Category Archives: Pods

Collage Based Work, Creative Assistants, Diva Meetings, Felt Work, Label Cards, Pods, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Two Chickadees

English

December 7, 2018 admin

Hello,

This is a bit different way to begin my post, but it is where I am so here goes. I did this card in response to the weekly card challenge and I was struck by how what a big part of the English language is mixed with body terms. When we usually hear someone say ” Body Language” we are talking about how our physical body can send signals of thought or actions, but there is another side too. We often use body terms to describe the world as well. One can use the face to raise and eyebrow, eye the competition, look through shuttered lids, roll the eye, give a fellow the evil eye or have looks that could kill. One can put their nose to the grindstone, or use a sharp wit, be a loud mouth, have a sharp thong , voice an anger, or say or do something that is jaw dropping. One can shrug things off, or carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. One uses the gray matter, or brain power, can have a pea brain, be scattered brained or hair brained. A person can laugh things off, but heads with a fellow , be tickled in the funny bone , nod off or have a stiff spine, stiff upper lip and some times get kicked in the seat of the pants. A person can get side swiped, man handled , and piss his fellows off. Or you can give your right arm, put you toe in, split a hair, have spring in your step or a belly laugh, get hip checked, or even hop to work. My mind is reeling with the whole idea. It is a pleasant activity to think on and I am sure you will come up with things I forgot.

The first Tues of the month was this week so I had my meetings with QuEGs and Divas. Corrine shared her leather work. Dori showed us her new raw edged applique quilt. Shabby sheek is my style she told us.

Angela has been busy too. This project from childhood made us all smile.

She is doing hand work on her deconstructed piece from two summers ago. I like the colors she used. Then I went off to Divas.

This is Regina’s newest thing. She does love that Indigo- even her shirt is dyed.

I also meant with my friend Tanya this week. She makes silk scarves to sell and this is just one of her new beauties. She had about six that were natural elements works too. All were beautiful.

Progress Report: Southern Crows This work is 45”w X 56” l. I did the stenciling with Susan in March. I finally put it together and did the quilting.I did reflective quilting around the birds and leaves and then did parallel quilting on the rest of the work.

Two Chickadees This work is 12”X 12” square. I did the birds on wash away with machine drawing. Then I added them to the surface with machine stitching. I am enjoying exploring this technique and have learned a lot about bird plumage in the process.

Creative Assistants I continue to build faces with found objects and make up these little guys. It is fun for me.

Cockle Burs All the cockle bur( Noogoora) heads are all done now and they have padding behind them. I am ready to build the branch to cross the surface and begin adding the burs now.

Felting: I’ve spent a lot of time using the felting machine this week. Built several backgrounds with little direction of where I want to go with them. This is one is an example of this. I believe I can find more birds that I would like to explore and this with work may be the answer. These Dickcissels for example. They are ready to be washed out now.

I built this felted piece with a Blue Jay in mind. I have only just started with the machine drawing here.

Sisterhood Challenge: Totem Fox I have cut out the pieces and they are required to the background fabric. ( a Judy Roberts piece) I am ready to zig-zag around all the parts at this point.

Sisterhood Challenge: Nine Patch This challenge has proved to be a difficult one for me. But after several weeks to struggling I have devised a way to go forward, The challenge is to make nine units that go together and are independently created. This collage of Mentos will be my soft guide for how to build my units. The block are all 18” square in my case, and they all must have back and white somewhere in the square. I have cut by bases ( the blue)and decided to use this black and white print as my unifying unit. I also pulled two other pieces of fabric that I want to use on more than one square. It’s a good challenge for me as I am in uncharted ground as far as I am concerned. A good stretch and that is what challenges are suppose to do.

Card Closed MindsIt is good to be reminded to keep the mind open – no matter where one is.

Keep Creating

Carol

Creative Assistants, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Label Blocks, Nine Blue Iris's, Notebook Covers, Pods, Transparency work

Keeping Active

May 25, 2017 admin

Hello,

These beautiful Alliums where blooming in my friends garden and they just captured me when I drove up. There are constant changes as the weather grows warmer and the days are longer. One needs to pay attention to the catch those changes. Keep Your eyes open.

I had two meetings this week. The FAB group meant and it was an active meeting. Nancy is making great strides on her Mother’s quilt. I spent time helping her with the free motion work in the center section around the little sunflowers and the birds. She is does not have enough experience with free motion work to make it work flow for her yet. But time and work will solve that problem. Patti is taking painting classes in both acrylic and watercolor. I think that takes courage.

Judy is working away on her “Disappearing Nine Patch” and assembling it . She has plans for a second already

Marty was at the meeting too and she showed us the quilt she made for her great grandson.

I really like how the longitude lines curve just a bit to give the rounded feel to the piece.

The Finger Lakes Fiber Artists also meant this week. It is so stimulating and there is lots of interaction between the participants. This shot shows Regina and Sharon talking at lunch. ( the works on the floor are Sharon’s)

This is one of Pat ‘s rare small works – it’s about 16″ square. Her hand printed fabric really lends its self to a big format so this is a different challenge for her.

This is Julia’s piece in response to a collage that she did in David Horning’s class at QBL two summer’s ago.

This work is by Bev. I love how she breaks up a shape and re assembles it. The colors work well together too.

Then on Monday I went to Liz’s house we spent the day using thickened dye to alter the color of fabric. We both did about three pieces and will meet aging in a few weeks to do another batch. These are mine and I am most delighted by finally getting some pure white in the front piece.

Progress Report: Nine Blue Iris This work is 15” X 31” . Iris are one of my favorite flowers that bloom early in the spring. The old lace in the background here is from a pillow case that my Grandmother Ruth made . I am continuing to challenge myself to work with organza and build up layers of color. Flowers work especially well with this idea as they are so delicate.

Most of these flowers are three layers thick,

Pods I am continuing to build these little works. I only have enough altered felt to do two more and then I will move onto another project.

Jellyfish This project also is working with the layers of transparency. The colors do not come through as well as I had hoped. Not enough contrast here I think. But that is part of what I am learning about this material.

Notebook- Harlequin Paper

I made this book cover from the Harlequin paper I made last week. I fused down candy wrappers to black felt and then layered golden brown nylon netting on top. The work was then free motion quilted over the surface to hold it all together and give it a strong body. Making it into the note book jacket was the final step.

Creative Assistants I finished up another 30 of these little fellows this week. They will disappear that QBL as I give them away.

New Work

Liz challenged me when we were dyeing to create something with some of the fabric we have created together over this last year. I pulled all of these to do just that .

Label Block # 122 I keep working away on this project one little block at a time.

I will be away from home so there will not be any post for the next two weeks. I will have holiday ones to share when I get back.

Keep Creating

Carol

Button Weed, Curvie Cuts, Felt Work, Label Blocks, Little Jellyfish, Pods, Pond Water, Truquoise Street Studio

Going Forward

May 18, 2017 admin

Hello,

We continue to go forward into the wonders of spring. I love all the smells that assault my nose as I take my daily walk. Some flowers are fading, but others Like Spiraea, and Lily of the Valley seem to quickly take their place and demand the attention of the bees.

I went off to see the art show at St David’s last week. It was very impressive and with so many of my friends represented I really enjoyed the powerful work. This is one of Sharon’s new works. I like how she is building up the surface and overlapping the leaves. Carol had two sculptures in the show. I know she struggled with this one.

Barbara had two pieces as well and this one is a part of her street seen series. Beth had two pieces too and both of them had red stickers on them. She was delighted with the sale news.

My Friend Angela had work in the show too. I learned later that this piece sold too. It is always a powerful show with lots of interesting work. I am delighted for my friends.

I went off to play with Beth and Barbara on Thursday afternoon at the Turquoise Street Studio. They were both working away on pastels as is there usual thing. It is fun to work in a parallel setting.

Progress Report: Button Weed This work is 16” X 20”. I enjoyed working on this piece as I have good memories from the Iowa farm and picking these weeds. We use to use them as noise makers when we did Indian dancing. I was always taken by the fact that they where such a strong spring green.

Pods I keep working away and finding new ways to embellish these little pods. It is fun to find homes for the last few odd beads and buttons that I seem to have lots of.

Pond Water I did hand work on this project at Turquoise Street. I am adding the gold units now. It is very calming almost meditative work for me.

Iris This project had proved to be a challenge. I made all these iris blossoms and then discovered that they just got lost on my background. I guess there will be a second one in this grouping. So I built some in blue and purple for the actual project. I am ready now to go back in and build up this flower with more detail and color.

Curvy Cut Jellyfish This project is moving forward. I really like the shapes of these jellyfish. I have had to really challenged myself with I could how to build them up to get the effect I want. I am sorry that the dark centers get lost with the many layers of organza.

Brown Back I found a use for the back I made last week already. I am ironing down all the cut-a way’s from the fusing I use in my work.

Red Scarf I keep working away on these works. They are fun to build, but they do take a lot of time. I will add the soft neck unit when I have all the nets filled. Only three more to complete.

Wool Brown I am a little beyond half way along with the felting of this work. I will do the free motion work on top when that step is complete.

Mixed I am all done with the felting here and ready to add the stitches on top.

Label Block # 121 They just keep on coming.

Keep Creating

Carol

Curvie Cuts, Felt Work, Flight, Label Blocks, Pods, TaJira, Thaw in Xavier Wood

Spring Energy

May 11, 2017 admin

Hello-

Spring really brings on fast changes around here. Last week this lilac barely had leaves and now it is in full bloom. And the smell is wonderful. So too of so many plants. I love all the quick changes that happen this time of year. The leaves fill in all the empty spaces as they reach for the sun shine and soon one feels under a canopy of green. The vast views of the land are cut down as the leaves block the eye line to the horizon line and one feels enclosed and protected. I find it really energizes me as well and I have had a great week.

Progress Report : Thaw in Xavier Wood This work is 38” X 40” and based on photos I took last fall when we had a nice thaw in mid November. Ice is a subject that seems to constantly call back to me. I love how the leaves are effected too not only in color but how they deteriorate. I even tried using copper for a few of them knowing that they will also fade with time.

Pods I seem to be fascinated by the areas of connection of the units for these pods this week. They sure got most of the attention. I am also using Sharron’s buttons as focus points on the surfaces of many of the pods.

Curvier Cuts This is the back ground for a new study of jellyfish. All the curved cuts suggest the motion of moving water to me and jellyfish sure take advantage of the ocean’s motion to move.

Flags: Tajira I keep working away on the flags that I started in Florida. This one is called Tajira because that is the name of the new baby Giraffe that was just born to April last week. This “ child” was 90 pounds and 6 Feet tall at birth. The lettering was done on silk paper.

Flight I enjoyed making this stencil. It is colored in with water color pencils. I had to add the beaded fringe because so how this piece of cloth was too short to meet the size requirement.

Spring Iris’s I built up a base of several layers of different types of creams and white fabrics and then added some brown and yellow stains to the surface for this piece. I used some old lace that my grandmother Ruth created for the edge of a pillow case here too. Then I did a life sized drawing of the Iris’s I want to put on top of this work and now I am ready to begin that step. Because I want to use layers of sheers for the petals I am moving very slowly. I am considering adding roving between the layers for more color.

Buttonweed This rock wall background has been waiting for me to make a decision about the top layer for a few weeks. This week I finally decided to go with my original plan and drew these big paper patters for the seed pods for the Button Weeds. They will be cut from this bright green because that is the strong color the weeds are and that plus the shape is what draws me to them.

Harlequin Papers This is a pure experiment. I had read some where that one could fuse down candy wrapper papers and use them on a work. So this week when I spilled the box of papers I thought that it was a sign that I needed to act on that idea. I will need to look and think about it for a while before I know how to proceed from this point.

Wool- Red My friend Tanya , gave me a big piece of red wool this winter and I finally pulled it out and cut three pieces from it. The roving is just hand felted into the surface here.

Wool- Brown This felted beginning has the same red wool base. It also has a lot of fabric mixed with the roving and wool yarn on the surface. I have not started laying out the third one yet. When it too is hand felted I will get out the felting machine and do that step to all three pieces and go from there.

Brown Base These fabrics seemed to go together so I untied them. It is just a raw base for a future something. I know that I will use it at some time and be glad that it is ready like a primed canvas is for an painter .

Purple Possibilities While I was pawing through my stash looking for the the green to use in Button Weed and the blues I used in the curvy cut piece, I noticed that there were lots of small purple bits in the bottom of bins and such. So I started collecting them in one place. I will use this as personal challenge to use them all together in a piece some time. I enjoy a little problem solving every now and then.

Label Block # 120 I keep working away on these blocks. Only 25 more to go at this point.

Keep Creating

Carol

PS- One last look at the spring flowers.

Crow Calls, Label Blocks, Pods, Samurai Romance, Truquoise Street Studio

New Growth

April 21, 2017 admin

Hello-

Spring is fast upon us here in central New York. From the blooming of the trees to the lots of green sprouts across the ground it is here. Not having to always load up with hats and gloves is a very freeing feeling. I went off to visit with Regina this week. She did this wonderful piece with a snow dyed background and then she hand painted the grapes and leaves on top. It will be wonderful when she is done. She also showed off her machine work. The more I learn about this process the more I respect the gals who do it. There is or can be lots of computer programing in the process as well as all thread and color selection that goes on. It looks to take a lot of skill to me. We also did silk paper and had a long and good day.

Then I help Judy and Nancy work on the basing of Nancy’s Blue Bird quilt. There are lots of hours of machine drawing left on this project and I am certain that the end result will be a beauty.

I spent Thursday afternoon in the Turquoise Street Studio with Beth and Barbara. They are both working on there entries for the St David’s Show next in two weeks.I did hand work all afternoon and enjoyed the conversation.

Progress Report: Samurai Romance This work is 18.5 “ X 37.5 “.

I did four different techniques for adding textures to the surface for this work. I really like using foil and will try to keep that in mind as I go forward with new works.Foil can be added to paper, wool and interfacing. I have only applied it to fabric in the past. With each project I seem to be doing more and more free motion work too. It is also a powerful tool to use the machine as a drawing tool.

Pods I was doing some sorting and found some unique and beautiful buttons in my stash. They come in packs of five- but I am still going to use them as part of the embellishment of these pods. I cut quite a few more this week but there is still the fabric that I created in all four colors left so there will be lots of these to pass to folks at Christmas time as well as plenty to keep for myself.

Guatemalan Top This top is all done now. I will be sure to wear it at QBL this summer so show off how to use some of the great needle work.

I think Pricilla will be glad to see how I used the embroidery I purchased from her too.

Crow Calls I am working away on this project. I am adding the crow in flight to it now as the trees are mostly full of birds. I am almost out of the suede too so when that is all gone I will stop.

Iced Leaves I am making slow progress on this work. I have cut and embossed some of the copper leaves I want to use. I have also started to stitch down some of the fabric leaves too. I will admit now that it is spring I do not seem to have the drive to work on this I had earlier in the year.

Tan Rock This background is all done now. I have done some research and some drawings trying to decide what plant life I want to add on top. I am still in this part of the design stage.

Red Rock The same can be said for this red rock face.

Label Block # 117 The stitching keeps going forward on this project. I did a lot of hand work on the pods so not as much extra time was put into this project this week. I still meant my goal of completing one more block.

Keep Creating
Carol

Cherry Blossom Time, Crow Calls, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Label Blocks, Pods, Samurai Romance, Starfish, Still Life

Moving Forward

April 13, 2017 admin

Hello,

I am enjoying the unfolding of spring here. There are lots of buds and birds. I went to the Towpath Quilt Guild quilt show on Friday.

My friend Noel’s quilt looked great as did many others. I enjoyed the show and saw many friends too. It was inspired to go home and work in the studio.

FAB had a meeting on Monday and Nancy show us this label that she programed for her Mom’s Blue Bird quilt. It looks good to me.

Progress Report: Cherry Blossom Time This work is 39” X 35”. I created it from the branch that was left over from the Blooming Branch project. It was too dark for that work so this one was born. The branch was created from the sleeve of a wool jacket that I then built up with two different yarns.

There area 61 blossoms on this quilt. I made the centers from silk paper that I cut in circles and then stitched down with long French Knots.

Flag-Starfish This is my newest flag from the Susan Challenge. The text on this piece is machine writing in the section on the bottom.

Pods These are the newest completed pods. I am enjoying the embellishing step as I get to use lots of beads sequins and pearls with this project. I cut six more felt embellished units this morning so there will be more in the future.

Crow Calls This project is a reworking of a completed quilt. I built up the trees and stitched them to the quilt. Now I am adding the crows. They are cut from suede that is then free motion stitched down. I added twenty five birds yesterday.

Samurai Romance I have been following the suggested techniques in Stitch, Fiber, Metal and Mixed Media. I have not purchased any new materials to do this project, but adapted what I have on hand to do the projects. This week I applied foil to thick interfacing and then did free motion machine drawing on top to create the flowers. The centers are glass beads.

Still Life This work is an experiment. I have been making silk paper for a while and for this project I made the silk in the flower shapes instead of the sheet form. Now I am stitching them down.

Ice I have started adding the leaves to this project. This week I made leaves out of copper. They are embossed with a blunt pencil. This first one is trapped under a bit of “ice” and I like the effect. The other one isset to be in the water section of the work. It may need netting too but I do not know at this time. I also want to also add some fabric leaves too.

New Works This is a started build up for a new work. There is a minimum of free motion machine work on this piece at this time. It is based on a photo of a rock face. This is a second pin up for another new work. It is based on another section of the same rock face- with a different color base

Top I fell in love with this piece form Guatemala. he hand work is beautiful. But it is far too short for me and I wanted the sides closed. So I have started altering it to work as a top for me.

Label Block #115 #116

I got inspired and did two blocks this week. I also cut 15 more black squares to complete the top.

Keep Creating,

Carol

Birds, Blossoming Branch, Crow Calls, Diva Meetings, Label Blocks, Pods, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Summer Meadow, Year Of the Rooster

Spring

April 7, 2017 admin

Hello-

It is starting to really feel like spring here in central New York. I see little bits of green on the tips of branches and shoots in the flower beds on my walks. This was the fist week of the month so I had meetings. The QuEG’s meeting was small but there was lots of work.

Liz finished this beauty using all Kay Facet’s fabrics. She and Sue Ellen both had work for the group challenge for the guild.

This is Liz’s finished star challenge piece. It looks good I think. Sue Ellen’s star is a good one as well. The use of the light blue fabric and the size were the other two limitations to the challenge. Angela is busy working on felting some of her patterns from her tip to Hawaii I think the limited pallet will server her well with this exploration.

The Divas also meant on Tue eve. with more exciting stuff. This is Lori’s completed tundra piece from her trip to Alaska.Maureen showed us lots of the new wonderful hand printed fabric that she is working on. Donna is proud of finally finishing her big king sized top. It is amazing as it is her first quilt.

She is also working away on some figures in paper clay. These bathing beauties are fun I think.

Regina is doing lots of handwork on her shobori pieces from last month. She is also exploring with rust dyeing.

Lliesa shared her memory scrolls from her semester in Japan. They are so wonderful. All created while she was there with her husband and made from fabric she got at the temple sales that she attended.

There are four scrolls and each one is full of beautiful appliqued works all with memories and stories too. She stitched the insect by hand here and told a story about the cricket pets one has in the small houses there. I just could not look enough at this piece of work.

Progress Report: Summer Meadow

This work is 15” X 21.5 “ in size. Sewing of the flowers was done from the back of the work with thick thread and cord in the bobbin. The dragon fly has wings cut from ribbon that was then free motion attached to the background. The body is made of bugle beads that I hand stitched to the surface.

Blooming Branch This work is 33” X 40.5”. It is the result of a challenge by my friend Sharron. We bot purchased some silk kimono fabric

This shot is a close up of that fabric. The challenge was to use it in a project to show at QBL in the summer of 2017. This is my solution.

Crow Calls I am adding the trees to the surface of the work now. It takes about 50 minuets to do each tree and the birds have not been started yet. I am enjoying it none the less.

Samurai Romance I finished the leaf panels this week . I am beginning to feel it is a bit over crowded and I still have one more technique to add to the surface.

I may do some editing before this is all done and I am happy now that I only pinned things in place as I went along.

Banner –Year of the Rooster This is one of my works that I started in Florida with Susan. The lettering on this one is stamped. The rooster is colored with crayon.

Banner- Birds This is my second banner this week. The texture is created by rubbing over a plastic doily with crayon. The text here is cut felt letters that were machine stitched down.

New IceI am just starting to free motion stitch down the parts of this work. The bright pink at the bottom, is the felt inside that I am building on.

New Scarves Chris asked for more scarves so I got busy and did these two this week. I am always surprised by the bits of stuff that seem to pile up and work in these projects.

Pod 6 I gave in and decided to create a few more pods. This one needs some weight/beads on the bottom and it will be complete.

Label Block # 114 I made it to the fabric store this week and got more black fabric for the last 25 blocks. Cutting them is the next step. Only 36 to go now.

Keep Creating

Carol

PS check out my tutorial on how to rust print.

Cre-8

Category Archives: Pods

English

Keeping Active

Going Forward

Spring Energy

New Growth

Moving Forward

Spring

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer