Category Archives: Scrap Happy Quilts

Collage Based Work, Dappled Sunshine, Deep Jellies, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Generational Whispers, Label Blocks, Machine Drawing, Scrap Happy Quilts, Weeds

Butterfly Days

June 16, 2016 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

These beautiful paper butterflies represent the happy feelings I feel for this time of year. Patti cut them with her press cutter on Wed when the FAB group meant. I have seen some live ones too, but I am not fast enough with my camera to capture any images. They seem to represent the slow easy time we seem to be in now. We had our last FAB meeting until Aug as we all agreed that travel and family will now fill our days for a while.

I have learned that when I am unsure of what I need/want to do next I tend to start a new project. The result of this is I have lots of new projects going on at the moment and only have a Scrap Happy quilt finished this week. That project too represents my feelings of unease, because scrap happy’s are also fill in projects. I have made 150 of these scrap quilts and they require no thinking on my part. But they do keep my hands busy and allow me to think through what is upsetting/ blocking me with other work.

Progress Report: Dappled Sunshine I finished the pebble quilting and the line quilting on this piece this morning. I am now ready to add the facings and finish this project. It will be done by next week.

Scarp Happy 150 I have no home in mind for this quilt, but I am sure it will go to a worthy cause.

new Scarp Happy When I put together the center blocks for the last scrap happy I also made extra blocks. Enough to make two more actually. This one got put into the row form this week.

Generational Whispers The grandmothers and great grandmothers got drawn on to organza this week. I know this was part of the stress I talked about as I do not feel very sure of myself when it come to do portatures. My machine drawings are human but not good likenesses of the folks they represent. I have decided to let that be that way as only a few people know the subjects any way. I will add a second layer of machine drawing when I attach them to the quilt surface.

Deep Jellies This work is also causing some stress for me. I love the colors and the textures of the jellyfish themselves. I am just unsure about the movement of the tentacles and how I want to quilt on this project. There are lots of little design decisions in this piece.

Weeds I am happily to the detail part of this project. I like doing the hand work that defines the weed heads. Three done and a dozen to go.

wool work This is the biggest machine felted work I have ever done and it too is very slow work. I finally got stretcher bars with out any canvas on them and that is what this work will be used on. I am not even done with the first layer, so there will be lots of color changes.

New top This in the newest piece that it based on a collage. It also has Ethel fabrics and some I have altered, so it fits my personal challenge. I think the the title will have something to do with angles or irregular cuts.

New Work My friend Tanya gave me the wonderful big orange print fabric I am using in this piece. It is in the real early stage.

Label Blocks #64 and #65 I did double duty on the blocks this week. It is so pleasant to set out doors after dinner and work in the evenings. I hope summer is bringing delight into your life too.

Keep Creating

Carol

Briar Patch, Diva Meetings, Foggy Dawn, Label Blocks, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Scrap Happy Quilts, Silver Growth, Trickle

Ice Cycles

March 3, 2016 admin

Hello,

Long ice cycles are one of the sure signs of spring to me. The weather keeps shifting from cold to warm here and that means melt and thaw and melt again.

I had lots of meetings this week. Sat was a meeting of the Mixed Group. It is always very stimulation and enjoyable to see the work of other artists and get their feed back on one’s own work. Tuesday the first of March so both QuIG’s and the Divas meant. Liz found a weekly offer by Moda on Their web sight were they publish two new blocks ever week. She has a note book already and four blocks are completed.

Corinne shared her print work from our last play day at Angle’s.

At the DIva meeting Kristen shared her shop entry for the “Row by Row “ show at

quilters corner. Donna shared her Bernie Sanders doll.

Noel showed off her piece for the “ 15” show that the Divas will have this summer. It was inspiration to see what everyone is doing. I am so very lucky to have such wonderfully creative friends.

Progress Report: Trickle This is the forth stretched quilt that I felted first. For this one I did not add any thing to the back of my woven wool fabric before I felted it. This meant that it all stretch at the same rate and so it ended up much flatter. Now I need to get the corners of the work to be smooth and flat. It seems there is always something to learn.

Foggy Dawn I have taken the advice of my fellow quilters from Tuesday’s meetings on how to quilt this work and did it all in swirling patterns. It is now ready for the facings.

Briar Patch I am having fun doing free motion raw edge applique of the leaves on this work. I will also do free motion to add the black berries .

Silver Growth I started this work because of the gift of a beautiful top that my friend Regina gave me. The deep purple with the silver work on it at the bottom. Now I need to figure out how to ingrate this work.

New Work I have enjoyed laying out the balance of this work. Now I am ready to begin the sewing step. I will fill in the white areas with narrow strips of fabric as I always do.

Scrap Happy I am to the step in this quilt where I have put the blocks in rows. I need to stop now and make a back for this project before I can go forward. It will make a good quilt to pass on.

Label Block # 42 I just keep working away on these little pieces.

Keep Creating

Carol

#3, Blown Blossems, Label Blocks, Scrap Happy Quilts, Truquoise Street Studio

Snow Marks

February 10, 2016 admin

Hello,

As I look more carefully for marks I see them every where. These marks on the deck were the snow has fallen through caught me eye on my walk today. I like the dark light contrast of these marks too. I will be out of town for a few days starting tomorrow so that is why the post is early this week.

I continue to be part of lots of shows. This shot is of my work and that of Mimi at the Associated Artists of Central New York show that is hanging in the Manlius Library for Feb. I also have work at the Turquoise Street Gallery until Feb 15.

Progress Report: Blown Blossoms This little work went together quickly when I got going. I tried doing the free motion drawing on batting and thick upholstery fabric. It worked well, and I may try that technique again. The red fabric is some I created in Pat Pauly’s class last fall.

The brown and orange print I did a few summers ago in Independent studio at QBL. I developed the quilting pattern from the floral print fabric. That came from another friend.

Coastal Color III I am ready to stretch this piece now. This time I did the free motion work on top of the felted step with the addition of batting behind the whole thing. It worked great and did not warp much at all. Thank goodness I have lots of friends with lots of helpful ideas to help me solve the problems that I create for myself.

New Scrap Happy I finished the scarp happy piece from last week and started to assemble this new one. This is just the first six rows of the top and only half of that is shown in this photo. It will be my contribution to the local Public Television Tel Auc in the spring.

New Work This work is based on a collage that I did last week. It has already taken on a mind of its own as it is twice the size I intended it to be. I am having fun with it non the less.

Label Block # 39 I got more labels from a friend through the mail this week. It is fun to get goodies that I really want to use . She sent enough for a whole block of just her contribution.

Keep Creating

Carol

# 2, Coping, Label Blocks, Moon Fall, Parts, Scrap Happy Quilts

Snow Bound

January 21, 2016 admin 2 Comments

Hello,

I was snow bound for three days this week as we got hit by lake effect snows. I felt like hibernating- but spent time in the studio instead. The snow measured 18” on my deck and the shoveling was tiring even though it was light snow. There was just so much of it and along with the wind, being out doors was cold work.

Before the snow I spent a

day with QuIGs gals doing screen printing at Angela’s house. We had fun and I got a new batch of fabric to work with.

I was also invited to be a part of the Valentine sale and show at the Turquoise Street Gallery. That sale and show will be Feb 12 and 13 from 11:00 until 8 both days. I created a few little images in fabric with bead trims for that show. It was fun and it got me in the spirit of doing Valentine stuff. Liz had a really cute pin she had created last year that was a Valentine Cookie in felt. I was thinking about them and so I tried to create my own.

Here they are in a tin all set to be sent in a few weeks to my gal pals.

Progress Report: Moon Fall I am to the quilting stage now and enjoying the free motion part of the process. I decided to use three colors of thread. A variegated red to rust, a blue and a burgundy to outline the shapes of the dyed areas. I am about two thirds done with that now.

Parts I am stitching down the camera parts by hand. I am also embellishing them with hand stitches to add interest. The process is slow and I only add about two pieces and evening, but I am enjoying it.

Coping I pulled out this top that I had started last summer and did a second look at it. Then I decided to do the quilting in a block like fashion. I am trying not to be too pridctable with that step and so I over lapped the starting squares and now I am building in more lines and little squares to the surface.

Coastal Colors II I continue to build on the top of the wool work here. I just enjoy adding more texture to the surface. The colors become so much richer I think.

Scrap Happy I had a whole box full of left over squares form all the scrap happy quilts I have been making, so I put them together in random rows and I am now sewing/quilting those rows together. It will be a colorful one when it is done.

New Work I pulled out these pieces of fabric and I will start a new work using some of them. I have not chosen a focus fabric from this collection yet, but when I do I will know what the next steps will be.

Label Block # 36

I got a letter from Judy this week full of labels and I am thrilled. It is always good to have help form one’s friends.

Keep Creating

Carol

Collage Based Work, Earthly Fissures, Label Blocks, Scrap Happy Quilts

Looking

October 15, 2015 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

I was struck this morning by how much I depend on the low light of morning to help me see my work. When the light is soft before I turn on the studio lights, I can really see the grays of light med and dark in my working pieces without the distractions of color. Now I am not saying I always pay attention to this- but I do know that when I take note- look at the balance , note the movement of the eye – the work is stronger.

Progress Report: Earthly Fissures This photo is of a rock formation in the Adorancks that I took a few weeks ago when I was up to visit Cris at the Pink House Gallery. I have selected a small section of the photo to be my jumping off point for this new work. I am building up the layers for the look I want now. This process always takes longer then I expect. But I love the final process so much it is well work the time.

Scrap Happy I have now finished this work. I just keep playing at this process. This one is very cheerful even though there is gray and black in the quilt.

15 I am doing the hand quilting on this little project in preparation of work on Ethel’s quilt.

New Work I started a new piece this week based on a collage I did over the week end. I did six collages and then picked out this one to be my challenge/ starting place. I am really exploring with this new process. That is both fun and scary at the same time.

The quilt top does seem to take on a mind of its own and the enlarging of a small” sketch/collage( 3”X 5”) and going to a different color combo changes things. I am enjoying the challenge however and feel I am growing with the process.

Label Block 22 The beat goes on for this project. Enjoy the fall colors.

Carol

Blossoms and Butterflies, Incisions, Label Blocks, Scrap Happy Quilts

Dealing

September 17, 2015 admin 1 Comment

Ethel Whittamore's work — Ethel Whittamore’s work

Hello,

We all have losses in our lives. Some are small like losing a thimble and other are bigger like a death. I suffered a big one with the death of my quilting buddy Ethel. I am so very fortunate that her daughter, Elise, has included me in her end of life events and in doing so, the loss, although deep, is becoming one of bitter sweetness. I have been tasked with the completion of Ethel’s last top to become a quilt for the Quilting by the Lake raffle for the Scholarship fund. What a gracious honor. I plan to finish the assemblage and then hand quilt it in the style Ehtel her self would have done. Elise has included me in the dismantling of Ethel’s studio and in the distribution of her many quilting treasures too. We spent a lovely day last Friday sorting and boxing up her fabrics. My studio is bursting with the boxes and I feel very comforted by there presents. I will not keep most of the material, but pass a lot onto her many other quilting friends with the hope that it makes them feel her spirit around them as I do. I did most of my dyeing with Ethel’s guidance and now I have all of her materials to continue the process. I am thankful. Ethel was also the person who got me interested in silk paper making. That is something that I continue to explore and I even teach the process. This week I did two sheets in preparation for a work shop on that topic that I will be teaching next week. There will be no post because I will be at the Pink House Art Gallery in Saranac Lake presenting at that time.

There was a FAB meeting here this week too. With lots of thought and with great care I am posting a quilt by one of the group members Okay. Nancy is quit proud of this quilt and I think she should be. She has a design sense that I so admire. I have been a big part of this quilt too as the thin dark blue line near the outside boarder is one she and I over dyed earlier this summer. She now has to decide how she wants to quilt this colorful work.

Progress Report: Blossoms and Butterflies This work is moving along nicely now. It is the second in the butterfly series. The background is completed now and I will now build the butterflies to add on top.

Incisions This work now has a title and I feel good about it. I have started the free motion quilting on this piece and think it will be finished soon. The red is the felt/batting so this part of the image will not be part of the final work.

Scrap Happy I finished the second twin Scrap Happy quilt on Tuesday and it went with the first to its new home. I can’t seem to leave well enough alone – so I made the rows from the left overs from this project and several others. The shoe box that I keep leftover squares in, is still overflowing so there will be at least two more quilts of this style in the near future.

Creative Assistants All these guys got arms, hair and backs this week. Now they only need there final paint embellishments and they will be done. I am ready to switch back to making more faces on the next batch. That is what I do during TV football games.

Fifteen Challenge The Diva group is fifteen years old and we are having a big show next summer. The group challenge is to create a 15” square quit that has fifteen in the work in some way. I have designed a square that has a roman numeral –XV in it. I made the block and because there is lots of bias in the shapes it got greatly distorted when I assembled it on the machine. So I am re doing it and making the blocks by hand. This is one fourth of the final piece.

Label Blocks This is # 20 in the label block line up. I can see this process still has weeks to go as there are still lots of labels in my box. I am glad to take contributions from any source for this project too.

Keep Creating

Carol

Label Blocks, Rifts, Scrap Happy Quilts

Line Types

September 10, 2015 admin

Hello,
I have been thinking a lot about lines. That is my emphasis for this year. I think lines in art at least can be put into five categorize. There are strait lines, curved lines, broken or dotted lines and a combination type line that puts two or more of these types together. The last category is the outline or the edge line. This type does not really exist in nature, but artist us it all the time. The edge line is some times created when two colors meet. Another time you get the edge/out line is when an object meets space. This air to earth line also helps us see and define up and down. We tend to think of the sun as being up and light from that source is on top of objects while the line is dark on the underside that is away from the sun, there for it is down. I am still pondering this effect of edge/outline and I am sure not that it is in my consciousness I will see it more often.
Progress Report: Rifts

This is the newest member of the Foundations series. I am enjoying doing all this rock work. This piece is the third based on a photo that I took in Maine a few years ago. I really enjoyed all the deep cracks in the surface of the rock and tried to show the depth of that with these last two close up treatments of the image. I am enjoying using the silk papers as well as threads and various fabrics.

New work This work is based on a collage from my class with David Hornung. He suggested that we use collage as a way to work out design problems before doing all the fabric work. because I liked the print on the light brown fabric I used it in this work. It is a very loose weave and so it did not sew quite the way regular cotton does. It took a lot of adjustment and re-seaming to get it to lie flat. I still need to work on the bottom edge.

New Butterfly work At the Diva meeting a few weeks ago Noel challenged me to make a second butterfly that showed off the butterfly’s more. This is my new background for that idea.

Creative Assistants Football season has begun and so has my work on the Creative Assistants. I have about 19 faces done now. I do enjoy this process.

Scrap Happy Twin 1 I am building a set of quilts for some bunk beds for a friend. This is the first of the two. I am only to the step were I add boarders so there is still a ways to go.

Label Block #19 I decided to number the label blocks so I can tell how many I have done.

Keep Creating

Carol

Forest Floor, Mill Site Melody, Rifts, Scrap Happy Quilts

Summer Actions

August 26, 2015 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

These beautiful Morning Glories are from Susan’s garden. I had an unexpected invite to go to Quilt National last week and that happened on Thursday and Friday. That was the reason there was no post. It was a glorious experience and I have a ton of new thoughts and ideas about work.

There were wonderful works by many folks I have seen before as well as lots of new comers. I purchased the book, and I treated myself to a poster with Elizabeth Bush’s quilt on it. It was a good experience.

I did not get busy and write on Wed before we departed because I went to Susan’s with Noel and we had a play day. We did a mimic of the work form David’s class and I have a lot more paper to play with now. It was a pleasant day and we all enjoyed ourselves.

I also spent a day both weeks making silk paper. I have used some of it on quilts already. But my main reason for making the paper is I want to teach a class were the we make the paper and then use some of it to make book jackets.

Progress Report:Rifts

This is the new rock piece that I am working on. It too is another close up of the shore of Arcadia. I am struggling with direction on this one and keep pinning it up with different orientations. Looking is the only answer for me. It is also were I used some of the silk paper that I mentioned earlier.

The process is still in it’s early stages so there will be lots more build up of the surface and changes.

Mill Site Melody I stared this piece at QBL and I am to the quilting stage now. I have had a good time doing reflective quilting in this section and making additional machine drawing in other areas.

These wheat like shapes are based on the images I see in the discharged print image.

Forest Floor I continue to do hand work on this piece. The stitches are beginning to build up with more remaining to be added.

Scrap Happy I finished this quilt this week. It will be a gift to help comfort my friend Tanya who had to have her horse put down. She is quite sad about that and I hope this red and black quilt with give her warmth and comfort.

New Work I took David’s suggestion and selected one of my collages as a starting point for a new work.

The collage only has two pieces of paper in it- but I could not limit myself to just two fabrics. I have added more and as I build I can see I am making alternations in the design due mostly to scale I think. It is a different approach and I like that.

There is no shot of a finished block this week either because I am not done with one. I am off to spend tomorrow playing with another friend working on Gelli plates so I am writing this a day ahead. Summer is just a busy time.

Keep Creating

Carol

Label Blocks, Remote Recesses, Scrap Happy Quilts

Good Old Summer Time

August 13, 2015 admin

Hello,

I am enjoying a bit of a slow down that one associates with summer. I have done a lot of walking and enjoying all the colors of summer. This shot is from Susan’s garden. I have been doing a bit of sorting too. When I put things away from QBL it is always a good time to look at the collections of stuff I have and prepare some of it to pass along to others who can and will use it. Most will go to the school that I once taught in as I know Margaret will use it with the kids.

Progress Report: Remote Recesses

I started this work in Independent Studio at QBL. It is a selected section from the same photo graph that I used for Relinquished Regions. I am enjoy the movement and action in this piece. This work has lots of different textures and materials in it. There is silk fabric, silk paper, wool, velour, and organza, and some imitation leather that Susan gave me when I went to visit her in FL. The cream and white fabric with the orange speckles on it is from the studio sale that I went to two weeks before QBL. I just find fabric every were that works for me.

Free Flight I had started this work before I went away to quilt camp. It did not get quilted until this week. The Butterflies are cut from ground cloth and painted. I then stitched them down with silver thread and did reflective quilting around the out side with little loops added every now and then to represent butterfly erratic flight patterns.

Scrap Happy This quilt is will be a wedding gift for one of my friends sons. I sure enjoy building these and I think this is # 140 of this style.

New Work This quilt is also one I started in independent studio. Some of the fabric is from Randy and the brown pieces with the leaf prints on them are from a long ago week end outing at Mill Sight Lake. I have started the quilting by doing some stitch in the ditch so it is well anchored. Now I need to decide what type of free motion decorative stitching I will add to fill in the rest of the spaces.

New Rock I started a new rock based piece on Wenesday. My friend Tanya gave me some fabric and it just had to be used in this manner.

This work is only the pin up stage and it will change with time. It too is a detailed section of my Arcadia shore shot. A very small section that this shot shows. It is the basis of the quilt for what I have pinned down.

Label Block I am back in the hand work pattern again. Enjoy the slow days of summer.

Carol

By the Shore, Encounters, Foundations Series, Label Blocks, Scrap Happy Quilts, Three Grand Sons

More on Lines

June 18, 2015 admin

Hello-

I just had to post these flowers today. I love both the color and the contrast in textures. I have not been very good about

concentrating on lines as I intended to be this year. But I took a renewed look this week. I was caught by the lines on the street and thought the are indeed one type of line- strait. They are a lines of direction and ones of illusion. They create a feeling of depth on a flat surface and lead the eye back in space. Most art is an illusion and a bit of magic. I say magic because if one looks at the materials ( paint, pastels, fabrics and yarns) that an artists starts with-it is nothing but magic when one looks at the end result.

Encounters 26" X 25" — Encounters
26″ X 25″

Progress Report: Encounters This is my newest completed hand embellished work. I put a postage stamp on the lower left to help with scale. It is a standard size- but I am not happy with it. So I will keep looking for an item to add along the side to help give the viewer a clue as to the size of the piece.

This work has more of the fabric form the discharge screen printing class in it. The dark fabric is a Judy Roberts piece form her monthly mailing. It came in January and I just knew I had to use it with the white material. I think they play well together. I have enjoyed doing the various stitches on the surface of this piece. I only did machine work as stitch in the ditch on some of the seams to hold it together.

By the Shore

I am ready to start to build up the dark sections of this work. I want it to feel deep – not just black so I am going slowly. I like all the textures too

Name Game- Three Grand Sons This is the next one in the series. Stage one here with Nick and Ben. Both positive and negative shapes are shown here.

Gavin shows the second cut of the fabric. It is already getting difficult to read the name. I will slice all three of the names into 4.5″ blocks and shuffle them next and put them all together for the top of this quilt.

New Work This top is all put together now. It seems quite weak to me so I will have to do some wild machine work on top to pull it into a work of some interest.

Scrap Happy Sense I sold one more of my Scrap Happies to Beth and there is a wedding for Barb’s son coming up I started more work on these types of quilts. The one with the red and black centers is all set in rows. This shot is only three rows.

This second with three shades of blue as it’s centers is not as far along When the rows are all assembled . I will make scarp backs for the two of them. They are always fun.

New Hand Work Because I always want to have some hand work to do I laid out and pinned up this new start for my next hand challenge. The white base has a bit of screen printing in pink on it. I added some organza, yarn, silk paper and some of the felt slices I made as a part of a play day with Cheri had last fall. I will be using mostly the same colors of yarn and floss as I did for “ Encounters”.

Spray Painted I plunged in and started the quilting on this one this week. I am outlining the reds and purples and then inventing the areas on the solid units on this top. I am enjoying the process, but I am not sure about what I am doing.

Label Block I just keep working away on these little fellows.

I will be away next week so there will be no post again until July 2.

Keep Creating

Carol

Cre-8

Category Archives: Scrap Happy Quilts

Butterfly Days

Ice Cycles

Snow Marks

Snow Bound

Looking

Dealing

Line Types

Summer Actions

Good Old Summer Time

More on Lines

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer