Category Archives: Natural Elements

Along the Shore, Button Weed, Felt Work, Flag Challenge, Label Blocks, Little Jellyfish, Monkey Business, Play Time, Pond Water, Rainbow Tree, Soeing Jacks

Travel plus

June 8, 2017 admin 2 Comments

Hello,

We hit the open road to test out Eric’s new car. It was fun but we spent a lot of time in the rain. We went to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Coppers Town first. Then on the Norman Rockwell museum. We saw Edith Wharton’s newly restored gardens were a sculpture show was going on. The sculpture was mixed among the woodland paths too. We did the Emily Dickinson home and then moved on to Shaker Village in Canterbury. I really liked all the wonderful innovative machinery there. These machines were in the wash house. We made it all the way to the Maine coast before we headed back west. This model boat was in an old boat house that was converted into restraint where we had dinner. We stopped in the Adirondacks for the night and then went to the Adirondack Experience museum and had a good time looking at the treasures there. The travel was great but as always I am glad to be home with many great memories, lot of photos and the ideas are flying in my head.

Tue as the the QuEG’s meeting so I got even more stimulation. Corrine has been doing a lot of beading and the results are beautiful.

Linda C showed us this beautiful top. There is a lot of hand work on it.

Liz is finding lots of UFO’s as she dose some spring cleaning. She shared three. I look forward to seeing the finished work too.

Linda H shared this hand printed fabric that she has started doing hand work on. We all had stories and lots to share. It was a good time.

I have such great friends . Yesterday I got a treasure box from Debbie. I love all these little bits of trim and ribbon. She knows me too well. They will all go into the next batch of Creative Assistants that I will begin as soon as QBL is over this year.

Progress Report White Iris This work is 15”w X 19”h. The white blossoms where originally created for the 9 Blue Iris quilt that I showed in the last post. But they were too pale and faded into the background.

So I did a felted and fabric wall and used the flowers on top. I do like the shape of iris and hope to do some more of them.

Button Weed I did a little rework on this piece. It needed a center of interest so I added a dragonfly. The body is three cords twisted together and then zig -zagged over with a satin embroidery thread. The wings are a florist’s ribbon.

Pods These are the last two pods. I have 36 of them and I have had a good time. I also have all my little Christmas Favors done for this year.

Prayer Flag Pins I made these after reading the June/July issue of “Quilting Arts Magazine”. The article made it seem so simple and it really was. This shot makes them about life size on my computer. I will make a lot of these little guys as they are fun too.

Spring Jacks When I make felted backs I try to do more then one at a time. I did three when had the felter out and this one is going to be my support for the third Jack In the Pulpit project.

Rainbow Tree This is the third of the felted pieces. I am having fun using my many clear beads to embellish this work.

Pond Water

This project is also done with a lot of hand work so it usually does not get much attention. I did add the gold units and a lot of stitching this week because I got a head on my Label Block project while traveling.

Jellyfish I continue to struggle with this work. But I keep at it. I sliced the top layer of the organza and did hand work on top of that. I like the texture and will continue to work on all the Jellies in this fashion.

Green Dragon This work is all assembled and I have done the stitch in the ditch step on it. Now to move to the dragon quilting.

Flags- Play Time I worked on the flag project from my trip to Florida this week too. I only have two more images to alter. I used oil paint sticks to add color to the works this week.

Flag- Monkey Business With this flag I used a paint marker to do the lettering.

Flag –Along the Shore With this piece I used the oil sticks for the water. The lettering was done with markers.

Label Blocks #123, #124, #125, #126 This was the only hand work I took on the trip so every night I worked away on these blocks. The pile is getting smaller.

Keep being Creative

Carol

Button Weed, Curvie Cuts, Felt Work, Label Blocks, Little Jellyfish, Pods, Pond Water, Truquoise Street Studio

Going Forward

May 18, 2017 admin

Hello,

We continue to go forward into the wonders of spring. I love all the smells that assault my nose as I take my daily walk. Some flowers are fading, but others Like Spiraea, and Lily of the Valley seem to quickly take their place and demand the attention of the bees.

I went off to see the art show at St David’s last week. It was very impressive and with so many of my friends represented I really enjoyed the powerful work. This is one of Sharon’s new works. I like how she is building up the surface and overlapping the leaves. Carol had two sculptures in the show. I know she struggled with this one.

Barbara had two pieces as well and this one is a part of her street seen series. Beth had two pieces too and both of them had red stickers on them. She was delighted with the sale news.

My Friend Angela had work in the show too. I learned later that this piece sold too. It is always a powerful show with lots of interesting work. I am delighted for my friends.

I went off to play with Beth and Barbara on Thursday afternoon at the Turquoise Street Studio. They were both working away on pastels as is there usual thing. It is fun to work in a parallel setting.

Progress Report: Button Weed This work is 16” X 20”. I enjoyed working on this piece as I have good memories from the Iowa farm and picking these weeds. We use to use them as noise makers when we did Indian dancing. I was always taken by the fact that they where such a strong spring green.

Pods I keep working away and finding new ways to embellish these little pods. It is fun to find homes for the last few odd beads and buttons that I seem to have lots of.

Pond Water I did hand work on this project at Turquoise Street. I am adding the gold units now. It is very calming almost meditative work for me.

Iris This project had proved to be a challenge. I made all these iris blossoms and then discovered that they just got lost on my background. I guess there will be a second one in this grouping. So I built some in blue and purple for the actual project. I am ready now to go back in and build up this flower with more detail and color.

Curvy Cut Jellyfish This project is moving forward. I really like the shapes of these jellyfish. I have had to really challenged myself with I could how to build them up to get the effect I want. I am sorry that the dark centers get lost with the many layers of organza.

Brown Back I found a use for the back I made last week already. I am ironing down all the cut-a way’s from the fusing I use in my work.

Red Scarf I keep working away on these works. They are fun to build, but they do take a lot of time. I will add the soft neck unit when I have all the nets filled. Only three more to complete.

Wool Brown I am a little beyond half way along with the felting of this work. I will do the free motion work on top when that step is complete.

Mixed I am all done with the felting here and ready to add the stitches on top.

Label Block # 121 They just keep on coming.

Keep Creating

Carol

Curvie Cuts, Label Blocks, Mantis, Milkweed Pods, Pods, Pond Water, Scrap Happy Quilts, The Fox, Three- D works, Wood Ibis

Spring Rains

April 27, 2017 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

The spring rains here in central New York sure have pushed the buds forward and the trees are greening up. Its so pleasant outdoors I even ate my breakfast out on the patio this morning. I finished up the drying and pressing of the silk paper from last week. This one is my new favorites with the captured Japanese Lantern pods from Regina in it. I did a lot of work in the studio this week and the project report will support that.

Progress Report: Milkweed Pods This stretched work is 18” X 24”. There is a lot of free motion machine drawing in this piece. The background was built up and then the milkweed pods were added on top. The steams were created with three yarns that were zig-zagged together and then sewn down on the surface. I did a lot of stitching on the pods to show the woody textures on them.

Scribble This small quilt is 18” X 21”. It is made from the cut away fuse backed scrap fabrics that I have have created in the last few weeks. The green from the Jacks and the pink from the blossom projects. I then just do a lot of free motion machine play on top to hold it all down. This quilt along with two others will go to the Animal Shelter here in town to be put in the wire cages. They soften the effect of the metal cages a bit.

Flags- Wood Ibis I just keep working away on the flags that I made in Florida. The lettering here was done with a Sharpie marker.

Fox This too is one of my Florida Flags. I used fabric markers to add color and do the big lettering on this one. The small text is stamped work.

Mantis This work has fabric crayons as the color agent. The lettering is done with a stencil and silver stamping ink.

Pond Water This project is going slowly as most of the current attachments are being made by hand. I work for several hours last week adding these little white units. This work is a part of my curvy cur series. The white is deconstructed screen worked fabric that I purchased from Randy.

Pods I continue to create more of these pods. I am having fun using lots of the beads from my box and some of the fancy buttons I have purchased of the years. It is much nicer to do little projects then to build a big beaded work.

Scrap Happy Ethel’s scrap box was calling to me this week too. So I got busy and spent time putting together the little strips she had precut. I can see this project will be a slow one- but sometimes I need to do “no mind” stuff and this will go the trick.

Ice Two days of cold rainy weather got me going again on this project. All the white/snow is free motion quilted now and most of the leaves are attached as well.

I do enjoy the process when I get going.

Scarves I have completed the stuffing of two more scarves. I like the process but it is very slow. I takes over half an hour to fill all the units for one row of the scarves. I am ready to add the silk fabric in the centers of these works. I have learned that the nylon net is to scratchie for the neck, so I add a unit of softer fancy fabric to the center that rests against the neck . The good part is finding homes for all those little stray objects that collect in the drawers. I am including lots of jewelry bits from grandmother’s button tin too.

Label Block # 118 I put a lot of hand work into other things this week so I only got one block done. Only 27 to go now.

Keep Creating

Carol

Cherry Blossom Time, Crow Calls, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Label Blocks, Pods, Samurai Romance, Starfish, Still Life

Moving Forward

April 13, 2017 admin

Hello,

I am enjoying the unfolding of spring here. There are lots of buds and birds. I went to the Towpath Quilt Guild quilt show on Friday.

My friend Noel’s quilt looked great as did many others. I enjoyed the show and saw many friends too. It was inspired to go home and work in the studio.

FAB had a meeting on Monday and Nancy show us this label that she programed for her Mom’s Blue Bird quilt. It looks good to me.

Progress Report: Cherry Blossom Time This work is 39” X 35”. I created it from the branch that was left over from the Blooming Branch project. It was too dark for that work so this one was born. The branch was created from the sleeve of a wool jacket that I then built up with two different yarns.

There area 61 blossoms on this quilt. I made the centers from silk paper that I cut in circles and then stitched down with long French Knots.

Flag-Starfish This is my newest flag from the Susan Challenge. The text on this piece is machine writing in the section on the bottom.

Pods These are the newest completed pods. I am enjoying the embellishing step as I get to use lots of beads sequins and pearls with this project. I cut six more felt embellished units this morning so there will be more in the future.

Crow Calls This project is a reworking of a completed quilt. I built up the trees and stitched them to the quilt. Now I am adding the crows. They are cut from suede that is then free motion stitched down. I added twenty five birds yesterday.

Samurai Romance I have been following the suggested techniques in Stitch, Fiber, Metal and Mixed Media. I have not purchased any new materials to do this project, but adapted what I have on hand to do the projects. This week I applied foil to thick interfacing and then did free motion machine drawing on top to create the flowers. The centers are glass beads.

Still Life This work is an experiment. I have been making silk paper for a while and for this project I made the silk in the flower shapes instead of the sheet form. Now I am stitching them down.

Ice I have started adding the leaves to this project. This week I made leaves out of copper. They are embossed with a blunt pencil. This first one is trapped under a bit of “ice” and I like the effect. The other one isset to be in the water section of the work. It may need netting too but I do not know at this time. I also want to also add some fabric leaves too.

New Works This is a started build up for a new work. There is a minimum of free motion machine work on this piece at this time. It is based on a photo of a rock face. This is a second pin up for another new work. It is based on another section of the same rock face- with a different color base

Top I fell in love with this piece form Guatemala. he hand work is beautiful. But it is far too short for me and I wanted the sides closed. So I have started altering it to work as a top for me.

Label Block #115 #116

I got inspired and did two blocks this week. I also cut 15 more black squares to complete the top.

Keep Creating,

Carol

Birds, Blossoming Branch, Crow Calls, Diva Meetings, Label Blocks, Pods, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Summer Meadow, Year Of the Rooster

Spring

April 7, 2017 admin

Hello-

It is starting to really feel like spring here in central New York. I see little bits of green on the tips of branches and shoots in the flower beds on my walks. This was the fist week of the month so I had meetings. The QuEG’s meeting was small but there was lots of work.

Liz finished this beauty using all Kay Facet’s fabrics. She and Sue Ellen both had work for the group challenge for the guild.

This is Liz’s finished star challenge piece. It looks good I think. Sue Ellen’s star is a good one as well. The use of the light blue fabric and the size were the other two limitations to the challenge. Angela is busy working on felting some of her patterns from her tip to Hawaii I think the limited pallet will server her well with this exploration.

The Divas also meant on Tue eve. with more exciting stuff. This is Lori’s completed tundra piece from her trip to Alaska.Maureen showed us lots of the new wonderful hand printed fabric that she is working on. Donna is proud of finally finishing her big king sized top. It is amazing as it is her first quilt.

She is also working away on some figures in paper clay. These bathing beauties are fun I think.

Regina is doing lots of handwork on her shobori pieces from last month. She is also exploring with rust dyeing.

Lliesa shared her memory scrolls from her semester in Japan. They are so wonderful. All created while she was there with her husband and made from fabric she got at the temple sales that she attended.

There are four scrolls and each one is full of beautiful appliqued works all with memories and stories too. She stitched the insect by hand here and told a story about the cricket pets one has in the small houses there. I just could not look enough at this piece of work.

Progress Report: Summer Meadow

This work is 15” X 21.5 “ in size. Sewing of the flowers was done from the back of the work with thick thread and cord in the bobbin. The dragon fly has wings cut from ribbon that was then free motion attached to the background. The body is made of bugle beads that I hand stitched to the surface.

Blooming Branch This work is 33” X 40.5”. It is the result of a challenge by my friend Sharron. We bot purchased some silk kimono fabric

This shot is a close up of that fabric. The challenge was to use it in a project to show at QBL in the summer of 2017. This is my solution.

Crow Calls I am adding the trees to the surface of the work now. It takes about 50 minuets to do each tree and the birds have not been started yet. I am enjoying it none the less.

Samurai Romance I finished the leaf panels this week . I am beginning to feel it is a bit over crowded and I still have one more technique to add to the surface.

I may do some editing before this is all done and I am happy now that I only pinned things in place as I went along.

Banner –Year of the Rooster This is one of my works that I started in Florida with Susan. The lettering on this one is stamped. The rooster is colored with crayon.

Banner- Birds This is my second banner this week. The texture is created by rubbing over a plastic doily with crayon. The text here is cut felt letters that were machine stitched down.

New IceI am just starting to free motion stitch down the parts of this work. The bright pink at the bottom, is the felt inside that I am building on.

New Scarves Chris asked for more scarves so I got busy and did these two this week. I am always surprised by the bits of stuff that seem to pile up and work in these projects.

Pod 6 I gave in and decided to create a few more pods. This one needs some weight/beads on the bottom and it will be complete.

Label Block # 114 I made it to the fabric store this week and got more black fabric for the last 25 blocks. Cutting them is the next step. Only 36 to go now.

Keep Creating

Carol

PS check out my tutorial on how to rust print.

Bee Happy, Blossoming Branch, Crow Calls, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Flag Challenge, Label Blocks, llegado

Home again

March 30, 2017 admin 1 Comment

Hello-

I am home from my trip to Florida. I had a good time and enjoyed my stay with Susan. We got up with the sun and went to the shore to see it rise. She and I worked on rust dyeing and I came home with a nice selection. Jim took this great photo of me holding one of my rust creations. We went to his home one night and drew all evening too. I will do a tutorial of the process rust and post it by next week. This shot is of Susan across the table at drawing on Tues.

Chris Winter visited on afternoon and we did image transfers with Citra Solv .

Through out the week we cut stencils and made flags with them. Now all I need to do is the finish up on all fifteen of them. They all need text of some sort because that was the main challenge to begin with. I will put the two I have completed in the progress report section. We worked away very day and the time flew bye. I came home to find ice and snow still remaining from the storm that dumped 24” before I left. This shot is of the sky light in the airport.

Monday I went off to visit with my friend Angela. She did a special demonstration for me of how to use pre felt. I now feel I know a lot more about how to use my roving and felt more effectively. She is a good teacher. I am sure the processes will be a part of future works.

This morning the FAB gals meant at my house. Nancy has finished the top of her quilt for her mom. It is beautiful. The colors make one feel so summery and warm. We will get together and pin baste it in the near future. Judy is still knitting away on her red sweater. She is working on the arm wholes now , so the end is in sight.

Progress Report: Flags 1 Bee Happy This is the fist flag I finished. I did most of it in Florida and only added the sleeve here at home.

Flag 2- Llegado I added the tabs and the beaded fringe on the bottom of this one to make it long enough to fit the size we agreed upon. Llegado is Spanish for alight.

Blooming Branch All the blossoms are stitch down now. I am working on the hand quilting step of this project. I did not add enough wind lines with the machine for me to feel it is stable . So I am outlining things in the background by hand.

Summer Meadow This work is nearly done now. I added the daises and little yellow flowers to the surface . All the work was done from the back side of the work with extra thick threads in the bobbin. Another new machine process that I will add to my tool box of techniques for use in the future.

Crow Calls I thought I was ready to add these trees to the surface of the quilt. But when I started pinning them up, it became apparent that the black trees are too dark. The crows will be lost in them if I do not build up more browns and grays into the black trees. So there is work ahead for this week on this project. I think the wash away partly obscured this problem until this point.

Samurai Romance I am adding the beads around the outside of the leaf panels for this project. That and the Turkey Work stitches take lots of time. This panel is done the other similar one does not have any hand work yet. It is smaller then thisfist pannel.

New Ice I started a new ice piece this week. I took a lot of photos of the ice forming in Xavier wood and this one had leaves sticking up through the ice and snow. I want to try to capture/show them with this piece. I have some ideas, so stay tuned.

Label Blocks # 111, #112,#113

The one thing I have completed in the last three weeks is my label blocks. But I did discover that when I laided them out that 120 blocks will not be enough to cover the bed without sashing. I do not like that idea so I will cut 25 more black squares and add labels to them before I put the top together.

Keep Creating.

Carol

Blossoming Branch, Diva Meetings, Label Blocks, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Xavier Wood Ice

March

March 9, 2017 admin 1 Comment

Hello-

The week has been a busy one as it was the first Tuesday of the month and I had QuEG’s and Diva meetings. This hand painted and printed fabric was created by Linda last fall before she fell and injured her shoulder. I like the three layers she built up. Angela is doing wonderful hand work of some Hawaiian flowers. She is exploring with paint too. It seems like we all keep playing with new ideas.

At the Diva meeting Regina shared her Butterfly piece and a second forest floor work.

Lori finished up this wonderful hand stitched piece this month too. She really likes to build lots and lots of layers of stitching. I love her final effect. It’s so rich.

Donna shared some of her Shobori work form Maureen’s class.

Ruth share this wonderful Guatemalan weaving.

I always get a bit lift form the meetings and go home inspired.

Progress Report: Xavier Wood Ice This work is 34” X 40”. It is based on one of my photographs from earlier this winter. I have been working on the quilting for the last few weeks as it is all done free motion and that takes a lot of energy so I can not work too long before I must stop. I used plastics, ribbon, yarns netting and hand dyed cheese cloth as parts of the texture for this piece. The snow has so many textures to do because some of it is melted and refrozen while other areas are melted and other areas are thin with think areas too . I have lots more photos and I am already thinking about how I want to show the leaves captured in the ice on the next one.

Blooming Branch This work has been the area where I have done the most concentration this week. I made two limbs for this piece. This is the second limb and I made it because I was worried that the first was too light. When I pinned up this second limb and I then took a shot of it in the gray scale I could see that the dark value was too close to the background and it got lost. Here is tha shot. So I returned to the light branch and pinned it up and took a gray scale photo of it. It looked like this So that’s the one I sewed down and I am using in this work.

I have started to add the stamens to some of the blossoms.

Second Branch The second branch is pinned to a lighter background and I am hoping that adding blossoms to it will push it back a bit and create more of the balance I am looking for. This Value thing is not easy for me.

Samurai Romance The gold panel on the left is mostly done. I am working on step two where I stenciled copper paint on felt that I had created. I am learning lots of new techniques with this project and that is what I wanted to do.

Summer Meadow I finished the bobbin cord application and did the painting on this work this week. I am now ready to build up more grass and flowers on top with machine drawing.

Re working I am building a forest on top of this piece. It was Ok- but did not excite me much. A great background as Ethel would have said. So here goes…….

Label Block # 110 I keep working away on this project.

I will be away for the next two weeks so there will not be any posts until Mach 30.

Enjoy the beginnings of spring.

Carol

!7" Blocks- Ethel's scraps, Curvie Cuts, Label Blocks, Natural Elements, Scrap Happy Quilts, Summer Meadow, Teasil II, Xavier Wood Ice

Could be Spring

February 23, 2017 admin

Hello,

It has been so warm the last few days that the plants are a bit confused. These Snow Drops are proof of that. I am enjoying it though.

There is a class at QBL taught by Elizabeth Bush were one is encouraged to rework pieces that are one is not happy with. I have been looking at First Fall and feel it is not as successful as it could be. So I took the plunge and re did the leaf by adding orange to it. I feel that this rework helps the final piece. The center of interest is stronger and draws the eye to one of Maureen’s “ Golden Points”.

Progress Report:Teasel Trouble This work is 24” X 28” inside the frame. The frame was a gift from my friend Patti. These are the original teasel heads that were too small that got lost on the first background.

When I made this one I made the background simpler and in a rusty color to show off the heads. ( the color in this photo is awful! the color in the full shot is a lot closer to reality)

The smaller heads in the background are made from silk paper.

Sharron’s Challenge This top is all assembled. I find it to be a little quiet and not to interesting so I decided to add a cherry blossom limb on top of it. I drew a limb on wash away in magic marker and then built a limb on top. The white paper shapes and the pink/orange shape represent the flowers. I plan to add more.

Then I did a second look and decided that the limb was too light in value so I started a second one yesterday. It works with the background much better. It is made from the sleeve of a tweed wool jacket that Tanya had given. It does not take over the background either. I am about half done with the build up of the limb and then I will add pink blossoms.

Wiggle Cut Being a frugal person, I decided I would still use the first limb on a different background so I built this one for that purpose. I will slice this vertically and shuffle the parts and then add the fist limb on top.

Summer Meadow I am reading Layer, Paint, Stitch by Wendy Dolan. This is my attempt at the first exercise she suggests. It is built up with layers of white and off white textured materials. I need to add some more lace flower forms on this before I go onto the next step.

Samurai Romance I am also still working through Stitch, Fiber, Metal and Mixed Media by Alysn Midgelow-Morden too. This is the first step of the second assignment in that book. ( the pods were the first) I still need to attach more cording to the surface of this section so I can go onto the next one. I am enjoying thinking about how I can apply these different little ideas to my own work.

Bird Land

This is 12” X 12” and it is my entry for the SAQA auction for 2017. I only need to add a sleeve and label to the back and it will be ready to ship. I enjoy the organization and I am glad to add to the fund raiser.

Xavier Wood Ice I continue to do the free motion work on this piece. The build up is slow as it is so large and I only work for an hour at a time on this process. I find that if I try to do more it becomes very sloppy and I feel like I lose control.

Scarp Happy All the rows of this quilt are done now. I started cutting pieces for the back yesterday so now the end is in sight.

Label Block # 108 With the completion of this block I only have twelve more to finish this step. I will do a recount this week to make sure that my numbers are correct. I am getting excited. The bad news is I still have lots of labels left over…….

Keep Creating

Carol

!7" Blocks- Ethel's scraps, Label Blocks, Pods, Teasil I, Teasil II, Three- D works, Xavier Wood Ice

Wintery walks

February 16, 2017 admin

Hello-

I am so very fortunate to live where I can walk three blocks and be in a wild area. This was the trial( made by deer) I took earlier this week after we had a 10 inch snow fall of lake effect snow. It really loaded down the branches and out lined them as well. I so enjoy looking at the way the snow shows off the liner structures of different types of trees. It is fascinating to me. It has also set me on a new approach for some new work I want to try. That idea is not developed enough to share it yet but if and when it does I will inform you.

With all that snow I did two batches of snow dyeing. And the new snow today will be the beginning of a third. Only one is completed and pressed. These are a great combination of yellow, green and brown.

Progress Report: Teasel I This work is 24” X 18”. It is stretched and has a wire in the back for hanging. The pods are made from a bit of Kimono silk with hat netting placed on top to give the feel of the many sections in the pods. The spear’s are hand embroidered on top and along the sides. The handwork step is done last.

Teasel II This work is now ready for the spear’s to be added to the work. Again they will be done by hand.

Xavier Wood Ice This work is just getting the start of the machine tack down. I keep turning it different directions to decide what way is up. Things will change a lot as I add in more and more texture.

Pods I have finished all of step three for the first pods. Now I need to add a few beads to the bottoms and decide if I want to make more of them or move onto the next project in the book. I have lots of created fabric leftover. It could go into other things too. I need to consider.

Sharron’s Challenge All the parts of the silk have been connected for this challenge. I am thinking that I will build up a further surface on top of this work. It is too mono chromatic at this point.

Scrap Happy All thirty 17.5” blocks are built for this project at this point. The photo shows two blocks. All the fabric is from Ethel’s scrap box. I need to build more sashing and assemble it now. It will be colorful.

Label Block # 107

The two big labels made this block go together quickly this week.

Enjoy the season and

Keep Creating

Carol

PS One last snow covered tree.

Circle Challenge, Diva Meetings, Green Leaf scarf, Label Blocks, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Scrap Happy Quilts, Snow Dyeing, Teasil I, Teasil II, Three Jacks, Xavier Wood Ice

Winter

February 9, 2017 admin

Hello,

We are deep in the cold of winter here and that makes me stay in the studio and get a lot done. But I do have the meetings that come at the first of each month. QuEG’s meant. Liz is busy doing hand work on her project that she dyed last fall at the play/work retreat at the Schweinfurth. That is her work at the top.

Sue Ellen is busy too and she made this colorful quilt for the Linus Project. I always get a lot more out of the group meetings.

This time I showed them all the Circle Challenge pieces all together. That lead to a whole lot of playing with how they could or should be presented. I continued the whole idea when I got home.

There are just so many ways to go with them.

The Diva’s had a good time playing with them too. There was a lot going on at that meeting as well.

Alice has finished her Bed Quilt and she made prints of the finished work to give to all the folks in the family who owned the bed so they have the history. I think that is a good idea.

Liesa is building a wonderful book on stamps. She printed the stamps on fabric for this work and laments that she still has all the original stamps left.

Donna just returned from a 10 day retreat where she did a lot of Gelli printing and pastel work. Maureen is doing lots of work with indigo so she can do more teaching of the techniques. She shares her knowledge so very kindly.

Regina went off to the conference called “ Rocky Road to California” and took a class with the Tentmakers of Cairo. She keeps exploring new techniques.

Ruth is busy with her wonderful clam shells too. It was a good meeting and I came home with new ideas of things to do with my own work.

Progress report: Three Jacks This work is 28” X 40”. Because I had to take it apart to fix the nail at the bottom I took photos of the work without the glass. No problems with reflections that way. I also did a major cleaning of the glass- something that I had not thought of before either. The work is dramatic and I like it a lot.

The velvet jacks really convey the rich contrast of the two parts of the flower.

Snow Dying

It snowed this week and so I did a bit more snow dyeing. It is snowing today too so I will do an orange batch next.

Tease I I did the hand stitching on this work this week. It is almost ready to stretch.

Teasel II I pulled this fabric for the background of the green teasel heads I made the week before on Monday. Then I worked hard on getting that section done. I got all excited and even moved on to pinning the heads in place. They are not stitched down. No problem with contrast this time.

Leaf Scarf I did a lot of free motion work on this piece and determined yesterday that it was complete. It is based on a work I saw on Pintrest by Amanda McCarvour. I only work from what I remember not from any reading or recheck. So when I did look a second time yesterday, I was surprised by how different they were. I like the vanes of leaves mixed with the wool roving . The places where I tried to work in air collapsed so I think when I try it again I will put a layer of nylon net in the middle of the sandwich so there is a some stability to the whole thing. That and more stitching lines will do the trick I think. It will also help avoid the arching that happened with some of the gold leaves.

Xavier Wood Ice I have been taking a lot of photos on my walks of ice and now I am ready to begin a new ice work. This is the fabric lay out at about the middle of the process.

Pods I have assembled two of the pods from the felted pieces that I made. They are nor quite finished as I think I want to add some additional beads on the bottoms of them. But I am making progress. It is like the circle challenge in the way that I can think of more variations for each side as I go along. I will play until I tire of the process.

Scrap Happy I have been assembling the strips and cut pieces from Ethel’s scrap box for a few weeks. I cut them into five inch squares yesterday and made a block. It is 17” on a side. That is a little bigger then I usually use so I may need to make adjustments as I move forward.

Label Block # 106 I was in Jo Ann’s this week and I was tempted to purchase some additional embroidery thread- but I resisted. Then when I got home I did a little search and found a new bag full, so I am very happy I did not give into temptation. Only fourteen more blocks to build.

Keep Creating

Carol

Cre-8

Category Archives: Natural Elements

Travel plus

Going Forward

Spring Rains

Moving Forward

Spring

Home again

March

Could be Spring

Wintery walks

Winter

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer