Category Archives: Pealing Oranges

Diva Meetings, Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Flexibility, Pealing Oranges, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), ZAP, Zap It II

Event Filled Week

IMG_9961Hello,

This week had been one filled with events.  Last Friday  was busy as I took down the Finger Lakes Fiber Artist show a May Memorial.    Then  I went off to Oswego State University to Sharon Souva’s Graduate show.  It was wonderful.  She did a deep exploration  of four areas.   She took a photo.IMG_9945 This one is called”  Yellow Strip” and is a shot  of a part of the pavement.   She wrote a poem about each  subject.IMG_9947She then did a print of the subject.IMG_9946  This was followed by  a small rendering of the image in fabric before doing a full sized quilt on the topic.   I enjoyed seeing the progression.    Her other three topics where  IMG_9942grass growing out of a crack in the cement sidewalk.   This is the quilt.

A close up of a rock formation , this is  also  her  quilt solution.

Lastly , a quilt of  birch  bark with with lichens growing on it.   Her fabric interpretations are wonderful and inspiring.   I am so proud of her and admire the effort it took to go to school and see it to the end.

Then this wonder woman was a part of the Plow Shears craft show and sale on Sat and Sunday.   This is a shot of part of her boothIMG_9967 showing some of her landscape  fiber drawing sewing pieces.

On Sunday I went off to the Schweinfurth  to the  Finger Lakes Fiber  Artist meeting.   We talked about the Q=A= Q  show that is up and enjoyed hearing other members favorites and the why of those feelings.  At  2:00 we went up stairs   to enjoy   Bev’s trunk talk.    She was very kind with her full explanations about how she got to where she is now as well as her current process.IMG_9980It was a good  day.

Then on Tues I went off to QuEG’s and Diva meetings.   The holidays are keeping folks busy  so there was not much show and tell in either case.    Regina had finished her hand work on her circles and squares piece.  The base of this work is a piece of Shobori that she did. IMG_9989 Ruth shared   her cell work too.

  • Progress Report:   Peeling Orange    This work is 38” w X 41” l.   It is the last work that  I plant to use the Owl graffiti layout on.  It is not the  same pattern that I made in class.  I took the  idea and made it smaller to fit the orange hand dyed fabric that Regina gave to me.  There are cut-aways from other works in the series in this  piece too.   IMG_0013I am  now at the   point where I did not care if the viewer knows or can find the  the word  in the work any more.   I realized I have also become enchanted with  the little tails that sometimes end up sticking out along the edge .   I have cut them away many times- but decided I will keep some times on this work and some in the furture.IMG_0015

 

Zap It   I am now   doing the machine quilting and hand applique of the “It’s” on this quilt.     It is moving along nicely.

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Glyph IV

IMG_0004The beading goes forward on this piece.  I was so busy this week I did not get my hour in every day.   But I will keep aiming for that amount of time.

 

Zap It II  In my preparation for my own trunk show I looked at all my old pieces.   I ended up with a whole pile of not so strong work and was considering just passing it all off to other uses.  Then I remembered Ethel telling me  long ago that I made great backgrounds.   So I though perhaps I could use some of those weaker pieces as a background for the letter form explorations.     I liked one of  my line drawings of “Zap It” – so I used that  as the basis for the purple strips on the surface of this older work.   The next challenge is how I want to stitch these lines down on the surface.

Ethel’ Scarp   IMG_0006  I am ready to put together the scrap quilt now.  This is my back for this work .  It is also made from scraps.

Label Card Flexibility   When it came time to start a new card for this week I still had the “reuse” thoughts in my head  so being flexible seemed like the way to go this time.

Keep Creating

Carol

Creative Assistants, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Fox Tails, Pealing Oranges, Raw Edge Applique, Trust

Getting Rolling

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Hello-

I am finding it a bit difficult getting back into the studio after the holidays.  There is so much I want to do that is not  art work related.   I am hoping that will remedy its self with time.

I did do a big trunk show at the Schweinfurth Art Centersh- my talk on Sunday and that took a lot of preparation.   I  discovered some themes in my work that I had not noticed before and that is how I structured my talk.  I talked about five of them- Animals, Water, Rocks, Plants and Text.   I was epically flattered by the attendance of my friends from all parts of my life.   I did have fun with it and enjoyed the support I got from everyone.   In talking with folks afterward I  came across another topic that I could do a whole different presentation on- my use of embellishments.

IMG_9920There was a FAB meeting yesterday and we got to look at Nancy’s newest work.  She will be making “postcards” out of these images from the National Parks for a quilt.   IMG_9938More evidence of being busy is the fact that  I am still working on getting the fabric washed out from the play weekend at the Schweinfurth three weeks ago.

Progress Report: Fox Tails This work is 12” w X 12” t.   I created the heads of the fox Tails in the Experimental Surfaces with Amanda McCarver .  It was  a  great class and I learned a lot.    The background rock wall is felted wool roving. IMG_9936

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Peeling Orange    I am to the point on this project where I am doing reflective quilting on this work.  I have decided to leave the orange plain and not quilt in that area.  I think the contrast will add interest.

Zap It  As the photo shows I have made the “It’s” a part of this work.  They are just pinned in place and subject to change, but one needs to start some where.  I ended up making a second “It” stencil as I wanted a second size.IMG_9927I am planning to hand stitch down the circular “It” add ons  after a bit of quilting by machine.

Creative Assistants IMG_9937  I really am at the end of making these fellows.  I know I was avoiding starting a new hand project and that is why I did them.  But I need to straiten up  and  begin the  project.

 Card- Trust   I usually trust that good things will happen to me and for the most part that has been a truth in my life.   But the happening in the world at this time are throwing a lot of question into my mind on this subject.

Keep Creating

Carol

Coyote, Glyph IV with Beads, Glyph Series, Pealing Oranges, Raw Edge Applique, ZAP

Thanksgiving 2017

 

Hello-

I hope you enjoyed the holiday.  Our family went off to the Turning Stone Casino for the  big buffet.   We  all had a good time and over ate a bit I am sure.   I really liked this ice sculpture turkey.

IMG_9878 I went off to visit with Regina Tuesday and we had a good time talking and sharing ideas.  We always get so excited that very little work gets done- the the ideas really flow.  She kindly gave me a Christmas present in the form of a dozen Christmas blocks that I will enjoy putting together into a season piece.   She does wonderful machine work.  The more I know about that  process the more I respect folks who do it.   It requires a different set of skills than I possess.

I am working away preparing for a Trunk Show at the Schweinfurth Art Center on Sunday at 2:00.   Going through old work is exciting and stressful.    I am also seeing patterns in my subject choices and  I will use that idea to pull  the talk together.   I did sort out a whole pile of stuff to pass on while I was pulling work for the talk.  Now to organize it in a meaningful  arrangement.

 Progress Report: Peeling Orange  I am now doing reflective quilting on this work  and trying to decide what way is up.  I finished all the satin stitch applique on Monday.

 

 

 

 

 

ZAP  IMG_9866 In this work  the contrasting shapes are all appliqued down now.   I decided it  needs an “add on” so I made a new graffiti to add to it.

IMG_9871It   I cut a stencil for the word ” it” as I thought I could add it to the ZAP work.  I made a bunch yesterday and they are drying now.  IMG_9869I hope to cut them out and add them too the Zap top.    This is a  true visual decision that can only be made visually.

Scarf  I finished my new muffler last eve.  Then as usual, I found the lost one this morning when I was looking for gloves.  It is good to have a back up.

IMG_9881Glyph IV    The beading goes on.   I am working on the bottom of the” L” now.

Trickster Card  I was thinking about how the Native Americans often use the coyote as a trickster in their stories.   Folks really identify with a smaller clever animal in their fight for shrivel against  powerful odds.

Keep Creating

Carol

!7" Blocks- Ethel's scraps, Celebrate, Glyph IV with Beads, Glyph Series, Pealing Oranges, Raw Edge Applique, Scrap Happy Quilts, Whirlwind, ZAP

Open Studio Weekend

 

Hello,

This week I went off to an open studio week end at the Schweinfurth.  I worked in the wet studio with six other gals.   The first image is of the screen work I did on Sat.  I stared out doing Shobori with Liz.   We did four colors- orange, yellow, green and purple.IMG_9764   Everything worked well except the purple where I used a fabric that was only partly cotton and so it did not take the dye as well as I would have liked.     I still have a lot of fabric that is batching so there will be more next week.  IMG_9774Susan did some wonderful stuff as did Cheri.IMG_9770  Maureen worked on sox and other linens  she hopes to sell at the Plow Shears show  in early Dec.  Victoria did some nice work too.   We all had fun  and I came home exhausted.

Progress Report: Whirlwind This work is 30” w X 45” l.   It took several tries to get the edges strait on this one.    IMG_9829   I really like all the movement in this work.

Ethel’s Scrap   I continue to work away on this piece.  I finished row 5 yesterday and there are only nine so I am more than half done with this step.

 IMG_9814Zap  I had to remove the first applique as it caused a lot of ripples.   In doing the second two panels, I will add the inner facing and   tear away before I stitch to begin with- that will make the piece flatter and go a bit faster too.

Peeling Orange    I am zig-zagging the parts down on this one  and thinking about how I want to quilt it as I go.

Glyph IVIMG_9820I have been gone so much this week that I have not  done much work on this  project.   But I did put in a few hours and time is what it takes now.

 Card: Celebrate  As the holidays draw near I think about how important friends and family are to me and want to toast them with this card.

Enjoy Big Bird Day  everyone,

Carol

Diva Meetings, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Felt Work, Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Glyph IV with Beads, Glyph Series, Pealing Oranges, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Share the credit, ZAP

Travel and such

Hello,IMG_9626

  •  I have had a busy two weeks.   It all started out with traveling and visiting museums .   Marty and I visited  six different ones on our trip to Maine and back.   With  shopping, a factory tour and visiting with friends it was all very exciting and stimulating- A very enjoyable experience.   But before I went away there was a three day workshop with Amanda McCavour.   She  is an expert on the use of various water soluble materials.  I learned a lot.  She has a show  of her life sized machine drawn rooms on display at the Schweinfurth  that will run from now until the first week end in Jan.   Most of the work we did in class was much smaller. This shot is of Cheri’s peacock feather. IMG_9633 I experimented  with   creating Fox Tail for use in one of my felted pieces.     Doing this workshop with fifteen others creative women made for lots of different and  exciting applications  to the use of this material.
  • The Quilts =Art= Quilts  2017 opened on Sat at the Schweinfurth too and so I went to the opening as I was already in the building.  This work is by Elizabeth Bush.  She won a Jurors Choice award as did  my friend, Julia.   IMG_9647This work by Emily was done by one of the other gals in Amanda’s class.  She came all the way fro California to be at the opening and to take the class.    It’s a strong show and I plan at least three more visits.

Then on Monday morning with the help of Cheri, Julia and Liz we hung a Finger Lakes Fiber Artist show at May Memorial Church  3800 Genesee St, in Syracuse.  This shot is of  a work by Sharon.  IMG_9658  These works show  two quilts  by Regina and a piece by Alice.     There was a Meet the Artist event on Sunday and that went well.   The contact at  May was very pleased.

  Marty and I  visited the Sherborn Museum  as one of our early stops on our trip to Maine.  We were blown away by the work of Patty Yoder who did wonderful hooked wall pieces.  She raised the sheep, sheared them, spun the wool and dyed it before she cut it into strips to create  beautiful and playful wall pieces with it.  IMG_9677  This is a close up of the eye of the sheep in the first photo.     There was lots of humor and  fun in  this  delightful show and we enjoyed it very much.

  • IMG_9695Our next  stop was the Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream factory.  We took the tour and had ice cream Sundays for lunch that day.    I  Loved their motto” If it’s not fun- why do it?”
  • IMG_9709 We went on to visit our friend  Elizabeth.  We enjoyed visiting her studio and talking about her work.  This shot is of a colorful basket full of the hats she makes to give away at Christmas.
  • IMG_9713  The next day we went on to Camden to visit with Barb and Steve.  Barb took us to Rockland and the Farnsworth museum.  We hurried through the Wythe art  works as we had seen them  before and went to a great show of wok by Marguerite Zorach.   No photos where allowed, but take my word for it – the works was fabulous.    The photos is of the black and white show, another temporary exhibit that was up in the museum.  We also visited  the  Center for Maine Contemporary Art.     The last museum we visited before we drove home  was  the Clark, where we saw the exhibit of Impressionist Line and  listened to the lecture on that subject.   I did not know that pastels were invented around the same time those artists were working.  Degas and Mary Cassatt sure used that new material.
  • Tuesday was the first one of November so I had both the QuEG’s meeting and the Diva meeting.   This quilt is by Liz and will be for sale at the Everson’s  Christmas Tree event.   IMG_9737 Angela continues to work away at her on line felting class.  I really like this piece.    Sally is busy with Christmas gifts for her grand daughtersIMG_9742and Sue Ellen is having fun doing cats.
  • The Divas had a good meeting as well.  Regina did a splendid job Finishing off her Garden Gate piece.  I love how she combined  a rubbing with a hand dyed to get this great look.IMG_9747Maureen is working with colored pencils and stitching on this piece.  Most folks had work in various stages of completing in preparation for the Thread of Change Show at the Unitarian Church in Ithaca  to open Dec 1.
  • The to round things out I had a FAB meeting yesterday.   Judy is working away on her red sweater again now that it is cold.  Nancy is making “post cards”  to attach to her quilt.     It has been a full two weeks.

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Progress Report:  Glyph IV  Because I was away not a lot of progress has been made here.  But I am working away to fill in the L with beads now.

Peeling Orange I have started zig –zagging down the  shapes on this project.   I am still thinking about how I want to quilt it.

IMG_9757Zap   I did start to applique the shapes down – but had to remove all I had done as it puckered up.  I purchased tear away and now I am ready to try again.

KnittingIMG_9763Winter cold has finally found us.  I could not find my muffler,   so I decided to knit one as I still have not focused on a evening hand project.

Felted work   I made this rock face a while back and thought that I would use the Fox  Tail from Amanda’s class on the surface.  But I think they are too close in value to get the effect I am shooting for.   So they will be a part of another project and I will work on a different idea for this piece.

IMG_9749 Label Card “ Share the credit.”  I have been thinking about how important  it is to work together for a big goal and value all the different things one brings to  projects.  I was trying to express that with this card.

Keep Creating

Carol

Creative Assistants, Pealing Oranges, Pond Water, Raw Edge Applique, Tossed Salad, ZAP

Indian Summer

 

Hello,

I am enjoying the wonderful weather.   I noticed this Paper Hornet’s nest on my  walk this week.  I am sure it had been there a long time but with the fall of some leaves it was revealed.

I spent a day playing with Liz this week and we did some Shobori .  I have never done any of that type of dyeing before and sense Liz was just home from a week at the Barn where that was what she was studying she was anxious to share.   IMG_9502    Before we meant she told me to make tucks in my fabric.  So I ironed this piece and sewed down all the ridges the ironing created.   We then wrapped the tucked pieces around  polls.  Liz then instructed me on how to do some free from wrapping without tucks.   IMG_9506    The polls were placed in a bucket with dye inside and we agitated them.   In an hour the job was done and we took the polls out and unwrapped them.   The fabric on the left is the one where I pressed diagonally( the upper photo) across the  fabric with the sewing machine.  The other piece is s strait tuck.IMG_9525  These are the two pieces that I did the random fold and rubber band wrapping on.   I love the effect and I have wrapped my polls for the next time we get together to do some more Shobori.

Progress Report:   Pond Water( curvy cut)  This quilt is 32 “w X 36” l.     I put this work in the curvy cut category because    the base is made from two pieces of fabric that where curvy cut and then spliced back together.  The last thing I did to the base was slice it vertically and then shuffle the order before sewing it back together. IMG_9519

The round purple units are from one of Grandmother Butter’s  hats.   This pieces  has  a lot of hand work on it and because I only put my needle to work on it after I was done with the label blocks it has taken a full year to complete.IMG_9521

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peeling Oranges    This is the last of the first glyph series  and  started with a few cut aways not used in other works and a smaller version of  the word “Owl” cut in orange.

Toss Salad   I am in the process of raw edge appliqueing down this work.  I am not sure what way is up yet either.  My mind is just starting to think about how I want to quilt this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Glyph  IV    The beading  goes on here.     After showing weeks of close ups this week I thought I would show a full shot of the sections beaded.  When I work for an hour I can fill in about an inch and a half square area.

 

 

  Card  – Resilience  IMG_9508  This is a shot of my card for this week.  I find it wonderful how the deciduous trees prepare for the  stresses of winger cold by shedding there leavers and retreating into their cores for the winter.

New Glyph Series- ZapIMG_9500  Now I am ready to begin a new glyph.   I wrote out a lot of words and did a bunch of trial drawings before choosing   ZAP.   Then I enlarged it and varied the width of the letters in some areas.   This word is enlarged to about 18″ square.  Now I am choosing fabric for the project.

Creative Assistants     Football season has begun and so has my work on these little fellows.   These guys are ready for paint embellishment and  pin backs.

Keep Creating

Carol

Buggy, Confussed, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Felt Work, Glyph IV with Beads, Glyph Series, Label Blocks, Pealing Oranges, Pond Water, Quartered Glyph, Raw Edge Applique, Tossed Salad

Fall Events

 

Hello,

This week was full of events.   Last weekend  I went off to the Tompkins Quilt guild show.  Cheri won a ribbon  there.  So too did my friend  Pat.  But this  red work is not the one she won a ribbon on.

IMG_9458 Regina and I enjoyed viewing the show and talking about what we saw.  My shots of Regina’s quilts are not good enough to share.

I went off to the Schweinfurt with Marty and we  vied the  Geologic Landscapes show on Wed..     This wall piece is of the watershed  of the lake.   The white lines are of the creeks and streams that feed into the lake and the white area near the top is the lake.   The outline  of the shape is of the highest elevations around the lake area.    I loved this concept as I have always liked topographical maps.

IMG_9489Then this morning was the FAB meeting.   Both Judy and Nancy are working on different variations of Disappearing Four Patch.   Judy’s is the one in dark blues and whites.   Nancy’s is the one with the greens in it.   It is great how unique they both are.

Patty  has finished her  extruded cotton  thread  knitted shawl.IMG_9492   I think it is great!

 

Progress Report: Buggy   This work is  40” w X 49.5” l.   The bugs are oil stitch on fabric  using my own designed and cut  stencils.   The gray and light green panels are made from stamps I cut in Pat Pauly’s  class at QBL two summers ago.    I dyed the dark green and the fabric with the turquoise and white in it too.   Liz had challenged me to use some of the stuff we have been creating and this one fills the bill.   IMG_9472The reflective quilting looks like bug trails one of my friends said.      These big black insects are based on cockroaches.   IMG_9473  The blue green insects are also beetles.

Quartered Glyph   This work is 44” w X  48” l.   I used a smaller version of the Owl Glyph pattern that I created to do this work.   IMG_9486  The quilting is strait line  starting from the center and working out  using variegated thread.   IMG_9488  The shapes of the glyph are raw edged  appliqued.

Glyph IV IMG_9467I just keep beading away on this project.     I like the effect, but progress is slow.

Tossed Salad  This quilt is made from all the cut away parts of Quartered Glyph.     I am machine stitching down the parts in the raw applique style here.   I have  added the back and batting too so this time I am quilting at the same time as I put the parts on.  I do not know if I will have to add additional machine lines until I am done with this step.

Pealing Oranges    This quilt is still growing.  I made a smaller Owl Glyph pattern and used a beautiful piece of orange fabric from Regina to place that pattern on.    It is being mixed with some of the other cut away fabrics from various other Glyph projects.  This is an early step in the process.

 

IMG_9469Wool Work   I have started doing free motion machine drawing on this felted work.  I am also tacking down bits of fabric and yarn with the machine stitches.

Card Confused   I build this card from multiple copies of the same image trying to mix and confuse the eve.  All the cutting and pasting made it warp a bit  but I think the confusion is there.  I sure feel that way about the world at large at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

Pond Water IMG_9479   I am now  hand quilting on this project.  The horizontal quilt lines are  meant to give the impression of water patterns as well as hold it all together.

Label Quilt    This work is 95” X 95”.    I am now done with this weekly project.  It has been an enjoyable and calming evening daily work.  It took  me a week to finish each of the 144 squares.   I am now trying to decide  what the next daily practice project will be.

Keep Creating.

Carol