Birds, Broken Blocks, Finger Lakes Fiber Artist Group, Thread Painting

Moving Along

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Hello,
As we move into fall more and more activates start up. Is that increase the result of the end of summer, or just our way of warding off the soon to be cold days of winter? For me that meant the fist meeting of FLFA sense June. The meeting was at the Schweinfurth as usual and they had a great display of work to honor Harrat Tubman. This piece really pulled me in.

FLFA meeting was a small group with some great work. This is Susan’s piece and she got into QAQ with it. We are so proud of her!

Maureen is experimenting with raised surfaces with her stitching. It is hard to see here, but this is a whole cloth piece with the dark lines stitched to stand up.

Ann brought her bed quilt top to share with us. It is beautiful.

Joyce took a class at the Schweinfurth in the spring on three D weaving and she created this wonderful lamp among other works. It sure is a creative bunch and that is inspiring too.


Progress Report : Broken Blocks II I am ready to start the quilting step for this work now.

Bog Log I have started the free motion work on this piece. The ferns are made too and it is a case of deciding where I want to place them now. I also started making the mushrooms yesterday. Lots of steps in this work.

Lets Play I made this thread painted Blue Jay to add to the piece this week. For the way I work it is good to have several projects going at the same time.

Emily Project I made a mistake while I was working on this project last week and put all the machine drawn pieces in the wrong place, so I had to take it all apart. Now I have that fixed. I need to create nine more little figures to move forward. At my meeting I got some ideas from the lawyers for people that they wanted. I am ready to go.

Keep Creating
Carol

Bog Log, Hand work, Landscapes, Lap Quilts, SAQA, Trees

Moving into Fall

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Hello,
The days are getting shorter and the sun is moving north. I now see the sun coming up directly through my east facing door. By the end of next week it will be beyond that point.
This week was quiet except for my meeting with Emily about the commission. I was excited about the chance to show off the work I had done, only to discover the afternoon before that I had made a big mistake in my thinking and all the stitched work had to be taken out. I am back on track now. I did a lot yard work this week and had a few Dr appointment so I did not get as much done as I wanted. Next week is full meetings so studio time will be limited next week too, but that’s the way it is sometimes.
I was delighted to discover that my 12″x12′ quilt “Flight” was featured in an add for the SAQA Auction.

Progress Report: Broken Blocks II I started the backing of this quilt this week. I am making it out of leftovers. I like to use my fabric wisely.

Bog Log I am moveing forward on this project and I made these ferns yesterday. I have more to wash out, but I don’t have a big enough foam board to wash them out on. I am moving forward on the clutter on the forest floor too.

Tree Block I think this is the last block for this project as I now have 30. I have not laid out any of them yet. Nor have I trimmed them to size, but that will happen.

Pillow I finished up this pillow this week. It is stuff with thread and cut away parts form other projects.

Lap 22/26- Yellow Challenge Susan of Pixies challenged up to use yellow last week and so I did a lap quilt with that in mind. This week the challenge is to use Red. I don’t think I will have time to do a quilt this week, but I will do something.

Quilt on a Stick Challenge At Marcia’s camp two weeks ago’ Victoria suggested that we do a small quilt on a stich like they do at the Minnesota State Fair. She shared great photos and we agreed it would be fun. So this is my drawing of a 8.5 ” X 11″ of the project. I am moving forward on this one as I want to share it with the group on Wed when the Sisterhood of teh Scissors next meets.

I hope you are enjoying the season and making wise choices.
Carol

Bog Log, Broken Blocks, Hand work, Landscapes, Lap Quilts

Camping 2

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Hello, I made a second trip up to Marcia’s Camp over the weekend. We had as good a time on this outing as before. Nancy joined us this time so there were five of us. Marcia’s big van held us all for our outings. She is a gracious hostess and a great guild.

Our first stop was a walk to a bog. It was not a long way and there were hundreds of mushrooms along the trail. I am really full of ideas about how to finish up my Fungus project now. But the trail was steep down to the bog with lots of roots. Going back up was much less fun, but we all made it.

The next stop was The View to see the Adirondacks Watercolor Show. Lots of beautiful works of art there.
We had a very good time.

Before I went to the Adirondacks, I took down my show at the Library. They were very kind, but it was still a bit of a let down.

I got home to learn that two of my works were accepted in the Quilts Unlimited Show at The View. Polk Berries and Canadian Wildfires will both be on display there. I am delighted. So I will be making another track to Old Forge in the near future.

Progress report: Sisterhood Challenge I can see the end of the handwork part of this project. I worked on it while I was at the zoom meeting for the Pixies this week. I am glad to stay connected with them. There are only three more stars to outline on the project.

Broken Blocks II I did the slice, shuffle and reassembly of the blocks for this project this week. The arrangement of the blocks after they are made takes as long as the creation step for me.

Blog Log Not only did I see lots of fungus on the bog walk, I found my title for the work. The foreground is mostly laid out as far as a base is concerned. I will add to it as I go of course and work on the background as well as decide on what I want in the background this week. I have lots of photos to inspire my work now.

Emily’s Project Now that I have all the greens I want to use in this work I can really move forward here. It is going along nicely I think.


Tree blocks Each little stitch moves this work forward. My being away meant it did not get much attention this week.

Enjoy the holiday this week and keep creating.
Carol

Broken Blocks, Collage, Experiments, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Machine Drawing, People

Quiet Summer Days

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Hello,
Things have slowed down this week with only one event. I only went to Dryden with Cheri to a postcard party. About 20 folks got together and made postcards. It was fun to make collage cards with others.

I did a little playing with candy foils too. Saw the idea in a book I was looking through and tried it. Fun, but I have no idea of what I want to do with them. For now I will put them in the embellishing idea book.

Progress Report: Self Study 28.5 X 33″. This is the project that I started in Luke Haines’s class at QBL in July. I will keep using his idea to cut details with an Exacto knife and using a glue stick to put pieces in place before stitching. The glued small pieces were easier to free motion around.

Lap Quilt 21/26 This is the newest one in my push to use up the strips made for other projects. The box is not full any more, but I think there are still two more of these types of quilts in there. I will give away eight this week to make space.


Sisterhood Challenge I am continuing to work on this project and it is moving forward. No rush here as it is not due until Oct.

Let’s Play Kathy gave me a guitar neck and I though it would make a great hanging bar so I am making a quilt to go with that idea. On revaluation this morning, I feel the body of the guitar is still too big, so I will cut it down before I go froward.

Broken Blocks II I purchased a charm pack when I went to the Vermont Quilt show and I decided to revisit the idea of cutting and reassembling units to create a work. Here are four of the 22 rectangle blocks.

Lichens This project is moving forward, be it slowly. I did felted the log this week and I am planning the ferns to go around it now. I do not seem to have a clear vision of where I am going here, but I will keep moving on.

Emily project I also put in a little time on machine drawing some of the characters for this project. A two inch block is not a lot of space to work with, so it is slow going for me. The pink will wash out of the image when it is done.

I hope summer is bringing you joy.
Keep Creating
Carol

Hand work, Lap Quilts, Machine Drawing, People, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Scrap Happy Quilts, Sisterhood of the Scissors

Working Away

Hello,
I am feeling like things are really starting to go well now. Summer is in full swing and I am doing well. This week I went off to the Schweinfurth on Monday and helped dismantle the show along with lots of other gals. It was fun and tiring. When I left the job was almost complete.

I went to Marcia’s this week too. There were only six of us but we still had a good time. Nancy showed off her simple cover all.

Susan worked on one of her projects from QBL. She cut and printed the chair stamp in class and tells me she plans to use it in another project.

Progress Report: Liberties Lost This work is 24″ w X 34″ l. It is my second entry for the Justice for All??? show at Art Rage in April. I am pleased with how it has come out.

I may go back and darken some areas, but I think I need to let it rest for now.

12″ X 12″ This is my entry for the SAQA NY/NJ challenge. We are suppose to challenge our selves with this work. I decided to keep it keep the colors simple and see how many different materials and textures I could play with and still have it work. It was a fun exercise for me

Lap 20/ 26 This is another of the works were I used pre existing strips to create it. The box is no longer overflowing, but I think there will be another one of these before I have nearly empties it. Susan has agreed to take them to the nursing home were her mother is when I am ready. That is wonderful!

Scarp Happy blocks I got busy and made these blocks for the next scarp happy that I want to create at the Sisterhood Retreat in October. It is a big enough space I can lay the rows out and see how they will look so that is what I intend to do.

Portraits from QBL I emailed Lynn and she helped me remember what Luke Hanes had said about finishing up our portraits. I spent the afternoon yesterday doing the free motion work and now I am ready to move onto the background.


Sisterhood Challenge On Friday we were talking about the Sisterhood Challenge and Deb reminded me that handwork was suppose to be a part of the final- so I had to pull the project out again. I got the “Bling” part of the assignment- but not the handwork so I decided to make the silver part of hand stitched stars. Now I think all the stars will need a second row of stitching. Got to see how it goes.

Life is full and good.
Keep Creating

Carol

Hand work, Landscapes, Lap Quilts, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Trees

Moving Along

Hello,
I am feeling like I have my feet back on the ground now. I do get so much from QBL and it so exhausting too.
My big adventure for this week was a little trip to Homer to see the Rock Garden show at the Art Center and spend the day with Cheri. She had lots of great work on the wall. Exploring faces is her goal of late. I really like this work of her friend Liz. I think it looks like her too.

Terry also had a great piece in this show. We enjoyed our time to just talk as well.

Progress Report: Lap 19/26 I am still trying to use the extra edge pieces that I have created for other lap quilts. I think there are two more quilts in this style in the box. I only need to sew down the binding on this work now.

Lost Liberties I stitch down the flame and the broken tablet this week. I am working on the tree lines now. I hope to complete this project this week too.

Tree Blocks – Joshua Tree I finished up this work while I was in the Pixie Zoom meeting this week. I am getting close to the end of the blocks for this project. I think I will need to add a bit to the earlier blocks as I seem to have gotten a bit more elaborate over time.

Sorrel Cactus I started right away on the next block when the previous one was finished. I do so enjoy hand work.

Cross Lake I stared this at QBL in Valerie’s class. I am almost finished with this project. It needs a label and a bit on the binding.

Wildfire The wildfires are haunting me as we seem to have smoky skies almost daily here. Not having any more Judy Robert fabrics to use as my starting point I created one of my own yesterday. The colors are not as rich, but the challenge is to make it work.

Keep Creating
Carol

QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Shows, Trees

This year’s QBL

Hello,
I got home from the two weeks of Quilting by the Lake last Friday. It was a good time as usual. It is aways so much fun to reconnect with old friends. I think I made a few new connections too. I had class With Luke Haynes week one. He dose fun work and a self portrait every year. He helped us all through exploring doing self portraits. I still need to do the stitching down and make a quilt out of mine. I was surprised at how much it looked like me in the end. We then went forward to do a second one. I am still struggling with that one. Some how I got the glasses out of alinement and that messed p the whole face.

My friend Thresa was in the class and this is her self portrait. I think it is great!

So too was Ellen. i love her background choice. We had a good time and all learned a lot I think.

Week one we auctioned off the quilt that I helped cut parts for last two years ago. Last year at QBL Kathy pass out bags of parts to folks and they assembeled them and returned the finished blocks. The money raised goes for scholarships and the quilt raised $350. Kathy put them together and quilting them over the winter. This year she is just asking for 6.5″ squares from folks. I am sure she will get some wild work.

Week two was Transparencies with Valerie Goodwin. This class was small with only 10 of us, but it was great too. This first transparency is Victoria’s work. She is having fun playing with her rooster image.

I did these two works. The Black and White is made from pieces Valerie provided for our use. The landscape of the lake is all my own creation. I had pre-sent her the water lilies and just tried to build a home for them. I would do it a bit differently if I could re do it. The flowers are too harsh.
I am still playing catch up with myself, but I am feeling like I an getting my feet on the ground. It is alwasy so very stimulating and I come home full of new ideas and things to think about.

On Monday I hung my Solo show at Piet Library in Syracuse. The set up there dose not work well for quilts so I used only my beaded work as it is mostly stretched on foam core or stretcher bars.
This show will be up until August 28.

My other excitement this week was meeting with Lawyer Emily Larson-Hatch to get approval to move forward on a wall piece for her office. This is the drawing. Now I need to purchase the fabric to do the job.

Progress Report: Lady Liberty I am moving forward on this project now and feeling good about it. This is my work on the torch.

Tree Blocks: Palm Tree – Joshua Tree I finished the Palm tree block before I went off to QBL. Then I tried to work on the Joshua Tree while I was there. But I was usually too tired to put in the time in the evening. It is moving along nicely now.

This entree is so late because I was having trouble with the computer. It seems access to my email, where I collect the images, was unaccusable yesterday.
Keep Creating
Carol

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Lap Quilts, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Trees

Movening Forward

Hello,
Summer is a busy time! This week I spent three days preparing for a big house party here and then another day doing clean up.
We have been in this house for 50 years and so we celebrated. Needless to say that except for doing a lot of studio clean and organizing, I did not do much this week. I did pull materials for QBL that starts on Sunday.

Progress Report: Broken Blocks- Sisterhood of the Scissors Challenge 2025-2026 This work is 50″ X 58″. I enjoyed working on this after I got going. It is a different pallet for me and I liked that.

Lap 18-26 This top is all done now and I have even pin basted it. I will not get back to it for a while as QBL will take all my time.

Palm Tree Block As you can see I only worked a few min. on this project. I am off to Marcia’s Makers tomorrow and I intend to spend the day at this then.

Enjoy your next two weeks as I am sure I will too.

Keep Creating,
Carol

Hand work, Lap Quilts, Trees

Summer

Hi,
Summer is in full swing and everyone is very busy. I had a stomach virus for three days last week and so I stay home and did not get much done. I missed most of the 4th of July events. I only watch fireworks on the television. Being ill sure makes on appreciate their good heath!
We are putting lots of effort into preparation for out annual July Birthday event on Sunday. We are mixing it with a celebration of living in this house for 50 years. Today, we will put up the assembled cabinets in the laundry room. Tomorrow the yard clean and organize will be our goal. Sat will be food prep and finish up. It will be fun to see everyone.
Progress Report: Lap 18-19 I did set at the machine a bit yesterday and added to this piece. It may not be finished before I go off to QBL, but I am Okay with that.

Broken Blocks I have pressed the back in preparation for layering and assembly. Again, this may on may not get attention as the yard and so many other little things are demanding attention.


Tree Block- Palm Tree I seem to find more time to do handwork as that is a sit down activity I can do in the evenings.
I am off to hold up cabinets while Eric connects them to the walls.
Keep Creating
Carol

Drawing, Felt Work, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Trees

Adirondack Trip

Hello,
Last weekend I went up to Marcia’s camp on Chase Lake in the Adirondacks. I enjoyed the dock and did my morning pages there every day. We had three wonderful days of good weather and good times. On Friday we went out and did a bit of shopping.

One of our stops was a basket makes and we all purchased great baskets from her. We visited two jewelers and the others spent there as well. Our last stop of the day was the sweet shop for ice cream.

Then on Saturday we took a dirt road north to Old Forge and went to The View to see the displays. We were not at all disappointed there either. The Members show included this awe-inspiring felt work. There were several other felted projects to and I am sure I will do some work in a similar direction. There was also a wonderful tryptic by our friend Divina Roddie. So good to finally see one in real life.
There was also a solo show that was inspiring. Then Victoria and I took a long walk on Sunday morning before we started home. The whole time was relaxing and very pleasant.


Progress Report: Lost Libertys I was away so much this week that I did not make a lot of progress, but the flag as a binder is all sewed down now.

Tree Block This was the only project that I took on the trip so I finished it. I intended to make a cherry tree- but the French knots looked more like apples so that is what it became. Sometimes the materials have a mind of their own.


Color Challenges – Green This was the color word for this week and I just started doodling in the sketch book for this one.

Broken Block backing I used leftovers from the front for this backing. The starter fabric is the Sisterhood Retreat Challenge fabric. None of it is visible here. It was a challenge for me as I usually don’t use this pallet of gray and pale rose. It pushed me to look at my stash of neutrals and so I pulled some out for the next lap quilt.

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Lap 18/26 AS you can see I have done very little on this project so far- but I think it will go together quickly.

I have to add this shot of a power line full of sneakers that we passed under on our travels over the weekend. It was/is very impressive as it stretched across the highway! I can’t imagine how many hours and dollars it represents.

Enjoy the 4th, stay cool, and be creative.
Carol

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer