Category Archives: Foundations Series

Daily's, Fundations XIX Mossy Stone, Fundations XX Asurite, Growing in the Dark, Machine Drawing, Paper Quilts, Spring Iris's, Three Trees

Back in the Studio May 29, 2014

May 29, 2014 admin

Foundations XIX -Mossy Stone 33" X 29" $340.00 — Foundations XIX -Mossy Stone
33″ X 29″
$340.00

Hello

It is good to be home and after I recovered from my jet lag I enjoyed getting back into the studio and working. I think having something partly finished helped me get started too. So I will jump into the Progress Report.

Progress Report: Foundations XIX Mossy Stone As this image shows I am now done with this quilt. I am not sure about how to declare the size, but have settled on measuring the distance at the longest points to come up with the numbers. This quilt has a very large number of fabrics in it as well as threads, yarns and some silk paper. I enjoy the extensive thread work that finishing the quilts in this series requires. The thread patterns create nice direction and flow directions to my eye and when I get to that step it is almost meditative in nature when I am working away at it. I do not see the end of this series any time soon- it is just too much fun to see how many fabrics I can use and how many textures I can include in the process.

Growing in the Dark – Paper Quilt

I took a day workshop in using the Gelli plate on the weekend before I went off to Paris. I made a lot of wonderful paper and fabric printed images. I decided to challenge myself and use some of them to do paper quilts again. I have not done that style in over two years so it was a bit of a challenge just to recall the process. The Gelli Plate process is full of chance and I really like that aspect of using them. Paper is in the bottom section of this shot and fabric in the top- they do take the paint /ink differently , but I like them both. This work because of the nature of the stiffness of the paper requires that one work smaller. I can only roll so much under the machine arm. The paper also is a much flatter material so it goes together much more quickly . I added in some of the silk paper as you can see here and it works well with the other materials. I have pulled another pile of paper and fabric from the workshop to start another soon.

Three Trees This work is coming along. I made the base of the trees on wash away with a dark gray green wool and then added black yarn on top with machine stitching. I then trimmed the away as much of the wash away as I could before I submerged them in hot water. When they were dry I arranged the trees on the surface and sewed them down. I loaded my bobbin with brown embroidery thread and the top of my machine with black. I turned the quilt over and did free motion drawing of smaller branches in the trees using the outlines of applying the trees to the top as my guide. This shot of the back of the quilt helps show what I did. This closeup shows all three processes. The dark green is the wool, the black is the yarn and the brown is the thread. This project proved to be a very good way to get back into the free motion process for me.

Foundations XX- Asurite This is my new inspiration stone for the new work in the series. The first step is to cut the bucrum in the shape of the stone. Then I start pinning the background fabrics to the surface. I did the light area first this time and used two different blues and some hand dyed that had blue, white and gray in it. I then pulled a pile of blue fabrics that I thought could work and piled them on the floor below the pinwall. Having them at my feet meant I could pin look down and cut the next piece I wanted with ease. I continued building on the surface until I had the whole color areas built in. The next step was to begin to stitch and pin more into the work and start to build the surface. I like to work in this free form way and let the process guide me along. It does mean that I stop and pin the work up frequently and look at the work, but I like that step as well.

Spring Iris I am doing the free motion outline step of this work now. I was so happy to see the Iris in Monet’s garden and I took a lot of photos. I think I will try to add a bit of applique on top with the photos in mind. I am not sure how I will do this yet- but I am thinking on the process.

Red Canvas I started the painting process of this work in the fall as a play day with Cheri. Seeing the great way she used what we started that day at the Diva Meeting in March got me to pull the canvases I had created out again. I cut them up and then zig zagged them back to create a bigger unit. I then painted on top again to add more depth. I was still not happy. So I have now done some hand work and I think I am nearing completion. I added beads, buttons and some altered metal to the surface. I need some assistance as to how to finish this work so I will take it to the Diva meeting and get some help.

Daily’s I think I am done with this series as far as making the little units is concerned. I have eight more and that will complete the thirty blocks I have with the two triangles on them. I have done this daily work for eight months and feel I am ready to find and ending place and move on. I will take this week as I finish the blocks to decide on a way to complete the project and to think about a new daily or weekly challenge.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily's, Diva Meetings, Foundations XVII Granite, Foundations XVII Obsidian, Foundations XVIII Rusty, New Iris

National Choclate Chip Day May 8, 2014

May 8, 2014 admin

Hello,

I hope everyone is enjoying a choclate chip cookie today. What a wonderfully silly thing to make a national day. Not sure of the origian of this idea, but I am sure the cooks approve. As do those of us who will eat a cookie for any reason.

This week contained the first Tuesday of the mouth so I had meetings. The QuEG’s meeting was great with lots of show and tell. Sue Ellen showed us this wonderful book/ album/portfolio of all of the fish quilts she has done this year. What a great way to present your work. Corrinie is not beading on this wall piece. I sure love the semenate. Linda and I showed the fabrics we had created in the soy dyeing class from last month.

Then it was off to the Diva meeting on Tuesday evening. Anne and Ruth had both taken a workshop with Gwen Marsdon. This first one is Anne’s take on the processes. I like how crisp and clean Anne’s work always is. She limits her color and uses it so very well- something that I could afford to learn a little be more of.

Ruth chose to try all the techniques and plans to assemble them into a sampler type thing when she is done. As is usually true in a class each person puts their own stamp on the final outcome. They both had a good time too.

Spring seems to bring a lot of workshops to all of us as Donna took one as well on Encostics. She came away with three wonderful images and I found it difficult choosing the one I liked best to show here.

Liese continues to wow us with her wonderful little dioramas. This one she finished up on Earth Day (April 22) and it is her statement about all the pollution in our Oceans. I really enjoy her little people- they are so very animated and full of life. She told us this work was the center piece for the dinner table on Earth day too.

This meeting marked my fifth anniversay with this very diverse group of gals. I so enjoy them and I drive home with my mind spinning with new ideas and inspirations every time.

Foundations XVII Obsidian 34" X 33.5 $400.00 — Foundations XVII Obsidian
34″ X 33.5
$400.00

Progress Report: Foundations XVII Obsidian This quilt has many different fabrics in it. I used some denim from my husbands pants in one area. There is velvet, silk, cotton, taffata and nylon fabric here too. I made my choices based on the colors that I saw in the rock ( there are lots of reflections due to the nature of the stone) – it did not matter what type of material it was. The process also involved some fibers that I purchased years ago without any knowledge of the content or type. I was delighted by the color then and I still am. I am glad to finally find a home for some of them. There is some aposistory fabrics in this too. the textured gray black show here was on the piano seat Mom covered when I was in Jr high. I m glad to find a home for it too.

Foundations XVIII - Rust 26" X 42" $385.00 — Foundations XVIII – Rust
26″ X 42″
$385.00

Foundations XVIII – Rusty This quilt has lots of old fabric that was intended to become clothing. The rust colored wool was purchased for an a-line skirt. I am still struggling with the irregular shape and the high point at the top of this quilt is still a problem here. I though I had it sloved, but that proved not to be the case. I plan to add some stays in to that section today. I am not surprised as there are always new problems with unexplored territioy. This first close up shows some fabric that I rust dyed. I did break a needle when I tried to free motion through the three layers of the rust dyed fabric. I do not know why, but I fear that even though I did wash it when I finished the fabric there still could contain a bit of residue . Again I used lots of different fabrics on this piece. Wool, velvet, cotton and the back side of taffata can be seen here. I am enjoying the process.

Maya’s Tee Shirt Quilt I finished this quilt this week too. It took me four hours to do the hand stitching on the binding of this project. It is a queen sized quilt. The free motion work on the blocks was the most enjoyable part for me.

New Iris’s This top is now ready for the quilting step. It is a little too much like a very nice background at this point so I will need to think carefully about how to go forward on this project.

Foundations XIX – This is the new pinned up section for the next work. I love the wonderful moss green fabric that Noel gave me a few weeks ago. This mossy stone is the outgrowth of that feeling. I feel the striped fabric that is the base for this one is still too strong so I will keep building on top of it.

Daily’s My storage box for these little exercises is almost too full so I think I will end this series soon. I want to move on to another idea as well.

Keep Creating.

Carol

PS I am off to spend a week in Paris so there will be no post next week. Look for lots of pictures the following week.

Daily's, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Foundation XV New Direction, Foundations Series, Foundations XVII Granite, Foundations XVII Obsidian, Maya's Tee Shirt Quilt

May Day, May 1 2014

May 1, 2014 admin

Hello,

Happy May Day to you. For me May Day brings up memories of making paper tube baskets that we filled with wild flowers and perhaps a bit of candy. Then we hung them on the door knobs of neihbors homes. That was when I lived in a small town in Iowa and I am not sure if that practice still goes on today.

I went to a FAB meeting last week. Patti is being very propductive and had a wonderful rust colored ribbon knitted project she was working on as well as having completed this wonderful shaw on her loom.

We also looked at and talked about Victoria’s silver leaf quilt that was pinned to her studio wall. She is setting quite a challenge for herself with this project I think. But it will be wonderful when she is done I am sure.

Then I went to Angela’s where she and Linda were playing with soy wax for a second time. Linda spent the whole time doing the waxing step, but Angela did apply dye while I was there. She had dyed several things earlier that day and then added more soy wax and black dye over the blue to what she is doing here. I can hardly wait until next week to see the results of their work at the QuEGs meeting. There will be another soy wax day I am sure so perhaps I will get in on that one.

Progress Report: Foundations XV- New Directions This quilt is the first of the irregular shaped quilts that I have finished. I think I mentioned last week

Foundations XV New Directions 27"X 44" $360.00 — Foundations XV New Directions
27″X 44″
$360.00

that there were problems with getting it to remain flat. The paint I add to the back to stabilise that some what. But I feel the there is still is a bit of a problem. I plan to take it to the art quilt meetings next week and get some help with that. I really enjoyed all all the color and the the many textures that ended up in this quilt. I find myself looking and looking again at it on my wall. I used a varigated thread on this work too and that adds an additional interest to the surface of the piece.

Foundations XVI Granite 19" X 29" $195.00 — Foundations XVI Granite
19″ X 29″
$195.00

Foundations XVI- Granite I also finished off this work this week too. It was too far along to adapt to the off square format, but I usually think of granite in a square shape any way. Even tumbe stones are a slab most of the time. I do not think I have ever seen Granite when in was not”dressed” in some way or another. There are lots of colors in granite and I tried to show that with this project. I used mostly silks, velvets and satians along with the a few cottons in this project. Again I used lots of varigated threads here as well. I also used some of the silk paper with this piece.

Foundations XVII- Obsidian

I am only showing a close up of Obsidian as it is so close to being completed that the full thing will be available next week. I was working on so many pieces in the Foundations series at one time that I got mixed up about the number system. This really is the 17 in the series and not Granite as it says in the Categories. I will have to wait until I have another lesion from the computer specialist before I can correct that mistake.

Maya’s Tee Shirt Quilt I am to what I consider the fun part of this quilt now. I did stitch in the ditch between all the tee shirt sections. Now I am doing free motion around the images. This one is in the center of the quilt and I will work out from there until they are all completed. I only did the free motion work on two more before I ran out of time yesterday.

Necklace III I am still playing in this format. I love making the flower format. This one also has unique metal connections on the ends( the black units) They are old belt connections from Grandmother Ruth’s sewing box. I think they add a bit of glamer to the work.

New Work In and effort to push myself beyond the necklaces I created a new work that needs a lot of hand embellishing on it. I went to my texture box and found the silver fabric already backed with wonder under and added it to the surface of some of the watermarked satin I had pulled up to make flowers. Then I found the ground cloth with lumier paint on it and added that to the surface as well. I just kept adding until I felt that I could only finish it with hand work….. but I have not started that yet my attempt to fool myself did not work. At least not yet.

New Iris Work

This also came out of the idea box and I started it because I was in the studio at the end of the day and the pin wall was empty. The Iris fabric was already cut so it was just a matter of pinning up what I had already done.

Daily’s More of similar works as last week. I plan to work ahead this week as I am preparing for a week trip to Paris o n May 14th. I do not think I want to take this project with me, so that is my solution.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily's, Fabric Flowers, Foundation XV New Direction, Foundations XVII Granite, Mia's Tee shirt quilt, Uncategorized

Birthday April 24, 2014

April 24, 2014 admin

Hello,

Today is my birthday and this wonderful hand made card arrived from my great friend Barbara with birthday wishes in it.. The card sure makes me feel loved- and it delights my eye too.

Spring is finally a part of central New York. I was awakened by a bird singing at 4:10 this morning- but I am not complaining- Just surprised to hear him singing up the sun so early. There are so many tints and shades of green that it dassel the eye now. Things here are changing so very fast. It was raining yesterday and so I did not walk out doors. But when I went today I could see changes in the buds of many of the plants that I had looked at just two days before. One can almost see the plants growing. I love it!

I am still making fabric flowers from Noel’s workshop last week. It is just so much fun to use those little scarps of silk in such beautiful ways that I can’t seem to stop. The “What If Factor ” is kicking in too and I think my work tray has as many new flowers on it as these two necklaces put together. Now I am also trying Yoyo flowers- like Cheri did and I can’t think why wide silk ribbons would not work too, as well as the silky hem tape I seems to have lots of ….. Oh the mind- it just keeps pumping out possibilites.

Progress Report: Foundation XV New Direction I am nearly finished with this project. I like all the colors I have be able to use here and feel that I have added a lot of machine work to the surface. By making this one irregular in shape I have created a new problem for myself- it does not hang flat at the end of some of the horizional extensions. That is why I am not showing a full shot this week. I will work on this problem and get back to you.

Foundation XVI Granite

This one is almost done too and because it is a rectangle it does not have the hanging problem of New Directions. I am still in the” look and see” stage with this one so that is why there is not a full shot of it either. ( If you want a good idea of that look at last week) I am very happy with the flow lines of the free motion work however.

Foundation XVII Obsidian I have wanted to do a piece that is all shades of black and gray so I started this last week. I like the rock Obsidian and how it seems to have such strong angles in the surfaces that I used it as my inspiration for this project. It is the second irregular shaped one. And lest anyone start to believe I just know how I want things to be placed, I shot this photo the first day I worked on pinning things up. I thought it was too busy the next morning so I took half the stuff off and started a second time. ( And yes, it us inverted too) I have used many different fabrics here. Everything from corduroy and cotton to velvet and silks to get the various tones of black. I enjoy how the color changes bepending on what it is next to. I am enjoying the free motion work now too.

Foundations XVIII-New Work When I went to play with Noel last week she gave me a box full of wonderful earth toned fabric. I am using it as my jumping off point for this next Foundations work. The big piece of rusty wool is so very rich that I am enjoying working with it.

Daily’s I am still working away on the Daily’s and they continue to be a calming enjoyment. So here is the showing for this week.

I hope that spring is dancing at everyone ‘s door and bringing lots of new visuals to everyone too.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily's, Foundation XV New Direction, Mia's Tee shirt quilt, Trees, Wind Fall

Flowers April 17, 2014

April 17, 2014 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

Spring is teasing us here in central New York. It was so very nice and warm for three days and then we had a cold day that ended in a snowstorm. I am waiting for my spring flowers to appear. The day that it snowed I took matters into my own hands and spent the day with Noel in her studio along with several others and we made our own flowers. (look back two weeks to see Noel and Victoria’s first ones) It always amazes me how we human beings fliter and apply our own tastes to the same processes. These red, pink and purple blossems are Cheri’s and the black, tan and white ones are Noel’s. We all took the same basic materials and techhniques but treated them with our own unique “stamp”. Noel showed us how to create several types of flowers and then turned us loose. Victoria, like Noel had made flowers before, she cheerfully tried a complex rose type flower where each petal is made indavigaly. I can hardly wait to see how everyone finishes her necklace. I was so excited by the processes that I kept making more flowers for the next two evenings. I am sure I will have two or three necklaces even if I stopped with what I have. I did take the time to lay out one possible combination. It needs small additions like beads and buttons. I just keep thinking of more ways to play with these ideas. And recalling things I did not try yet like yoyo flowers that Cherri did. It sure was a wonderful way to combat the snow falling outside that day!

Progress Report: Foundations XV –New Direction I am still struggling with this project. I have added to the sides to pull away from the square format. Then this morning when I hung it on the wall- “What If” – hit and I turned it 45 degrees to the right and I liked it better- and even more so when I added to the those two sides as well. I try to always be open to what is happening while I am designing and wonderful things can happen. I will push myself to do the remaining work on this one over the next few days.

New Work I am still playing with this newest member of the Foundation series. This one does not seem to know what way is up yet either- but I am enjoying the process. I do think I will leaves this one in a basic square format even though I am trying to go beyond that idea. It is holding it’s own without that challenge.

Grove I am making progress here too. All the trees now have their horizontal branches. I have them all connected to one another but I feel that it is almost too much to take in visually. The blue below the trees is too busy as well, so I plan to remove it and try again. I just don’t know what will work until I try it sometimes.

Mia’s Quilt These green and blue pieces are my prepations for the back of Mia’s Tee shirt quilt. I am building the units and when they are big enough I will assemble them into the big back. It is a fun process from my point of view.

Daily’s I am finding time to do my Daily’s too. They are starting to really pile up.

Think Spring and Keep Creating

Carol

Daily's, Foundations XI- Stream Bed, Machine Drawing, Smoke, Striking Gold

Changing Spring Weather March 13, 2014

March 13, 2014 admin

Hello,

The Weather is full of spring surprises. Tue is it was sunny and 54 degrees here. I enjoyed my walk noting all the bare ground and seeing may birds. Wednesday morning it stared raining early and continued until about 8 am and then started snowing. By 3 in the afternoon I only did a shot walk as the snow on top of ice was a foot deep, slippery and the slogging was difficult. Today it is beautiful with full sun and blue sky’s- but a chilly 16 degrees with wind. Tomorrow it is set to be 43. All this snow and cold will soon be a memory as we all enjoy the wonderful changes spring brings.

Progress Report:Foundations XI -Rust and Rifts

Foundations XI Rust and Rifts 30" X 38" $400.00 — Foundations XI
Rust and Rifts
30″ X 38″
$400.00

I continue to truly enjoy this collage like process of assembling works. The chance to use so many fabrics combined with how one can twist and turn those fabrics as one works with them is so much fun. I like too the fact that I can just keep building on top of each section until I get the effect I want. This means that I can use yarns and threads to produce different types of lines across the surface. The free motion work adds so much freedom and direction to the surface.

This shots shows rusty velvet and the back side of one of the rusty colored fabrics. This second close up shows the several of the threads that I used on this piece as well as the tucked and folded fabric.

In this third close shot you can see the silk paper the frayed out heavy fabrics and threads that are attached.

Green Nebula. I finally got this felted piece framed. I think that is the best solution for felted works. I think I will work a bit smaller on the next one as so much of it is lost in the framing process. I did enjoy adding all the bead work to represent planets and stars among the green gasses.

The sequins on this piece are antique ones from my Aunt May’s sewing box. They are of a material that is not fractured or as highly reflective as most of the sequins that one can purchase today. I learned a little bit more about photography with this project. Both

closeups have flash reflections in the form of lines near the center and the full sized shot has a shadow across the glass. It seems there is always more to learn.

Foundations XI – Stream Bed I am doing the fun stage of this project now. I love the free motion work that all of the works in this series require. I like how the project leads me forward and how much time it takes, because the time means I put it up and look at the work in progress a lot. I am not real happy with the piece at the moment. I see that it is too dark- and the one tan area is far too square. All these problems can be changes and that is exciting to me.

Smoke This quilt sort of got away from me as I worked on it. I did not intend for it to become so large, but the gray silk units seemed to call for that action. I did fuse inner facing to the back of those same units as they were far too flexible and wandered around a bit with the seaming. I am now in the process of doing hand stitching on this one. In my typical style I am letting the surface tell me what to do next.

Striking Gold I am having lot of fun working on this piece. The base is one solid piece of fabric and then I added Lumier painted torn grown cloth on top. There is also a bit of orange nylon netting on the surface as well as fabric bits. I then did some hand work with some Taylor’s thread that my friend Judy had given me several years ago. I also have added some free motion bobbin work to the surface. (The zig –zag lines) I am enjoying working away on this project.

New Work All the snow covering the ground has brought my desire to work with spring colors back to the surface. Just pinning these up yesterday in the snow storm was cheering. I am going to really emphasis the green this time in the form of long lines to represent grass coming up.

Daily’s I think these little Daily’s are the reason I am doing so much more hand work then I have been doing past years. I just seem to get going on the square and the thing is done. So picking up another project is a very easy and natural progression.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily's, Diva Meetings, Foundations XIII Mapping

March 6, 2014

March 6, 2014 admin

Hello,

Well March did come in like a lion here, but the days are longer and Day Light Saving Time will begin here this week end, another sign of spring. This week was the first in the mouth so I had two of my group meetings on Tue. Quilt Exploration Group meant and we all had lots to share. Sally’s pocket bag says it for those of us who quilt- and we eve make our own scraps when necessary. She sure is exploiting her embroidery machine.

Barb added a note of warmth with this sun flower wall quilt. I really like her background quilting that uses the floral print on the back as a guide for creating the flower patterns.

Angela decided to take advantage of our snow pack to do some snow dyeing. The colors are so very vivid and rich. She also did an excellent job creating a family memory quilt for her sister in law using many old bits and doing several transfers onto silk from paper labels. Three generations of family memories are displayed here.

Corinne has been working with metal and she has created these five pieces of jewelry . The broken unit shown here is yet to be fired. Sue Ellen is doing free motion drawing to fight off the winter blues. She has created four small quilts using winter trees as her theme. She hand dyed the back grounds last summer. There is lots of creative action going on in this group of gals.

Then I went off to the Diva meeting . They too displayed lots of diverse creative activity. Sandi started us off with a small demonstration on the rug hooking process she is doing to create her little wool pile creations . She uses felted wool garments, yarns and roving in her process. They all work together to create wonderful patterns and images. Liese has finished her accordian book. There were no instructions for this one and she says it was quite a challenge. She is going back to soft sculpture for a while.

Cindy is getting ready for a solo show and she put on one for us first. She used black velvet on this work. The texture is wonderful. What an inspiration. I will consider using velvet in my work in the furture too. I love her strong graphic style. Her edges are so crisp and strait. I love her use of line too- it really leads the eye around and through her work.

Progress Report: Foundations XIII-Mapping I streatched this

Foundations XIII Mapping 18" X 24" $150.00 — Foundations XIII Mapping
18″ X 24″
$150.00

piece on stretcher bars. I like the way the treads still escape off the edge as they do on the bigger pieces. I am really developing this collage like fabric style and enjoying the process. The new material in this creation is paper in for form of a torn up map of Canada. It was about the second layer I put down on the wool that served as my base for this project. Then I went on to use the usual materials that I have been adding- the fabrics, organza, silk papers, yarns

and ribbons. I did more hand work on this piece than I have been doing in the past too. I did that because I was working on the wool and I though it added to the staybality of the process a bit. I was worried about ding free motion on top of hand work,but that proved to be an unnessary thing. I was conderned about the text on the map as well, but again that proved to be an unnessary thing as it blended into the final work quite nicely I think.

Lighting I am very unhappy with how this top turned out. All the slicing and inserting of the green strips has caused a lot of warping of the surface. I need technical advice before I put any more time into this work. At the moment I am not sure it can be saved. One does not grow unless one takes chances and fails every now and again.

New Work I have pinned up the fabric for my next start. This will force me forward I think as I will be using silks and organza’s along with cottons.

Capture Scarves I have finished ten new neck scarves. I always enjoy creating these colorful additions. I really like how the color one chooses to wear under them can be a contrast or if the color is the same as the nylon netting the objects appear to float on the wearer. The effect can be very dramatic and always invites curiosity from viewers. It sure makes for fun conversations at times too.

Daily’s I keep my hand work up with the Daily’s. The collection is getting large now, but I still find it fun.

Keep Creating

Carol

Bacterial Bloom, Foundations IX, Foundations Series, Foundations X, Foundations XII, Scrap Happy Quilts

February 20, 2014

February 20, 2014 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

It is thawing here and the sound of dripping water from melting snow has been going on all day. The street is running water and directing it toward the storm drains. I find it is cheering as though Spring may in fact come. The fact that I herd song birds this morning helps with that feeling too. I have worked in the studio a lot this week.

Blooming Bacteria 24" X 38" $320.00 — Blooming Bacteria
24″ X 38″
$320.00

Progress Report : Blooming Bacteria This quilt is based on an image from an electron miscrope of bacteria- that is were the name came from. It has taken me a long time to complete as I had to make each one of the black button whole circles by hand with a small crochet hook. I know I started it last fall when I was taking my grand son to Physical Therapy. I then stitched the units down to the surface. The free motion work in the red is called pebble quilting and it really unified the quilt. I did reflecting quilting around the outside of the circles. This quilt also has a background that is curved pieced . The red is a hand dyed piece that I received from a fellow quilter. It was only a fat quarter and I used every bit of it that I could in this work.

Foundations IX Spring Moss 19.5 " X 26 " $ 180.00 — Foundations IX Spring Moss
19.5 ” X 26 “
$ 180.00

Foundations IX Spring Moss This work in the foundations series, was influenced by that spring desire I felt last week too. It is also loosely based on a shot I took of some Granite a few years ago. Like most of the works I have been doing in this series there are lots of raw edges and a tron fabrics here. The dark green is Dupni Silk. It frays so much that I saved all the threads and applied them to the surface as well. I continue to use the silk paper I created last fall. I am looking forward to warm weather when I can go out doors and create more- it is too messy do inside in my dry studio. I used lots of different colored thread when I was doing the free motion work on this work. Some apple green, yellow green, yellow and pink to get the effect I wanted for this piece.

Foundations X When I could see that I would soon finish with Foundations IX- I started thinking about the next one in this series. I was trying to make the top section of this work lighter than the bottom, but still have shadows near the top. I am not happy with the solid unit on the bottom right- but I have enough to begin work. I want to bring in more of the rusty coloring into this work.

Foundations XI I pinned up this new top this morning. I have been experimenting with long stitches in yarn on nylon netting. I was trying to create another texture that I could use in my work. The four pieces are on the surface and may or may not stay as I go along. This is a pure experiment, but then not knowing how something will work out never stopped me before. I will keep you posted.

Scrap Happy I am working on the scarp box and I decided to start a quilt using what I have. This is a good thing too as this morning I had a call from our local public TV station and they want a quilt for their auction. This shot shows the red and earth toned centered blocks as they look when they are assembeled.

Daily’s I am reaching the end of this style of block. There are only three left that have the half red circle and two lines. So next week there will be a new layout.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily's, Foundations IX, Foundations Series, Foundations X, Machine Drawing, Rounding up Green, Spring Iris's, Tropical Palms

Valentines’s Day February 13, 2014

February 13, 2014 admin

Hello,

Valentines’ day was always one of my favorite holidays, I am a romantic I guess. I never really had any big crushes on anyone as a child- but it was decorating the shoe box or the big envelope that all the exchanged Valentines came in that I enjoyed the most. When I was teaching I always had the kids spend a day making a Valentine creature- the only shape they could cut was a heart. Now the heart could be long and slender , short and fat- just what worked. We used the scarp box of construction paper so there was lots of colors to choose from. I loved the green heart frogs, black bats and other animals that the kids produced. This year I had some wonderful Mylar red paper so I started playing and made Valentines with it. I great fun and I put them in the mail yesterday. It really cheered me up as all the snow is getting to me a bit.

I did four entries for the 6″X 6″ fund raiser that the Rochester …….. does every year. I think it is a great concept/fund raiser were they accept small( 6″ X 6″) works from everyone who wants to particiat. The gallery t then sells them all for $20 each. I enjoy making my little petroglyphics stencils and stitching them to the backgrounds. I made four.

Rounding Up Green 34.5" X 38.5" $ 465.00 — Rounding Up Green
34.5″ X 38.5″
$ 465.00

Progress Report: Rounding Up Green This quilt was nearly completed last week. I was working on the facings last Thursday. I created the blue fabric a few years ago with a silk screen print.

This close up shows some of the dyed fabric and on the far left there is some commerically embrodiered fabric that was in my stash. I also used a bit of the fabric that I experimented with when I was preparing to dye. I really like the wildness of these “rags” and always find a good use for them in my work.

Tropical Palms 16" X 23" $130.00 — Tropical Palms
16″ X 23″
$130.00

Tropical Palms This quilt went together really quickly. I realized with this one that I am ready for spring as there is lots of fabric out on the cutting table that is in the pastel range- with a big emphasis on pinks. I had a very enjoyable time drawing the palm trees on this project. It did make me feel warmer too. The purple hand dyed fabric in this work is bye Judy Roberts. She does wonderful stuff in my option. I used the print fabric as my starting point for the quilting pattern. The biggest area needed a bigger tree so I improvised and mad the leaves of the tree with that section. The other quilting- all in a horizontal waving pattern- is meant to represent the rolling sands that I remember from a trip were I saw palm trees. I was tempted to add texture to the stump of the tree- but after doing a drawing first I decided that an addition like that would be distracting. Using my sketchbook is never lost effort and it really dose help clarify what needs to happen some times.

Spring Iris’s This is another one of my

Spring Iris's 17" X 21" $125.00 — Spring Iris’s
17″ X 21″
$125.00

responces to all the cold and snow. The big print that dominates this work was a piece of decorator fabric. I really liked the beautiful color work in the flowers and tried to emphasis that with my quilting. I also tried to spread out the limited bit of fabric that I had across the surface of the work to add to the movement of ones eye around the piece. There is some of the pink and purple fabric that I printed a few weeks ago in this work. After I did a few drawing in my sketchbook I free motion drew around the flowers and again with the same types of lines. I added some flowers using the same style in different areas of the quilt to make sure there was enough quilting to keep the work stable. I also did free motion work around the leaves and tried to push the garden idea even further with this action. Then as I did the clean up of the materials form this project I found another piece of the florial print so there is a place to begin another quilt with this theme.

Foundations IX 25" X 32.5" $285.00 — Foundations IX
25″ X 32.5″
$285.00

Foundations IX This quilt was nearly complete last week too. I just wanted more green it the work so I held it back until I had made that addition. I added treads I had pulled from some green silk and some green silk paper to get that additional color on the surface. The works in this series are highly textured and all the wadding and overlapping of the fabrics makes some areas very thick and others very thin, but I sure like the effect I am getting with this technique. The machine drawing adds to the texture and colors of the surface too. I am still using some of the fabric that Marty and I discharged last spring on these works too. The dark fabric with the light areas is one of those pieces.

Foundations X I pulled fabric for the next work in this series and this is my current selection. I may add some additional material and or subtract material- this is just a beginning pallet.

Daily’s They are still being produced. I only have a little more than a weeks worth of this layout left and I will need a new starting place for the next batch of works. It all goes together so quickly when one does a little bit at a time.

Keep Creating

Carol

Cre-8

Category Archives: Foundations Series

Back in the Studio May 29, 2014

National Choclate Chip Day May 8, 2014

May Day, May 1 2014

Birthday April 24, 2014

Flowers April 17, 2014

Changing Spring Weather March 13, 2014

March 6, 2014

February 20, 2014

Valentines’s Day February 13, 2014

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer