Category Archives: Felt Work

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

Solicits

December 24, 2015 admin

Hello,

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

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

Progress Report: Buffalo Bluffs

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

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

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

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

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

Label Block 32 I just do the work.

Enjoy the wonders of the season. Hugs

Carol

Circuits, Felt Work, Hand work, Nail Castings, Pebble Pile, Spring Song

Happy Chinese New Year of the Goat/ Ram

February 18, 2015 admin

Hello,

Here in upstate New York we are deep in snow. The gate is 24″ off the ground and you can hardly see the top of it in this shot.

Today is the first day of the new year of the Goat/Ram if you celebrate the Chinese system. Lots of fire crackers, dragon dancing and paper money will be part of the goings on in many places today. The Goat is the fifth in the symbol system. Folks who are 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 and 72 this year are also part of the goat clan. Goat people are said to be calm, gentle, creative , honest, thoughtful, persevering and frank. This sounds like a good group to me.

I spent one day this week visiting with my friend Cheri. We took a little time to visit the Art Center where her piece had won a first place in the art show that is up there now. She also did somework with stenciled pieces she did last summer. I spent my morning doing collage work and came out with about four pieces that I think I am finished with.

I spent a lot of time in the studio this week too. It has been so snowy and cold it is hard to feel like moving around too much.

Progress Report:Spring Song I started this work last week. I feel like the free motion work adds more definition to the piece. I like how the finished work looks. I think I will not build my next piece on wool felt as the felting process stretches the felt too much and I can not get this to be as flat as I want it to be. I will work on woven wool or cotton next time. I am sure I learn lots of stuff from my mistakes.

Pebble Pile I was finished with this work from last week too. It is done now.

I like how the three dimensional felted units work with the flat ones. Both projects in felting were a good growing experiences for me. I will try it again sooner next time.

Nail Castings I am only showing a detail of this work this week. There are so very many hand stitches I do not know ! But I sure like trying new ones. How the stitches interact with one another is also enjoyable. Line patters are a part of my self challenge for this year and this project is filling that bill.

Circuits I am now now done with the machine quilting on this piece and I am adding the boarders. I am sure I will complete it in a day or two as I only need to do the facings and the sleeve now.

Return I think I know were want to go with this work now. I am going to build some ruins on top of the background that I started a few weeks ago. It will come together this week I hope.

New work I started a new piece yesterday in the collage style that the rocks were constructed alone. This time I stared with the multi/red fabric that is in the center. It is only in the pin up stage now and will change a lot before I begin to sew. I just wanted to try not basing a project on any special images this time. It is a different kind of challenge for me. I am trying our one more new thing. This time I am building the project on canvas instead of buckram. I will keep folks posted as to the success or failure of this.

Keep Creating

Carol

Circuits, Hand work, Pebble Pile, Rustic Rambles I, Rustic Rambles II, Spring Song, Stretch Works

Valentines Day

February 12, 2015 admin 2 Comments

Hello,

I have finished and sent my Valentines Day Cards. The making is the best part of the whole event from my point of view. It is always a fun excuse to get out the paper and play with it. I do not care if I get any response from doing these- the joy of making is all I really want anyway.

This week has been a full one for me as they all seem to be.I went to visit my friend Ethel and we spent a fine day playing with felting. I do enjoy the process and do not take time to do that very often. I started out making a background for the pebble like felted units that I made on the play day at the Blue Moon in the fall. Ethel suggested that I slice the units in half to add to the surface. I really like that idea and would not have even thought of doing that without my play time with her. Another point of view is always a good thing. After lunch I tried a whole new picture like image in felt. What fun. I ran out of energy and time before I completed it, but I am sure I will finish the bird and flowers later.

Ethel created this wonderful felted bag. I love the soft colors and the button she found is just perfect for its job here. It was a fun and productive day. We have set a date to do something similar next month.

Progress Report: Rustic Rampaging I & II I wanted to enter a art completion were all the work had to be mounted and framed so I did a set of pieces that would fit into that format. I thought why not try stretching my work on a frame like one does canvas for a painting. The first piece show here is Rustic Rampaging II – and it is not stretched. It is ready for that step as I did the two works at the same time, but I did not have a canvas so I could not do that step until I went out and got the materials. This is Rustic Rampaging I. The process is is all experimenting so I am learning things. For example -the next time I will make the piece just a bit bigger as I like how the side were I could rap the project all the way around to the back much better then were I just had to attached it to the side.

Circuits I am finally finished with the hand stitching on this project. It was enjoyable,, but a slow process. Now I need to add it to the quilt top. That portion will be a piecing project for this week.

Paint Play When Cris Winter came to visit a few weeks ago she gave me a little gift that was work on canvas and I really liked the look. So I did a little playing in a similar style this week. It too will get stretched around a frame when I am done with some hand work on the surface.

Old work Revisited I finally looked again at this work I had started last spring. This time I saw a way to go forward with it. The red on the side is added and now I will work on the embellishment to pull the work together. Sometimes one has to just set work aside for a while and look at it again later with fresh eyes.

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

Agate, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Felt Work, Foundations Series, Foundations XXIII Water Marked Sandstone, Memory Map Quilts, Spill, Yellowstone

Quality

October 23, 2014 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

Leaves continue to be a big part of my daily dose of nature. But I want to talk about a Jewish Proverb I came across in my reading this week. “The Quality of life is fuelled by our productive wealth.” That idea has been on my mind while I have been walking for the last two days. To begin with I really think that my life is a rich and wealthy one, but I think even though I am productive that is not the only thing that adds meaning and value to my life. Quality is strongly related to context. One can have “Quality Time” and for me that can mean just

time spent listening and interacting with a friend or child. A big part of that quality comes with the focus of that time- no distractions or concerns for other things. When I was making the halloween costume for my grandson- (some video game character that I do not know anything about)- that” one on one time ” with him telling me exactly what he wanted and helping with the sewing machine work was real quality time. I spent quality time talking with Nancy on Wed at the FAB meeting when there were only the two us and we got to telling stories about our youth to one another. That shows a quality of trust too. (She is making progress on her quilt and the sky with the clouds she made in silk paper on that sky is great. ) Then there is also quality friendships like the one I share with Nancy and a few others. There is a degree of necessary quality in all our lives for things like shelter, food, good quality air and water- without those assuredness none of the other quality things can come about. We need those quality ingredients to be healthy and to fully appreciate the degrees of wealthy excellence our lives hold.

Agate 23" X 36" $300.00 — Agate
23″ X 36″
$300.00

Progress Report:Agate I finished this work this week. It has been created from a big piece of silk paper that I made with Ethel a few weeks ago. The most difficult part of this project was deciding what side of the silk paper to use- they were both so lovely. I had a good time attaching the silk paper to the quilt with many hand stitches. This project was created with silk hankies that were hand dyed before I put the paper together. I might not have selected these colors to use together on my own, but I sure like them and will try to add this type of mix to my own way of thinking.

Spill This quilt is coming along nicely now. I love all the textures on the surface of this work. This shot shows silk paper- two types the sheet form (on the far left) and the flow form(the green blue at the top) , the iron melted mylar( the turquoise ) and iron melted plastic bag( the apple green). The whole thing has been fun for me.

Watermarked Sandstone I am still doing machine drawing on this work but I can see the end is in sight. Again I am playing with texture- my favorite thing. There are “nodes of iron ore” in the image and so I have created some solid rust colored circles to add to the surface of the piece. Before I can stitch them down I need to add rust colored paint to the surface to show how the water wears away the iron too and in so doing it stains the surrounding stone.

Yellowstone Memory Map I so enjoyed creating the Sandstone Church project that I thought I would do a second memory map type quilt from my childhood. When I was seven, my Dad was a summer ranger in Yellowstone National Park at South Gate. I have wonderful memories of that summer and want to try to put them into this new project. This is layer one and it too is ready for a paint layer to soften and unify some of these parts.

I hope you too are enjoying the fall color and creating fun works.

Hugs

Carol

Agate, Alpine Lake, Felt Work, Foundations Series, Foundations XXI Whipshock Hill, Foundations XXIII Water Marked Sandstone, Landscapes

Eliminiated

October 17, 2014 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

I want to talk about being eliminated from a judged show. I have entered three this fall and of the five quilts I entered and paid fees for, none was accepted for the shows. One never knows the” why “of such rejections. Even having been a” holder” for Scholastic art compactions and being in the same room as the Judges- I sometimes could not understand that “Why” question. Judges are people with tastes and biases of their own. One time I did hear one judge say” I never accept any art with a skelton in it.” Sense I as a teacher, had used a skelton from the science room as part of a still life with my own students, I felt that sure was an unfair feeling for a judge to carry. But they are people – not gods even though they are given lots of power. Perhaps the work did not go with the others selected. Or maybe the judge did not like the design or color combinations. The artist never knows those things. My Father often said” It’s not so much what happens to you, as what you THINK about what happens to you that makes the difference.” With that in mind, the whole experience becomes one of choice. I could be angry , hurt and sad by these developments, but I choose not be be. I still feel my work is good and I am proud of what I do. I

enjoy the process and that is the important part for me. It would be nice to have someone- a judge confirm my feelings- but that is not the case at this time. Lastly, I am the one who chooses to enter the competitions. I will let time heal over the feelings and try another competition that may fit what I do a little better next time.

I spent a couple of days working with Nancy on her sky again. She is becoming quite a good painter with a sponge. She built up more clouds and the work has some real depth now. I think that we are done with this step and the quilting will add even more demention to the final. I am so proud of all the chances she takes with her work.

Asurite Foundations XX 34" X 44" $1100.00 — Asurite Foundations XX
34″ X 44″
$1100.00

Progress Report: Asurite Foundation XX This quilt was finished in June, but I have not posted it because it was an entry for one of the shows I mentioned above . One of the limitations on entry to this show was that the work was not to be shown publicly before . This quilt was lots of fun to work on and I am quite happy with it even all these mouths later. I added lots of metallic fabric in this work as well as many silks and satins.

I used some fancy yarns and threads in this work as well. I find that when I pickup the actual rock that I used as inspiration- I see more possibilities for additional pieces . Only time will tell.

Whipshock Hill

Foundations XXI This is a second quilt that was part of the same entry mentioned above. I finished this work in June. It is based on a cut in the road along Route 279 nine miles west of bennington Vermont BO16-Whishock-cl3 . In actually it is about 500 yards long and a very humbling sight. I added lots of yarns and ribbons to the surface of the quilt as there were lots of little fractures and lines of thin deposited color changes in this rock face. There is also some silk paper in this work.

Alpine Lake

This is a new technique that I am developing that is a very college like approach to quilting. I am continuing to think more in the way of color for the solutions then the type of fabric I am using. I even used an old bit of a paper quilt that was the correct color and texture for the water in this work. I used some double knit on this one as well as silk, silk paper, organza and cotton fabrics. I even did a little free motion zig zag work to add more texture to the tree. I need more practice to get that under control.

Agate I am still adding hand work to this felted work to add texture to the surface. I may have given up doing Daily’s , but I still am doing lots of hand work.

WaterMarked Sandstone I started this new Foundations Piece earlier this week. This one is loosely based on an old black and white photographic of sandstone that has watermarke erosion on it. I know the typical colors of sandstone so I am trying to stay in that limited range with this first step. I really love the texture and I am having fun planning ways to show it in this work.

New work This is a pure play piece. I am not at all sure what I am doing and have no clear idea where I am going with this. The scarps had just been in the bottom of one of my baskets and I thought they looked good together…… Quilting, crumpling and following the directions of the work may or may not help this. But I am willing to give it a bit of time and freedom to see what happens. Giving myself permission to mess up is very freeing!

I like to hear feedback, post a comment.

Keep your eyes open to the wonders of the season.

Carol

Anastasie Ruin, Bacterial Bloom, Blooming Bacteria, Curvie Cuts, Egyptian Quilts, Eric's Thoth, Felt Work, Green Nebula, Landscapes, Sunny Crannies

July 11, 2013 Summer Days

July 11, 2013 admin

Hello,

I feel we have reached the slow days of summer when Mother Nature really does her magic. I have noticed on my walks changes especially in the trees. Hickories, pines and oaks all have immature versions of the seeds to come in fall. Because of all of the rain we have experienced here, I think the apples will be really big this year because the green ones on the trees now are already bigger then gulf balls. Nature provides me with a visual feast each day.

I am getting ready to attend the Quilting By the Lake conference. I so look forward to seeing my friends and to getting stimulated by lots of new ideas and thoughts about the art of quilting. In preparation for that work I had to do a bit of sorting. One thing lead to another and I ended up pulling all the fabric out of the closet and refolding and stacking it. This shot shows the job as it neared completion. As you can see I have lots of fabric. This activity not only cleaned up the shelves, and sorted out the material that I need for my projects, but it also made me realize I do not need to purchase anything new. I hope I can stay to that resolution over the next two weeks while I am there and tempted by the fabrics of the venders. I am doing two weeks of Independent study this year and I plan to keep working on the Rocks and Canyon series. I will allow my self to find other ideas as well. Please be aware that there will not be any posts for the two weeks of QBL. Then we plan on a little vacation so this will be the last post until Aug 8.

Anastasi Ruins 18" X 24" $ 110.00 — Anastazi Ruins
18″ X 24″
$ 110.00

Progress Report: Anastazi Ruins
This work is complete now. I have really enjoyed putting the silk paper into this work. It makes the feel of the flow of the rocks really work for me. I liked doing the free motion work to add texture to the surface too. The other thing I tried here and on the Sunny Crannies quilt was adding torn strips of satin to the surface. The strips were slender so they folded in on them selves and they flipped over that also added to the textural changes that were created.

I ended up not using the painted unit I posted last week on the ruins. It was just too much. But I did add nylon net to the top of the cave area to help with the darkness.

Sunny Crannies

This quilt is a part of the Rock Face series. I really seem to be fascinated by the surfaces of road cuts and cliffs. This one came from on of the photos that I took in Idaho a few weeks ago. Here I went back to the free cut method to put the work together. Rocks do not break in continual strait lines most of the time so the free cut is the only way to get the correct feel.

This shot shows that I also turned the brown commercial fabric over and use the “back” side to get another tone to the surface.

I used some of the fabric that Marty and I discharged in this quilt along with some slender torn gray jean fabric as well. I really like this plus the satin surfaces on the work. Finally I used more of the silk paper here too. This piece of silk paper has some glitter and gold added to the silk as well as the color. I look forward to teaching this technique with the Quilt Exploration Group in September.

Rounds

This project is moving along nicely for me. It is changing under my finger tips however, but one needs to be open to that as it happens. All the circles are stitch down now and it has been washed so there is fraying of the shapes. I plan to slice the top and invert one or more to the slices before I reassemble it. I also want to add so yarn appliqued to the surface to add more texture. I will then have to see what the quilt tells me to do.

Eric’s Thoth

Thoth is the Egyption god of writing. I intended to complete this quilt for my husbands birthday. That happens to be today so I will not make it. But I am sure he will accept it later. He is an English teacher and worked on his collage publication called ” Thoth” so this seems like a good idea to me. I made the stencils- Thoth, the Eye or Horis and the Eagle mouths ago, but never put them together until now.

The scarab stencil is even older. I added the scarab after the whole top was assembled as I discovered that the area needed an addition.

I enjoyed adding the Hiroglyphs to this project too although I did them before I assembled the top. I have had this set of stamps sense I taught school and I used them with the kids. Here I spelled out ” Eric the Teacher” using the Heiroglyph guild book.

Green Nebula

I keep working on the beading work on this quilt. I am just about ready to do the quilting now. About three more evening of watching TV should to the trick to finish the beading step. Then I will begin the hand quilting.

Blooming Bacteria

Here again I made my background using the free hand cut method. I did the cut and flip thing on this background too. The red circles are just pinned to the surface now . When I get the placement exactly were I want it I will satin stitch them down and begin hand work. I imagine it will be a while before this work reappears again, as the work I do at QBL will probably capture my attention for a while. I wanted to have this work started because I have made all the “add ons” and I do not want to forget the direction while I am away.

I will look forward to posting again Aug 8.

Keep Creating

Carol

Curvie Cuts, Felt Work, Fossil Bed, Green Nebula, Machine Drawing, Red Nebula, Rock Face 1

June 27, 2013 More Summer Fun

June 28, 2013 admin

Hello everyone,

I am as busy as ever, but I have taken time to listen to the birds sing and enjoy the beauty of the summer season. Yesterday I went off to visit with my friend Ethel and we used the beautiful weather to spend a day dyeing out side. This shot shows one of the fabrics I dye painted. I can still feel the influence of the rocks and the water on what I am doing. Along with dyeing is the batching step. This small shot is of some of the fabric under plastic so it will not dry out. The last step is the rinsing out- a project for later today. I worked on 10 pieces of fabric so that will take me a while I am sure.

Fossil Bed 23" X 32.5" $ 188.00 — Fossil Bed
23″ X 32.5″
$ 188.00

Progress Report: Fossil Bed This quilt is complete now. I have enjoyed doing all the stencil work here. The last bit of embellishment that I did, was the addition of gold foil shells and then the little round stamps that I created at our last play day in May. In this second closeup the circle stamps are shown in orange and blue along with a second foil section. I also did quilting in gold thread. Susan told me that she want to see more images of the finished surfaces and so there is a third closeup of this quilt.This last closeup shows the brown stryophone stamped area with the quilting in gold too.

Red Nebula I think that I am done adding to this work. I need to decide now how I want to finish it. One of my works is off being framed now. I may want to do that to this work as well. I will know better when the framed work comes back to me.

Green Nebula I have only just started my hand work on this second felted work.
This piece has a hand dyed fabric backing. I am enjoying that hand work as always and this time I am using some antique pale green sequins on the surface.The sequins are from my great aunt’s sewing box.

Rock Face
This is my newest top. I got so inspired by my trip to Idaho and looking at all the rocks, that I just had to do a work on that subject. I got to use my newly developing skill with slender curved inserts too. I think this is just the start of a new series.

I hope that summer is treating you well and that you are enjoying the great out doors .

Keep Creating

Carol

Adventure Challenge 2013, Far Horizons, Felt Work, Landscapes, Purple Trees, Stump Men

March 14, 2013 Day Light Savings Time

March 14, 2013 admin 5 Comments

Hello,

As I set here at the computer I feel like I am running behind. The clock has been set forward for Day Light Savings Time, but my body is not making the adjustment. I wake up, and can not believe that it is so late. And that in turn makes me feel like I am behind all day long. I am sure that the fact that my husband is on spring break and we are not setting the alarm also adds to my slow adjustment. Mother Nature is not helping either. I am rearing to go when it is sunny and nice- It got up to60 degrees one day, but days like today when the snow is flying again make me want to stay in the winter cocoon -I call bed. I the fact that I forgot my camera, and left projects behind twice this week also add to my feeling of out of balance. Hopefully I will adjust soon and get into “normal” rhythm with the universe and myself.

Progress Report: Speculations on Value I have spent most of my efforts this week working on this piece. It is nearly complete and the two long light blue strips are facings that need to be flipped to the back and stitched down. The fabrics in this quilt have been piled up together for a long time and it felt good to finally assemble them. I tried a new quilting pattern on this work too. Sue Ellen introduced the QuEGs group to a pattern she called Mac Tavishim quilting at the February meeting. In looking over my notes I saw the drawing and thought this would be a good time to try it. The stitching pattern means one starts and curves out to a comfortable point and then returns in a somewhat reflective pattern to the starting point, to then one swings out again to the opposite end again. This process is repeated as many times as you feel comfortable or until the space is full, then you start a second. As this example shows I need to keep practicing, but I do like the process and think I can really use it in the future.

Far Horizons This very simple at this point. I cut the original curved horizontal piece into three sections, shuffled and flipped one unit, then re- assembled the group. Now I will begin to add lines and stitches as well as small objects on to the surface as embellishment. It will be a textural play surface for ” add-ons ” and more hand stitch explorations.

Purple Trees: This work continues to move along very slowly. I like how the trees are shaping up. The new problem is how to bring the three units plus their grounds together into a final grouping. I am inching forward as I do not know what I am doing when it comes to how to assemble this work.

South West Voices: This work got buried in the fall in one of my cleaning frenzies. It just surfaced again this week and I am now quilting away on it. The quilting here is zig-zag and some what reflective of the patterns in the multi colored fabric.

Stump Men: I just keep working on the felting of this project. This shot is of one of the roots. I think I am nearing the completion of this project and now need to do lots of looking and thinking about what touches it needs to be complete.

I am looking forward to true spring and not needing gloves and boots when I go for my walks. Those types of walks are always inspiring to me.

Keep Creating

Carol

Bird Goddesses, Felt Work, Goddess Series, Madum Peli, Sprider Woman's Twin Towers, Stump Men, Trees, Twilight Trees

January 24, 2013 The show- Goddesses:Text to Textiles

January 24, 2013 admin

Hello-

The show is all hung. I will admit that I am very pleased with how the thing looks. As the creator of this work, I had never viewed as a group. I do not have a big enough space to even spread it all out in one room. I was quite surprised by the fact that Lauren insisted we hang them all, and by how well they all worked together. This shot at the top is of three of the quilts and three of Lauren’s baskets below. It was a fun experience doing the work with her too as she was so very excited by my pieces. She had asked me to do the show after seeing only one piece of my work. This third shot with the pink wall behind it is in the bar room of the resterant. She also has pointed me in several other directions for places to contact about future shows too. It was a very up lifting day for me. These photos do not show all the work I will add more next week. I now look forward to the opening on Sunday.

Progress Report:Spiraling Out

Spiriling Out — Spiraling Out
43 ” X 55″

This quilt is finished now. I added a lot more quilting to the surface this week and I like how that pulls it together. This work was created do primary because of the silk screen material that I had purchased from randy Kennan this summer. I really liked the action in the fabric and tried to repeat some of the patterns in the quilting patterns I added. The close up shows the decomposing screen and some of the needle work. It was a fun project.

Twilight Trees I have really enjoyed doing these twisted tree forms. I am enjoying the movement using curves has added to my quilt work.

I liked the new skill I am building and feel now that I am ready to tackle the DMC Challenge that they were meant to be a prelude for. I sure hope that my vision can be full filled- but that remains to be seen. Tree Men I have been playing with the felt work tree too. This shot is a partial of two of the faces. Thus far I have done all the work by hand and so the green tool to the lift side is in the photo. I have rediscovered that the black wool felted skirt that is the dark background unit is difficult to felt to. I am glad that I need to soften the intensity of the dark so I am going to really build up the other grays and browns on top of it. That will help unify the work too I hope.

Pele I spent time this week getting this top to be flat. I cut and stitched away several wedges of fabric for this purpose. There is still a lot for me to learn about the curved cutting process like do not make the action too sharp. Anyway it is flat now. This shot shows the arms of the fire goddess drawn in thread on organza. I will trim away the the outside portion before I attach it to the top. I am still considering if I want to add some more color to the arms before I do that step too. I do want the arms to appear as a spirit like presence on the surface.

Play Day Printing I spent Friday last week printing with my Styrofoam stamps. The Styrofoam is the thick sponge like type that comes packed around big items like printers or computer screens. One draws into them with a welding iron in a well ventilated location. I cut mine last summer out doors The teacher who taught me how to do use this technique was teaching a second class on the same day and I was tempted to take it a second time, but decided instead to just play by my self with what I remembered. I think I got more accomplished too because I did not have to pack up my materials and spend travel time to get to the workshop. This top one shows two fabrics printed with fabric paint on commercial textured fabrics. This shot shows more turquoise fabric with a Styrofoam leaf stamp print and on the gray a stamp made from some plastic floor matting. The white is a mixture and I like this piece of fabric the most. This last piece is the white again with the last Styrofoam stamp of the figures dancing. I cut one set on one side of the foam an the other set on the back. I had a good time and although I have no plan for there use at the moment, I am confident they will all go into work in the future.

I hope winter is treating everyone well.

Keep Creating

Carol

Cre-8

Category Archives: Felt Work

Solicits

Happy Chinese New Year of the Goat/ Ram

Valentines Day

Realisations

Quality

Eliminiated

July 11, 2013 Summer Days

June 27, 2013 More Summer Fun

March 14, 2013 Day Light Savings Time

January 24, 2013 The show- Goddesses:Text to Textiles

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer