Category Archives: Diva Meetings

Daily's, Diva Meetings, Flight, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Swallows, Transversing - Foundations #4

Dec 6, Holiday Happenings

December 5, 2013 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

Thanksgiving is really the beginning of holiday season for me. The QuEG’s group started the week off with a Holiday Potluck as a part of our meeting. We also added to the craziness by having a cookie exchange too. This first shot is of Liz and our hostess Linda with the gift that Liz brought her. We all were in top sprits and the food was great as were the cookies.

Friends always make my life full and this day was no exception. We did the ususal show and tell and there was lots of both. Linda started us off with her beautiful Baltimore album squares that she had unearthed when she moved. They show excellently exicuted hand applique’ work on this old project that she now feels she is ready to complete. She suggests that doing a UFO is a good way to get back into the creative process in her new space.

Angela was the next power house to show her work. She is framing her felted works now and they look wonderful. Her Hawaiian dased petrogliphits are wonderful. She is also experimenting with felting, hand stitching and dyeing. Sometimes in that orderis her order. She then goes back in and stitches even more .

I really like the color combinations she is using too. This work is also based on her petrogliphic series.

Sally continues to blow me away with her thread drawn Computer / Quilt work. She mixed and manipulated five different programs to create this holiday quilt. She also had some stunning little works that she had made into cards- her other specialty. What a gal!

I then went off to the Quilt Diva meeting the same evening. Alice was a busy this last mouth and she shared four finished and one work in progress. The work in this photo is called Guardians.

Ruth is continuing her work with on blocks that are based on Guyana symbols. This symbol is used to purmote Versatility, Intensity and Dynamism. She asked for ideas about how to quilt this work. What a strong graphic! I am impressed with her work.

Donna’s busy getting ready for her solo show. She is using found wood pieces and found objects as starting points for her new spirited figures series. She says she needs to make 27 by February. So she will be one busy gal to meet that self created challenge.

Elsie had been busy creating new bird blocks for Christmas. I enjoy her cardinals. They are so chipper and bright. They really make me smile.

After spending a day with all these intense creative folks all working in their own directions, I always go home with a mind full of new ideas and images from these two wonderful groups of gals.

Progress Report: Transversing Foundations #4 Because I am not a real fan of numbering art works I now have added to the title of this quilt. I added lots of machine drawing on this quilt this week and now feel it is complete. This morning I painted the back and so that is the image presented here. I will add the sleeve this week and the piece will be done. Using the bobbin thread colors as my guide I tried to paint in similare color and patters as the front. I know this is a lot difference, but it still works for me.

Foundations #5 I continue to work away on this piece. Everything here is quite fluid because so much work needs to be done on this piece before it is were I want it to be. I did try adding paper to the surface of this piece to get the color and effect I wanted. I will do almost anything for the sake of texture.

Flight: This quilt was called Swallows last week. I do not think that is accurate any more so I changed it. I am going to use that title on another piece where I used the swallow stencil on a more traditional piece. I worked on the quilting portion of this work this week. I am going to try to add some shadow(only machine drawn) swallows into the flight pattern to add interest and more texture. There is one small one drawn in the lower center of the flock at the moment. Can you find it?

New Swallows: Here is the new work that will carry the Swallows title from now on. I am still in the construction stage, but that is almost done. I find that I really like this stencil and may even do some more work with it.

Daily’s – This project continues. I have two more weeks of squares with red circles and black triangles to work with before I change the beginning lay out units.

The season is full of visual images and lots of action. Keep Creating.

Hugs

Carol

Blue Yonder, Daily's, Diva Meetings, Oak Leaves, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

November 7, 2013

November 7, 2013 admin 2 Comments

Hello,

The weather is still somewhat mild here. I find because I am working on the quilt with the oak leaves on it I am looking more at other oak trees too. This one is in the Oak Wood Cemetery were I walk some days. I Have noticed how different trees have differnt colorations. This old one is a deep red. The one along the drive is primary yellow- but that is only at the bottom, now as the top has turned brown. I have also observed that there are many different shapes to the leaves. I know that has to do with species differences. Some leaves are very sharply pointed like the one in my yard and some are all curves ends. I picked up one in the parking lot in Ithaca yesterday and not only were the ends of the leaves very curved the leaf had a really deep dip, almost to the spine, after the first vain from the base of the leaf. Mother Nature loves variation on a theme. I may have to get a tree book and do some serious study.

This week was the first full week of November and so I had my group meetings on Tue. Both were very exciting. The QUEGs group had severl members who had be to the big quilt show in Houston and they had lots of wonderful pictures and gadets to share. The Diva’s were inspirational too. Everyone seems to be so energized with lots to share. Ruth is working on a project using African simbiles as the bases for the block. This one sure is bold. She had also created a wonderful study using her style of expertly mixing batikand hand dyed fabrics. Cindy shared her amazing prints. She did them with the big Gelly Plate. She is now going back into the work and adding machine stitching in top. They are the faint red lines crossing the yellow in this photo. The work is very elegant. Donna was kind enough to bring her Alchemist Mask. I love masks and this one is a great one. She built it over the old store mannequin she has in her studio. The face is nobel. I like the life size doll eyes she put in the face too. They add so much in the way of focus. Alice is working on a Human Angles series and this is one of them. I am showing this image because she has a unique style of working were she paints the image she wants on the back of her cloth. Then she turn it over and lays a piece of black fabric on top. With the two layers together she flips the work to the back and sews around the image she has painted. So this picture is from the back. She then trims the black off the front along her seam lines and her images are outlined in black- her signature style. It is very cool I think.

This work with four figures is by Cheri. I especially like the unfinished edge she used here. They are a wonderful and inspiring group of gals who seem to be all working away in their own direction.

Progress Report: Blue Yonder This quilt is ready for quilting now. I have done my “stitch in the ditch” step after basting. Doing that makes the work stable for all the crazy directions I always seem to want to go. I have not decided what that free motion quilting will be yet.

Oak Leaves This is a close up of the project. I am having lots of fun making more and more leaves. I just love how the unattached body of the leaves casts such wonderful shadows on the quilt. They also flutter a bit when there is a breeze, like when I come in the studio door. There is a lot of texture here and I love that.

Daily’s The Daily’s are coming along. I now have a full cigar box of the little fellows and they are starting to look really impressive when on puts them all out. I still have ideas of layouts for the parts and shape and color changes I want to try- so I will keep the practice up. I also added a silly rule- no new purchases for this project. I am almost out of red embroidery thread so I will have to switch to crochet thread- I have several huge balls of that. I am sure that will change the character of the stitches. But that is part of the experiment.

Keep Creating

Carol

Curvie Cuts, Diva Meetings, Pumpkin Lichens, Rock Series East Wall

Sept 6 , 2013 Back to School

September 6, 2013 admin

Hello,

It was the first day of school for students here in central New York. When I went out for my walk this morning there were two boys waiting for the bus on the corner. The same place that my daughter waited for the bus many years ago. I passed others on my trek and thought that this is a sure sign that fall has begun.
This week was the first Tuesday of the mouth and so I went off to my DIVA group meeting on Tuesday. I had missed the mouth before so I was very excited about seeing what others were doing and I was not disappointed! Liese had been doing a lot of marbling on paper . She created two books. I really like the one with the quotes and her second one was an accordion book with wonderful creatures that she saw in the marbling.

She said that she learned that the newsprint paper worked the best for this job.

Susan is doing some great exploration based on sleep. She is printing on fabric with old stencils and writing her quotes in water soluble graphic pencils.

She has a wild collection of stencils and is trying not to cut any new ones for this project. I really like the long line of people she repeated in this second print.

She is also dealing with the inside of things- including people. The rib cage is made with painted canvas suspended in the opening. I can hardly wait to see how this develops.

She always looks at things with such a unique eye.

Sally brought a problem to the group for suggestions. She is getting ready for the Art Trail in the Ithaca area and one of her practices is to have each of her visitors add a piece of fabric to a background that she has selected. Then the sews them down were they are placed. Every five years she take the panels and puts them together in some fashion. She was after suggestions. We brainstormed and gave her several ideas- I can hardly wait to see what she finally does. I really get a lot out of this group for the support as well as the many skills and ideas that each person brings to the setting.

Occasions 35.5" X 49.5" $ 440.00 — Occasions
35.5″ X 49.5″
$ 440.00

Progress Report: Occasions This quilt is one more of the ones that I started at Quilting by the Lake, the second week. I had purchased some deconstructed fabric( the light blue) from her the first week of the conference and used it as my starting place for this piece. This fist close up show the wonderful texture she had created with lines that attracted me to it. I pulled the rest of the materials from my stash and supplemented with a few new pieces that I purchased from the venders there. I enjoyed doing the circular quilting on this piece and feel it is just what the quilt needed to pull all the sections together. The gals at the Diva meeting really liked this work too and had lots of kind word about this work.

I enjoyed working on this one.

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East Wall – Rock Series
This work got lots of additional machine drawing added this last week. There is so much texture now that I feel it is pulling together a bit better.

I used some of my painted wonder under on the surface to add more color and pattern. There is also a bit of intense quilted pink velvet on the right side of this shot for more texture.

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Pumpkin Lichens : I am to the quilting stage on this quilt. It too has some of Randy’s wonderful decomposing screen fabric as it start- The orange with the the dark circles on it. The colors of the trip to southwest really have had a long time effect on me if the work shown here is any indication.

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New Work Here is some more of the curved piecing work I am trying to conquer. I am ready to start the placement of the fused silk paper on this top to add texture and unity to it. There are two pieces sort of pinned in place. I think more will help as well as some of the painted wonder under.

Then the quilting will really pull it all together .

Keep Creating

Carol

Diva Meetings, Uncategorized

Sept 19, 2012 Fall Shift………Missplaced

June 27, 2013 admin

Hello-

I discovered this old post while I was doing a little house cleaning this week. Please note the date at the top… as you can see this is old material. When I talked with my web master, she suggested that I post it even though it is old- so I doing so. Please feel free to skip it if you are not interested.

Thanks

Carol

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Hello to all,

The weather has really turned colder the last few days. I put another quilt on the bed and left the window open, but I do not feel I can do that too long. We have had a bit of rain around here as well. I enjoyed the Diva meeting before I went off to Maine. Donna is showing off her fimo doll creations in this picture. She collects the rocks from the shore of the lake and then builds the little dolls to just fit on them. Another gal in the group showed off her newest book creation. The pages are all made from fabric with the images collaged and printed on them. I feel really happy to be included in such a creative and divers group of gals.

I am getting ready to go away again- this time to Idaho with my friend Marty for two weeks. I will try to post some photos next Thur -but if I can not figure it out I will send a bunch when I get home. I have lots to share now though. The class I taught on card making went well. Everyone went away with at least four cards and one gal had 8. They cut their stamps from erasers in the morning. Stamped them on fabric. Them made cards by combining the images with bits of ribbon, paper and more cloth all afternoon. One gals in the class said she liked her work so much that she was going to take it home and frame it instead of sending it through the mail.

Elinor cut both ends of her eraser into a rabbit pattern- one positive and one negative. Then she created yardage by alternating them when she printed the images.

I really was quite pleased with how well they did there work. Then at the quilt group meeting the next day they all brought them back and proudly showed them off. Marty also showed off her new coat at the show and tell portion of the meeting.

I hope everyone is enjoying the start of the fall season. I always get excite about quilting as the weather cools down and I feel more confined to the house.

Keep Creating

Hugs

Carol

Diva Meetings, Idaho, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

June 21, 2013 Continuation

June 21, 2013 admin

Hello again,

This extra post is a continuation my saga for the last two weeks. This shot is of the sun set from Kay’s deck in Wenatchee Washington. I love how the light truned the rock to red.

I left off last time with the Iron Quilter experience. That was followed by the meeting of the QuEGs groop. Because of the play day on the Friday before the meeting was a big show and tell of what we had done. I followed that with a drive to Ithaca to meet with the Diva group. Ruth had been busy with her American Beauty/Clam shell quilt. All the ” blocks” are different and full of her love of color. She plans to keep the shape irregular and I think that is wonderful. Sandy wowed us with her newest hooked creation. She used strips of wool and she mixed yarn with them to create the colors she wanted for this landscape. Great solution to a color problem.

Liese created this quilt for the next show at Kendell. The theme is “Ship Ahoy.” She opted to commemorate her memory of being a Girl Scout leader. One of her favorite memories was of little wooden boats made by the girls with candles that they launched on the lake the final evening of their camping trip. It made many of us envious and we want to try it too. Annie created this spring growth piece. I like the show drift in the back with the green shoots so full of life in front. I hope it is completed for the fall show.

Susan, now back from her home in Florida, is finding inspiration from her garden. She is limiting her palet and mixing the colors she needs for her images. I think she is very successful with these leeks especially in this long format.

Idaho and Washington

I then flew out to visit with Marty. She and I spent a sunny afternoon discharging with bleach. It was specially exciting because we used hand dyed fabric so the colors from underneath were often a surprise. We tried using the fabric in wadded piles on the ground and some on the line. We felt we had more control of the results when we used the line method. Then the next day we dyed fabric. Marty was trying for browns and this shot of the tub looks like she was successful- but the dye was a bit old and it did not take well. I am still delighted by the stuff I came home with and look forward using it. This photo is of some of the new fabric pinned to the wall when I got home.

Rosalie Dace joined us on Saturday. We celebrated Marty’s Birthday on Sunday with a picnic on the deck. Marty made a great souffle that we all enjoyed. Then she opened her gifts. I love the socks sent to her by her daughter- so very operate for a quilter. They will keep her toes worm this winter.

Marty’s home, thanks mostly to her brother, is also a Bear Museum. This means there are bears everywhere a fact that is not without its hazards. Rosalie found that she had a bed mate when she went to her room. Bob,the big bear, was very accommodating and allowed her to rest her head on his abundant stomach.

We drove to Wentchee see Kay Hall and go to a lecture on geogely. Kay is a quilter with a love of texture like myself. She uses a lot of beading in her work as this great little piece shows. “The figure was in the dyed cloth,” she said. “All I had to do was embellish it.”

This shot is of Dry Falls National Monument. It looks so much different from my last visit do to the fact that the day was sunny and there was lots of rain this spring so it was very green.

I had a wonderful time on this visit. I have a whole new pack of pictures and tons of new ideas as well as fabric for new works.

Keep Inspired and Creating

Carol

Diva Meetings, Goddess Series, Madeum Peli, Purple Trees

Feb 7, 2013 Winter Work

February 7, 2013 admin

Hello Readers,

It is full winter here in up state New York. Lots of snow all around and cold to keep one inside and working in the studio. We are set to get a big snow storm tomorrow so I look forward to even more Occupassion- Linda Twichell’s new word for the work and play approach that I feel when I am in the studio. (One cans see she put occupation and passion together to get this new word)

I went to my creative quilting meetings on Tuesday this week. I enjoyed talking and seeing what my peers have been doing too. Alice has been working with some fantastic Zebra fabric that a friend had passed to her. I enjoy her playful style. Cheri had some wonderful canvas work that she has been doing too. I am only sorry that I shot this image from the side and not strait on. This quilt was created after her trip to Ireland and is of a area where Fairies gather. I enjoy this group as much for there support as for their diversity. One gal is making a fabric book for her grand daughter. She does an excellent job printing on fabric I think. Then my camera battery died so I do not have any more photos of the many other exciting projects shown. I should know to carry the spare battery with me, I guess that this is the lesson.

Progress Report: Rusty Words

Rusty Wordsfull — Rusty Words
22.5 “X 44”

This piece was to be one of my two allowed entries for the Text Message contest- but it is too slender. I though I had allowed enough for trimming- but I guess not. I stamped letters on interfacing ( the white)in three colors so the words are really lost. I like the final effect even though it will not fit the show.

Madam Peli is the volcano fire goddess of the Hawaiian Islands. I really had fun doing this quilt even though I did not get it finished in time for the goddess show. I am still playing with the wavy edges on my work. That plus the color really made me think of magna flowing up from the earths core- therefore I just pushed the idea to get my goddess feel by adding the organza arms and hands. I used a bit of the painted wonder under on this work as well to show how it looks and to give a feeling of the transparency of fire sometimes. The organza hands and arms sort of give the feel of spirits or steam in the volcano itself. I used copper metallic thread here to promote the fire feel.

Soy Wax Project Last week I had not washed the water solvable thread out of this fabric. Now that step is done and the soy wax was washed out with hot water and them ironed. I really like how this looks. Although I am eager to use it I will wait to start until I have shown it to my friend Ethel before I cut it up. Mean while I have done a few sketches in the sketch book of ideas for the sewing step for a second or third project using this technique.

DMC Challenge- Purple Tree After finishing up Twilight Trees last week I was ready to begin the DMC challenge. I started with the three fabrics I had selected because if it turns out too disastrous I could always pitch it and start again. I have a full yard of my own colors and only a half of the other two gals stuff. Shifting to this more complex tree has proven to be more difficult than I expected. Getting the slender strips is not the problem- it is getting the cuts to fit together in the way I think they should that is proving to be the problem. I feel I am really growing from this project. I m glad I have not put off starting and that I have a long time before the final is due.

Tsunami Wash Up This project got framed yesterday. I wanted to finish this because I was having a little show for one my friends who had had given me many little plastic items that I used in this project. The red is from one of the plastic bags that our news paper comes in. The big yellow pieces are cut from a plastic bottle.

New Project – Stamped Out I started this project because I trying to add paper into my tops for additional texture. I captured stamps between two sheets of nylon net. Then I added additional stamps on top of the captured ones and put all of them on a blue fabric. I put it all together in my usual manner and I am ready to assemble the units. They may get shuffled before I do the final. It has proven to be a fun bit of assembly for me.

Wonder Under- second application. I am still still fascinated by the wonder under that I painted last week. So when I realized that I had finished with the Tsunami Wash Up work and that was the only hand work I had going- I though I would use this. I will just embellish with stitches on the fabric that had the Wonder Under ironed to it. In looking at the fabric I think I will add beads to the surface as well.

Auction Piece SAQA has a 12″ square block auction every year to raise funds for on going projects. When I read about the call for entries I decided to start my work for this year. I spent some time looking through my stash and found some small printed fabrics and decided to use them as my starting off place. By the end of the afternoon I had a piece I was happy with and so I put the little top together. I know it is not due until April- but I always liek to have things done ahead of time.

I am really into Occupassion at the moment. I hope winter is doing that for you as well.

Keep Creating

Hugs

Carol

Cre-8

Category Archives: Diva Meetings

Dec 6, Holiday Happenings

November 7, 2013

Sept 6 , 2013 Back to School

Sept 19, 2012 Fall Shift………Missplaced

June 21, 2013 Continuation

Feb 7, 2013 Winter Work

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer