Category Archives: Green Grow the Grasses

Spring! April 3, 2014

Crockuses Hello-

Spring is finally showing it’s self her in central New York.     Three days in a row of  blue sky and sun shine!     Tue and I spotted this garden full of spring flowers and it made me smile  every timePatti's-scarf I thought of it all day long.   Hurry for the new season!    This week has been so very full of stimulation I, hardly know were to start.    At the FAB meeting  Patti showed us two scarves she had knitted to send off to be given to runners at the end of the Boston Marathon this year.   They both were so very soft that I am sure they will be welcome gifts.   Victoria had been to a little workshop that Noel is giving.  They are playing off the ideas of the BA3Victori's-necklacenecklaces that  Mackenzie- Childs  sells.    The catalogue  in the background was the inspiration, and Victoria really put her own spin on it I think.  The when I went to the Diva meeting last evening I found that Noel was the gal who is leading this play.  She is giving up her rented studio and cleaning as well as  trying to create a new workshop for herself.  Everyone in both groups loves the idea, myself included  so she has agreed to open her spaceNoel's-necklace and try  a variation  with several more of us.    I am looking forward to that play day.

The QuEG’s meeting was in morning on Tuesday and there was lots of inspiration there too.  We got to meet in Sue Ellen’s studio, always an inspiration SueEllen's-workplace all by its self.      She ” wowed” us with  six new works!  Like all of us she has lots of fabric and these two pieces were created from her first dyeing experience over 15 years ago.   She says she did them to try out different quilting patters on similar tops.   I think she proved her point.

 

 

Sally's Birds   Then there is the wonderful on going work by Sally.   She does such amazing  stuff with her embrodery machine.  The birds just blew me away all by them selves.   Then all the unique nine patch blocks on top were just wonderful too.    In addition to that  she had a pack of about a dozen 6″ cards that used smaller images.Sally's-Cards  Each  card was different and where she used  varigated gray black and white  thread for this card, many of the cards used different threads for different sections.  She pushed the idea further  water color pencils  to add more color to these small wonders.  She gets sure gets miles of usage out of her machine.

Liz

 

Liz is playing with retro fabrics and antique  blocks that are six inches on a side.   The fabrics and patters sure play together well and are a delight to look at.  The small size means it is not  overwhelming- but it will sure take a lot of blocks to finish the piece.

 

 

 

Barb's-project

 

Barb is working on this colorful work for her grandson.  The dark blue is denim- just the wright thing for a  young  boy.   She is just starting to quilt in the areas around the zig-zag lines- the white is chalk that will disappear when that job is done.

Anne's-workThen there was the Diva meeting on Tuesday evening to add further delight to the eye.

Anne is pushing forward trying unique quilting patters with the works she showed last month.  I really like how the horizotal  varigated thread  seems  to disappear in places on this work.    Class projects are great places to play with new ideas and explore.

Alice had yet another new wallAlice'swork book to share with us.  This one is called We Love the Water.   The bid bird is one she hand painted on black fabric.  The loon and flying Canada Goose are both from commercial  fabrics.  I find the way she mixes thous two ideas amazing.  Most of the time putting these two things together just does not quite meet the mark- but she does it flawlessly. Noel's-project1

Noel is working with thin strips now.   All the brown units that are cut on the biases sure add to the challenge here.      I like the limited values that she uses here.

She also had a second larger top  in this same vain with kits in some of the diamond shapes.

 

 

 

Cheri's-Fiddle-HeadsCheri finished the wonderful work she shared with two mouths ago.   She has added a lot of hand work to her canvas painted quilt Fiddle Heads.  I really like this work! Scarp-Happy-3

The  last of the three Scarp Happy quilts was picked up on Friday.  It went to the local Public Television Station for their  spring auction.    I also gave them a small wall quilt.  I have done this for years as I so believe in public broadcasting.

 Progress Report: Green Grow the Grasses This pale spring quilt is now complete.

Green Grow the Grasses 23" X 32"  $260.00
Green Grow the Grasses
23″ X 32″
$260.00

It too makes me smile as I recall the  joy of creating the stamped areas as well as all the free motion flower and leaf forms I put on the surface of this one.

grass-cl3 -

   

 

 

I really feel the sewing machine has become a drawing tool for me.  That has only come with years of doing the process, but I want to encourageGrass-close up 1 - everyone to keep doing it until it is a natural act for you too.

 

 

 

Smoke 23" X 52.5" $395.00
Smoke 23″ X 52.5″
$395.00

 Smoke

This work was also completed this week.    More than once I thought that I was done, and I would hang the work on the pin wall at the end of the day.  Then Smoke-close up 1when I would look at it with fresh eyes in the morning I would see easly what  else was needed- more hand work for the most part.     Smoke-close up 2  I had never quilted through silk before I tried this project and learned a lot doing so.   I really like how the needle glides through the surface of the project.

Smoke Close up  4  I cut up an  silk scarf that I had created years ago and was not what I would call a success.  All the dark and gray areas are a part of that project.   I like the result here.

 

Grove

Grove   I am still working on the insertion process.   I only have one more tree to add the branches to and then I will start the stumps and setting.     I may  shuffle  the parts I have created too.  But I make those visual decisions by looking at the subject.

  altered--workNew Work    This is the top half of the work I was considering cutting apart last week.  It was not working as it was so I cut it.  The black tree is just pinned in place.   I did try several other placements before I settled on this one.  Again the visual decisions was made visually.    I have quilted in the ditch the background sections of this work and plan to free motion in the tree with additional limbs as needed. Daily's

Daily‘s         I am working away on the  these little fellows.  I discovered one of the  black circle and  units from last month in the bottom of the tin where I keep the prepared squares.  So I finished it too.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Knowing when to stop. March 27, 2014

Hello,

BM27fullOne  problem I  often face when I  paint  is not knowing when to stop work on a painting.   So I often go too far and add that extra tree or bit of red and then  ruining a  work because I am not be able to repair the problem…… I usually do not face that with my fiber work because I can pin things up and nothing is permanente until I make the final decision ans sew then down.    This week I seem to  be filled with lots of doubt about this completion  “thing”.   I can not seem to decide if I am  finished with either of the  two Foundations pieces that I am currently working on.    So I pinned then backward to the wall top-halfand have not looked at the surface  for several days.  I hope when I  face them with fresh eyes early next week  the absence will help me make the decision about rather to go forward or stop.     There is one other little quirk in my mental state as I  discovered a work I had folded up last fall  with a similar problem. (This blue and purple work)botton half  Now it is easy to see that the there are really two haves to this work and they do not go together.   So I think I will slice then apart and try to solve each half independently of the other.  After I slice them in two I will be able to work with each half  to see if I can save all or any portion of the work.  I may still need to rotate the  sections but as seperate units I think my chances of success are much better.

Scarp-Happy-1 Progress Report: Scarp Happy  I have been working on this bed quilt for a few weeks.    It is done and has gone from my life.  The woman from Prevention Net Work came yesterday and picked it up for their Spring Fund Raiser.  This organization works to keep teen off drugs by providing alternate activites for them to work on.  My grandson worked on a play with/for this organization a few years ago.  I am glad to support groups that deal with teens.   scrap-happy- 2

Scrap Happy   I also  passed this quilt to a second auction.  This Scarp Happy  has a diagonal  block lay out.   It is going to the Meals on Wheels of North Syracuse for there benefit.   I was assured that it will sell well and add to their coffers.  Again I am happy to support this organization.

ElectricElectric    This top really went together quickly when I finally got to it this week.  I am now in the process of adding the quilting.  I am using the silk screen printed fabric that I made as the inspiration for that quilting.   It is fun- but very slow as I have to stop so often and change the direction of the stitches at sharp angles.  No  stitching line thus far is longer than an inch and a half and most are under a half an inch.

It is quite a slow  process.Electric close up

 

 

 

 

Green Grow the Grasses  Green-grasses-cl  I am having a good time doing the free motion drawing of the flowers on this quilt.  Some of the  machine drawing is just on top of the print on the fabric and some is just my own creation.   I have also added some leaves to the surface to add interest and varity.

Smoke-cl

 

Smoke I am still working away on this piece.  Every time I think I am done with it I pin it on the wall at the end of the day and then look at it first thing in the morning before I turn the lights on.  That is when I  can see what the quilt needs and thus far that has been more hand quilting.  One cannot rush the process.

 

New Worknew-work Then of course when I do not know what else to do I start a new piece.   Seriously,  I was not done exploring the slender inserts idea and this thing popped into my head just as  I awoke the on Tueseday morning.   So I am off and running with a new thing.

Daily'sDaily’s   These little works seem to be one of the constants in my life at the moment.  Thank goodness for routine.

Keep Creating

Carol

Vernal Equinox March 20, 2014

Hello,

Here we are at  the first day of spring according to the calender.   It is also

 Striking Gold 17.25" X 25.75" $160.00
Striking Gold
17.25″ X 25.75″
$160.00

the time when light and dark are at equal lengths for our part of the world.      I always enjoy watching the world awaken from winters grip and the surge of life as it goes into  high.  I will be watching for little shoots of green this week and hoping there is no more deep cold to cut off the new growth.

Progress Report :Striking Gold   I am done with this piece.  I am excited as this time I have tried a combination of hand work and lots of free motion along with the direct applique technique of the foundations series without the buckram. Striking-Gold-close-up  I used one solid piece of fabric ( the gold printed material) for the base  with two layers of felt behind it instead of batting and then used the same techniques.    I was not sure that I could do all the free motions work with out the strong Striking Gold Close up 2base of the buckram for this process.  But it worked.     I used nylon netting and ground cloth on the surface  as well as bits of fabric .  I did some bobbin work on this piece too( the zig zag across the painted ground cloth shown here).  I tried several types of hand stitching on this piece too.  French knots, stippel stitches and some X’s to hold down some Striking-Gold-Closeup 3of the yarn that was applied to the surface.   I feel like I have expanded my choices when it comes to adding textures to the surface of my work and that is  one of my main goals.

 

Green Grow the Grasses Green Grow the Grasses It was fun to work on this pale quilt this week.  The soft colors seems so in tuned with my spring cold.  I have done some of the free motion work in the green grass sections and a few of the little flowers.  I am not sure how I will quilt the rest of the project.  Green-cl

Smoke

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smoke I am doing hand quilting on this project.  I decided to follow the black and gray painted lines on the silk fabrics as my inspirations for those stitching lines.  Smoke close up 1 I think it will need some machine work as well – but I will not really know the answer to that before I finish the hand work.

 

New-work

 

 

 

New Work   As always I am thinking a head so I pulled out a new batch of fabrics for possible use with my next top.   I am sure I will not use all of these on  this work as I plan to work small- but it is always easier to eliminate than to not have enough.

 

 

 Daily’sDaily's  The Daily’s just keep coming.  I have only four more blocks with the  black circle and two red rectangles to complete.  Then I will need to dream up a new layout challenge for myself.   Look for that next week.

Keep Creating

Carol