Category Archives: Natural Elements

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

Dappled Sunshine, Deep Jellies, Generational Whispers, Label Blocks, Weeds

Spring progress

June 9, 2016 admin

Hello,

We are enjoying the colors of spring even though the temperatures are a bit chilly. These pansies are from Sue Ellen’s garden. All three of the groups I meet with meant on Tuesday this week. I was exhausted when I got home. First was the FAB meeting in Judy’s Garden until the rain hit us. Nancy shared her progress on the Blue Bird quilt she is building for her Mom. It is growing beautifully.

Patti blessed us all with a wonderful felted book marks. It is a great bit of felting!

Then I was off to the QuIG’s meeting. Sue Ellen had a wonderful curved challenge on her pin wall. She rotated and changed position of parts so I know this is not the final orientation. It will be fun to watch how she changes this work. Angela is working away with her felting projects toward her show next winter. She showed us her sketches. Linda is working with how to create Sea Grape leaves. She showed us a bit of her school glue resist dyeing too. I love the colors Liz continues to do her two blocks a week challenge and she showed us six new ones.It will be on playful quilt when she is done.

Barb showed off another of her tributes to her ancestor works with this lovely little quilt. I think the way she is presenting the old lace hand work is very strong.

This piece is one of Sally’s wonderful little works. She also shared some very nice pillow cases and bags she had made for her grand daughters. It was a good meeting.

The off to Diva’s. Alice shared her newest work with a tribute to musicians. Sharon showed off one of her altered print works and I really like the texture. She also shared two works that were giving her problems and asked for suggestions. I am sure she will solve the problems with time and work.

Lori has been stitching away on her tundra pieces. This time she also brought along the source of the idea for this work. It is great. I am so very glad I belong to such a diverse and talented group.

Progress Report: Purple Passion This work is 45.5” l X 31” w. It is based on a collage and after some long study I feel could go back and try to represent the collage again. I got so involved in the assembly process that I lost the simple color break up of the original work. I do feel like I am getting better with the technique part of the assembly and quilting however. I enjoyed adding the sparkle of the metallic fabric to this work.

Dappled Sunshine I have just started the quilting on this work. It is another of the bigger pieces so it will take a while for this to be completed.

Deep Jellies The jelly fish are getting tacked down and I am building in the details with machine stitching and the couching down of various yarns. It too is rather large so the getting it under the arm of the machine is tiresome and I seem to only be able to work on it about an hour before I feel I must put it aside and work on something else.

Generational Whispers This too is a monster quilt. I must have been in an expansive mood for a while. The faces, life sized, are drawn on wash away and are of my grandmothers. I am planning to free motion draw them on organza and build the next generation on top of the organza and below them on the work. I am dealing with a bit of fear here too as I do not know what I am doing……

Weeds This work is part of the wiggle cut series. I am slowly hand stitching in the stems of the weeds and will add the heads in time. I only work on this piece in the evenings and only after the Label Blocks and other hand work is done, so it is another slow project.

Leftovers This work is just made from sections of Dappled Sunshine that did not work in that piece. I will use it as base to experiment with some ideas I am trying to work out.

New work This is a new piece based again on a collage. I am learning a lot about how to use angles in my work with the collage stuff. This piece fits my three challenge too. My dyed work are the big purple units and the red and blue sections are some of the snow dyed I did last winter. Ethel’s fabric is the turquoise and and pink stuff.

Label Block # 62 I just doggedly keep at these blocks.

Enjoy spring and Keep Creating

Carol

Deep Jellies, Lion King- Cherrywood Challenge, Sashicko

Summer Begins

June 2, 2016 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

My iris are blooming. These are the last ones from Dad’s garden on the farm that have survived the upstate winters. I feel like summer has truly begun as we celebrated Memorial Day this week. The weather has cooperated with that attitude too as it has really gotten warmer. The week has been a full one starting with last Thursday as I went off to the Schweinfurth Art Center after I wrote last weeks blog and helped hang the new fiber show from the Surface Design Association. It was wonderful to see how folks designed there work up close and really check out the backs too. It is a great show with lots of variety from weaving to sewing on x-ray plates. Then I ran home and off to a pop up dinner, were we learned how the chief prepared food for presentation. We each followed the instructions on how to present our plates. This is mine with pea sauce and egg dots. I forgot to take a photo of the final before I ate it. It was very good.

The other event of this week really starts tomorrow with the opening of the Quilt Diva 15 show in Ithaca.

Progress Report: Lion King- Coming Home This work is 20” X 20”. The quilting is all done on the machine. I used a wiggle ray type of pattern for the sky and a serpentine pattern to show the heat on the ground.

The giraffes were out lined and then a spot pattern was added to bodies.

The masks all got out lining and free motion work to show off the shapes of the areas. I was glad I had this little stamp of a bounding lion to add to the edge of the work.

Generational Whispers It took a bit of work to find images of all of the women in the family that I want to use in this quilt. Now I need to do the drawing so I can begin the machine work on this project.

Deep Jellies I am beginning to put down the parts of this work. I made the stunners for the jelly fish out of a metallic fabric and lace I had painted the aqua color on the photo.

New work Sachiko The white on blue hand work of iris’s is done now. So I pulled fabrics that I thought would go with it. I had a pack of ten stamped Japanese words that I though might go with it. There is not a real clear vision for were I am going with this one yet.

New work I used one of the collages from last week to build this work. It is about half way assembled now. Finding a title is proving to be a challenge however.

Label Blocks # 60 and #61 Now I really am half way through with the creating of the blocks for this project.

Enjoy summer and Keep Creating

Carol

Along the Shore, Blue Stone, Columbus Junction, Deep Jellies, Hand work, Label Blocks, Lion King- Cherrywood Challenge, Purple Pleasures

Blooming

May 19, 2016 admin

Hello,

My world is really alive with blossoms now. Blue bells, buttercups, violets, lilacs, as well as many I do not know the names of carpet the ground. Flowering crab apples and tulip trees color the air. The dandy lions are are in seed and they join the Oak, Maple and Beech as they dump there pollen on the wind- my world is awash with wonderful sensations. I am enjoying spring.

I did a little ice cube dyeing this week. I wanted to play with some oranges and that is a color I do not seem to have a lot of in my stash.

Progress Report: Blue Stone This work is on stretcher bars and is 24” X 36”. It is based on a photo of a rock face that I took a few years ago in Washington State. I enjoyed working up the color changes with yarn and threads on top of the scrunched fabric pieces. There is nylon netting, taffeta and silk paper in this work as well as a bit of flannel. I sure like mixing my textures.

Along the Shore This work is 20” X 15”. It started with the photo image that Ethel had transferred on to fabric. Not knowing anything about the setting I got to invent it to suit myself. I painted the edges of the photo on the fabric so it would have a softer edge and stitched across the edge as well to make it blend into the top.

The quote is from Vincent Van Goth. I find it to be very true for my life. Creating the pine tree branches was an enjoyable process for me as I have always been attracted to them.

Memory Map- Columbus Junction I am working on the details of this piece now.Adding the plants in the garden is just one part of this process. I am considering adding a bit of text to this work.

Purple Pleasures I am to the quilting stage on this work now. Deciding to quilt triangles was a good idea, but it is very slow work with lots of stops, turns and starts. I am trying to use the triangles in the piecing as my guides, but sometimes I am just filling in with that same shape pattern.

Lion King-Coming Home I have added the masks to the bottom of this work. Then I put the stamped lions on under that boarder. I think I am now ready to begin quilting on this work.

New Work I want to do a entry for the Layered Voices Challenge for SAQA. This is my base, using Valerie Goodwin’s base construction method. I am now ready to tack down the open edges by hand. I am also gathering images of my mom and my grandmothers to use as a part of this work.

Deep Jellies I saw a beautiful image of Jellyfish on the web and I was captivated by it . I started a piece based on the wonderful use of color and texture from this image.

Label Block #58 Working away on these little blocks sure reinforces the idea that the whole is bigger then the sum of its parts.

Keep Creating

Carol

# 2, Autumn Leaves, Creative Assistants, Label Blocks, Little Foxes

Winter Ice

January 14, 2016 admin

Hello,

I am paying special attention to ice as I slipped and fell last week. I am fine. This shot of ice along the street really shows how water shrinks as it freezes. I love all the layers of air pockets in this shallow pool along with the leaves for extra texture. I took lots of photos of ice this week so there may be another ice quilt in the future.

Angela is having a play day in her studio tomorrow and we will be printing with interfacing stencils. I got carried away as usual with my preparation and made 4. I will show the results next week.

Progress Report: Autumn Leaves This is the last of my leaf series for the time being. I had a good time doing bobbin work on this piece as well as the free motion quilting of the leaves on top. The out line of the leaves was done with cord that was so thick it could not go through the eye of any of my machine needles so that is why I put it in the bobbin and drew from the back. I then changed the thread and did the vanes from the front. I also used this one last piece of printed fabric from one of my trips up at Mill Site Lake . The rest of the leaves are from trees in my yard. There are two different types of Oaks and Maples.

Coastal Color 2 I am having fun adding to this felted piece. I really like the build up of the texture with stitches and yarns for color.

New work fuchsia This is the third top developed from a collage. I also meant all three of my personal monthly challenges with this piece. The challenges are: 1. to use some of Ethel Fabric in a work. 2. to use some fabric I have altered in a work 3. to use a collage as a starting point. Now I need to decide how I want to quilt this piece.

New Work green This top is not quite finished yet,but close. I have always been interested in how things work and seeing the insides of stuff. So when I got a new camera last year because I had dropped the old one, I did not throw it away. I finally took it apart this week . I love all the little plastic and electronic parts and so I decided to make a top to stitch them too. It will be a stitching challenge of sorts.

Little Fox I made this little fox pin this week too. After receiving positive feed back and having two friends ask for pins of their own, I decided to make a tutorial on how to make this fellow. It is started and I will finish it this week.

Creative Assistants I finished off 30 creative assistants this week. This is a shot of the last ten. It sure goes to show how easy it is for me to improvise.

Label Block #35 I just keep working away on these little guys.

Keep Creating

Carol

Autumn Leaves, Coastal Color, Creatibve Assistants, Label Blocks, Natural Elements, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), William's Quilt

Winter

January 7, 2016 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

The woman who works with her hands is a laborer. The woman who works with her head and her hands is a craftsman. The woman who works with her hands , her head and her heart is an Artist. St Francis of Assisi

This quote really spoke to me this week. My wish for all my friends is that they be Artists. I spent a lot of time with those artist this week. One day I went to the Turquoise Street Studio and work with three other gals. Beth was doing pastels, while Barb and the other two were painting. What a lot of fun to work with this energy flowing.

Then because it was the beginning of the month the QuIGs and Diva’s meant too. The gals in those groups help me so much when it comes to problems I have with my techniques. I learned a lot about mixing different types of fabrics this week. Corrine was showing off her daughters aromatic jewelry at the meeting and she even sold one. Then yesterday the FAB group meant at Patti’s house. She shared beautiful fabrics from the far east with us. There was wonderful weaving in all of them with lots of color and gold threads. My one other event this week was to be a part of the judging of Scholastic Art. I so enjoy seeing what the middle school and high school students are doing when it comes to art. It was very enjoyable.

Progress Report: Creative Assistants While I was at the studio with all the other artists I worked on these little guys. I was only stitching them closed and adding a pin to the back, but I got 20 of them done. I added the paint when I got home and they are now ready to pass along to others.

Williams’s Quilt I finished the stitch in the ditch quilting on this project this week. There were lots of lines to do. Now I am ready to start to do the binding. It will take about and hour to do each side. It is a bright colorful work – just great for an active little boy.

Coastal Colors I made progress on this piece this week. It is done as far as the machine work is concerned. But I am concerned about the ripple. The gals at the meetings all had great suggestions about how to deal with that and I learned from them.

Hopefully I can stretch it well enough to get it flat. The bad news is I already laided out and started two more that I fear will have the same problem. But the next time I try to mix felting with machine drawing, I will know better then to put stiffener as a part of that step. It does not shrink at the same rate as the wool and that is the source of the problem we think.

Autumn Leaves I am doing the free motion drawing of the vanes of the leaves now. I am having fun and I have learned how Mother Nature designs each species differently.

Label Block #34 I remember taking the Pooh label off a blanket for Alexis when she was little. She is 20 now. Do I hold onto things for a long time or what?

Keep Creating

Carol

Autumn Leaves, Autumns Collection, Buffalo Bluffs A & B, Coastal Color, Label Blocks, Natural Elements, Stretch Works, William's Quilt

Reflection

December 31, 2015 admin

Hello-

We are coming to the end of another year and I have been thinking not only about my dreams for the future, but also reviewing what happened in 2015.

A Jewish Proved says it best:

The Quality of life is fuelled by our productive wealth.

With this in mind I can say I am very wealthy. For me it has been a very productive year. For the first time I counted the number of spools of thread I used in my work. All that machine drawing does add up and I finished off 65 spools this year. This is reflective of the number of works I completed and with Autumn Collection added today that number is 49. I do so enjoy challenging myself and the amount of work I do reflects this drive I have.

I enjoyed my travels this year and visited lots of friends. I went south to Susan in Florida in March. I took a trip to Maine to see Barbara and Elizabeth with Marty in May. I went to see Barb in Indiana in June. There was also loss in my life this year as two friends died. The WWII veteran, Fred Bishop, who lived up the street passed away in March. My good friend and mentor Ethel Whitmore died in August. I miss her greatly, but do to the generosity of her children I am wrapped in her fabrics and dyes that now fill my studio. I made a promise to myself that I would use some of her material in every work I create for a year. That will not be too much of a challenge as I already find her fabrics blending into my work with ease. She helped me grow so very much and all the joy I find in creating and using Silk Paper is do to her introduction to that material. I am thankful that she was a part of my life for such a long time.

Progress Report: Buffalo Bluffs This diptych is now complete. Both units are stretched and measure 16” X 20 “. I learned a lot about cutting up a unified work with this project. I had to make some additions to both sides when I sliced it to make each section work on its own as well as in tandem. I based the work on this part of a photo I took last summer. I enjoyed building up the surface with lace , velvet, cotton, felt, silk and organza.

I continue to use the fabrics that do the job texturally as well as colorfully to keep the piece functioning.

Autumn Collection This work is 37” X 30.5 “ With is quilt I finally used the silk leaves that I created with Cris in the silk paper workshop earlier this fall. The piece has lots of different techniques and fabrics in it. Not only the silk leaves but also leaves cut from cotton and organza fabrics. The trunk has some of the fabric that Marty and I spray painted after we came back from visiting with Elizabeth last spring. I also included some colored pencil drawing along the top of the hill to suggest far away trees behind the weeds. It was great fun to work on this piece.

Autumn Leaves I am now doing the quilting on this piece. I loaded the bobbin with thick cotton thread and did the outline of the leaf from the back of the quilt. Then flipped it over and drew in the vanes. I am happy with how it is coming along.

Coastal Color- Red Rock I have only just started the thread painting on this work. It is different to be building on top of a felted surface. This work is based on a small portion of a photo. I block off only the section I want to look at and use it as my starting point. This is the section of the rock face.

New work I built this collage a few weeks ago and it is the start of another work. I am not going to copy the colors – but try to keep the shapes and tones in the work the same. This is the first pin up of the fabrics I have selected for this project. Two of them are from Ethel’s stash, but most are ones I have altered with dye and paint.

William’s Quilt The top and back are now complete and I have the two sections united. I am doing stitch in the ditch quilting starting by quilting around all the photos and working out form there. This process is not fast, but it is enjoyable for me.

Label Block # 33 There is not rush here just slow and steady progress on this project.

May the 2016 bring you joy and delight.

Carol

Autumns Collection, Buffalo Bluffs, Coastal Color, Label Blocks, Turning Autumn, William's Quilt

Solicits

December 24, 2015 admin

Hello,

Winter has begun according to the calendar. But I am not so sure about that as our mild weather sure makes me feel otherwise. I have enjoyed my walks and the sun shine helps me feel calmer and much less stressed during this holiday season of hurry and worry. This shot of the sky reflected in a rain created pool is also a part of this unique season. If I ever had any doubts about how the weather effects my work a look at the colors of the stuff I am working on this week will sure confirm the fact that I am still feeling the influences of fall.

My only out side activity this week was an afternoon when I sat in the gallery at the Schweinfurth to answer folks questions. It was pleasant to talk with students and quilters and I did a lot of hand work. More little faces for Creative Assistants.

Progress Report: Buffalo Bluffs

I am now done with the assembly of this work. This is the last photo of it as a total unit as I plan to cut it in half and make a diptych out of it. That was the plan form the start and building it as one big unit first makes for unity I think. I will slash it and stretch it before next week I hope.

Autumns Collection This is a close up of this work as I am almost done with the building. I even got the silk leaves on the piece this time. I am adding the facings now so it will be done by next week. I have a little bit of bobbling in two areas so I will need to go back in and quilt a bit more to flatten it. I can always draw more leaves with my machine.

Turning Autumn This quilt is ready for the quilting step now too. I am doing stitch in the ditch at the moment to stabilize it for now and then I will begin to do the machine drawing step. I will do some sketch book work before I begin that however.

Williams Quilt This is a shot of the back of this work. I only need to add to the sides about 10 inches as it is a bit narrow . Then I can begin to assemble the parts. It sure is bright and colorful for the grand child who will receive this gift.

Coastal Color This series of three works is based on a photo of the Atlantic coast. On one cliff the color of the rock went from green moss covered section to red rocks at the top. I tried to capture that feel with these three starts. My main machine had to go for a quick cleaning – I can not believe I have had it a year already. So I pulled the Felter out for a little play in a different mode. They are starting places for machine and hand work now .

Label Block 32 I just do the work.

Enjoy the wonders of the season. Hugs

Carol

Acanthite, Caramelized, New Iris, Oak Leaves, Out of the Dark, Out the Window, Pomegranate, Red Nebula, Yellowstone

Realisations

November 20, 2014 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

I feel so Positive when I think about my work. I did a solo trunk show yesterday for the North Syracuse Art Guild titled

Out the Window 16.5" X 21.5" $125.00 — Out the Window
16.5″ X 21.5″
$125.00

” Your Art /My Art”. In that lecture/ trunks show, I compared my work to the many styles and types of work that the members use. In doing so I really realized how much I draw from the other art categories to get my ideas across. I draw directly on the fabric with pencils, crayons and markers. I use my machine as a drawing tool too. I Paint with acrylic,water color and dye on the surface when I need to create a special effect. I print on the surface using silk screens, stamping and stencils to get images I want on the work. I use some weaving techniques like felting, silk papers and frapping. I often use collage techniques to build up my surfaces with

Red Nebula 18" X 24" — Red Nebula
18″ X 24″

textures and transparencies and different already textured fabrics like velvet and satins. I even embellish with old jewelry on occasion. I am thankful that I get to use from all the different art areas to full fill my creative drive. I realized too that I have been using my experiences and interests to fuel my work for most of my life. Doing a presentation like this is a good way to reflect and re evaluate oneself.

Oak Leaves 45" X 30" $ 350.00 — Oak Leaves
45″ X 30″
$ 350.00

I now have the monster job of returning all the work back into the category packs that I store them in. I feel so very thankful that I am working in so many ways to fulfill my creative ideas.

Acanthite: Foundations XXIV 18" X 23" $ 150.00 — Acanthite: Foundations XXIV
18″ X 23″
$ 150.00

Progress Report: Acanthite :Foundation 24 This quilt is went together very quickly for me. This stone added some problems as some of the areas where a sold white. I wanted to be sure to use velvet and now whale corduroy on this work to show the wonderful textures they add to the surface. There were also lots of cracks on the surface that added interest to this one.

This shot also shows some of the chenille yarn( dark green) and some silk paper( blue- near the top).

Broadcasting I am enjoying doing the hand work on this piece. Most of the saxaphone pads are stitched down now and I am adding beads and french knots to the surface. I have added some reflective quilting to the surface too. This work is going along well at the moment with each actions leading to the next.

Yellowstone The ease that Broadcasting is a great contrast with my slow process on this work. I think I finally have the map portions the correct size and location. I will do the paint step for that and then I will move forward. I also realized that the piece is too pale. Yellowstone has lots of forest and I want to project that feel too so I pulled out dark green organza ( pinned to the left) and adding that will help me go forward I hope.

The Blues This work just needs time as the hand work is a slow thing. I am playing with three of different types of stitches- the chain stitch, the blanket stitch and the fly stitch. I am varying the size of the stitches to add interest.

Caramelized This is a new work that is still in the shifting and pinning stage. I melted the Tyvec that I painted in the fall colors last week, with the iron between sheets of parchment paper. The melt results are so much fun because they are uncontrollable. Mixing them with silk paper makes me think of carmel and melting butter. That is were the title came from. I am enjoying the play.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily's, Diva Meetings, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Green Grow the Grasses, Grove, Hand work, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Scrap Happy Quilts, Smoke

Spring! April 3, 2014

April 3, 2014 admin

Hello-

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 — 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

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.

Keep Creating

Carol

Cre-8

Category Archives: Natural Elements

Butterfly Days

Spring progress

Summer Begins

Blooming

Winter Ice

Winter

Reflection

Solicits

Realisations

Spring! April 3, 2014

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer