Category Archives: Pond Water

Creative Assistants, Pealing Oranges, Pond Water, Raw Edge Applique, Tossed Salad, ZAP

Indian Summer

October 19, 2017 admin

Hello,

I am enjoying the wonderful weather. I noticed this Paper Hornet’s nest on my walk this week. I am sure it had been there a long time but with the fall of some leaves it was revealed.

I spent a day playing with Liz this week and we did some Shobori . I have never done any of that type of dyeing before and sense Liz was just home from a week at the Barn where that was what she was studying she was anxious to share. Before we meant she told me to make tucks in my fabric. So I ironed this piece and sewed down all the ridges the ironing created. We then wrapped the tucked pieces around polls. Liz then instructed me on how to do some free from wrapping without tucks. The polls were placed in a bucket with dye inside and we agitated them. In an hour the job was done and we took the polls out and unwrapped them. The fabric on the left is the one where I pressed diagonally( the upper photo) across the fabric with the sewing machine. The other piece is s strait tuck. These are the two pieces that I did the random fold and rubber band wrapping on. I love the effect and I have wrapped my polls for the next time we get together to do some more Shobori.

Progress Report: Pond Water( curvy cut) This quilt is 32 “w X 36” l. I put this work in the curvy cut category because the base is made from two pieces of fabric that where curvy cut and then spliced back together. The last thing I did to the base was slice it vertically and then shuffle the order before sewing it back together.

The round purple units are from one of Grandmother Butter’s hats. This pieces has a lot of hand work on it and because I only put my needle to work on it after I was done with the label blocks it has taken a full year to complete.

Peeling Oranges This is the last of the first glyph series and started with a few cut aways not used in other works and a smaller version of the word “Owl” cut in orange.

Toss Salad I am in the process of raw edge appliqueing down this work. I am not sure what way is up yet either. My mind is just starting to think about how I want to quilt this one.

Glyph IV The beading goes on here. After showing weeks of close ups this week I thought I would show a full shot of the sections beaded. When I work for an hour I can fill in about an inch and a half square area.

Card – Resilience This is a shot of my card for this week. I find it wonderful how the deciduous trees prepare for the stresses of winger cold by shedding there leavers and retreating into their cores for the winter.

New Glyph Series- Zap Now I am ready to begin a new glyph. I wrote out a lot of words and did a bunch of trial drawings before choosing ZAP. Then I enlarged it and varied the width of the letters in some areas. This word is enlarged to about 18″ square. Now I am choosing fabric for the project.

Creative Assistants Football season has begun and so has my work on these little fellows. These guys are ready for paint embellishment and pin backs.

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, Label Blocks, Mantis, Milkweed Pods, Pods, Pond Water, Scrap Happy Quilts, The Fox, Three- D works, Wood Ibis

Spring Rains

April 27, 2017 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

The spring rains here in central New York sure have pushed the buds forward and the trees are greening up. Its so pleasant outdoors I even ate my breakfast out on the patio this morning. I finished up the drying and pressing of the silk paper from last week. This one is my new favorites with the captured Japanese Lantern pods from Regina in it. I did a lot of work in the studio this week and the project report will support that.

Progress Report: Milkweed Pods This stretched work is 18” X 24”. There is a lot of free motion machine drawing in this piece. The background was built up and then the milkweed pods were added on top. The steams were created with three yarns that were zig-zagged together and then sewn down on the surface. I did a lot of stitching on the pods to show the woody textures on them.

Scribble This small quilt is 18” X 21”. It is made from the cut away fuse backed scrap fabrics that I have have created in the last few weeks. The green from the Jacks and the pink from the blossom projects. I then just do a lot of free motion machine play on top to hold it all down. This quilt along with two others will go to the Animal Shelter here in town to be put in the wire cages. They soften the effect of the metal cages a bit.

Flags- Wood Ibis I just keep working away on the flags that I made in Florida. The lettering here was done with a Sharpie marker.

Fox This too is one of my Florida Flags. I used fabric markers to add color and do the big lettering on this one. The small text is stamped work.

Mantis This work has fabric crayons as the color agent. The lettering is done with a stencil and silver stamping ink.

Pond Water This project is going slowly as most of the current attachments are being made by hand. I work for several hours last week adding these little white units. This work is a part of my curvy cur series. The white is deconstructed screen worked fabric that I purchased from Randy.

Pods I continue to create more of these pods. I am having fun using lots of the beads from my box and some of the fancy buttons I have purchased of the years. It is much nicer to do little projects then to build a big beaded work.

Scrap Happy Ethel’s scrap box was calling to me this week too. So I got busy and spent time putting together the little strips she had precut. I can see this project will be a slow one- but sometimes I need to do “no mind” stuff and this will go the trick.

Ice Two days of cold rainy weather got me going again on this project. All the white/snow is free motion quilted now and most of the leaves are attached as well.

I do enjoy the process when I get going.

Scarves I have completed the stuffing of two more scarves. I like the process but it is very slow. I takes over half an hour to fill all the units for one row of the scarves. I am ready to add the silk fabric in the centers of these works. I have learned that the nylon net is to scratchie for the neck, so I add a unit of softer fancy fabric to the center that rests against the neck . The good part is finding homes for all those little stray objects that collect in the drawers. I am including lots of jewelry bits from grandmother’s button tin too.

Label Block # 118 I put a lot of hand work into other things this week so I only got one block done. Only 27 to go now.

Keep Creating

Carol

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

Creative Assistants, Felt Work, Hand Bags, Hand work, Label Blocks, Pond Water

Falling Back

November 10, 2016 admin

Hello-

The winds of autumn are stripping the trees of their golden bounty now. I have been out raking for two days. It is cold and soon days will be spent inside. This last week has been a busy one out side the studio for me. I spent Friday mixing dye with my friend Liz. We will be a part of open studio at the Schweinfurth during the up coming weekend. Play is in my future.

Then this week end I was part of and Exhibition and Sale at John Doweling’s studio for two days. I sold three little framed works and I am very happy about that. The work is still hanging there although I am not in attendance. It will be there until the middle of Dec.

Progress Report: Hand Bag I did put together a hand bag this week so I guess I did finish one thing.

Pond Waters Because I was away so much there is not a lot of progress to report. I continue to work away on this project in the evenings and it is building. Hand work is just slowbut very calming.

Circle Play This is my self challenge to play with faced circles in a creative way. I have a lot to learn with this process. I have challenged myself to do seven works using this striped circle as the main unit.

Wool works 1 2 3 I started these works last week but did not put too much time into them yet. This work is # 2 only because I numbered my sketches as I did them. I am sure it will get a better name with time. This one is just about ready for some machine stitching.

#3 This one is ready for fabric and machine work. It really is not much different than last week.

#1 is still at the prep for wool stage.I have drawn the areas our for the color changes but that is all. I will get to that later today I hope as the felting machine is out on the desk and waiting.

Felted Landscape I did make progress on one wool piece though. This too is in an early stage. I will keep you posted.

New Work I did pull fabric for a new pieced work too. This one will be a lot simpler then the pieced work I have been doing of late. I hope I can stick with that attitude.

Label Blocks # 92 & # 93 I can see the end of this project. There are only 27 more blocks to complete.

Keep Creating

Carol

Cre-8

Category Archives: Pond Water

Indian Summer

Going Forward

Spring Rains

Supporting a Friend

Falling Back

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer