Category Archives: Diva Meetings

3X3, Childhood Memories, Diva Meetings, Finger Lakes Fiber Artist Group, Hand work, Old and New - Purple and Blue, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

Summer visitor

July 5, 2019 admin

Hello
I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July. We where graced with a visitor in our neighbors yard in the middle of the day. Mother Nature is very abatable.

There were lots of meetings this week. Sat was the Finger Lakes Fiber Artist group meeting. Pat who had taught at The Surface and Design Symposium in Ohio for both week shared this little work by Sherri ( she was behind me in class) that she purchased at the auction. She said it was based on advice about how to get a baby so go to sleep by one of the older gals at the symposium.
The meeting was a good one and folks had a lot to share. Regina had lots to share. The one at the top is her 3X3 piece. We sure had fun with that challenge.

Joyce had a lot to share too. the two at the bottom are her experiments with Potato Dextrose that she did at the spring retreat.

Noel made this top in Pat’s class at The symposium. She had this work quilted by the Diva meeting on Tue along with several others.

Sharon is really stretcher as she works on this commission of 6 quilts using the clothing of a woman who has passed away.

Maureen displayed here banner that is 8 feet tall by 24 ” wide. It hung at the Women’s exhibit in Huston.

Angela had a wonderful contribution. She has finished these three pieces based on her husbands sax keys. The blue one will be at QBL in two weeks.

The Schweinfurt has a wonderful set of shows on recycled work in the main galleries as well.

This artist is working totally with packing materials and labels. I love how he has used a box as he frame.

This artist built all her pieces from materials that she got from the city dump. It is a fascinating show.

The QuEG’s and Diva’s meant too. The QuEGs meeting was small with only 4 of us but we did enjoy our selves.

At Divas Noel shared the pieces she had finished sense Sat..

Anne showed a piece got some advice on one how to improve it. I love the stitching in the leaves here.

Liesa did a nice floral work. Can’t believe she will be 99 on her next Birthday and still creating! It is always stimulating and a good time.

Monday Liz and I did do a dye day. This is her piece and it is very vivid. We had trouble with our color washing out to very light last week so we added fresh dye to the paste and I hope this helps. I am washing out mine today and I will know by this eve.

Progress Report: Diminishing

I ma now quilting on this work. Doing free motion circles is a bit of a challenge and I am having fun.

Shirt I just keep building up the surface of this work. I am enjoying this handwork too.

Rework of Old and New- Purple and Blue

After some careful study I decided that this work needed more quilting so I am doing cant ha stitches around each block. I think I will add some French Knots to each block as well to further the uniting of the three layers.

Childhood- Watermelon Feast

When we lived in Columbus Junction the park was next door. It was a wonderful play ground for us and we used it almost daily. One summer day the JC’s had a Watermelon Feast. I was thrilled and ate 8 slices of watermelon. Three were lots of bees in the park that day attracted to the sweet rines and I was afraid to toss mine into the bin. They few up in a swarm but were not interested in anything but the fruit just as I had not interest in dinner that night.

Keep Creating

Carol

3X3, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Diva Meetings, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Icarus, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Re Work, Scrap Happy Quilts

Spring Studio Schweinfurth 2019

May 9, 2019 admin

Hello.

This last week end was the spring retreat at the Schweinfurth. It is a time when one can work on projects of one’s own choosing and be with other like minded folks. This time I was in the dry studio and worked on lots of projects. Many of my friends were present too. Sharon did some wonderful pillow covers down stairs in the wet studio.

Joyce did some explorations that look a lot like her paintings. As you can see she really loves the apple green color.

Regina worked in the wet studio too and showed me one of her finished indigo/ hand dye painted pieces the first morning before she got to work.

Liz was up stairs and she took advantage of Nancy’s expertise to move forward with machine quilting.

Donna did hand work.

Norma put together a new top made with fabric her grandson brought back from Sweden for her.

Sally worked diligently on this piece and got the top all assembled over the weekend.

I worked away on may projects- but folks were most amused by my “Pig Pen” like approach to building scrap units.

I put in a lot of thought into the old blue squares and decided to cut them down to 6″ squares. The 42 of them will be added to 43 newly embroidered purple squares that will be my new Daily Practice work. Later I will assembled the old ones and then new blocks into a quilt.

It was a great fun weekend and we did get silly as this picture shows- we were excited talking over one another and laughing when the Kindergarten teacher in Liz came out and she put us in line.

There was an extra benefit to being at the Schweinfurth, we got to see the Made in New York show. I really liked this wonderful bit of fiber work that greets one at the opening of the show.

Tues was also meeting day for QuEG’s and Diva’s. For QuEG’s we meant at Dori’s house. Sue Ellen had a great sunset to share with us.

Corrine had more of her wonderful leather works.

Victoria showed off one of her new projects too.

Dori had a beautiful bed quilt that she is doing for her grand daughter. Dori also shared a portion of her Paper Doll collection with us.

It was amazing and brought lots of laughs as well as memories to all of us. A fun meeting.

Diva’s was a lot quieter. Maureen showed off her newest bit of hand work. This photo does not show all the stitch work.

Mary brought back her finished “Painted Ladies”. They are delightful.

Wednesday, the FAB group helped Nancy do a bit of moving by all showing up at her old house and loading up our cars and then driving to the new house and unloading there. I took this shot of the drooping tulip in the garden at the old house. I was taken by the shape. Nancy is leaving beautiful gardens behind- but looking forward to building new ones.

Progress Report: Icarus This work is 35″w X 41.5″ l. I spent a lot of time on this at the retreat. Not only did I add the body parts to the background I added the loin cloth and did more quilting. I added the harness and wing connections on Monday when I got home.

I am quite pleased with it and it is off to be hung at a part of the “ Flight Show “ by Associated Artists in the Maniluas Library for the next 30 days.

Circular Thinking 3 X 3- revisited. The more I looked at this piece the more unhappy I was with it. So over the weekend I took it apart and re assembled it. I am still working on evening up the sides.

Scraps assembly This is the way the strips look when they are sewn together and pressed. I will then cut them horizontally into 2.5″ strips and put the strips into long rows that will later be added to blocks or as boarders for the Scarp Happy quilts I make.

Sketchbook Revival: This class is over now but I am still working doing the lessons that I did not get to. This is what I did in response to Rachel Taylor’s instruction. The whole process has been a good way to stretch a bit.

Daily Practice – Purple squares Here is the first purple square to go with the blue ones I mentioned before.

Fortunately I still had the cut letters that I had created for the first set of squares so I could add the stamping like the first ones.

Childhood Memories- Fishing in Minnesota
My brother, Gene always liked to fish. Me – not so much, but I would go along and read while he did the fishing. One summer our family took a vacation in the 1,000 lakes of Minnesota. For 10 days we did not see or talk to anyone other then the family members. Gene and I spent several days” fishing”. On one of those days we were quietly floating in a nice sunny area when Gene had a strike. He reeled the fish up and out of the water- it was a big one! Then the line snapped and the fish fell back into the water. Gene was upset. But upon looking over the side of the boat he spotted the bright silver lure against the dark green bottom. He quickly tied another lure to his line and carefully dropped it back into the water and hooked the new lure into the first and proceeded to reel everything back in. This time however he quickly pulled the fish over the boat where the line broke for a second time and the fish and two lures landed in the bottom of the boat. He was thrilled. A great fish story. He went on to catch three more fish that afternoon. And guess who got to clean the fish?- Me of course.

Keep Creating
Carol

3X3, Collections, Curvie Cuts, Diva Meetings, Hand work, Linnen Jacket, Mom VI, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

Travels in Florida

April 4, 2019 admin

Hello,

I got home form sunny Florida on Sunday and arrived in a snow storm. The trip was beautiful and exciting. I spent five days with Chris T in Brenton Florida. She is a great hostess and took me to see the Museum of Whimsy. It was a visual overload with so much to look at that I felt a bit overwhelmed. The flying pig is from that museum and a very small portion of what the museum has to offer. Then it was off to the Ringling museum with a different feel altogether. It is divided into three separate museums. The actual circus stuff and the art collection is where we spent most of our time. The dioramas where full of amazing detail, like this one of the big top. I had not considered all the parts that went into running a Circus including, black smiths, adverting men and costume repair folks along with cooks and performers. It was a delight. Chris’s son took us out on his boat into the Gulf to see the sun set one night. it was glorious. Chris took me to the Museum of Southern Florida where I watched a great talk/demonstration on Manatees among many other things. This fellow is set for release back into the wild soon.

I enjoyed the Village of the Arts where her shop is located. It was fun to explore and see wonderful art at every turn. Ihelped in Chris’s gallery two days too.

. We walked the Mangrove grove shore on Sunday morning. There were lots of interesting plant forms there. Chris’s home is on the water and we got to see lots of close up of wonderful shore birds, every morning and evening .

Then we went off to Gulfport and I moved in with Cris W. Susan, Cris and I spent a day at Fort Desoto on the beach and had a good time relaxing, drawing and watching the passing birds. I did collect shells too.

Cris took time to teach Susan, Carolyn, Laura and myself how to do Boiled Books. I was apically happy with how mine came out. This shots shows the plants that created the white on this page.

Susan and I painted fabric and work on projects in her garden several days. We went to exercise class, drawing on Wednesday eve and did the Gulfport editable garden tour. I learned a lot on with that experience.

I even got up twice to see the sun rise over the water. I had a wonderful time. I feel so fortunate to have such nice folks to visit.

This week was the first on the month and there was a QuEG’s meeting on Tues. Angela has been making books. Thirteen last month! This is one of her Secret Belgium binding ones. Corrine shared her Coptic stitch binding books too. I think we are headed for a book play day in the future.

Susan was busy getting ready for The Surface Design Conference with a series of small color based quilts. This one is Green. She also had red, yellow and blue ones in similar fashion. Great fun with letter forms and color I think. Sally made a table runner for the holiday this month.

Liz shared her new mystery block project with us. Lots of color here. She also had her 6X6 entries for the Rochester Art Center ready to ship.

There was also a Diva meeting on Tuesday evening. This is Anne’s work on machine drawing and quilting. I really like the quiet dignity of this work.

Mary shared her women project. They are all to be stretched and will all have portions that hang off the side. There were ten of them. That is a lot of work.

Regina presented her gorgeous snow dyed work! She really can get great colors! Noel brought a crazy quilt she is working on and this rework of one of her older pieces. They are very impressive groups and I find them stimulating.

Progress Report:Icarus I think I’m just about ready to launch into the figure for this work . I keep fiddling with the position of the body parts but feel now I can at least begin the wings this week. That way I can still play with the body if I want.

Collections VI I keep collection and adding things to the surface of this piece. I have lots of stuff of Moms I can use here. No stitching yet, but that will begin soon.

Jacket I have been frozen with this piece for a while so I took it to the meetings on Tue and got some advice. I now have a few ideas on how to go forward. That is one of the best parts of belonging to groups of fellow artists.

3 X 3 A-1 I finished this block while I was in Florida. I will work into it more when it is joined with its sisters and I can see what needs to be built up.

A-2 I moved into this one when I finished the work on A-1. This is my last block and I will soon move into the next phase.

Sea Stars

This work grew out of leftovers from Wave and the SDQA starfish block I did for their auction. I find that my mind sometimes just keep asking “What If?” and away I go on the next project.

The Card project has changed. It grew out of the Florida connection. We meant and decided to change the focus to Childhood Memories. I realized I could not do collage to fulfill this project so I am changing my approach too. I plan to work larger and to do painted fabric and machine drawing to solve the problems presented. Over the core of time it should help my machine drawing skills too.

Keep Creating

Carol

3X3, Diva Meetings, Forest Flock, Label Cards, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Sandpipers

Upcycle

February 7, 2019 admin

Hello,

It seems like this time of year one tends to do a bit of clean out and reevaluation. I found lots of my friends using what they had to make new work this month.

I spent my Saturday last week working as a part of the Bed for Kids project here in town. Sadly there are many children in our community who do not have beds. So this group is working on bedding as a part of the goal to meet this need. I started this quilt and the top is almost complete now. It is made of a project that was passed to me. Many other women worked on creating pillow cases. Girl Scouts and a girls basketball team also showed up and created polar fleece no sew blankets. It was a lively and fun project to be a part of. I also contributed 13 quilts to this worthy project.

Both of the groups that I belong to meant on Tues. At QuEG’s , Sue Ellen showed up this top that she created as she tries to work down her stash. Dori is doing hand work on this witches hat to use up some of her trims. Victoria is also using up available materials. She is cutting up all her angora sweaters that have small wholes and making a throw with them. Susan is going through her scrap bag and building units with raw edge applique and embroidery. She has also set the limit of using red and turquoise as her main colors for this pursute. I think limiting like that can make one be very creative with other tools. Liz continues to happily quilt away on her school days piece. And Sally is making cards with one of her new sewing machine patterns. She is also experimenting with water soluble colored pencils that she had on hand. I like the directions she is exploring.

At Diva’s, Alice shared her new series. She is experimenting with India ink painting on fabric. To good effect I would say. Regina in her wonderful way completed this indigo piece this month. She really challenges herself I think. Both meetings were full of inspiring talk and interesting works. I came home all fired up again.

Progress Report: Forest Flock This quilt is 39” w X 35”l. I have been enjoying doing the thread painting of birds for a while and this time I tried doing them for a quilt. It is a bit different type of approach for me but I like to mix my techniques. The more I play with this process the more I seem to enjoy it. I keep learning little things with each attempt too. With these birds, I explored not only using the the two layers of wash away but a layer of nylon netting in the middle. I had noticed that the shapes I had created before could easily be distorted in the pinning and drying stage. The nylon net seemed to make the work more solid and helps to avoid that distortion problem. Now there may be a time when that is undesirable desirable but now the nylon netting really helps maintain the shapes that I am building.

Sandpipers The birds are attached to the shore now and I am doing some intense looking as I am not really happy with the appearance of this composition. It seems to need something in addition. I will study it over the course of the next few weeks and hope that I can find a solution that I am happy with.

3X3 This is blao B-3. The third block in row b. I finished it for the most part and placed block C-3 next to it so I could make connections. Pressing and a little more work should do the trick. The I went ahead and worked on block C-3.I have been putting in about an hour every day on this project.

Label Cards: Tied Up This week I realized how I get myself in worry knots about nonsense. Being away from the studio and such helped me get a better perspective. I hope I can continue to recognize the unimportant things and let them go.

Color Wonder In this gray time of year I am always surprised by a sudden splash of color. I could not get the pink nose of my a friends dog’s nose out of my mind so I made this card to remind myself to look with care at the world around me.

Collage Based Work, Creative Assistants, Diva Meetings, Felt Work, Label Cards, Pods, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Two Chickadees

English

December 7, 2018 admin

Hello,

This is a bit different way to begin my post, but it is where I am so here goes. I did this card in response to the weekly card challenge and I was struck by how what a big part of the English language is mixed with body terms. When we usually hear someone say ” Body Language” we are talking about how our physical body can send signals of thought or actions, but there is another side too. We often use body terms to describe the world as well. One can use the face to raise and eyebrow, eye the competition, look through shuttered lids, roll the eye, give a fellow the evil eye or have looks that could kill. One can put their nose to the grindstone, or use a sharp wit, be a loud mouth, have a sharp thong , voice an anger, or say or do something that is jaw dropping. One can shrug things off, or carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. One uses the gray matter, or brain power, can have a pea brain, be scattered brained or hair brained. A person can laugh things off, but heads with a fellow , be tickled in the funny bone , nod off or have a stiff spine, stiff upper lip and some times get kicked in the seat of the pants. A person can get side swiped, man handled , and piss his fellows off. Or you can give your right arm, put you toe in, split a hair, have spring in your step or a belly laugh, get hip checked, or even hop to work. My mind is reeling with the whole idea. It is a pleasant activity to think on and I am sure you will come up with things I forgot.

The first Tues of the month was this week so I had my meetings with QuEGs and Divas. Corrine shared her leather work. Dori showed us her new raw edged applique quilt. Shabby sheek is my style she told us.

Angela has been busy too. This project from childhood made us all smile.

She is doing hand work on her deconstructed piece from two summers ago. I like the colors she used. Then I went off to Divas.

This is Regina’s newest thing. She does love that Indigo- even her shirt is dyed.

I also meant with my friend Tanya this week. She makes silk scarves to sell and this is just one of her new beauties. She had about six that were natural elements works too. All were beautiful.

Progress Report: Southern Crows This work is 45”w X 56” l. I did the stenciling with Susan in March. I finally put it together and did the quilting.I did reflective quilting around the birds and leaves and then did parallel quilting on the rest of the work.

Two Chickadees This work is 12”X 12” square. I did the birds on wash away with machine drawing. Then I added them to the surface with machine stitching. I am enjoying exploring this technique and have learned a lot about bird plumage in the process.

Creative Assistants I continue to build faces with found objects and make up these little guys. It is fun for me.

Cockle Burs All the cockle bur( Noogoora) heads are all done now and they have padding behind them. I am ready to build the branch to cross the surface and begin adding the burs now.

Felting: I’ve spent a lot of time using the felting machine this week. Built several backgrounds with little direction of where I want to go with them. This is one is an example of this. I believe I can find more birds that I would like to explore and this with work may be the answer. These Dickcissels for example. They are ready to be washed out now.

I built this felted piece with a Blue Jay in mind. I have only just started with the machine drawing here.

Sisterhood Challenge: Totem Fox I have cut out the pieces and they are required to the background fabric. ( a Judy Roberts piece) I am ready to zig-zag around all the parts at this point.

Sisterhood Challenge: Nine Patch This challenge has proved to be a difficult one for me. But after several weeks to struggling I have devised a way to go forward, The challenge is to make nine units that go together and are independently created. This collage of Mentos will be my soft guide for how to build my units. The block are all 18” square in my case, and they all must have back and white somewhere in the square. I have cut by bases ( the blue)and decided to use this black and white print as my unifying unit. I also pulled two other pieces of fabric that I want to use on more than one square. It’s a good challenge for me as I am in uncharted ground as far as I am concerned. A good stretch and that is what challenges are suppose to do.

Card Closed MindsIt is good to be reminded to keep the mind open – no matter where one is.

Keep Creating

Carol

Cedar Wax Wings, Daily Practice, Diva Meetings, Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Re Work

Busy Week

November 8, 2018 admin

Hello,

This week was full of fiber art meetings. Saturday was the FLFA meeting at the Schweinfurth.

Pat shared her latest work with us at the Finger Lakes Fiber Artist meeting on Sat. She hand dyed all the fabric in this work. There where lots of folks present as we had to cancel the Sept meeting. These works are by Joyce. She really puts a lot of motion in her work.

Marcia shared this dynamic piece with us. She creates movement in a different way.

Bev is working in a much quieter pallet than Pat and Marcia. I like the irregular bottom edge too.

Sharon had a whole pile of little works that she is going to sell at the 12X12 show at the Broad Street Gallery in Hamilton. This one was my favorite.

Angela is still exploring with Polynesian tapa cloth symbols. She made the screens and printed all of these by hand. Julia is exploring in a new direction too. I really like the text like shapes she is using. Liz went off to the Barn and took a class with Clair Bends and this is just one of the dye pieces that she created. He is fun.

The QuEG’s also meant this week. Liz shared these three pieces again from Clair’s class.

Corinne had been to the Red Thread workshop and shared this wonderful book that she made. It is full of different types of experimenting that they did. This photo shows work with a copper plate and a Gellie plate print.

Sue Ellen made a top using a cool Cat Pannell that she had purchased. She is planning on giving it to the service project at Tow Path. I think that is very kind of her.

After four I went south with Noel to go to the Diva meeting. Cindy shared this beautiful work with us.

This quilt will be a part of the Diva show Earth Song, at the Unitarian Church in Ithaca from Nov 30 to Jan 10.

It has been a full week and I am excited about moving forward.

Progress Report: Cedar Wax Wings This work is 12” X 12”. It is my entry for the Off the Wall Show/Sale for Associated Artist in the Manlius Library. It opens on Sunday. I am so enjoying doing thread painting that I can add on top of the felt.

Black Capped Chickadee n the same vain as the Cedar Wax Wings, I am doing a Chickadee.I built this background in felt. I drew my birds and I have just started to do the free motion work here.

Consider This is a rework of an old quilt that I cut up and used as a base for some hand work.

Noogoora I am doing the hand work on my seed heads now. The white side shows the my out lines that I am attempting to stay within with my stitches.

Experiments: I try to use the books and magazines I have on my shelves and this little experiment grew out of one of them. I had tried tacking yarn down on top of felt like suggested earlier. This process is done under wash away and is suggested in …………..msdmf I moved on. I have a great photo close up of a butterfly wing showing all the little “scales” of color. I wanted to try adding bits of color – fabric or yarn in little pieces to get this type of effect. I thought that if I scattered the bits on felt- then might stick enough to remain on the surface until I could stitch them down. That did not work. But adding a bit of nylon netting over the top did. Now I want to try that idea on a bigger scale. In the book Layers of Stitch by by Valerie Campbell-Harding and Maggie Gray in chapter 6 Cutting out the Patch talk about stitching on felt and cutting it away. My mind jumped to the wash away and I built my net using that instead. ( I never could follow directions) Not sure where any of these ideas will go, but I really am not to worried about that part.

Rework- new I decided I would take a second look at the old rock pieces. I did them just for myself and some are a lot stronger than others. I was talking with Liz about this and she suggested that I build a new ice piece over the rock surface. I like that idea and I will try that as well. I cut this piece so a near square piece so I can stretch it when I am done. When I was on my walk I noticed how the leaves were floating in little pools and I thought I could do that on the rocks too. This is my first attempt. I picked up some oak and Gingko leaves on that walk and I made stencils out of my tracings of the leaves. I will add paint to some fabric using the stencils and add them on top of the rock.

Daily Practice I just keep stitching away on this piece. It is very calming work.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily Practice, Diva Meetings, Fashion, Scrap Happy Quilts, Sing your songs

Back to school

September 6, 2018 admin

Hello-

It’s September and the kids are back in the classrooms across this country. New pencils, rulers, and notebooks now find their way into many households. I even purchased a new box of crayons for my self- My nod to the beginning of school and the beginning of fall for many of us.

It was also the fist Tues of the month this week and I had my regular meetings. At the QuEGs meeting Lynn shared her new stash of fabrics that she had purchased on her trip to Alaska. Linda shared her piece from her QBL class with Jane Sassman . Wonderful colors here. Dory shared her new wall quilt. I like her applique work with the birds and berries.

Then I went off to Susan’s and enjoyed her work with the garden and banners. She is doing fun stuff with transparency. Together we went to the Diva meeting. Lots of great work going on here too. Maureen shared her banner of Shobori for the Huston show. It is two feet wide and 24 feet long so this shot is only a small portions of the piece. Regina is working away on this piece of machine work by adding beads. It is for the Rhapsody in Blue show. What a challenge. This is layer two of Lori’s newest Fireweed piece. I know she is just started with her many layers of work. I recalled that there was a fall call for 10”X 10” work so I finished up this piece. When I finished up I could not find the source for my memory. So I emailed the gal in charge only to learn that it is an alternating yearly event. I am prepared for next year. This one is done and here is a second start. I always was one who liked to have the work done well in advance.

Progress Report: Birch Trees This quilt is a rework and it is 14”w X 18” l. The landscape was all that was on this work before I reworked it. I added the canopy and the birch trees this week . It helps the work a lot I think. I really learned that I need to slow down and just let some work rest on the shelf for a while before I rush to finish.

Daily Practice IV This piece is 18”w X 24”l. It has taken a little over 7 weeks to complete. With this work I limited myself to only three stitches – two variation’s on the Fly Stitch and the Chain Stitch. The brass add on’s are from my friend Carol and they are from her grandfather’s collection.

Daily Practice V This is the new base for my next work. I plan to add a few more circles before I begin the hand stitching on this project.

Forest Fire This is the next piece in my elements series. I was tickled by the idea that I burnt the fabric edges of the front trees in my effort to get the edge I wanted. I feel I am ready to begin a bigger Fire work now.

Collection 3- So True This work is 16” w X 20” l. It is my adaptation of the technique suggested in the August/September issue of Quilting Arts by Libby Williamson, titled Sip then Stitch. She suggested the use of tea bags mounted on felt for bases for machine work. I used pattern tissue instead. I can not follow directions without changing them to suit myself. I really liked her use of zippers as” add on’s” and I did apply that idea. I also liked the idea of stitching down all the little bits and part of things around the studio to make something bigger and more interesting. Our lives are made of lots of little bits and pieces so the work sort of represents that as well.

Collection IV- Friends I continue to look at all the little parts and things in my studio and built a base for more stitching. The title comes from the fact that there are already three little elements that friends have given to me on this surface at this point. I look at the purple applique at the top and think immediately of my friend Tanya. The same can be said for several other little elements.

JIG This work in in the washer at the moment. I want it to fray out the edges of the words and I followed Sharon’s technique to do that. It will be clean and pressed next week.

Scarp Happy I started another in my ongoing works made from scarps. Again I am pulling fabric from a box of material from my friend Ethel. This is the forth bed sized quilt from this box. I have six of these panel pieces done that I will eventually cut into small units. I think it will take over 25 panels to do the quilt so I am just at the beginning of a long process.

Label Cards- Sing your Song When I was working on my cards this week I was aware that each of us is unique and we need to all celebrate that uniqueness. Sing one’s own song is an important part of that.

Fashion As our culture grows and changes so too do our ideas of what is fashionable. I an glad I did not live in a time when ones undergarments included this much confinement.

Keep Creating

Carol

Civilation, Diva Meetings, JIG, Label Cards, Memory Map Quilts, Mulberry Memories, Nature, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Word Forms

Busy Summer Time

August 9, 2018 admin

Hello,
We are enjoying summer, with lots of rain. I can’t grow Black-eyed Susans, there are from my neighbors yard, but I can grow fairy rings (

They only last a day though. There were so many things going on this week I did not do much work. I just seemed to collect ideas and memories to use later an reflect on all the experiences that I have been going through. One needs to take stock every now and then.

I went with Liz to Percilla’s sale last Friday. We both purchased jackets. It was fun and we are both delighted to have our one of a kind works to wear this fall.

On Saturday I went to the Northeast Felt Makers Association as Angela’s guest. We took a workshop on making small felted cards. Angelas’s cards. I have not done any wet felting in a while and I had forgotten how much the roving can move and change with the felting process. I did two small cards. Now we both need to add needle felting for detail and some embroidery to further that process. It was fun and I have joined the group and hope this helps

Tue was meeting day for me. I went to the QuEG’s meeting in the morning. We did not meet in July so folks had lots to share. Sally has been working on this beautiful blue and white piece. She is a master of machine embroidery.

Sue Ellen went to QBL but she was not a t all happy with her piece so I did not take a photo. She did have this delightful little work to share with us though.

Liz showed the piece she did in Rosalie’s class on Matisse. It sure captures his love of color and simplicity of shape.

Angela had been printing on fabric with dye. She is staying true to her tapa cloth symbols although the colors are her own. I love what she is doing.

I went to Susan’s for the afternoon and we did some plant printing. I had fun and I am sure some great stuff will grow from this bit of raw material building along with my other stuff.

The Diva meeting was stimulating as usual. Noel showed us her entry for Quilts = Art =Quilts and her latest Collaged Lady.
Susan shared her shelf garden pieces that she has been painting. They are so soft and light like the real flowers.
Donna had great works in progress for her solo show in Oct , but I did not take nay good photos of that work. It was a good meeting as usual and I went home inspired.

Progress Report: Yak This is a project from my class with Jeannette Newberryi from QBL. It is 13″w X 15.5″ t. I really like the effects and will transfer the ideas to my own work in the future.

Jig This work goes forward. I still want to cut out about six more copies of the word and place them on the surface. I think I will raw edge applique them down as I like this material that Jennet gave me frays.

Mulberry Memories I mostly work on the trees and grass on this work this week. I am ready to paint and add more imagery to the surface now too.

Cards: Nature I believe this quote because I know I can always take a short walk our of doors to put things back in perspective for myself. It really works.

Culture

We stand on the shoulders of past cultures and for the most part we are totally unaware of their impact on us.

Keep Creating

Carol

PS- I am still working on getting last weeks post so it can be viewed. Thanks for your patients.

Carrol Iowa, Dad's Barn, Daily Practice, Diva Meetings, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), IV, Modern, Perception, Persuasion, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Ravens, Self Knowledge, Word Forms

Taking stock

June 8, 2018 admin

Hello,

We are beginning to enjoy the wonders of summer. These poppies are in Susan’s garden and look wonderful. This was the first full week of June and I had three meetings. QuEG’s meant on Tuesday morning. It was a small group but folks had lots to share.Linda C is working on a baby quilt for her niece. Elephants are the nursery theme. Liz is working on her transparency piece and it is looking good. Sue Ellen is playing with her collection on non cotton fabrics. And there is a row by row project in the works too.

I went from the meeting to Moravia and spent a wonderful afternoon working with Susan. We then went off to the Diva meeting where more things were cooking. Donna has a new batch of mirrors that she has completed. She sure knows how to use Fimo effectively. Lori is creating portraits with her needle now. Noel is doing portraits too- but with quilt a different bent. Her fabric faces are stretch and very whimsical.

Yesterday I went off to the FAB meeting. Judy and Patti are knitting like crazy and Sharon has finished her Relative quilt now.

Because of all these meetings I spent a lot of time in the car alone. This plus sorting through work looking for a specific piece brought up some issues. Susan wisely said of reworking pieces one is “playing with your younger self.” What a grand way to look at the process of redoing works that do not quite make the grade. Time away from work allows one to look with new eyes at the pieces and I often see things I wish I had done differently. I can spot the problems in some cases too. In my sorting and musing I have decided I will return to some works in the hope of making them stronger.

Progress Report: Perception Daily This work is 30” w X 46” l. It is a part of the text series . One of the challenges that Liz and I made for our selves this year was to use some of the fabric that we hand dyed. All the material except the dark turquoise fabric in the background is something that I altered. I did reflective quilting around all the words after I had raw edge appliqued down the words.

Daily Practice I I finally stretched all the finished Daily Practice work this week. This piece is 18″ w X 24″ l. The base of this one is a piece of fabric that was a wipe up cloth at one of my print sessions last summer. The lace is from grandmothers collection and I hand dyed it last summer as well.

Daily Practice II This piece is 16″ w X 18″ l. The base for this work is several trimmed tans that looked good together. This piece has lots of buttons on it for textural contrast.

Daily Practice III This work is 18″ w X 24″ l. The purple background is a commercial fabric and all the other material added on top is some I have altered. They are also scraps left over from other projects. I have always been fascinated by negative space and in using those negatives this way they become positive spaces. Stitches and pompoms are the textural elements of this piece.

Daily Practice IV

The orange part base of the background isone of the shibori projects Liz and I tried last summer. The metal flowers are from Carol.

Rocky Shore I worked forward on Water – the class assignments this week. The hand painted sky and water have been stitched down and the three different types of foam have also been applied. One foam is made from Angelina, a second is florist plastic that was painted with opalescent paint and the third was a textured plastic ribbon that I ironed. I will move on to the next element next week and finish all the elements at the end of the class.

Mulberry Memories This work has become a problem for me. I tried to put too much into the top for the size of the piece. It has become impossible for the viewer to “read”. Therefore I have decided to scarp this particular work and start again using the same ideas plus a few others and create two or perhaps a three units to represent this time and geography of my life. We lived in this location for 5 years and there are lots of memories.

Ravens I thought that this work was finished last week and I presented it as such. But a second study this week as convinced me that it needs more quilting. The gals at QuEGs pushed this idea too. So I am taking the time to make these additions.

Persuasion I have been busy doing pebble quilting on this text piece. I am ready to start reflective quilting on it now.

Dad’s Barn I came across the orange and yellow base in one of my boxes from Ethel. I pinned it to the pin wall and it hung there for several weeks. In thumbing through a sketchbook I came across of the old barn on Dad’s Farm and though I would like to do a work about that. The two came together. I also wanted to do some more thread painting so I drew our some swallows on wash away and started them. After the backs were done I added the chest and beaks. I have learned that I do not need to do the legs as they are so slender that they do not hold up well after washing and they seldom are in the position I want so I add them when I put the work together. The birds are washed and dried and ready for mounting on the image. I need to decide how I am going to add one of them to the work now.

New Work I am trying to pay attention to shape and contrast with this work. It is made up of mostly the cut-away’s of several older pieces. Again my love of the negative spaces.

Label Cards Modern I became weary of the word Modern when I was about 10. I was helping Mom and Aunt Marci clean grandfather’s cabin. We were taking The books off the shelf sorting and dusting them. I came a pone one called “ Modern Science” and I flipped it open. It revealed a drawing of all of the parts of atom with the Neutrons, Protons and Electrons labeled. Knowing there were more I decided to always be wary of things labeled as “Modern”.

Self Knowledge One develops an understanding that they are unique entities separate from others at a young age. But the real development of self acceptance takes years and for some never occurs.

Keep Crating Friends

Carol

Asters, Black-capped Chickadee, Collections, Diva Meetings, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), NEW, Odyssey, Raw Edge Applique, Riotous Romp

Spring Has Come

May 3, 2018 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

Spring has come to central New York with a burst of color and warmth. This Bloodroot blossomed this week after several cold days when I could see the buds tightly furled. It is wonderful. I am rally enjoying my walks now. May day was the first Tuesday of the month and I had meetings. The QuEG’s meant and we had a good talk. Liz showed off her sketchbook where she had altered some of the pages that she printed at Regina’s last week. Linda wowed us with her wonderful jewelry. It is good to have her back in central NY.

Then I went off to the Diva meeting . Again I got lots of stimulation. Lliese did this work during the gray days of April. Tulips are always cheerful. It is painted silk. Noel is making baby quilts as her brood expands. This one is created from Liberty of London fabrics. Anne is also dealing with the transition from winter to spring with this work. The weather sure effects lots of us. Cheri continues to develop her stencil/layers of painting style. I like what she is doing and know she is challenging herself. She is also exploring uses of the wash away from our fall class. The Lavender in the center of this work is machine thread drawing.

Alice has this opening this week. I will not make it to the opening, but I will pay a visit some time this summer.

This is also a work by Alice. She does great work with crows as so many of us do who live here in central NY where they are abundant. Lori, Christen and Ruth all took a workshop on the use of fusibles and did some wonderful flower work. Lori is working on her embroidery on a woven background too.

Maureen showed off more of the work she did at the spring retreat.

She created this resist with a potato masher.

Sharon also shared some of her work with us. It was a lively meeting with lots wonderful ideas.

Yesterday was a FAB meeting and sense we had not gotten together sense March we had a lot to share too. This is a new piece by Judy and she is hand quilting it now. She also finished her the topthat she started at camp last fall. We too had a lively conversation. Judy was given a top that she passed on to Sharon who fell in love with it. I am so fortunate to have so many great folks to support me.

Progress Report: Asters This work is 33” w X 33.5”l. It is all raw edge appliqued down. The center’s of the flowers are hand appliqued circles. Some of the leaves are hand painted fabrics. The vein’s of the leaves are all stitched down with two threads in the same needle on the sewing machine.

Collection This work is 17”w X 27”l. One of the little challenges that I put up for myself this year was to create a work that is based on a article from Quilting Arts. This is one from last month. I had a good time layering up the stacks of fabric and objects to create this work.

Black-capped Chickadee This work is 12” X 12” and stretched. I am working on backgrounds for the other birds too.

NEW This is a new exploration using text as my starting point. The word is “NEW” and far too visible and poor in composition for this to be the final lay out – but it is a start.

Riotous Romp This is also a text based start. The word is New- done in a cursive curvy style. ( check last week for the shape) I have zig-zag appliqued down the letters and I have started to reflective quilt the central part of this work. It has a curvy cut background.

New I built this background this week too. Again I have no direction as to what I want to do with this surface. I thought I could use the cut-ways from Riotous Romp as a start- but that idea was awful…..

Blue scarf I made another scarf from silk paper and yarns that I had in my stash. I love the textures

Card: Odyssey I am still making little cards and enjoying the collaging process. The moon is in constant change and watching the constant change of mankind’s history unfold too.

Keep Creating

Carol

Cre-8

Category Archives: Diva Meetings

Summer visitor

Spring Studio Schweinfurth 2019

Travels in Florida

Upcycle

English

Busy Week

Back to school

Busy Summer Time

Taking stock

Spring Has Come

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer