Category Archives: Collage Based Work

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

Circle Challenge VI, Circle Challenge VII, Creative Assistants, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Fling, Label Blocks, Scrap Happy Quilts, Three Jacks

Working time

February 2, 2017 admin

Hello,

I feel good about the confines of winter as I seem to get a lot done. I am still feeling the energy of my show too. I will take it down tomorrow however. I have four works in the Cabin Fever Quilt show at Bette Branch Library here in town though. These four little works pictured here are my 6” X 6” pieces for the Rochester Art center. I mailed them off on Tuesday. They are all part of the felted work I was doing last week. I still have big chunks of the felting to use in the project when I get the final additional parts.

FAB meant this week and everyone had work to show and talk about. This is Patti’s new weaving project. The can at the bottom is full of her woof threads. Judy put aside her red sweater for the summer and has not pulled it out again. She is getting to the arm wholes near the top now.

Nancy got busy and finished off six new placemats for her home. They are spring like I think.

We had another snow storm last night so I am doing more snow dyeing. This is a shot of the top of the bucket shortly after I put the dye on top of the snow that is setting on top of the prepared fabric. Now to await the melting/dyeing.

Progress Report: Fling This work is 50” X 34”. It is based on a collage and has Ethel’s Marbleized fabric( the orange) and my hand dyed yellow and the light green and blue stuff. The quilting is done in two styles. For the orange and the white fabrics I followed the edges of the color changes. For the purples I did a pebble style.

Circle Challenge VI This work is 14” X 19” . It has a lot of movement in it. The quilting is reflective of the circles and done in quilting thread. I liked adding the beading at the end and I will do that again in number VII.

Circle Challenge VII I finished the quilting last eve. It is trimmed and ready for beads and facings so I will finish it quickly this week .

Three Jacks I put this work under glass this week- and that makes for awful reflections. Then before I sealed the back with brown paper I checked it and noticed that I had some how gotten a nail on the outside between the matt and the glass. So I will need to take it all apart and do it again before it is complete.

Scrap Happy I continue to work through Ethel’s scrap box. I need to complete a scrap happy quilt for the Prevention Network so I have been putting in an hour a day putting the scarps together. They are cheerful I think.

Scarf I have always enjoyed looking at a project and trying to figure out how it was done. So this week when I saw a wonderful image on Pinterest I thought- I will try to do something similar. First I pulled out a lot of green roving. After adding some leaves I cut from gold ribbon, I placed them on some wash away and drizzle some yarn on top of the whole thing. After placing a second bit of wash away on top to create a sandwich I started stitching everything together. This will take me a while to complete, but I am looking forward to this little challenge.

New Work I am all done with the assembly of the background for this project. But when I added the Tezel on top I did not quite work as I though it would. Then I looked at it in gray scale on my camera and realized the Tezel heads are too small and too close in value to the background. The opposite of what I did with the Jack in a Pulpit project. So I took the heads off and created new ones that are bigger and have a bit of orange in their color to create a contrast with the background. They work a lot better. Now I will need to create a new background for the first heads. I am going to test myself by creating it in the same size as the first and see if I can make it work with just a value changes.

Sharron’s Challenge Sharron and I purchased the same kimono( the stuff in the center) last year and have a challenge to created something with it. I pulled some fabrics that I think work well with this fabric and will start a project soon.

Creative Assistants I finished off a new batch of these little fellows this week. I need to really get going on them as I do not have much of a tribe yet this year. I want to be able to give them away at QBL this summer and not leave anyone out so I need to get going.

Label Block # 105 I think that I only need to do fifteen more and I will be done with this step of this project.

Keep Creating

Carol

Circle Challenge IV, Circle Challenge V, Circle Challenge VI, Collage Based Work, Felt Work, Label Blocks, Three Jacks

English

January 26, 2017 admin

Hello,

I was looking at how the light shown off this tree against the gray sky and liked the sheen there. That lead me to think of all the different words we have in the English Language to talk about light. Objects can have gloss, glint, sparkle, luster, shimmer, flicker and glow. Light as a concept expands our language to make it more colorful too. We can see the light. Things can dawn on one or we can have a flash of inspiration. There are bright folks as well as dim wits. One can have a brilliant idea. There are many more examples of words related to light that are a part of our language that we use to describe a lustrous world and I am enjoying that.

I went to an opening at Onondaga Community College yesterday were Jill Doscher talked about her fiber work. She talked of her process and how she grew from a printer to a fiber artist who dyes her own fabric and prints on it too. It was great.

I also checked out the Scholastic Art show that is also on display there. The teachers are doing a fine job with their students.

Progress Report: Small Spill This work is 12” X 12”. It is my usual construction but I did not use any wool roving on this work. I did use parts of a silk scarf I hand dye painted about fifteen years ago when Barbara anduse to get together and play with art ideas one a week . There are also some yarns that were free motion stitched down to add texture.

Blue Too This stretched work is also 12” X 12”. I played with taffeta, metallic fabric and organza on this one. I also stitched down purple candy wrappers because the color was what I wanted. The candy was from the bed and breakfast were I stayed with Marty and Rosalie last summer. It’s a fun way to add a personal memory to this work.

Three Jacks This work is ready for the frame now. Judy gave a big frame and glass that I will try to add this work to. I enjoyed doing all the machine embellishing on the Jacks this week. Lots of wide satin stitching.

Color Challenge VI This work is 15.5” x19”. I am enjoying the exploration this challenge is giving me.

This is the last piece in this series were I will have three of the light colored circles on its surface. But change is suppose to be a part of the process.

Color Challenge V I only need to tack the last two facing ( brown at the top and bottom ) and add the sleeve to this work to complete it.

Color Challenge VI I am doing the quilting on this one before I add the bead work. I am not sure how this will effect that aspect. This is suppose to be a challenge and a place to explore……

Felt Studies I did three more studies in felting this week. The pink uses organza ribbons as well as the wool roving. The orange used silk and organza scarves and roving, plus a bit of candy foil. The green got it sheen from Angelina and a bit of taffeta. These ideas are all from the book Stitch, Fabric, Metal and Mixed Media.

New Collage work I needed to do a bit of piecing this week so I went back to the collage based working idea and found an old collage( from Sept) to build a work around. The orange marbleized sections are Ethel’s work. The yellow and pale blue are mine altered fabrics.

New Work I started another stacked fabric work this week. I enjoy the process so much I can not seem to stop doing it. Building the surface it time consuming and so transformative.

Ice Dying I did yellow ice dyeing this week . I like the softer colors here. There is also a bucket full of the next batch that I need to wash out today. I used yellow and turquoise- and learned that the turquoise takes over. I will try again after the next snowfall to see if I can mix these two colors and keep some yellow in the final fabric.

Label Block # 104 I keep stitching away.

Happy CHinese New Year Sat.

Keep Creating

Carol

My friend Judy gave this to me last week. It smells heavenly.

Circle Challenge, From Dry Falls, Label Blocks, Pond Water, Red Nebula, Spotted, Wild Patches

Supporting a Friend

December 16, 2016 admin

Hello,

It’s a brisk 10 degrees out side this morning and the heat from my neighbors chimney is clearly visibel.

My big event for this week was to be a support a person for my friend Noel at her Trunk show at the Schweinfurth on Sunday. This shot is of Donna and Noel.

As it turned out most of the work was displayed on the walls and I only ended up holding a few pieces. It was very impressive to see most of her wonderful work hanging toghther.

These works represent years of effort on her part and they show how she has taken an idea that she loves and run forward with it playing with new color approaches and ides along the way. She even explored using an artist’s work as a jumping off place for some of her own work. I sure cant tell what work is based on another artist. A lot can be learned from this process.

She dyes most of the silk she uses in her work too so there is an extra layer of personal involvement in what she does. It is one thing to see works by others one and two at a time and quite a impressive and wonderful thing to see them all together. I am glad she is a friend.

Progress Report: Spotted This work is 39” X 38” and is one based on a collage. I am seeing the end of this type of exploration for a while. Doing one a month is not necessary any more. Not only have I learned how to build a work without strait lines I feel my quilting has improved with this series of projects. I also feel more free in my approach to design.

Red Nebula I am getting ready for a solo show in Januray and as a part of this process I am looking at older works. I did this piece a while ago but did not finish it. I decided to stretch it and add it to the mix of possible works for the show. Working with older pieces and doing this additional work makes me want to return to this subject and do further exploration.

From Dry Falls This work too is one I did over a year ago. When I check this piece for the stack of works to be considered I discovered that I had not stitched the label to the back. So I had to do that to complete this project.My labels include the title, size, my name and add.

Pond Water
This work has not had any attention for a few weeks and it too came to the top of the pile this week. I am enjoying adding embellishments to the top with hand stitches. I have seven pieces that need hand work on them at this time so it may be a while before I finish this one.

Wild Patch This work is in the washer at the moment. I have stitched all the patches to a solid purple background fabric with may raw edges on the top. I want to see if the frayed parts add a texture that I can use and control in my work.

Circle Challenge I This is a personal challenge I am working on. I want to use circles as a stronger element in my work. I am to the hand step here and the threads on top are what I am thinking about using for some big hand stitched lines on top to hold the work together.

Circle Challenge II

This is the second on in this challenge. More circles and I am still using the cut away as a part of the design. I will trim it to the same size as the first one. Beyond that I have not made any decisions about this second work. I know I will have to make some modifications as I am out of one of the fabrics in the circle section.

Dog quilt Our local dog pound has called for little quilts to add to the metal cages that the dogs are put in to add to there comfort. I had started the quilt, but lost my intention so it was just a top. I thought it would do better to go to this cause then sent in the box of UFO’s.

Label Block #98 One more done. I am happy to say my embroidery thread stash is shrinking as I work on this project.

Keep Creating

Carol

Diva Meetings, Ethel's Scarp Nine Patch, Label Blocks, Land Fall, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Scrap Happy Quilts, Water Run

First Week in October

October 6, 2016 admin 1 Comment

Hello-

It is the first full week of October and I went to my group meetings on Tuesday. At QuEG’s, Angela started us out with a baby quilt top she has finished for her yet to be born grand daughter. She is excited about it. She also showed us some of her work from an on line class she took. I really like the idea of making your sketch life sized before beginning work. A simple idea that had never occurred to me. I have always done a thumb nail sketch- but I can see value in doing it life sized. She also had her books from her class at QBL to share. It looks like she learned a lot and had a good time.

Linda shared her workings with her new felter. This is a great start and I think she will do more on it and do several other projects.

Linda also created this wonderful forest quilt. It has so much depth.

Sue Ellen is busy getting ready for Christmas at the shop so she was trying out new ideas and this tree was one of them. There were only five of us at the meeting, but we still managed to fill the two hours with sharing and talk.

Then it was off to the Diva meeting. Lliesa started us out with a new map quilt. Unlike her one from last year that was based on a real location, this one is all imagined. I like how it is growing.

Ruth is doing a series of works based on Dinosaur tracks. I like the way she is working . The irregular shapes really look like chunks of rock to me.

Lorrie made this little quilt for the sale at the quilt show next week end. It is a happy little thing.

Donna is doing rust dyeing now and has achieved some great effects. I always go home for the meetings with a real high on things to think about and try Like the rust dyeing……. It is great to meet with folks of a like mind.

Progress Report: Water Run This work is 24” X 20” wide. I sure enjoyed working away on this work. When I stretched it I really got going on the next ones too. I like doing the free motion work as the fibers sometimes move as I work.

That movement makes it feel more organic to me.

Land Fall This work was designed on a vertical layout, but is has turned to become a landscape type of work. I try to pay attention when the work directs me and go with that flow. It has about four hours of work in it so far. Slow but enjoyable for me.

Felting I am still adding roving and fabric to the surface of this work. I found some wonderful organza in one of my boxes when I was looking for something else. I know it will blend well in this work. No stitching yet. It is starting to look a bit like a flame to me.

Ethel’s Nine Patch This is the back of Ethel’s Nine patch. Again I am using her fabric and I though I would add some solids in primary colors to it- but I like the effect so I have just built it this way. There are lots of scraps left in the box, so I know there will be more work like this in my furture.

Queen Anne’s Lace

I am working on the hand stitching on this work. There are only two more flower heads to do and that step will be complete. My fried Tanya gave me some Eamu feathers a few weeks ago and I think I may use them in this work. The gray feather pinned to the center area is one of the feathers.

Bird Land This work is on the bottom of the stack so it does not get much attention. I did finish all the cutting of the birds this week though. Now to stitch things down.

Label Block # 83

I keep working away on these blocks and they keep getting completed. No rush and no pressure really is a nice thing.

Keep Creating

Carol

Along the Shore, Collage Based Work, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Generational Whispers, Small Cleft

A Bit about process

September 22, 2016 admin 1 Comment

Hello-

I am getting back into my usual grove this week. I went to a FAB meeting where Judy showed us more of the blocks she created after the Mill Sight weekend. I think the colors work well together well and it will result in a grand quilt. I have finished several pieces this week so it is time to begin new work. I though I might talk about one of my processes. First I select an image. This is a photo that I took in Washington state of a cut in the road. Then I make a little windows and run them around the photo to find an area I think is a good jumping off point. When I choose one and I then do a little sketch of it using dark, medium and light. At this point I need to decided on a size and select a fabric for a base. Because of the great amount of shrinkage and warping that occures with all the felting and the stitching I apply I make the background fabric 10 inches bigger then the final projected finished size. The next step is to lay out roving in the areas that are light med and dark and felt it down. I then build up the surface with yarn, silk paper and fabric strips.

Progress Report: Small Cleft This work is 24” long and 20” wide. It is based on a photo I took four years ago. I used the same process I described above for this work. I incorporated silk yarn in this work as well as silk paper. There is also some fabric bits and yarns here too.

Beach Front This quilt is another in the three challenges process. My hand dyed fabric is the white with colored spots and Ethel’s is the blue and dark batiks. It is based on a collage. The top half is quilted in parallel lines while the bottom section is done in a wavy pattern to suggest water.

Generational Whispers This work is 43” long and 38” high. I shows five generations of women in my family with my grand daughter at the center in the bottom. I did free motion drawing on organza to create the portraits and then sewed them to the background. The last step was to add the names of the women represented then quilt. There was not enough space below all the heads to add their dates of birth and death on the top so I have added a panel on the back with that information.

Butterfly I am just about done with the thread painting on this butterfly. The black sections on the body and the left wing remain. Then I will add it to the top and do the final quilting on that piece.

Ethel’s Nine Patch I am enjoying building these squares. I have completed 25 at this point. To make it a queen sized quilt it will take 43 blocks so I am a little beyond half way done at this point. Looking at the scrap box I know there will be a second one of these too.

Label Block # 81 I feel back into my old pattern and only finished on block this week. I have started making Creative Assistants in the evening so I did not put in any extra time on this project.

Keep Creating.

Carol

Along the Shore, Ethel's Scarp Nine Patch, Idaho, Label Blocks

Travel With Marty- To Lincoln Nebraska

September 15, 2016 admin 2 Comments

Hello-

I am home from a wonderful and stimulating trip from Spokane Washington to Lincoln Nebraska. We loaded a black rented jeep with 20 boxes of Marty’s books and our suit cases and we were off. First we went south along the mountains between Idaho and Montanta and enjoyed the landscape. Our fist goal was to see a falt in southern Idaho

where the land shifted fifteen feet in the 70s. The exposed slip is the white area in this photo. The drive to this location resulted in a flat tire. Thank goodness for the help of a Fireman from Texas who helped us put on the spare. But that meant taking the boxes of books out of the car so we could get to the spare and reloading them afterward. We drove to the next town and although it was Labor Day week end we found a tire dealership that was open. They agreed to patch the tire. So I unloaded the boxes again to get to the tire. After he patched it the tire bulged so we did not put it on the car. Loaded the books yet again and drove to Idaho Falls airport where the car rental company traded our Jeep for a bigger car. This picture is of Marty waiting outside the airport. The new one was white and had so much fancy stuff on it that we never figure them all out. There was so much space in this one that we did not even need to stack the boxes on top of one another. We could have slept flat on top of them if we had to- but that did not happen. Then on to Yellowstone. Lots of stops there with geysers and hot springs,museums and animals. We checked put the petrified tree and enjoyed the day until about two in the afternoon when it started to hail on us. We pulled off and waited for it to stop as the hail balls were the size of marbles. The storm lasted about half and hour and left the road covered with hail that made for slow slick driving. This picture

is a view out the windshield early on in the storm. We left the park and were told that the road we needed to use to get to our lodging was closed due to snow. So we stop and found another cabin to stay in. It stormed during the night but we got up to sunny skies and snow covered canyon walls on both sides of our resting place. We altered our plans again and opted to drive south and cross the Continental Divide at Dead Indian Pass as it was lower and less likely to be closed. It was a beautiful drive and we made lots of stops for pictures. We continued south in Wyoming .

Ate lunch along the Wind River and continued to enjoy the landscapes.

We went to Fossil Butte National Monument and enjoyed the wonderful museum there. Life sized alligator and turtles with the four foot shells were among the fossils as well as lots of leaves and ferns. We had crossed the Continental Divide seven times before we left the mountains. We drove across the southern portion of Wyoming and into Scott’s Bluff just at sun set. It is a good thing we got to see it that evening because when we got up in the morning there was so much fog one could hardly see across the four lane highway. It took the better part of two days to cross the Nebraska sand hills. We saw lots of wind mills, cattle and train cars loaded with coal.

We visited the Ashfall Fossil Beds. They were a wonder, with the remains of over one 50 rhinos, turtles, tortoises ,and Sand Hill Cranes. There were the skeletons of three types of houses- three toed and single hoofed ones. And species of saber toothed rabbit- something I had never heard of before. We left the fossils for Lincoln where we meant Rosalie.Friday was the last unloading of the boxes at the International Quilt Study Museum. A man came with a cart and did the job that time.

We enjoyed the museum. There was a great display of quilts from southern China. The silk made them very beautiful when they were mixed with gold couched embroidery thread. We took the tour of the Mountain Mist Collection too. We explored Lincoln on the week end and enjoyed the public art that is so much a part of the city. There are lots of beautiful brick houses too. We also went to the German Russian Immigrant museum on Sunday. It was great too.

On Monday we had a meeting with the director were she took Marty’s QBL quilt and showed us the storage and preservation parts of the museum. She spent a couple of hours talking with us and it was g good visit. We enjoyed out stay at the Rogers House Bed and Breakfast but we were all glad to be on our way home on Tues. morning.

Progress Report: Ethel’s Nine Patch I did do a bit of work before I left on Tues for the start of this trip. I had the strips put together from our weekend at Judy’s camp and I started cutting them into 5” squares and matching them with solids from my Ethel stash. The blocks are a nine patch and I may add sashing. That remains to be seen

Along the Shore I am doing the machine quilting on this one now.

Machine Painting I started working on the machine drawing on this butterfly yesterday. The printed butterfly is fused to organza with a paper backed fishable. Then it is hooped before I began the machine work. I would not trim the butterfly before I did the machine work next time. Even though it is fussed it is still fraying.

Label Blocks # 76,#77, #78, #79, #80 I took this project with me on the trip and found lots of little snippets of time to do hand work so I got five blocks done in two weeks.

Keep Creating

Carol

Collage Based Work, Deep Jellies, Far Off Forests, Felt Work, Going Deep, Ivy Wall, Label Blocks, Tall Text

Work Week

August 18, 2016 admin

Hello-

I saw this young fellow in the cematery on my walk this week. Later I watched in horror as he ran across Comstock Avenue dodging cars and into the woods behind Manley Field House. Good luck Bambi!

This week was one where I got a lot of studio time and although I have not finished much I feel good about what is going on. Uneventful weeks are good for reflection I find. In class with Rosalie Dace at QBL she stressed the importance of Values in our work. Now I have heard that many times but I just never really got the concept. One of my fellow class mates showed me how to see it more clearly and although I have not got the whole idea yet I am seeing what they both meant.

Here is a photo of a group of fabrics that I think work together. In color they seem to have a wide range of values. ( this is were my eye needs training) because when the same fabrics are viewed in black and white it is easy to see there is very little middle value in this collection. So now I need to go back in to the stash and fine a few more pieces in the middle range like the grayed oranges to have more values in this work.

It is good to always be growing.

Progress Report:Going Deep I added the backing to this work after I stretched it yesterday. I really enjoy the building up of the layers of these wool based projects. This is the first one where I do not have a canvas under the fiber piece and I think that allows for more a feeling of buoyancy. The thread build up on these works takes a lot more time then I think will when I start. But the final effect is well worth the efforts. Sometimes it only takes such a small bit of fabric or yarn to really add color to an area. It is like building a puzzle with flexible pieces.

Deep Jellies I am still doing the hand quilting on this project. I have been putting in an hour a day on that process- but it is a big quilt so I have about one third of it done now.

Tall Text I started this in Rosalie’s class. The top is all assembled now and I am in the quilting stage. I am doing reflective machine work around the cut up letter units with variegated thread. I think the textural interest will add a nice dimension to the work.

Ivy Wall This is an early stage for this work. The butterfly will all be done in thread painting with the machine. The image is mounted on organza with tear away stabilizer on the back. I did the brown leaves as a rubbing with pastels last summer. There is a little machine work at the bottom so I know this technique will work.

Far Off Forests- wool work From this corner one can see that it only takes a small scarp to build up an area with a different color.

New Project This is my current three challenge piece. It is all one unit now and I am pondering ways to quilt is as well as the way I want it oriented. This shot is exactly upside down from the original, But some how it works better for me.

Label Blocks #73 and #74

I am pushing my self to get a few blocks ahead as I know I am going away for a three weeks at the end of August.

Keep Creating

Carol

Collage Based Work, Dappled Sunshine, Deep Jellies, Fabric Collage Constructions, Felt Work, Generational Whispers, Label Blocks, Machine Drawing

Summer has begun

June 23, 2016 admin 1 Comment

Hello-

I spent Monday, Summer Solstice, at Susan’s. The wonderful Fox Glove is from her garden. We were experimenting with adding color to fabric. Susan being more systematic did a lot of different studies. I did rubbings with chalk and paint. This example is of one of my early works. Susan’s daughter Rebecca worked up stairs and completed a quilt top. Then she tried another color combo of the same block and this little work is a corner example of that. I like how the high contrast creates a glow effect here. It was a good day and I enjoyed myself.

Progress Report: Dappled Sunshine This three challenge quilt is done now. It is 58” l X 45” w. I have not worked this big in a long time. There is pebble quilting in the orange areas and strait quilting in the tan and brown areas. I used some very old altered fabric like the cream with lines of paint at the top of this photo. The area under the brown strip is ice dyed from this spring. There is also some canvas in this and a print I did in paint using a doily as the resist.

Deep Jellies I have started doing hand quilting in the areas of solid blue in this quilt. I like the contrast. It will be a slow project too as there is lots of blue.

No Clue I keep trying this work with different orientations every time I work on it. The machine quilting is going forward and I have quilted about half of the pink areas at this point.

Blue Iris I have now completed the top assembly of this work. Ethel had collected all the fabric in one bag. I have put together all the squares and done the lay out. Now on to the quilting step. Great fun.

Generational Whispers I continue to work away on this project. I re drew Alexis’s head because it was too small. I decided I did not like my drawing of Gwen so I re did her too. I took this work with me on Monday and got some help from Susan about how to move forward on this challenge.

Wool work The base is mostly down on this work. I will start to add in fabric and yarn this week.

New work This work got buried under the other stuff this week and did not get any attention. That sort of thing happens when one has so many projects going on at the same time.

Label Block #66 I just keep plugging away on these.

Keep Creating

Carol

Collage Based Work, Dappled Sunshine, Deep Jellies, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Generational Whispers, Label Blocks, Machine Drawing, Scrap Happy Quilts, Weeds

Butterfly Days

June 16, 2016 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

These beautiful paper butterflies represent the happy feelings I feel for this time of year. Patti cut them with her press cutter on Wed when the FAB group meant. I have seen some live ones too, but I am not fast enough with my camera to capture any images. They seem to represent the slow easy time we seem to be in now. We had our last FAB meeting until Aug as we all agreed that travel and family will now fill our days for a while.

I have learned that when I am unsure of what I need/want to do next I tend to start a new project. The result of this is I have lots of new projects going on at the moment and only have a Scrap Happy quilt finished this week. That project too represents my feelings of unease, because scrap happy’s are also fill in projects. I have made 150 of these scrap quilts and they require no thinking on my part. But they do keep my hands busy and allow me to think through what is upsetting/ blocking me with other work.

Progress Report: Dappled Sunshine I finished the pebble quilting and the line quilting on this piece this morning. I am now ready to add the facings and finish this project. It will be done by next week.

Scarp Happy 150 I have no home in mind for this quilt, but I am sure it will go to a worthy cause.

new Scarp Happy When I put together the center blocks for the last scrap happy I also made extra blocks. Enough to make two more actually. This one got put into the row form this week.

Generational Whispers The grandmothers and great grandmothers got drawn on to organza this week. I know this was part of the stress I talked about as I do not feel very sure of myself when it come to do portatures. My machine drawings are human but not good likenesses of the folks they represent. I have decided to let that be that way as only a few people know the subjects any way. I will add a second layer of machine drawing when I attach them to the quilt surface.

Deep Jellies This work is also causing some stress for me. I love the colors and the textures of the jellyfish themselves. I am just unsure about the movement of the tentacles and how I want to quilt on this project. There are lots of little design decisions in this piece.

Weeds I am happily to the detail part of this project. I like doing the hand work that defines the weed heads. Three done and a dozen to go.

wool work This is the biggest machine felted work I have ever done and it too is very slow work. I finally got stretcher bars with out any canvas on them and that is what this work will be used on. I am not even done with the first layer, so there will be lots of color changes.

New top This in the newest piece that it based on a collage. It also has Ethel fabrics and some I have altered, so it fits my personal challenge. I think the the title will have something to do with angles or irregular cuts.

New Work My friend Tanya gave me the wonderful big orange print fabric I am using in this piece. It is in the real early stage.

Label Blocks #64 and #65 I did double duty on the blocks this week. It is so pleasant to set out doors after dinner and work in the evenings. I hope summer is bringing delight into your life too.

Keep Creating

Carol

Cre-8

Category Archives: Collage Based Work

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Working time

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Supporting a Friend

First Week in October

A Bit about process

Travel With Marty- To Lincoln Nebraska

Work Week

Summer has begun

Butterfly Days

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer