Data Matrices in Progress

I don't have a set-up out here to photograph sequins (the flash reflects...), but as long as they're less than 9" wide, I can scan them...

Is it boring? Am I too blinded by my own cleverness?

A little darker:

In progress:

They're all technically "in-progress" since the edges aren't finished (they're just cropped). I got a walking foot last week, so this week I may attempt a facing. I say "may" because I've been working late a lot.

Meanwhile, I've got some fabric dyeing...

There is work in progress

When I was quilting the grid on this piece of fabric I dyed in 2004, I felt a need to scan it to preserve the subtle patterning before I covered it all up with sequins.

A few weeks ago I was doing some research into information encoding at work and came across the Data Matrix. And I thought, what an excellent way to put messages into quilts (especially subversive words/sentiments...). Up to 3115 ASCII characters--doesn't have to be alphanumeric--can be put into the matrix, and of course a quilt can string matrices together. I could encode ASCII art for the ultimate geekery.

I'm still playing around with instantiation. I haven't completely rejected piecework, but I don't enjoy matching corners so it's low on the list. Fused squares are in progress but the quilting is going slowly. Square sequins have an interesting look, but the process of applying them to a pre-quilted grid feels a bit like counted cross-stitch, which I have always hated. This weekend I will investigate stamping the squares. Screen-printing is also on my mind...when I come up with messages I can wear on T-shirts, I can commission some Thermofax screens.

I don't really feel like sharing my samples (or messages) at this time; just felt like I was neglecting the blog.

What I probably need is a critique group to tell me I'm being a bit too precious with the intellectual crap and not at all visually interesting, like my fiber class did with my logic diagrams ten years ago.

Finished: Quilted EFB

It's complete and hanging in my cubicle. Reactions from co-workers range from "You need to get a life" to "You forgot the brightness toggle." Artistic license, I say...



Technically, it's just the display portion of the EFB. In fail mode. Bwahahahaha.

Doing a little every day

Having too much fun with my new printer, except the color management on my computer can't translate between Photoshop RGB and Epson CMYK worth crap. The photo utility that came with the printer gets the colors right, but will only print stock photo sizes--8" x 10", 4" x 6", etc--which distorts the odd-size clip art and cropped photos I want to work with most. Right now the "project" is the printing; best to get this all figured out before I have a big idea that needs specific images, right?

Then when I get tired of futzing with the printer, on to Netflix and sequins. I'm making a quilted version of the 787 display I test at work. We recently got new cubicles, and I have a lot of vomit-pink "wall" space to cover. The sequins represent buttons and the color patterns of the display's fail state. :)

It's nice to be back.

Sequins

I thought I had rectangle sequins (color unimportant), but I don't, and I can't find any online.

Grrrrr.

Finished: Sequined coffee mug

I should have taken a picture of the back; I left the knots showing and drew a radish as a signature; Andy saw that side first when he unwrapped it and was surprised to learn it was "reversible." Häh! It's about 9" x 6".

About halfway through, I wondered if this would be cuter as a fabric applique, with a few sequins for accent.

Now I need something new to do.

In which I feel like a slacker

Captain Kirk, in beads. WOW. I'd do Red Dwarf, of course...

Over the weekend I sorted through over 900 pieces of fabric, not including bits smaller than a fat eighth (which went immediately into the scrap bucket). There's one box left.

I started a new sequined coffee mug with fabrics from stash. I'd like to finish by the first week of April to give to my friend Andy for his birthday, so I won't fill in the background.

Note sleeping assistant on cutting board.

Work in Progress?

Yesterday I made some additional pieces of paper fabric (same novel, no paint, looks exactly like this) before deciding what the first unpainted piece needed was a modified Carolina Lily.

It's fused down--the PVA gets smooth when you melt it--and I might be able to peel off the fused pieces if I decide I hate it. I might hate the green triangles, they're too big...

I have no idea how or why I embarked on this--maybe because the crappy novel was about people from South Carolina? I don't like primitives or faux folk art, why did I start making some?


Less perplexing is a new sequined piece featuring coffee. The scale doesn't seem right; there's a lot of empty space. I said I wanted to make things bigger than the things I finished last year...