Category Archives: Foundations Series

Canyon de Chilly, Carol, Flag Challenge, Hand work, Lexi, Memory Map Quilts, Nail Castings, Name Game Quilts, Whip Shock Hill #2

Warming up

March 19, 2015 admin

Hello,

We are starting to see the melting of the snow around here. It is beautiful in its own way. But it can become very dirty and discolored before its gone. With the longer days I find myself spending more time cleaning and sorting. I seem to have the clutter rule of “ One thing in one thing out” well under control in my closet and dresser drawers. But that is not the case in my studio. I have piles of stuff all around and I need to do some serious culling. I know that a clean and clear space helps one get going on the creative work and I do love to walk into that sort of setting. But I have been traveling and working with others so much of late, that I have let the materials pile as I rush from one play date to another. I have done a good job a voiding going out and spending money on new supplies and materials however. I have kept my spending sense January at less then $35. Not bad for two and a half month I think. But it is the gifting of stuff from those friends that is getting me into trouble. I did spent yesterday with my friend Ethel doing screen dye printing. It was great to play with the rich colors. Now I have all the rinsing and washing to do today. She also gave me a couple of yards of white duck…… I am hopeless!

I did work a little on the Challenge Project Susan and I started in Florida. I added a blue wash to this piece and think I have decided on the text that I want to add. I can already see that the word part of this challenge will be the most difficult for me. I plan to add some beads tomorrow when I go to see my friends at Turquoise Street studio.

Progress Report: Nail Castings This project started as a result of finding the white plastic units that hold nails in electronic nail guns. I was fascinated by the shapes of the things. I have enjoyed working away with thread out of Grandmother Ruth’s needle basket and exploring differenttypes of stitches.

Name Game 1-Carol Now I know I say that words are not my strong suit- but I do love the shapes of letters and the spaces around them. To build this top I first printed out my name in very large letters. 22″ tall and 22” wide in fact. Then I stitched around the letters and cut away the negative space. I stitched the negative spaces shapes to a second pieces of light blue that was also 22” X 22”. I found that the letters them selves created units of the turquoise that were too big. So I cut just inside the stitch lines and then added those new shapes to the negative space piece on the second fabric. Next I cut both pieces of fabric into 5.5” squares and began playing with the blocks. Some I turned side ways or even upside down, always paying attention to the relationships of one square to the ones next to it. This play part took me a long time and several days. When I was happy with it I sewed the blocks together. This is such a fun and challenging design project I started a second as soon as I had the top all assembled.

Name Game II – Lexi This second top went a lot faster as I knew were I thought I was going. I made this one more complex by using a plaid taffeta for the background fabric. I also made more blocks and will not use all of them in this project. I think this will create a stronger piece in the end. In this shot some of the blocks are sewn to one another.

Memory Map- Canyon de Chilly I added the Spider Women’s Towers to this project. I really enjoy working on these Memory Map projects, but they as all very slow in there development. The ruins are also attached now too.I am still trying to decide what other elements I want to add to the work.

Whip Shock Hill II I want to enter a show where one needs two quilts that relate to one another. I have been thinking about how much I enjoyed the work on Whip Shock Hill. The first project shows less then half of the hill so I though I would use this challenge to do the second half. This is just the roughed out

Whipshock Hill Foundations XXI 44" X 35" — Whipshock Hill Foundations XXI
44″ X 35″

stage. But I do not think I have shown this step before when it comes to these type of collage projects that I do. The base fabric is only pinned to the buckrum at this point and no stitching has been applied. This second shot is of the first piece.

I am keeping myself busy as the Spring season gets going.

Keep Creating,

Carol

Circuits, Dry Falls Lichens, Hand work, Nail Castings, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

Line

February 5, 2015 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

I mentioned at the last post that I had selected my word for this year and it was line. I have been thinking about that on my walks this week and I have compiled a list of over ninety ideas that are connected with that word. Then I sub divided the line types into categories and I will write about the different types for a few weeks. I will start with line in relationship to art.

When I was teaching I would have my sixth graders do a line exercise where they would first draw one line from the left side to the right that changed direction somewhat but did not cross itself. Then they were asked to change the color they were using and add a second line parallel to the first that was of a different type. It could be a wavy line , or a loopy line or a thick line, or a thin line, or a dotted line, or a broken line, or a sharp line, or a zig-zag line, or a blurred line, or one that expanded and contracted. I am sure I gave them lots of choices and they would keep building until the page was full. The results were always successful and beautiful. It was a good way to introduce the concept to them. But there are more ways that line is apart of art then just types. There are all the lines that are a special part of perspective for example. Like sight lines, ruled lines, horizon lines, vanishing lines, diverging lines, and vertical lines. There are also lines that are just part of the objects in the pictures like roof lines, and tree lines and power lines. Lines are so powerful in art. They are everywhere. Lines can be found in the art and are created with the materials that we use : like drawn lines, sketched lines, paint lines, drip lines, scratched lines, texture lines , shading lines, connecting lines, out lines, shadow lines, crease lines and edge lines. This topic will require more study.

This week QuEG’s meant and everyone had stuff to show. Sally has been busy with embroidery machine and she made these lovely place matts using a patriotic theme. She also did a bit of Valentine work for her grand daughters.

This card has a thread constructed heart that can be removed and worn as a necklace. I think it is wonderful and so delicate. I have learned to really appreciate her great work – it is always so very lovely.

Barb is working away on her cut away project. She is also doing free motion machine work for the quilting portion of this one.

Liz had two Valentine related projects for us to look at. The first is this wonderful “cookie” pin. I may just have to keep this idea in mind for next year.

Her second work is a combination of red work embroidery and piecing. The embroidery was done by Jean Tracy and Liz did the boarders. A great bit of team work. It just makes me smile!

Progress Report: Dry Falls Lichens This quilt is based on a portion of a photo I took on a trip with Marty to see the Dry Falls National Monument in Washington State. I just loved the high contrast between the lichens and the rock.

Some of the lichens were dead and they had returned to a gray color, but retained there textures. There were bright orange lichens on this same rock- but they were too much for this piece. There were some dark blue gray lichens too . It was fascinating to me.

No title for this work yet. I thought I was creating a background for a stump that I created last week with Cris- but I do not think this works to support that idea any more. It will just need to be studied for a bit.

Nail Casings I picked up the white plastic cast off holders from a nail gun while I was out on a walk earlier this fall. They have been pinned to the bulletin board for a while and finally I started to embroider them down. ( the very light areas on this image are from the sun shine coming into the studio this morning)

Circuits I have been adding chain stitches and beads to this work for a while. It is developing in a nice fashion. I am enjoying the way it is growing without having a real strong plan in mind.

New Work I am really playing with this piece. I started pulling fabric that I though worked together and just started laying in down and stitching it together. It is fun and I may just cut it up when it is done, because I need some small works for the 6″x 6″ challenge. Time will tell.

Keep Creating

Carol

Caramelized, Dry Falls Lichens, Scrap Happy Quilts, Shaving Cream Printing

Active

January 22, 2015 admin

Hello,

This week as been a full one. I went to play day /work shops sort of things two day this week. I printed with shaving cream at Turquoise street studio and now have a new pile of fabric to play with. Then I went off to a Figerative Art event were we all worked for the day on our own projects. This shot is of the clutter on my table were I worked on my Creative Assistants all day long. Marla showed these wonderful doll heads at lunch that day. She will be teaching her water color painting techniques at Artist Doll and Teddy Bear Convention in Philly at the end of April. Check our her blog at : orsinisangels.blogspot.com Its wonderful! I am still struggling with the new program so I do not have all the images I want to share but I have some. I thought I

Caramelized 26" X 33" $300.00 — Caramelized
26″ X 33″
$300.00

had it conquered yesterday- but the new things I wanted to add this morning are not going anywhere. I will keep at it.

Progress Report: Caramelized I enjoyed working on this project. I really used lots of different materializes on this one. There is fused silk paper of course. Some fabric that I printed last year. The light orange pattern on the rust fabric shown here with the gold silk on top. I like the silk screen I used here so much I used it again this week in blues on a turquoise background.

The last technique is some painted tyveck that I placed between two sheets of parchment paper and melted with a hot iron. I like how one is never sure how it will melt and bubble. There is also a little of silk Komona that I got from Ginny in this work.

Scarp Happy 1

Way back in early December my big sewing machine was out for repair. So I got out Grandmother Butter’s Feather weight. With that I sewed up all my scarps and now I am putting them together. I use a sort of Roman strip for my block ( look in the tutorials to see the full process) This one with the blue centers if the first.

Scrap Happy 2

This one with black and white patterned centers alternating with yellow and cream is the second. I am working on the next three using different colored centers and they will appear as I finish them.

Dry Falls Lichens I am to the fun part of this work now. I am adding the lichens . They are created by layering felt on the bottom with velvet on top and then a layer of nylon net on top of that. With this sandwich pinned together I free motion circular patterns on top of all of it to bind it together. I really enjoy doing this step.

New work I made this simple layout for yet another bit of hand work. I found some wonderful plastic shapes that I want to add to the surface by hand so this will serve as my base.

Keep Creating and I will keep struggling with the program.

Carol

Acanthite, Caramelized, New Iris, Oak Leaves, Out of the Dark, Out the Window, Pomegranate, Red Nebula, Yellowstone

Realisations

November 20, 2014 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

I feel so Positive when I think about my work. I did a solo trunk show yesterday for the North Syracuse Art Guild titled

Out the Window 16.5" X 21.5" $125.00 — Out the Window
16.5″ X 21.5″
$125.00

” Your Art /My Art”. In that lecture/ trunks show, I compared my work to the many styles and types of work that the members use. In doing so I really realized how much I draw from the other art categories to get my ideas across. I draw directly on the fabric with pencils, crayons and markers. I use my machine as a drawing tool too. I Paint with acrylic,water color and dye on the surface when I need to create a special effect. I print on the surface using silk screens, stamping and stencils to get images I want on the work. I use some weaving techniques like felting, silk papers and frapping. I often use collage techniques to build up my surfaces with

Red Nebula 18" X 24" — Red Nebula
18″ X 24″

textures and transparencies and different already textured fabrics like velvet and satins. I even embellish with old jewelry on occasion. I am thankful that I get to use from all the different art areas to full fill my creative drive. I realized too that I have been using my experiences and interests to fuel my work for most of my life. Doing a presentation like this is a good way to reflect and re evaluate oneself.

Oak Leaves 45" X 30" $ 350.00 — Oak Leaves
45″ X 30″
$ 350.00

I now have the monster job of returning all the work back into the category packs that I store them in. I feel so very thankful that I am working in so many ways to fulfill my creative ideas.

Acanthite: Foundations XXIV 18" X 23" $ 150.00 — Acanthite: Foundations XXIV
18″ X 23″
$ 150.00

Progress Report: Acanthite :Foundation 24 This quilt is went together very quickly for me. This stone added some problems as some of the areas where a sold white. I wanted to be sure to use velvet and now whale corduroy on this work to show the wonderful textures they add to the surface. There were also lots of cracks on the surface that added interest to this one.

This shot also shows some of the chenille yarn( dark green) and some silk paper( blue- near the top).

Broadcasting I am enjoying doing the hand work on this piece. Most of the saxaphone pads are stitched down now and I am adding beads and french knots to the surface. I have added some reflective quilting to the surface too. This work is going along well at the moment with each actions leading to the next.

Yellowstone The ease that Broadcasting is a great contrast with my slow process on this work. I think I finally have the map portions the correct size and location. I will do the paint step for that and then I will move forward. I also realized that the piece is too pale. Yellowstone has lots of forest and I want to project that feel too so I pulled out dark green organza ( pinned to the left) and adding that will help me go forward I hope.

The Blues This work just needs time as the hand work is a slow thing. I am playing with three of different types of stitches- the chain stitch, the blanket stitch and the fly stitch. I am varying the size of the stitches to add interest.

Caramelized This is a new work that is still in the shifting and pinning stage. I melted the Tyvec that I painted in the fall colors last week, with the iron between sheets of parchment paper. The melt results are so much fun because they are uncontrollable. Mixing them with silk paper makes me think of carmel and melting butter. That is were the title came from. I am enjoying the play.

Keep Creating

Carol

Creative Assistants, Foundations Series, Foundations XXIII Water Marked Sandstone, Machine Drawing, Spill

More Fall Stuff

October 30, 2014 admin 1 Comment

Hello-

Fall is still all around and painting the landscape here with color. I love it.

When football season starts, I watch and spend my time making my Creative Assistants. This is the first batch of 49 that I have completed. I so enjoy the process and it does make the football go by faster for me. It seems the games have lots of time when there is nothing much going on- but commercials, so I stitch away. I enjoy giving them away when I go to Quilting by the Lake every summer. ( there is a tutorial on how to construct your own Creative Assistants below)

I am taking a class called Deconstructed Screen printing with Kerr Grabowski. It starts today and lasting for three days. This is my pile of stuff for the class. I am sure I will come home with lots of new altered fabric to use.

Spill 17" X30" $185 — Spill
17″ X30″
$185

Progress Report: Spill I had a good time working on this piece. I so love texture and this one has lots of different materials that add to that. There is the usual cotton of course, and my current favorite – silk paper then I added iron melted plastic bags and turquoise mylar as well as satin, and course woven silk. I added hand stitching t in the form of french knots, button whole stitches and chain stitches to the surface as well as machine drawing too. I am pleased with the results.

This piece fits very nicely in a little nook in the wall.

Watermarked Sandstone 33.5" X 25" $305.00 — Watermarked Sandstone
33.5″ X 25″
$305.00

Watermarked Sandstone- Foundations XXIII I am finally finished with this newest member of the foundations series. I really enjoyed the free motion work on this project. I had a good time doing the painting on the surface of this piece. Adding the iron nodes to the surface was a bit of a challenge as I tried them in many different locations before I finally selected this layout. Then when I was shooting the work for this entry I discovered that I like it on a 90 degree turn from the direction that I had been looking all the time I was working on the construction. One always needs to be open and aware of what is in front of them.

New Work As I was nearing the end of my work on Spill I realized I needed a new piece to do hand work on so I looked through my sketchbook of ideas. I came across this old idea of using circles and lines for a piece and though I would try it. I have a box full of old Saxaphone keypads that a friend had passed to me and I thought this would be my opportunity to use them to express this idea. There are so many different sizes, colors and textures here- I am sure I will have fun with this work.

I hope all enjoy the colors of the season and the kids all dressed up for Halloween.

Keep Creating

Carol

Agate, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Felt Work, Foundations Series, Foundations XXIII Water Marked Sandstone, Memory Map Quilts, Spill, Yellowstone

Quality

October 23, 2014 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

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 — 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.

Hugs

Carol

Agate, Alpine Lake, Felt Work, Foundations Series, Foundations XXI Whipshock Hill, Foundations XXIII Water Marked Sandstone, Landscapes

Eliminiated

October 17, 2014 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

I want to talk about being eliminated from a judged show. I have entered three this fall and of the five quilts I entered and paid fees for, none was accepted for the shows. One never knows the” why “of such rejections. Even having been a” holder” for Scholastic art compactions and being in the same room as the Judges- I sometimes could not understand that “Why” question. Judges are people with tastes and biases of their own. One time I did hear one judge say” I never accept any art with a skelton in it.” Sense I as a teacher, had used a skelton from the science room as part of a still life with my own students, I felt that sure was an unfair feeling for a judge to carry. But they are people – not gods even though they are given lots of power. Perhaps the work did not go with the others selected. Or maybe the judge did not like the design or color combinations. The artist never knows those things. My Father often said” It’s not so much what happens to you, as what you THINK about what happens to you that makes the difference.” With that in mind, the whole experience becomes one of choice. I could be angry , hurt and sad by these developments, but I choose not be be. I still feel my work is good and I am proud of what I do. I

enjoy the process and that is the important part for me. It would be nice to have someone- a judge confirm my feelings- but that is not the case at this time. Lastly, I am the one who chooses to enter the competitions. I will let time heal over the feelings and try another competition that may fit what I do a little better next time.

I spent a couple of days working with Nancy on her sky again. She is becoming quite a good painter with a sponge. She built up more clouds and the work has some real depth now. I think that we are done with this step and the quilting will add even more demention to the final. I am so proud of all the chances she takes with her work.

Asurite Foundations XX 34" X 44" $1100.00 — Asurite Foundations XX
34″ X 44″
$1100.00

Progress Report: Asurite Foundation XX This quilt was finished in June, but I have not posted it because it was an entry for one of the shows I mentioned above . One of the limitations on entry to this show was that the work was not to be shown publicly before . This quilt was lots of fun to work on and I am quite happy with it even all these mouths later. I added lots of metallic fabric in this work as well as many silks and satins.

I used some fancy yarns and threads in this work as well. I find that when I pickup the actual rock that I used as inspiration- I see more possibilities for additional pieces . Only time will tell.

Whipshock Hill

Foundations XXI This is a second quilt that was part of the same entry mentioned above. I finished this work in June. It is based on a cut in the road along Route 279 nine miles west of bennington Vermont BO16-Whishock-cl3 . In actually it is about 500 yards long and a very humbling sight. I added lots of yarns and ribbons to the surface of the quilt as there were lots of little fractures and lines of thin deposited color changes in this rock face. There is also some silk paper in this work.

Alpine Lake

This is a new technique that I am developing that is a very college like approach to quilting. I am continuing to think more in the way of color for the solutions then the type of fabric I am using. I even used an old bit of a paper quilt that was the correct color and texture for the water in this work. I used some double knit on this one as well as silk, silk paper, organza and cotton fabrics. I even did a little free motion zig zag work to add more texture to the tree. I need more practice to get that under control.

Agate I am still adding hand work to this felted work to add texture to the surface. I may have given up doing Daily’s , but I still am doing lots of hand work.

WaterMarked Sandstone I started this new Foundations Piece earlier this week. This one is loosely based on an old black and white photographic of sandstone that has watermarke erosion on it. I know the typical colors of sandstone so I am trying to stay in that limited range with this first step. I really love the texture and I am having fun planning ways to show it in this work.

New work This is a pure play piece. I am not at all sure what I am doing and have no clear idea where I am going with this. The scarps had just been in the bottom of one of my baskets and I thought they looked good together…… Quilting, crumpling and following the directions of the work may or may not help this. But I am willing to give it a bit of time and freedom to see what happens. Giving myself permission to mess up is very freeing!

I like to hear feedback, post a comment.

Keep your eyes open to the wonders of the season.

Carol

Daily's, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Foundation XX II - Elsie's Rock- Cape Cod Stone, Hand work, Harmony, The Road Less Traveled

Paying Attention

September 11, 2014 admin

Hello,

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 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

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.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily's, Fabric Flowers, Foundation XX II - Elsie's Rock- Cape Cod Stone

Abundance August 28, 2014

August 28, 2014 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

Today on my walk I was struck by the effects of sunshine and light. It was not sunny today by I noticed how bright the Black Eyed Susan’s were at the entrance to the condo complex down the road where there is full sun shine. By contrast the there is so much shade in my yard that there are mushrooms growing along the drive on the north side of my house. Granted they are quite small- only a out the size of a young child’s finger tip- but growing there none the less. Sunshine never falls on this area of my yard, but Nature still finds a way to put life into the space. I am so lucky to live in such an abundant part of the world. To add to the abundance of my visual world there is an abundance of activities going on too.

Last week I spent three days exploring with Cheri and Terney printing techniques. We started out intending to do wood cuts and we all did one, but soon found out that although the look is wonderful, the process does not allow for much cross grain cutting. I think now that our tools needed a bit of sharpening because we all became quite tired of all the effort necessary to do the work. Cherri was the most successful and her’s are the two round ones on the pin wall. Treney had never done Gelli prints before and the other prints on the pin wall are her works in that area. I decided to make foam prints and got going creating graffiti stamps of everyone’s name. I wrote the names out with a paint brush so I would have a flowing design and then did a second copy on the paper side of the sticky fun foam. I then carefully cut out the graffiti with an exacto knife so I would have a positive and a negative copy of the works. This picture shows Cherri’s name. The black is the foam and it appears backward so when it is printed it will be forward. The red graffiti of her name is a back view and it still has the paper on it. Tierney printed her name on the Gelli plate fabric she created the first day. I have not cut out my name yet because I made it too big for any of the clear plastic that I mount these on. I will have to save my take home container from Wegman’s salad to accommodate them. We had a good time working talking and laughing. It is always more fun to explore with other folks.

I made one last stamp on Friday and printed it when I got home. Last week when FAB went to Genny’s she had a wonderful kimona on the wall and I could not get the flower image out of my head. So I designed and created my own curcumthum. I made one fourth of the blossom and then rotated it as I printed. I did a second color on top just off center a little. I look forward now to using that fabric in the near furture. I found out that I really like the flexibility and speed of foam stamping too.

Then on Tue this week I went to the Kuhlman Foundation opening at Cornell University. Seven scholarships are given to students with a theme that they need to interpert. This year the theme was Layers of Leather. The approaches were all different and the students were there to explain their work. It was a fascinating event.

Then there were also some interesting things going on in a hall display as well. The second mini show was of wearable art that was all lazer cut polor fleece. Valerie Goodwin my teacher at QBL had talked about this process in my class and I was delighted to see a second example of the process.

Progress Report: Elsie’s Stone I am still working away on this Foundations piece. I am having a good time working with the close values in this stone as well as playing with the strong textures. Once I heard that one should make art to be seen on two levels- from a distance and then drawing the viewer in to take a second look. I think this series does a good job doing just that.

Necklace# 7 I still seem to find the necklace process that Noel started in me a few month ago working for me. I think I am nearing the end of the necklace obsession though. I think I may apply this idea to a quilt top in the furture. I do have two necklaces that are started so I will finish then an then go forward with that idea.

New Work I pulled out fabrics that I though I might use in a new project starting with one of the silks( the orange, white and black print) that I had purchased from Ginny last week. I think I will add some more browns to the mix and then begin to build the work.

Daily News This project was at a stand still until the velcro arrived. It is moving forward now and although I only seem to get five blocks done a day I am making progress.

I hope all enjoy the Labor Day holiday week end in their own fashion.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily's, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Foundation XX II - Elsie's Rock- Cape Cod Stone, Ju Ju June, Rafter Room, The Road Less Traveled

Sharing August 21, 2014

August 21, 2014 admin 2 Comments

Good Habits 21" 32" — Good Habits
21″ 32″

Hello,

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.oo — 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.

Keep Creating

Carol

Cre-8

Category Archives: Foundations Series

Warming up

Line

Active

Realisations

More Fall Stuff

Quality

Eliminiated

Paying Attention

Abundance August 28, 2014

Sharing August 21, 2014

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer