Category Archives: Paper Quilts

Consideration, Find Ecstasy, Hand Bags, Insect ology, Minion, Pock Marked, Rejoice, Uncategorized

Travel Log

May 21, 2015 admin

Hello,

I am home from a wonderful trip and I still seem to be flying along with lots of new experiences. Maine was/is beautiful as it too awakens to spring. I enjoyed the tulips in Barb’s yard and took lots of pictures. There are so many wonderful colors. We visited two artists with studios on this trip. The first was Elizabeth Busch’s place. She is working on a new commission for the state capital building in Augusta. This is a shot of the models. She is building in her wonderful weaving on bird netting.She carefully explained how she used her photos of different parts of Maine to build the landscape that she wanted for the project. She refers to them often as she works with the weaving to keep the colors close to the natural look she is building. She has a large collection of printed and painted strips of plastic to choose from when she is working. Elizabeth sometime weaves as many as four strips into one section to create the color she wants for rocks, trees, water and other natural elements. She is working on all three panels at one time so they will flow into one another as they spin from the three eye beams in the lobby. The job needs to be completed by September so she will have a busy summer.

The second Studio was that of Nanci Kohn She is a photographer and paper Mache’ artist. She too was very willing to talk about her process and work. I really love this song bird that is covered in sheet music.

We then stopped and looked at a welded sculpture of an Osprey on a bridge on our way to Portland. It was an enjoyable and stimulating trip as travel always seems to be for me.

Tuesday the FAB group meant here. Patti had nearly completed this happy little wall hanging. I like how she used buttons and beads for the eyes of the kittens.

Judy was busy working on a new sweater. She is doing hand embroidery stitched flowers on it now to add more interest. I like the soft colors she is using.

Progress Report: Paper Quilt- Consideration

I am done working on the surface of this project. I want to add a sleeve in a different manner than I have with previouse paper quilts,because it is so wide. I want to make the slat removable for this one. The papers that I started with were from a Gelli print play day last fall. I have enjoyed doing all the stitching on this one and adding textures

I added painted and melted tyveck for that texture. I used both sides so some areas have the bubble up and some have the bubble down.

Hand Bag I made a new hand bag out of some of the wonderful fabric that Regina gave me a few weeks ago. It is time to switch to a summer color so I put the old one( it was browns and blacks) away.

Place Mats When I was sorting through the material for the hand bag I pulled fabric for place mats too. These are the newly finished batch. I have stacks two more sets setting on the cutting table.

Pock Marked I am working on the free motion portion of the quilting on this project. It is going slowly as I am trying to find lines to follow for all the stitching and it is very complex in some areas.

Insect Ology I am to the free motion quilting on this project too. It is a much different process than Pock Marked- much more a reflective process. It is good for me to switch from one type of free motion work to the other.

Flag – Rejoice For the experiment on this flag I drew on the surface with magic markers and then stayed it with rubbing Alcohol. I hung it on the line so it would run down as it dried. Not all the makers ran because they were different types of markers. The “Sharpies” rand the most. The quote is” Rejoice in the common place.” from an unknown source.

Flag- Find Ecstasy This flag does not have much in the way of experimentation. But when I found this quote l knew I had to use it. It is from Emily Dickenson: “Find ecstasy in life – the mere sense of living in joy is enough.

More Minions I am now finished with the last four minions. I will pass them along to friends who need a lift as I come across them.

I hope summer is on everyone’s door step.

Keep Creating

Carol

Canyon de Chilly, Insect ology, Memory Map Quilts, Minion, Paper Quilts

Spring advancement

May 7, 2015 admin

Hello,

I am so delighted by the changes Mother Nature has wrought this week. From small buds last Thursday to four and five inch leaves this week. It is a wonder that we take for granted. I ate my breakfast out doors after I brushed the fallen maple blossoms off the table. It is an amazing transformation and I can’t get enough.

I have had a full week. I went to the Spring Weekend Retreat at the Schweinfurth Art Center were the new Barbara Fenstein Make Room was dedicated and open for use. Her quilts lined the walls and her sister Emily found this beautiful top among the stash as she sorted things. Some folks knitted, such as Kitsy, Donna and Linda here. Some sewed and some did a bit of both. Linda also did some beautiful thread painting of a on tree she had painted. She had the most extensive thread collection I have ever seen owned by an indivigal. Nancy finished off this little quilt. One she hopes to use as a teaching tool in the near future. I started two tops- one both days. We all had a wonderful time and hope to do it again next spring if not sooner.

Tuesday was meeting day for me. Both QuEGs and Divas meant as it was the first Tuesday of the month. Linda is taking a on line class and having a lot of fun with it. She is turning out a small quilt each month. This is her line assement.

Corinne is making baby blocks for a baby quilt. This one has wonderful thread work in it. I like how she created the shadows on the elephant in the center.

The Divas also had great work to share. Donna has completed this wonderful mirror. The frame is done with black Fimo.

Cheri is to the quilting stage on this wonderful piece. She is machine drawing / quilting out on to the boarder in the form of the white leaves. She also used the colored leaves as quilting line inspiration on the surface. ( you can see the white quilting lines on the purple boarder) It looks great.

Ruth has reached the quilting stage with her quilt too. This is one powerful graphic. She has discovered that quilting with dark blue in the black areas adds a special interest to the surface. Cool thinking!

Cindy is working small as she is still teaching. These are book pages that she will sent to friends of an exchange group. But even working 6” X 6” , she finds she can spend four to six hours on a page. They are all magnificent.

Progress Report: New Work

This is the first top I did on the week end. I used fabric from the Deconstructed Screen class I had taken last fall for the start of this project. I added fabrics I had stenciled and stamped as well as one wipe up cloth . It is ready for quilting and a title.

Insect ology This is the second top I started at the retreat. Funny how the name just came along with the process this time. I created and printed the insects a while back. I used oil sticks for the printing with this project.

Paper Quilt I am still struggling away with this project. It is made up of two pieces of paper that I printed with the Gelli plate last fall. A little of the Tyvek I melted last week is a part of this work. Some parts of it seem to work a lot better then others. I think I will add some additional paint to the surface as Carol Weibe recommends at this point and see if that helps me move forward.

Memory Map- Canyon de Chelly This project also seems to be only inching along. I did add Rosalie and Marty to the image however…… I am thinking this work might benefit from some paint too. The paint could unify sections and take the sharp edge off some areas. It is not holding together too well for my taste yet.

Minions As this picture shows I am still in the process of assembling the Minions. None of them have eyes or legs yet, but each evening I get a little closer.

Place Matts I was drooling over the wonderful fabric that Regina gave me a few week ago when I realized they could become place mats. I now have two new sets and I love them both.

Label Block And the stitches go on. I am enjoying this project as I read the labels- one thing I never really do when they are in clothing.

I am off to visit my friends in Maine next week so there will be no posting for the 14 of May. I will post again on the 21 of May.

Happy Mothers Day to all.

Hugs

Carol

Arches, By the Shore, Freedom's Joy, Label Blocks, Minion, Paper Quilts

Buds Opening

April 30, 2015 admin 2 Comments

Hello,

I have noticed as I have been walking this week a daily change in the environment. Not only is the grass growing but flowers are up. I also see that spring flowers are different here than in mid west. These white violets are a good example. ( I have purple ones in the yard too) Every day the shadows cast by the trees changes as the buds explode out into the sunny world. I find it exciting to see the major changes from one day to the next. I spent Monday playing with Cheri in her studio. She was busy creating freezer paper stencils, ironing them down and then painting over them them. While she did that I worked on adding a layer to the puppet heads that I made at Varna last month. I added paper clay over the two human heads and the dog head as I was happy with the forms. I then built up the bird head with more paper Mache’. I moved from that to building a mask with a cardboard base. The mask seemed to take on a life of it’s own as I started out trying to create a lion- but it seems I have a horse instead. Cheri suggested a different type of Mache paste and so I added the paper layer on top of the cardboard. I like what is happening even though it is not were I thought I was going. Then the third 3-D project this week was to start to create a new batch of Minions. I seem to be exploding with my own creative push as I also pulled out and sorted stacks of fabric for six new projects this week. This shot shows four of the piles. I only have eight yellow tubs for separated projects and they are all full, that along with the 3-D stuff and I have a lot on my hands to work at for a while.

Make Visible 23"X 29" $235.00 — Make Visible
23″X 29″
$235.00

Progress Report: Make Visible I am done with this quilt now. This project started last summer when Susan and I were playing with all her different mark making tools. I did several different quotes with the tools and I am now getting around to finishing them off. I quilted the words Make Visible seven times on the surface of this quilt . Some times I did them in block letters and some times in cursive. Then did reflective quilting to finish it off. I used the obi that I got from Ginny in this project too.

Regina’s Blanket This project is made from some of the wonderful designer samples that Regina gave me a few weeks ago. It was fun to try her techniques with her fabric. It is great to snuggle under too.

By The Shore I was looking at my photos of the trip to Arcadia with Barb and Marty from a few years ago. Among the pictures was a great shot of the basalt along the shore. So I decided to use it as the start of my next Foundations piece. This is just the pin up.

Paper Quilt I came across some papers I had done as Gelli plate prints. Two of them seemed to go together so I started this work in the Carol Weibe technique. It has two cuts in it. I had also melted the tyvek that Cheri and I had painted from the week before. Now there is lots of that to play with and I may add a little of that texture to the surface of this paper quilt too.

Flag- Arches I am using these flags as a place to really play with things I do not normally try. In this case I used Caran D’ache water soluble crayons to add color. Then I spritzed it with water. The word “Arches” is written in broad line Liquid Copper magic paint marker by Deco Color. It did not bleed when I sprayed it with water.

Flag Freedom’s Joy With this project I stamped a bird with a foam stamp that I had made several years go and then I used colored pencil on top to enhance it . I also used the colored pencil in the lines to add motion. The words are done in permanent marker.

Label Block I am doing my daily stitch work with this project. Every little bit adds up.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily's, Fundations XIX Mossy Stone, Fundations XX Asurite, Growing in the Dark, Machine Drawing, Paper Quilts, Spring Iris's, Three Trees

Back in the Studio May 29, 2014

May 29, 2014 admin

Foundations XIX -Mossy Stone 33" X 29" $340.00 — Foundations XIX -Mossy Stone
33″ X 29″
$340.00

Hello

It is good to be home and after I recovered from my jet lag I enjoyed getting back into the studio and working. I think having something partly finished helped me get started too. So I will jump into the Progress Report.

Progress Report: Foundations XIX Mossy Stone As this image shows I am now done with this quilt. I am not sure about how to declare the size, but have settled on measuring the distance at the longest points to come up with the numbers. This quilt has a very large number of fabrics in it as well as threads, yarns and some silk paper. I enjoy the extensive thread work that finishing the quilts in this series requires. The thread patterns create nice direction and flow directions to my eye and when I get to that step it is almost meditative in nature when I am working away at it. I do not see the end of this series any time soon- it is just too much fun to see how many fabrics I can use and how many textures I can include in the process.

Growing in the Dark – Paper Quilt

I took a day workshop in using the Gelli plate on the weekend before I went off to Paris. I made a lot of wonderful paper and fabric printed images. I decided to challenge myself and use some of them to do paper quilts again. I have not done that style in over two years so it was a bit of a challenge just to recall the process. The Gelli Plate process is full of chance and I really like that aspect of using them. Paper is in the bottom section of this shot and fabric in the top- they do take the paint /ink differently , but I like them both. This work because of the nature of the stiffness of the paper requires that one work smaller. I can only roll so much under the machine arm. The paper also is a much flatter material so it goes together much more quickly . I added in some of the silk paper as you can see here and it works well with the other materials. I have pulled another pile of paper and fabric from the workshop to start another soon.

Three Trees This work is coming along. I made the base of the trees on wash away with a dark gray green wool and then added black yarn on top with machine stitching. I then trimmed the away as much of the wash away as I could before I submerged them in hot water. When they were dry I arranged the trees on the surface and sewed them down. I loaded my bobbin with brown embroidery thread and the top of my machine with black. I turned the quilt over and did free motion drawing of smaller branches in the trees using the outlines of applying the trees to the top as my guide. This shot of the back of the quilt helps show what I did. This closeup shows all three processes. The dark green is the wool, the black is the yarn and the brown is the thread. This project proved to be a very good way to get back into the free motion process for me.

Foundations XX- Asurite This is my new inspiration stone for the new work in the series. The first step is to cut the bucrum in the shape of the stone. Then I start pinning the background fabrics to the surface. I did the light area first this time and used two different blues and some hand dyed that had blue, white and gray in it. I then pulled a pile of blue fabrics that I thought could work and piled them on the floor below the pinwall. Having them at my feet meant I could pin look down and cut the next piece I wanted with ease. I continued building on the surface until I had the whole color areas built in. The next step was to begin to stitch and pin more into the work and start to build the surface. I like to work in this free form way and let the process guide me along. It does mean that I stop and pin the work up frequently and look at the work, but I like that step as well.

Spring Iris I am doing the free motion outline step of this work now. I was so happy to see the Iris in Monet’s garden and I took a lot of photos. I think I will try to add a bit of applique on top with the photos in mind. I am not sure how I will do this yet- but I am thinking on the process.

Red Canvas I started the painting process of this work in the fall as a play day with Cheri. Seeing the great way she used what we started that day at the Diva Meeting in March got me to pull the canvases I had created out again. I cut them up and then zig zagged them back to create a bigger unit. I then painted on top again to add more depth. I was still not happy. So I have now done some hand work and I think I am nearing completion. I added beads, buttons and some altered metal to the surface. I need some assistance as to how to finish this work so I will take it to the Diva meeting and get some help.

Daily’s I think I am done with this series as far as making the little units is concerned. I have eight more and that will complete the thirty blocks I have with the two triangles on them. I have done this daily work for eight months and feel I am ready to find and ending place and move on. I will take this week as I finish the blocks to decide on a way to complete the project and to think about a new daily or weekly challenge.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily's, Electric, Green Grow the Grasses, Scrap Happy, Scrap Happy Quilts, Smoke

Knowing when to stop. March 27, 2014

March 27, 2014 admin

Hello,

One 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 and 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) 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.

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 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.

Electric 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.

Green Grow the Grasses 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 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 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’s These little works seem to be one of the constants in my life at the moment. Thank goodness for routine.

Keep Creating

Carol

Choosing Cherry, Daily's, Green Nebula, On the Road to Dry Falls

November 14, 2013 Fall’s Bounty

November 14, 2013 admin

Hello,

Fall always brings a riot of color in so many ways. Not only the trees and all their hues, but in the harvest of all the fruits and vegetables is also a color filled part of fall. Barbara could not resist the wonderful colors of the cabbages and I love them too. I visited her Turquoise Street Studio this week and was impressed by this wilting still life. I can hardly wait to see the pastel that grows out of it.

There also seems to be a bounty of events to attend in the fall. I went to Julia Graziano’s lecture on machine quilting at the Schwienfurth on Sunday. This photo shows her in front of one of her Arches quilts,althouth this one is not in the show. She said she did this series to learn how to sew curves. I think she is successful.

I also went to an opening at the Art Rage Gallery this week. The show “Spoken Threads” displayed many different fiber and thread related work. There were several quilters among the many artists in this show. Sharron Bottle Souva is shown here in a detailed talk with one of the many people at the opening. Sally Dutko also had a piece in this show. She made this quilt as a personal response to the shooting of the school children earlier this year. I along with Sally and several other fiber artists had spent an earlier part of the day visiting the Delevan Center Open Studio event. It was a very stimulating time going in and out of studios of all sorts of artist and talking with them. Even looking at the many ways they organized themselves was an education of sorts.

I am just home from a meeting of the “Fab” group. Fab stands for fabric. It is very small at the moment and we are mostly getting together to support each other and share our pursuits. Victoria is working on these wonderful mini squares using a limited pallet of only seven colors all form the Cherry Wood collection. The other gals in the group gave me some encouragement about how to improve my Oak Leaves quilt and I am going to follow through before I share it. I am sure it will be completed by next week.

I also spent a day with my friend Cherri this week. We were playing with painted canvas in a style like Katie Pasquini Masapust taught us in her workshop. After painting the canvas one adds fabric units and then a second coat of paint. The next step is to place the two works on top of one another and free form cut through them both and reassembel. This is a shot of one of my pieces at this point. I am enjoying the process.

So with the visits to studios, the galleries, the lecture and the group meetings, I am enjoying the full bounty of fall.

Choosing Cherry 12.5" X18" $60.00 — Choosing Cherry
12.5″ X18″
$60.00

Progress Report: Paper Quilt – Choosing Cherry I am delighted to say I finished this quilt after a long delay. I was missing the filler for the biggest opening so I did not complete it. The plastic printed images that appear green and red are from a seasonal food bag. When it appeared again this fall, I purchased the fruit and enjoyed sharing it with my friend Barbara last week. With the bag empty, I cut it up and added it to the back of the work and completed the project. From the close up, it is easy to see the thread bridges and the plastic bag parts behind them. I had not done a paper quilt in such a long time I had forgotten how much I enjoy Carol Weib’s process. So now I am all revved up to do another. From the second close up one can see that I mix fabric and paper in my quilt as well as the plastic.

Green Nebula This was the project that I worked on at the Turquoise Street Studio. I am done with the bead work now and into the quilting. It a great project to carry around as there is very little material involved.

Long Stitches This is a new project that I am experimenting with. I read about doing stitches on “wash away” and them doing free motion machine work on top. I did not have any “wash away” on hand, but had some nylon netting – so I stretched it in a hoop and did long stitches that crossed one another over and through the netting. I then took the work to the machine and did the free motion work that the book suggested on the surface. I think my solution will work for a “moss like” look on a rock surface – my ultimate goal- and be more stable too. I always like to alter ideas to fit my apporaches and this does that.

On the Raod to Dry Falls

I have finally gotten back this work too. I started it at QBL last summer and it got put in the box with the leftover fabrics when I packed up from that adventure. I thought I had already completed all the starts from those two weeks- but here was another. I am ready to start doing the free motion quilting on it now and look forward to that process this next week.

Daily’s I continue to work away on the Daily’s. I think they are getting a little more complex with time. It is very calming work for me now too.

Keep Creating

Carol

Diana, Paper Quilts, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Rusty Text, Text in Quilts, Trangle Show, Twilight Trees

January 10, 2013 Winter Work

January 10, 2013 admin

Hello,

I always love this time of year after all the wonderful joys of the holidays have become good memories and things seem to slow down and commitments diminish and I can really get some work done. That does not mean I am not busy- it just changes and I find I am more focused on what I want to accomplish. I started on that path with a play day with four friends.

We ( the QuEG’s – Quilt Exploration Group) got together in Angela’s new big studio and played. It was so much fun that we decided to repeat the play part for the next few mouths doing different projects each time. We will all be “teaching” a technique or leading in the exploration of a new material for the up coming days.

Angela, Liz, Corinne — Corinne, Liz and Angela showing a sample for the future

I enjoyed the silk screen printing with dye that we did in the morning and got some nice images. They are true to the color expected because Angela mixed up the dye that day. I do not have any idea where I will use these fabrics. I do know that I will eventually use them.

After lunch we made cards for a fellow creative friend who had fallen over the holidays and could not join the party.

The whole day was great fun and really got me going for this week.

Progress Report: Spiraling Out I am still quilting on this project. I have not done anything this large in a while and I had forgotten how very long the process can take. This shot is of the quilt under the needle at the top. It is fun to do the free motion work again.
Paper Quilt I am enjoying working on this project. I edged the openings and edges with a zig -zag stitch and knobby yarns. I keep trying different solutions to filling the wholes and different arrangements for the four units. This sort of play takes me much longer than I expect.

I did eliminate on of my attempts for filler so I feel like I am making some progress.

Lines in Fabric This is an exploration project. I talked last week about doing the DMC Quilt challenge. This shots shows I am still working – but the progress is slow. Marty told me that I needed to press each seam toward the outside ,cut the “line” fabric and then sew the next piece on. That way I can get narrower lines – and that is my goal. I have really not had an opportunity to do that yet. I will get to it I am sure.

Diana I am pleased with how this top came together yesterday afternoon. I added the gold embellishment to the fabric in a class two summers ago. It is the just the right touch of elegance for this work. This will be my last quilt for the Goddess Show. I plan to start the quilting tomorrow. I have got to get busy with the labels for that show next.

Rusty Text This is really a working title for this top. I needed to do a little creative work that did not include any pressure. It is also another bit of play with the Text stuff for a possible entry into that competition. I printed letters on inner facing and mixed that texture with silk. The silk was also printed on in the green stripes. When I showed it to Marty on Tue she was quit supportive about the work. I am still not sure about the direction I want to go with the quilting of this work, but there is not real pressure here as I have a mouth before it is due.

Enjoy the wonders of winter.

Keep Crating

Carol

and Brugundy, Bias Bound, Mini's, Paper Quilts, Re Work, Rocks and Water, Uncategorized

Feb 16, 2012 Color

February 16, 2012 admin 1 Comment

When I walked into the studio this morning before I turned on the light I looked at the pin wall. Because the day is gray the light was not strong so the wall appeared in colors of darks, grays and tans. Is this what a color blind person sees all the time I wondered? I love color and it dose effect my life. I am keenly aware of red this week for lots of reasons- Valentines day being a big part of that. I was a hostess and had to bring balloons as table decorations to the luncheon on Tuesday. Getting four of these clusters of balloons in the car was a challenge. But the process made me smile all day long. I have one cluster in the studio now and I am still grinning about the whole idea. My husband gave me Red Roses for the holiday too. They are another study in the wonders of red. Color is a strong influence on my life. Color is so very complex. There are labels like tint, shade and hue. They are used to label feelings like” black moods”, ” seeing red”, and “feeling blue”. We all have our favorites and colors we dislike for various reasons. Angela’s suggestion from the QEG’s meeting was that we study color, so I have purchased two books on that subject.( there are lots of them) I intend to read do some exercises and see if I can build some additional color confidence. In the mean time I will keep my eyes open and try to be more aware of the color that fills my world, being thankful that I see them.

Progress Report: Biases Bound Adventure Challenge #1 18″X22″

Full quilt ,red black and biasis strip cirlcleing across the surface — Biases Bound

Biases Bound is now done. Those biases strips sure started a lot of different projects and I learned a lot about color using them too. I am still enjoying the process and plan to try to work again with solid fabric strips on the next one.You can see from the close up how complex the strips were and understand why they frustrated me a bit. I do like the way they look however. As you can see I have added the size to the title section of the blog. I am not sure if this is were it will remain- but I feel it is and important bit of information about the quilt. I also am trying to find a standard small item to add to my close ups so the viewer will get a sense of scale there as well. A postage stamp perhaps……

Paper Quilt – Rocks and Water 13.5″X22″

Paper quitl in blue, white, purple with wholes and cuts — Rocks and Water

I am quite happy with how this quilt finally resolved its self. My wanting the “river” like cuts to be uneven did not make it an easy process however. I like the use of the purple ribbon in the back as it adds to the depth of water feel I was after here too. The process is still a challenge to me so I will keep working in this fashion for at least a few more pieces. I can see so many ways to keep adding and playing with this concept- adding buttons or beads on top. More fabric and how about paper from other sources? Fun in the future.

Black White and Burgundy 18″X 24″. I am trying new ideas for presentation of my work. Some where I read about mounting art quilts on canvas. I do not remember where I read this or the exact method the author was pushing so I had to try my own thing. I just stitched the work to the surface- only at the top this time.

Colors in the title with silver and red beads added as accents — Black, White and Burgundy

This quilt grew out of the Adventure Challenge . I made this background for the biases work and it is strong- but far too much action for the biases strips. I like the color balance here. The mounting process does shows off the quilting well. I like the way the beads show up here as well.

I am learning that I must really keep myself in check when I am building a small back because I get into the design process so much this type of thing happens. The work that I referred to at the beginning of the blog is one where I have let that happen. Over doing is so easy for me.

Mini Series I have lots of old quilts. Some I am reworking like ” The Moon She Called Me” ( Feb 2 posting), but after talking with my friends Barbara and Beth at there studio a few weeks ago- they suggested I look at some of the older work and try to make them into smaller units. Here is my attempt. This quilt- Juggling a Friendship was 38″X44″ and it was created in 1994. Now I feel there is just too much happening in this work so seeing it is a prim candidate for the cut up. I made a frame with a 5″X7″ opening and moved it around on the surface until I found an area I though was pleasing. Then I pulled up my courage and cut…….. I kept moving around the surface until I ended up with a dozen little works that are about 7″X9″. That size because then I can put them easily in standard matts and frames. I then zigzagged around the raw edges to stabilize them. I discovered that the edges would not warp as much if I put paper under the edges. The picture shows the pile of mini’s with the paper bound pieces in the top. It is going well I think and I am happy with the little works. Now I am off to do the framing and the glass. I hate to admit that the pile of scraps is calling up a new idea too……..

I hope you are all being creative and enjoying the wonders of the season. Have a productive week.

Hugs

Carol

Amended Squares, Limber Loss, Paper Quilts, Slight Slip, Twinkeling Tracings, Uncategorized

Feb 9, 2012 Active Week

February 9, 2012 admin 1 Comment

This last week has been an especially active one for me. It really started last Thur evening. My friend Barbara had encouraged me to enter an art show with her. The title of the show was “Figurative Art”, and she remembered some of my older quilts with figures in them. So I pulled the work and went to Rome NY to the Arts Center there with Barbara two weeks ago and entered my work along with her. To my delight I was accepted and the reception was last Thur eve. Again Barbara made the drive to Rome and went to the reception. The show although small, only forth pieces was very strong for a first time show in this venue. Barbara had all four of her pastels accepted and won a fist place ribbon for one of her works.

pastel on right Barbara on left — Barbara at show with work

I had two pieces in the show and got an Honorable Mention for my piece “Gals in Green.” After the awards ceremony I was approached by a fine couple who really were drawn to the work. We talked a bit and they later informed me that they had purchased my piece. I was/am so excited by this I still can not believe it has happened. I did not know how validating it can be to have a stranger be so taken by your work that they wish to poses it. I get all sparkly inside when I think about it.

quilt with green stitched figures — Gals In Green

Tue was the other big day this week. I am fortunate to be a part to two different Art Critique groups. They bot consist of about a dozen women and bot happen to meet on the first Tue of each mouth. One meets at noon and the other in the evening. Not only do they become a goal post for the completion of work on a monthly basis, but they also are great places to get feed back on work in progress and stimulation for new ideas. At the noon group- called Quilt Exploration Group or QuEG’s for short we ended up talking a lot about color. This grew out of my showing all the DMC challenged together.

The color interpretation element alone is one of the most complex elements of this project. The Crimson has created three interpretations here showing various hues and values. The same can be said of the other two colors. I am excited about the idea of working on this aspect of my work with others over the next few mouths.

The DIVA group is the one that meets in the evening. I was really excited by Cindy’s work. She uses big swatches of color with such confidence and power.

Here is an example of one of her new pieces. I like how the muddy brown that represents the flood waters passes through the work.

Ruth also had a great piece at the meeting. She is creating cell like shapes with silk and her quilts are wonderfully rounded shapes with openings.

Ruth and one of her cel quilts — Ruth with one of her cell quilts

The other person’s quilt I want to show from the meeting is a part of Sharon’s quilt. She is doing this huge work to hang in the chapel of the cancer unit of the hospital. I will add her web sight to the blog when she posts it and you can checkout the total work there. This is only a shot of the crown but you can see the hands of the children are woven into the branches in a beautiful fashion.

Mulit colored tree crown with childres' hands amoung the branches. — Healing Tree

All this activity has my brain going at a fast pace. Now to get a little sit down time to work at the machine myself.

Progress Report

Adventure Challenge- Sand Bar

I created the background of this work for the Bias project. But it was too soft. So when I was looking to try a second Adventure Challenge I started out with it. I saw the Yo-yos and like the idea. I added the beads as well for additional texture. I need to finish tacking down the facings and the sleeve and this quilt will be complete.

pale background with spring green yo-yos on top and beads — Sand Bar in progress

Pillows- Twinkling Tracings

2 pillow cases in the Twinkling tracings style — Beth's Pillows

I created these two pillows to go on the white leather couch to accompany the Twinkling Tracings quilts that I completed in early Jan. I used the extra fabric strips to make the surface. The blue lines are similar to the ones on the quilt units only much narrower. I will deliver these this eve.

Paper Quilt I am continuing to work on this paper quilt. I do not have a title yet, but feel it will be something with flowing water, because it makes me see a river pattern and the paper “rocks” created from the wholes continue that feeling.

The purple is a ribbon that I am thinking about adding in the cracked sections of this work. I am having fun on this piece even if I am very unsure about were it is going.

Valentines I love to get hand made valentines so I like to make a few to send to friends. I cut a stamp of hearts from an eraser on Monday and stamped some white fabric with it that day too. Yesterday I collage some net, ribbon and the stamped images together for my cards. They will go into the mail on Friday.

hand made valentine sin red and white — Valentines 2012

I hope you all have a Happy Valentines day too. Keep Creating

Hugs

Carol

Adventure Challenge 2012, and Brugundy, Black, DMC Challenge, Limber Loss, Paper Quilts, Re Work, Slight Slip, White

Jan 26, 2012 Power

January 26, 2012 admin

This morning I blew a fuse and lost the power in the studio. What a way to make one come to a halt. As I sat in the pale light that came through my bay window on this gray day, I was suddenly aware of how much I depend on this magical stuff we call electricity. I was in the middle of sewing a seam so the stop really make me take notice. How many items were on before it happened I asked myself? The sewing machine of course, the two Ott lights on the desk, the two power bars of three lights that are over head, the iron, the two spot lights from taking pictures for the blog, the extra heat unit in the studio, and the light in the laundry room downstairs is also on this line. And did I leave the light on in the closet when I went for fabric, I wondered? That is a high demand, I thought, and some of that is unnecessary as well as a bit lazy on my part. So I went around the room and turned off things- including the sewing machine as I like to always use the switch to start it, and went down to the basement to throw the fuse in the box. In the process I discovered that the light for the area leading to the fuse box is also on that circuit and it was on because that leads to the laundry too. I do not think that I have more items then most folks, but I do think I need to be more mindful of what I am using. If the problem had been caused by a source that I could not fix my day would have really been stopped. So with that in mind I will try to use power carefully, remembering to turn things off when not in use and keep in mind what are the consequences of its loss. Electricity is a powerful material that one can easily take for granted until it is taken away. So to keep the magic of Electricity in my studio I will be a better steward of its use.

Progress Report

DMC Challenge- Limber Loss and Slight Slip

I finished up Limber Loss this week. I still need to do the pressing, but I am happy with the look. It continues the theme that was started with Amended Squares.

I like the way the units all work together here. In the detail one can see the metal additions. They are the units off the bottom of candles that allow the candle to float. In this case I trimmed off the points that stick into the wax. You can also see the close alignment of the bugle beads to create the circle

Slit Slip is coming along nicely too. I have completed the quilting and I am almost done with the facings.( you can see the last ones on the bottom. I plan to use beads between the two units to connect them and create one big irruglar shape with it.

Re Work – The Moon She Called Me

I have given lots of works away this year as a part of my Project Divest , but there are some works that I am finding in that process that need a bit of sprucing up. So I have saved them to do just that. This old piece has been hanging on the back of the door for mouths. I decided to add a moon to the surface of the work and add some additional quilting. Here is were I am sorry to say that I have not taken enough photos so the progress is not documented. I am still learning. I made several moons and they have been rejected-Too small, too transparent, too busy and finally I created on that I was happy with. This Moon is water marked satin with dark fabric underneath and lots of free motion quilting on top.

Adventure Challenge- Black,White, and Burgundy

This is another case were the the act of creating go away from me. I was having such a good time crating a background that it got far too complex. When I realized this I just kept going, but it will have to end in a different fashion as I do not want to use the bias strips on this surface, there is far too much action for that to work. I am still using the three colors that I had selected last week.

Black, White and Burgandy — Black, White and Burgundy

Adventure Challenge- Bias Bound

This is the top I will apply the bias strips too. It is much quieter and I hope I can make it work. The same three colors are still in use. I an thinking that I will cut it down a bit too. But I must make the visual decisions visually.

Paper Quilt

I had started this paper quilt last week. I think I am going to call it Crannies. But I still need to think on this title. At the moment it is cut and there are a few openings. This is and in progress piece.

I have lots of options for this at this point and I am still running them around in my mind and on the pin wall.

I plan to spend a lot of time in the studio this week and hopefully make progress on many fronts. I hope to get the post from the 5th of Jan fixed this week too. Every entry gives me more confidence and helps me do a better job I think. There is still a long way to go- but each mistake is a part of the growth process.

Keep Creating

Hugs

Carol

Cre-8

Category Archives: Paper Quilts

Travel Log

Spring advancement

Buds Opening

Back in the Studio May 29, 2014

Knowing when to stop. March 27, 2014

November 14, 2013 Fall’s Bounty

January 10, 2013 Winter Work

Feb 16, 2012 Color

Feb 9, 2012 Active Week

Jan 26, 2012 Power

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer