Here in upstate New York we are deep in snow. The gate is 24″ off the ground and you can hardly see the top of it in this shot.
Today is the first day of the new year of the Goat/Ram if you celebrate the Chinese system. Lots of fire crackers, dragon dancing and paper money will be part of the goings on in many places today. The Goat is the fifth in the symbol system. Folks who are 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 and 72 this year are also part of the goat clan. Goat people are said to be calm, gentle, creative , honest, thoughtful, persevering and frank. This sounds like a good group to me.
I spent one day this week visiting with my friend Cheri. We took a little time to visit the Art Center where her piece had won a first place in the art show that is up there now. She also did somework with stenciled pieces she did last summer. I spent my morning doing collage work and came out with about four pieces that I think I am finished with.
I spent a lot of time in the studio this week too. It has been so snowy and cold it is hard to feel like moving around too much.
Progress Report:Spring Song I started this work last week. I feel like the free motion work adds more definition to the piece. I like how the finished work looks. I think I will not build my next piece on wool felt as the felting process stretches the felt too much and I can not get this to be as flat as I want it to be. I will work on woven wool or cotton next time. I am sure I learn lots of stuff from my mistakes.
Pebble Pile I was finished with this work from last week too. It is done now.
I like how the three dimensional felted units work with the flat ones. Both projects in felting were a good growing experiences for me. I will try it again sooner next time.
Nail Castings I am only showing a detail of this work this week. There are so very many hand stitches I do not know ! But I sure like trying new ones. How the stitches interact with one another is also enjoyable. Line patters are a part of my self challenge for this year and this project is filling that bill.
Circuits I am now now done with the machine quilting on this piece and I am adding the boarders. I am sure I will complete it in a day or two as I only need to do the facings and the sleeve now.
Return I think I know were want to go with this work now. I am going to build some ruins on top of the background that I started a few weeks ago. It will come together this week I hope.
New work I started a new piece yesterday in the collage style that the rocks were constructed alone. This time I stared with the multi/red fabric that is in the center. It is only in the pin up stage now and will change a lot before I begin to sew. I just wanted to try not basing a project on any special images this time. It is a different kind of challenge for me. I am trying our one more new thing. This time I am building the project on canvas instead of buckram. I will keep folks posted as to the success or failure of this.
I have finished and sent my Valentines Day Cards. The making is the best part of the whole event from my point of view. It is always a fun excuse to get out the paper and play with it. I do not care if I get any response from doing these- the joy of making is all I really want anyway.
This week has been a full one for me as they all seem to be.I went to visit my friend Ethel and we spent a fine day playing with felting. I do enjoy the process and do not take time to do that very often. I started out making a background for the pebble like felted units that I made on the play day at the Blue Moon in the fall. Ethel suggested that I slice the units in half to add to the surface. I really like that idea and would not have even thought of doing that without my play time with her. Another point of view is always a good thing. After lunch I tried a whole new picture like image in felt. What fun. I ran out of energy and time before I completed it, but I am sure I will finish the bird and flowers later.
Ethel created this wonderful felted bag. I love the soft colors and the button she found is just perfect for its job here. It was a fun and productive day. We have set a date to do something similar next month.
Progress Report: Rustic Rampaging I & II I wanted to enter a art completion were all the work had to be mounted and framed so I did a set of pieces that would fit into that format. I thought why not try stretching my work on a frame like one does canvas for a painting. The first piece show here is Rustic Rampaging II – and it is not stretched. It is ready for that step as I did the two works at the same time, but I did not have a canvas so I could not do that step until I went out and got the materials. This is Rustic Rampaging I. The process is is all experimenting so I am learning things. For example -the next time I will make the piece just a bit bigger as I like how the side were I could rap the project all the way around to the back much better then were I just had to attached it to the side.
Circuits I am finally finished with the hand stitching on this project. It was enjoyable,, but a slow process. Now I need to add it to the quilt top. That portion will be a piecing project for this week.
Paint Play When Cris Winter came to visit a few weeks ago she gave me a little gift that was work on canvas and I really liked the look. So I did a little playing in a similar style this week. It too will get stretched around a frame when I am done with some hand work on the surface.
Old work Revisited I finally looked again at this work I had started last spring. This time I saw a way to go forward with it. The red on the side is added and now I will work on the embellishment to pull the work together. Sometimes one has to just set work aside for a while and look at it again later with fresh eyes.
I mentioned at the last post that I had selected my word for this year and it was line. I have been thinking about that on my walks this week and I have compiled a list of over ninety ideas that are connected with that word. Then I sub divided the line types into categories and I will write about the different types for a few weeks. I will start with line in relationship to art.
When I was teaching I would have my sixth graders do a line exercise where they would first draw one line from the left side to the right that changed direction somewhat but did not cross itself. Then they were asked to change the color they were using and add a second line parallel to the first that was of a different type. It could be a wavy line , or a loopy line or a thick line, or a thin line, or a dotted line, or a broken line, or a sharp line, or a zig-zag line, or a blurred line, or one that expanded and contracted. I am sure I gave them lots of choices and they would keep building until the page was full. The results were always successful and beautiful. It was a good way to introduce the concept to them. But there are more ways that line is apart of art then just types. There are all the lines that are a special part of perspective for example. Like sight lines, ruled lines, horizon lines, vanishing lines, diverging lines, and vertical lines. There are also lines that are just part of the objects in the pictures like roof lines, and tree lines and power lines. Lines are so powerful in art. They are everywhere. Lines can be found in the art and are created with the materials that we use : like drawn lines, sketched lines, paint lines, drip lines, scratched lines, texture lines , shading lines, connecting lines, out lines, shadow lines, crease lines and edge lines. This topic will require more study.
This week QuEG’s meant and everyone had stuff to show. Sally has been busy with embroidery machine and she made these lovely place matts using a patriotic theme. She also did a bit of Valentine work for her grand daughters.
This card has a thread constructed heart that can be removed and worn as a necklace. I think it is wonderful and so delicate. I have learned to really appreciate her great work – it is always so very lovely.
Barb is working away on her cut away project. She is also doing free motion machine work for the quilting portion of this one.
Liz had two Valentine related projects for us to look at. The first is this wonderful “cookie” pin. I may just have to keep this idea in mind for next year.
Her second work is a combination of red work embroidery and piecing. The embroidery was done by Jean Tracy and Liz did the boarders. A great bit of team work. It just makes me smile!
Progress Report: Dry Falls Lichens This quilt is based on a portion of a photo I took on a trip with Marty to see the Dry Falls National Monument in Washington State. I just loved the high contrast between the lichens and the rock.
Some of the lichens were dead and they had returned to a gray color, but retained there textures. There were bright orange lichens on this same rock- but they were too much for this piece. There were some dark blue gray lichens too . It was fascinating to me.
No title for this work yet. I thought I was creating a background for a stump that I created last week with Cris- but I do not think this works to support that idea any more. It will just need to be studied for a bit.
Nail Casings I picked up the white plastic cast off holders from a nail gun while I was out on a walk earlier this fall. They have been pinned to the bulletin board for a while and finally I started to embroider them down. ( the very light areas on this image are from the sun shine coming into the studio this morning)
Circuits I have been adding chain stitches and beads to this work for a while. It is developing in a nice fashion. I am enjoying the way it is growing without having a real strong plan in mind.
New Work I am really playing with this piece. I started pulling fabric that I though worked together and just started laying in down and stitching it together. It is fun and I may just cut it up when it is done, because I need some small works for the 6″x 6″ challenge. Time will tell.
It has been a very busy two weeks for me. I not only traveled to Ottawa for four days I took a felting workshop, spent a day with Ethel making silk paper and a day painting sky with Nancy. The world around here is starting to show its fall colors as well and the days have all been wonderfully comfortable. I spent the end of the first week doing a felting workshop. We played at all the techniques we knew with each one of the participants demonstrating her expertise in different areas. Victoria taught us about nano felting as she has been doing a bit of this with her niece. All of us come with a different design approach, so they all came out very unique. Cherri really liked this method of creating felt and she ended up doing at least three pieces in this style. I was told she is making a vest for her granddaughter with some of it. One of the gals did not do wet felting but started with wool that had been felted in the washing machine and needle felted little pins with this technique. By doing this method she had lots of control and created very detailed work. She was making pins and added beads and manipulated the felt as she worked to create various textures in her pieces. I really liked the way she manipulated little wisps of wool to add nice details like the soft line of green in the leaves of the red and gray green pin. The second day we did wet felted Jelly Rolls. Mostly we created flat disk like units – but Cherri also created some plant like forms with her green felted units. After lunch I tried making felted beads and had a good time with that too. I have no goal for their use and they may rattle around the studio for a long time before they find a home- But I sure enjoyed the process. One can also do three dementional felting using the dry method. This mushroom is a great example of that. I did a little seasonal piece using a wool base and dry felted roving into the surface were I wanted the different colors to remain. It was a fun time and I enjoyed it very much. I can certainly add this technique to my work.
Then I went on my travels to Canada. I love to travel and feel it is very invigorating. Travel can open ones eyes to look at ordinary thing and pay attention to the every day. I was especially taken by the wonderful gingerbread work on this house. I might have noticed it at home, but I probably would not have taken the time to look carefully at it or take a photo. The fact that it would not appear in my life again if I did not act then helped to sharpen my vision. We went to Ottawa with the intention of visiting the museums and did that. We visited all three of the major ones there. Our fiat stop was the museum of First Peoples. It is a wonderful mix of history and the current lives of the Native Americans of Canada. By building these mock up of Traditional Northwest Tribal buildings the museum presented the totem poles in their normal settings. Inside the houses were displays of artwork again showing historic works and contempary ones as well. I found the whole day very exciting and I am sure I will soon create a work using this influence.
The next day we went to the National Art Gallery of Canada. Again it was inspiring. I have always liked the work of the Canadian seven and it was great to see the work live.
Then on Friday we visited the Museum of Natural History. The building is beautiful although it looks like it was built in the early part of the last century with its stain glass and carved wood. Some of the displays show this same old flavor but most are very current. There are lots of interactive displays and each sections also had a play area for smaller children.
I spent yesterday working with Nancy painting a sky for her quilt. It was a beautiful day to paint out doors.
We had a good base to work on top of from the first attempt two weeks before. We agreed it needs one more day to get the finial effect she wants for this portion of her quilt.
Progress Report: Harmony
Harmony 24″ X 42.5″ $370.00
This work displays the Japanise Character that stands for Harmony. That is where I got the title. The two orange silks are from Japan and I felt that this was a good way to celebrate that fact. I looked at many renditions of this character before I settled on this form. The black of the shape is all chain stitched in embroidery thread.
Sand Stone Church
Sand Stone Church 16″ X 21″ $125.00
I purchased Valerie Goodwin’s book “Art Quilt Maps” in the spring even before I took my second class with her this summer. I thought I should try to follow her instructions on how to build this type of map quilt and this project is the result. This work is based on childhood memories of a Sand Stone Church that was in the pasture next to the one my grandparents owned. My brother and I often played in the church and in the cemetery that was just up the hill from the old building. The church it’s self had no roof and the local natural stand stone was curmbeling away in some places so we felt safer in the cemetery- espiceally under the big old oak that stood in the corner. The branches were low and we could easily climb quite high in that tree. The second close up is an areal view of the gravel rural road that ran in front of my grandparents house and the farm yard around the house, plus the garage and barns.
Smoky Twilight I am enjoying using the many tints and shades of gray I have for this work. It is in the very early stages of assembly, but I think it is starting work.
Chrysanthemum I am to the free motion stitching/quilting part of this project. This work got away from me as far as size is concerned and grew quite a bit from my original plan, but that does happen from time to time. Again I am using some of Ginny’s silk in this project( the red show here)
Enjoy the colors of fall and keep your eyes open to the possibilities for ideas all around .
I have been a little under the weather this week. I have taken lots of naps and consumed a lot of water. This slowdown has helped me focus a little and think about where I am and where I want to go . I have lots of friends and I have the freedom to explore. It’s a wonderful time for me and for that I am truly Thankful.
Yesterday, I went to Nancy’s house and we spent a fun morning painting sky for one of her quilts. At the end of the time we decided that we needed to revisit this activity and so we will alter this work and try again early next week.
Progress Report: Necklace
This is the last of the necklaces that I have created flowers for. I put away the materials and will try to wear them this year. It has been fun and I may use some of the techniques to add additional textures to some quilts in the future. One can never have too many tool in the toolbox of processes.
Harmony I am filling in the symbol of Harmony with the chain stitch on the surface of this quilt. The process of doing this hand work is very calming and good for a person like me who is not in top form. It is also filling in the time that I had been doing the hand work on my Daily News project.
Chrysanthemum
I have now finished assembling this top. I think that this time I got a little carried away with the strange angles . It is not at all flat at this point and I hope that I can press it into that condition. I may have to open some seams and add or subtract to do that process. I am not convinced that this is the up position for this work either. I will do the look for a flat surface and rotate thing for a while before I go forward to the quilting step.
I want to tell my readers in advance that I will be away next week and there will be no post. I will be back and the next entry will be Oct 2.
When one needs ideas for solutions or inspiration I believe one has some choices. I was struggling with part of the Stone Church project. There is a old cemetery that is a part of that area and I wanted to include it in my piece. But I was having trouble so I took a walk in the near by cemetery to refresh my mind. I was surprised by the presence of the deer. There were two actually and the cemetery is surrounded by city on all four sides. Looking at how compact these stones and how much they overlapped has helped me formulate a solution to the work I must do on the project.
Sometimes the ideas are as much about paying attention as anything else. There was a FAB meeting at my house this week. Folks showed their work and Victoria is moving along nicely with this quilt. She got inspired by Ginny’s silks that she had purchased a few weeks ago. They are shown here in the orange and gray strip. ( I got inspired by that same orange silk) I think the shadow of the leaf looks wonderful too. She also showed a top that she had assembled for a bed quilt that she is making for her new house. I am so impressed by the large number of prints she uses and the colors. I would not have put that strong orange with the turquoise myself- but I love the combination. So by paying attention to this little surprise I now have a jumping off color combination to try in the future. The real trick here is to note the surprises and in my case write them down. I do that in my idea journal and it helps me when I need to get going with a new piece.
Progress Report:
Foundations XXI Elsies Stone – Cape Cod Rock 43″ X 44″ $595.00
Foundations XXI Elsie’s Stone- Cape Cod Rock The Road Less Traveled
I am finally done with this project. I love all the texture on the surface of this wonderful stone. I am very grateful that Elsie gave me this parting gift. The many fascists of its surface with the limited colors make it fascinating to me. I think I could revisit this rock and work from a different side too.
I used yarn , nylon netting and lots of torn fabric bits to produce the colors and textures. There is also my favorite silk paper at work on this piece.
The Road Less Traveled 35″ X 45″ $535.00
The Road Less Traveled
I started this quilt in Rosalie Daces Color class at QBL. I have finally completed the process. I used many of the techniques she taught us. I did insert slender curved lines into sections. I let colors “bleed” or flow across seam lines to make connections. I used raw edges to add texture and I hand embroidered across parts of the surface to draw sections together. Even using all thoughts techniques I did not use all the techniques that she taught us. As a teacher she has a lot to share and she does so very willingly.
I enjoyed using these
earthtones and I will continue to pursue the techniques she taught. I am still not happy with size of my slender inerts- so there is work to do there.
Stone Church
I already mentioned the bit with the cemetary so I will not cover that again. I added lots of machine lines on the roads as they were gravel and I remember how there seemed to be lots of “tracks” of the tries on them. I remember too that Grandmother Ester liked to drive down the middle and only pulled the turquoise ford over when she could see a car coming toward her.
Harmony I am done with the assembly of the form of this quilt. I decided to use the character that
represents Harmony for the central focus and so far I have just quilted around that shape to create the quilting pattern. I want to fill in the character with black hand stitches/ patterns so it stand out. But I have not come up with the correct stitch to do that job yet. So I keep looking in books and paying attention to the world around me and hope that I will find inspiration. Until then the project will just hang in the studio awaiting the correct solution.
New Work In Valeri’s Goodwins class she had a do a fabric ” sketches” of 4″ X 6″ before we started work. So in keeping with using the best the teachers have to offer I made the sketch first. This is the one I selected as my jumping off place. I wanted to use the big printed flower I created a few weeks ago as a big part of this work. Now I am in the process of pinning up parts that I think will work to do the job. I have split the two flowers apart and added parts of a third to the design. Very few parts are connected or solid in its position at this point . This is fun but scary part of the process- but I need the challenge.
Daily News This project is finally complete. I have now sewn all the blocks closed and will continue to play with placement for as long as the process interests me. This will be the last post where the project will appear because at this point all the finished units have been appeared at least twice and some more times then that. I have enjoyed doing a daily sewing pieces and it is very true that the whole is made of of lots of little parts. If I had started out with the intention of making 180 hand embroidered blocks I do not think I would have done it. But by making small manageable units- it as a doable task. I have been encouraged by Susan to submit this idea as an airticle for Quilting Arts so that is my next project.
Spring is finally showing it’s self her in central New York. Three days in a row of blue sky and sun shine! Tue and I spotted this garden full of spring flowers and it made me smile every time I thought of it all day long. Hurry for the new season! This week has been so very full of stimulation I, hardly know were to start. At the FAB meeting Patti showed us two scarves she had knitted to send off to be given to runners at the end of the Boston Marathon this year. They both were so very soft that I am sure they will be welcome gifts. Victoria had been to a little workshop that Noel is giving. They are playing off the ideas of the necklaces that Mackenzie- Childs sells. The catalogue in the background was the inspiration, and Victoria really put her own spin on it I think. The when I went to the Diva meeting last evening I found that Noel was the gal who is leading this play. She is giving up her rented studio and cleaning as well as trying to create a new workshop for herself. Everyone in both groups loves the idea, myself included so she has agreed to open her space and try a variation with several more of us. I am looking forward to that play day.
The QuEG’s meeting was in morning on Tuesday and there was lots of inspiration there too. We got to meet in Sue Ellen’s studio, always an inspiration place all by its self. She ” wowed” us with six new works! Like all of us she has lots of fabric and these two pieces were created from her first dyeing experience over 15 years ago. She says she did them to try out different quilting patters on similar tops. I think she proved her point.
Then there is the wonderful on going work by Sally. She does such amazing stuff with her embrodery machine. The birds just blew me away all by them selves. Then all the unique nine patch blocks on top were just wonderful too. In addition to that she had a pack of about a dozen 6″ cards that used smaller images. Each card was different and where she used varigated gray black and white thread for this card, many of the cards used different threads for different sections. She pushed the idea further water color pencils to add more color to these small wonders. She gets sure gets miles of usage out of her machine.
Liz is playing with retro fabrics and antique blocks that are six inches on a side. The fabrics and patters sure play together well and are a delight to look at. The small size means it is not overwhelming- but it will sure take a lot of blocks to finish the piece.
Barb is working on this colorful work for her grandson. The dark blue is denim- just the wright thing for a young boy. She is just starting to quilt in the areas around the zig-zag lines- the white is chalk that will disappear when that job is done.
Then there was the Diva meeting on Tuesday evening to add further delight to the eye.
Anne is pushing forward trying unique quilting patters with the works she showed last month. I really like how the horizotal varigated thread seems to disappear in places on this work. Class projects are great places to play with new ideas and explore.
Alice had yet another new wall book to share with us. This one is called We Love the Water. The bid bird is one she hand painted on black fabric. The loon and flying Canada Goose are both from commercial fabrics. I find the way she mixes thous two ideas amazing. Most of the time putting these two things together just does not quite meet the mark- but she does it flawlessly.
Noel is working with thin strips now. All the brown units that are cut on the biases sure add to the challenge here. I like the limited values that she uses here.
She also had a second larger top in this same vain with kits in some of the diamond shapes.
Cheri finished the wonderful work she shared with two mouths ago. She has added a lot of hand work to her canvas painted quilt Fiddle Heads. I really like this work!
The last of the three Scarp Happy quilts was picked up on Friday. It went to the local Public Television Station for their spring auction. I also gave them a small wall quilt. I have done this for years as I so believe in public broadcasting.
Progress Report: Green Grow the Grasses This pale spring quilt is now complete.
Green Grow the Grasses 23″ X 32″ $260.00
It too makes me smile as I recall the joy of creating the stamped areas as well as all the free motion flower and leaf forms I put on the surface of this one.
I really feel the sewing machine has become a drawing tool for me. That has only come with years of doing the process, but I want to encourage everyone to keep doing it until it is a natural act for you too.
Smoke 23″ X 52.5″ $395.00
Smoke
This work was also completed this week. More than once I thought that I was done, and I would hang the work on the pin wall at the end of the day. Then when I would look at it with fresh eyes in the morning I would see easly what else was needed- more hand work for the most part. I had never quilted through silk before I tried this project and learned a lot doing so. I really like how the needle glides through the surface of the project.
I cut up an silk scarf that I had created years ago and was not what I would call a success. All the dark and gray areas are a part of that project. I like the result here.
Grove I am still working on the insertion process. I only have one more tree to add the branches to and then I will start the stumps and setting. I may shuffle the parts I have created too. But I make those visual decisions by looking at the subject.
New Work This is the top half of the work I was considering cutting apart last week. It was not working as it was so I cut it. The black tree is just pinned in place. I did try several other placements before I settled on this one. Again the visual decisions was made visually. I have quilted in the ditch the background sections of this work and plan to free motion in the tree with additional limbs as needed.
Daily‘s I am working away on the these little fellows. I discovered one of the black circle and units from last month in the bottom of the tin where I keep the prepared squares. So I finished it too.
Hello,
I spent one day this week visiting with my friend Cheri. We took a little time to visit the Art Center where her piece had won a first place in the art show that is up there now. She also did some
work with stenciled pieces she did last summer. I spent my morning doing 
collage work and came out with about four pieces that I think I am finished with.
Spring Song I started this work last week. I feel like the free motion work adds more definition to the piece. I like how the finished work looks. I think I will not build my next piece on
wool felt as the felting process stretches the felt too much and I can not get this to be as flat as I want it to be. I will work on woven wool or cotton next time. I am sure I learn lots of stuff from my mistakes.
I
like how the three dimensional felted units work with the flat ones. Both projects in felting were a good growing experiences for me. I will try it again sooner next time.
I am only showing a detail of this work this week. There are so very many hand stitches I do not know ! But I sure like trying new ones. How the stitches interact with one another is also enjoyable. Line patters are a part of my self challenge for this year and this project is filling that bill.
now done with the machine quilting on this piece and I am adding the boarders. I am sure I will complete it in a day or two as I only need to do the facings and the sleeve now.
Return I think I know were want to go with this work now. I am going to build some ruins on top of the background that I started a few weeks ago. It will come together this week I hope.
constructed alone. This time I stared with the multi/red fabric that is in the center. It is only in the pin up stage now and will change a lot before I begin to sew. I just wanted to try not basing a project on any special images this time. It is a different kind of challenge for me. I am trying our one more new thing. This time I am building the project on canvas instead of buckram. I will keep folks posted as to the success or failure of this.
