Category Archives: Curvie Cuts

Butterflies For Ethel, Collage Based Work, Earthly Fissures, Swoop, Taffy Pull

More ways to study ones composition

October 29, 2015 admin

Hello,

The fall colors are still fascinating me. I just can’t seem to look enough. And every day the view changes.

I have a few other ways of looking at a work to see if the balance is good and the composition on is as strong as it can be. One is to squint. I do this a lot with out even thinking about it. But is is good to pay attention. The second is to use a reducing glass or if you do not have one – to use binoculars in a backward fashion. By making the work smaller the eye can see all of the composition at once. You can also take a digital photo to reduce the size for viewing too. I do anything that helps the brain to make a good composition. Because who wants to waste their time working on something that is not the best one can do?

Progress Report: Earthly Fissures I am pleased with this work. I took it along with four other works to my photographer, John Dowling yesterday. Having the proper lighting and such really does make a difference. I feel that I achieved my goal of creating a dark crack without using black. To do so I used the dark green to create the darkest area. This rock had lots of cracks in it. I used a lot of yarn and thread to convey this feeling.

15 This work is my entry for the Diva’s 15 anniversary show. The rule we all have to follow is : fifteen must be some were in the work and the quilt must be 15” X 15” . I made a block using the roman numeral for fifteen- XV and then built the quilt. The only block were you can read it is in the lower right hand corner. My personal challenge was to assemble it all by hand and quilt it that way too. I have not done either of those things in a long time. I also wanted to get a little practice in doing hand quilting before I started quilting Ethel’s quilt. Now I am ready- if I can only decide now what pattern I want the quilting to follow.

Scarp Happy I finished another one of these fun quilts. I did make it to the Ronald McDonald House this week were I left off the previous one. I looked at the shoe box that holds the extra blocks and it is still too full so I will make another soon using old blocks.

Taffy Pull This close up shows the machine work I am almost finished with on this project. Again I let the fabric tell me what to stitch.

Butterflies for Ethel This will be the third in the Butterfly Series. The title of this work comes from the fact that I have used only Ethel’s fabric for the background of this project. She had a good eye for color and pattern. I am now ready to cut the Butterflies themselves out of the ground cloth. After I add paint I will apply them to this surface.

Swoop I lost my last curvier cut piece when I was at Pat Pauly’s work shop. After trying to find it I have finally accepted the fact that it is gone. So I thought I better get going on a new piece. And I think I was doing a bit of avoidance too as I did not feel confident about starting the quilting on Ethel quilt.

New Rock This is another avoidance start. Judy is pushing me to stretch /frame my rock pieces. So I decided to find a little section in the photo I used for Earthly Fissures( it is framed in white near the top). I cut a piece of wool big enough to stretch around a 18” X 24” canvas that I have and I will begin to try to create the area in blue.

New Work This work is really not very new. I started it at QBL last summer.But it had become buried. When I unearthed it this week I decided to move forward on the completion. It is small and I think it will go quickly.

Label Block #24 And a another one down when it come to this project.

Keep Creating

Carol

By the Shore, Curvie Cuts, Foundations Series, Label Blocks, Name Game, Three Grand Sons

Visits

July 1, 2015 admin

Hello,

This quilt-” Unbroken Circle” is by my friend Sally Dutko. I purchased it from her before I went to Indiana and I am enjoying it a great deal. I think I can learn from looking at the details of this work. I made the trip to Sally Dutko’s studio sale before I went off to Indiana. She has a wonderful space with lots of display areas. She is an artist I have long admired and I was fortunate to purchase one of her works for my self. I will be very sorry when she makes her final move from this area. She has given me great advice about my work in the past.

I had a wonderful time on my trip to Indiana. Barbie is a wonderful hostess and we did a lot during my stay. We went to a visitors center in Nashville IN and looked at this wonderful Chihuly among other things.

This work, “Family Life” by Susan Else, was a part of a wonderful show at the Carnegie Center for Arts and History in New Albany IN. The works were all excellent and we enjoyed ourselves. Got me to thinking about some new approaches too. Making our viewers choice created lots of discussion among the four of us.

We spent two days in Barbie’s studio doing silk painting. This strong scarf is her work. Her work is wonderfully complex and she sells them at the Holiday event in town. My work on the other hand is quite simple. Barbie has developed this wonderful stretch technique with pipes, rubber bands, rings and clips. It is so very flexible that she can adapt it most sizes of silk that she wants to use just by moving the parts around. The process of adding the guta was was easy and clean. I have not done this type of thing in a long time and it dose require skill.

This top one came home with me as we got some work steam set on Sunday . The second one is still in Indiana with Barbie. She will mail it to me when it is steamed too.

Progress Report: Hand Work I felt I needed to take some hand work with me to Indiana so I started this piece. The base is a silk screen I did a while ago. I did a lot of couching on the surface and then added some of the slices from the jelly roll felting that I did last fall at Cheri’s Blue Moon studio. I am enjoying the process.

Name Game- Three Grand Sons

I worked on this one before I left and again when I got home. I have cut the three names into 4.5” squares and I am in the process of moving and playing with placement now. When I am happy with that I will stitch them all together.

Curvy Cuts – New Project I got such positive feed on my work on “Encounters” that I had to go looking through my stash of fabric and make a second starter for a similar project. I do enjoy cutting the curves more every time I do it. I have the other hand work project too so this one will not be seen again for a while.

Van Goth When I went to Maine in April I purchased a panel print of Van Goth’s Iris’s. I though it would be a good place for me to practice free motion work. I tend to get excited and my stitches are not uniform in size. So I have been doing little bits of this picture to help me build some uniformity .

Near the Shore I am working away on this piece. There are lots of bits of different colored fabrics and yarns building up on top of one another with this one. I am building rich color layers like a painter.

Spray Paint When we went to visit Elizabeth she showed us her spray painted works. They were amazing. Marty and I tried it when we got home. Control was much more difficult then we both expected- but we had fun. I have tried to build a work using some of that material. At this point I do not feel it is at all successful. Even adding hand work did not seem to pull the piece together or give it the focus I think it needs. Perhaps so input from my Diva and QuEG’s friends will help save this. I am willing to just say it was a learning experience too.

Label Blocks I have two blocks this time as two weeks have passed by.

Keep Creating

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, Foundation XV New Direction, Mia's Tee shirt quilt, Trees, Wind Fall

Flowers April 17, 2014

April 17, 2014 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

Spring is teasing us here in central New York. It was so very nice and warm for three days and then we had a cold day that ended in a snowstorm. I am waiting for my spring flowers to appear. The day that it snowed I took matters into my own hands and spent the day with Noel in her studio along with several others and we made our own flowers. (look back two weeks to see Noel and Victoria’s first ones) It always amazes me how we human beings fliter and apply our own tastes to the same processes. These red, pink and purple blossems are Cheri’s and the black, tan and white ones are Noel’s. We all took the same basic materials and techhniques but treated them with our own unique “stamp”. Noel showed us how to create several types of flowers and then turned us loose. Victoria, like Noel had made flowers before, she cheerfully tried a complex rose type flower where each petal is made indavigaly. I can hardly wait to see how everyone finishes her necklace. I was so excited by the processes that I kept making more flowers for the next two evenings. I am sure I will have two or three necklaces even if I stopped with what I have. I did take the time to lay out one possible combination. It needs small additions like beads and buttons. I just keep thinking of more ways to play with these ideas. And recalling things I did not try yet like yoyo flowers that Cherri did. It sure was a wonderful way to combat the snow falling outside that day!

Progress Report: Foundations XV –New Direction I am still struggling with this project. I have added to the sides to pull away from the square format. Then this morning when I hung it on the wall- “What If” – hit and I turned it 45 degrees to the right and I liked it better- and even more so when I added to the those two sides as well. I try to always be open to what is happening while I am designing and wonderful things can happen. I will push myself to do the remaining work on this one over the next few days.

New Work I am still playing with this newest member of the Foundation series. This one does not seem to know what way is up yet either- but I am enjoying the process. I do think I will leaves this one in a basic square format even though I am trying to go beyond that idea. It is holding it’s own without that challenge.

Grove I am making progress here too. All the trees now have their horizontal branches. I have them all connected to one another but I feel that it is almost too much to take in visually. The blue below the trees is too busy as well, so I plan to remove it and try again. I just don’t know what will work until I try it sometimes.

Mia’s Quilt These green and blue pieces are my prepations for the back of Mia’s Tee shirt quilt. I am building the units and when they are big enough I will assemble them into the big back. It is a fun process from my point of view.

Daily’s I am finding time to do my Daily’s too. They are starting to really pile up.

Think Spring and Keep Creating

Carol

Choosing Cherry, Daily's, Green Nebula, On the Road to Dry Falls

November 14, 2013 Fall’s Bounty

November 14, 2013 admin

Hello,

Fall always brings a riot of color in so many ways. Not only the trees and all their hues, but in the harvest of all the fruits and vegetables is also a color filled part of fall. Barbara could not resist the wonderful colors of the cabbages and I love them too. I visited her Turquoise Street Studio this week and was impressed by this wilting still life. I can hardly wait to see the pastel that grows out of it.

There also seems to be a bounty of events to attend in the fall. I went to Julia Graziano’s lecture on machine quilting at the Schwienfurth on Sunday. This photo shows her in front of one of her Arches quilts,althouth this one is not in the show. She said she did this series to learn how to sew curves. I think she is successful.

I also went to an opening at the Art Rage Gallery this week. The show “Spoken Threads” displayed many different fiber and thread related work. There were several quilters among the many artists in this show. Sharron Bottle Souva is shown here in a detailed talk with one of the many people at the opening. Sally Dutko also had a piece in this show. She made this quilt as a personal response to the shooting of the school children earlier this year. I along with Sally and several other fiber artists had spent an earlier part of the day visiting the Delevan Center Open Studio event. It was a very stimulating time going in and out of studios of all sorts of artist and talking with them. Even looking at the many ways they organized themselves was an education of sorts.

I am just home from a meeting of the “Fab” group. Fab stands for fabric. It is very small at the moment and we are mostly getting together to support each other and share our pursuits. Victoria is working on these wonderful mini squares using a limited pallet of only seven colors all form the Cherry Wood collection. The other gals in the group gave me some encouragement about how to improve my Oak Leaves quilt and I am going to follow through before I share it. I am sure it will be completed by next week.

I also spent a day with my friend Cherri this week. We were playing with painted canvas in a style like Katie Pasquini Masapust taught us in her workshop. After painting the canvas one adds fabric units and then a second coat of paint. The next step is to place the two works on top of one another and free form cut through them both and reassembel. This is a shot of one of my pieces at this point. I am enjoying the process.

So with the visits to studios, the galleries, the lecture and the group meetings, I am enjoying the full bounty of fall.

Choosing Cherry 12.5" X18" $60.00 — Choosing Cherry
12.5″ X18″
$60.00

Progress Report: Paper Quilt – Choosing Cherry I am delighted to say I finished this quilt after a long delay. I was missing the filler for the biggest opening so I did not complete it. The plastic printed images that appear green and red are from a seasonal food bag. When it appeared again this fall, I purchased the fruit and enjoyed sharing it with my friend Barbara last week. With the bag empty, I cut it up and added it to the back of the work and completed the project. From the close up, it is easy to see the thread bridges and the plastic bag parts behind them. I had not done a paper quilt in such a long time I had forgotten how much I enjoy Carol Weib’s process. So now I am all revved up to do another. From the second close up one can see that I mix fabric and paper in my quilt as well as the plastic.

Green Nebula This was the project that I worked on at the Turquoise Street Studio. I am done with the bead work now and into the quilting. It a great project to carry around as there is very little material involved.

Long Stitches This is a new project that I am experimenting with. I read about doing stitches on “wash away” and them doing free motion machine work on top. I did not have any “wash away” on hand, but had some nylon netting – so I stretched it in a hoop and did long stitches that crossed one another over and through the netting. I then took the work to the machine and did the free motion work that the book suggested on the surface. I think my solution will work for a “moss like” look on a rock surface – my ultimate goal- and be more stable too. I always like to alter ideas to fit my apporaches and this does that.

On the Raod to Dry Falls

I have finally gotten back this work too. I started it at QBL last summer and it got put in the box with the leftover fabrics when I packed up from that adventure. I thought I had already completed all the starts from those two weeks- but here was another. I am ready to start doing the free motion quilting on it now and look forward to that process this next week.

Daily’s I continue to work away on the Daily’s. I think they are getting a little more complex with time. It is very calming work for me now too.

Keep Creating

Carol

Blooming Bacteria, Daily's, Gray Wall, Oak Leaves

Thursday October 17, 2013

October 17, 2013 admin

Hello,

Fall is in about in all its colorful beauty here in central New York. The yellow leaves have forsaken the trees to lay down a carpet of gold in many locations. That is not to say that all the leaves have fallen yet- there are still lots in the trees, but I so love to walk in the crunch that they provide this time of year. I just go a little crazy with my camera and shoot lots of pictures.

I have been busy with lots of play dates and a workshop this week. The workshop was last Friday eve and it was on curved piecing. I was trying to learn how to make very skinny lines with the cruves and I think I am getting closer to what I intended. I mostly selected colors for this experiment that are not my usual pallet. I go for the second class with Ruth White on Friday this week. It is about how to create wholes. I have done some of that on my own, but it is always valuable to get instructions I think.

I spent a play day with Susan on Monday and I played with my Gelli plate the whole time. It was great fun. Susan was experimenting with a new technique for creating stencils. Sadly she was not very successful and discovered mostly what did not work. Her work is on the top shelf and mine is the stuff on the bottom. We did enjoy making our commitment lists for the winter as she has departed for the south now and I will not see her for six mouths. I now have a mini goal to work for and she does as well.

I spend yesterday playing with Liz and Angela. The day was a handwork day and it was great too. Angela is the queen of stitches in my world. Both Liz and I looked at tons of books on the topic too. I have two luscious videos and several books to study now too. It is wonderful to have friends that are so very sharing. Liz did not even get her needles out, but Angela and I both did. She worked on her on going Tapa cloth Hawaiian embroidery block quilt. It is going to be a real stunner when she is done I am sure. Liz drew stitch pattern ideas in her journal. Angela taught us some new hand stitches and I now know the difference between a steam stitch and an outline stitch. ( that has to do with the side of the line that the thread endes up lying on.) She also taught us how to do a Colonel Knot. I worked on my Blooming Bacteria quilt. I also picked up my new thermo fax screens. I need to do the taping of the edges now and then find some time to start to print them. I am excited about that, but it willl need to stay on the back burner until later this fall.

Progress Report: Gray Wall I am very pleased with out

Gray Wall 38" X 36" $700.00 — Gray Wall
38″ X 36″
$700.00

this rock quilt has turned out. I love all the texture and the mix of fabric types that it contains. It really flows for me the way I remember the wall being. I enjoy the raw edges and all the free motion stitch work that is part of this quilt. The paint work adds to the lichen feel of the rock face for me as well.

Susan really helped me with the finishing of this work. Or it would be better to say she encouraged me to leave the raw edges and the exposed back of this work. There is no hiding of my processes in this piece.

Oak Leaves I have been doing handwork on this piece too. The limb is almost all stitched to the surface. I can see that I need to add more machine quilting to make it more stable now that the branch has added so much weight to the quilt. It is a learning process when one is trying new stuff.

Blooming Bacteria This quilt has been setting and waiting for attention for a while.(see Aug 16, 2013) I somehow lost most of the crouched circles I had created for it. I put them some place so safe that I cannot find them at all and that is frustrating. I have done a lot of cleaning in my search and the only conclusion I can come to now is that I mistakenly tossed them out. I took it to the handworks play day yesterday and added some of the circles that I had and started creating more. It will be a long process before this quilt is done.

Daily’s I am doing my Daily’s as I am now calling my hand work square projects. They are still fun and with the new stitches that Angela taught me I still can see more ways to play with the idea.

I hope everyone is enjoying the colors fall as much as I am.

Keep Creating

Hugs

Carol

On the Road to Dry Falls, Pumpkin Lichens, Rounds

September 19, 2013 Harvest Moon

September 19, 2013 admin

Hello,

Last evening the harvest moon rose round and orange as a giant pumpkin. It was beautiful! I tried to capture it with my camera- but I am not happy with any of the shots so I am going to leave the idea to you imagination. The Harvest moon is the last full moon before Autumnal Equinox.

This week has been a full one as they all seem to be. I went to the Bead show here in town on Sunday and managed to keep from purchasing too many new beads.

Friday was the Explores day to play with Fused Silk. I think I can speak for everyone in declaring it a big success. This top shot is of Barb spreading the GAC* out on her silk.

Liz and Corinne working on step one- spreading out the silk fibers.

Sue Ellen concentration on her work.

We all had fun and Angela even go far enough along with her fibers to add them to a top. I think we all took home at lease four pieces of fused silk. Liz even experimented with fusing the silk directly to the fabric with the GAC and that seemed to work too.

I make mine very thin- only one layer of fibers to use with my rock wall stuff in the future. It was a fun day for all of us.

Progress Report: Pumpkin Lichens

Pumpkin Lichens 36" X 40" $375.00 — Pumpkin Lichens
36″ X 40″
$375.00

This work had given me fits when it comes to being square and it still looks off kilter to me. The work measures true though. I did have a good time using more of Randy’s wonderful fabric . There is also a bit of the discharged fabric that I did with Marty this summer in this piece( the light orange cream in the middle). I used the curves of Randy’s images to get me started with the quilting patterns too. They were so organic and the lichens I used for part of the inspiration were also irregular like that. This second close up show one of the areas where I started reflective quilting when I got away from the “lichen ” centers.

On the Road to Dry Falls

I worked on this piece this week and all the fabric it attached. I did not shoot it because it does not look any different than last week.

Oak Leaves This is the same limb that I was working on last week from the other side. It also shows the limb all frapped in a second layer of black textured yarn. I plan to get to the background work this week and start putting it all together soon.

Rounds I started this work before QBL – eight weeks ago now. Working through my stack of UFO’s it finally came to the top again. I sliced the work vertically into seven units. Then I pulled out some solid blue fabric and stamped on it with one of the stamps that I cut in my “one a day for 30 day Challenge”. I did the stamping in a purple/pink that works with some of the fabric in the circles. I have ideas for more additions,but will wait to work on them until I have all the units added together. Make the visual decision based on what I see.

New Work This one got some hand work and some paint this week too. The leaves are just pinned on- auditioning so to speak. I like the idea of them, but feel they are not strong enough to work with all the little units of this piece. I think I got a bit carried away with the paint step here. But errors show growth is taking place.

Enjoy the wonders of the season

Keep Creating

Carol

* GAC is a Golden Product used to thin down acrylic paint. GAC 900 is what we used and it is designed for fabric so you keep the soft hand.

Oak Leaves, On the Road to Dry Falls

September 12, 2013 Fall Rains

September 12, 2013 admin

Hello, Today in my part of the world it is raining again. We need the water, but I am tired of the gloom that the gray skies seem to bring along too. It makes me want to take a nap. This photo is one I took on my way home on Tuesday after taking down the “Sticks and Stones” show. As you can see from the image it was gray that day too.

Progress Report: Pumpkin Lichens
I am not showing this work this week because I had a bit of a disaster with it . I though I had trimmed it all up and I was adding the sleeve when I realized that one side was a good inch longer than the other….. I have not done all the deconstruction that needs to happen before I can correct that mistake yet, but I will do so and show that next week.

On the Road to Dry Falls I made progress on this work this week. I am doing more of the tron and free motion stitch down work on this surface. I used this technique with the fused silk, some taffeta and some nylon netting. I like how it allowed for a feeling of shadow and texture.

Oak Leaves
I started this at Quilting by the Lake. The leaves are free floating and made with a top layer of silk and a bottom of cotton. I have been looking at it in this state for a few weeks now and it finally came to me that It needed a three dimensional limb too. So I pulled out some roving and frapped it with a dark patterned fabric. In this closeup you can see how the fabric is wrapping around and creating a new texture. There is a little of the roving showing at the bottom of this shot.

This second shot is of the full limb as it is now. I need to create a background and stitch the limb to it before I add the leaves.

I though I might add fused silk clouds to this work as well. I will at least create some clouds for myself in the fused silk workshop that I am teaching on Friday.

New Work
I am doing pure explorations with this new piece. I took a class with Valerie Goodwin at QBL in 2012 and she suggested we use all the different way we knew to attach fabric to the surface to add texture. I had not really applied this idea before but when I came across my class notes I though I would give it a try. So with this small piece I have used flip piecing, raw edge and hand stitching. The next process is to add paint….. I am having fun as I am not at all sure what I am doing and the class notes are not as complete as I had though. A year plus is a long time and one does forget details.

I hope fall is sending you visual joy and creative time.

Hugs

Carol

Curvie Cuts, Diva Meetings, Pumpkin Lichens, Rock Series East Wall

Sept 6 , 2013 Back to School

September 6, 2013 admin

Hello,

It was the first day of school for students here in central New York. When I went out for my walk this morning there were two boys waiting for the bus on the corner. The same place that my daughter waited for the bus many years ago. I passed others on my trek and thought that this is a sure sign that fall has begun.
This week was the first Tuesday of the mouth and so I went off to my DIVA group meeting on Tuesday. I had missed the mouth before so I was very excited about seeing what others were doing and I was not disappointed! Liese had been doing a lot of marbling on paper . She created two books. I really like the one with the quotes and her second one was an accordion book with wonderful creatures that she saw in the marbling.

She said that she learned that the newsprint paper worked the best for this job.

Susan is doing some great exploration based on sleep. She is printing on fabric with old stencils and writing her quotes in water soluble graphic pencils.

She has a wild collection of stencils and is trying not to cut any new ones for this project. I really like the long line of people she repeated in this second print.

She is also dealing with the inside of things- including people. The rib cage is made with painted canvas suspended in the opening. I can hardly wait to see how this develops.

She always looks at things with such a unique eye.

Sally brought a problem to the group for suggestions. She is getting ready for the Art Trail in the Ithaca area and one of her practices is to have each of her visitors add a piece of fabric to a background that she has selected. Then the sews them down were they are placed. Every five years she take the panels and puts them together in some fashion. She was after suggestions. We brainstormed and gave her several ideas- I can hardly wait to see what she finally does. I really get a lot out of this group for the support as well as the many skills and ideas that each person brings to the setting.

Occasions 35.5" X 49.5" $ 440.00 — Occasions
35.5″ X 49.5″
$ 440.00

Progress Report: Occasions This quilt is one more of the ones that I started at Quilting by the Lake, the second week. I had purchased some deconstructed fabric( the light blue) from her the first week of the conference and used it as my starting place for this piece. This fist close up show the wonderful texture she had created with lines that attracted me to it. I pulled the rest of the materials from my stash and supplemented with a few new pieces that I purchased from the venders there. I enjoyed doing the circular quilting on this piece and feel it is just what the quilt needed to pull all the sections together. The gals at the Diva meeting really liked this work too and had lots of kind word about this work.

I enjoyed working on this one.

…………… ……………………… …………………….. ……………………….. ……………………… ……………………

East Wall – Rock Series
This work got lots of additional machine drawing added this last week. There is so much texture now that I feel it is pulling together a bit better.

I used some of my painted wonder under on the surface to add more color and pattern. There is also a bit of intense quilted pink velvet on the right side of this shot for more texture.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Pumpkin Lichens : I am to the quilting stage on this quilt. It too has some of Randy’s wonderful decomposing screen fabric as it start- The orange with the the dark circles on it. The colors of the trip to southwest really have had a long time effect on me if the work shown here is any indication.

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New Work Here is some more of the curved piecing work I am trying to conquer. I am ready to start the placement of the fused silk paper on this top to add texture and unity to it. There are two pieces sort of pinned in place. I think more will help as well as some of the painted wonder under.

Then the quilting will really pull it all together .

Keep Creating

Carol

Blooming Bacteria, on the Road to Dry Falls, Wind Fall

August 16, 2013 Nature is Lush

August 16, 2013 admin 1 Comment

Hello followers,

I am always amazed by the growth that happens every summer. These beautiful flowers are at the top of some swamp loving plat that is nearly six feet tall. They are annuals and the amount of energy it takes to grow from a small seed to this towering colorful plant just makes me stop in my tracks.

I have had a busy week as the kids are getting ready for a return to school and we all seem to be in a rush to do all summer activities that we have put off thinking there was still time for them in the future . With that though in mind I will tell you that there were be no post next week as I am off for a trip to Ohio next week.

This week included a play day with my friend Cheri. We painted fabric on Wed. Cheri did the two pieces and I did the single one. This is only the first step of many so we will be getting together again. It is always fun to experiment with a fellow artist and we had a good time even though it rained off and on all day.

I am putting most of my efforts into preparation for the “Sticks and Stones” show at the Americana Winery now. It will be hung on Wed next week. I am doing a bit of rework and additional quilting to some of my Grand Canyon works for that show. Images will appear in the next post.

Wind Fall 23" X 42" $245.00 — Wind Fall
23″ X 42″
$245.00

Progress Report: Wind Fall I am very happy with how this quilt turned out. All the twigs that I pick up after the wind storm work well on this curved pieced background. I had a lot of fun doing all the hand stitching as well. The only real problem with this quilt is it must be rolled and not folded as the sticks will break if it is folded.

I like all the color changes that are present in the tan twigs- from very dark brown to a cream color- some times on the same branch.

I machine drew in branches in the dark areas of this work to add bit more interest too.

The Machine drawing came about because I felt that the quilt needed a bit of horizontal action to contrast the strong verticals present in the sticks and most of the other quilting.

Synapse Firing 30" X 47.5" $ 360.00 — Synapse Firing
30″ X 47.5″
$ 360.00

Synapse Firing I am happy with how this quilt came out. I have found that when I am exploring new territory I can only go so far before I need to fall back to familiar ground were I know what to do. Such was the case with this work that I created at QBL. I was playing and working on all the rock/texture stuff and I needed to feel safe again- so I pulled out this fabric that I had purchased from Randy last summer and put this quilt together. I quilted this with silver thread and then added a variegated around the out side of the work .

On the Road to Dry Falls
This is the work I was constructing when I did Synapse Firing. It is highly textured with fabric that is wadded and then pressed in the wadded state before it is sewn to the surface. I also used a satin fabric ( dark brown) that was shinny on one side and matt on the other to add additional texture. I tore strips of fabric and left the raw edges exposed for a further texture. I am enjoying the free motion quilt drawing process to continue the wrought feel of the rock too. At this point I am more concerned with the way the eye does not quite flow across surface as I intended then I am with the texture parts. There is always work to do.

Blooming Bacteria This quilt I started before QBL as I wanted to keep my direction with this idea. I am adding the black button wholes on top by hand now. They really add a wonderful texture to the surface of this piece. It will take a long time to complete it however as the hand work is quite slow. I do think the time and effort it worth it however.

Please remember there will be no post next week.

Keep Creating

Carol

Cre-8

Category Archives: Curvie Cuts

More ways to study ones composition

Visits

Realisations

Flowers April 17, 2014

November 14, 2013 Fall’s Bounty

Thursday October 17, 2013

September 19, 2013 Harvest Moon

September 12, 2013 Fall Rains

Sept 6 , 2013 Back to School

August 16, 2013 Nature is Lush

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer