Category Archives: Pixies Group

Drawing, Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Fish, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Rough Cut, Scissors, Scrap Happy Quilts, Stretched Works

Sky Light

  Hello,

We have a sky light in our bathroom  and this morning when I was there , I saw a squirrel  on  top of  the space.  He stopped to check his front paw and I admired at his soft white fur in contrast with his black feet.   He did not stay long and my eye then moved to the branches of the oak above.  It has grown from a small finger sized twig that we planted over thirty years ago to a wonderful tall full tree that nearly crossed that sky light that in near the center of the back of the house.    That thought lead me to think of the many trees that we have planted in our yard  over our long lives here.  We have so many now that a vegetable garden is impossible.  I did have one in the back for many years and the tomatoes were so plentiful, I had  to give them away to the neighbors.   Over time I have traded that for hours of shade and lots of raking.   I love the trees so I would not trade any of them and the squirrel that they attract.

Last Saturday was the Flinger Lakes Fiber Artist meeting and although we were a small group, folks had lots to share.

Victoria has finished her box project and it is wonderful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anne is still   working with her challenge piece, and  making progress.

 

 

 

Maureen dusted off her  watercolor paintings shills .

 

 

 

And because it was there I had to take a third look at the wonderful show at the Schweinfurth.    It is so powerful!

There was the opening of the Assiated Artist show on Sunday and I was handed a nice prized along with the promise  of s solo show in June.

 

 

 Sharon, Victoria and I meant to do some planning for the La Moyne show  in Jan .      Sharon is working on this piece to be a part of that event.

 

 

 

 

The Sisterhood of the Scissors and  the Pixies had on line meetings as well.

Progress Report: Stream Bed     This piece is 24″ wild X 20″ t.  I finally decided what way was up  on this piece and added the wire to the back.     I sure enjoy ding these  hand pieces and  I pulled out the stuff to start another this morning.

 

 

These works really play to my strong interest in textures.

 

 

 

Rough Cut    I have moved on to the next scissors project.  I sure hope the wool frays a lot when I wash it so there is even more texture here.

 

 

Tropical Floor     I did the free motion drawing on the roving and Angelina to create the fish and stitched them down.   The sea weed is made from some of the dyed wipes I did earlier this year.

 

 

Scrap Happy    I am doing the hand stitching on the binding of this work now.  I am sure I will finish it  this week.

 

 

 

 

Lap quilt   I got this work all assembled this week and  I am working on the quilting here.

 

 

 

 

 

 Drawing     I did this  with ball point pen, my favorite  tool.     Susan of the Pixies challenged  us to draw plants.     Not sure what I will try next.

 

 

 

 

Take good care of yourself.

Carol

Drawing, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Scissors, Scrap Happy Quilts, Short Cut

Full Week

Hello,

I am having a full life at the moment.  I started on Friday by going to meet with my fellow retired art teachers to the Everson for lunch and a view of the galleries.     Many of them are being set up for the next exhibition, but one of the  open ones  was loaded with  work from the perinate collection.  It was a joy to see some of the old pieces that I recall and some I had forgotten about.

There was a great ceramic show too and I loved this owl plate.

 

 

 

Then on Saturday I went off to contribute my work to the Associated Artist show  and  I  helped with the hanging.

 

 

 

This work is by my friend Adam Vural  and a part of the show.

 

 

 

Sense I seem to see owls everywhere, I took this photo of another of the artists work.

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday I discovered that I had won the Best of Show  award for Tide Pool .  I was amazed.

On Tuesday, I went off to a play date with Angela’s.    She continues to create wonderful felted work  and she won a Purple ribbon at the State Fair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a good time playing with printing with  Gelli plates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Angela also showed off her latest piece that  she did in memory of her dog, Jetta of 17 years who passed away .

 

 

 

My last adventure this week was a trip to the Syracuse University Art Gallery.  I was especially taken by this work of an Indian woman artist .  It is about how life for the women changes when she becomes a widow.

I did sneak a pixie meeting and my on line  class  in this week too.   It has been a bit crazy.

Progress Report:  Short Cut  This work is 35.5″ w X 46″ l.      The scissors them selves are cut form a metallic fabric .      The edges are zig zag appliqued down with a  yarn captured with the stitch.

 

 

I have several more ideas for this series.

 

 

 

 

Lap # 13    I am building away on this project.

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap  Happy   This Scrap Happy is for my daughter.  It is all assembled now and ready for  the extra  quilting.

 

 

 

 

Stitch Club     I worked on this bit of hand work this week .   Limiting the pallet to white is a difficult thing for me, but I sure like the texture challenge.

 

 

 

 

New Work    I got out more of the roving and  did  a bit more work capturing it under wash away and stitches.   It is ready for the water now.

 

 

 

 

Drawings   The pixies have a bit of a push toward drawing now.      I did these two this week.  Robert suggested storms so that is were this one came from.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Laura, wanted to try scissors. drawing .

 

 

Hopefully this week will be a little bit calmer .

Keep Creating  my friends

Carol

 

 

 

 

Applique, Cut Up, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Scissors, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Fall is Approaching

Hello,

I have had a busy week.   Last Saturday I went off to the Schweinfurth Art Center to their new show opening, Beyond the Surface: Contemporary  Artists ad Printed Textiles. I was lucky to attuned the Artist talk beforehand as well.  It sure enriched my viewing of the work.    One of the artist, Krystile Lemonias ,  mixed wood cuts with her quilting process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another artist, Sarah Fairchild,  mixed foil and flocking  with her printing on fabric.

 

 

 

A third   artist, Gerri  Spika,  used deconstructed screen printing with her work  fiber work.  I know how to do all three of these techniques.  The show has made me rethink things a bit.   These are only small examples of the eight  artists in the show.     I highly recommend a trip  if you can make it.

The  Pixies meant as did the QuEGs.    It was all stimulating.   I also listened to the  Textile Talk this week that was about the  Beyond the Surface show.

Progress Report:  Lap Quilt    This really is the last of the blocks from my friend Ethel.     I had to make some solid ones to fill this project out.

New Lap  I can’t let these projects go, so I pulled fabric for the next one yesterday.   It is such free play for me and they go to a worthy cause.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green Lichens  This work is 18 ‘ w X 24″ l.     It is the next one in the stitch work series that resulted from my Joyous Embroidery  class.   I did have a good time as usual in the process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cut Up    Only one more pair of scissors to cut out a apply and then I can move on to the next step.     I am having so much fun exploring this shape that I already have ideas for at least two more of them.

 

 

Stitch Club    I got and email form Stitch Club offering a free class so I took advantage of the process.  Lots of new ides here.

 

 

 

 

New Roving    In searching for some fabric I came across some  roving and Angelina that I had set aside for a new project.     So I am off on a  further exploration of this process from two  summers  ago.

 

 

 

Repair    My grandson drought me some of his clothing that needed repair.  I am epically prod of the patch I put on his Lakers shorts.

 

6X6 I came  across this mammoth  that Mom had made for a museum project in the bottom of a drawer.   Such a shame for  it to be in a dark, so I decided to feature it in one of my entries for the Rochester  Art Center fund raiser for the spring.

I hope you are enjoying the season and  creating a bit too.

 

Carol

 

 

Hand work, Pixies Group, Re Work, Scrap Happy Quilts

Dog Days

Hello,

The season is calming down for me and the cool days make me want to sleep more.      It is a good time to reflect before we get into the hurry of fall.   I only had  one meeting this week and that was with the Pixies.  They too seemed to be in a lull with very little happening.   I am enjoying the quiet.

Progress Report: Cut Ups    I am working away on this project and I want to share a little trick that I came across on Facebook.   Sense I am again outlining all the parts of this scissors piece with an appliqued yarn , I learned that you can tape a straw to your machine to direct the yarn to line up with you foot so you have both hands free to control your piece as it goes under the needle.   It sure makes the process easier.

Scrap Blocks  I have added the scrappy side panels to all my 4.5 ” centers and cut the blocks   into  8.5″ units now.  The number pinned to the top tells me how many blocks of each color I have .  This will make doing the layout step go quickly when I build  the rows.

 

Playing with Purple   This work is 24″ w X 12″t.   I started this in the Joyous Embroidery class  with  Fiber Art take 2, earlier this year.    It is finally done.      I enjoyed adding all this fun bits and pieces onto the surface.

 

 

 

 

 

Generational Mix  This work us 24″ X 18″.   I made some of the add on units and some were from the fabrics that Casey sent me of Grandmothers stuff.    Again the inspiration came form the  Joyous Embroidery class.  The buttons are from the ones my Aunt May brought home from the button factory . They are all pearl buttons that  where called seconds.    I think they  are beautiful in there imperfections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lichen   I started a new  piece that is built on and old work.  I painted Tyvek and melted it with a heat gun and then mixed  it with some new punch needle work to begin this piece.    This will take a while as I embellish it with buttons and beads as well as stitches.

 

 

 

 

Handworks  I also finished up these two little  works from the Angela’s challenge.

 

I  am sure will keep busy this week as I always do and I hope that your days are as full as you want them to be.

 

Keep Creating,

Carol

Applique, Hand work, Pixies Group, SAQA, Scissors, Scrap Happy Quilts, Sisterhood of the Scissors

Visiting

Hello,

It has been a week with several visits to other quilters.  Thursday,  I went off to Mill Sight Lake with Nancy to visit Judy at her camp.   I was surprised to find several of my old works hanging on the walls there.    Sharon joined us too.   Sadly,   it rained both days, but we still had a good time talking and doing hand work.

 

Rose, Judy’s dog and good companion, spent a lot of time on her lap.

 

 

 

 

Then on Tuesday,  Sharon and I went to Ann’s Barns for a  day of quilt play.    It was sort of a mini Sisterhood of the Scissors meeting.  She as been busy doing lots of renovation so the space is more livable to her and the new studio looks wonderful.   This is a shot of her fabric wall cabinets.

Ann’s work   looks great on her new walls too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Val shared her City Scrapes piece with us.   In the sky she free motion wrote lots of words about the city of New York City.

 

 

 

 

  Sharon has only to stitch the binding on her Heron Quilt now and it will be complete.   It is one of her best works in my opinion.

 

The Pixie’s meant yesterday and we had a good talk and I also listened to the SAQA lecture on “Labeling Your Quilts”.

Progress Report:   New Scissors    I started a new scissors piece and I am making progress.  Many pieces are cut, but nothing is fused down yet.     I hope to start that step later today.

Scrap Back   I am in the process of adding together scarp pieces for the back of my next Scarp  Happy project.  Grandson Gavin, expressed an interest in a new one, so I am off to it.

 

 

Scarp Blocks     I have cut the 4.5″ centers for the new blocks for the Scrap Happy and they have one side of the Roman Strip added to them.  I know this pile does not show much- that’s  it.

 

 

 

Handwork -Glove Block  I work on this up at Mill Sight.  It is started now and I am sure I will keep at it.

 

 

 

 

Little Monsters     Joyce and I have a little challenge going and this it my solution.      I think they work  as the only two rules were that there had to have ears and teeth.

I hope that the summer is providing you with good times and joy.

Keep Creating

Carol

Animals, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand work, Machine Drawing, Pixies Group

Home from QBL 2024

Hello,

I am now home from my two weeks of  Quilting By the Lake.   This year it was held at  Hobart, Williams, Smith College in Genova, New York .      This was a last min change as Wells collage closed in May and Davana had to do seme scrambling to find us a new location.    It worked out remarkably well for such a short notice.    The housing and class rooms were scattered all over the lovely campus and that made for lots of walking, but it was so beautiful that I enjoyed it none the less.   My Cottage was across this little pond and I got to walk around it going to and from the main campus every day.

The fist week I had  Natural Dyeing class with Ellen Noble.    That class was in the art building that is surrounded by woods on three sides.  I saw a deer and a fawn one morning on my walk out to the location.

The class was very small with only eight of us, but oh so enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

Ellen really knows her stuff and she did lots of demonstrations for us.

 

I think I enjoyed learning about  Indigo the most, but the walnut and Palma granite dyes were fascinating too.

 

 

Ellen sat next to me and we shared lots of laughs.

Here she is painting a restirs on  a pre dyed of iron oxide.       There was a lot of chemistry in this class.

 

 

 

  This is a sample shot of many of the techniques that I came home with .

 

 

 

 

 

One evening there was show and tell were folks broth things from home .  This is a shot of my cottage mate, Desy with her project from last year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was class show the last even of the first week  usual and this is a shot of my friend Diane  from her class.

 

 

 

 

 

Kay was in the same class as Diane.

 

 

 

 

Week 2,  I was in Alter Ego class with  Paula Kevork as the teacher.   We started out with lots of free motion work and then she introduced three  dentinal ideas.   In doing  the free motion drawing I did scissors and  I discovered how I might add safety pins to my  play too.

On Tuesday afternoon, Paula  provided a pattern  for a mask/head and we were off and running.  She said she lost control at that point and never got it back.  As a class, we   were enjoying the challenge so much it was fun all the way to the end.

 

 

 

 

I had lots of friends in that class.  and I made some new ones.   This work is by a new gal- Holly.  She challenged herself to creating the whole think by pinching  and folding the fabrics

 

 

 

 

  Desy was seated behind me and she created a wonderful deer head  with a halo and wings.

 

 

 

Susan was behind  Desy and she did a wonderful crow  on a pastel block  background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jea was seated in front of me and she took the prize for creating the most three dimensional pieces.     She did a face , a dog, a creature   and 2 jelly fish.

 

 

 

 

Laura did this wonderful creature were she mixed in limbs from out side in her piece.

 

 

 

 

This shot shows our teacher and Liz  plus  Liz’s  Chick  .   It  is just too wild.

I loved the exploration that went on all around me in both two and three dimensions.

 

I worked on a dragon .      I used an old quilt from 1991  so I did not have to make any free motion pieces to work with.    But due to the fact that I had no pattern my head did not fit the body .   I was ready to toss the whole ting when the teacher suggested that the body only needed a face to stand alone.  So the “One Eyed flying purple people  Eater” was born.   ( right shoulder)  And due to the cut off broom stick that Liz happened to have in her car the head became a jesters assistant.       I am delighted  with both on them .    Now I still have some great back legs- so I many have to use them  along with the remaining scarps from that old quilt to create another creature…

 

This is Paula’s work .  She is having fun along with us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is one more of Holly’s very inspirational pieces made from the scraps of one of her other projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Cunningham did a lecture and showed us his strong work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The week ended with  another evening of work from the classes and the teachers apron auction.    The money raised from the auction goes to the scholarship fund.   Here we have Paula with her apron and a bonus of her book in the pocket.

 

 

 

Liz broth this apron  of Joe’s.

The whole event was a good one as  usual.   I so enjoy the people and new experiences QBL has to offer.  I along with Linda were honored this year with having attend  40 years.     I can’t quite believe that.

 I had a pixie meeting this week along with a FAD meeting.    Sharon had a wonderful background built for  a pieces she is making for her sister.

 

 

  Here is the bird.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report:    Cut Short    I spent most of this week catching up with  many things, but I did get work done on this piece.   It is ready for the zigzag  application of the parts now.

 Handwork- Small    This is my small work made with scarps from Cut it Out- the big  part.

 

I am enjoying my summer and having lots of fun creating new work.

Keep Creating
Carol

Cut It Out, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Scissors

Off to Quilting by the Lake

2 Comments

Hello,

This week has been a full one for me.   I am of course packing for my two week at Quilting by the Lake.  I will have lots of new stuff to share  on Aug 1, the next time I post.

Summer walks continue to be full of new sights as well, such as these Indian pipes.

   I did go off to the    Opening of   the Rock  Garden Show on  Friday.  It is always a divers and interesting show.    I knew four artists this time.

Terri had this wonderful bed sized work in that show.   She has been working n it for years.

 

 

 

Barbara shared some of her quilts and  her paintings too.

 

 

 

 

 

Cheri showed off her print works.

 

 

 

 

 

Denise had four of her powerful felted works  on display.   The show is in Homer at the Art Center and will be up until  the end of Aug.

I attended the  Lavender Festival in Red Creek  with my grandson on Saturday and  zoomed with the Pixies as well.     I am blessed with a full life.

 

 

Progress Report:  Cut It Out      This work is 45.5″ X 28″.     it proved to be a challenge as giving the view in x-ray vision  meant I really had to watch what I was doing.    My pile of miss cuts was a big one.

 

I zig -zagged the edges and appliqued down textured yarn at the same time.

 

 

 Big and Small    I decided to take the Big and Small challenge.  This is my 12″ square that is the start of the  Small .    Some of the miscuts are used in this piece.  Now to do some embellishment work with thread.

 

 

 

Ties   I made more square for this project and I am all done creating them now.   I plan to start assembling  blocks later today.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap #12   I am working on the hand step of binding   this work now.    I want it done before I depart on Sunday.

 

 

 

Handwork     I did a little handwork this week.  I sure made a lot of blocks for the Joyous Embroidery class- still some left to complete.

 

New Cuts      I have new ideas for a scissors themed  project.  So I  though I would try a different approach this time and make  a paper pattern that I could trace and move  around  on a background.    Here is my new pattern in a heavy paper.    I will let you know how this works in the future.

Enjoy summer and keep creating’.

Carol

 

 

Applique, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Flag Challenge, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Scissors

Berry Season

Hello,

As I plucked a ripe  berry form the Mulberry Tree  on our walk, I was  reminded that when I was in Kindergarten I learned that there were 4 seasons.  So when summer came and there was Cherry season, and Strawberry season, followed by Raspberry season, I was a little confused and wondered why they were so short.   My Dad explained that the fruit seasons were just labels for what was ripe and a joy to eat at times of the year, while the four seasons represented the leant of day light and weather.   My childhood mind still though it was a bit unfair that the berry seasons were so short.   I am  now enjoying watching the  blue berry plants grow large wonderful large green berries in Rachel’s  yard,  and paying attention to the first ripening  wild  black berries  along our path.    I love berry seasons, perhaps that is due to how brief they all are.     My other big delight this week was to discover a young opossum in my hedge when I was watering my plants .    Then there were all the firefly’s  in my back yard last night .   Nature is constantly surprising me.

My only quilting events this week were  a  FAD meeting and a Pixie Zoom meeting.

Progress Report:   Lap 11   I really enjoyed this project this week.  It is so very cheerful.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 12     I can’t let things go so I started a new one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Field of Flowers    I try to work on this every day  so I am making progress  on it.   I think I only need to add the last of the free motion,  Angela, and  roving flowers I did to start this idea .

  Tie Quilt   In my efforts to clear away and finish up things I came across a box full of ties that a friend has sent me.   I decided to tackle building some blocks for a bed quilt with them.

 

 

Scissors Quilt  Marty sent me this little image of a painting made with scissors.  The water color artist had allowed himself to have X-ray vision with the work.  Seeing that was all it took for my imagination to go flying.     So I arranged my scissors and did a drawing.  This full sized drawing is the result.   I have pin based a base  and I am ready to start cutting pieces to fuse down and stitch now.

 

 

Glove Block # 5      This is my handwork for the evenings at the moment.      I am now ready to move on to the next block.

 

 

 

 

Flag for Susan     I came across this perfect piece of handwork by my Aunt May and though of Susan’s flag project.   I will mail it this week.

 

I hope folks are enjoying the wonders of summer.     Due to the fact that next Thursday is the 4th of July ,  I will not publish until Friday next week.

Stay Safe

Carol

 

 

Hand work, Lap Quilts, Nine Play, Pixies Group, Stencels

Summer Solstice

Hello,

We are to the longest day of the year today .    It is also very hot in this part of the world.   It will be  a while before I really notice the shorting days.   I do enjoy the sunlight though. We also have the Strawberry Moon this evening. I hope it stays clear and I get to view it.

This week was a  busy one for me.   Friday,  Liz and I went to Marcia’s for a sewing day.    Joyce worked on her Bog Coat as did I.

 

They help on hemming was what I needed  and mine is finished now.

 

 

 

 

 

Deb enjoyed Zoie.

 

 

 

Marcia showed off one of her jackets.

We had a good productive time.

I had a Sisterhood Zoom meeting and the Pixies meant too.

 

 

 

 

The Naturally Inspired class got my attention as I did a group of Gelli prints for that class.

 

 

 

The teacher also suggested that one cut their stencil shapes from Yupo paper.  It really works well and  holds up nicely.    I  will use it in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Swoop II This work is 37″ w X 46″ l.    It is made from leftover blocks from the first Swoop piece.

 

 

I had more fun with the quilting on this one than the first.

 

 

 

 

Lavender Floor   This work is 31″ X 24″.  I was playing with the free motion work and the roving again here.    The fish and the starfish both have this technique  as a part of them.

 

The sea grass is made from nylon netting and two different ribbons that I gathered to get the ripple effect.

 

 

 

 

Lap 10   The top is all pieced together  and it is pin based now.  I will  move forward on it this week.

 

 

 

 

 

Glove Blocks I have just pinned this piece together and started to stitch the handkerchief down.    In my sorting this week I found some more of aunt Shirley’s and grandmothers handkerchiefs too.  The gloves here are from Liz.,

Floral Garden   I have stitched down all the sunflowers and most of the leaves on this project.   I am just about ready to add more blossoms.   These flowers and the one I plan to add are made with the roving and free motion  technique that I learned in the QBL class last summer.

9X9X9  I added a boarder to this work and it is pin based.    Now I need to wait for the last portrait before I can go forward.

 

 

 

Envelopes  I always save my papers from painting and turn them into envelopes.  I realized that there were quit a few of them rolled up in the corner so I pulled them out and made a new batch of envelopes.     It is my personal way of recycling.

 

 

Please stay safe and cool as you can at this time.

Carol

 

 

FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Fish, Hand work, Nine Play, Pixies Group, Plants, SAQA

Spring Closing

Hello,

We have slipped into a real summer like feel here in central NY, even though summer does not officially begin until next week.   Most of the early flowers are gone and the  spring  ones that are still around are looking a bit shabby.   The seasons move so very quickly.     We have moved our walks to early morning as it is cooler  too.   The beginning of the walk course is were the hills are and  at the middle we start down.  Then this last stretch is  about 14 blocks on mostly level ground.   I always fins it a great meditative time.

I had three events this week.  The FAD gals meant on Monday and Sharon shared her completed blossom work.    I have enjoyed watching this one grow.

 

I made it to the SAQA lecture on Wed and there was a Pixie meeting too.

 

 

Progress Report:   Stamps   I finally got going on cutting the new stamps this week.   Now to do some printing.

 

 

Lavender Level     I made lots of progress on this little sea piece.  I am using lots of the free motion and wool roving techniques from my class last  summer.

 

Flower Garden   I built some additional thread work to make more flowers.

 

 

 

 

This is picture shows the  roving before I do the thread work to hold it all together.  This will become some sun flowers- I hope.   The base is built so making the actual garden will be gin soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Dragon Fly   I continue to work on this hand project in the evenings.    It is progressing slowly.

 

 

Pillows    I was doing some more spring cleaning and found a  few unfinished pieces so I decided to complete them.  I have now made two into pillow cases.  I will  stuff them and then sew them  up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asha”s quilt   I am all ready to quilt this project.  The heart print around the out side is polar fleece that will be a the back of this work.

 

 

 

 

Nine by Nine by Nine     This top of 81 little one inch squares in neutral colors will be the base  for some free motion portrait work I want to do.  I was inspired by the Genesee Valley Quilt show for this project.

 

I hope you  are enjoying the  pleasant days and nights.

Keep Creating

Carol