Uncommon Quilt squares for April:  The challenge continues and I am on the look out for anything interesting that I can sew into a square! I am trying not to buy more stuff for this project although I will soon need more batting.

 Sweet chili peppers cut from a scrap of printed fabric combine with part of a potato bag for this square.  The quilting is in bright green thread which seems to work, but doesn't show up much here.  Now it looks to me like another element is needed on the edges.  I might come back to this, or not.  The Happy Easter egg posted last week brings me up to date to the end of April 

What fun to make something quick and bright and silly! The paper sizzle was trickier to sew down than I had expected, so the project wasn't as "quick" as it might have been.  The zig zag stitch made it possible and fit right in with the grass.  The other Uncommon Quilting square for April will be on next week's blog as well as a couple of new dolls.

Rethinking Acrylic: Radical Solutions for Exploiting the World's Most Versatile Medium
I happened to find this book by Patti Brady, at the library this week.  It is interesting to notice how often the information or idea I am seeking falls into my hands at the right moment. This book is another happy example.  Did I just write last week that maybe I could find something archival to build my canvas?  Brady demystifies many of the dozens of acrylic mediums, additives, gessos, grounds, varnishes and, of course, paints. Guess what.  Elmer's glue and dry wall compound are NOT among them! As an educator for GOLDEN Artist Colors, Inc., you would expect the author to lean on the side of buying an expensive jar of something. And she does. If I decide it is important to step up my game, I will have a better idea of how to do it.

Look what I found! These are a couple of small paintings I did sometime before 1990. I had kind of forgotten about them, and was surprised to discover them kicking around during a recent garage cleaning. So, this grid idea is ground I've been over before! On these pieces strips of canvas and string were woven around the stretcher bars and stapled on the back.   This seems like an interesting process to explore further sometime soon.

Last week I shared the four most recent Uncommon Quilting squares.  While this woven grid square was not my favorite in the group, it gave me an idea. Why not build a canvas surface with woven strips of fabric, and then paint?  I enjoyed developing this idea and the best part was imaging the cries of dismay, and then alarm, that my painting professor would make at this effort, especially the choice of glue. (Elmer's) I could find something archival, perhaps?

This is the result on a 16" x 20" canvas. It turns out that I am not as handy at weaving as I thought. Some of my overs and unders are mixed up, but it is hard to tell where. I'd like to try this again, maybe adding some woven sheers, or some print fabrics or string.  I could make a more irregular grid or paint a shadow grid in the background. There are a couple of places here where I hand stitched the fabric to the canvas. It made an interesting detail that could be used to greater advantage, maybe with a heavier string or twine.

I am longing to break away from my usual small format move to a larger size canvas. So maybe ...?