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Tuesday 2 June 2015

SAQA Adventure

I belong to the Art Quilt group named SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) and the Oceania Branch have a private group on Facebook where challenges are set and we can get to know each other a bit better and be inspired at the same time.

Sue Dennis suggested our next challenge should be Adventure. She challenged us to try something new and maybe put ourselves out of our comfort zone for a while.

I have had the book Cut, Shape and Stitch by Maggie Grey, Samantha Packer and Paula Watkins for a while and thought that now was a good a time as any to try out some of the techniques.

The book is all about creatively using the cutting machines that are available at the moment.

I have had the Accuquilt Go Cutter machine since 2012 and I must admit that it is seldom used. When I have used it I have been very happy.


I had plenty of mono printed fabric and paper left over from my experiments last year and the Go Cutter machine cut through it beautifully.



I also had quite a few hole punches; I had bought them thinking it would be a good way to cut tiny fabric circles but I soon discovered that they don't work very well with fabric.


I found that they work really well with paper and interfacing and all sorts of painted synthetic products that are available to art quilters.

When interfacing is painted it becomes much more like a fabric and can be a different texture to use in art quilts.

To make the clean-up easier when painting I use disposable bowls and wooden sticks for stirring.




Painted interfacing
The paint made the interfacing firmer and it was a beautiful fabric to cut.

Painted interfacing shapes
Even the negative shapes look really interesting.

Negative shapes


The book also suggested that craft metal could be cut with the cutting machines. I had some metal that I had used a few years ago and I was surprised how easily it cut and I could have much more precise shapes than if I had cut them by hand.

Metal shapes
I was so glad that I was encouraged to have this adventure. I have many books at home with all sorts of great techniques but don't take the time to play around with them.

I have no idea what I will do with these shapes but it is certainly something that I should do a bit more with. I suppose that felt would also cut really well!

Bye for now,
Linda 

2 comments:

jude's page said...

Can't wait to see what you do with all those shapes. I too have a seldom used Go Cutter which I need to get out and do something with.

Linda Steele said...

I'll let you know if I get inspired to do something with them.