Hello,

I can not believe that this is the end of February already.  It seems like we just celebrated New Years a day or two ago.  I am busy as everyone else seems to be.   This week  has been one with lots of  travel in it.     I went off to the Turquoise Street studio on Friday last week and spent my time playing with decolorant.  It was especially cool as the stuff I used not only took the color out of the fabric, but added a new color in its place.  This first shot is Barbara applying the decolorant to a foam block.   I enjoyed the exploration of the process and did it again with Ethel on Wed.   One of the nice benefits is I am using lots of foam stamps that I had created but never touched before.  There is also the fringe benefit of when someone else uses the stamps they sometimes put things together in a fashion that I had not considered.  Its a great learning experience for me too.   Beth and Pat were there too all working at pastels.  We all seem to benefit from working in parallel.  It was a fun day.

Progress Report   Growing Up
  I really enjoyed working on this project.  There was  lots of shifting of the horizontal lines as I went along and I think that I will try to change that in the furture by doing more basting.    It was so much fun doing the pod shapes of the plants that I really did not notice the shifting until I looked at the work again at the end.  So that too is something I need to work on- more looking!

Gearing Up  

  When ever someone gives me an interesting object or thing I usually hold it for a while and then most times it becomes a part of a work of my art.  This quilt is an exception.  Barbara used the gear stencil on felt on one of the first play days.  She then painted the gesso red.    She did use some of the stuff that she painted, but this red felt did not get used and she passed it on to me- that become the jumping off point for this quilt.  These little adventures often lead me in directions that I might not have gone under my own direction.  After Barbara’s gift   I made some gear gesso fabric on canvas so I added it to this quilt as well.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Fuse    This project is nearly completed.  This is another  project that I would not have started except for the influence of a friend.  Ethel and I painted fusible web in January and I started this project because of that event.  My friends sure help me explore- and I am grateful.    I decided to add different sized boarders on it to help with the balance of the piece.  I added a solid back and the quilting that is only on that boarder area is all the work that will go all the way through the piece.   I enjoyed the  process even though I do not think this is what most folks do with painted fusible web.

Tropical Day Dreaming
This quilt has some gesso stencil work on it too.  The white on the turquoise is gesso and  the multi colored areas are as well.  It has been so very cold and snowy that I have wanted to be in a warm place- so playing with these colors helps.   I have started quilting this in a pebble type of pattern with nylon threads.

 

 

Purple Trees        I am still struggling with this project.  I do feel like I am getting better at the control of the work however.    The learning curve on this one is real slow for me.  I am glad I have the time to work through this problem.

 

 

Blue, Blue, Blue

This top went together rather quickly in two days.  I wanted to feature the square that is pinned to the top and I have an idea of how to do just that.  It is dyed paper with a wax resits on top.  That makes it very stiff and I can not add to the surface with additional drawing and it will not stick to other  papers.     Sewing is the only answer.   Now I need to find the time to work at  it.

Stump Men felt project.   I am still working away on this project.  The faces are becoming more distinct with the continued felting I think.   I may need a bit of feed from my peers as I am reaching the point where I can not really see what to do next.   

Hand Bag   Anne gave me two hand woven belts from Pure at the last DIVA meeting.  I decided to use one as a handle for a bag and this project is the result.   I seem to always need a new bag and this will do the trick for a while.

 

I hope that spring will soon be greeting us with flowers and showers.

Keep Creating

Carol