Category Archives: Machine Drawing

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

Home from QBL 2024

Hello,

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

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

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Kay was in the same class as Diane.

 

 

 

 

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

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

Liz broth this apron  of Joe’s.

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

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

 

 

  Here is the bird.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

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

 

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

Keep Creating
Carol

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

Joyous Season

Hello,

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

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

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

Linda’s project was coming along beautifully as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

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

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

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 She also had a great quilt for show and tell .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

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

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

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

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

 Food Story – Christmas Noodles

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

 

 

 

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

Keep Creating

Carol

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

Collage, Hand work, Machine Drawing, Pixies Group, Raw Edge Applique

Enjoying Quiet

Hello,

I have been home and doing my own thing this week.    I seem to be getting ready for the seasonal change too and doing lots of house things.  Even got busy and washed windows this week.

 

My collage for this week is of Thornbugs.  I did have  a Pixie meeting on Wed and I am happy to say my Florida friends were   mostly south of  the hurricane and although Susan did evacuate, she suffered no real damage.

  I stated my  Joyous Embroidery class with Fleur Woods this week.    I will be starting my second project for that class this week end.

   

 

 

Progress Report: Lap # 14     I need to finish the binding on this project and move on.

 

 

 

 

I did enjoy using this fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

Earth Works    I have  added more layers on this project .    Now the cream will be the last one on top.    I do intend to add some lines as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap work   I just keep building with these pieces and the scrap box gets smaller too.   This is four blocks of four.

 

 

 

 

 

 Pillows     I seem to be on a run with doing pillows and I finished up this one were I featured one of Percale’s perches.

 

 

Then I put together this black and white one yesterday.   It is made from the free motion machine drawing class stuff of two years ago at QBL.

 

 

 

Handwork   I uncovered this bit of handwork this week and put some time in on it.  It may turn into a pillow too.

 

Enjoy the changing weather and stay safe.

Carol

 

 

100 day Challenge, Color Study, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Felt Work, Hand work, Machine Drawing, Nebula, Pixies Group

Warmer Weather

Hello,

We are really feeling the warmer temperatures here in the north east.  I even left the window open all night last night.  Very refreshing.   It has been a fast change as last weekend  I did not remove the electric blanket when I change the sheets because I had needed it the night before.  I sure have not needed it for the last three nights.  The buds are popping out on the trees and there are lots of small  tender green leaves on things as we walk.  The birds of all sorts serenade us  as well.  It is a glorious time of year.

I have been busy with lots of meetings.   The Pixies meant on Wed. and   the FAD group meant here this week too.  We spent the whole time out on the patio  enjoying that wonderful temperatures.  Sharon shared two of her newest winder field pieces with us.    Yesterday I went off to Marty’s new digs and spent the day with her.   She  is playing with fabric to make landscapes.  I think they are wonderful.

 

I am ready to begin a new piece for the SAQA 100 day challenge.   We are on day 90 already.  I sure have enjoyed doing the work.

 

 

 

Progress Report:  Titers in the Ring   This work is 40″ w X 50″ t.   It is #6 in the SAQA 100 Day Challenge pieces.   The tigers are the stamp and I also hand dyed the green lace that I used here.

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Beach  I am enjoying adding the buttons to this work.  I think I am beyond the half way point now.

 

 

 

 

 

Circus Parade  This work is also part of the SAQA 100 Day challenge.   I used all the Chinese Zodiac creatures that I made in this one.  I started free motion quilting  on this this morning.    This is quilt # 7 in this series.

 New Series- Split Complements #1 Blue- Yellow Orange- Red Orange   Titled:  Analyzed Appearance        I felt I needed to keep up the color exploration so I moved on to Split Complements.  I think I will do one primary and the two variations on its complement for this series.  I started with Blue and used four shades of  that base  color with this piece plus white for contrast.

Nebula   I did this felted piece as a response to the demonstration at the  Associated Artist meeting two weeks ago.  The demonstrator was going to toss the colorful material she had peeled away from the surface of her work.  I picked it up and felted it into this piece.  I finished the beading yesterday.  Only need to frame it now.

Take Off    I have put so much of my time into abstract work of late that I thought I would start a piece with subject matter.  So I built this curvy cut background.  I plan to add sea guls taking off on top.

I hope you are enjoying pleasant weather were you are .

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

 

100 day Challenge, Blue Beach, Creative Assistants, Explorations, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Pixies Group, Purple Impinging, Re Work, Wolf Mountain Petroglyphs

Spring Forward

1 Comment

  Hello,

We had a big snow storm this week that out lined the trees in white and made for lots of shoveling.  Those gray cold days did not help me adjust to the springing forward of day light savings time, but I like the everyone else am adjusting.   I went off to the Schweinfurth on Monday and helped take down the Both Ends of the Rainbow show along with the staff.

I see doing that as my community service to the  Art Center as it gives me so much joy and so many opportunities to explore and grow.  The talk was good and we emptied all the galleries but one by the time I had to go home.

The snow cancelled the FAD and Social Arts meetings , but the on line zoom meeting of the Pixies went on as normal.   I feel so very fortunate to have so many groups that connect me with so many wonderful people.

The 100 Day SAQA challenge is at day 61 now and I am doing well.   I am ready to begin project # 5 using my stamped and stenciled fabrics in conjunction with commercial stuff.

 

 

 

Project Report: Wolf Mountain Petroglyph   This piece is 35″w X20.5″ t.   It is the made from stamps that I had created before, but had not printed until I was working on the 100 day project.

  I then started doing free motion quilting creating circular shapes to add around the figures.  It was fun and went quickly so the project is now to the point were I only need to add the sleeve this evening and it well be complete.

Spiraling Out   This work is # 4 from the SAQA  100 Day Challenge.   I am done quilting now and only need to add the binding and sleeve.

The printed block of ferns is an old work of mine.

 

 

 

Imagine Purple  I am still doing the running stitches to connect all the metallic inserts on this project.  I only have 15 more to connect  to the edges or each other to finish this step.

 

 

 

Wool Woods  I stitched down the mushrooms this week and now I need to purchase some stretcher bars to stretch it on.   I did a little painting on the white mushrooms with watered down acrylic as was suggested in the Material Matters lecture two weeks ago.   I want to try more ” painting” on wool  too.

Creative Assistants  I got busy and added hair arms and backs to 20 more assistants that had faces.  Now I need to move on with the stuffing and addition of pin backs to complete this little tribe.

 

Blue Beach  Work continues on this project.  I love all the textures of the buttons.   I have learned more about controlling tyvec sense I made these sections.  I will try some now work soon in that area too.          So glad that I had really quilted heavily on this background to support the weight.

Stay safe

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brown Study, Cattails and Dragonflies, Consider, Contemplating, Creative Strength Training, Daily Practice, Hand work, Pixies Group, Pondering, Three Witches

Summer Days

  Hello,

I hope summer it treating you well.   I am enjoying my walks and savoring every moment of the sun, pleasant temperatures  and gentle winds of the season.   I have had several encounters with wild life this week.  On my way home in the city of Syracuse at about 2:00 in the afternoon, I turned a corner to find a doe crossing the street followed by a young spotted fawn.  It makes one slow down and really look at our wonderful world.  Then on Tue eve when we were setting out on our patio, listening to music and quietly talking, a skunk walked about a foot away from my husband on his nightly food search.  Then Eric had a face to face encounter with yet another Skunk last eve.   No doer either time.

I had my usual meetings with Creative Strength Training and Pixies this week.  There was a special class for  CST called Negative Painting that I enjoyed too.   I have not finished the work for that class yet so.  The Slow Stitch group meant last week and I have finished  two  6″ squares that were the challenge.    This one is the non objective square.

 

This one is the abstract one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are all sorts of extra positive effects from QBL.  For example, I got  a box full of ties to use a raw material from my friend, Diane.   All the ties are gutted now and ready for use.     Here are my new treasures and a new challenge too.

 

 

 

 

I also made a connection with a fellow post card creator,  Becky.   She sent me this wonderful work this week.

 

 

Progress Report: Twilight Crows    This work is 16″ w X 30.5″ l.   I made the work in Valerie Goodwin’s Light and Easy workshop at QBL and finished it this week.

 

 

 

 

I am enjoying the working with crows and the transparency stuff too.

 

 

Brown Study- rework    The work is 24.5″w X 8″ t.  This piece is another project from QBL that I completed this week.  Paula Kovark taught us how to insert quilted  pieces into existing quilts.   The four contrasting triangles show that effect.    She called the effect “suturing “.    It sure makes for lots of fun applications I think.

 

 

 

 

Cattails and Dragonflies   This work is 11″ square.  This project is also the result of Paula’s class. one of her many challenging assignments was to make a continuous line drawing the filled the page.  I was not quite successful with the continuous line part,  but most of it is.   Color and paint were added this week.

Circling Circles  I have been working on the quilting of this work for a while and I can now see the end.  I only need to quilt three more of these circles and I will completed the job.

 

Complementary Colors Tryptic 

 Paula’s emphasis on quilting lines and talk with my friend Sharon has lead to some great quilting with this series.  I am all done with the quilting on Contemplate ( yellow and purple).  Not only did I make the quilting reflective , but I also inserted little points into the lines sometimes.   Now I am quilting on Consider( red and green), and I am starting with the colors them selves and will build out from there.    I will begin to quilt on Ponder this  week with yet another quilting approach.

 

 

 

Handwork  With the addition of a few more beads and stitched I declared this  work done and I will move on.

 

 

Three Witches  I won a beautiful piece of linen as a door prize at QBL the first week.  So I stared a big project.  I am going to try to created a black on white hand  stitch  piece of the Three Witches from Macbeth.   I have drawn one an done some research on faces for the second and third.   I only started stitching yesterday.

Stay cool and keep Creating

Carol

 

Diva Meetings, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Machine Drawing

After Quilting by the Lake

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Hello,

I have been home  less then a week from Quilting by the Lake and I am still flying high from the two weeks.  Week one I had  Paula’s Kovarkis’  Playing in the Garden of Stitch class.   I have long admired her work at the Q=A=Q shows at the Schweinfurth.   We spent the week playing and designing with free motion work on our sewing machines.  It was fun and  full of great explorations.

 

Paula showed us how to insert shapes into the work and that alone was worth the whole week for me.

 

 

I am  have a  long way to do to make this technique my own, but I am delighted by the nee technique.

This close up is of the teachers work so you can see some possibilities.

 

 

 

 

 

 Week two was with Valerie Goodwin, and was called Light and Lacy.    In this class we worked with layers of organza and a Lazore cutter.  It was fascinating as well and mostly hand work, with lots of fusing.

 

I learned a few new tricks here too.

 

 

Davana  gave a great talk on Indigo and then she shared her dye pot with us during week two.

 

 

 

 

My friend  Sharon  did a trunk show one day and another friend Donna, did one on her rust dyeing.

 

There were also lectures several evenings as well as  a trip to the Schweinfurth to see the  shows there.  I loved the show of work from Fiber Arts Magazine.  There were wonderful materials and techniques there.

The shadows are and imports part of this work.

Meeting with old friends  was great  and  I think I may have made  a few new connections as well.  I am looking forward to next year too.

 

 

 

I had one other nice event at QBL, my old teacher Jeanette Meyers gave me a little hand made book she had made.  I have been saving and sending salvages to her ever since I was in her class 5 years ago.  She is so kind.

 

Years ago I was the beneficiary of a scholarship to QBL at a time when I could not afford it , so I have a soft spot for that gift.  In return I made a raffle basket  to go for the scholarship fund this year.   The doll is one I made years ago and I added lots of books as well as several dryer balls.   There were lots of tickets in the bag and the winner came to me and thanked me for the basket after her name was drawn.

 

Then on Monday I helped with the hanging of the Diva  show in Trumansburg NY.

 

This is Donna’s entry for that show.  The opening is Sat from 7 to 9 and the show will be up until Sept 26.

 

The Fiber Art Dames had a meeting on Wed and Sharon shared her work from the Slow Stitch class at QBL.   She thinks it will take a year for her to complete this one.

 

 

I had a Zoom meeting with the Pixies as well.  It has been a full week.

 

The Slow Stitch CST group meant yesterday as well.  Our little 6″ mono chromatic pieces were due.  This is my piece.

 

 

 

I also want to do a little bragging about my grand sone Nick.  He is a welder and his newest  work is this trunk bank.

 

 

 

 

Progress Report;  Circling Through  I have not done a lot of work sense QBL , but I am now in the middle of quilting this work with circles.

 

Complementary Color Challenge Purple and Yellow    I am now in the machine quilting stage on this work as well.

 

I hope you are doing well and that summer is all you expected.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

 

 

Bacteria Dreaming, Blue on Blue, College Life, Creative Strength Training, Dancers, Drawing, Fiber Artist Stitch Club, Hand work, Machine Drawing, People, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Total Loss

New Ideas

Hello,

My good friend Robert sent me mushrooms to grow  and I am delighted with them.  They are editable and ready now to harvest.   Great fun.

 

 

 

 

It’s the beginning on the month and I had lots of meetings this week.  QuEG’s and Diva’s meant on Tuesday.  Noel did a great demo on how to take better photos  and I learned a few new tricks.

 

 

 

There was also a new approach presented for Textile Artist Stitch Club by artist Sabine Kamer.   I am enjoying her unique approach  so I have started two.

 

 

 

My friend Ginny also gave me an old textile of wool that is in such bad shape that it can not all be saved.   After applying fusible interfacing  to the back so the fabric would not fray any more I cut the  hands  from  it.   They both need lots more stitch work.

 

 

There was also work to do for Creative Strength Training.     One of our assignment was to make a color wheel and then right around it our responses to each color.

 

A second assignment was to do an abstract from a free thought line work.

 

 

Progress Report: Total Loss   This work is done now and it is 34.25″ w X 41.5″ t.    I enjoyed doing the work although the subject is a little grim.

I used  silk papers and the organza I had painted in this work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue on Blue  This work also got completed this week.  It is 19″ w X 25″ t.    The circles are the liner caps from  peanuts and medicine bottles.

 

 

 

 

The background was preprinted fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

Bacteria Dreaming  This has become my daily practice piece for the time being.  I can’t seem to find a new thing at the moment.  The little circles are rubber washers that I collected at some point in the past.

 

 

 

Dancers   All the blocks are assembled and quilted now.  I need to think about what images I want to add on top and from what material they will be made.

 

 

 

College Life- Fall 1968

I am not sure how I came to the decision, but for the fall of 1968 I moved out of my family home into off campus student housing. The house was just a block away from campus and I loved it. It was a single family house that had been altered with an addition on the back. Two art friends, Ann and Susan, lived up stairs, along with Jeannie Priebe. Down stairs were a house parents’ section, a living room, and a shared kitchen. I was in the new wing on the back of the house, which had two baths and four rooms. My room had white walls and a red carpet. The other three rooms in my section changed occupants every quarter that year, so I did not get close to anyone, but it was still a good experience. The lesson I learned there was that I don’t like to eat alone, except for breakfast. Eric and Larry along with Eric Gerrard and Bill Bollinger lived across town in a house next door to the landlords, Mamma and Pappa Mayor. (That’s what we called them: he really was the mayor of Muncie!) While they lived there, Eric and I built two sets of pine bookshelves she–the first of our shared furniture. I still have one set in my studio today.

The quarter flew by. Eric and I continued our love of the movies and went to see Juliet of Spirits, The Fox and Henry the V, among other things. We cheered at lots of football games that fall as well. I did well with my grades that term and got A’s in Art Education and Educational Psychology. I got B’s in Sculpture, Art History 2 and Art in America class.

At the end of the quarter Eric went with the family to Iowa to meet the extended family. He was a big hit. Grandmother Esther like him and the Bright girls were all crazy about him. He did well with Mom’s family, too. I did suggest to him that Grandmother Rugh would likely ask him to choose the morning Bible reading. Forewarned, he had pre-selected a section from Ecclesiastes– “To every thing there is a season.” (Pete Seeger had turned that into a folk song, and currently a rock version was a big hit for the Byrds.) We think Grandmother was suspicious. He joined right in with the skeet shooting we did in Grandmother Ruth’s back yard that afternoon (though he couldn’t hit anything). That evening, he teased Tracy and me about our sore shoulders from the gun’s kickback, but the next day he was more sympathetic as he was a bit sore, too. Kelly started out thinking he was “weird,” but fell in love with him by the end of the visit.    I was glad that my family loved Eric as much as I did.

Keep Creating

Carol