little guy looks like quilted:

Down in the purple ground I have the word "Greetings" quilted. By the way, I've decided that I prefer using chalk to the disappearing pen. I can rub it off and immediately get to work without having to fool around with it. Plus, the chalk line is so big and squishy - it gives me more room to manuever.

So if you like this technique, try it. Seriously. Doesn't take drawing skill and it is so easy to undo. Even if you quilt it and decide you hate it, it can be ripped out. Don't be afraid of trying something new. Play. Pretend you're 8 years-old and a great artist.