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

By the Shore, Encounters, Foundations Series, Label Blocks

Natural Beauty

June 11, 2015 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

This moth was in my yard this week. I have never seen a live one before and it is beautiful . Marty and I came across it when we were out side painting on Friday. We were so taken by Elizabeth’s spray technique when we were in Maine that we had to try it our selves. It was a lot of fun and we both have a new respect for what Elizabeth is doing. It takes a lot of skill to control the application and just folding the fabric is not all that is involved. We altered lots of different types of surfaces with the paint. From cotton, satin to corduroy and organza. This play sent me off in a bit of a new direction.

Progress Report: Painted Work I got all excited by the painted cloth and so I started and assembled a new top. It is big simple blocks because I want to feature the painted surfaces. Adding in sharp quilted lines will really extend and enhance the painted areas I hope. I am really taken by the sometime crisp edges and sometime soft ones.

By the Shore Now I am to the fun stage with this work as I am building up the surface with colors and textures. It is so much fun to add all the different types of fabric, paper and yarn to the surface.

Encounters I am still doing hand work on this project. The base is a mix of fabric that I did deconstructed silk screen printing work on and some of Judy Roberts wonderful hand dyed material. It seems to become lost for periods of time and when I come across it again I see it with new eyes. I think I am nearing the end as I add different types of stitches to the surface. They have helped me solidify the vision for the work.

New work I am still building this piece. At the moment I am not real delighted with it and feel it is only a background for something more. It needs a focus I think.

Label Block These nightly practices are moving along. I am finding it very hard to keep the labels square sense I can not stretch the fabric. I will not do a hand project like this again.

Keep Creating

Carol

Color- Spring Onion, Colors- Hands, Colors- Imagination, Dance, Diva Meetings, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Insect ology, Machine Drawing, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

Visual Effects

June 4, 2015 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

I have spent my week with many other creative people and in doing so my world is richer. Yesterday, while coming home from a wonderful performance of West Side Story with my friend Barb and I, we were enjoying the beautiful landscapes of up state New York. In doing so we talked at length about how we are so eager to feast our eyes on the world around us and that we easy find and celebrate the wonders of our world with joy and delight. That is a job all artists do – with our works we celebrate our own joy and in doing so hopefully open others eyes to the beauty all around all of us. Our acts of “ Valuing the Visual” with each work or art, hopefully makes others value the world as well.

I went to a FAB meeting this week. Nancy displayed her dyed fabrics from the week before. Now she is ready to move on to the final assembly of here quilt. Patti work on one of her mini weaving projects during the meeting.

I then went to the QuEG’s meeting . Sue Ellen is working away on a Tree series and this is one of her pieces in that series. She had several others pinned up in her studio. It will be fun to watch the series get completed. We seem to have a rash of baby related works going on in the group at the moment. This is green and purple one is Linda’s new baby quilt.

Here are two more by another expectant grandmother.

Angela is doing hand work on this felted work that she cut up. We gave her lots of ideas about how to expand and play with this idea. That is one of the great things about a group- the expanded brain power is wonderful and one can pick and choose from the ideas folks toss out for your benefit. Liz had a wonderful little bowl carrier project that she shared with us. This soft hot pad “fits” around a bowl while it is in the micro wave and makes for easy removal with out burning the fingers. Corrine is busy doing paper piecing with very small log cabin blocks.

I stopped and picked up Susan on my way to the Diva meeting. This shot is of her table in her studio. She is really expanding the Flag Challenge in a great way. I am enjoying the contrast of our two styles and will talk more about that in the future. At Diva’s we saw this new work. Anne did a wonderful job with the quilting on this project. The front is wonderful too- but I do not have a shot of that. This is picture of Lori’s layered embroidery work. There is foiling and organza in this as well.

Alice is working on smaller units to sell for Art Trail and this stain glass type pieces is one of her works for that endeavor. I like her color choices. Regina was my guest at the meeting and she showed us her felted butterfly. This was only one of three she had completed sense I had seen her the Wed. before.

Meeting all three groups in one day is exhausting and I will work not to have that happen again any time soon. One can have too much of a good thing.

Progress Report Insect Ology

I am surprised by how much people like this work. The colors are natural, the subject matter is some what off potting- but I get lots of positive feed. I like it too, but not nearly as much as my viewers do. I will make another companion stencil and see if working two together also gets this type of response. I really enjoyed quilting all the leaves on the surface the most when it came to completing this work.

Flag- Dance This flag is really the last of the official series – I think. Both Susan and I did the same image in black and white to start this project. I held this flag until the end to complete. It seemed like a way of closing off. the process for me. But after seeing what Susan is doing I am not so sure.

Flags- Assorted Colors Being unsure of were we were going Susan and I started by using up her paper paste before we did anything else. The flag challenge grew out of that play . I did these colored flags last so when I got to these I was feeling more confident about the use of words and adding objects to the surfaces. For this one, Imagination, I embossed the saying on metal and stitched it to the surface.

The second one- Hands – got its darker additions in the form of painted wonder under that I ironed to the surface.

The paper paste was thinning down by the time we got to the last this last flag so it is paler. I added the oil crayons to is for the onion.

It is a copy of the stencil that Susan made on Wed of my visit when we went to drawing class.

The studio is calling as I have not spent a lot of time there this week.

Keep Creating

Carol

Continue, Insect ology, Label Blocks, Machine Drawing, Pock Marked

Work Space

May 28, 2015 admin

Hello,

Summer is upon us now with all its wonders. I love how fast a beautifully the flowers are opening and changing the landscape. This Poppy is from Regina’s garden were I was visiting yesterday. I enjoy her work an find her approach exciting. One of the things she is working on is printing on fabric with a linoleum block and then quilting into the image. She added the red thread to emphasize the blossoms. She has asked a friend to enlarge the image and print it on the fabric for her so there will be even more of this image in her future work.

I also spent time with Nancy this week doing some dye painting. She could not find the color she wanted for one of her works and decided to paint to get what she wants. I am proud of her.

Through this door is the studio. I think it is very important to have a place of your own to work. I have a wonderful converted garage space for my studio. I has had several lives before it became my space. I served as a bedroom for two different boarders, my daughter and young grand kids and then for Eric and myself. Now it is my refuge for creative work. It has a wonderful bay window in the front and a door out side on the east wall. A long four foot deep closet in the back with book shelves is were I store most of my fabrics, yarns and papers as well as my felting machine. I have filled the space with my stuff and it suits me well. This first shot is from the door looking toward the front of the house. My desk/ sit down work space is a U in this far corner. I enjoy using my Grandmother Ruth’s sewing table as a work space for my own machine. That is one leg of the U and the desk its self is the other two sides.

I spend most of my time working in this area of the room..By walking strait across the room from the door and looking back this shot shows the view. Here is my cutting table with a small ironing board on the top at the far end. The pin wall is also along that wall. Next to that I have a book case that is full of projects in progress as I like to keep materials all together until I have completed an idea. This view is achieved when one walks diagonally from the point of view of the second shot into corner I just described and look back. ( the end of the sewing machine is on the lower right ) Here one can see the book shelves. The have lots of quit books and reference materials as well as my tin container collection. They serve as storage for sequins, oils sticks, markers, special fabric bits and small items that I find inspirational. In the corner the plastic drawer unit is full of beads, paints, buttons, lace trims and other attachments. My guest chair, also shown, often serves as a staging area for hand work that will be done outside the studio. I feel fournate to have such a wonderful work area and I enjoy it almost daily.

Progress Report ; Modeled Surface I used lots of surface altering techniques on this work. This red purple section is from the Deconstructed Screen Printing class from the fall.

The light blue is from some dyeing I did with the QuEGs group last spring. This dark blue is from a day I spent playing with paint in my own studio. I was doing tape resist on the fabric and then running the roller over it. The left side of this images shows printing on an old table cloth and the right side is a double print of a silk screen. It was a fun challenge to use only fabrics that I had altered myself.

Insect OlogyI am still working on the free motion part of this work. I so liked the shapes of these leaves that I used them several places in the quilt to fill in the sections. I like finding inspiration from the fabric for my free motion work.

Flag-Continue I only finished one flag this week. This one is Susan’s design and her quote too. I just added the flowers. Now I only have five to finish before Tue next week so that project will get lots of my attention.

New Work True to the way I work I have pulled out a new patch of fabric and pinned it to the wall. I always like to audition fabrics before I use them.

Label Block

Two more are now completed.

Keep Creating

Carol

Consideration, Find Ecstasy, Hand Bags, Insect ology, Minion, Pock Marked, Rejoice, Uncategorized

Travel Log

May 21, 2015 admin

Hello,

I am home from a wonderful trip and I still seem to be flying along with lots of new experiences. Maine was/is beautiful as it too awakens to spring. I enjoyed the tulips in Barb’s yard and took lots of pictures. There are so many wonderful colors. We visited two artists with studios on this trip. The first was Elizabeth Busch’s place. She is working on a new commission for the state capital building in Augusta. This is a shot of the models. She is building in her wonderful weaving on bird netting.She carefully explained how she used her photos of different parts of Maine to build the landscape that she wanted for the project. She refers to them often as she works with the weaving to keep the colors close to the natural look she is building. She has a large collection of printed and painted strips of plastic to choose from when she is working. Elizabeth sometime weaves as many as four strips into one section to create the color she wants for rocks, trees, water and other natural elements. She is working on all three panels at one time so they will flow into one another as they spin from the three eye beams in the lobby. The job needs to be completed by September so she will have a busy summer.

The second Studio was that of Nanci Kohn She is a photographer and paper Mache’ artist. She too was very willing to talk about her process and work. I really love this song bird that is covered in sheet music.

We then stopped and looked at a welded sculpture of an Osprey on a bridge on our way to Portland. It was an enjoyable and stimulating trip as travel always seems to be for me.

Tuesday the FAB group meant here. Patti had nearly completed this happy little wall hanging. I like how she used buttons and beads for the eyes of the kittens.

Judy was busy working on a new sweater. She is doing hand embroidery stitched flowers on it now to add more interest. I like the soft colors she is using.

Progress Report: Paper Quilt- Consideration

I am done working on the surface of this project. I want to add a sleeve in a different manner than I have with previouse paper quilts,because it is so wide. I want to make the slat removable for this one. The papers that I started with were from a Gelli print play day last fall. I have enjoyed doing all the stitching on this one and adding textures

I added painted and melted tyveck for that texture. I used both sides so some areas have the bubble up and some have the bubble down.

Hand Bag I made a new hand bag out of some of the wonderful fabric that Regina gave me a few weeks ago. It is time to switch to a summer color so I put the old one( it was browns and blacks) away.

Place Mats When I was sorting through the material for the hand bag I pulled fabric for place mats too. These are the newly finished batch. I have stacks two more sets setting on the cutting table.

Pock Marked I am working on the free motion portion of the quilting on this project. It is going slowly as I am trying to find lines to follow for all the stitching and it is very complex in some areas.

Insect Ology I am to the free motion quilting on this project too. It is a much different process than Pock Marked- much more a reflective process. It is good for me to switch from one type of free motion work to the other.

Flag – Rejoice For the experiment on this flag I drew on the surface with magic markers and then stayed it with rubbing Alcohol. I hung it on the line so it would run down as it dried. Not all the makers ran because they were different types of markers. The “Sharpies” rand the most. The quote is” Rejoice in the common place.” from an unknown source.

Flag- Find Ecstasy This flag does not have much in the way of experimentation. But when I found this quote l knew I had to use it. It is from Emily Dickenson: “Find ecstasy in life – the mere sense of living in joy is enough.

More Minions I am now finished with the last four minions. I will pass them along to friends who need a lift as I come across them.

I hope summer is on everyone’s door step.

Keep Creating

Carol

Canyon de Chilly, Insect ology, Memory Map Quilts, Minion, Paper Quilts

Spring advancement

May 7, 2015 admin

Hello,

I am so delighted by the changes Mother Nature has wrought this week. From small buds last Thursday to four and five inch leaves this week. It is a wonder that we take for granted. I ate my breakfast out doors after I brushed the fallen maple blossoms off the table. It is an amazing transformation and I can’t get enough.

I have had a full week. I went to the Spring Weekend Retreat at the Schweinfurth Art Center were the new Barbara Fenstein Make Room was dedicated and open for use. Her quilts lined the walls and her sister Emily found this beautiful top among the stash as she sorted things. Some folks knitted, such as Kitsy, Donna and Linda here. Some sewed and some did a bit of both. Linda also did some beautiful thread painting of a on tree she had painted. She had the most extensive thread collection I have ever seen owned by an indivigal. Nancy finished off this little quilt. One she hopes to use as a teaching tool in the near future. I started two tops- one both days. We all had a wonderful time and hope to do it again next spring if not sooner.

Tuesday was meeting day for me. Both QuEGs and Divas meant as it was the first Tuesday of the month. Linda is taking a on line class and having a lot of fun with it. She is turning out a small quilt each month. This is her line assement.

Corinne is making baby blocks for a baby quilt. This one has wonderful thread work in it. I like how she created the shadows on the elephant in the center.

The Divas also had great work to share. Donna has completed this wonderful mirror. The frame is done with black Fimo.

Cheri is to the quilting stage on this wonderful piece. She is machine drawing / quilting out on to the boarder in the form of the white leaves. She also used the colored leaves as quilting line inspiration on the surface. ( you can see the white quilting lines on the purple boarder) It looks great.

Ruth has reached the quilting stage with her quilt too. This is one powerful graphic. She has discovered that quilting with dark blue in the black areas adds a special interest to the surface. Cool thinking!

Cindy is working small as she is still teaching. These are book pages that she will sent to friends of an exchange group. But even working 6” X 6” , she finds she can spend four to six hours on a page. They are all magnificent.

Progress Report: New Work

This is the first top I did on the week end. I used fabric from the Deconstructed Screen class I had taken last fall for the start of this project. I added fabrics I had stenciled and stamped as well as one wipe up cloth . It is ready for quilting and a title.

Insect ology This is the second top I started at the retreat. Funny how the name just came along with the process this time. I created and printed the insects a while back. I used oil sticks for the printing with this project.

Paper Quilt I am still struggling away with this project. It is made up of two pieces of paper that I printed with the Gelli plate last fall. A little of the Tyvek I melted last week is a part of this work. Some parts of it seem to work a lot better then others. I think I will add some additional paint to the surface as Carol Weibe recommends at this point and see if that helps me move forward.

Memory Map- Canyon de Chelly This project also seems to be only inching along. I did add Rosalie and Marty to the image however…… I am thinking this work might benefit from some paint too. The paint could unify sections and take the sharp edge off some areas. It is not holding together too well for my taste yet.

Minions As this picture shows I am still in the process of assembling the Minions. None of them have eyes or legs yet, but each evening I get a little closer.

Place Matts I was drooling over the wonderful fabric that Regina gave me a few week ago when I realized they could become place mats. I now have two new sets and I love them both.

Label Block And the stitches go on. I am enjoying this project as I read the labels- one thing I never really do when they are in clothing.

I am off to visit my friends in Maine next week so there will be no posting for the 14 of May. I will post again on the 21 of May.

Happy Mothers Day to all.

Hugs

Carol

Arches, By the Shore, Freedom's Joy, Label Blocks, Minion, Paper Quilts

Buds Opening

April 30, 2015 admin 2 Comments

Hello,

I have noticed as I have been walking this week a daily change in the environment. Not only is the grass growing but flowers are up. I also see that spring flowers are different here than in mid west. These white violets are a good example. ( I have purple ones in the yard too) Every day the shadows cast by the trees changes as the buds explode out into the sunny world. I find it exciting to see the major changes from one day to the next. I spent Monday playing with Cheri in her studio. She was busy creating freezer paper stencils, ironing them down and then painting over them them. While she did that I worked on adding a layer to the puppet heads that I made at Varna last month. I added paper clay over the two human heads and the dog head as I was happy with the forms. I then built up the bird head with more paper Mache’. I moved from that to building a mask with a cardboard base. The mask seemed to take on a life of it’s own as I started out trying to create a lion- but it seems I have a horse instead. Cheri suggested a different type of Mache paste and so I added the paper layer on top of the cardboard. I like what is happening even though it is not were I thought I was going. Then the third 3-D project this week was to start to create a new batch of Minions. I seem to be exploding with my own creative push as I also pulled out and sorted stacks of fabric for six new projects this week. This shot shows four of the piles. I only have eight yellow tubs for separated projects and they are all full, that along with the 3-D stuff and I have a lot on my hands to work at for a while.

Make Visible 23"X 29" $235.00 — Make Visible
23″X 29″
$235.00

Progress Report: Make Visible I am done with this quilt now. This project started last summer when Susan and I were playing with all her different mark making tools. I did several different quotes with the tools and I am now getting around to finishing them off. I quilted the words Make Visible seven times on the surface of this quilt . Some times I did them in block letters and some times in cursive. Then did reflective quilting to finish it off. I used the obi that I got from Ginny in this project too.

Regina’s Blanket This project is made from some of the wonderful designer samples that Regina gave me a few weeks ago. It was fun to try her techniques with her fabric. It is great to snuggle under too.

By The Shore I was looking at my photos of the trip to Arcadia with Barb and Marty from a few years ago. Among the pictures was a great shot of the basalt along the shore. So I decided to use it as the start of my next Foundations piece. This is just the pin up.

Paper Quilt I came across some papers I had done as Gelli plate prints. Two of them seemed to go together so I started this work in the Carol Weibe technique. It has two cuts in it. I had also melted the tyvek that Cheri and I had painted from the week before. Now there is lots of that to play with and I may add a little of that texture to the surface of this paper quilt too.

Flag- Arches I am using these flags as a place to really play with things I do not normally try. In this case I used Caran D’ache water soluble crayons to add color. Then I spritzed it with water. The word “Arches” is written in broad line Liquid Copper magic paint marker by Deco Color. It did not bleed when I sprayed it with water.

Flag Freedom’s Joy With this project I stamped a bird with a foam stamp that I had made several years go and then I used colored pencil on top to enhance it . I also used the colored pencil in the lines to add motion. The words are done in permanent marker.

Label Block I am doing my daily stitch work with this project. Every little bit adds up.

Keep Creating

Carol

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

Victories

April 23, 2015 admin

Hello,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Label Block The nightly work goes on with this project.

Keep Creating

Carol

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

Mistake- Lesson Learned

April 16, 2015 admin

Hello,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Label Block The beat goes on with this project.

Keep Creating

Carol

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

Spring Effects

April 9, 2015 admin

Hello,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keep Creating

Carol

Cre-8

More on Lines

Natural Beauty

Visual Effects

Work Space

Travel Log

Spring advancement

Buds Opening

Victories

Mistake- Lesson Learned

Spring Effects

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer