Category Archives: Autumn Leaves

Autumn Leaves, Childhood Memories, Jumping Off Place, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Three Sea Horses, Topographical, Two Trees

October Cooling

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Hello,
There is a real feeling of fall now as it has turned quite cold around here. The hardy Zinnia are still doing well and we have not had a frost yet. But if is in the air. I did some house/studio cleaning too. It seems I need to get my “nest” in order for winter. I have eliminated three boxes and a bag of stuff to pass forward for others to use. It makes me feel good to do that sort of thing.
There seems to be another thing in the air too,  because three of the groups I meet with cancelled meetings this week. Two due to low audience.   Perhaps everyone is busy hankering down for fall and winter too.

Progress Report: Three Sea Horses This work is 22″w X 16″t. Noel talked of this method of laying down roving and then putting netting over the top so one could  machine stitch on it. I tried that method on this project. The sea horses are cut from felt so there are sharp edges and then I added roving on top too. I like this technique. It is very soft, but  I think I need to work on contrast more the next time I try it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Trees The work is 18″ w X 18″ t. I started it in the Rock On Class With Cynthia Corbin at QBL this summer. This week I got busy and did machine drawing of two trees from a photo of them on Dad’d farm. It sure has the gray feeling I was having about the day.

 

 

 

 

 

Topographical I had a good time working away on this piece this week. I think two more hours of couching will complete the process. I feel there is lots of potential in this process and plan to explore it more in the future.

Past My Window- Autumn Leaves

I stared working away on this piece this week and it just seemed to take on a life of it’s own.     I started pinning the leaves I had created to supplement the ones I had made in Betty’s class on the final day.  Then I found a package of silk leaves that someone had passed my way and they just seemed to go together so I was off and pinning like a fool. It will take a long time to do all the free motion applique I think. But it is enjoyable for me.

Jumping Off Place        Angela gave me a packet called Through the Looking glass. It contained some great textured yarns and fabrics. I pulled it out yesterday and read the instructions. It is not my thing any more then it was Angel’s, but it turned out to be a good starting place. Only the organza, and little blue sequined square are from the kit. The rest I pulled from my collections. I will use the wonderful threads and supplement then with my own as the project was designed for a 12 “ square and I have gone way beyond that.

Coral Sea This work did not get much attention this week. But I did find some more felt that has misty fuse on it already so I am off and running again.

 

 

Wool Rounds I keep my hand in this project and finished three circles this week. My process is to fill in  one circle  at a  toime and every time when I finish with one stitch on a round, I have thread on the needle. I use that  thread  to do the blanket stitch on a new wool unit to tack it down. When all the units are tacked down I will move onto the next ring of stitches in the circles while still finishing off one fully.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories Depot

My parents built their first house in Ainsworth Iowa. Mom saved the check for the lumber yard for the construction and it was $180. In thinking about the houses I lived in I realized that three of my childhood homes were built into hills with a walk in door at that level.  Two of the them had garages . The Ainsworth house faced south with a gully on the west side that slopped up to the high school where dad taught high school. When we lived there we  two trips to the train depot in town. One time it was to get a great big box that contained parts for a rocking chair with an  apple green plastic on it. I got to play in the box while dad did the assembly. That  process was mostly one of  adding the arms and legs. I love rocking in it . The second time we went to the depot, it was to pick up a shipment of 100 live baby chicks. We took them home and checked them before we drove the m to Grandmother Esters house. I remember setting next to the box in the dark in the back of the car listening to the little peeps. I think I fell asleep. Because my next memory of the chicks was in Grandmother’s basement behind a 2″x 12″ that made a short wall next to the corner furnace. They all ended up in the brooder house and later in the hen house. I’m sure I must have gather eggs from some of them in later years. and  had some of them for Sunday dinner too.

I hope everyone is enjoying fall and creating great work.

Carol

# 2, Autumn Leaves, Creative Assistants, Label Blocks, Little Foxes

Winter Ice

 

Hello,Ice

I am paying special attention to ice as I slipped and fell last week.  I am fine.  This shot of ice along the street really shows how water shrinks as it freezes.  I love all the layers of air pockets in this shallow pool along with the leaves for extra texture.   I took lots of photos of ice this week so there may be another ice quilt in the future.

IMG_4958Angela is having a play day in her studio tomorrow and we will be printing with interfacing stencils.   I got carried away as usual with my preparation and made 4.  I will show the results next week.

Autumn LeavesProgress Report: Autumn Leaves This is the last  of my leaf series for the time being.  I had a good time doing bobbin work on this piece as well as the free motion quilting of the leaves on top.  IMG_4952  The out line of the leaves was done with cord that was so thick it could not go through the eye of any of my machine needles  so that is whyClose up of Autumn Leaves I put it in the bobbin and drew from the back.    I then changed the thread and did the vanes  from the front.    I also used this one last piece of printed fabric  from one of my trips up at Mill Site Lake .    The rest of the leaves are from trees in my yard.  There are two different types of Oaks  and Maples.IMG_4950

 

Coastal Color 2Coastal Color 2   I am having fun adding to this felted piece.  I really like the build up of the texture with stitches and yarns for color.

 

New work fuchsia   New work This is the third  top  developed from a collage.    I also meant all three of my personal monthly challenges with this piece.  The challenges are: 1. to use some of Ethel Fabric in a work.    2. to use some fabric I have altered in a work  3. to use a collage as a starting point.   Now I need to decide how I want to quilt this piece.

 

 

 

new workNew Work green This top is not quite finished yet,but close.  I have always been interested in how things work and seeing the insides of stuff.  So when I got a new IMG_4954_thumb.jpgcamera last year because I had dropped the old one, I did not throw it away.  I finally took it apart this week .    I love all the little plastic and electronic parts and so I decided to make a top to stitch them too.    It will be a stitching challenge of  sorts.

IMG_4955.jpgLittle Fox  I made this little fox pin this week too.  After receiving positive feed back and having two friends ask for pins of their own,  I  decided to make a tutorial on how to make this fellow.  It is started and I will finish it this week.

 

 Creative Assistants  Creative AssistantsI finished off 30 creative assistants this week.  This is a shot of the last ten.    It sure goes to show how easy it is for me to improvise.

Label Block #35IMG_4956  I just keep working away on these little guys.

Keep Creating

CarolIce

 

Autumn Leaves, Coastal Color, Creatibve Assistants, Label Blocks, Natural Elements, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), William's Quilt

Winter

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IMG_4902.jpgHello,

 

The woman who works with her hands is a laborer.      The woman who works with her head and her hands is a  craftsman.   The woman who works with her hands , her head and her heart is an Artist.      St Francis of Assisi

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This quote really spoke to me this week.  My wish for all my friends is that they be Artists.     I spent a lot of time with those artist this week.  One day I went to the Turquoise Street Studio and work withIMG_4904 three other gals.  Beth was doing pastels, while Barb and the other two were painting.   What a lot of fun to work with this energy flowing.

Then because it was the beginning of the month the QuIGs  and IMG_4907.jpgDiva’s meant too.   The gals in those groups help me so much when it comes to problems I have with my techniques.  I learned a lot about mixing   different types of fabrics this week.  Corrine was showing off her daughters aromatic jewelry at the meeting and she even sold one.   IMG_4908  Then yesterday the FAB group meant at Patti’s house.  She shared beautiful fabrics from the far east with us.  There was wonderful weaving in all of them  with lots of color and  gold threads.  My one other event this week was to be a part of the judging of Scholastic Art.  I so enjoy seeing what the middle school and high school students are doing when it comes to art.  It was very enjoyable.

IMG_4915.jpgProgress Report:  Creative Assistants   While I was at the studio with all the other artists I worked on these little guys.    I was only stitching them closed and adding a pin to the back, but  I got 20 of them done.  I added  the paint when I got home and they are now ready to pass along to others.

Williams’s Quilt IMG_4916I finished the stitch in the ditch quilting on this project this week.  There were lots of lines to do.  Now I am ready to start to do the binding.  It will take about and hour to do each side.  It is a bright colorful work – just great for an active little boy.

IMG_4918.jpgCoastal Colors  I made progress on this piece this week.  It is done as far as the machine work is concerned.   But I am concerned about the ripple.  The gals at the meetings all had great suggestions about how to deal with that and I learned from them.

IMG_4917Hopefully I can stretch it well enough to get it flat.   The bad news is I  already laided  out and started two more that I fear will have the same problem.    But the next time I try to mix felting with machine drawing, I will know better then to put stiffener as a part of that step.  It does not shrink at the same rate as the wool and that is the source of the problem we think.

Autumn Leaves  IMG_4913   I am doing the free motion drawing of the vanes of the leaves now.  I am having fun and I have learned how Mother Nature designs each species differently.

IMG_4912.jpgLabel Block #34    I remember taking the Pooh label off a blanket for Alexis when she was little.  She is 20 now.  Do I hold onto things for a long time or what?

Keep Creating

Carol

Autumn Leaves, Autumns Collection, Buffalo Bluffs A & B, Coastal Color, Label Blocks, Natural Elements, Stretch Works, William's Quilt

Reflection

Hello-

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We are coming to the end of another year and I have been thinking not only about my dreams for the future, but also reviewing what happened in 2015.

A Jewish Proved  says it best:

The Quality of life is fuelled by our productive wealth.

With this in mind I can say I am very wealthy.   For me it has been a very productive year.   For the first time I counted the number of spools of thread I used in my work.  All that machine drawing does add up and I finished off  65 spools this year.     This is reflective of the number of works I completed and with Autumn Collection added today that number is 49.    I do so enjoy challenging myself  and the amount of work I do reflects this drive I have.

I enjoyed my travels this year and visited lots of friends. I went south to  Susan in Florida  in March.   I took a trip to Maine to see Barbara and Elizabeth with Marty in May.  I went to see Barb in Indiana in June.   There was also loss in my life this year as two friends died.   The WWII veteran, Fred Bishop, who lived  up the street passed away in March.  My good friend and mentor Ethel Whitmore  died  in August.  I miss her greatly, but do to the generosity of her children I am wrapped in her fabrics and dyes that now fill my studio.  I made a promise to myself that I would use some of her material in every work I create for a year.  That will not be  too much of a challenge as I already find her fabrics blending into my work with ease.  She helped me grow so very much and all the joy I find in creating and using Silk Paper is do to her introduction to that material.    I am thankful that she was a part of my life for such a long time.

Buffalo-Bluffs-AB_thumb.jpgProgress Report:   Buffalo Bluffs    This diptych is now complete.  Both units are stretched and  measure 16” X 20 “.    I learned a lot about cutting up a unified work with this project.      I had to make some additions to both sides when I sliced it  to make each section work on its own as well as  in tandem.  I based the work on this part of a photo I took last summer.    I enjoyed building up the surface with lace , velvet, cotton, felt,  silk and organza.

IMG_4892  I continue to use the fabrics that  do the job texturally as well as colorfully to keep the piece functioning.  

 

Autumn CollectionAutumn Collection   This work is 37” X 30.5 “   With is quilt I finally used the silk leaves that I created with Cris in the silk paper workshop earlier this fall.  IMG_4882The piece has lots of different techniques and fabrics in it.     Not only the silk leaves but also leaves cut from cotton and organza fabrics.  The trunk has some of the fabric that Marty and I spray painted after we came back from visiting with Elizabeth last spring. IMG_4880  I also included some colored pencil drawing along the top of the hill to IMG_4881suggest far away trees behind the weeds.     It was great fun to work on this piece.

Autumn Leaves IMG_4876I am now doing the quilting on this piece.  I loaded the bobbin with thick cotton thread and did the outline of the leaf from the back of the quilt.  Then flipped it over and drew in the vanes.  I am happy with how it is coming along.

 

Autumn LeavesCoastal Color- Red Rock I have only just started the thread painting on this work.  It is different to be building on top of a felted surface.   This work is based on a small portion of a photo.  I block off only the section I want to look at and IMG_4872use it as my starting point.    This is the section of the rock face.

 

 

 IMG_4885New work    I built this collage a few weeks ago and it is the start of another work.   I am not going to copy the colors – but try to keep the shapes IMG_4883.jpgand tones in the work the same. This is the first pin up of the fabrics I have selected for this project.  Two of them are from Ethel’s stash, but most are ones I have altered with dye and paint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wiliams-Quilt.jpgWilliam’s Quilt The top and back are now complete and I have the two sections united. I am doing stitch in the ditch quilting starting by quilting around all the photos and working out form there.     This process is not fast, but it is enjoyable  for me.

 

 

Label Block # 33IMG_4875   There is not rush here just slow and steady progress on this project.

May the  2016 bring you joy and delight.

Carol