Category Archives: Hand work

100 day Challenge, Donuts and Wholes, Felt Work, Fiber Artist Stitch Club, Finger Lakes Fiber Artist Group, Hand work, Meandering Mind- Examine, Pixies Group, Purple Impinging, Understanding Orange

Staying the Course

Hello,

I  hope you all had the type of Valentines day that you enjoyed.  My wonderful husband got me these roses.  I love how the sun light was on them at the end of the day.

The Finger Lakes Fiber Artists meant on Saturday.  We had a great meeting.  The show and tell is always the best. Pat showed her new work saying that the new studio is so large that her work is expanding too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maureen is working with paint on canvas now as well as her dyeing.

 

 

 

Sharon had a new winter fields piece that is very quiet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Jeanne did a specular graffiti piece  for the Sisterhood challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

Deb had a nice little work she was finishing for her Husband.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Joyce brought her wonderful dolls and her new baskets.  She is working like mad at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the meeting I went with several others to look at the Both Ends of the Rainbow show in the main gallery of the Schweinfurth.      Sharon  had these two pieces in that show  that is up until  March 12.

 

 

 

I also had my fall piece, Leaf Pile in the show.

 

 

 

There was also a Pixies meeting as usual and we had a good time as well.

I keep working on the  SAQA 100 Day Challenge. 

 

I selected two fabrics that I had  printed and built a small quilt using them as my start units.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made special units like the triangles to add a bit of spice.

 

 

 

 

I finished the assembling and started quilting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The quilting gave me the idea for its title.  Donuts and Wholes is what I am going to call it

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Understanding Orange   I am doing handwork on this piece now.  I enjoy this step in a a different way then when I am creating the top.     I will add more machine work when the hand step is done.

 

 

 

 

Purple Imagining  This is the last of the monochromatic series.   It is always slow going at the beginning of the layout process for me.

 

 

 

 

Textile Artist Stitch Club Workshop   I pulled this work out again this week and I intend to complete it.   I think I can do that with a bit of effort

 

 

 

 

Handwork  This piece got berried  under the 100 day project stuff and only resurfaces when I put the paints away.   I think it is nearing  completion too.

 

 

 

 

New Work- felting   I got out Val Holmes book ” Creative Recycling in Embroidery ”   and  got going on some shapes that are not rectangles.  I was really searching for my silk, ( and I did find it) but I got side tracked by the colors of the wool roving in the cabinet.   Now I have two new works to  play with.   I plan to get out the feltier tomorrow.

Stay safe and keep Creating

Carol

100 day Challenge, Blue Horizons, Briar Patch, Creative Assistants, Crow Calls, Envision, Forest Flock, Meandering Mind- Examine, Pixies Group, Presume, Thread Painting, Understanding Orange, Wool Rounds

Opening +

Hello,

  The opening on Sunday was the big event of the week for me.      I was happily pleased by all the folks who came to support me.    Two of the gals in this photo came from over from an hour away  and that was a big surprise.   

 

 

 

 

 

My daughter and youngest grandson came as well .   He is over six feet and makes me look really like a small grandmother.

 

 

With this show I tried to show old work and new as well as show all the different techniques I use. This work in the show is my first Fire piece and it was done about 25  years ago.

 

I put this work in the show to show off my applique skills and my handwork.

 

 

 

 

Granite Grannies is and example of a work that is both painted and dyed.  I did free motion drawing to out line the faces.

 

 Calling Crows is a work that won Judges Choice at the Adirondack Quilts Show a few years ago.   I did it after being awakened by crows at 4:00 in the morning when I was staying in Auburn.

  This work is called Forest Flock.  I machine drew all the little birds  and then appliqued them to the background.  The dark  tree is made from an old black skirt that I felted.

 

 

Briar Patch is a work that came about because I was playing with metallic threads and they suggested shinny berries to me.

 

 

 

Lastly I included the last three studies I did this fall as a part of the Explorations series.   I am in a new phase of this same self challenge now.

 

 

 

 

There were more works in the show , but I did not include them all.  The pictures show of the show were taken by my daughter, Wendy.

There was a Pixie Meeting this week and we shared lots of ideas.  I am continuing to work away on the 100 Day SAQA challenge. Friday I printed these images .   The images on the bottom  are new and the ones on the top are the new blocks over an existing image.

 

I printed new images on  Saturday.

 

 

 

 

I did a Rabbit to celebrate the Chinese New year of the Rabbit

 

 

 

Tue I printed the new images

 

 

 

 

 

Wed I cut these new images.   I decided to do  a Rat as the Chinese symbol because that is my year.

 

 

Today is the twelfth day and an even one so I printed .  One the left are the prints them selves and on the right are them used on top of  another printed image.    I am having fun and learning things so I feel good about this project.

Progress Report: Blue Horizons  This work is 34.5 ” X  38″. I enjoyed doing the handwork on this piece and finished it on Tue.

The   free motion process is also  fun for me.   I have fun dreaming up  images to machine draw.

 

 

 

 

Presume    I am still in the hand work stage here.  I am out lining the metallic’s  like I did on Forbidden Fruit.

 

Envision   I finished putting together the top for this work on Monday.  Then yesterday after pin basting it I did some stitch in the ditch work to stabilize it  so I can do the hand work here.   I am just thinking about the the pattern the hand work will take at this point.

 

 

Understanding Orange  I have just begun this top.  It is number 5 in the Monochromatic Studies of the Meandering Mind series.  I will start using purples when this one is done.

 

 

 

Creative Assistants   I finished off 22 more of these little guys this week.  This  is the most recent bunch ready for the paint and pin backs.   I hope to do a few more faces and add bodies before I complete the batch.

I hope that my readers are stay safe and enjoying the season.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Creative Assistants, Envision, Forbidden Fruit, Hand work, Pixies Group, Presume

Pushing Forward

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Hello,

 All my efforts at the moment are to prepare for my solo show that gets hung on Sat.   This is a shot of the post card.  I addressed and mailed out  30 on Monday.  I am excited even though it seems to have taken over my life of late.   I have 18 pieces that I have prepared labels and polls for at this point.   I will spend most of Friday doing one last press of them so they hang  as flat as I can make them.   I have a nice mix of new things that have never been shown any were and a bit of a review of older work.     I will polish up the artist statement and be all set I think.   I also pulled work for the Cabin Fever Quilt show at the Betts Library that opens in early Feb.    I only have three pieces in that show and I have very little work to do except turn in my art for that show.   Koi Joy(  at the right)  is one of my entries for that one.

 

The Pixies were the only group that I meant with this week so there was not a lot of outside in put.  I am glad however as I had plenty to keep me busy.

Progress  Report:  Forbiddin Fruit   This work is 35.5″ X 55.5 “.  It is the first in the mono chromatic  works although it is also my entry for the Red competition for Quilt Surface Design Isolation  that is due at the end of the month.   I did a lot more hand work on this then I intended at the beginning, but the work called for it so I pushed forward.

 

 

 

Blue Horizon    This is the second in the mono chromatic series that is a sub set of the  Meandering Mind series that I started in the Creative Strength Training class.  I am doing free motion work and hand work on this piece too .

Presume    The green work in the mono chromatic series is all assembled now and pin  based.   I am learning a lot about color with these challenges.

 

 

 

Envision  I started working away on this piece on Tue.  Still playing with curves and the mono chromatic thing and having fun.

 

 

 

 

Creative Assistants  I pushed myself to get hair- my third step in the construction of the tribe done this week.  Each of these bags holds about  35  bodies so  I have lots of faces to do now.

 

Handwork  Its time for the Rochester  6X6 show stuff so most of my efforts in the hand department are going in that direction at the moment.  Two are done and two to square and bind.

Finish up  I added the binding to this work so it is done now and I can go on to other things.

 

 

 

 

 

Drawing   I enjoyed the on line drawing class this week.  This is my response to the   Bird- House”  challenge.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Annalise, Blue Horizons, Creative Assistants, Drawing, Hand work, Presume, Scrap Happy Quilts

Into the New Year

Hello,

I hope the new year is treating you well.   I am moving forward with my many projects and working hard to prepare for my solo show that I will hang on the 14 of Jan.      I spent Tuesday judging for the Scholastic Art competition.  I helped judge Film and Animation this year.    There are lots of great  programs going on and the work was strong.

The Pixies meant on Wed.  I am playing with the new markers that Laura sent me  and shared my image’s with that group. 

The FAD group also meant this week.   Sharon generously gave all of us one of her hand made scarves.   She also shared her newest work in progress.   We had a good time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am doing a five day drawing challenge as well and enjoying that too.   It is good to stretch out those mussels some times.   The assailment for this one was ” Bunny,  Flower”.

 

 

 

 

I stopped at my friend, Barbara’s to drop off a lap quilt for her and she surprised me with a gift too.  She gave me two boxed of her fabric to use or pass on.  What fun.

Progress Report: Forbidden Fruit    I keep stitching away on the extension of the curves that I built into the work.   I am moving along , but it is slow.

 

 

 

 

Blue Horizons    This work is all layered and pin basted.  I did stitch in the ditch quilt in  a few places, but it has not gotten any attention beyond that this week.

 

 

 

Presume   I got going on the mono chromatic color scheme thing with greens this week.  Most of the units are built now and I only need to put them together  so I can move to the next step.

 

 

 

Creative Assistants  I did lots of faces this week and added the backs and arms to those little dolls.  They are turned and stuffed now too so I can add the squeezie paint to them today and  then the pin backs.   All the body bases now have their trim so I can move onto the hair step with them now.

Scrape assembly   I just keep putting in the hour a day on this step of this project.  I can see that there is less in the basket- but it still seems very slow work to me.

 

Handwork   I did a little handwork during a Zoom meeting this week and this is the result.  I think it will go off to the Rochester 6″ X6″ show later this year.

 

 

I hope that the new year is only presenting the types of challenges you want to deal with.

Keep Creating

Carol

Annalise, Blue Horizons, Creative Assistants, Forbidden Fruit, Hand work, Meandering Mind- Examine

Happy Holidays

Hello and Seasons Greetings,

I hope everyone celebrated the Solstice in their own fashion.   We sat with our tree, listed to carols, drank eggnog and talked of past days.

After the frantic week I had last week it was good to have a much calmer one this week.  I only had Creative Strength Training and a meeting with the Pixies, both of them are virtual.     My packages are all wrapped and under the tree and I can now just relax and enjoy the season.    My wishes for everyone are good health and quiet happiness.

Progress Report: Sea Dreams    This work is   45″ X 35″ .      I like how the the fish blend into one another even though there are several different taffetas.

 

 

 

The striped eye buttons are from my friend Sharron.   They are leftover from when she owned a quilt shop.

 

Annalise ( Meandering Mind Series  # 6)   This is the last of the series using  complements in tints and shades  without naturals.  I am having fun doing the hand work on this project now

Forbidden Fruit ( Meandering  Mind Series 2  # 1) This work is all assembled now and I am ready to size it.   Then I will begin to quilt the work together.    This is my new challenge using only one tint and shade of a color.  Red in this case with black, white and metallic.  I think the metallic is an over flow from the fish work.

 

Blue Horizon ( Meandering Mind Series 2 # 2)  I just started this one yesterday.  I am still using only tints and shades of blue this time and the metallics, but I think I will stay with just one light and no black.   Navy blue is strong enough.

 

 

Creative Assistants   This is the latest batch of these guys.  I came across an old sketchbook drawing of the inspiration   for the first ones.  The page was dated 1991.    I can’t believe I have been making them sense then.    Thirty one years is  long enough so I have decided this will be the last tribe I build.     I sure have used lots of little  junk to embellish them  and celebrated  lots of events with this work.    Stopping will free up lots of space on my shelves when I pass forward, or trash some of the items that I hold on to to create them , let alone the time.   It will be a sad/happy ending.

   Dog Scarves Project   A friend asked me if I could make a small quilt out of her dog’s scarves.  He passed away and she want to remember and honor him.   I am working away at it.

 

Hand Work  I always have a project were I can do hand work and this is the latest.   It is early , but so far I have only used wool thread.

 

Stay safe and enjoy the season

Keep Creating

Carol

Annalise, Blue Monday, Creative Strength Training, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Finger Lakes Fiber Artist Group, Meandering Mind- Examine, Pixies Group, Sea Dreams

Dec 16, 2022

Hello,

I am deep into the holiday season now.  I have packages under the tree and dates almost every day with various friends and groups.     Saturday was the Finger Lakes Fiber Artists group meeting.   There were only nine of us but we had a good time.  Pat Pauly showed us her newest Creations.

 

 

 

 

  Maureen is doing lots of printing.

 

 

 

 

 

Joyce   has finished up her forest doll series.  Cute solution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ann is having fun mixing charts  with this work.

 

 

 

  Susan took a drawing class and shared her work too.

 

 

 

The last   Creative Strength Slow Stitch group meeting was this week too.  I will miss those gals.  I enjoyed our little challenges.   This is my last 6″ challenge.  I have set ups to do two more to fill the book.   There was also a FAD meeting and Pixies too.    Mix all that in with a few parties and such and that has been my life of late.  I do enjoy all the movement of the season.

Progress Report:   Explore  This work is 32″ X 37″  and the second in the complementarity/tint and shade self challenge.

 I am enjoying mixing machine and hand work with this group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sea Dreams     I have been working hard on this one this week and now need to add eyes to the fish and do the binding.  I  am sure I will finish it quickly.   Working with the taffeta  has added to my holiday spirit too.

 

 

Forbidden Fruit   I seem to be moving very slowly with this project.   there are lots of decisions to be made along the way here.

 

 

 

 

Blue Monday     Finished this hand work piece this yesterday.  I did take three Witches off to the framer yesterday too.  It will be a Christmas gift for my husband as he likes Shakespeare’s  “Macbeth”

Stay safe and enjoy the season.

Keep Creating

Carol

Creative Assistants, Creative Strength Training, Explore, Fish, Hand work, Sea Dreams

Busy Times

Hello,

The season of rushing around is here.  It seems like I spend all my time at luncheons and gatherings.  I do enjoy it however.  I went the  Open Studios  in  Rochester with Noel on Friday.  We were impressed with lots of work and visited Pat Pauley studio and had a wonderful time.

 

 

 

On Sunday I went off to the Schweinfurth and went to the Trunk talk with Daisy Aschehoug.     She is part of the Modern Quilt movement and has a work in the show.  The talk was strong and we enjoyed it.

 

 

 

Then on Tue, Liz and I went off to visit with our good friend Angela. We ate Christmas Cookies  and got to see her new studio.

Associated Artists had their Christmas luncheon this week as well.  As a result of all the running around I did not get a lot done in the studio, but I am enjoying the season.

Progress Report: Examine  I am to the  handwork step with this project now.  All the quilting is done and I will add binding later.

 

 

 

 

 

Forbidden Fruit   I am still building on this project.  I am enjoying the slipping in the slender lines of metallic fabric.

 

 

 

 

Sun Shine-  Slow Stitch  This is the last little project for the Slow Stitch  sub group of Creative Strength Training.  I have enjoyed the little challenges and will miss the folks, but I think I will not join this  program a second year at this time.

 

 

Sea Dreams   I  put a lot of time in on this project this week.    I built the back and added the sea weed to that unit.  All three of these fish got water marked satin inserted into them.  I have cut four more fish in a different paid that I want to add to the mix.

 Creative Assistants  I spent time watching basketball and football games this week too so I did a little hand work to finish up that step of these fellows.

 

 

 

 

Handwork   I am working away on this piece of handwork when I am at zoom meetings.  It is fun to keep my hands busy.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope that everyone is enjoying the wonders of the season.

Keep Crating

Carol

 

Blue and Gray, Creative Assistants, Creative Strength Training, Machine Drawing, Meandering Mind- Examine, Poem Tree, Sea Dreams, Three Witches

New Month

1 Comment

Hello,

I hope you all enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday.   We had the whole family for the feast, enjoyed each others company  and ate too much.  My Husband and I had the last last of the turkey leftovers yesterday.

At this time of year my only meeting was with the Creative Strength Training group.    I did the suggested assignment of six little works for   abstract and here is my result.

 

 

 

 

The class is drawing to a close and I am working to finish up the work for the Slow Stitch  sub group too.  I did one more little work using paper this time.  The photos is of my mom who passed away 11 years ago now.

 

 

 

Then for my final 3D project I bound the hand work projects into this book.

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Poem Tree   This work is 39″ X 38″.   I started it at the Schewinfurth Retreat in early November and finished it on the 30th.     There is lots of free motion machine drawing in the leaves and flowers.

 

 

I machine wrote all the words to the poem by Joyce Kilmer around the out side of the the tree .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meandering Mind Series -Examine    This work is all most done as I only need to finish tacking down the binding on ones side so I am calling it complete for this week.    I need to do the pressing too so it is flat.       I am now doing the quilting on Explore.

 

Hands  I have been working away on this now that I have lots of shots of hands to work on.  I took most of the photos at the same retreat and it was good to have lots of subjects.   I try to do the positive and negative of each set of hands on the same day.

 

 

Three Witches    I think I am done with this work now.  I will be taking it to the framer later this week I hope.

 

 

 

 

 

Blue and Gray  I seem to always need a hand work project so I started this project.   I am exploring using  the Strait Stitch, Chain Stitch the Fly Stitch and  French Knots together here to unify the leftover fused pieces  from some old projects.

 

 

 

Forbidden Fruit   It seems that I am fascinated by pomegranates again.  So I started this piece yesterday at the end of the day and I can hardly wait to get back to it.

 

 

 

Sea Dreams    I did think I was done with the fish theme and then I had this dream of Angel Fish and so I am off and running again.  I am using this plaid that I was given by the daughter of a friend.   Sally Fellows passed away  in early Oct and I helped her daughter empty out the house.

Creative Assistants    I have been watching lots of football so I have been making these little guy again.  I always find it fun to see how they come together.

 

 

 

 

6X6   I know that there will be a call for the little 6X6″ squares for the Rochester Center in the up coming year so I started this one last week.   It still needs a boarder.

Enjoy the season and keep creating,

Carol

 

Annalise, Creative Strength Training, Explore, Fish, Hand work, Koi Joy, Leaf Pile, Machine Drawing, Meandering Mind- Examine, Poem Tree, Sisterhood of the Scissors

Back to the Studio

Hello,

I am glad to  finally home for after a lot of activity.  I am also delighted to say that the little Christmas Cactus cutting that Liz gave me in Aug is blooming.    This fall has been a  full and exciting time for me.

I went to the opening of the Quilts=Art=Quilts show on the 29 of Oct and it was a delightful show.  I was just so happy to be in again and could not believe it when I won the Judges Choice Award  for my piece Action.  My friend Ellen won Best of show and friend

 

 

 

 

 

Pat Pauly won the Finger Lakes Fiber Artist award for Best Embellishment.    I was floating on air all the way home and still can’t quite believe it.

 

 

 

There was a Diva meeting at the beginning of November and we added a new member to the group, Denise Cooperman.  She is a feltier and I love what she dose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barbara also had some wonderful new stuff to share with us.  She had a great sale as a part of the Ithaca Art Trail.

 

 

 

 

Then I went off to a five day Sisterhood of the Scissors retreat.   The event the year before involved a lot of “give aways”  of raw materials- yarn and beads.   So this year we got finished work back.  I gave folks cowls and Ann gave us neck scarves.  There were also necklaces. We did show and tell  as well as lots of work.

 

Joyce made   all three of these dolls and the basket during our time there.  She takes the prize for being the most productive.

 

 

 

Ann did hand work all five days and made great progress on this beautiful  landscape.     I worked on the next three tops of the Meandering Mind Series.

Marcia created a new jacket form some of her Perilla fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

Then last weekend I went off to a three day Fall Retreat at the Schweinfurth Art Center.  It is such a fun and stimulating event for all of us.   Most of the same folks were there again. 

Ann had been inspired by what I was doing at the Sisterhood Retreat so she tried it.  This is her start.

 

 

 

Sharon was working away on a piece from one of her photos from her late summer trip to Montana.

I think is it a strong piece and I love the high contrast.  We sure had fun and I made progress too.

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Koi Joy  This work is 39″ w X 43.5″ t.   This is the last of the koi series I think.   I have enjoyed doing them and playing with the metallic  fabrics sure has been a learning experience.

They   tend to fray out very quickly and I had to do fray check along many edges .  There is leather behind the button eyes.

 

 

 

Leaf Pile   I am working away on this project and being away from it has helped me see that it needs more color contrast  to really build a center of interest.   Perhaps a yellow leaf  instead of the red one that I have pinned there now.  It’s value is too close to the greens.

 Meandering  Mind Series -Examine  This is one of  the three tops that I created at the Sisterhood Retreat.  With this phase of the series I am using tints and shades of the complementary colors  without any naturals.    I pin based all three of them this week and I am now ready to quilt away.

 

 

 Meandering  Mind Series -Annalise   This is a second exploration in this series using the Orange /Blue commentary combination.

 

 

Meandering Mind Series- Explore  And this is the third.  I am having fun using solids in this new construction method.  I also have another idea for several more exploitations along this line.

Three Witches  I have started to add a branch to the background of this work while I think through how I want to complete it.

 

 

 

 

 Play  I was not ready to quilt on the Meandering Mind series last week so I looked again at the Paula Kovarik work from last summer.  One of her challenges was to cut up an old work and reassemble it.  I played at that idea for an afternoon.   Great fun.

 

 

I also took four of her exercise and put them together to create some new pillows.

 

Poem Tree   This is one of the works I started at the Fall Retreat.   I was still feeling connected to the free motion work for Paula’s class and this thought came to mind.   I am liking how it is coming along so far.

New Hands  At  both retreats I took lots of photos of people’s hands  to start a new work like the Action project.  It is a different type of challenge as the bigger format creates a new way of thinking.  I have already learned that open hands read a lot better in black and white then closed ones.

 

 

Susan’s Doll    The emphasis last month for  Creative Strength Training was  form so I used that idea as my push to finish off this doll that Susan started .

I am looking forward to getting back into a studio work routine that will help me move forward through the holidays.

Keep Creating,

Carol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creative Strength Training, Curvie Cuts, Deconstruction, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Frenzy, Koi in the Kelp, Lap Quilts, Maneuver Series, Pixies Group, Three Witches

Forward

Hello,

Fall is all around now.   I did not spend as much time in the garden this fall as in the past and my Hosta went to seed.  I have never seen them before and love the black feather like seeds.    I wonder if I will get any germination.

The reception for the show at May Memorial was  Sunday and I enjoyed talking with folks.   The Creative Strength Training group meant yesterday as did the Pixies.  I also had a FAD group meeting scheduled, but sense Eric was ill, we canceled that one.   He is fine today.

Progress Report- Lap 5  This work is 37″X52″ .   I created the patterned pieces.   I shipped two lap quilts off to my step mother and aunt this week too.

 

 

 

 

Frenzy( rework)     It is  35″w X 33″ t.  After Talking with Jane Donwald about this work I decide to alter the background.    The fish were lost in the first one.   This solution although much smaller is so much stronger.   I need to go back in now and reconnect the eyes on some of the fish .

 

 

 

 

 

Koi in the Kelp I am now doing hand work on this piece.  I am adding eyes and sequins as scales to add texture to the bodies.

 

Three Witches  I need to now fill in the rest of the wraps for the witches and build up some areas of darkness.

 

 

 

 

 

Maneuver Series – Deconstruction I received so  much positive feed about the first three works  that I decided to alter the challenge and try it again.  I am going to only use the complementary colors, but use tints and shades of them in this series of three.   All the white that is showing from the pin wall will disappear under color.

New Fish   I have pulled more metallic fabrics for another Koi piece.  So I made a curve cut background and I will make the fish to go on top.  Having learned the lesson about contrast  the metallics are   all darker.

 

 

 

Mask With October I think of mask and have always enjoyed making and putting on costumes.  This month the theme for Creative Strength Training  is form, and I though I could create a mask to fit that category.     I am having fun,

 

I am going on a trip and will be away for two weeks so there will not be any posts  until Nov 3.    Please enjoy Halloween and stay safe

Carol