Category Archives: Collage

Changing Light

Hello,

The world shifted just a bit when we went back to standard time.   I always have  a time of adjustment doing that shift.  I am not real happy to find the sun going down at 4:30.     It is beautiful none the less.

On Saturday I went to the opening of the Quilts=Art= Quilts show at the Schweinfurth.

  This show  is a real winner!   I was so overwhelmed by the work and the many people I new and talked with that, I did not even enter two of the galleries.    Good thing I will be going back for the Fall Retreat and two trunk shows by friends.    This work is by Michelle Browne and called The Landscape Becomes her.    I like how she used and old quilt that almost gets lost in the work on top.

 

Roger Blum did this work called Greenfield.    His use of transparence makes  it  look like a painting to me.

 

 

 

 

 

This work is by Valerie Goodwin, my old teacher.  She is really exploring the use of the cut machine work a lot in  her  art.

 

 

Laurie Paquin, my friend from QBL entered this strong piece called Composition 4.   It is also on the front of the Schewinfurth mailer this month.

 

 

 

 

I was fascinated by this work by Sheree Rasmussen called  The Landscape Within.   I found all the bits and pieces really drew me into the work.

 

 

 But  thinking on the title I can see how one could picture that world in this fashion.

 

 

There was also a Pixie meeting this week.

Progress Report: Lap #5  I got busy and finished this one this week.   The stack  of lap quilts  is getting big,  so I will make a run to a nursing home sometime soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap #6     This top is all pin based now and I have done a little quilting on it .   I am getting to the bottom of the stuff I printed for the 100 days project from last year at this point.

 

 

 

 

Bleaching Coral    I am making progress on this project as I have put in a little time every day.     The roving with machine work is a little disappointing as it really sinks into the background.   But things are bound to come out less then satisfactory when you are experimenting .

 

Scrap Happy    I got busy on this project  this week and all the rows are stitched  to the backing.  I even put two pieces of boarder on it.

 

 

 

 

Autumn Cuts      I just keep stitching away on this one.    Sometimes it only gets a little attention at the end of the news.

 

 

 

 

 

Tutti Frutti Collage   I kept self promise  to myself and did  a collage this week.    The catalog’s for Christmas  fruits were on the desk and many parts of pages ended up in this work.

 

 

Printing  I finally printed the foam stamps that I made in June.   I am not sure if they are done or need a second stamping over the top.    I need to live with them a bit longer to know the answer to that one.

 

 

Enjoy the seasonal changes and keep Creating.

Carol

Indian Summer

Hello,

We have enjoyed two wonderful days of Indian Summer here in central NY.  The temperatures were above 75  and I finished most of my yard work on Wednesday.   All the lawn furniture is put away and   first run at sheading leaves is done.

 

 

 

 

Then on Halloween the FAB  group  with Judy, Nancy and Sharon up to Old Forge to see the Quilts shows at The View in Old Forge.      Most of the trees had abandoned their leaves in that part of NY, but the shows were all stimulating.   I loved this work because the apple green shape on top really adds depth to the work for me.

Sharon had three works in the show.   This is one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

She  won an  Honorable Mention for one of her works.   This is great.

 

 

 This work was also in the Schweinfurth show last year.

 

 

There were many works with great raw edge applique of very small pieces that I really enjoyed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found this work really intruding too because of her use of overlapping  nylon net circles  to created different colors on the background striped fabric.

 

 

Marcia Decamp was in this show.   This is her work.

 

 

 

 

 Julia also had a work in this show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The show upstairs was a small repetition from Genesee Valley Quilt Group.     This example of wool applique was especially enjoyable to me.

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed the strong graphic  feel in this work too.

 

 

  In additon there was  a SAQA show called “Imagery in Fiber”.   It was fascinating too.     Most of them had a bit of Photo transfer in them.      This work is by one of the gals  who was in my dyeing class last summer.

 

 

I spent all afternoon on Monday playing with collage .  I limited myself to using something from the Gelli plate play days of a few weeks ago and an images of a bird  in each of them.

 

 The play was fun and it change with time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend Patti, had moved to Penn Yan and she left me with a parting gift of two boxes of oil pastels.  I added the rule that I had to use them in the works too.

 

 

 

 

 

I think I will try to do a little collage work every  Monday for a while.

 

 

 

 Progress Report:  Cut Away   This work is  35.5″ X 42″.      The background fabric ( deep purple and blue) for this work is hand dyed by a fellow artist.

 

 I really enjoyed doing all the pebble quilting on this project.  I also learned that my machine likes some metallic threads better that others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap #5  This work is pin basted and  all ready for the quilting   step now.     I need to deliver some of these lap works to the nursing home soon .

 

 Lap # 6    I have cut the strips to fill

in   around theses squares for this project and will get moving on it soon.

 Bleaching         I    still have pieces form the rock series that I want  use as bases for for additional stitch work.

 

 

 

I did a little free motion  work over roving   to create  sea shells.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I did some punch needle work for this next project.

 

 

 

 

 

 I plan to add these two elements and  other stuff from my collection of goodies , plus stitches and buttons to create  and work that will be my little commentary on  Coral Bleaching.

I hope you adjust well to the day ight savings time change this week.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Half Moon

Hello,

This evening we will see the flower half moon in our skies.  Change is such a constant  that one can forget to notice.  I did  notice the cottonwood seeds piling up along the road today on our walk.  “Summer Snow” was what Nick called it in his childhood.   I even caught one of the little white things as it drifted to earth this morning.  I guess  I am paying more attention that I thought.

The week has been a full one with a trip along with  Liz to Marcia’s for another play day.    Joyce had her newest doll  called “Holding It Together.” We all sort of feel that way now days.

 

 

 

 

 She and I also started Bog Coats at that time.   I am struggling along on it now.

 

 

 

 

 

My good friend Joyce  Holman had an opening on Saturday at the Art Rage Gallery.       I really love her work.   So much action  and great color.

 

 

 

 

 

I did the homework for my Naturally Inspired class as well.  We are [painting backgrounds at this point.

I did the SAQA on line lecture on Wed and attended the  Pixie meeting too.

Progress Report: Ethel 5   This is the last piece that is made with blocks that Ethel started.   I did have to make some to finish this, but I used her fabrics to do so. I feel a bit sad to close this door, but it’s time I guess.   Her fabrics are all integrated into my own stash at this point, but I still look of batiks and think of her.

Lap #8  I am working on getting this piece fully quilted at this point.  I am sure it will be done soon.    It is made up of blocks leftover from the 100 day BV project.

 

Lap  #9  I am to the binding step on this project.

 

 

 

 

Lap #10     Off on another  bit of play with this new lap work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Work  I am still building little nine patch works as a background.  Progress here even though my original goal has been cancelled.

Purple Washup    I was not happy with the melting of the Tyvek on Wash Up, so I used ink to color the surface this week  and started a new  piece with it.     The ink allowed for lots more distortion of the surface. 

 

 

 

 

Collages  I got busy and worked on collages on Sunday.   These are the results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Handwork  I have been doing a little handwork on this piece.  It is a leftover form the Joyous Embroidery Class.

 

 

Flag  Susan’s assignment from a few weeks ago inspired a new flag having to do with the environment.

Enjoy the seasonal changes and keep Creating

Carol

 

Set Backs

Hello,

Today I want to talk about having set backs.   It is unrealistic to think that every piece one works on will be a success.  Everyone who plays on a team  knows that with every game there will be a winner and a looser,   That certainly dose not stop the players from preforming to their best.    With creating the ends are not so clearly defined.   Many things are good or okay, and only a few are specular.  As the creators, we keep trying none the less  just as athletes do. Then there are short falls and a few specular failures.  It is all part of the game.  On occasion out side influences come into play.    This has been my experience this week.   I have been working away on the Wedding Travel Dress Project for my friend Joyce for a while.  I carefully stitched down the cape and dress top that were originally made in 1909.  This week I started to stitch in the words to tell the story.  I have tried to be very gentle with the old materials, but I had to admit that they were truly falling apart.  I accepted  defeat having only done one line.  I can see that the silk will not hold up until I am done.    With  more and more of the support cloth of brown is  appearing as the old  pink silk falls away, the dress will lose it beauty.   I sadly told Joyce of my decision  on Tuesday.    She was so very gracious about the loss.

My second let down this week had to do with not making my own goal.   When I started the SAQA 100 day challenge, my goal was to design  and complete four quilts, each taking 25 days.  ( the gold is the first quilt)   Each of the four quits was to be made with a block I designed that was repeated three times in three sizes that worked together. This system I learned from my friend Liz, is call a “motif”.    ( the right shot is the motif in the largest block )

Well I think I bit off more than I can chew.   The first one was successful and I made the goal.  This second one however has proven to be a lot more difficult.   What I did not know and have learned, is that the triangles, although they look similar are  easy to put together incorrectly.   This week I have spent as much time ripping out seams as I have putting them in.

 Today is day 46 and I have only completed one block of the smallest motif at this point.       So again I must admit that I will not make the set goal.    I think the project is worth completing so I am not admitting defeat about that part – only the time limitation.   When I design the next block I will take far more care in the shape of the parts.

This week I only had a Pixie meeting and the Noel’s Needle Work meeting.    Liz spent part of the needlework  meeting working on her Finding Fragments  project.

 

 

 

 

Noel shared these fish, her sister made for her.

 

 

 

 

 

I did stop to talk with Adam for a bit on Tuesday and he honored me with this necklace that he had made.

 

 Project Progress: Three Trees   I have been doing this little hand project over the course of several week.

Barbara Blocks II   I am doing the free motion quilting on the second quilt that I made from some of the leftover blocks from the Barbara Blocks quilt project.

 

 

 

 

Ethel 4 I am adding the rows together on  this project.    I only have three to go and then I can move to the boarders.

Collages   I had a good time working on collage projects this week too.

 

 

 

 

 

Can you find the blue face in this work?

 

 

 

 

I used one of the  Sea Grape leaves that Chris brought up form Florida for Barbara’s  floral arrangements for in this one.

 

 

 

Coral Shores   I am having fun with a very limited pallet with this one.  I am also discovering how many little trinkets I have in my collection of stuff.

 

6X6   It is time to ship the 6X6  pieces and sense we can donate 4 this year  I am making one more.  This is not complete.

 

 

 

Finding Fragments Works I am adding texture to some of the pieces that I created at Angela’s play date last week.   I am not done yet.

Stay safe and warm

Carol

 

 

Busy Week

Hello,

This seems to be a very busy time for me.  I started off by going to the Both Ends of the Rainbow Show at the Schweinfurth last Thru afternoon. I always like this show as it reminds me of the fun of teaching and the rich amount of work that is being done here in central NY.   I was surprises by this bit of felting done  by a middle school student.     I enjoy looking at the student projects and trying to figure out what the teacher’s assignment was.

 

  Many of my friends were well represented.     There was these two wonderful works by Marty.

 

 

 

 

 

These two works   are by Sharon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And these works are by     Anne, (   the top brail  piece and Noel’s is the Santa work.     It is a delightful show.

 

 

 

 

 

Then things settled down for me and I enjoyed Valentines day  by meeting with Noel’s Needle Work group.     This work is by one of her friends.

The Pixies also meant on Wed.

 

 

 

Then this morning I  and meant with Joyce to get some information for the wedding travel dress project and got to see some of her wonderful water color experiments.   Her granddaughter has asked her to  design some possibilities for the wedding invitations.   What a supreme compliment.

Progress Report:  Barbara Blocks    This quilt is 32″ 32″.      I really enjoyed working on this project and it ahs helped me process the loss of my good friend Barbara Vural.

 

 

 

 

 

Barbara II   Doing my usual thing I made more blocks than I needed for this project  and so I put together a second top.  It is all pin basted and ready for quilting now.

 

 

 

 

Ethel 3   I have not made much progress on the quilting of this project this week.  The quilting the diagonals across each square takes lots  of time and  these queen sized works are a bit difficult to move under the machine arm.

Tidewater I I think this work is complete at this point and I only need to face it now.

 

 

 

Past Times  I too this project to the Noel’s Needle Work meeting and made great progress on it.

 

 

 

 Collage  I put in a bit of time on collages this week and finished up three.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Finding Fragments Class has really encouraged me to continue to add materials and stitches on paper works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Tides 1 & 2     After finishing up Tidewater II, I pulled another old work and decided to use it as the base for the next work as a rocky shore line for  the subject.     This old work called Whip Shot Hill  has been cut in half and will become a diptych.    I plan to work on both pieces along side one another.

 

 

  I have started with the punch needle step in a very muted pallet.

 

 

 SAQA 100 day project  Day 23    I have designed another set of three blocks that are three different scales with the same shaped  pieces.   This shot is the pattern before I cut up the biggest block,

 

 

 

   I am  using the snow died fabric as my starting  color point. ( dyed it this year after the first snow fall  of the season)   At this point I only have two of the biggest block ( 12″ X 18″) assembled.  This shot shows the blocks with the pieces flipped .

 

Handwork  I intended to use  this bit of handwork as a part of my entry for the  SAQA  raffle piece.  I an not so sure  of that idea now.  I plan to finish and then make a decision.

Keep Crating

Carol

 

 

February Begins

  Hello,

We had a light snow earlier this week.  It reminded me of how I use to use days like this one to teach drawing a tree to my students.  I would pass out gray paper dark crayons and a white one to each child.   Using one of the dark colors they were instructed to start an upward line that began a little ways for the bottom edge to moving vertically and stopping about an inch from the top of the page.  Starting again at the base the next line was to run up the paper touching the original line and “Y’ing  off near the top of the first line.   Repeat the second action on the opposite side of the original line.    The next set of lines was to begin  again from the bottom only this time there should be two sets of   “”Y”  on on top and one below the branch.   Line set  four started at the base and went up about one third or less  of the trunk then was to veer hard  slightly upward to the right or left  depending on the side of the trunk were the line began.    The students were then told to add more lines starting at the base and  “Y”ing  the branches  to fill in the tree.   Now I would also tell the students that the snow rested on the top of the branches and so they also needed to add  a white bit on the horizonal portion of the trees.    These drawings although very similar were always beautiful.     The kids trees got more interesting and personal with observation and time.   It was a good jumping off place for them however.

This week was quiet and my only trip away from home was to visit with Angela.     She took  the Bits and Pieces class too and this is one  of her works from that on line class.   She gave me some valuable  feedback on my work and I am doing some corrections now.  Angela is also working a lot with felt and took a class on line were she learned how to make vases and lamps.  These are impressive I think.

 

The Pixies meant as  usual  too.

 

 

Progress Report: Ethel  3 I keep working away on assembling this project.  I have five rows added and seven to go at this point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 3    This work is pin basted now and ready for the stitch in the ditch quilt work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tidewater II   Angela and Liz gave me some good advice on how to go forward with this work yesterday.   I am excited about it.

 

 

Barbara Blocks  This is my SAQA  100  project  with the top all assembled.   I decided to call the work Barbara Blocks in memory of my friend.   I am sure I will make the 25 day dead line for this now.  I also plan to try a second arrangement as I have lots of blocks left over.

 

 

Past Times  I finished another block for this project.   I will add more handwork to the blocks before I put them together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Valentines.   I only need to do the message inside to completed these cards.  I will mail them next Wed.

 

 

 

 

Collage   This work is part of the Bits and Pieces  class work.  After seeing what Angela was doing with hers, I was inspired to finish off some of the stuff from the class.   This is the first.

 

The days rush past and I try to pack them with lots of creative work.   I hope your days are similar.

Stay safe

Carol

 

Barbara

Hello,

I write with a heavy heart today as one of my best friends died yesterday.  She enriched my life so very much,  We both taught Art int he Westhill School district,    I did middle school and she taught high school.    Many was the evening when we would meet  after school and have a little dinner and then go to her class room and play for several hours.  We painted, drew, dyed and explored anything we could think of to try with our kids and for self enjoyment.  She was a great leader and she ran Art club at the high school. As a part of that she took students to NYC for the Columbus Day weekend for many years and because I knew all the students too I got to go along as a chaperone.    She provided the students with a rich experience there.   After arriving and getting the bags into the Edison Hotel , she would gather the kids together start. Her first act was to give them all a hotel card so they could always find there way “home”, and a map of the city while she made sure they understood that they should never go any were alone.  The next instruction was to find the hotel on the map and tell them to mark it’s location.  She followed that by saying our first destination is Museum of Modern Art at 11 W 53 street.   When they had found it she would. then select two students to lead us here.   I usually walked near the front of the group and she did he rear.  When we arrived she would direct them to an exabit and we  would do it together.    Now we had seen many of the works before, but hey were often surprised by how work looked in reality.   She then would allow the students to wander the museum and we all collected at an appointed time and go to a second exabit that usually involved a second bit of map use and walking.  At about 4;30 or five she would pull them all together and remind them of staying in groups of at least two and say ” Make your own way back to the hotel and have dinner.  Be ready to go to the theater and meet us in the lobby at 7:30.      The evening was usually an  off Broadway show , but we did do the Empire State Building one time and took a boat tour around the Island one year.   Saturday morning we crowed into a bus and went down to SOHO . Stop One was Tower Records.    Then we would visit gallery after gallery.  I recall seeing an exabit of work were very thing was made of Chocolate.   It had among many other things, a life sized chocolate moose head along with chocolate playing cards and chess pieces   too.  One time we visited a show of tattoo art .  That was mostly drawings of pieces and lots of photos of the images on bodies.  Every visit it was different.   She would allow the students to explore on there own  in the afternoon telling them to meet us at the McDonalds to catch the subway at 4:30.   After the subway ride it was dinner on your own with the meeting again for the theater in the evening.   I got to see Meet Me in St Lewis, Into the Woods, and South Pacific to mention a few.   Sunday was always the Metropolitan Museum.      After handing them a map of the museum Her instruction was for them to visit at least three galleries of their choosing and then they were free to spend the rest of the day as they chose be it exploring Central Park, the Museum of Natural History, shopping- what ever, but be in the  hotel lobby at six with dinner in hand ready to get on the bus to go home.    On the bus ride home she would talk with each student about the exabit they had visited in the Met as her follow up.   It was always a great experience for  the students as well us.    Barbara and I traveled on our own too. We went to a Maine and visited her college roommate and drew int the Maine woods and the rocky sea shore.  We went to California to visit her sister and had a good time exploring there as well.  We traveled with  retired teachers to Turkey and Greece.     She introduced me to pastels  and water color as well as encouraging my fabric work.    Her fearless approach to the world was always in inspiration and I loved her like a sister.  I will miss her greatly , and I am so very thankful she was in my life!

The week was full of other action for me too.  Associated Artists had a meeting on Sat.    FAD meant here yesterday and Sharon had a new a bit of work to share with us.

Noel has just started a stitch group too, and I went to that.  I also made it to the Pixie meeting yesterday too.

 

I am working away on Finding Fragments.  I  have started the stitch work on this collage.

 

 

 

 

The SAQA 100 day project is on day 11 now and I have made some blocks.    These are the middle sized ones and they are 12.5 X 4.5.   I am ready to cut the pieces for the smallest ones in the set now so the real fun will begin later this week.  I think now that I will call the blocks Barbara Blocks in honor of my friend.

 

 

  Progress Report: Past Times  I added a  pair of gloves to this square this week.   A new square got started as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Tidewater II  I am going to try to not go so overboard with the textures on this one and just have more space.    I did make some felted “Kelp ” for it however.

 

Ethel 2     I only need to finish the machine quilting on this project and it will be complete.

 

 

Valentines   The shapes are cut and applied to felt.  Now I need to mount them on the cards.

 

 

 

 

 

 Lap 3  I have these pre cut squares of woven purple and so I decided to use them as the focus for the next lap quilt.  I gave Judy two to pass to her friends on Tue.

 

 

 

 

 

Snow Dyeing.   One of the other gals in the 100 Day challenge was snow dyeing and with all the snow we got on Monday I decided to do to the same.

 

 

 

Sense I was inspired by the 100 Day gal, I decided to use the fabric from this experiment as the jumping off place for the colors for the next 100 Day squares.

 

Cold January

Hello,

It is cold here in upstate NY.   Were I live we did not get much snow, but a lot of wind.  There are lots of limbs down here.   Friday was a very nice day however and I made a trip to the Schweinfurth to deliver my Three Witches work for the Both Ends of the Rainbow show.   I also delivered the work to two other folks .   I made a stop at Artistic  Impressions and dropped off some work for her.   On the way home I delivered nine lap quilts to a nursing home.    Then last stop, was at the Bette Library were I left three quilts for their Cabin Fever Quilt show in Feb and March.  It was a busy day.

I went to Barbara’s opening on Sunday.  It was great and lots of folks were there.   She however was not and is still under the weather.     Hope she gets well soon.

The Pixies meant as usual and Robert had some wonderful images to share.

I continue to work on my Finding Fragments class work .    I have added stitch work to both of these collages and have ideas for more .

 

 

 

I started the SAQA 100 day challenge for this year on Monday.   I decided to challenge myself to make four new block design over the course of the time, putting in 25 days on each.  I  want to make the blocks in three sizes and mix and match them  in the final work.     Today is day 4 and I have six blocks arrange in this photo.   They are twice as long as they are wide so they can be arranged in may ways.

Progress Report:  Tidewater Pool  This project is nearly complete.  I only need to decide how I want to finish it- by binding or framing.    I am anxious to start the next too.

Ethel 2   All the rows are attached to the back now and I am ready to do the boarders that I cut yesterday.

 

 

Past Times   I have not quite got the lace stitched down for the second block for this project.  But i am moving along.

 

 

 

Joyce Project   I uncovered this project when I was deciding what work  I wanted to take to the Cabin Fever Quilt show.  I have decided to finish it for Joyce for her Birthday celebration later this spring.   This is her great grandmother’s  wedding travel dress and cape.    I am only appliqueing it down at this point.

Pillow   I finally got going on this long over do project to do another letter for the series.  It will become a pillow.

 

 

 

 

Valentines    Some Angelina came in the mail this week so I had to play with it.   I mixed it with roving and I made some raw material to cut up for Valentines this week.

 

I hope everyone is warm and well.

Carol

 

 

Moving Along

Hello,

I like this time of year as I seem to find things are clammer and I get a lot done.   I made it to the Pixie meeting this week and got back to the Finding Fragment class with Shelly Rhodes.

 

 

 

The lesson yesterday was about building a base of fabric and paper.   I collaged a bit and came up with five I liked.   I will keep up this work more carefully I hope.

 

 

I also decided to join the SAQA  100 Day Challenge again.   That starts on Monday the 15 and goes until April 24.   I decided to design four blocks and work on each one for 25 days.    I also decided to render each  the block  design in three sizes so I can mx and match them in my final work.     This is the the block( really a rectangle)  with the three variations.  This is a shot of the  cut up  block ready to trace onto the fabric .

Progress Report: Ethel 1   I finished this queen sized quilt this week and I am quite pleased with the results.  I think it will be the raffle quilt for our nationhood art trail in Aug.

 

 

 

Lap 1  I finished this on Friday last week and immediately  started a new one.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 2    Sense I decided to do the new SAQA  challenge, I thought I really Ott to use the prints I made for last years challenge in my lap quilts.   So I got this top done yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

Past Times ( formerly Age of Elegance)   This block is all stitched down now.   I like how the lace adds to the work.

Tidewater Pool  I am enjoying working on this piece as much as the first two.   I decided that the base was too big so I cut it in about half  and I started with this .

 

I have been working on it for about an our every day and this is were i am now.   This one has more found objects form the shore than the first two.

 

 

 

 

 

Branching Out    Last week this top was two tops that were related.  So I thought I would merry the two of them with vertical cuts and flipping of the images..   Well now I am not so sure that was a good idea , but the job is done.  I have decided to set it aside and perhaps in time I may see a future for it.

For Joyce  My friend Joyce just had her 90th birthday .  Because it is so close to Christmas she has decided to celebrate in May instead.  Several years ago she gave me this cape and dress that were her grandmothers.  I have decided to get the piece done for her celebration.

 

 

 

I hope that all is well and you are safe and happy .

Keep Creating

Carol

Quiet Time Continues

Hello,

I continue to find I have wonderful stretches of time to finish up the nesting I seem to find myself in at this point.  I spent three mornings this week pulling all the fabric off the shelves in my 12 foot closet and refolding and arranging them by color.   The closet is only four feet wide so I can’t show you  all, but I feel really good about getting that done.  I have lots more clear space on the  surfaces in the room now and I can find what I am looking for too.  Of course I uncovered  special stuff I wanted to work with and finish up.  So I have lots on new inspiration to move on.

 I did do the Textile Talk from SAQA this week and meant with the Pixies too.  I did a Praying Mantis for my  collage insect this week.

 

 

 

 

I also spent a day with my friend Marty, and two other gals came to visit as well.   Sharon borough along her newest piece.     I really like the feeling of depth she creates.

 

 

 

 

 Progress Report: Imagine  I finally decided on a title for this split complanate  piece.    And I have moved on to the quilting stage.

 

Scrap   I spent time making blocks of some of the squares I cut last week.   The progress is slow as I only work for an hour every time I work at it, but I find that system works for me.

Felt- Blue Sea    The sea weed got stitched down and the big fish got eyes  this  week.

 

 

 

 

  I made brain coral for this project this week.   The process is slow  but I like the effect.  I learned it years ago and it is from a process used on some hats in the past.  I will add a tutorial on the process.

I also tried to make some sea horses for this project using the roving and stitching process from my QBL class.    I like the results,  but the color does not work for me and they are all swimming in the wrong direction for this work.    So I have raw material for the next one.   I also did a star fish for the Joyous Embroidery class  and it will be a part of the new piece too.   The background is one of the fabrics that I painted for the  Embroidery class.

Basket   While I was doing all the sorting and such of the fabrics I found this silk kimono yarn and decided to make a basket to hold some of the raw materials for various projects.  I started yesterday and I like how it is going.   This is only  about half the base.

 

 New Lap  With the sorting I found lots of fabrics that I want to use as jumping off places for new lap quilts.   This is the stuff for the next one.

 

 

I hope the season is bring you new joys.

Carol