Category Archives: FAD (Fiber Art Dames)

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

Columbus Junction, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Label Blocks, Lion King- Cherrywood Challenge, Memory Map Quilts, Purple Pleasures, The Heron

Active time

May 27, 2016 admin

Hello-

Do you see the four leaf clover on the right in this cluster I was out in the yard the other day and it just jumped out at me. Had to capture the image to share. I hope that everyone enjoys the out doors on this Memorial Day Week End.
This week has been a full and active time. It began last Thursday afternoon when I went off to Turquoise Street Studio to play with Barbara. She worked on her pastel of beach folks and I did hand work on my own. It was a pleasant time.

Saturday was a meeting of the mixed group folks. This quilt is by Bev Kondolf. We talked of many things, but most important from my point of view was about how museums like the detentions of works to be presented in high first and then width. So I will be using that system in the future.

This work is by Anne Garrison. It is always such a stimulating time and I always go home so worked up with ideas and thoughts.

This work is by Noel Keith and is one of her entries for the Diva 15 show That opens on June 3 and runs until July 29 i n Ithaca NY. The round circle at the bottom is rust stained silk.

Regina brought this piece to the meeting to show Pat what she had done with some of the fabric that she altered in her class in the fall. As a teacher I sure appreciate seeing finished results and Pat did too.

On Monday Noel, Victoria and I went down to have a play day in Regina’s studio. This shot is if Noel and Regina looking at one of Regina’s new yard sale finds. It is so kind of her to open her space to us to play. I like the way she has starts hung on the wall like I do. I find this one epically exciting.

Regina’s computerized machine gets a real work out . This is a great example of that.

We were dye painting. This shot is of Victoria carefully painting symbols on the fabric with Dye Magnet. Hope to see this when it is done. Noel really played. She started with this blank . The end piece looked like this. So much color!

Then on Tues I had the FAB group here. Judy is working on finishing up old started projects. This soft summer quilt is a real beauty with its mix of black and deep blue centers.

Nancy is working on a quilt for her Mother that has daises and blue birds on it. She is a real wiz when it comes to medallion quilts. She had lots of boarders and always makes a great challenge for her self with these projects.

Yesterday I went off and spent my time with Joyce who is a collage artist. I did three little works- two are suitable for starts for quilts I think. The top two.

Progress Report: Memory Map: Columbus Junction This work is 21” l X 14” w. I am calling it done although I do not think it is a good piece. There are too many things that are the same size I feel.The images tell the story but it is weak. I may show this to some other folks and see if they have suggestions. I will do much more drawing and pre planning for the next piece in this series.

The Heron This work is 16” l x 16” w. I got the heron printed on organza from Ethel a few years ago. It hung on the pin wall and made me feel good, but I could not place it. Then this week it all came together in one afternoon. Using Ethel’s fabric’s and her style , plus my love of texture. I am quite happy with the results.

Lion King:Coming Home No one but me will see the differences here. But I did take off the lion and redo him this week. Thats done and it is pin basted and ready for quilting… A whole different challenge.

Purple Pleasures The triangles just keep filling up the surface of this work. It is very slow however.

New Work This is what I worked on at Turquoise Street. All the raw edges are tacked down with hand stitches and I have done the paint step on this work. Now I need to begin the machine drawings of my grandmothers on organza.

Label Blocks #59.I finished # 59 on Friday last week. Two more blocks and I will be half done.

Keep Creating

Carol

FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Foundations XII, Label Blocks, Out the Window, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

My Travels

April 14, 2016 admin

Hello,

It is really spring when the dandelions begin to bloom. I see more and more every day. I have enjoyed my last two weeks and my mind is full of all sorts of ideas and happy memories. On the Tuesday before I left I went to a FAB meeting at Judy’s house. Everyone was full of news and even though there were no new projects we had a good time. Then that same day I ran off to a QuIG’s meeting in Sue Ellen’s studio. Sue Ellen is still working on her tree theme series. I really like all the hand work she put into this work. Linda is experimenting with Yupo Paper and ink. She sure got some fine results. I think I purchased some of this stuff a while back, I wonder what I did with it. Sally took a class from Noel were she made this wonderful rose and then built a great evening bag with the knowledge. We had a good time.

Then on Wed. I flew off to Chicago to see my friend Sharron and go to the Quilt Festival. She picked me up and we drove around the city in her wonderful new 2015 Mustang. I was stopped cold when I opened the door and this logo appeared at my feet. Techknowledgy is every where. The Festival was wonderful. The quilts were amazing. Such strong use of color and texture as well as wonderful patterning and breath taking images. I do not feel like I can post any of them on this sight –just believe me. We did go to the dedication and delivery of Quilts of Valor. It was so moving I found myself with tears running down my cheeks. Later Sharron and I spent time at that booth working on blocks and we both finished six for some future Veteran’s quilt. We came home with tired feet and a pile of goodies. This is only my pile. Sharron had one as big. She has a wonderful studio with a full wall of fabric. Her own Quilt store I would say. She is still working away on her six “ Dear Jane “ quilts. She has all the centers doneand is a little beyond a third of the way around all six with the triangles in the boarders. I am sure she will finish this year and they will be amazing! Again I am not going to show them here as she has a show in mind that needs to keep the images off the net until they are shown there. Sharron also has a second passion and that is her Christmas Village. It is set up in a space that was once a dinning room. It is electrified and has a train that moves through the display. Most of the building have lights inside as well. I just kept looking and looking .She told me she has been collecting parts for over 30 years. I sure can believe that . What a delight for the kid in all of us.

On Monday I went to Ithaca and took down my solo show at the Briar Patch. The staff did not want to see it go, but all things must end . Anne has someone else lined up for the next two months now.

Progress Report: Ethel’s Quilt This quilt was designed cut and partially assembled by my quilting buddy Ethel Whittamore. She asked me to finish it and then pass it on to Quilting By The Lake for there raffle in July. The Raffle money goes to the scholarship fund for the classes at QBL the following summer. I did finish the assembly and started doing the hand quilting like Ethel always did on her quilts. But I was unsatisfied with my work so I sent it off to an Amish woman I know who does beautiful handwork. The results came back and I was delight and she got the cash for a new calf. I was so excited when it came home that I took it to a Diva meeting were Cheri asked if she could take it to be shown at the YMCA Central New York Quilt show April 8 /9. I said yes and now it it home with me in all its glory. I will enjoy it for a few months before it goes off to QBL and its new home.

Riverwood This work is 31” X 49”. It meets all three of my monthly challenges. The orange and yellow fabric is some I hand dyed in a class last fall. The silk and the browns are from Ethel’s stash. The design is based on a collage I created. There are always alterations when one goes

from 3” x5” to a larger from. I liked using a limited pallet working with a the bold print against a smaller scaled area. I am also enjoying using the faced shapes to add another detention to the surface.

Out My Window This quilt is 38” X 41”. I hand painted the big white sections. They are all views of things that I saw out different windows in my life time. This shot is of the barn yard I could see from my bed room in Iowa. All the dark purple blocks are machine drawn trees and most of the other areas are leaves or clouds.

New Work -Ice on Vincent As I mentioned before the quilt show was inspiring and so I started this work based on a photo I took earlier this spring of ice along Vincent St. It is a close up and I have already done some major altering of it as I have put down the fabrics.

New Work This is an early shot of the beginning of a new piece. I want to do another stretched work, so this piece is 26” X 50” . It is based on a shot I took in Washington State on a trip with Marty. I am doing it all in shades of blue instead of gray.

Label Blocks # 46 and # 47

Two weeks- two blocks. I did a lot of the work in the airport waiting for the plane. The beat goes on….

Keep Creating

Carol

Briar Patch, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Foggy Dawn, Label Blocks, Out the Window, Parts, Silver Growth

Purple Touches

March 11, 2016 admin

Hello,

It is really feeling like spring here and this wonderful shot of Nancy’s quilt in progress really expresses this feeling. I love all the flowers and the bright colors. She is amazing with her use of more and more pattern. This shot is only about one eights of her quilt. It was all we could show on the small space of my studio at the FAB meeting yesterday. Judy is working away on her sweater. She got some of the yarns from Patti . Judy is such a good knitter she does not even need a pattern to do all these fancy stitches. We had a good time yesterday.

I finished up my entry for the SAQA auction this week. I had a good time creating this little twelve inch square piece. I enjoy and support this organization.

Progress Report: Parts This work is finally complete. I sure enjoyed doing hand stitches all over the surface. I think I will give this work to the local camera shop were I purchased the camera that the parts are from. I got the new camera from them too when I dropped this one an broke it.

Foggy Dawn This work is the second half of older work. I took Corrine’s ‘s advice and did the quilting in a spiral patterns.

The glitter that is on this work was on the fabric when I purchased it. Lots of us like glitz.

Silver Growth I am almost finished with this project. I did all the free motion silver thread work earlier this week and I only need to add the facings now.

Briar Patch I am to the stage where I am adding the leaves and black berries to this quilt. I added most of the black berries first. I did not realize how many leaves I cut until I had them all pinned to the surface . It sure makes it pricklier at the moment.

Out the Window I was having so much fun with the turquoise and purple combination that I did a second quilt using this color combination. I lightened it up and did not go for much of the deep green of summer here. It is a lot closer to the colors of spring and windflowers and snow. Something that I saw on my walks this week.

Label Block #43 Slow and steady get’s the job done on this one.

Looking back over this blog I see lots of spring purple here. I sure am influenced by the season.

Keep Creating

Carol

# 2, Coastal Color, Coping, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Label Blocks, Moon Fall, Parts

Winter workings

January 29, 2016 admin

Hello,

The week has been a full one with lots of activates. This work is by a high school student and a part of the Scholastic Art show now going on at Onondaga Community Collage. I was a judge a few weeks ago and I judged animation and film. I went to see the other works that made it into the show. There is lots of wonderful work, and it is well worth the effort to go and see it. The FAB group also meant this week

. Nancy has added two more boarders on her quilt. I love how she mixes so many different patterns in her work. She is also so very good at making all her points. A characteristic that I admire as I find that process so very frustrating. I like a challenge so much more than a repeat activity. So I decided to be a part of the Cancer Project. This is the cancer mask that I will be altering in the next weeks. I have not decided how or where I will go with this one yet, but I really think it is fascinating. Another thing I did this week was take four quilts off to be a part of the Cabin Fever Quilt show that hangs in Betts Branch Library for the month of February. I also hung a show of 15 pieces of my work at the Briar Patch in Ithaca New York yesterday. I am sorry that I did not take my camera so there are no pictures of that. Because of all of our snow and the wonderful stash of dye that I inherited from Ethel, I attempted some snow dyeing this week. I had to call on the knowledge of my friend Angela to get myself going on this project . The photo is a shot of the first batch under plastic starting to melt. I learned from this first one to cut way down on the amount of dye one adds to the snow as the navy blue took over and there is no yellow at all on the final piece. The process takes a long time- about 24 hours for all the snow to melt because I am doing it in the basement were the heat is low and I may be packing too much snow in the bucket. Anyway the second batch looks like the yellow and green will remain a part of the color. And I did not add any navy to it. Everything is washing out now with a third bucket starting to melt. Look for images next week. Another thing I started this week was my 6X6 entries. That is for the Rochester Art fundraiser. I decided to use this paper as the base for a paper quilts for this project.

Progress Report: Coastal Color I

I really enjoyed working on these felted base works. I ended up adding a fabric back and sleeve to this one to finish it. Thanks again to the gals in QuIGs for there suggestions on this project.Mixing the machine work and adding yarns and fabrics to the surface sure made the process a joy for me. I have one more in the grouping to complete; I am excited and I have not even started adding anything to the felted surface yet.

Coastal Color II This felted work is stretched over stretcher bars with a batting in between. Again the QuIGs were the source for this solution to the finishing problem. This solution creates quite a different feel for the finished work. But again I got to do the thing I love the most with the machine drawing and the fiber additions. I just love to build up the surface.

Moon Fall I have enjoyed working on this project as the world out side has become one of grays, white and black. No thread build up here but lots of fun free motion work. I used some of the same thick thread techniques that I developed with the leaf and Autumn quilts I did earlier this fall. I mostly followed an edge when I could to make the quilting patterns. I appliqued the moon on top without any quilting of its own so it would float above the surface a bit. It seems to do that to me.

Coping Quilting away on this work was a nice contrast to all the free motion work I was doing this week. All the quilting here is strait lines with stops and turns it it. I first made a series of rectangles in silver and purples threads. Then I used black to make more quilting that filled in the open ares and added a little interest to the surface. It does the job I think although I do not find it overly exciting in the end. I do like the colors and that is a good thing as I have the second half of the original to deal with next. This one does have quite a different feel I think. I need to look and think for a while on this one too.

New Work I am tying to mix some of my altered fabrics with commercial ones here. The some of commercial ones are Ethel’s and the flowers are from my friend Tanya.

Parts is Parts I continue to stitch down the camera parts onto the surface here. What with the finishing of the first three quilts this week, I have not done a lot of hand work on this project.

Label Block # 37 The labels got their share of hand work though. I am looking forward to my February closet clean out as I think I will be able to add some more labels to my collection when I do that project.

Keep Creating,

Carol

I could not resist adding one more Scholastic entry to this blog.

Blossoms and Butterflies, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Incisions, Label Blocks

Fall Feeling

October 1, 2015 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

This is the time of year when we are reminded of Natures Bounty. This picture is of the grapes on Susan’s front walk. I love the light filtering through.

From my point of view it seems like I have not set down to take stock in a long time. I have been very active. The Friday after the last post I went and visited my friend Susan and we had a day that was mostly organization. That is a task that needs to be taken on more frequently than I do it. Susan with her eye always on the dates of her migrations to and from Florida, has a thing to teach me in that area.Even her desk – pictured here- is far more structured than mine.

Next on the list for me was a Creative Play Day at Varna. I spent the morning making silk paper in preparation for my workshop and after lunch I played with the 3-D pen the grand kids had given me. I have come to the conclusion that one could make nice light weight ear rings. I wish I could wear them. My next event was the teaching of the Silk Paper Workshop. Alice did some wonderful dye painting on here silk. Cris worked away capturing different objects in her silk. She put in paper, leaves and flower petals to some fine results. I experimented with using leaves as “molds” for thin layers of silk.( see photo above)

Then on Thursday Cris and I did some silk screen printing. I have two wonderful new pieces of fabric to use as a result. I drove home on that afternoon. Mother Nature was just starting her fall display and I had to stop more than once to take pictures.

The Friday after that adventure I went south to help again with the clean out of Ethel’s house. Elise has been so generous with her Mother’s quilting materials- that I feel surrounded by Ethel’s love. I have also been charged with the completion of her last quilt. I put all the pieces together this week and will now create a back form some of her fabrics. The hand quilting will begin some time soon.

The last event was this week and it was a FAB meeting. Judy had completed the top of a new wool quilt. She plans to tie it. Sally got some feed back from all of us about how she could finish up a project from a old QBL class and Nancy wanted help with a new top she is considering making. We had fun.

Progress Report: Blossoms and Butterflies This is the second in the butterfly series. I sure enjoyed doing all the free motion work that this one entailed. The flowers are all drawn in with pebble quilting for their centers. I think with this quilt I made the Butterflies too strong. I will try for a better light dark balance on the next one.

Incisions I am almost done with the free motion work on this quilt. I did the pebble quilting in the white areas and let the designs on the printed fabric tell me how to quilt the darker areas.

Silk Paper Still Life At the creative play day I made some silk flowers. They are pinned now and I am ready to begin hand work on them. I do have about four other hand work projects going now so they will not get any attention for a while.

15 Challenge I now have the 15” block assembled. I plan to hand quilt this project too.

Label Block 21 I did some thinking and realized I will need at least 80 blocks of this size to create a bed quilt. I guess I will be at this process awhile.

Keep Creating

Carol

PS: One last shot from the trip. I enjoy how the stream bottom and the sky is reflected in this clear brook.

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

Boiling Point, Carol, Fabric Collage Constructions, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand work, Nail Castings, Name Game, Owl

Florida Holiday

March 11, 2015 admin

Hello,

I am home from a week in Gulfport Florida. I really enjoyed the new sceanry . There was so much to look at my eyes could hardly take it all in! From the shore with lots of bird forms to the sky and the plant life- I was a shooting fool when it came to taking pictures. I just love how this split pine looks and I am sure it will turn up in some work at some time. Then there was all the art. We went to a show of work by Geoffrey Gorman. He builds wonderful found object sculptures of animals and birds that include wire and canvas that he has aged with rust. His work was wonderful.

Susan took me to an opening at the Florida CraftArt Gallery, where both Oiseau Sisters had pieces. This shot shows Susan with her birds. She and I played in the studio every day. I did Gelli prints with Lora on Tuesday. I used one as a base when we went to drawing on Wed eve. Susan and I designed and then started a flag project. We each made six stencils and printed two of each. These are my images. At the end of the week we traded one of each of our images for one of each of the other person’s works. Now we will both work on the flags as we see fit and when we meet again at the June Diva meeting we will compare how each of us has altered all the images. We designed it to be an open exploration project- trying new materials and techniques. It will be fun I think.

I worked away all week on this owl stitchery project. It is nearly complete now. I had intended to work on a piece that I brought form home, but I did not do a stitch on it. The first day Susan pulled out one of her bins of fabric and I got inspired. Something about some one else’s materials I suppose.

Tuesday was a FAB meeting and after a month of not seeing folks we had a lot to talk about. Nancy is making great progress on her bed quilt( this shot shows the center section folded up as it is all the stripes. ) Now she will build more images on top.

Progress Report: Boiling Point

Boiling Point 16" X 20" $225.00 — Boiling Point
16″ X 20″
$225.00

This project went together quickly just before I left. I am still using the fabric collage technique that I used with the Foundations Series, but it not based on any stone this time. I also did all the work on canvas this time and then stretched it around to the back of the stretcher bars before tacking. This first close up is near the center of the work. I used red, rust, gray and dark green velvet in this work as well as satin and silk fabrics. The more I play with the layering and folding of the various fabrics the more I enjoy the process. This second shot is near the middle on the right. A little copper paint adds fun.

Raw edges here add another texture to the mix,

Name Game 1- Carol I cut the work into 6″ square and then reassembled it. I am only going to show this close up this week because the only step that remains for completion is the facings and I will complete them for next week.

Owl I am showing the completed owl that I did in Florida as I am going to send it off to the framers this week and shooting through glass is as strong as a strait shot. I really enjoyed working on this. I tried lots of varieations on the fly stitch on this work. The vanes in the leaves are fly stitches all connected to one another. The tree bark is that same stitch on its side and interlocked with its neighbor. The wing tip is shown here and it is made from a pair of textured panty hose. The pin feathers on the chest are woven copper ribbon that has been tacked down with open fly stitches. The claws are made from fake leather that was frapped. The found objects that started this whole work are the chroched rings that are the whites of the eyes. The orange is a bit of bias tape and the black is a sequin held in place with a french knot. The beak is created from the same fake leather as the claws.

Memory Map- Canyon de Chelly I am still strugling with with were this project is going. But I feel closer then before. Adding Spider Women’s towers ( on the left) will help anchor the work I think.

Nail Castings

I am still fasinated by the shapes of these plastic parts. I enjoyed tacking them down with lots of different types of stitches. the shapes just tickled me.

Keep Creating

Carol

Creative Assistants, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Scrap Happy Quilts

My word for 2015

January 29, 2015 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

I try to choose a word to concentrate on every year and in doing that I find I pay more attention to my actions. Last year I selected EXPLOIT. I tried to make the most of every experience and situation I encountered. I do not know how one measures the success or failure of such a venture- but it did make me try to use each day/event to its fullest. It has almost become second nature with me now. It is time to focus on a new word/concept. I have been thinking about the idea for the better part of January and I have decided to think/concentrate on an art concept this year. I have selected LINE as my focus word/idea for 2015. I will now make a sign for myself to help keep it in sight and focus on it. Look for some thoughts on this topic next week.

I have had a good week. Cris Winter came and we had a great play day. We made Fused Silk Papers. It was fun to play with her as she had lots of different ideas about how to use the silk paper. I would not have inserted the plastic ribbon into the surface without her suggestion. ( the red building has the plastic ribbon in it) I also played a bit more with the shape due to her influence. It is good to explore and try new stuff I think.

Nancy has made great progress on her quilt . I really love how she has developed the mountains. I am so proud of her.

This shot is of the Inside Out show at the Manillus public library. By friend Barbara belongs to the group- that is her work on the left and she invited me- my work on the right. It is a fun show with lots of different types of work in it.

FAB meant this week too. Patti is doing card weaving and creating a great tree pattern with the cards. ( the figures are the back of her project) I never learned how to do this process, but I remember my mother doing it when I was a child.

Progress Report: Scrap Happy # 3 Now the third one in this grouping is complete. I have parts set for three more so these will keep popping up for a while. As I said before I sure love the new open space on my shelves because of doing this project.

Creative Assistants I finished a new batch of these little pin fellows this week. They are just fun and I enjoy the process. About 30 more have faces and will need to be completed this week.

New Work This work is not getting much attention while I am working on the Creative Assistants because it is ready for the hand work and I have been putting all my efforts into the pins. I can see the end of that project so this one will get my efforts soon. I am trying to decide what color I want the thread work to be at the moment.

I hope you are keeping warm.

Keep Creating

Carol

Agate, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Felt Work, Foundations Series, Foundations XXIII Water Marked Sandstone, Memory Map Quilts, Spill, Yellowstone

Quality

October 23, 2014 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

Leaves continue to be a big part of my daily dose of nature. But I want to talk about a Jewish Proverb I came across in my reading this week. “The Quality of life is fuelled by our productive wealth.” That idea has been on my mind while I have been walking for the last two days. To begin with I really think that my life is a rich and wealthy one, but I think even though I am productive that is not the only thing that adds meaning and value to my life. Quality is strongly related to context. One can have “Quality Time” and for me that can mean just

time spent listening and interacting with a friend or child. A big part of that quality comes with the focus of that time- no distractions or concerns for other things. When I was making the halloween costume for my grandson- (some video game character that I do not know anything about)- that” one on one time ” with him telling me exactly what he wanted and helping with the sewing machine work was real quality time. I spent quality time talking with Nancy on Wed at the FAB meeting when there were only the two us and we got to telling stories about our youth to one another. That shows a quality of trust too. (She is making progress on her quilt and the sky with the clouds she made in silk paper on that sky is great. ) Then there is also quality friendships like the one I share with Nancy and a few others. There is a degree of necessary quality in all our lives for things like shelter, food, good quality air and water- without those assuredness none of the other quality things can come about. We need those quality ingredients to be healthy and to fully appreciate the degrees of wealthy excellence our lives hold.

Agate 23" X 36" $300.00 — Agate
23″ X 36″
$300.00

Progress Report:Agate I finished this work this week. It has been created from a big piece of silk paper that I made with Ethel a few weeks ago. The most difficult part of this project was deciding what side of the silk paper to use- they were both so lovely. I had a good time attaching the silk paper to the quilt with many hand stitches. This project was created with silk hankies that were hand dyed before I put the paper together. I might not have selected these colors to use together on my own, but I sure like them and will try to add this type of mix to my own way of thinking.

Spill This quilt is coming along nicely now. I love all the textures on the surface of this work. This shot shows silk paper- two types the sheet form (on the far left) and the flow form(the green blue at the top) , the iron melted mylar( the turquoise ) and iron melted plastic bag( the apple green). The whole thing has been fun for me.

Watermarked Sandstone I am still doing machine drawing on this work but I can see the end is in sight. Again I am playing with texture- my favorite thing. There are “nodes of iron ore” in the image and so I have created some solid rust colored circles to add to the surface of the piece. Before I can stitch them down I need to add rust colored paint to the surface to show how the water wears away the iron too and in so doing it stains the surrounding stone.

Yellowstone Memory Map I so enjoyed creating the Sandstone Church project that I thought I would do a second memory map type quilt from my childhood. When I was seven, my Dad was a summer ranger in Yellowstone National Park at South Gate. I have wonderful memories of that summer and want to try to put them into this new project. This is layer one and it too is ready for a paint layer to soften and unify some of these parts.

I hope you too are enjoying the fall color and creating fun works.

Hugs

Carol

Cre-8

Category Archives: FAD (Fiber Art Dames)

Butterfly Days

Active time

My Travels

Purple Touches

Winter workings

Fall Feeling

Visual Effects

Florida Holiday

My word for 2015

Quality

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer