Category Archives: Running Red

Baby Quilts, Dive In, Label Blocks, Machine Drawing, Make Visable, Ribbon Work, Running Red, Stretch Daily

Victories

 

Carolyn Hello,

This week has been a week with several little victories.  The first was last Thursday evening when I went to the Prevention Network banquet.    Just by chance I sat next to Carolyn and she wanted the quilt I had donated to the cause.  As this picture suggests she was successful in her pursuit of that goal.  I was as delighted with her achievement of that goal as she wasVictoria's woek and the Network got the benefit  too.       Friday was the Towpath Quilt show and I attended that event.   This is Victoria’s finished work.  I have watched her struggle with this piece and I think her solution is great.

IMG_3530 Another   event in my week was a trip to the SAQA meeting on Saturday.  The group was small but full of  exciting ideas.  My friend Chris showed two of her framed works.  It made me think again about working in that direction.Regina's work

On Monday I went to visit with another quilting buddy Regina.  We had not seen each other sense fall so she had lots of new works.  I really like this one were she used discharged paste and then embellished it with lock washers.  She had also completed four works from the IMG_3550

Carol Soderlands class in Soy Wax printing that the both of us were in at QBL II.    This shot is of the wonderful potato smasher that she brought to class and we all used to print with wax.    This shot is a work in  progress but sheIMG_3551_thumb.jpg also had four  she had completed.   They were wonderful insect type pieces that I truly enjoyed.      Then because I just can’t seem to get enough play time with other creative soles, I went to play with Cheri yesterday.  IMG_3576We had fun painting   on Tyveck.  I now have a new pile of  altered material to add to my stash.  I will do the melting of some of the surfaces tomorrow.  Ans as Cheri suggested one does not need to melt all the Tyvec to use it.

The Big success  of thisBaby quilt week was saving the Baby quilt I had ruined.  At the  Towpath show I talked with Angela about the problem of my marker marks.   I told her of the methods I had tried and she listened very sympathetically.  Her suggestion was I try Oxi Clean.   I stopped on the way home and got some at the grocery store.   It did not take all of the marks out on the first run( the fifth wash) but it didIMG_3565 diminish them.  I air dried it and Sue Ellen looked at it on Sat before we went to the SAQA meeting.  She said they barely showed and suggested I repeat the process again.  So I did.   To my delight when I went down and took the work off the line yesterday it was clean.   I only took six washes to do the trick.  I will give the quilt to the expectant mother and tell her that I know it will withstand lots of washing.   I am so very thankful for my encouraging friends.   They pushed me forward on this project until it was a Success.

Running Red 39" X 46"
Running Red
39″ X 46″

Progress Report:  Running Red   I am delighted with how this quilt finally came out.    The curving quilting did prove to be a big IMG_3571challenge for me, but I think it works in the end.    I used a variegated thread and that proved to be a good idea as well because some times it faded into the background and other times it stood out.  

I used  silk from an Obi, taffeta,  IMG_3572and old table cloth I had done deconstructed screen printing on and cotton in this work.    The quilting pattern of the swirls came from the Obi.   IMG_3569

 IMG_3553 Make Visible   I had so much success with the circular quilt pattern in  Running Red that I tried a  variation on that idea with this quilt.  I am going to write the words in the quilting pattern on the surface.   This shot is of the letter patterns I will be following.

Flags: Stretch  DailyIMG_3555I am working away on the flag challenge too.   What a great place to try new things and explore.  This time I did a little trumpto on the dark green figures.  I added green plastic to  give more interest and I cut new bigger stencils that I then spray painted on the work.  Lastly, I added the letters.  They are cut from a photograph and stitched down.      My talk with Susan made me feel that adding paper to the work was okay.

IMG_3554 Flags: Dive In  With this flag I took the paper idea even further.  The week before I had been dyeing with Ethel and I put paper under the work so the wax would be absorbed and I left it under when I dyed too.  So I had several pieces of beautiful papers on the desk when I was playing with this project.  I traced the painted sections of the flag on the papers and cut them out.  Then I stitched them down.  Ribbon Work

Ribbon Work    This work is moving along- but I have hit a snag with the fact that I have used the whole spool of yellow ribbon now.     I need to live with it before I decide what will be my next move.

IMG_3578 Label Block  The nightly work goes on with this project.

Keep Creating

Carol

Baby Quilts, Fabric Collage Constructions, Flag Challenge, Label Blocks, Machine Drawing, Make Visable, Name Game, Patti, Running Red, Spring Grass, Vernal Equinox

Mistake- Lesson Learned

 

064  Hello,

I have had a mixed week.  I spent Friday morning last week helping my friend Nancy and her Grand Daughter Jaelyn  do a little stencil work.  They were making a back pack and Jaelyn wanted her name on the flap.  We had a pleaset time stenciling  and as soon as she was finished, Jaelyn  pulled out the feather weigh and was ready to get back to assembly.

The  upsetting thing this Bears-001.jpgweek was a gift project.   I was making a baby quilt for a friends grandchild and I was nearly done.  I only had to add the strings for the balloons that the bears were holding and I would be complete.  I thought I really wanted to the strings to be strait so I pulled out a marker and drew the lines on to follow.  I was excited as I could see the end of the surface work for this project.081  I did not take time to test the marker and that was my down fall.   When it came time to wash out the marks I found that I had picked up the wrong tool and the marks will not come out.    I have tried several of the ways various folks have suggested from the inner078 net, but no success.    The quilt is ruined as a gift of course.   The pens do look similar, but that is an excuse.  I can go and purchase a gift, but some how that will not be the same.  I have no one to blame but myself for my haste.  I am disappointed with myself.  I am certain I will not make that mistake again.

Name Game III Patti Progress Report: Name Game III- Patti     This quilt is 14” X 26” .   I am so enjoying this processPatti- close up 1 as it really challenges my design skills when it comes to putting the blocks together.  One change in direction can 093change the whole movement of the work.      I like all the texture of the raw edges too as they seem to add a different type of movement to the final work.     There is also the challenge of using letters as a starting point because the shapes of letters involve strait lines and curves in ways I do not think ofPatti before cut drawing usually. This shot is of the work before I cut it into pieces.    I am dreaming of a new challenge using more then one name.  This could add to the spice of the project.

Vernal Equinox  Vernal Equinox This work is  22” X 25”.    I call this building process fabric collage.  I used lots of fabric textures in this work. 097 There are velvets, valures, satins, cottons, corduroys, and brocades here.  The 098wading and folding adds its own texture to the end product too.  I was trying to fill the surface with visual interest and I feel it was successful.

Running Red085I am to the quilting stage of this project so I am only showing a detail this week.  I used the  pattern on the red silk as my inspiration for that quilting pattern.  As it is turning out the double knit on the  old table cloth( on the left here) has some woven patterns in it that are similar to the swirls of the silk pattern.

077Make Visible is the title I have chosen for this new work.    I spent and afternoon with Susan last summer trying out all her mark making 076tools and  in doing that I wrote lots of different quotes.   I had pulled out a bunch of fabric last week and this piece seemed to go with one of the collections.  This shot shows how I star the assembly of this type of quilt.   I lay out were I want the big blocks and then I begin to fill in the spaces around them to create the top  using 2.5 ” and 1″ strips.

075.jpgFlag- Spring Grass   I got a call from Susan this week.  She too is struggling with this flag challenge that we created.  We agreed that for both of us, starting with the central image or center of interest  first- is not the way either of us works.   I am not comfortable filling in around the graphics we are both working with.  But I will persist as that is how growth takes place.  I only finished this one this week.  I am still struggling with the text as a part of this challenge too.

Label Block083  The beat goes on with this project.

Keep Creating

Carol

Diva Meetings, Label Blocks, Name Game, Patti, Running Red, Whip Shock Hill #2

Spring Effects

 

Spring flowers  Hello,

I will admit that the weather and the sight of spring flowers does effect me.    I have been on real “start new” push of late.  I have also been a little upset with one of my pieces- but more on that later.  This week was the Diva Alice's Pellicansmeeting and I was very excited as I have not been to one sense Oct.  The winter has been a bad one and it really kept me home.     But before the meeting  Cheri, Noel and I went to see Alice’s show of her  accordion fabric books in down town Ithaca.  They looked wonderful on the walls.  There were several I had never seen and so I am glad we made the effort to go and check the show out.          There was  lots and lots of new work at the Diva meeting too .IMG_3451Alice is getting ready for the Spring Art Trail and so she had this pillow among other things to share.    This one along with several others that will be for sale on the trail.Lorries work

One of the things that Lorrie does, is deep layered hand work and this is the one she is currently working on.    She builds so many stitches on top of organza and other fabrics to create great depth.  A different sort of collage fabric effect.

CheriCheri is doing wonderful canvas work  were she starts with freezer paper masks and builds paint layers on top and then stitches by hand and machine on top.   The layering isIMG_3446_thumb.jpg amazing to me.   Like me, she always has many things going at the same time and this spider ( in progress) is and example of her  3-D work.   I had given her the fabric that she used for the legs and body and I think that is why she brought it along.  IMG_3444Liese did this soft “Island Garden “ as her entry for a garden completion.  The plants that she stitched are ones that could grow under the sea/ tide/ wet conditions of the area.   Quilting can expand your horizons in unusual ways. Anne

Anne had this specular work to share too.    I really enjoy how she cuts up her photo graphics  to use as strong jumping off points for her work.   I find this piece wonderful!

IMG_3449Noel showed us several works and among them were these two quilts for the Rainbow Challenge for the Tow Path Quilt Guild.  These two along with 22 others will be on display next week end at the guild show in  the Manilas  Library.    Ruth has finished her quiltIMG_3461_thumb.jpg about Kemo Treatment and it is wonderful.  I am sorry that my photo of the full work is not sharp enough to post- but this close up shows how powerful her stitching is.  She has such strong skills.

IMG_3464Then Wednesday, I went and spent the day playing at Batik  with my friend Ethel.   We had a grand time and I now have six new pieces that will be starting off places for more work.  She has  a wonderful IMG_3462piece on the pin wall and I took a shot of it too.  She uses her hand dyes so very well.   I have been watching this one develop over the course of this year.  She keeps moving the pieces about as she develops the idea.

IMG_3471Progress Report:  Whip Shock Hill II  This work has given me a mix of emotions this week.   I had worked so carefully on mimicking  the photo and I liked that portion of the work.   I am done with the stitch workDetail form Whit Shock II and all the textures are down.    But- it does not work for me at all!    So I roll it up on Friday and  decided to take it to the Diva meeting and ask for help.   I am so very glad I did! One can easily get  trapped in there own head and not “see” how to get out ad solve a problem.  When I put this work on the wall next to Whip Shock Hill I    the group could see it was not working too.  But they helped with an easy suggestion.  Flip the  new Full shot of Whit Shock Hillpiece and add it to the other side.     I love the results and I can now add the sleeve and complete the set.

IMG_3418New Start   All the frustration  I was feeling about Whip Shock Hill and the effects of spring pushed me to pull materials for a new work.  I think all of these fabrics play well together and will make a nice piece.   It will be my next project.

  New Start Running Red IMG_3419        I pulled these fabrics at the same time.     I created the red and white fabric in the Deconstructed  Screen Class last fall and I really wanted to use it so I IMG_3421started with that stack.   There is some silk kimono  and taffeta in this work too.   I think  the frustration I was feeling also effected me a bit so I wanted to do something that I felt sure about.   It is coming along nicely  now.

Name Game  III- PattiIMG_3415  This is how this work looks before I started to cut it up.    A little planning will help the next time I do this technique.     And that planning is in the size of the work.    I was so concerned with getting the letters to fit that I was not careful with the size of the base.     In the last two pieces I  stared with  22” squares  and made 5.5” squares when I cut up the two layers.    This time I  made the  base   24 “  and had to make 4.5” squares and I lost some of the image from each row because it did not cut down to even units.      One needs to make the mistakes to grow.    I then pinned the  blocks to the pin wallIMG_3424 And IMG_3425.jpgstated arranging them.  That step took a while and I took many photos of the many  layouts as I went along.   This is the one I settled on. Now I will join them and quilt them together.

Ribbon Work    This work isIMG_3466_thumb.jpg growing slowly.  This is a case were not having a per plan may get me in lots of trouble as I go forward.  I have been just adding one hour’s worth of work on at a time.   But at this point I have no feeling for were I need to go next.  So I am just looking at the work.

Label BolckLabel Block 3
The hand work goes on with  my evening TV work.

Keep Creating

Carol