Category Archives: Foundations X

February 20, 2014

Hello,

It is thawing here and the sound of  dripping water from melting snow  has been going on all day.  The street is running water and directing it toward the storm drains.   I find it is cheering as though Spring may in fact come.  The fact that I herd song birds this morning helps with that feeling too.   I have worked in the studio  a lot this week.

Blooming Bacteria 24" X 38" $320.00
Blooming Bacteria
24″ X 38″
$320.00

Progress  Report : Blooming Bacteria This quilt is based on an image from an electron miscrope of bacteria- that is were the name came from. It   has taken me a long time to complete as I had to make each one of the black button whole circles by hand with a small crochet hook.  I know I started it last fallBlooming Bacteria close up 1 when I was taking my  grand son to Physical Therapy.  I then  stitched the units down to the surface.    The free motion work in the red is called pebble quilting and it really unified the quilt.  I did reflecting quilting around the outside of the circles.  This quilt also has a Bacteria Blooming close up 2background  that is curved pieced .   The red is a hand dyed piece that I received from a fellow quilter.    It was only a fat quarter and I used every bit of it that I could in this work.Bacteria Blooming Close up 3

 

 

 

Foundations IX Spring Moss 19.5 " X 26 " $ 180.00
Foundations IX Spring Moss
19.5 ” X 26 “
$ 180.00

Foundations IX Spring Moss  This work in the foundations series, was influenced by that spring desire I felt last week too.  It is also loosely based on  a shot I took of some Granite a few years ago.    Like most of the works I have been doing in this series there are lots of raw edges and a tron fabrics here.  The dark green is Dupni Silk.  It frays so  much that I saved all the threads and applied them to the surface as well.   I continue to use the silk paper I created last fall.  I am looking forward to warm weather whenFoundation X--cl-1 BF20-X-Closeup-4 I can go out doors and create more- it is too messy  do inside in my dry studio.   I used lots of different colored thread when I was doing the free motion work on this work.  Some apple green, yellow green, yellow and pink to get the effect I wanted for this piece.  Foundations X-close up 2

 

 

 

Foundations X   When I could see that I would soon finish with Foundations XI - Foundations IX- I started thinking about the next one in this series.   I was trying to make the top section of this work lighter than the bottom, but still have shadows near the top.  I am  not happy with the solid unit on the bottom right- but I have enough to begin work.  I want to bring in more of the rusty coloring into this work.

FoundationsXIIFoundations XI  I pinned up this new top this morning.  I have been experimenting with long stitches in yarn on nylon netting.  I was trying to create another texture that I could use in my work.  The  four pieces are  on the surface and may  or  may not stay as I go along.  This is a pure experiment, but then not knowing how something will work out never stopped me before.  I will keep you posted.

Scrap Happy  I am workingScrap-Happy on the scarp box and I decided to start a quilt using what I have.    This is a good thing too as this morning I had a call from our local public TV station and they want a quilt for their auction.    This shot shows the  red and earth toned  centered blocks as they look when they are assembeled.

Daily 's Daily’s    I am reaching the  end of this style of  block.  There are only three  left that have the half red circle and two lines.   So next week  there will be a new layout.

Keep Creating

Carol

Valentines’s Day February 13, 2014

ValentinesHello,

Valentines’ day was always one of my favorite holidays, I am a romantic I guess.  I never really had any big crushes on anyone as a child- but it was decorating the shoe box or the big envelope that all the exchanged Valentines came in that I enjoyed the most.  When I was teaching IIce1 always had the kids spend a day making a Valentine creature- the only shape they could cut was a heart.  Now the heart could be long and slender , short and fat- just what worked.  We used the scarp box of construction paper so there was lots of colors to choose from.  I loved the green heart frogs, black  bats and other animals that the kids produced.  This year   I  had some wonderful Mylar red paper so I started playing and made Valentines with it.  I great fun and I put them in the mail yesterday.  It really cheered me up as all the snow is getting to 6X6me a bit.

I did four entries for the  6″X 6″ fund raiser that the Rochester …….. does every year.  I think it is a great concept/fund raiser  were they accept small( 6″ X 6″) works from everyone who wants to particiat.   The gallery t then sells them all for $20 each.   I enjoy making  my little petroglyphics stencils and stitching them to the backgrounds.  I made four.

Rounding Up Green 34.5" X 38.5" $ 465.00
Rounding Up Green
34.5″ X 38.5″
$ 465.00

Progress Report:  Rounding Up Green  This quilt was nearly completed last week.  I was working on the facings last Thursday.  I created the blue fabric a few years ago with a silk screen print.

rounding up green close up 1This close up shows some of the dyed fabric and on the far left there is some commerically  embrodiered fabric that was in my stash.  Rounding up Green Cl1     I also used a bit of the fabric that I experimented with when I was preparing to dye.   I really like the wildness of these “rags”  and always find a good use for them in my work.

Tropical Palms 16" X 23"  $130.00
Tropical Palms
16″ X 23″
$130.00

  Tropical Palms    This quilt went together really quickly.  I realized with this one that I am ready for spring as there is lots of fabric out on the  cutting table  that is in the pastel range- with a big emphasis on pinks.  I had a very enjoyable time drawing the palm trees on this project.   It did make me feel warmer too.  The purple hand dyed fabric in this work  is bye Judy Roberts.   She does wonderful stuff in my option.   I used the print fabric as my starting point for the quilting pattern.  The biggest area needed Tropical Palms cl2a bigger tree so I improvised and mad the leaves of the tree with that section.    The other quilting- all in a horizontal waving pattern- is meant to represent the rolling sands that I remember from a trip were I saw palm trees.   I was tempted to add texture to the stump of the tree- but after doing a drawing first I decided Palms 1that an addition like that would be distracting.   Using my sketchbook is never lost effort and it really dose help clarify what needs to happen some times.

 

 

Spring Iris’s   This is another one of my

Spring Iris's 17" X 21" $125.00
Spring Iris’s
17″ X 21″
$125.00

responces to all the cold and snow.  The big print that dominates this work was a piece of decorator fabric.  I really liked the beautiful color work in the flowers and tried to emphasis that with my quilting.  I also tried to spread out the limited bit of fabric that I had across the surface of the work to add to the movement of ones eye around the piece.  There is some of the pink and purple fabric that I printed a few weeks ago in this Spring Iris's close up 2work.      After I did  a few drawing in my sketchbook I  free motion drew around the flowers and again with the same types of lines.  I added some flowers using the same style in different areas of the quilt to make sure there was enough quilting to keep the work stable.  I also did free motion work around the leaves and tried to push the iris  close up 1garden idea even further  with this action.   Then as I did the clean up of the materials form this project I found another piece of the Iris close up 3florial print so there is a place to begin another quilt with this theme.

 

 

 

 

Foundations  IX 25" X 32.5" $285.00
Foundations IX
25″ X 32.5″
$285.00

Foundations IX   This quilt was nearly complete last week too.   I just wanted more green it the work so I held it back until I had made that addition.    I added treads I had pulled from some green silk and some green silk paper to get that additional color on the surface.   The works in this series are highly textured and all the wadding and overlapping of the fabrics makes some areas very thick and others very thin, but I sure like the Foundations IX close up 3effect I am getting with this technique.   The machine drawing Foundations IX-close up 2adds to the texture and colors of the surface too.  I am still using some of the fabric that Marty and I discharged last spring on these works too.    The dark fabric with the light areas is one of those pieces.  

Foundations X   I pulled fabric Foundation Xfor the next work in this series and this is my current selection.    I may add some additional material and or subtract material- this is just a beginning pallet.

Daily'sDaily’s  They are still being produced.  I only have a little more than a weeks worth of this layout left and I will need a new starting place for the next batch of works.   It all goes together so quickly when one does a little bit at a time.

Keep Creating

Carol