It is really feeling like spring here and this wonderful shot of Nancy’s quilt in progress really expresses this feeling. I love all the flowers and the bright colors. She is amazing with her use of more and more pattern. This shot is only about one eights of her quilt. It was all we could show on the small space of my studio at the FAB meeting yesterday. Judy is working away on her sweater. She got some of the yarns from Patti . Judy is such a good knitter she does not even need a pattern to do all these fancy stitches. We had a good time yesterday.
I finished up my entry for the SAQA auction this week. I had a good time creating this little twelve inch square piece. I enjoy and support this organization.
Progress Report: Parts This work is finally complete. I sure enjoyed doing hand stitches all over the surface. I think I will give this work to the local camera shop were I purchased the camera that the parts are from. I got the new camera from them too when I dropped this one an broke it.
Foggy Dawn This work is the second half of older work. I took Corrine’s ‘s advice and did the quilting in a spiral patterns.
The glitter that is on this work was on the fabric when I purchased it. Lots of us like glitz.
Silver Growth I am almost finished with this project. I did all the free motion silver thread work earlier this week and I only need to add the facings now.
Briar Patch I am to the stage where I am adding the leaves and black berries to this quilt. I added most of the black berries first. I did not realize how many leaves I cut until I had them all pinned to the surface . It sure makes it pricklier at the moment.
Out the Window I was having so much fun with the turquoise and purple combination that I did a second quilt using this color combination. I lightened it up and did not go for much of the deep green of summer here. It is a lot closer to the colors of spring and windflowers and snow. Something that I saw on my walks this week.
Label Block #43 Slow and steady get’s the job done on this one.
Looking back over this blog I see lots of spring purple here. I sure am influenced by the season.
The week has been a full one with lots of activates. This work is by a high school student and a part of the Scholastic Art show now going on at Onondaga Community Collage. I was a judge a few weeks ago and I judged animation and film. I went to see the other works that made it into the show. There is lots of wonderful work, and it is well worth the effort to go and see it. The FAB group also meant this week
. Nancy has added two more boarders on her quilt. I love how she mixes so many different patterns in her work. She is also so very good at making all her points. A characteristic that I admire as I find that process so very frustrating. I like a challenge so much more than a repeat activity. So I decided to be a part of the Cancer Project. This is the cancer mask that I will be altering in the next weeks. I have not decided how or where I will go with this one yet, but I really think it is fascinating. Another thing I did this week was take four quilts off to be a part of the Cabin Fever Quilt show that hangs in Betts Branch Library for the month of February. I also hung a show of 15 pieces of my work at the Briar Patch in Ithaca New York yesterday. I am sorry that I did not take my camera so there are no pictures of that. Because of all of our snow and the wonderful stash of dye that I inherited from Ethel, I attempted some snow dyeing this week. I had to call on the knowledge of my friend Angela to get myself going on this project . The photo is a shot of the first batch under plastic starting to melt. I learned from this first one to cut way down on the amount of dye one adds to the snow as the navy blue took over and there is no yellow at all on the final piece. The process takes a long time- about 24 hours for all the snow to melt because I am doing it in the basement were the heat is low and I may be packing too much snow in the bucket. Anyway the second batch looks like the yellow and green will remain a part of the color. And I did not add any navy to it. Everything is washing out now with a third bucket starting to melt. Look for images next week. Another thing I started this week was my 6X6 entries. That is for the Rochester Art fundraiser. I decided to use this paper as the base for a paper quilts for this project.
Progress Report: Coastal Color I
I really enjoyed working on these felted base works. I ended up adding a fabric back and sleeve to this one to finish it. Thanks again to the gals in QuIGs for there suggestions on this project.Mixing the machine work and adding yarns and fabrics to the surface sure made the process a joy for me. I have one more in the grouping to complete; I am excited and I have not even started adding anything to the felted surface yet.
Coastal Color II This felted work is stretched over stretcher bars with a batting in between. Again the QuIGs were the source for this solution to the finishing problem. This solution creates quite a different feel for the finished work. But again I got to do the thing I love the most with the machine drawing and the fiber additions. I just love to build up the surface.
Moon Fall I have enjoyed working on this project as the world out side has become one of grays, white and black. No thread build up here but lots of fun free motion work. I used some of the same thick thread techniques that I developed with the leaf and Autumn quilts I did earlier this fall. I mostly followed an edge when I could to make the quilting patterns. I appliqued the moon on top without any quilting of its own so it would float above the surface a bit. It seems to do that to me.
Coping Quilting away on this work was a nice contrast to all the free motion work I was doing this week. All the quilting here is strait lines with stops and turns it it. I first made a series of rectangles in silver and purples threads. Then I used black to make more quilting that filled in the open ares and added a little interest to the surface. It does the job I think although I do not find it overly exciting in the end. I do like the colors and that is a good thing as I have the second half of the original to deal with next. This one does have quite a different feel I think. I need to look and think for a while on this one too.
New WorkI am tying to mix some of my altered fabrics with commercial ones here. The some of commercial ones are Ethel’s and the flowers are from my friend Tanya.
Parts is Parts I continue to stitch down the camera parts onto the surface here. What with the finishing of the first three quilts this week, I have not done a lot of hand work on this project.
Label Block # 37 The labels got their share of hand work though. I am looking forward to my February closet clean out as I think I will be able to add some more labels to my collection when I do that project.
Keep Creating,
Carol
I could not resist adding one more Scholastic entry to this blog.
This is the time of year when we are reminded of Natures Bounty. This picture is of the grapes on Susan’s front walk. I love the light filtering through.
From my point of view it seems like I have not set down to take stock in a long time. I have been very active. The Friday after the last post I went and visited my friend Susan and we had a day that was mostly organization. That is a task that needs to be taken on more frequently than I do it. Susan with her eye always on the dates of her migrations to and from Florida, has a thing to teach me in that area.Even her desk – pictured here- is far more structured than mine.
Next on the list for me was a Creative Play Day at Varna. I spent the morning making silk paper in preparation for my workshop and after lunch I played with the 3-D pen the grand kids had given me. I have come to the conclusion that one could make nice light weight ear rings. I wish I could wear them. My next event was the teaching of the Silk Paper Workshop. Alice did some wonderful dye painting on here silk. Cris worked away capturing different objects in her silk. She put in paper, leaves and flower petals to some fine results. I experimented with using leaves as “molds” for thin layers of silk.( see photo above)
Then on Thursday Cris and I did some silk screen printing. I have two wonderful new pieces of fabric to use as a result. I drove home on that afternoon. Mother Nature was just starting her fall display and I had to stop more than once to take pictures.
The Friday after that adventure I went south to help again with the clean out of Ethel’s house. Elise has been so generous with her Mother’s quilting materials- that I feel surrounded by Ethel’s love. I have also been charged with the completion of her last quilt. I put all the pieces together this week and will now create a back form some of her fabrics. The hand quilting will begin some time soon.
The last event was this week and it was a FAB meeting. Judy had completed the top of a new wool quilt. She plans to tie it. Sally got some feed back from all of us about how she could finish up a project from a old QBL class and Nancy wanted help with a new top she is considering making. We had fun.
Progress Report: Blossoms and Butterflies This is the second in the butterfly series. I sure enjoyed doing all the free motion work that this one entailed. The flowers are all drawn in with pebble quilting for their centers. I think with this quilt I made the Butterflies too strong. I will try for a better light dark balance on the next one.
Incisions I am almost done with the free motion work on this quilt. I did the pebble quilting in the white areas and let the designs on the printed fabric tell me how to quilt the darker areas.
Silk Paper Still Life At the creative play day I made some silk flowers. They are pinned now and I am ready to begin hand work on them. I do have about four other hand work projects going now so they will not get any attention for a while.
15 Challenge I now have the 15” block assembled. I plan to hand quilt this project too.
Label Block 21 I did some thinking and realized I will need at least 80 blocks of this size to create a bed quilt. I guess I will be at this process awhile.
Keep Creating
Carol
PS: One last shot from the trip. I enjoy how the stream bottom and the sky is reflected in this clear brook.
I have spent my week with many other creative people and in doing so my world is richer. Yesterday, while coming home from a wonderful performance of West Side Story with my friend Barb and I, we were enjoying the beautiful landscapes of up state New York. In doing so we talked at length about how we are so eager to feast our eyes on the world around us and that we easy find and celebrate the wonders of our world with joy and delight. That is a job all artists do – with our works we celebrate our own joy and in doing so hopefully open others eyes to the beauty all around all of us. Our acts of “ Valuing the Visual” with each work or art, hopefully makes others value the world as well.
I went to a FAB meeting this week. Nancy displayed her dyed fabrics from the week before. Now she is ready to move on to the final assembly of here quilt. Patti work on one of her mini weaving projects during the meeting.
I then went to the QuEG’s meeting . Sue Ellen is working away on a Tree series and this is one of her pieces in that series. She had several others pinned up in her studio. It will be fun to watch the series get completed. We seem to have a rash of baby related works going on in the group at the moment. This is green and purple one is Linda’s new baby quilt.
Here are two more by another expectant grandmother.
Angela is doing hand work on this felted work that she cut up. We gave her lots of ideas about how to expand and play with this idea. That is one of the great things about a group- the expanded brain power is wonderful and one can pick and choose from the ideas folks toss out for your benefit. Liz had a wonderful little bowl carrier project that she shared with us. This soft hot pad “fits” around a bowl while it is in the micro wave and makes for easy removal with out burning the fingers. Corrine is busy doing paper piecing with very small log cabin blocks.
I stopped and picked up Susan on my way to the Diva meeting. This shot is of her table in her studio. She is really expanding the Flag Challenge in a great way. I am enjoying the contrast of our two styles and will talk more about that in the future. At Diva’s we saw this new work. Anne did a wonderful job with the quilting on this project. The front is wonderful too- but I do not have a shot of that. This is picture of Lori’s layered embroidery work. There is foiling and organza in this as well.
Alice is working on smaller units to sell for Art Trail and this stain glass type pieces is one of her works for that endeavor. I like her color choices. Regina was my guest at the meeting and she showed us her felted butterfly. This was only one of three she had completed sense I had seen her the Wed. before.
Meeting all three groups in one day is exhausting and I will work not to have that happen again any time soon. One can have too much of a good thing.
Progress Report Insect Ology
I am surprised by how much people like this work. The colors are natural, the subject matter is some what off potting- but I get lots of positive feed. I like it too, but not nearly as much as my viewers do. I will make another companion stencil and see if working two together also gets this type of response. I really enjoyed quilting all the leaves on the surface the most when it came to completing this work.
Flag- Dance This flag is really the last of the official series – I think. Both Susan and I did the same image in black and white to start this project. I held this flag until the end to complete. It seemed like a way of closing off. the process for me. But after seeing what Susan is doing I am not so sure.
Flags- Assorted Colors Being unsure of were we were going Susan and I started by using up her paper paste before we did anything else. The flag challenge grew out of that play . I did these colored flags last so when I got to these I was feeling more confident about the use of words and adding objects to the surfaces. For this one, Imagination, I embossed the saying on metal and stitched it to the surface.
The second one- Hands – got its darker additions in the form of painted wonder under that I ironed to the surface.
The paper paste was thinning down by the time we got to the last this last flag so it is paler. I added the oil crayons to is for the onion.
It is a copy of the stencil that Susan made on Wed of my visit when we went to drawing class.
The studio is calling as I have not spent a lot of time there this week.
I am home from a week in Gulfport Florida. I really enjoyed the new sceanry . There was so much to look at my eyes could hardly take it all in! From the shore with lots of bird forms to the sky and the plant life- I was a shooting fool when it came to taking pictures. I just love how this split pine looks and I am sure it will turn up in some work at some time. Then there was all the art. We went to a show of work by Geoffrey Gorman. He builds wonderful found object sculptures of animals and birds that include wire and canvas that he has aged with rust. His work was wonderful.
Susan took me to an opening at the Florida CraftArt Gallery, where both Oiseau Sisters had pieces. This shot shows Susan with her birds. She and I played in the studio every day. I did Gelli prints with Lora on Tuesday. I used one as a base when we went to drawing on Wed eve. Susan and I designed and then started a flag project. We each made six stencils and printed two of each. These are my images. At the end of the week we traded one of each of our images for one of each of the other person’s works. Now we will both work on the flags as we see fit and when we meet again at the June Diva meeting we will compare how each of us has altered all the images. We designed it to be an open exploration project- trying new materials and techniques. It will be fun I think.
I worked away all week on this owl stitchery project. It is nearly complete now. I had intended to work on a piece that I brought form home, but I did not do a stitch on it. The first day Susan pulled out one of her bins of fabric and I got inspired. Something about some one else’s materials I suppose.
Tuesday was a FAB meeting and after a month of not seeing folks we had a lot to talk about. Nancy is making great progress on her bed quilt( this shot shows the center section folded up as it is all the stripes. ) Now she will build more images on top.
Progress Report: Boiling Point
Boiling Point 16″ X 20″ $225.00
This project went together quickly just before I left. I am still using the fabric collage technique that I used with the FoundationsSeries, but it not based on any stone this time. I also did all the work on canvas this time and then stretched it around to the back of the stretcher bars before tacking. This first close up is near the center of the work. I used red, rust, gray and dark green velvet in this work as well as satin and silk fabrics. The more I play with the layering and folding of the various fabrics the more I enjoy the process. This second shot is near the middle on the right. A little copper paint adds fun.
Raw edges here add another texture to the mix,
Name Game 1- Carol I cut the work into 6″ square and then reassembled it. I am only going to show this close up this week because the only step that remains for completion is the facings and I will complete them for next week.
Owl I am showing the completed owl that I did in Florida as I am going to send it off to the framers this week and shooting through glass is as strong as a strait shot. I really enjoyed working on this. I tried lots of varieations on the fly stitch on this work. The vanes in the leaves are fly stitches all connected to one another. The tree bark is that same stitch on its side and interlocked with its neighbor. The wing tip is shown here and it is made from a pair of textured panty hose. The pin feathers on the chest are woven copper ribbon that has been tacked down with open fly stitches. The claws are made from fake leather that was frapped. The found objects that started this whole work are the chroched rings that are the whites of the eyes. The orange is a bit of bias tape and the black is a sequin held in place with a french knot. The beak is created from the same fake leather as the claws.
Memory Map- Canyon de Chelly I am still strugling with with were this project is going. But I feel closer then before. Adding Spider Women’s towers ( on the left) will help anchor the work I think.
Nail Castings
I am still fasinated by the shapes of these plastic parts. I enjoyed tacking them down with lots of different types of stitches. the shapes just tickled me.
I try to choose a word to concentrate on every year and in doing that I find I pay more attention to my actions. Last year I selected EXPLOIT. I tried to make the most of every experience and situation I encountered. I do not know how one measures the success or failure of such a venture- but it did make me try to use each day/event to its fullest. It has almost become second nature with me now. It is time to focus on a new word/concept. I have been thinking about the idea for the better part of January and I have decided to think/concentrate on an art concept this year. I have selected LINE as my focus word/idea for 2015. I will now make a sign for myself to help keep it in sight and focus on it. Look for some thoughts on this topic next week.
I have had a good week. Cris Winter came and we had a great play day. We made Fused Silk Papers. It was fun to play with her as she had lots of different ideas about how to use the silk paper. I would not have inserted the plastic ribbon into the surface without her suggestion. ( the red building has the plastic ribbon in it) I also played a bit more with the shape due to her influence. It is good to explore and try new stuff I think.
Nancy has made great progress on her quilt . I really love how she has developed the mountains. I am so proud of her.
This shot is of the Inside Out show at the Manillus public library. By friend Barbara belongs to the group- that is her work on the left and she invited me- my work on the right. It is a fun show with lots of different types of work in it.
FAB meant this week too. Patti is doing card weaving and creating a great tree pattern with the cards. ( the figures are the back of her project) I never learned how to do this process, but I remember my mother doing it when I was a child.
Progress Report: Scrap Happy # 3 Now the third one in this grouping is complete. I have parts set for three more so these will keep popping up for a while. As I said before I sure love the new open space on my shelves because of doing this project.
Creative Assistants I finished a new batch of these little pin fellows this week. They are just fun and I enjoy the process. About 30 more have faces and will need to be completed this week.
New Work This work is not getting much attention while I am working on the Creative Assistants because it is ready for the hand work and I have been putting all my efforts into the pins. I can see the end of that project so this one will get my efforts soon. I am trying to decide what color I want the thread work to be at the moment.
Leaves continue to be a big part of my daily dose of nature. But I want to talk about a Jewish Proverb I came across in my reading this week. “The Quality of life is fuelled by our productive wealth.” That idea has been on my mind while I have been walking for the last two days. To begin with I really think that my life is a rich and wealthy one, but I think even though I am productive that is not the only thing that adds meaning and value to my life. Quality is strongly related to context. One can have “Quality Time” and for me that can mean just
time spent listening and interacting with a friend or child. A big part of that quality comes with the focus of that time- no distractions or concerns for other things. When I was making the halloween costume for my grandson- (some video game character that I do not know anything about)- that” one on one time ” with him telling me exactly what he wanted and helping with the sewing machine work was real quality time. I spent quality time talking with Nancy on Wed at the FAB meeting when there were only the two us and we got to telling stories about our youth to one another. That shows a quality of trust too. (She is making progress on her quilt and the sky with the clouds she made in silk paper on that sky is great. ) Then there is also quality friendships like the one I share with Nancy and a few others. There is a degree of necessary quality in all our lives for things like shelter, food, good quality air and water- without those assuredness none of the other quality things can come about. We need those quality ingredients to be healthy and to fully appreciate the degrees of wealthy excellence our lives hold.
Agate 23″ X 36″ $300.00
Progress Report:Agate I finished this work this week. It has been created from a big piece of silk paper that I made with Ethel a few weeks ago. The most difficult part of this project was deciding what side of the silk paper to use- they were both so lovely. I had a good time attaching the silk paper to the quilt with many hand stitches. This project was created with silk hankies that were hand dyed before I put the paper together. I might not have selected these colors to use together on my own, but I sure like them and will try to add this type of mix to my own way of thinking.
Spill This quilt is coming along nicely now. I love all the textures on the surface of this work. This shot shows silk paper- two types the sheet form (on the far left) and the flow form(the green blue at the top) , the iron melted mylar( the turquoise ) and iron melted plastic bag( the apple green). The whole thing has been fun for me.
Watermarked Sandstone I am still doing machine drawing on this work but I can see the end is in sight. Again I am playing with texture- my favorite thing. There are “nodes of iron ore” in the image and so I have created some solid rust colored circles to add to the surface of the piece. Before I can stitch them down I need to add rust colored paint to the surface to show how the water wears away the iron too and in so doing it stains the surrounding stone.
Yellowstone Memory Map I so enjoyed creating the Sandstone Church project that I thought I would do a second memory map type quilt from my childhood. When I was seven, my Dad was a summer ranger in Yellowstone National Park at South Gate. I have wonderful memories of that summer and want to try to put them into this new project. This is layer one and it too is ready for a paint layer to soften and unify some of these parts.
I hope you too are enjoying the fall color and creating fun works.
I so enjoy fall, not just the color- and this year it it wonderful, but one of the best things is the sound of walking through the fallen leaves. The crunch, the swish, the crackel, all those sounds and the earthy smell always seems to bring me warm feeling of golden days and slowing down. A heightened feel of awareness of the wonder of the world we live in. I love it.
These beautiful flowers are a gift from my friend Noel. They sure bring the colors and feel of the season into my dinning room.
This was meeting week for me. Tuesday QuEG’s meant at noon. Everyone had lots to share. This shot is of some electron microscope images that Linda thinks she may use as starting points for some work. All of these are various liquors.
Liz is just home from a two week trip to Ohio to Nancy Crow’s barn and a workshop in using Graffiti and Lettering. She had a pile of altered fabrics that she has created that will keep her busy working all winter on just this topic. This one is called “Art Boys”. It sounds like she had fun.
Barb continues to work on her crazy quilts. I really like the Victorian feel this one has. She will have some great family remembrances when she is done and what a great way to collect and display the little bits one seems to collect from family members- like pins and such.
Angela is busy dying again. I love how she uses her abilities to get such wonderful work. This work has several layers of dye on it. These scarves are for the hostesses who are doing a baby shower for her grandson later this fall. She is so wonderfully generous with her work.
Sally is back at her embroidery machine creating wonderful cards for Christmas and fun family gifts. This strawberry is her own design and a family gift. She always give the kids $ presented in a unique way. This year the cash is wrapped inside the layers of the toilet paper inside the berry. She also went so far as to machine embroider the family’s name on the first sheet of each roll. Too much!
Sue Ellen and Corrine are both doing finish up work. Something about fall I think, we want to tidy up a bit before the confinement of winter. Corrine had three wedge cut baby quilts that she was finishing.
Sue Ellen had three distinct, but traditional quilts she had finished and this wonderfully fun Sea Horse piece she created. Each panel in the horse body is a different print and they are all connected with metallic cord that has been zig zaged in place.
Then I went off to the Diva meeting. Cheri and several others of us had spent a few days felting last month. Using materials she produced at that time, Cheri has finished a felted vest for her grand daughter. She used one of her jelly roll slices to create a pin too- its on the right. What fun!
Marty went along with me to the meetings and she showed one of her wonderful Nebula quilts. Everyone is amazed, myself included, in all the bead work and her tiny button whole stitching. She told us she used over 400 beads on one of the nebula pieces. I enjoy how she uses hand dyed fabrics too. wonderful images.
Liesa is working on her Map quilt. All the trees and buildings are in place now. She says there will be more quilts like this one of different locations.
Anne had lots of work to show- four pieces I think. She is getting ready for the Ithaca Art Trail that happens this weekend and next. I like this little whimsical piece the most. So much freedom and action here.
Noel had a wonderful little work that again displayed her techinque. She makes all the blocks and then can try out several arrangements before she puts them together. I like this layout myself.
Susan is getting ready to fly south for the winter. She sold one of her unique little birds that she showed us at the last meeting. Because she wanted to commemorate that event she did these four little paintings of the birds saying good bye. They sure project the happy smiling feeling that Susan always brings to every situation.
Then there was a FAB meeting yesterday morning. Nancy is making great progress on her Flower Bed quilt. She uses big prints and strong colors so very well. This is about one fourth of the top. I can hardly wait to see the full effect.
Patti is doing beading. I love this wonderfully designed small bead- it is only about one fourth inch long( that is the grid of a cutting matt it is setting on) This is the first for a bracelet that will have at least eight unique beads similar to this one .
Chrysanthemum 39″ X 48″ $675.00
Progress Report: Chrysanthemum I am very happy with this work. I used lots of the wonderful silk that I had pruchased from Ginny – most of the reds and purples are her fabrics- and I used the fabrics I had printed on as well. I am still playing with the off square cutting and piecing with this work. It creates challenges when one is quilting and putting sections together, but I am enjoying the process.
I had a good time with the free motion quilting on this work as too. I started with the center most blossom and sort of followed the shapes and forms of the flower to unite the layers of the work. This photos shows how I extended the quilt lines out to finish the petals were need be too. I did total free designing of the flowers in various sizes to fill in all the spaces that remained. I enjoyed this project, but I will admit that I will back my silks with interfacing the next time I use them so I do not get quite so much uncontrolled movement of the seam lines.
Golden Weeds This quilt is having a second life- a sort of face lift. I thought it was done three years ago- and it was OK- but when I was considering work for the Man In the Moon show and I had pulled it out- I thought this just is a good background. Then it hung on the wall for a few weeks. While on a walk, I was taken by the beauty of the Tessel weeds along the road side and thought they were strong enough to stand on top of the old work. First I machine drew in the heads and stems of the plants in a variegated thread. Then I looked for a stronger unit to place on top of that work to make it appear as though some of the plants were even closer to the viewer. I found this copper colored woven ribbon in my stash and felt it would do the job. By adding folded satin ribbon for stems the job was complete. The work is a lot stronger now and I just added a second label to give info about the additions and name change on the back.
Alpine Lake I started playing with the idea of creating a landscape of a mountain setting with a lake. It is all created on top of buckram- so it will not wrinkle up on me – in what I am starting to think of as my college style of construction. I am not gluing anything down, but building from the sky forward with the image. I attach all the parts with machine drawing that adds texture and detail to the work. It is a process that I am enjoying.
New Work blue This is just a background- done this time on purpose- that I want to play on top of. I have some vague ideas about where I am going, but I am still in the sketching stage.
New Work- wavy cuts This top is the same as the one above it. No plan other than to see if I could use wavy cuts in this piece. This too is pure experiment.
I am having a good fall and enjoying walking in the leaves, keeping my eyes open for ideas and just soaking in the sun shine.
When one needs ideas for solutions or inspiration I believe one has some choices. I was struggling with part of the Stone Church project. There is a old cemetery that is a part of that area and I wanted to include it in my piece. But I was having trouble so I took a walk in the near by cemetery to refresh my mind. I was surprised by the presence of the deer. There were two actually and the cemetery is surrounded by city on all four sides. Looking at how compact these stones and how much they overlapped has helped me formulate a solution to the work I must do on the project.
Sometimes the ideas are as much about paying attention as anything else. There was a FAB meeting at my house this week. Folks showed their work and Victoria is moving along nicely with this quilt. She got inspired by Ginny’s silks that she had purchased a few weeks ago. They are shown here in the orange and gray strip. ( I got inspired by that same orange silk) I think the shadow of the leaf looks wonderful too. She also showed a top that she had assembled for a bed quilt that she is making for her new house. I am so impressed by the large number of prints she uses and the colors. I would not have put that strong orange with the turquoise myself- but I love the combination. So by paying attention to this little surprise I now have a jumping off color combination to try in the future. The real trick here is to note the surprises and in my case write them down. I do that in my idea journal and it helps me when I need to get going with a new piece.
Progress Report:
Foundations XXI Elsies Stone – Cape Cod Rock 43″ X 44″ $595.00
Foundations XXI Elsie’s Stone- Cape Cod Rock The Road Less Traveled
I am finally done with this project. I love all the texture on the surface of this wonderful stone. I am very grateful that Elsie gave me this parting gift. The many fascists of its surface with the limited colors make it fascinating to me. I think I could revisit this rock and work from a different side too.
I used yarn , nylon netting and lots of torn fabric bits to produce the colors and textures. There is also my favorite silk paper at work on this piece.
The Road Less Traveled 35″ X 45″ $535.00
The Road Less Traveled
I started this quilt in Rosalie Daces Color class at QBL. I have finally completed the process. I used many of the techniques she taught us. I did insert slender curved lines into sections. I let colors “bleed” or flow across seam lines to make connections. I used raw edges to add texture and I hand embroidered across parts of the surface to draw sections together. Even using all thoughts techniques I did not use all the techniques that she taught us. As a teacher she has a lot to share and she does so very willingly.
I enjoyed using these
earthtones and I will continue to pursue the techniques she taught. I am still not happy with size of my slender inerts- so there is work to do there.
Stone Church
I already mentioned the bit with the cemetary so I will not cover that again. I added lots of machine lines on the roads as they were gravel and I remember how there seemed to be lots of “tracks” of the tries on them. I remember too that Grandmother Ester liked to drive down the middle and only pulled the turquoise ford over when she could see a car coming toward her.
Harmony I am done with the assembly of the form of this quilt. I decided to use the character that
represents Harmony for the central focus and so far I have just quilted around that shape to create the quilting pattern. I want to fill in the character with black hand stitches/ patterns so it stand out. But I have not come up with the correct stitch to do that job yet. So I keep looking in books and paying attention to the world around me and hope that I will find inspiration. Until then the project will just hang in the studio awaiting the correct solution.
New Work In Valeri’s Goodwins class she had a do a fabric ” sketches” of 4″ X 6″ before we started work. So in keeping with using the best the teachers have to offer I made the sketch first. This is the one I selected as my jumping off place. I wanted to use the big printed flower I created a few weeks ago as a big part of this work. Now I am in the process of pinning up parts that I think will work to do the job. I have split the two flowers apart and added parts of a third to the design. Very few parts are connected or solid in its position at this point . This is fun but scary part of the process- but I need the challenge.
Daily News This project is finally complete. I have now sewn all the blocks closed and will continue to play with placement for as long as the process interests me. This will be the last post where the project will appear because at this point all the finished units have been appeared at least twice and some more times then that. I have enjoyed doing a daily sewing pieces and it is very true that the whole is made of of lots of little parts. If I had started out with the intention of making 180 hand embroidered blocks I do not think I would have done it. But by making small manageable units- it as a doable task. I have been encouraged by Susan to submit this idea as an airticle for Quilting Arts so that is my next project.
As fall approaches I feel the need to “tidy the nest” a bit. As a result of that feeling, I have been sorting out old works and finding new homes for them. So I took along this quilt when I went to the Dentist and it is now hanging in his office. It took a min. before he saw the tooth brushes. He was delighted and so was I as the work was only setting in a dark closet before and I think art should be out in the world. I feel so fortunate that I can share in this fashion.
This week the FAB group went on a field trip too. We visited the home studio of Ginny Spina to see her silk /Komona collection. It was wonderful. Her home is beautiful and so are her gardens. She sells on etsy at www.silkhouse.etsy.com. We got to see and handle the silk. Nancy even tried on one of the Kimono’s that had arrived in the mail that morning. Victoria and I both purchased some of her scarps and now I have a new pile of fabrics and the ideas are flowing. Nancy purchased on of Ginny’s scarves and her custom designed pins that day as well. We all had lots of fun and made new connections.
Progress Report: Ju Ju June
Ju Ju June !8″ X 30″ $190.00
As I predicted this quilt is now complete. There is lots of experimentation in this piece. This is my first attempt at using only canvas as the fabric base. I also had full control of the colors and patters on that base and although I really enjoyed that aspect I do not feel like I explored it fully. So I need to keep putting myself in that position and dealing with that challenge. I also feel I need to do a similar project again because the process is still very much a mimic of Katie Pasquini’s process. I did enjoy mixing the metal with the gathered ribbon “flower” shapes and the beads.
Rafter Room This quilt is now hanging over the door to the rafter room were it will remain for it’s life time. Because it is summer I am not aware of how many drafts it is stopping, but I imagine it will do the job in the fall and winter. I really enjoyed doing the free motion work on this project. It was not only fun to trace the shapes printed on the mud cloth it was fun to extend them out into the blank areas. Then I went forward to drawing and filling in the blank areas as well. I think that I will look at pattern with a little bit of a different eye- and notice more details as a result of this project.
I got to use up the end of one of the fabrics that I had created in Judy Langele’s class at QBL 2 three years ago too.( It is the bottom of this work with the blue gears and dark violet in it)
The Road Less Traveled I am still doing the free motion work on this piece. I am trying to sort of soften the hard seam lines with the machine work. I will add hand work as well.
Foundations XXI- Elise’s Rock/ A Cape Cod Stone This is a rock that Elsie Dents gave me. She has moved to Pennsylvania and we will miss her strong graphic bird based work in the DIVA group. She was cleaning and found this stone that she had collected on the beach at Cape Cod and thought of me. So she brought to me at the last meeting that she attended. I like the strong lines across the stained quarts so I am using it as my jumping off point for the next Foundations work. I am still working with the out side shape of this quilt part as well as the light and dark on the surface.
Daily News The news goes on and on. I am enjoying the playing part of the process now. I thank Barb every time I finish a block because her way of completing the process is so much faster than mine.
Hello,
such a good knitter she does not even need a pattern to do all these fancy stitches. We had a good time yesterday.
I finished up my entry for the SAQA auction this week. I had a good time creating this little twelve inch square piece. I enjoy and support this organization.
Progress Report: Parts This work is finally complete. I sure enjoyed doing hand stitches all over the surface. I think I will give this work to the local camera shop were I purchased the camera
that the parts are from. I got the new camera from them too when I dropped this one an broke it.
Foggy Dawn This work is the second half of older work. I took Corrine’s ‘s advice and did the quilting in a spiral patterns.
Silver Growth I am almost finished with this project. I did all the free motion silver thread work earlier this week and I only need to add the facings now.
Briar Patch I am to the stage where I am adding the leaves and black berries to this quilt. I added most of the black berries first. I did not realize how many leaves I cut until I had them all pinned to the surface . It sure makes it pricklier at the moment.
Out the Window I was having so much fun with the turquoise and purple combination that I did a second quilt using this color combination. I lightened it up and did not go for much of the deep green of summer here. It is a lot closer to the colors of spring and windflowers and snow. Something that I saw on my walks this week.
