Category Archives: FAD (Fiber Art Dames)

Animals, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand work, Machine Drawing, Pixies Group

Home from QBL 2024

Hello,

I am now home from my two weeks of  Quilting By the Lake.   This year it was held at  Hobart, Williams, Smith College in Genova, New York .      This was a last min change as Wells collage closed in May and Davana had to do seme scrambling to find us a new location.    It worked out remarkably well for such a short notice.    The housing and class rooms were scattered all over the lovely campus and that made for lots of walking, but it was so beautiful that I enjoyed it none the less.   My Cottage was across this little pond and I got to walk around it going to and from the main campus every day.

The fist week I had  Natural Dyeing class with Ellen Noble.    That class was in the art building that is surrounded by woods on three sides.  I saw a deer and a fawn one morning on my walk out to the location.

The class was very small with only eight of us, but oh so enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

Ellen really knows her stuff and she did lots of demonstrations for us.

 

I think I enjoyed learning about  Indigo the most, but the walnut and Palma granite dyes were fascinating too.

 

 

Ellen sat next to me and we shared lots of laughs.

Here she is painting a restirs on  a pre dyed of iron oxide.       There was a lot of chemistry in this class.

 

 

 

  This is a sample shot of many of the techniques that I came home with .

 

 

 

 

 

One evening there was show and tell were folks broth things from home .  This is a shot of my cottage mate, Desy with her project from last year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was class show the last even of the first week  usual and this is a shot of my friend Diane  from her class.

 

 

 

 

 

Kay was in the same class as Diane.

 

 

 

 

Week 2,  I was in Alter Ego class with  Paula Kevork as the teacher.   We started out with lots of free motion work and then she introduced three  dentinal ideas.   In doing  the free motion drawing I did scissors and  I discovered how I might add safety pins to my  play too.

On Tuesday afternoon, Paula  provided a pattern  for a mask/head and we were off and running.  She said she lost control at that point and never got it back.  As a class, we   were enjoying the challenge so much it was fun all the way to the end.

 

 

 

 

I had lots of friends in that class.  and I made some new ones.   This work is by a new gal- Holly.  She challenged herself to creating the whole think by pinching  and folding the fabrics

 

 

 

 

  Desy was seated behind me and she created a wonderful deer head  with a halo and wings.

 

 

 

Susan was behind  Desy and she did a wonderful crow  on a pastel block  background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jea was seated in front of me and she took the prize for creating the most three dimensional pieces.     She did a face , a dog, a creature   and 2 jelly fish.

 

 

 

 

Laura did this wonderful creature were she mixed in limbs from out side in her piece.

 

 

 

 

This shot shows our teacher and Liz  plus  Liz’s  Chick  .   It  is just too wild.

I loved the exploration that went on all around me in both two and three dimensions.

 

I worked on a dragon .      I used an old quilt from 1991  so I did not have to make any free motion pieces to work with.    But due to the fact that I had no pattern my head did not fit the body .   I was ready to toss the whole ting when the teacher suggested that the body only needed a face to stand alone.  So the “One Eyed flying purple people  Eater” was born.   ( right shoulder)  And due to the cut off broom stick that Liz happened to have in her car the head became a jesters assistant.       I am delighted  with both on them .    Now I still have some great back legs- so I many have to use them  along with the remaining scarps from that old quilt to create another creature…

 

This is Paula’s work .  She is having fun along with us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is one more of Holly’s very inspirational pieces made from the scraps of one of her other projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Cunningham did a lecture and showed us his strong work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The week ended with  another evening of work from the classes and the teachers apron auction.    The money raised from the auction goes to the scholarship fund.   Here we have Paula with her apron and a bonus of her book in the pocket.

 

 

 

Liz broth this apron  of Joe’s.

The whole event was a good one as  usual.   I so enjoy the people and new experiences QBL has to offer.  I along with Linda were honored this year with having attend  40 years.     I can’t quite believe that.

 I had a pixie meeting this week along with a FAD meeting.    Sharon had a wonderful background built for  a pieces she is making for her sister.

 

 

  Here is the bird.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report:    Cut Short    I spent most of this week catching up with  many things, but I did get work done on this piece.   It is ready for the zigzag  application of the parts now.

 Handwork- Small    This is my small work made with scarps from Cut it Out- the big  part.

 

I am enjoying my summer and having lots of fun creating new work.

Keep Creating
Carol

Applique, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Flag Challenge, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Scissors

Berry Season

Hello,

As I plucked a ripe  berry form the Mulberry Tree  on our walk, I was  reminded that when I was in Kindergarten I learned that there were 4 seasons.  So when summer came and there was Cherry season, and Strawberry season, followed by Raspberry season, I was a little confused and wondered why they were so short.   My Dad explained that the fruit seasons were just labels for what was ripe and a joy to eat at times of the year, while the four seasons represented the leant of day light and weather.   My childhood mind still though it was a bit unfair that the berry seasons were so short.   I am  now enjoying watching the  blue berry plants grow large wonderful large green berries in Rachel’s  yard,  and paying attention to the first ripening  wild  black berries  along our path.    I love berry seasons, perhaps that is due to how brief they all are.     My other big delight this week was to discover a young opossum in my hedge when I was watering my plants .    Then there were all the firefly’s  in my back yard last night .   Nature is constantly surprising me.

My only quilting events this week were  a  FAD meeting and a Pixie Zoom meeting.

Progress Report:   Lap 11   I really enjoyed this project this week.  It is so very cheerful.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 12     I can’t let things go so I started a new one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Field of Flowers    I try to work on this every day  so I am making progress  on it.   I think I only need to add the last of the free motion,  Angela, and  roving flowers I did to start this idea .

  Tie Quilt   In my efforts to clear away and finish up things I came across a box full of ties that a friend has sent me.   I decided to tackle building some blocks for a bed quilt with them.

 

 

Scissors Quilt  Marty sent me this little image of a painting made with scissors.  The water color artist had allowed himself to have X-ray vision with the work.  Seeing that was all it took for my imagination to go flying.     So I arranged my scissors and did a drawing.  This full sized drawing is the result.   I have pin based a base  and I am ready to start cutting pieces to fuse down and stitch now.

 

 

Glove Block # 5      This is my handwork for the evenings at the moment.      I am now ready to move on to the next block.

 

 

 

 

Flag for Susan     I came across this perfect piece of handwork by my Aunt May and though of Susan’s flag project.   I will mail it this week.

 

I hope folks are enjoying the wonders of summer.     Due to the fact that next Thursday is the 4th of July ,  I will not publish until Friday next week.

Stay Safe

Carol

 

 

FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Fish, Hand work, Nine Play, Pixies Group, Plants, SAQA

Spring Closing

Hello,

We have slipped into a real summer like feel here in central NY, even though summer does not officially begin until next week.   Most of the early flowers are gone and the  spring  ones that are still around are looking a bit shabby.   The seasons move so very quickly.     We have moved our walks to early morning as it is cooler  too.   The beginning of the walk course is were the hills are and  at the middle we start down.  Then this last stretch is  about 14 blocks on mostly level ground.   I always fins it a great meditative time.

I had three events this week.  The FAD gals meant on Monday and Sharon shared her completed blossom work.    I have enjoyed watching this one grow.

 

I made it to the SAQA lecture on Wed and there was a Pixie meeting too.

 

 

Progress Report:   Stamps   I finally got going on cutting the new stamps this week.   Now to do some printing.

 

 

Lavender Level     I made lots of progress on this little sea piece.  I am using lots of the free motion and wool roving techniques from my class last  summer.

 

Flower Garden   I built some additional thread work to make more flowers.

 

 

 

 

This is picture shows the  roving before I do the thread work to hold it all together.  This will become some sun flowers- I hope.   The base is built so making the actual garden will be gin soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Dragon Fly   I continue to work on this hand project in the evenings.    It is progressing slowly.

 

 

Pillows    I was doing some more spring cleaning and found a  few unfinished pieces so I decided to complete them.  I have now made two into pillow cases.  I will  stuff them and then sew them  up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asha”s quilt   I am all ready to quilt this project.  The heart print around the out side is polar fleece that will be a the back of this work.

 

 

 

 

Nine by Nine by Nine     This top of 81 little one inch squares in neutral colors will be the base  for some free motion portrait work I want to do.  I was inspired by the Genesee Valley Quilt show for this project.

 

I hope you  are enjoying the  pleasant days and nights.

Keep Creating

Carol

100 day Challenge, Baby Quilts, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Re Work, Stretched Works

Quilt Show

Hello,

I went along with Liz and Cheri to see the Genesee Valley Quilt Fest on Saturday.     The company was wonderful and the show a good one.   I am always glad to see that quilting is thriving.   I septically enjoyed the section of the show that was SAQA work.   I got some new ideas from those works.

 

 

And Yes, I did shop and purchased some fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

Cheri and I went to Ellen Blaylock’s lecture too.I have always enjoyed her work and I loved the two Medusa quilts that she shared with us.    This quilt is  what Ellen calls Medusa’s daughter.  It was a fun and stimulating day for me.

The Pixies and  FAB also meant this week .

My big news is Sharon’s proposal for a show was accepted and we spent a day looking at the space and talking about what we want to do for that show.

Progress Report: Shore Line Washup  This work is 21″ X  24″.   It is my latest in the works from my Joyous Embroidery  class.     I read about using Tyvek  by painting on it and then applying heat to get distortions. I  got carried away with the paint and it was too thick so it did not melt too much.   I will try again and  be more careful with the application.    I added old belt buckles , wooden beads, and yarns on top of  one of my old rock pieces then stitched it down.   This work also got some glass  beads from Cheri added to the surface .   This work  is on stretcher bars.

 

 

 Lap 5    I completed this work this week and I am pleased with the results.   It is made up of leftover blocks from the 100 day challenge.

The quilting is liner in the same fashion as the blocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 6     I put together this piece from   more  leftover blocks .    I need to pin basted it for quilting now.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 7  One more lap quilt  top that I put together on Monday and Tuesday.   It is pin basted from quilting and I plan to tackle it tomorrow.

 

 

 

Lap 8   I pulled these fabrics for the next lap quilt.   The print at the top is a photo print fabric that I purchased on line last winter.  I love the look, but I am having a difficult time descending how to use it.  It is almost too busy for me.

 

 

 

New Work  I decided to make a neutral background in nine patch for a little challenge that Sharon presented.

 

 

 

 

Shibui    I did these at Angela’s two week ago.   They were in the wash last week when I wrote.   I wish they were a little bit richer, but then we were  playing with lots of unknowns.

 

 

 

 

Asha’s Quilt  I am nearing the end of the precut blocks that my friend Ethel made.   I contacted her daughter and asked if she wanted one.  She suggested I make a baby quilt for Ethel’s great great Granddaughter Asha.   That is what this top will become soon.

The garden is calling at this time of year too so I  have less to to apply to quilt work.     I enjoy both processes.

Stay playful.

Carol

 

100 day Challenge, Drawing, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Pixies Group

Home Again

Hello,

  I am back from my travels and set to stay home for a while.  I did have a good time and the Glass Flowers at the Harvard Museum were amazing.    So many and only about 25% of the collection is on display.   I just could not look enough.   Taking in all that new imagery was  exhausting to me.   I am sure some new work will come out of that experience.

Before I went away I had some adventures too. I went with Victoria and Liz to Angela’s for a bit of creative play afternoon.   We were   adding surface treatments  to our handwork.  Angela had the plaster all mixed up for us as well as the softened paper clay.      Victoria had a difficult time  deciding what pieces to alter.

 

Liz did too.       It was a fun thing to work with and I added color on top of the plaster with my piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are some of my pieces before the add on treatment.

 

 

 

 

 

Angela had been doing more felting sense out last visit and she sharded her new felted vase with us.   I really like the gradation of color her here.

 

 

 

We also had a FLFA meeting on the Saturday before departure.

This is the work Sharon had done to add to the project from the retreat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pat had a lot of new work.  This is her most recent.

 

 

Anne has finished putting together her Robin quilt  top from her class at QBL last summer.

 

 

 

 

 

Linda, our newest member, show off her finished migration piece.

 

 

Maureen is still doing handwork on this powerful piece.  It is  nearing completion she says.

 

 

 

 

Liz has pulled  out some of her older work and is ready to begin to finish this one now.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a shot of Liz wearing Pat’s spring coat that she made for a fashion show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a FAD meeting on Monday this week and Sharon had a new mini land scape to share.

 

 

The Pixies meant as usual and we are going to do portraits for the next assignment.

 

 

 

My husband and I walked to Syracuse University on Wed and went to the art gallery there.  I was wowed  by this bit of  work that mixed thread with leaves.    There were 24 leaves surrounded  by thread  and suspended  in a frame like a table top. ( yes, those are my toes on the floor below the work.

 

 

We also walked around  the little lake in Berry  Park this week.    Spring is sure here  in our part of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report:  B4  This is the last block I made for the SAQA 100 day  Challenge.     I am delighted to say  that I got it done before the trip.   It is 32″ X 50″.   I really learned a lot building this block with the change in curves in the center strips.

 

 

I also  had  very  good  time  with  the  quilting on this one.

 

There are enough blocks remaining for another small piece.  The challenge is over now, but I will put all the left overs into pieces.

Art 2    This work is 34″ w X 52.5″ t.   It is made from extra blocks from Art Blocks  the third of the SAQA Challenge. 

 

Doing the challenge was a good thing for me and I hope to apply the ideas from it to my future work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BV 2  This too is a second project that is a result of the SAQA Challenge.   It is created from leftover blocks from the BV Block.  This block was designed with my good friend Barbara Vural in mind. 

 

Again there are blocks remaining for another small project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drawing  The glass flowers were inspiring and I did a bit of drawing from some of the close ups.  This is a close up of a Lilly.

 

 

 

 

 

Swoop   I stated this quilt top at the spring retreat.  I go a lesson in how to do curves from Liz and Linda.   I am very proud of how very flat this quilt top  is and  how the curves all lie down very nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Fragments Piece    This is my piece showing the fragments that I altered at Angela’s.    The plaster dose make it difficulot to add more stitching.    I did added color on top of some of the  units   to unifly the idea before I mounted them.   The units are a result of my interpretations of the assignments in   Finding Fragments class as a part of Art Take 2 .    I am now ready to begin a new  on line class called Naturally Inspired- also from Art Take 2.

I hope that spring is filling you days with new sights.

Keep Creating

Carol

I am attaching one last glass flower for your enjoyment.

 

100 day Challenge, Coral Shore, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Hand work, Pixies Group, Sisterhood of the Scissors

Active Week.

Hello,

   This week has been a very busy one for me.   Last Sat was the FLFA meeting  and although there was snow and attendance was low(only 5 of us ) we had a really good discussions and enjoyed the art that folks shared.

 

 

 

Maureen had a beautiful hand printed work that she is stitching on at the moment.

 

 

 

Sharon is getting ready for her show at Baltimore Woods next month and so she is doing natural landscapes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Victoria is working away as usual with this wonderful piece were she is using some of my Grandmother’s night gown in the piece.

 

 

 Susan has put together the top she was working on at the Fall  Schweinfurth  retreat.

 

 

 

 

 

We looked again at the Both End’s of the Rainbow show and I noticed a work from Therese that had not caught my attention before.  That is the best part of second trips to shows for me.  I get overwhelmed and it is fun to discover new things with a second look.

 

 

 

FAB meant on Tue  and Sharon had another work for the show that she shared with us.

 

The Sisterhood of the Scissors had a zoom meeting on Wed morning  and Pixies meant on Wed afternoon.

 

 

 I put in a little time on Chellie Rode’s class in preparation  for a play day with Angela.     This is one of the projects from that class that she has nearly  finished.

 

She along with Liz Victoria and I were all in the class and so we had a good time  playing with cola pens and inks making marks.

 

 

This is my sample.  We decided to do some stitch work on our pieces and get together in six weeks and add the plaster step on top .    It is so much fun to explore things together.

 

 

 Progress Report: Ethel 3    This bed quilt is now done.  I plan to start to assemble the fourth this week end.

 

Barbara Blocks II     I am only at the beginning of the quilting on this project.    It is the last project I tackle at the end of the day and many times I run out of time before I get to this one.

 

 

 

 

Coral Shore   Pulled out another rock piece form the past to rework for the Joyous Embroidery series.  I deiced to split this one in half and make a diptych with it.  I added the punch needle parts I  made last week on the top and started to do the embellishments around.

 

 

QSDS 100 day challenge BV Blocks    This week I am working on the middle sized blocks.   I have six fully put together and many other parts connected one to another.

Handwork    This little project is going well.  I am sure It will be completed this week as I only have the flowers to finish.

 

 

 

 

 

Past Times  This set of gloves got a ring and now I am ready to start the next one.

It has been a fun filled week and I hope the same can be said for my readers.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

100 day Challenge, Collage, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group

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.

 

Explorations, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Raw Edge Applique, Re Work

New Year 2024

Hello,

As 2024 begins some have asked me what are my resolutions.     I am not into doing resolutions.  I do like to set little goals for myself, but all the emphasis at this time seem to imply something is wrong with one.   I am just not convinced that is so and as a result I don’t do the resolution thing. The time we are living in is stressful enough without  adding personal guilt to the mix.   So I am starting a fresh calendrer with the same attitude that I start any new month.    And I plan to fill each day in happy pursuits of my own choosing.

  The FAD group meant for lunch  this week instead of a regular meeting.  It was a nice change.    The Pixies were reunited  again yesterday too.  They are such a diverse and stimulating group, that I had a good time as usual.

I finally got back to work on Finding Fragments this week.    She had exercises that mixed drawing and painting of fabric for us to do.    I plan to keep moving forward with the assignments at this point.

Progress Report: Tide Pool II  I finished off this work this week and I am so inspired that I plunged directly  into the next one.   I love all the textures and found objects.    I did not get it done in time for the show of the class work, but that is not the real impotent thing for me.   I used the pompoms she encouraged us to create and the frapped work as well on this project.

 

 

 

Orange Peelings  This work is   53″ X 35″.    It is built on a split nine patch but that is totally lost in all the fabric that I fused down on top.

 

 

 

I really enjoyed making the rime of the orange peels using the zig zag stitch in the free motion mode.

 

 

 

 

 

Ethel 1    I got going on Saturday on this project.   I am starting the boarders now and liking how it looks.

 

 

Lap 1- 24   I am quilting away on this project at this point.  I have decided that I will use the remaining prints from 100 days of last year as my starting point for the next lap projects.

 

 

 

 

 6X6  I finished up two of the little works for the Rochester  gallery sale this week.  One more to go.

Tidewater pool  This is the base for the next in this one going tide pool series.  It is really big and all the beads add a lot of weight. I think I will cut it down and make two bases from it.

I also started the punch needle work for it this week.

 

 

 

New Nine – Age of Elegance   I have cut nine solid squares in pastel colors that I want to use as bases for a  bit of hand work.   I have some beautiful  old hand made lace and a box full of gloves  gloves.  Both represent a by gone area. So I decided to put them together and honor them with this project.

Branching Out   I did a bunch of drawings at the Sisterhood Retreat in  November and one of the gals was quite taken by one of them.  So I used it as a jumping off place for this new project.  I drew the subject on the solid burgundy and cut it out.  As I did so I realized that I liked the cut away negative pieces too. so I found a simpler background in similar colors to the one I was using and pinned the cut ways  to it.  Now when I get them both   all sew down I am thinking of ways I want to combine the two pieces into one unit.

I hope you are enjoying the New Year in ways that suit you

Keep Creating

Carol

Curvie Cuts, Drawing, Ethel's Nine Patch, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand work, Landscapes, Lap Quilts, Machine Drawing, Nine Play, Pixies Group, Sisterhood of the Scissors

Joyous Season

Hello,

It feels like I have not done this work in a long time.   Lots of things have gone on in that time too.     First I went off to the Schweinfurth  Open Studio Retreat.   Three days of doing my own thing along with  8 other artists.    Linda  delighted us all with special cookies that her daughter had made. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Victoria   was  working  away  on  a fabric collage  where  she  was  using  a part  of  one  of  night gown that was one  of my grandmother’s.

 

 

 

 

Susan was finishing up her project from the workshop with Irene Rodrick that she had attended a  few weeks earlier.

She did finish making all the units by the end too.

 

 

 

Nancy did lots of things, but this landscape was my foavorite.

 

 

 

Linda’s project was coming along beautifully as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ellen    was busy  finishing up a project she had started in a workshop at QBL

 

 

 

 

I also visited the Q=A=Q show while I was there .  Sharon’s work looked great!

 

 

 

She was busy on a new piece.   It too is based on her trip our west last summer.

 

 

 

 

Judy, Sharon and I went off to visit Marty  on Tue the next week.   She is doing some fun water colors now.

 

 

 

 

 

Then Nov 15, I went off to the Sisterhood Retreat at Kuaka Lake.   This was the third year we got together and it was a good experience too.   The whole event was a bit disjointed this time.  Ann did not stay on sigh and Deb went home ill on  Sat morning with a bad cold.   Lots of work did get done however.

We shared our solutions for the challenges.    Liz made all of us little wallets.

 

 

Joyce did a great three-D landscape.   I did too.    Marcia was still working on hers.  Next year.  We did go shopping but decided ageist another fabric challenge.

 

 

 

Jeanne was the queen of production.   She finished up  this flower top   and worked on this spider web project.

 

 

 

 

 

 She also had a great quilt for show and tell .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deb finished a baby quilt top and went on   to build this Halloween top. before she went away.

 

 

 

 

Marcia worked on putting together  two projects that were started by her good friend Perilla.

 

 

Next year the retreat will be in early October and hopefully  a little more focused.

I had  a FAD meeting yesterday and a Pixie Zoom meeting too.   Life just dose not slow down.

Project Report: Nine Play #2  This quilt is 40″ X 41″.   It is a partner with Nine play #1 as I cut the blocks for both at the same time and mixed them up in both quilts.

I was still doing lots of inserting of narrow strips in this work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Applied Nine- # 3 in the series   This quilt is 41″ X 41″.   I started it at the Schweinfurth retreat and finished the quilting at the Sisterhood retreat.     I really deviated from the rule of inserting narrow strips on this one and applied perfused pre cut pieces from my box of fused fabrics.   I also split up the blocks before I assembled them  to add interest.

I still have lots of perfused pieces and the box is still overflowing so I think there will be several more  similar works in the furfure.

Twilight   This quilt is 18″X 28″ and my entry for the Sisterhood Challenge.  I only got the fabric from Liz( Her left overs as I had totally lost my fabric) on the Tue before the retreat,  so it was done with speed.    I did the tree on wash away with a wool center for the trunk and big branches.  The thin limbs are all thread draw.

I no longer own this quilt as it went home with Patti at the end of the FAD meeting on Wed.

 

 

Lap # 20   This is the last lap quilt I will complete before I make a run to the local nursing home.   I gave away 10 in the  early spring and I will pass the second group off next week.

 

 

 

 

Rocky Tide Pool   I continue to work away on this project from my Joyous Embroidery Class.     I try to put in an hour every day on it.   I am enjoying the textures.

Hands Off    I started assembling this at the Schweinfurth retreat.   I used all the remaining quilters hands from my work last year.   The black and white scraps came from my collection of pieces from Ethel’s box of un used  fabrics.   I finished layering and adding the binding this week.  Now I have started quilting by hand in the negative black sections .

Scrap Blocks   When I opened the Ethel  box earlier this fall I decided to finish up all the scraps  and cut blocks from them.  I finished that step and now  have all the pieced sections added to a solid square of the same size and they are all added to one another as of this morning.  I will begin adding the big 8.5″ blocks into rows for quilt tops this next week.

Spores  In my search for inspiration for work to do at the Scherinfurth Retreat, cam across a photo of spores that had fascinated me.  So I decided I would use it as a jumping off point.   I quickly realized I wanted to us pompoms at a part of the structures and they are a slow hand work  project.  So I set them aside and will now get back to that project.

New Work   I have not decided what to call this project so it is New Work.  I wanted to take a class at the Schweinfurth in Nov and had paid my money to do so only to discover I had two impotent events that wee.  So I gave my spot to Liz.  Susan was at the Schweinfurth Retreat and was settings next to me so I asked her how the class was designed and I thought I understood the process from her description.   So  I attempted to do it at the Sisterhood retreat.  While I was there Liz observed what I was doing and re educated me as to what I was suppose to be doing.  So I will finish this in my own way.

 Exploratory work    Now I think I know what the teacher was trying to teach and with Liz’s explanation, mixed with what I got form Susan I am starting again and this is my drawing to do that  idea.   Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 Food Story – Christmas Noodles

Christmas was always spent at Grandmother Ruth house when I was growing up. Seeing family and talking was the main point of the event. That was paired with the food of course and there were no gifts. Our family was coming from norther Iowa until 8th grade and then from Muncie Indiana after that time. We slept at Grandmother Ester’s in Morning Sun and then drove to Grandview, Iowa – about 25 miles on Christmas day. We were always the first family to arrive as all of Mom’s brother’s family and sisters families lived closer by and they had regular Santa morning get up. Mom would go directly into help cooking mode when we arrived. That usually meant she would start making egg noodles. After the ingredients were mixed she would begin rolling them out. The dough had to dry and set up so it was a task that needed to be done early. I recall trying to roll out the dough, but I lacked the strength to do much of it. The noodles had to rest on the top of the washer and dryer before they were cut into the noodle ribbons and cooked. The rest of the families trickled in as the morning went forwards and I along with the rest of the grand kids was shooed out of the cooking as the adult arrived. We eagerly went off to write our Christmas afternoon play that we preformed to entertain the adult s late int he day. The noodles were always a major part of the feast from my point of view and I really looked forward to eating them. They were popular with everyone too because there were very few left over for the late evening meal.

 

 

 

I hope everyone is now happily preparing for the joy of the season.   I have started my Christmas cards  and one had already come from my friend Sharron.

Keep Creating

Carol

Robert sent me a photo to go along with the noodle story-

FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand work, Landscapes, Lap Quilts, Nine Play, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Sisterhood of the Scissors

November News

Hello,

Fall is started it close as the color is almost gone form most trees around here.     I am still enjoying the sounds of crunching leaves as I walk thought the piles on the walks.     It has been a busy week for me however.   Friday I helped my friend Sharon hag a solo show.  She had lots of great work and I liked this one this best.

I had a zoom QuEG’s meeting and a Pixie meeting as well.  The FAD group meant here yesterday and we had a good time talking and sharing.

 

 

I went off with another friend to the Syracuse University Gallery this  morning to see the Peter Jones , a member of the Onondaga Nation ( Bever Clan member) show.

 

 

 

 

   He is a wonderful ceramic artist and we happened on a tour of the exabit so we got an bit of extra info.

 

 

 

 

I am off to a weekend retreat at the Schweinfurth tomorrow.  I am  packed with lots of ideas of what I want to do.    The on Wed I go off to the Fall Retreat of the Sisterhood of the Scissors on Seneca Lake, so there will be no post  next week  and not one on Thanksgiving either as the family will all be here.    The next post on November 30th,  will be a big one.

Progress Report: Nine Play # 2    I am declaring this one done even though I still have half of the sleeve to stitch down.   I am sure I will finish that this evening and I don’t want it to carry over to the next post

 

 

 Judy’s Banquet   This work is 24″ w X 16.5″ tall.     It is part of the Joyous Embroidery Class stuff.    I really like how she encouraged one to add lots of dimension to the surface.

My friend Judy gave me most of the lace that I used in this work.

 

 

 

Lap # 20   This top is all ready for layering , but I don’t have any filler at the moment.  I will stop tomorrow on my way home  to get that.

 

 

 

 

Felted   Dryer Balls  These are my gifts to give away at the retreat.  I have three more that still need their hot/cold shock wash in the washing machine.  That will get done today too.

 

 

 

Rocky Tide Pool    This project is yet another that is and out growth from the Flue Woods class.   I am enjoying building up this piece and it is dominating my  desk top at the moment.     I many not get much done on it over the next two weeks, but it will get done eventually.

Twilight    Sometimes you just have to wait for the idea to come – and that sure was the case with this project.   It is due at the Sisterhood Retreat so I am really cutting it close.   The challenge is the dark blue fabric.  I will be sure to take photos of the other gals use of it to share when next I post.

Have a good Thanksgiving and I will post again at the end of the month.

Keep Creating

Carol