Category Archives: Xavier Wood Ice

Blossoming Branch, Diva Meetings, Label Blocks, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Xavier Wood Ice

March

March 9, 2017 admin 1 Comment

Hello-

The week has been a busy one as it was the first Tuesday of the month and I had QuEG’s and Diva meetings. This hand painted and printed fabric was created by Linda last fall before she fell and injured her shoulder. I like the three layers she built up. Angela is doing wonderful hand work of some Hawaiian flowers. She is exploring with paint too. It seems like we all keep playing with new ideas.

At the Diva meeting Regina shared her Butterfly piece and a second forest floor work.

Lori finished up this wonderful hand stitched piece this month too. She really likes to build lots and lots of layers of stitching. I love her final effect. It’s so rich.

Donna shared some of her Shobori work form Maureen’s class.

Ruth share this wonderful Guatemalan weaving.

I always get a bit lift form the meetings and go home inspired.

Progress Report: Xavier Wood Ice This work is 34” X 40”. It is based on one of my photographs from earlier this winter. I have been working on the quilting for the last few weeks as it is all done free motion and that takes a lot of energy so I can not work too long before I must stop. I used plastics, ribbon, yarns netting and hand dyed cheese cloth as parts of the texture for this piece. The snow has so many textures to do because some of it is melted and refrozen while other areas are melted and other areas are thin with think areas too . I have lots more photos and I am already thinking about how I want to show the leaves captured in the ice on the next one.

Blooming Branch This work has been the area where I have done the most concentration this week. I made two limbs for this piece. This is the second limb and I made it because I was worried that the first was too light. When I pinned up this second limb and I then took a shot of it in the gray scale I could see that the dark value was too close to the background and it got lost. Here is tha shot. So I returned to the light branch and pinned it up and took a gray scale photo of it. It looked like this So that’s the one I sewed down and I am using in this work.

I have started to add the stamens to some of the blossoms.

Second Branch The second branch is pinned to a lighter background and I am hoping that adding blossoms to it will push it back a bit and create more of the balance I am looking for. This Value thing is not easy for me.

Samurai Romance The gold panel on the left is mostly done. I am working on step two where I stenciled copper paint on felt that I had created. I am learning lots of new techniques with this project and that is what I wanted to do.

Summer Meadow I finished the bobbin cord application and did the painting on this work this week. I am now ready to build up more grass and flowers on top with machine drawing.

Re working I am building a forest on top of this piece. It was Ok- but did not excite me much. A great background as Ethel would have said. So here goes…….

Label Block # 110 I keep working away on this project.

I will be away for the next two weeks so there will not be any posts until Mach 30.

Enjoy the beginnings of spring.

Carol

Birds, Creative Assistants, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Xavier Wood Ice

Winter Return

March 2, 2017 admin

Hello,

We are experiencing a snow storm today with cold blowing winds. It’s a bit of a shock after three days of wonderful warm temperatures near 60. I do like the soft effect the snow creates on the the landscape however. It is just early March so one should expect a bit more winter. I guess I will be doing another batch of snow dyeing today.

I had two meeting this week. The first was the Finger Lakes Fiber Artists meeting and they meant on Sat. Priscilla had been to Guatemala and she had purchased some wonderful embroidery works that she shared with us. Bev and Mary had nice works to share too. I always get some much out of meeting with fellow creative folks. They helped me see a change I needed to make with one of my works too. It was great.

The “Both Ends of the Rainbow” show was up in the main gallery at the Schweinfurth. I checked it out after the meeting. The kids and the adults had grand works. I was really taken by this altered book.

The FAB group was my second meeting this week. Patti is weaving away with embroidery floss on this project. I like the way she is mixing her threads to avoid sharp color changes that would create strips. Nancy also brought some color from south of the border as she in now home from her trip to Peru. This work is from the natives who live on Lake Titikata. Wonderful work with the chain stitch here. The natives are working for the tourist’s dollar and they are using much brighter colors then when I was in Peru 8 years ago.

Progress Report: Creative Assistants I am working away on my little pins now. This batch of 34 is now complete. Or it will be when the Squeezie Paint is dry tomorrow morning. I think I am done making these for this year. I have over a hundred to give away and that it enough.

Branch I am about half done with this second branch. It is built out of a tweed jacket sleeve that is then build up with layers of yarns on top to give it more texture and to add interest. The water soluble is trimmed away from most of the left side at this time. This close up shows a section that is almost done.

Blossoming Branch I am ready to add this first branch to the new background. I’ll add flowers too as it is suppose to be a Cherry Blossom branch. It almost appears too light so I may have to build up some darks in the limb as I put it on the surface.

Summer Meadow This is the first assignment from Layer, Paint, Stitch. I am now doing the bobbin grasses. That process means that the bobbin in this case is loaded with crochet thread – it is too thick to go through the machine needle and that is why it is in the bobbin. Then one sews from the back side and the thread is couched down on top. This little trick is wonderful and I can see many ways to use it in my work. Learning new tricks and techniques is why I do these type of exercises. Paint will be added to this surface later and the grasses will show up.

Samurai Romance I have now finished the first panel of this project( on the left). I couched by hand some think yarn and leather strips to the build up the vertical lines. The two brown patches on the right are now ready for step two of there alteration for the project from the Stitch, Fiber, Metal and Mixed Media book. They are small wet felted wool pads. There will be lots of texture on this piece.

Xavier Ice I just keep working on getting every thing free motion attached to the surface of this work. The build up is moving forward.

Birds I thought I might make some little birds from the leftovers of the Pods Project. These are Ok, But I think I can do better. So I will keep thinking and make a second run at this idea with some of the other leftover felted fabric I created.

Label Block 109 Another one down and only 11 to go now.

Keep Creating

Carol

!7" Blocks- Ethel's scraps, Curvie Cuts, Label Blocks, Natural Elements, Scrap Happy Quilts, Summer Meadow, Teasil II, Xavier Wood Ice

Could be Spring

February 23, 2017 admin

Hello,

It has been so warm the last few days that the plants are a bit confused. These Snow Drops are proof of that. I am enjoying it though.

There is a class at QBL taught by Elizabeth Bush were one is encouraged to rework pieces that are one is not happy with. I have been looking at First Fall and feel it is not as successful as it could be. So I took the plunge and re did the leaf by adding orange to it. I feel that this rework helps the final piece. The center of interest is stronger and draws the eye to one of Maureen’s “ Golden Points”.

Progress Report:Teasel Trouble This work is 24” X 28” inside the frame. The frame was a gift from my friend Patti. These are the original teasel heads that were too small that got lost on the first background.

When I made this one I made the background simpler and in a rusty color to show off the heads. ( the color in this photo is awful! the color in the full shot is a lot closer to reality)

The smaller heads in the background are made from silk paper.

Sharron’s Challenge This top is all assembled. I find it to be a little quiet and not to interesting so I decided to add a cherry blossom limb on top of it. I drew a limb on wash away in magic marker and then built a limb on top. The white paper shapes and the pink/orange shape represent the flowers. I plan to add more.

Then I did a second look and decided that the limb was too light in value so I started a second one yesterday. It works with the background much better. It is made from the sleeve of a tweed wool jacket that Tanya had given. It does not take over the background either. I am about half done with the build up of the limb and then I will add pink blossoms.

Wiggle Cut Being a frugal person, I decided I would still use the first limb on a different background so I built this one for that purpose. I will slice this vertically and shuffle the parts and then add the fist limb on top.

Summer Meadow I am reading Layer, Paint, Stitch by Wendy Dolan. This is my attempt at the first exercise she suggests. It is built up with layers of white and off white textured materials. I need to add some more lace flower forms on this before I go onto the next step.

Samurai Romance I am also still working through Stitch, Fiber, Metal and Mixed Media by Alysn Midgelow-Morden too. This is the first step of the second assignment in that book. ( the pods were the first) I still need to attach more cording to the surface of this section so I can go onto the next one. I am enjoying thinking about how I can apply these different little ideas to my own work.

Bird Land

This is 12” X 12” and it is my entry for the SAQA auction for 2017. I only need to add a sleeve and label to the back and it will be ready to ship. I enjoy the organization and I am glad to add to the fund raiser.

Xavier Wood Ice I continue to do the free motion work on this piece. The build up is slow as it is so large and I only work for an hour at a time on this process. I find that if I try to do more it becomes very sloppy and I feel like I lose control.

Scarp Happy All the rows of this quilt are done now. I started cutting pieces for the back yesterday so now the end is in sight.

Label Block # 108 With the completion of this block I only have twelve more to finish this step. I will do a recount this week to make sure that my numbers are correct. I am getting excited. The bad news is I still have lots of labels left over…….

Keep Creating

Carol

!7" Blocks- Ethel's scraps, Label Blocks, Pods, Teasil I, Teasil II, Three- D works, Xavier Wood Ice

Wintery walks

February 16, 2017 admin

Hello-

I am so very fortunate to live where I can walk three blocks and be in a wild area. This was the trial( made by deer) I took earlier this week after we had a 10 inch snow fall of lake effect snow. It really loaded down the branches and out lined them as well. I so enjoy looking at the way the snow shows off the liner structures of different types of trees. It is fascinating to me. It has also set me on a new approach for some new work I want to try. That idea is not developed enough to share it yet but if and when it does I will inform you.

With all that snow I did two batches of snow dyeing. And the new snow today will be the beginning of a third. Only one is completed and pressed. These are a great combination of yellow, green and brown.

Progress Report: Teasel I This work is 24” X 18”. It is stretched and has a wire in the back for hanging. The pods are made from a bit of Kimono silk with hat netting placed on top to give the feel of the many sections in the pods. The spear’s are hand embroidered on top and along the sides. The handwork step is done last.

Teasel II This work is now ready for the spear’s to be added to the work. Again they will be done by hand.

Xavier Wood Ice This work is just getting the start of the machine tack down. I keep turning it different directions to decide what way is up. Things will change a lot as I add in more and more texture.

Pods I have finished all of step three for the first pods. Now I need to add a few beads to the bottoms and decide if I want to make more of them or move onto the next project in the book. I have lots of created fabric leftover. It could go into other things too. I need to consider.

Sharron’s Challenge All the parts of the silk have been connected for this challenge. I am thinking that I will build up a further surface on top of this work. It is too mono chromatic at this point.

Scrap Happy All thirty 17.5” blocks are built for this project at this point. The photo shows two blocks. All the fabric is from Ethel’s scrap box. I need to build more sashing and assemble it now. It will be colorful.

Label Block # 107

The two big labels made this block go together quickly this week.

Enjoy the season and

Keep Creating

Carol

PS One last snow covered tree.

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

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Category Archives: Xavier Wood Ice

March

Winter Return

Could be Spring

Wintery walks

Winter

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer