Category Archives: Blossoming Branch

Spring

Hello-

It is starting to really feel like spring here in central New York.  I see little bits of green on the tips of branches  and shoots in the flower beds on my walks.   This was the fist week of the month so I had meetings.   The QuEG’s meeting was small but there was lots of work.

IMG_7796Liz finished this beauty using all Kay Facet’s fabrics.    She and  Sue Ellen both had work for the  group challenge for the guild.

Liz  This is Liz’s finished star challenge piece.  It looks good I think.   Sue Ellen’s star  is   a good one as well.IMG_7797  The use of the light blue fabric and the size were the other two limitations to the challenge.     Angela's Angela is busy working on felting some of her patterns from her tip to Hawaii   I think the limited pallet will server her well with this exploration.

 

 

Lor'sThe Divas also meant on Tue eve.  with more exciting stuff.  This is Lori’s completed tundra piece from her trip to Alaska.IMG_7802Maureen showed us lots of the new wonderful hand printed fabric that she is working on.    Donna  is proud of finally finishing her big king sized top.   It is amazing as it is her first quilt.  IMG_7806

Donna's BatherShe is also working away on some figures in paper clay.   These bathing beauties are fun I think.

IMG_7811Regina is doing lots of handwork  on her shobori  pieces from last month.  She is also exploring with rust dyeing.   IMG_7813

 

 

Liesa workLliesa  shared her memory scrolls from her semester in Japan.  They are so wonderful.  IMG_7824All created while she was there with her husband and made from fabric she got at the temple sales that she attended.

 

FiguresThere are four scrolls and each one is full of beautiful appliqued works all with memories and stories too.  IMG_7823   She stitched the insect by hand here and told a story about the cricket pets one has in the small houses there.  I just could not look enough at this piece of work.

 

scrolls

 

 

 

Summer Medow

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Summer Meadow 

 This work is 15” X 21.5 “  in size.  Sewing of the flowers  was done from the back of the work with thick thread and cord in the bobbin.IMG_7836IMG_7837  The dragon fly has wings cut from ribbon that was then free motion attached to the background.  The  body is made of bugle beads that I hand stitched to the surface.

 

 

Blooming Branch 33" X 430.5"Blooming Branch This work is 33” X 40.5”.   It is the result of a challenge by my friend Sharron.  We bot purchased  some silk kimono fabric

IMG_7850This shot is a close up of that fabric.   The challenge was to use it in a project to show at  QBL in the summer of 2017.   IMG_7849  This is my solution.

Crow Calls Crow Calls I am adding the trees to the surface of the work now.  It takes about 50 minuets to  do each tree and the birds have not been started yet.   I am enjoying it none  the less.

 

 

Samurai RomanceIMG_7834  I finished the leaf panels  this week .    I am beginning to feel it is a bit over crowded and I still have one more technique to add to the surface.

Samuair Romance     I may do some  editing before this is all done  and I am happy now that I only pinned things in place as I went along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RoosterBanner –Year of the Rooster   This is one of my works that I started in Florida with Susan.   The lettering on this one is stamped.   The rooster is colored with  crayon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_7843.jpgBanner- Birds  This is my second banner this week.  The texture is created by rubbing over a plastic doily with crayon.  The text here is cut felt letters that were machine stitched down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New  IceIMG_7830I am just starting to free motion stitch down the parts of  this work.  The bright pink at the bottom, is the felt inside  that I am building on.

 

 

scarvesNew Scarves       Chris  asked for more scarves so I got busy and did these two this week.  IMG_7856  I am always surprised by the bits of stuff that seem to pile up and work in these projects.

 

Pod 6IMG_7858  I gave in and  decided to create a few more pods.  This one needs some weight/beads on the bottom and it will be complete.

 

 

Label Block 114Label Block # 114   I made it to the fabric store this week and got more black fabric for the last 25 blocks.  Cutting them is the next step.  Only  36 to go now.

Keep Creating

Carol

PS check out my  tutorial on how to rust print.

Home again

sunriseHello-

I am home from my trip to Florida.  I had a good time and enjoyed my stay with Susan.  We got up with the sun and went to the shore to see it rise.  She and I worked on rust dyeing and I came home with a nice selection.IMG_7751  Jim took this great photo of me holding one of my rust creations.   We went to his home one night and drew  all evening too.    I will do a tutorial  of the process rust  and post it by next week.     Susan This shot is of Susan  across the table at  drawing on Tues.

IMG_7705Chris Winter visited on afternoon and  we did  image transfers with Citra Solv . IMG_7707.jpg

Through out the week we  cut stencils and made flags with them.IMG_7700 Now all I need to do is the finish up on all fifteen of them.   They all need text of some sort because  that was the main challenge to begin with.   Susan in the studio  I will put the two I have completed in the progress report section.     We  worked away  very day and the time flew bye.     I came home to  find   ice and snow still remaining from the storm that dumped 24”  before I left.IMG_7642  This shot is of the sky light in the airport.

Monday I went off to visit with my friend Angela.  She did a special demonstration for me of how to use pre felt.  AngelaI now feel I know a lot more about how to use my roving and felt more effectively.   She is a good teacher.   I am sure the processes will be a part of future  works.

IMG_7764.jpgThis morning the FAB gals meant at my house.   Nancy has finished the top of her quilt for her mom.  It is beautiful.  The colors make one feel so summery and warm.  We will get together and pin baste it in the near future.      Judy is still knitting away on her red sweater.   She is working on the arm wholes now , so the end is in sight. IMG_7766

Progress Report: Flags 1  Bee Happy  IMG_7760 This is the fist flag I finished.  I did most of it in Florida and only added the sleeve here at home.

Flag 2- Llegado IMG_7759 I added the tabs and the beaded fringe on the bottom of this one to make it long enough to fit the size we agreed upon.   Llegado is Spanish for  alight.

Blooming BranchBlooming Branch   All the blossoms are stitch down now.  I am working on the hand quilting step of this  project.   I did not add enough wind  lines with the machine for me to feel it is stable .   IMG_7779   So I am outlining  things in the background by hand.

Summer Meadow   SummerThis work is nearly done now.  I added the daises and little yellow flowers to the surface .  All the work was done from the back side of the work with  extra thick threads in the bobbin.  Another new machine process that I will add to my tool box of techniques for use in the future.

crow callsCrow Calls     I thought I was ready to add these trees to the surface of the quilt.  But when I started pinning them up,   it became apparent that the black trees are too dark.  The crows will be lost in them if I do not build up more browns and grays into the black trees.   So there is work ahead for this week on this project.   I think the wash away partly obscured this problem until this point.

Samurai Romance  IMG_7778   I am adding the beads around the outside of the leaf panels for this project.    That and the Turkey Work stitches take lots of time.    This panel  is done the other similar one does not have any hand work yet.  It is smaller then thisfist pannel.

iceNew Ice  I started a new ice piece this week.   I took a lot of photos of the ice forming in Xavier  wood and this one had leaves sticking up through the ice and snow.  I want to try to capture/show them with this piece.   I have some ideas, so stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

Label Blocks # 111, #112,#113

Label Bkocks  The one thing I have completed in the last three weeks is my label blocks.   But I did discover that when I laided them out that 120 blocks will not be enough to cover the bed without sashing.   I do not like that idea so I will cut  25 more black squares and add labels to them before I put the top together.

Keep Creating.

Carol

March

 

IMG_7605Hello-

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's work 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.

 

Regin'a ButterflyAt the Diva meeting  Regina shared her Butterfly piece and a second forest floor work.

 

 

 

Lori's 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.

IMG_7616Donna shared some of her Shobori work form Maureen’s class.

Ruth share this wonderful Guatemalan  weaving.    IMG_7617

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

Xavier Wood IceProgress 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.IMG_7629  I used plastics, ribbon, yarns   netting and hand dyed cheese cloth as parts of the texture for this piece. IMG_7632  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.

branch-study-mine.jpgBlooming 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.Dark limb -gray scale   So I returned to the light branch and pinned it up and took a gray scale photo of it.  It looked like thisWhitew limb-gray scale  So that’s the one I sewed down and I am using in this work.

IMG_0669.JPGLight-limb-on-background.jpg

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

IMG_7623

Second Branch  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 IMG_7635  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 medowSummer 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.

 

Crow CallRe 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    Block #110I 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