Category Archives: Felt Work

Buggy, Confussed, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Felt Work, Glyph IV with Beads, Glyph Series, Label Blocks, Pealing Oranges, Pond Water, Quartered Glyph, Raw Edge Applique, Tossed Salad

Fall Events

October 12, 2017 admin

Hello,

This week was full of events. Last weekend I went off to the Tompkins Quilt guild show. Cheri won a ribbon there. So too did my friend Pat. But this red work is not the one she won a ribbon on.

Regina and I enjoyed viewing the show and talking about what we saw. My shots of Regina’s quilts are not good enough to share.

I went off to the Schweinfurt with Marty and we vied the Geologic Landscapes show on Wed.. This wall piece is of the watershed of the lake. The white lines are of the creeks and streams that feed into the lake and the white area near the top is the lake. The outline of the shape is of the highest elevations around the lake area. I loved this concept as I have always liked topographical maps.

Then this morning was the FAB meeting. Both Judy and Nancy are working on different variations of Disappearing Four Patch. Judy’s is the one in dark blues and whites. Nancy’s is the one with the greens in it. It is great how unique they both are.

Patty has finished her extruded cotton thread knitted shawl. I think it is great!

Progress Report: Buggy This work is 40” w X 49.5” l. The bugs are oil stitch on fabric using my own designed and cut stencils. The gray and light green panels are made from stamps I cut in Pat Pauly’s class at QBL two summers ago. I dyed the dark green and the fabric with the turquoise and white in it too. Liz had challenged me to use some of the stuff we have been creating and this one fills the bill. The reflective quilting looks like bug trails one of my friends said. These big black insects are based on cockroaches. The blue green insects are also beetles.

Quartered Glyph This work is 44” w X 48” l. I used a smaller version of the Owl Glyph pattern that I created to do this work. The quilting is strait line starting from the center and working out using variegated thread. The shapes of the glyph are raw edged appliqued.

Glyph IV I just keep beading away on this project. I like the effect, but progress is slow.

Tossed Salad This quilt is made from all the cut away parts of Quartered Glyph. I am machine stitching down the parts in the raw applique style here. I have added the back and batting too so this time I am quilting at the same time as I put the parts on. I do not know if I will have to add additional machine lines until I am done with this step.

Pealing Oranges This quilt is still growing. I made a smaller Owl Glyph pattern and used a beautiful piece of orange fabric from Regina to place that pattern on. It is being mixed with some of the other cut away fabrics from various other Glyph projects. This is an early step in the process.

Wool Work I have started doing free motion machine drawing on this felted work. I am also tacking down bits of fabric and yarn with the machine stitches.

Card Confused I build this card from multiple copies of the same image trying to mix and confuse the eve. All the cutting and pasting made it warp a bit but I think the confusion is there. I sure feel that way about the world at large at the moment.

Pond Water I am now hand quilting on this project. The horizontal quilt lines are meant to give the impression of water patterns as well as hold it all together.

Label Quilt This work is 95” X 95”. I am now done with this weekly project. It has been an enjoyable and calming evening daily work. It took me a week to finish each of the 144 squares. I am now trying to decide what the next daily practice project will be.

Keep Creating.

Carol

Considered, Glyph II, Glyph III, Glyph IV with Beads, Glyph V, Green s=Soul, Jazzed Lines, Label Blocks, Scrap Happy Quilts

Hurricane Harvey

September 1, 2017 admin

Hello-

The hurricane is on my mind this week. I have spent a lot of time listening and thinking about how much the people of Texas have lost. I fear I can not really comprehend it. My heart goes out to them.

Progress Report: Jazzed Lines This work is 37″ wX 51″ l. Due to the fact that I spent so much time in the studio this week I got a lot done. This is a project that I started before QBL. I added some lines in black felt and ribbon that I had noted from an image of some of Picasso’s drawings that were in an old sketchbook. My tip is keep a sketchbook and fill it with what interests you.

And be sure to occasionally look through the older ones to refresh your mind.

The black images add another layer of interest to a somewhat dull piece.

Considered This 12″ X 12″ stretched piece is one of the three felted wool pieces that got started before QBL too. It is based on a rock with a fossil in it. The sea shell is in the lower left is the fossil and it is hidden on purpose as it is in the rock.

Scrap Happy- Ethel ‘s Scraps #5 This is the newest queen sized scrap happy work built with Ethel scraps. The solid blocks are from the samplers she had purchased. The striped blocks are ones she started and then did not use for some reason. I believe there are at least two more quilts in that scrap box.

Lettres ( owl) This work is 22″ w X 43″ l. It is based on three blocks that spell the word owl. But I have turned the work on its side as I think it works better in this direction.

I used some old fabric that I had printed text on a few years ago. It is the gold here.

Glyph II This top grew out of the first glyph quilt as the text ( the orange and purple shapes) were cut from the back of the first Glyph quilt. I have zig -zagged around the shape and I am now quilting down the background units.

Glyph III

This glyph is based on the same paper pattern that I developed and interpreted in different colors. I am pebble quilting in the light shape now and will do the background in strati line quilting.

Glyph IV- beaded This glyph came out to number 3 and the orange is the cut away of the text shape applied to a dark background of hand dyed. I continue to bead the glyph and it is filling in. The back ground it strait line quilting.

Glyph V This is a close up of the next one in the series. It is cut from some of the scraps and another fabric that I added to the mix. More pebble quilting with green metallic thread.

10″X10″ Banquet – Petroglyph The Schweinfurth Art center had called for art work to be donated for an auction later this fall. The work can be any media and I have selected fabric here. These two works will be on sale at that time with all the funds raised going to support their cause.

Card Green Soul My card for this week celebrates the wonders of summer and notes that Autumn will soon be upon us.

Label Blocks Another block got completed this week. I also found a lost one under my chair so now there really are only four more to finish.

Keep Creating

Carol

Curvie Cuts, Felt Work, Label Blocks, Little Jellyfish, Rainbow Tree, Teasel III

Travel

July 7, 2017 admin 2 Comments

Hello,

Summer is here and the long days are warm and pleasant. I had a good time on my travels to visit Frank Lloyd Wright Houses. I saw four from dramatic Falling Water to the simple Duncan House. The house I really loved and thought I could live in was the Kentuck Knob house. It has a hexagon theme that he repeated over and over. We were only allowed to take photos outside the house so this shot of the ceiling over the porch is my best example. It was all built on one level under the brow of a hill and had a studio. I really liked the crenulation and the cutouts he added in the window openings too. His use of local materials is wonderful , epically stone ,as well as his love of fire places.

Gray Stone, outside Buffalo was the only place we could take photos inside and so I am showing this shot of the fireplace. Please note the black fire irons so you get a sense of scale here. This house was very livable too. The association that owns this house is restoring it and some of the local artisans are building furniture from photos to fill it. This table is an example. I had a good time and enjoyed seeing all the houses. It was a trip to see an American Artist whom I have long admired.

Before I went on my trip I went to an opening at the Edgewood Gallery where my friends Angela, Carol and Sharon were showing their work. Angela’s felted works looked divine. She did 25 new pieces just for this show and only showed 18 of them. She is a powerhouse. This shot shows Sharon’s new style- on the wall and the sculptured bird is Carol’s. I was so thrilled to know three of the four artists in this show.

I have had two dye days with Liz sense I wrote last too. This is a shot of the ones from last week and the new stuff is in the wash this morning. We are having fun and I am working on a quilt using some of the fabric we have dyed now.

Progress Report: Little Jellyfish This quilt is 34” w X 43’ l. I was working with transparency and feel I still need to explore this subject. I have learned so much about jellyfish sense I started exploring this topic. Their only predators are sea turtles and they come in a wide variety of colors and shapes. I love how they can change there appearance with ease.

Rainbow Tree This work is 16” w X 20” l. I had a good time adding all the beads and sequins to this work. Everything I used on this work except the wool I felted with was a gift to me at some point. Yarn form Judy,beads from Ethel and sequin from Sharon. Perhaps I should call this a friendship tree.

Wool 1 Cut up some wool from Tanya with the idea of using it to build bases for the three sets of 12” X 12” stretchers that Joyce gave me a week ago.

Wool 2 This is the second start. It takes me about an hour of work at the felting machine to build this base.

Wool 3 All three works are based on the light and dark patterns from one of my rock face photos. I was liberal with the colors though.

Bits and Pieces Liz challenged me to use the fabrics we have been creating. This work does some of that.

Teasel III I am creating this work with my friend Vyvian in mind. She liked my first two teasel works but they were too big for her use. So this time I did the design with her in mind. I am to the hand stitching of the spears around the heads now. Six completed and five to go- with one half way done.

Label Blocks This was the only project I took on the trip with me. It is small and easy to transport.

Keep Creating

Carol

FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Green Dargaons, Label Blocks, Little Jellyfish, Rainbow Tree

Spring Warmth

June 15, 2017 admin

Hello,

The north east has finally warmed up and we are enjoying the weather. I have spent a lot of time pulling weeds and moving plants. I do like playing in the mud almost as much as doing studio work. I did spend and afternoon dyeing with Liz, but I have yet to wash out the dye so there is nothing to show for that yet.

FAB did meet on Tues and there was lots of activity. Judy was tying three baby quilts during the meeting. She always uses such bright colors for them that it is a joy to the eye. Nancy is finally finished with her Blue Bird quilt. It is beautiful. Unfortunately my photos of it are not- so take my word for it.

Progress Report: Spring Jacks This work is 18” X 20”. The background is all felted work and the Jacks are appliqued on top. Sense the big Three Jacks piece has a new home I did this smaller one to remind me of that other project.

Prayer Flag Pins As the picture shows I am having too much fun using little bits of projects and stuff that ends up on my desk making these little guys. The freedom of no size or shape restrictions is wonderful.

Rainbow Tree I keep working away on this project in one hour units. I love the effect so I am not at all unhappy that I am only about one third done with this project. I am sure it will be well worth the time when it is complete.

Little Jellyfish I am working by hand on this piece with a fly stitch. The tentacles are couched. I do not want to use the machine to pull away from the movement they produce.

Green Dragon I am doing machine drawing on this piece. I did outline the print( its from Ethel) and started to continue the body. I took a lot of that stitching out yesterday as it was too big for the body. I will try again this week.

Texture Project I painted this background this week. In doing a second look I think it needs another layer of horizon so I will go back in and add some more paint before I machine draw on top of it.

Label Blocks # 127 #128 #129 Do to the warmth I spent a lot of time out of doors in the evening this week and did a lot more work on this project then usual. I am having fun as I see the pile of black square diminish.

Keep Creating

Carol

PS I made an error last week I Label this jewelry as being created by Carrine and it is by Linda C.

This beautiful work is by Carrine. Please accept my apologies.

Along the Shore, Button Weed, Felt Work, Flag Challenge, Label Blocks, Little Jellyfish, Monkey Business, Play Time, Pond Water, Rainbow Tree, Soeing Jacks

Travel plus

June 8, 2017 admin 2 Comments

Hello,

We hit the open road to test out Eric’s new car. It was fun but we spent a lot of time in the rain. We went to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Coppers Town first. Then on the Norman Rockwell museum. We saw Edith Wharton’s newly restored gardens were a sculpture show was going on. The sculpture was mixed among the woodland paths too. We did the Emily Dickinson home and then moved on to Shaker Village in Canterbury. I really liked all the wonderful innovative machinery there. These machines were in the wash house. We made it all the way to the Maine coast before we headed back west. This model boat was in an old boat house that was converted into restraint where we had dinner. We stopped in the Adirondacks for the night and then went to the Adirondack Experience museum and had a good time looking at the treasures there. The travel was great but as always I am glad to be home with many great memories, lot of photos and the ideas are flying in my head.

Tue as the the QuEG’s meeting so I got even more stimulation. Corrine has been doing a lot of beading and the results are beautiful.

Linda C showed us this beautiful top. There is a lot of hand work on it.

Liz is finding lots of UFO’s as she dose some spring cleaning. She shared three. I look forward to seeing the finished work too.

Linda H shared this hand printed fabric that she has started doing hand work on. We all had stories and lots to share. It was a good time.

I have such great friends . Yesterday I got a treasure box from Debbie. I love all these little bits of trim and ribbon. She knows me too well. They will all go into the next batch of Creative Assistants that I will begin as soon as QBL is over this year.

Progress Report White Iris This work is 15”w X 19”h. The white blossoms where originally created for the 9 Blue Iris quilt that I showed in the last post. But they were too pale and faded into the background.

So I did a felted and fabric wall and used the flowers on top. I do like the shape of iris and hope to do some more of them.

Button Weed I did a little rework on this piece. It needed a center of interest so I added a dragonfly. The body is three cords twisted together and then zig -zagged over with a satin embroidery thread. The wings are a florist’s ribbon.

Pods These are the last two pods. I have 36 of them and I have had a good time. I also have all my little Christmas Favors done for this year.

Prayer Flag Pins I made these after reading the June/July issue of “Quilting Arts Magazine”. The article made it seem so simple and it really was. This shot makes them about life size on my computer. I will make a lot of these little guys as they are fun too.

Spring Jacks When I make felted backs I try to do more then one at a time. I did three when had the felter out and this one is going to be my support for the third Jack In the Pulpit project.

Rainbow Tree This is the third of the felted pieces. I am having fun using my many clear beads to embellish this work.

Pond Water

This project is also done with a lot of hand work so it usually does not get much attention. I did add the gold units and a lot of stitching this week because I got a head on my Label Block project while traveling.

Jellyfish I continue to struggle with this work. But I keep at it. I sliced the top layer of the organza and did hand work on top of that. I like the texture and will continue to work on all the Jellies in this fashion.

Green Dragon This work is all assembled and I have done the stitch in the ditch step on it. Now to move to the dragon quilting.

Flags- Play Time I worked on the flag project from my trip to Florida this week too. I only have two more images to alter. I used oil paint sticks to add color to the works this week.

Flag- Monkey Business With this flag I used a paint marker to do the lettering.

Flag –Along the Shore With this piece I used the oil sticks for the water. The lettering was done with markers.

Label Blocks #123, #124, #125, #126 This was the only hand work I took on the trip so every night I worked away on these blocks. The pile is getting smaller.

Keep being Creative

Carol

Button Weed, Curvie Cuts, Felt Work, Label Blocks, Little Jellyfish, Pods, Pond Water, Truquoise Street Studio

Going Forward

May 18, 2017 admin

Hello,

We continue to go forward into the wonders of spring. I love all the smells that assault my nose as I take my daily walk. Some flowers are fading, but others Like Spiraea, and Lily of the Valley seem to quickly take their place and demand the attention of the bees.

I went off to see the art show at St David’s last week. It was very impressive and with so many of my friends represented I really enjoyed the powerful work. This is one of Sharon’s new works. I like how she is building up the surface and overlapping the leaves. Carol had two sculptures in the show. I know she struggled with this one.

Barbara had two pieces as well and this one is a part of her street seen series. Beth had two pieces too and both of them had red stickers on them. She was delighted with the sale news.

My Friend Angela had work in the show too. I learned later that this piece sold too. It is always a powerful show with lots of interesting work. I am delighted for my friends.

I went off to play with Beth and Barbara on Thursday afternoon at the Turquoise Street Studio. They were both working away on pastels as is there usual thing. It is fun to work in a parallel setting.

Progress Report: Button Weed This work is 16” X 20”. I enjoyed working on this piece as I have good memories from the Iowa farm and picking these weeds. We use to use them as noise makers when we did Indian dancing. I was always taken by the fact that they where such a strong spring green.

Pods I keep working away and finding new ways to embellish these little pods. It is fun to find homes for the last few odd beads and buttons that I seem to have lots of.

Pond Water I did hand work on this project at Turquoise Street. I am adding the gold units now. It is very calming almost meditative work for me.

Iris This project had proved to be a challenge. I made all these iris blossoms and then discovered that they just got lost on my background. I guess there will be a second one in this grouping. So I built some in blue and purple for the actual project. I am ready now to go back in and build up this flower with more detail and color.

Curvy Cut Jellyfish This project is moving forward. I really like the shapes of these jellyfish. I have had to really challenged myself with I could how to build them up to get the effect I want. I am sorry that the dark centers get lost with the many layers of organza.

Brown Back I found a use for the back I made last week already. I am ironing down all the cut-a way’s from the fusing I use in my work.

Red Scarf I keep working away on these works. They are fun to build, but they do take a lot of time. I will add the soft neck unit when I have all the nets filled. Only three more to complete.

Wool Brown I am a little beyond half way along with the felting of this work. I will do the free motion work on top when that step is complete.

Mixed I am all done with the felting here and ready to add the stitches on top.

Label Block # 121 They just keep on coming.

Keep Creating

Carol

Curvie Cuts, Felt Work, Flight, Label Blocks, Pods, TaJira, Thaw in Xavier Wood

Spring Energy

May 11, 2017 admin

Hello-

Spring really brings on fast changes around here. Last week this lilac barely had leaves and now it is in full bloom. And the smell is wonderful. So too of so many plants. I love all the quick changes that happen this time of year. The leaves fill in all the empty spaces as they reach for the sun shine and soon one feels under a canopy of green. The vast views of the land are cut down as the leaves block the eye line to the horizon line and one feels enclosed and protected. I find it really energizes me as well and I have had a great week.

Progress Report : Thaw in Xavier Wood This work is 38” X 40” and based on photos I took last fall when we had a nice thaw in mid November. Ice is a subject that seems to constantly call back to me. I love how the leaves are effected too not only in color but how they deteriorate. I even tried using copper for a few of them knowing that they will also fade with time.

Pods I seem to be fascinated by the areas of connection of the units for these pods this week. They sure got most of the attention. I am also using Sharron’s buttons as focus points on the surfaces of many of the pods.

Curvier Cuts This is the back ground for a new study of jellyfish. All the curved cuts suggest the motion of moving water to me and jellyfish sure take advantage of the ocean’s motion to move.

Flags: Tajira I keep working away on the flags that I started in Florida. This one is called Tajira because that is the name of the new baby Giraffe that was just born to April last week. This “ child” was 90 pounds and 6 Feet tall at birth. The lettering was done on silk paper.

Flight I enjoyed making this stencil. It is colored in with water color pencils. I had to add the beaded fringe because so how this piece of cloth was too short to meet the size requirement.

Spring Iris’s I built up a base of several layers of different types of creams and white fabrics and then added some brown and yellow stains to the surface for this piece. I used some old lace that my grandmother Ruth created for the edge of a pillow case here too. Then I did a life sized drawing of the Iris’s I want to put on top of this work and now I am ready to begin that step. Because I want to use layers of sheers for the petals I am moving very slowly. I am considering adding roving between the layers for more color.

Buttonweed This rock wall background has been waiting for me to make a decision about the top layer for a few weeks. This week I finally decided to go with my original plan and drew these big paper patters for the seed pods for the Button Weeds. They will be cut from this bright green because that is the strong color the weeds are and that plus the shape is what draws me to them.

Harlequin Papers This is a pure experiment. I had read some where that one could fuse down candy wrapper papers and use them on a work. So this week when I spilled the box of papers I thought that it was a sign that I needed to act on that idea. I will need to look and think about it for a while before I know how to proceed from this point.

Wool- Red My friend Tanya , gave me a big piece of red wool this winter and I finally pulled it out and cut three pieces from it. The roving is just hand felted into the surface here.

Wool- Brown This felted beginning has the same red wool base. It also has a lot of fabric mixed with the roving and wool yarn on the surface. I have not started laying out the third one yet. When it too is hand felted I will get out the felting machine and do that step to all three pieces and go from there.

Brown Base These fabrics seemed to go together so I untied them. It is just a raw base for a future something. I know that I will use it at some time and be glad that it is ready like a primed canvas is for an painter .

Purple Possibilities While I was pawing through my stash looking for the the green to use in Button Weed and the blues I used in the curvy cut piece, I noticed that there were lots of small purple bits in the bottom of bins and such. So I started collecting them in one place. I will use this as personal challenge to use them all together in a piece some time. I enjoy a little problem solving every now and then.

Label Block # 120 I keep working away on these blocks. Only 25 more to go at this point.

Keep Creating

Carol

PS- One last look at the spring flowers.

Circle Challenge, Diva Meetings, Green Leaf scarf, Label Blocks, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Scrap Happy Quilts, Snow Dyeing, Teasil I, Teasil II, Three Jacks, Xavier Wood Ice

Winter

February 9, 2017 admin

Hello,

We are deep in the cold of winter here and that makes me stay in the studio and get a lot done. But I do have the meetings that come at the first of each month. QuEG’s meant. Liz is busy doing hand work on her project that she dyed last fall at the play/work retreat at the Schweinfurth. That is her work at the top.

Sue Ellen is busy too and she made this colorful quilt for the Linus Project. I always get a lot more out of the group meetings.

This time I showed them all the Circle Challenge pieces all together. That lead to a whole lot of playing with how they could or should be presented. I continued the whole idea when I got home.

There are just so many ways to go with them.

The Diva’s had a good time playing with them too. There was a lot going on at that meeting as well.

Alice has finished her Bed Quilt and she made prints of the finished work to give to all the folks in the family who owned the bed so they have the history. I think that is a good idea.

Liesa is building a wonderful book on stamps. She printed the stamps on fabric for this work and laments that she still has all the original stamps left.

Donna just returned from a 10 day retreat where she did a lot of Gelli printing and pastel work. Maureen is doing lots of work with indigo so she can do more teaching of the techniques. She shares her knowledge so very kindly.

Regina went off to the conference called “ Rocky Road to California” and took a class with the Tentmakers of Cairo. She keeps exploring new techniques.

Ruth is busy with her wonderful clam shells too. It was a good meeting and I came home with new ideas of things to do with my own work.

Progress report: Three Jacks This work is 28” X 40”. Because I had to take it apart to fix the nail at the bottom I took photos of the work without the glass. No problems with reflections that way. I also did a major cleaning of the glass- something that I had not thought of before either. The work is dramatic and I like it a lot.

The velvet jacks really convey the rich contrast of the two parts of the flower.

Snow Dying

It snowed this week and so I did a bit more snow dyeing. It is snowing today too so I will do an orange batch next.

Tease I I did the hand stitching on this work this week. It is almost ready to stretch.

Teasel II I pulled this fabric for the background of the green teasel heads I made the week before on Monday. Then I worked hard on getting that section done. I got all excited and even moved on to pinning the heads in place. They are not stitched down. No problem with contrast this time.

Leaf Scarf I did a lot of free motion work on this piece and determined yesterday that it was complete. It is based on a work I saw on Pintrest by Amanda McCarvour. I only work from what I remember not from any reading or recheck. So when I did look a second time yesterday, I was surprised by how different they were. I like the vanes of leaves mixed with the wool roving . The places where I tried to work in air collapsed so I think when I try it again I will put a layer of nylon net in the middle of the sandwich so there is a some stability to the whole thing. That and more stitching lines will do the trick I think. It will also help avoid the arching that happened with some of the gold leaves.

Xavier Wood Ice I have been taking a lot of photos on my walks of ice and now I am ready to begin a new ice work. This is the fabric lay out at about the middle of the process.

Pods I have assembled two of the pods from the felted pieces that I made. They are nor quite finished as I think I want to add some additional beads on the bottoms of them. But I am making progress. It is like the circle challenge in the way that I can think of more variations for each side as I go along. I will play until I tire of the process.

Scrap Happy I have been assembling the strips and cut pieces from Ethel’s scrap box for a few weeks. I cut them into five inch squares yesterday and made a block. It is 17” on a side. That is a little bigger then I usually use so I may need to make adjustments as I move forward.

Label Block # 106 I was in Jo Ann’s this week and I was tempted to purchase some additional embroidery thread- but I resisted. Then when I got home I did a little search and found a new bag full, so I am very happy I did not give into temptation. Only fourteen more blocks to build.

Keep Creating

Carol

Circle Challenge IV, Circle Challenge V, Circle Challenge VI, Collage Based Work, Felt Work, Label Blocks, Three Jacks

English

January 26, 2017 admin

Hello,

I was looking at how the light shown off this tree against the gray sky and liked the sheen there. That lead me to think of all the different words we have in the English Language to talk about light. Objects can have gloss, glint, sparkle, luster, shimmer, flicker and glow. Light as a concept expands our language to make it more colorful too. We can see the light. Things can dawn on one or we can have a flash of inspiration. There are bright folks as well as dim wits. One can have a brilliant idea. There are many more examples of words related to light that are a part of our language that we use to describe a lustrous world and I am enjoying that.

I went to an opening at Onondaga Community College yesterday were Jill Doscher talked about her fiber work. She talked of her process and how she grew from a printer to a fiber artist who dyes her own fabric and prints on it too. It was great.

I also checked out the Scholastic Art show that is also on display there. The teachers are doing a fine job with their students.

Progress Report: Small Spill This work is 12” X 12”. It is my usual construction but I did not use any wool roving on this work. I did use parts of a silk scarf I hand dye painted about fifteen years ago when Barbara anduse to get together and play with art ideas one a week . There are also some yarns that were free motion stitched down to add texture.

Blue Too This stretched work is also 12” X 12”. I played with taffeta, metallic fabric and organza on this one. I also stitched down purple candy wrappers because the color was what I wanted. The candy was from the bed and breakfast were I stayed with Marty and Rosalie last summer. It’s a fun way to add a personal memory to this work.

Three Jacks This work is ready for the frame now. Judy gave a big frame and glass that I will try to add this work to. I enjoyed doing all the machine embellishing on the Jacks this week. Lots of wide satin stitching.

Color Challenge VI This work is 15.5” x19”. I am enjoying the exploration this challenge is giving me.

This is the last piece in this series were I will have three of the light colored circles on its surface. But change is suppose to be a part of the process.

Color Challenge V I only need to tack the last two facing ( brown at the top and bottom ) and add the sleeve to this work to complete it.

Color Challenge VI I am doing the quilting on this one before I add the bead work. I am not sure how this will effect that aspect. This is suppose to be a challenge and a place to explore……

Felt Studies I did three more studies in felting this week. The pink uses organza ribbons as well as the wool roving. The orange used silk and organza scarves and roving, plus a bit of candy foil. The green got it sheen from Angelina and a bit of taffeta. These ideas are all from the book Stitch, Fabric, Metal and Mixed Media.

New Collage work I needed to do a bit of piecing this week so I went back to the collage based working idea and found an old collage( from Sept) to build a work around. The orange marbleized sections are Ethel’s work. The yellow and pale blue are mine altered fabrics.

New Work I started another stacked fabric work this week. I enjoy the process so much I can not seem to stop doing it. Building the surface it time consuming and so transformative.

Ice Dying I did yellow ice dyeing this week . I like the softer colors here. There is also a bucket full of the next batch that I need to wash out today. I used yellow and turquoise- and learned that the turquoise takes over. I will try again after the next snowfall to see if I can mix these two colors and keep some yellow in the final fabric.

Label Block # 104 I keep stitching away.

Happy CHinese New Year Sat.

Keep Creating

Carol

My friend Judy gave this to me last week. It smells heavenly.

Circle Challenge 2, Cotton Candy, Dead Horse Canyon, Felt Work, Label Blocks, Name Game, Uncategorized, Wendy and Mark

Numbers

December 29, 2016 admin

Hello,

We are racing now toward the end of 2016. In thinking about the end of the year and closing my book keeping, I become very aware of numbers. Because I am still enjoying Ethel’s fabrics I only purchased 38 yards of fabric this year and most of that in half yard units. The first for the Label Block project for this year was block # 34. This week I completed block # 100 so that is 67 blocks for the year. A bit more than one a week. I make pillows and fill them with the cut off bits of batting from the trimming and squaring off of quilt work. This year I completed 9 pillows. I donate quilts to almost every organization that asks for them and this year I gladly gave away 13 to such deserving origination’s like Ronald McDonald House, the Art Rage Gallery and my local Public TV station. I am still ahead in that game as I completed 59 on my own creations. I use lots of thread in my work and this year and I emptied 65 spools. I was a part of 5 quilt shows and I am looking forward to my solo show in January. I participated in 4 challenges. A good way to stretch ones self. I was rejected from 7 competitions. But I keep trying. I wrote and posted 37 blogs this year too. This year has been a full one with lots of things going on in my quilt life. Looking back, I feel that 2016 has been a good one for me and I hope you can say the same. I hope that I can face 2017 and handle the challenges it presents as successfully as I did this year.

Progress Report: Aunt Shirley’s Quilt This work got shipped off to it’s new home on Monday. I hope it gets to my Aunt before her birthday Jan 2.

Cotton Candy This work is 12” X 12”. It seemed to take me a long time to get to this little work. I just kept shuffling it to the bottom of the pile. The colors are so very different from what I am working with at the moment. But once I decided not to try to make it into one of my rock works it was easy and enjoyable. I will try again for rose quarts later.

Name Game- Wendy and Mark This work has gone through a major change sense last week. I added Mark’s name- (he is Wendy’s husband)- because the Wendy section was not enough. Still it is not something I look forward to working on. But I felt the same way about the one I did last summer where I used my own name. Perhaps that is the nature of this project. I am still shuffling the strips at this point.

Dead Horse Canyon I have been calling this wool work 1 for the last few weeks. That just does not cut it so I selected a name. This name comes from a childhood play area near my then home in Carroll Iowa. I have been thinking about it a lot of late and though this could be a tribute to all those memories.

New Work This is the newest rock based piece. I used gabardine for the base and I also added fusible inner facing to the back. That extra body has some real strength. I really like how it is not a warped as the wool piece above.

Circle Challenge 1 I have finished the hand circle quilting on this work now. I am ready to add the facing and finish it off.

Circle Challenge 2 With the end of Circle Challenge 1 in sight I put in machine quilting work on this one. I now feel I need to work on the layout for the third in that series now.

Scrap Happy I am working with the scraps from Ethel’s box this week. She had a whole stack of batik samples and they are all 5” square just like the ones I made for my quilt in the fall. So I am using them with some old and new 5″ squares for this new top.

Label Block # 100 As the big Spiegel label ( upper left corner) shows I am still using labels that are not all current. I just enjoy the process.

May the new year bring you joy and creative times.

Carol

Cre-8

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Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer