Andrea Zuill’s Blog

  Love rules.  Heart Crown, another new painting for my show, Be Mine…, at Galleri Urbane in Marfa, TX.  The opening is on Friday, Feb. 12, 2010,

  Valentine Girl, another painting for my BE Mine… show at Galleri Urbane in Marfa, TX

Now, questions that need to be answered:

1. Referring to my Transfer Eze post:   Wow! I’ve been looking for something like this. My biggest challenge is finding ways to transfer embroidery designs. Can you recommend any other products or techniques? Thanks for sharing such valuable information!

Here are the most common ways to transfer embroidery designs onto fabric - 

Transfer Paper - You can get this item at any fabric store and Sublime Stitching.

Iron on Transfer Pencil  -these can be found at most fabric stores, like Joanns. 

Light Table  -  Well, actually, using a window as your light table.  If you are using the window method, you will find that taping the design to the back of the fabric or to the window helpful as the design will not slip easily while you trace it onto the fabric. To trace, use a light pencil, chalk, air or water-soluble pen, or even a fine tip permanent marker in the shade of thread you will be using. (This info is from Victorian Embroidery and Craft)

2. Just curious. When you are buying fabric, for not a particular project, how much do you buy? A yard? Fat quarter? 2 yards?

Since my quilts are smallish I tend to buy fabric half yards.  But, if I am head over heals in love with a fabric I will buy 1 to 2 yards.  Other reasons to buy more than half a yard of fabric is hard to find colors, hard to find patterns and great fabric to back a quilt with. 

I have trouble finding a good orange fabric, so if I find one I like I’ll buy a yard or two.  Same with brown.  I am always looking for a good chocolate brown.  The color is not the only thing that is important.  I am very picky about the type of pattern on the fabric .  Everyone has their own needs when it comes to size, design and rhythm of pattern on their fabrics.

When I find a nice feeling cotton fabric that would make a great backing for my quilts, and it’s cheap,  I’ll buy several yards. 

  Before I begin, I must warn you that this blog is NOT for MEN or BOYS.  Also, if you have issues with Aunt Flo, The Gift, The Monthly Visitor or That Stupid Thing That Happens to Me Every Month, please do not read this post.

    Tired of blood stained undies?  Not excited by elaborate and mystical stain removal methods?  Well,  I have a great tip for you. ONLY BUY BLACK UNDIES. 

 My current bunch of undies are about 4 months old.  In this time I’ve had four messy monthly visits.  My undies look as unstained as the day I bought them. 

ps - Just in case you’re wondering, I wash my undies frequently and in very hot water. (I know hot water sets blood but my undies are black so it just doesn’t matter.)

ps-ps- When writing this blog I didn’t know which word to use - underwear, panties, unmentionables or undies.   I choose undies because it feels the most friendly.

  Do you ever get a flash of an idea when you least expect it?  I do. It always happens to me while I’m in the bathtub. 

  While bathing a couple weeks ago the image of a appliqued rabbit popped into my head.  I suppose the idea came from all the vintage appliqued quilts I ‘ve been studying.  I love the old quilts with awkward appliqued animals.

  The idea of one rabbit became five.

  Why are they running?  Because they are being chased by a little girl.  I remember when my Daughter was just a tiny little thing and she liked to cuddle animals like a crocodile just wants to “taste” a baby zebra.  One of my friend’s more no nonsense cats took care of my daughters aggressive petting.    

Just so you know, my daughter is excellent with animals now.  It’s been years since I have seen a fist full of fur.

   I love Santa Cruz, CA.  There is so much about that town that I  like.  I love Logo’s used book store.  I love Harbor Cafe.  I love all the old houses and the extra funky people.  But, what I love most, and what I save up most of my craft money for, is Hart’s Fabrics.

 The first time I went to Hart’s, I told my husband, “Look, this is going to get ugly.  Money, and I mean lots of it, is going to be spent today.  I just wanted to prepare you.” Being that my Husband is very understanding, and he has his own issues with buying computer books, he said he’d just sit in the car, read a computer book and let me have at it. 

  I get totally overwhelmed by  Hart’s  huge selection.  Here are a couple tricks I use to decide which fabric to purchase for my stash.  I visually pass over all of the fabric about 3 times.  I try not to think too hard.  I just let it soak in.  By the 3 pass certain fabrics start calling to me.  That’s when I start pulling the fabic bolts and setting them aside.  

Another trick I do to supply my stash is to pick out a rainbow’s worth of fabric. By this I mean I make sure to pick out fabric in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, etc…  And, don’t forget black, grey, white, salmon, purple,,,,,  You get the idea.  If I didn’t aim for a rainbows worth I’d come home with nothing but pink fabric.

  These two fine ladies helped me out.  I had a big mound of fabric which took them quite a while to get through. They where very cheerful at their task.  And before long I was out the door with my huge bag, wondering if maybe I should have gotten more teal fabric.

Here is Hart’s info:

Hart’s Fabric, 1620 Seabright Ave., Santa Cruz, CA,

831-423-5434

Website: http://www.hartsfabric.com/index.html

Blog: http://blogs.hartsfabric.com/

 Free pattern time!  How many of you guessed that this Be Mine was February’s free pattern? (see previous article)  Due to extreme laziness I wasn’t about to do two Valentine patterns so I got double useage from this design.

As always, click on the pattern below to get the full size image.

   I was reading the magazine Quilt Mania and I came across a new embroidery product called Transfer Eze.  With Transfer Eze you can put a sheet into your computer (like a normal sheet of paper) and print your embroidery pattern.  Once this is done you peel that backing material off then stick the film, with the image, onto your fabric. When you finish stitching your design you use cold water to get rid of the film, leaving just your stitching and fabric. 

   Here is my step by step on using Transfer Eze and the results.

  Using my regular, cheap HP printer I printed my design onto the Transfer Eze.

  I peeled off the backing paper and stuck the image on 100 % cotton muslin fabric.  The Transfer Eze was easy to apply. As you can see I didn’t iron my fabric and the film adhered very nicely.

  Printing on the Transfer Eze was very easy and left a nice, dark and clear pattern.  Transfer Eze feels like a paper fabric.

  No problem putting the fabric and the Trans. Eze into my hoop.  The Trans. Eze feels like having your fabric applied to a stabilizer.

  Very little trouble with stitching.  There is some extra resistance  but probably not much different than using a stabilizer.  I have major carpel tunnel and stitching with Trans. Eze didn’t bother me a bit.

  You can see the texture of the Trans. Eze in this photo.   I tend to manhandle my work so I was glad to find that I had no lifting or releasing of the Trans. Eze while stitching.

  Completed stitched design with Trans. Eze still attached to fabric.

After stitching, peel and cut away extra Trans. Eze. 

  Lastly, after clipping the extra Trans. Eze off I soaked my fabric in cold water.  The directions states that it takes 5 to 10 minutes to remove the film, but it dissolved much faster on my project.

The only problem I had with Transfer Eze is that Trans. Eze film was like having a very thin spacer between the stitching and fabric. When I removed the film my stitches weren’t as tight as I would like to be.  I believe I could improve the tension of my stitches with practice.   Maybe this tension problem happens with stabilizers too?  I just don’t know. 

Remember, if you try Transfer Eze practice on a sample first.  The results I had may not be the same for everyone and every fabric.

The only place I could find Transfer Eze was at Original Creations Quilt Shop.  Here is their info.:

Original Creations Quilt Shop, 16863 Highline Blvd., Cut and Shoot, TX, 77306

phone: 956-491-5650

Email;   jerry@originalcreationsquiltshop.com

Website: http://www.originalcreationsquiltshop.com/home.htm  ,  Their website is a little hard to use.  If you click on Transfer Eze it doesn’t take you anywhere. 

  There are a lot of houses like this one in San Francisco.  It’s rare to have buildings any older because of the great eathquake of 1906.  I believe one of the oldest buildings in San Francisco is Mission Dolores.  Mission Dolores was founded in 1776.

  One thing you will notice about San Francisco is that everyone has a dog or two.    You can find dog culture everywhere here.  Take a look at the house above.  Notice the Labs decorating this victorian? (click on picture to see better)

  Another common image for vintage valentine cards is Native Americans.  The maiden in my paintings is pretty pouty, but on vintage cards they are usually quite gleeful handling tom -a- hawks and hearts.

Be MIne…. 

Galleri Urbanein Marfa, TX

Opening Feb. 12th, 2010

  I bought one of these egg cups for my friend Jean.  She is famous for her Chicken Chaple , as seen on HGTV.

  I don’t use feathers, but I need to buy these feathers.  I mean, how can anyone resist cups and cups of colorful feathers????

  It’s a love rat, perfect for that special someone.