Category Archives: Pomegranate

Getting Warmer

Hello,
Spring is winning the battle for the weather. I see more and more evidence of new growth every day. My Blood root for example is doing beautifully and Betty’s flowers are also blooming.

 

 

 

 

 

I continue to work away on the Textile Artist stitching challenges. This is my applique piece. It is not at all the assignment – I could not get logged on until Friday so I will do it later.

 

This weeks is folk art and I am started as this shot shows. Again I am stretching the piece to fit what I wish to accomplish.    I will incorporate as much of the instruction as I can.
My Fad group meant on Zoom again this week and it was good to talk with them.

 

Progress Report: Agitated Aggie This work is 38″ w X 41″ l. It is my solution to the Sisterhood of the Scissors Canada challenge. Many of us purchased the print fabric and the challenge was to use it. I have only seen one other work doing the challenge.


 When I was in Florida I came across more material by the same artist so I added a second piece of material to my piece. It’s the same artist and meant to go with the first. It is the colored background piece here.

Granite I keep doing the hand work on this project during the news.   This is a close up.

 

 

 

 

 

Re Work Self Challenge I was cleaning and came across this piece in the process and although it is okay, I decided to use it as a base for a new work. Stay tuned.

 

 

 

Popcorn I spent an afternoon this week playing and decided to paint giant kernels of Popcorn. They came out fine so I built a curvy cut base to applique them on. It is pin basted and ready for quilting now.

 

 

 

 


New Sea Floor A long time ago I painted some fusible inner facing. In my cleaning this week I uncovered it. I thought it looked like something I could use as a abase for a small underwater piece. Pulled some shells and found a bag of yarns and ribbons. More play in my future.

Queen Anne’s Lace When I was painting I also did this little piece. I had reread an article in Quilting Arts from Oct/Nov 2007 and it got me thinking about a tiling technique of quilting. This may or may not work. But Experimenting is always just taking a chance.

 

 

Mini’s    I cut up one of the quilts that I discovered in my cleaning and made these little starts for use on cards.   Only the one on the bottom right is done.

 

 

 

Scrap Happy   I finished the first of the pieces that I started at the beginning of the isolation.   It is a queen sized piece.

 

 

Drawing I was influenced by the Sketchbook Revival class and so I did some clean the brush painting on a few pages of the sketchbook. This is what the page suggested to me.

 

 

I went back to my herb book and while I was on the phone I drew this Dill. It may have influenced the Queen Anne’s Lace I did later too.

 

 

 

 

Popcorn- well we have eaten a lot of that of late and it too was on the desk when I was waiting on the phone.    It grew into the later work.

 

Then I just opened the sketchbook in the middle of eating my orange and did this drawing.   I see know that it needs strengthening  the green was too intense for this subject sense I did not draw with a strong enough pen.

 

 

 

Snow Dyeing  I actually did this last week but was in the process of washing it out last Friday.  The two dark pieces are from this summer and were in the bottom of the bucket.

 

Childhood Grandfather Howard

Grandfather Howard was a wonder filled inquisitive person. He often went to Auctions and other places and purchased boxes of books. Then he read most of them. One of the other things he collected was coins. He build a wonderful display that hung in the Den for many years. It held a pounded metal curved blade, brass collars, strings of shells and beads, strange little stamped metal pieces as well as many other odd items that were used as currency and trade goods in Africa.
I remember one summer asking Grandmother Ruth for some dress up clothes and she went to the attic to look. I was allowed to climb the stairs and wait near the top. I spent the time slipping my hands into the space between the flooring and the ceiling were lots of small stuff had be placed. I explored and I pulled out a heave cigar box. It was filled with three rows of silver dollars lain end to end. I called to grandmother “ Look what I found.” “Where did you find them she asked ?” I pointed as she took them form my hands. She carried them up into the attic and they were never seen again as far as I know.
Grandfather collected rocks all his life. He built shelves in the basement from floor to ceiling and displayed his collection there. He also fronted the fire place there and at the cabin with wonderful rocks and geodes. Uncle Paul even carved a pink sand stone dinosaur with a green stone eye, that was featured as part of that fireplace. There was also a part of the basement that was a workshop. There was a rock tumbler that was always running and as a result there were baskets full of Michigan Agates all over the place. The space had a lot of cutting and grinding tools as well as buffer and polishes. He kindly showed me how to use all of those tools and I spent many happy hours working away at carving and creating little works of my own. I still have a stone rabbit and tiger eye “arrow head “ I made.
There was lots of new highway construction in the 50’s and 60’s. We did lots of traveling by car as did lots of Americans. When Grandfather was along , one could count on many stops at the raw cuts along the road side for a bit of exploration. I recall one time when we stopped and collected about 100 petrified Hor Coral. They polished up beautifully and two of them ended up in that fireplace I mentioned.
Grandfather won ribbons for his rock creations . He designed and built three swag lamps that had shades made from sliced beautiful rocks that he suspended in fiber glass. When the light passed thou the stones it was beautiful. Of his two big hobbies, he said that Rock Hounds were much more fun. At Grandfather Howard’s death his collection was given to the University of Iowa and they were glad to have it. My cousin Tracy also took some of the stones to use in her classroom as she was a Science teacher.
Mom too became a Rock Hound and many was the time we carried rocks home in the car. When Mom retied to Tucson, I would visit every February break and we would go to the Gem and Mineral show. I purchased stone beads and she bought more rocks of course.

Stay safe and keep Creating

Carol

Realisations

Out of the Dark closeup 1Hello,

I feel so Positive when I think about my work.  I did a solo trunk show yesterday for the North Syracuse Art Guild titled

Out the Window  16.5" X 21.5" $125.00
Out the Window
16.5″ X 21.5″
$125.00

” Your Art /My Art”.  In that lecture/ trunks show,  I compared my work to the many styles and types of work that the members use.  In doing so I really realized how much I draw from the other  art categories to get my ideas across.  I draw  directly on the fabric with pencils, crayons and markers.  I use my machine as a drawing tool too.  I  New-IrisPaint  with acrylic,water color and dye on the surface when I need to create a special effect.   I print on the surface using  silk screens, stamping and stencils to get images I want on the work.POMEGRANATEcl4  I use some weaving techniques like felting, silk papers and frapping.    I often use collage techniques to build up my surfaces with

Red Nebula  18" X 24"
Red Nebula
18″ X 24″

textures and transparencies and different already textured fabrics like velvet and satins.    I even embellish with old jewelry on occasion.   I am thankful that I get to use from all the different art areas to full fill my creative drive. I realized too that I have been using my experiences and interests to fuel my work for most of my life.   Doing a presentation like this is a good way to reflect and re evaluate oneself.

Oak Leaves 45" X 30" $ 350.00
Oak Leaves
45″ X 30″
$ 350.00

 

I now have the monster job of returning all the work back into the category packs that I store them in.     I feel so very thankful that I am working in so many ways to fulfill my creative ideas.

 

Acanthite: Foundations XXIV 18" X 23" $ 150.00
Acanthite: Foundations XXIV
18″ X 23″
$ 150.00

Progress Report: Acanthite :Foundation 24    This quilt is  went together very quickly for me.    This stone added some problems as some of the areas where a sold white.    I wanted to be sure to use velvet and now whale corduroy  on this work to show the wonderful textures they  add to the surface.  There were also lots of  cracks on the surface that added interest to this one.    -Acanthite-cl2

 

 

 

 

This shot also shows some of the chenille yarn( dark green) and some silk paper( blue- near the top).

Acanthite-cl3

 

 

 

 

 Broadcasting    I am enjoying doing the hand work on this piece.  Most of the saxaphone Broadcasting full pads are stitched down now and I am adding  beads and french knots to the surface.   I have added some reflective quilting to the surface too.    This work is going along well at the Broadcasting detailmoment with each actions leading to the next.

 

 

YellowstoneYellowstone    The ease that Broadcasting  is a great contrast with my slow process on this work.  I think I finally have the map portions the correct size and location.   I will do the paint step for that and then I will move forward.  I also realized that the piece is too pale.  Yellowstone has lots of forest and I want to project that feel too so I pulled out dark green organza ( pinned to the left) and adding that will help me go forward I hope.

 

The Blues   This work The Blues just needs time as the hand work is a slow thing.   I am playing with three of different types of stitches-  the chain stitch,  the blanket stitch and the  fly stitch.  I am varying the size of the stitches  to add interest.

 

 

 

CarmelizedCaramelized    This is a new work that is still in the shifting and  pinning stage.    I melted  the Tyvec that I painted in the fall colors last week, with the iron between sheets of parchment paper.  The melt results are so much fun because they  are uncontrollable.     Mixing them with silk paper makes me think of carmel  and melting butter.  That is were the title came from.     I am enjoying the play.

Keep Creating

Carol

Moon Light January 16, 2014

 

Hello,

Tonight is the full moon, but last evenings moon light  was beautiful too.  The light was so silvery white  through the sky light that I had to go to the window and look out.  Most of the snow had melted, but there was still one drift in the back yard.  The tree limbs cast beautiful blue gray shadows across the snow and my mind catalogued the colors and patterns for a new work.   This morning I did a sketch of the idea so I would not lose the feeling.    I can hardly wait until I have time to begin this new project.

Pomegranate  33" X 46" $535.00
Pomegranate
33″ X 46″
$535.00

Progress Report: Pomegranate I am quitePomegranatecl3 pleased with how this quilt ended up.  All the shadow quilting around the fruit did have a pull on the seams- but I minimized it as much as possible by sewing in one direction all the way around and then doing the next pass in the opposite direction.   All this action made for very slow work.    I also added a spike every now and then to the pattern so there were some strait sewing lines too.   I also tried a little experimentPOMEGRANATEcl4 with the paint on this project.  To give the fruit a little more “punch” I painted clear fingernail polish over some of the red seeds.  Pomegranatecl1      I really like the transparency of the paint on this piece.  It adds to the interest of this work for me.  The paint is fabric paint.

 

 

I'd Reconsider 16" X 25.5" $145.00
I’d Reconsider
16″ X 25.5″
$145.00

I’d Reconsider   I spent a lot of time looking at this quilt before I started quilting on it.  Titles are always a difficult thing for me.   I had been calling this work  Sunshine and Rust- but looking carefully at  the surface-working out the quilt pattern- I noticed the eye shapes in the printed fabric.  I decided to  use those shapes as a starting place for the quilting.    The shape was so easy to quilt and just seemed to flow across the surface of the work.I'd Reconsider  Then when I started altering the size of the eyes to fill in the space it was even an easier process for me.  It took on a life of its own and I went with that feeling.   When it was all done the I'd Reconsidertitle of Sunshine and RustId Reocnsider cl3 seemed  to be a major miss fit.   “I’d Reconsider” seems to work a lot better for me.  I have learned that I will not title a work until it is totally finished from this point forward.

 

 

Charlotte’s Shadow II I am to the quilting stage of this work now too.  It is going to be more in the nature of the fabric that is the main material for this series.  Charloett'sII-cl   I have started adding leaves and finishing flowers on the top at this point.  I will keep working away in this type of style until I have completed the work.

 

Charlotte’s Shadow III  Charlottes-ShadowIII  This is the third and final quilt in this series.  As this shot shows I have only begun to pin some parts to the wall.  I will shuffle them a bit before I begin to put it together.

 

Foundations VII- Fragments   I am still quilting away on this work.  It was pinned to the pin wall and when I came into the room before I turned on the lights yesterday FoundationsVII close upmorning I looked at the piece.  With all the color washed to darks and lights by the laque of light I suddenly saw a section of the quilt that was not working at all.  I had created a whole in the upper left hand side by surrounding a section  with darks.  When I turned the light on it was still there.  My eye is still drawn to that flaw so I will begin the correction today.  That is one really paint/college like quality of this construction method.  I will build over the area that I find offensive a with layers of organza so I can keep the texture.    This shot shows how I am building texture with yarn in one of the areas of this quilt.

tee shirt quiltTee Shirt   I have a new commission piece.  It is a tee shirt quilt.  All the images have been mounted on inner facing so they will remain square when they are seamed together.   Sewing on double knit fabric is always tricky.  I am now ready to lay them out and add the sassing to them so they are uniform in size- like building a log cabin block.  That step will make assembly easy and simple.

Quilt Daily’sDaily's   I believe the daily’s are getting more complex with time.

Keep your eyes open to the beauty around you.

Hugs

Carol

 

Were Do Ideas Come From? January 9, 2014

 

Anastasi Ruins 18" X 24"  $ 110.00
Anastasi Ruins
18″ X 24″
$ 110.00

Hello-

The New Year is starting off cold in this part of the country- A feeling that makes me want to hibernate.  But I have just stay indoors and worked away instead.   Last week I said that I was going to choose a word to be my guide for this year.  The word I selected is “EXPLOIT”.  I intend to fully “exploit” my materials, stash and potential for new directions.     Like so many others I have a lot of gadgets and stuff that I have saved for just the write project- but I will not be doing that anymore.  I plan to go ahead and use them now- with out fear or worry.   That is not to say everything will be a big success, but that idea is an illusion anyway, I have given myself permission to “exploit” what I have and enjoy every bit of it.    Saying that I was asked by a friend were do my ideas come from?   After careful thought I decided there are many sources for me.Doodle

First Pay attention to what interests you.  When one is interested in something they look at it and think about it more then other items.   When I was teaching middle school every September when the students all had their new sketchbooks I would ask them to make a list of all the things that they liked in the front.  My lists change and grow from sketchbook to sketchbook as my interests change.    Together my students and I  would use the list as a starting off place for new projects when we needed it.   I still use this practice.

I love to travel and pictures from my adventures can be starting points for work.  Like the  quilt above.

I alsoBlock-and-print doodle and that can be the beginning of work for me.  I used this doodle as a starting place for a stamp that I created and printed this week.  It is not a quilt yet, but I think the graphic is good and I am sure I will use it in the furture.   Sketchbook  I find myself searching out items that I have  interests in and the list helps me remember.  Pomergranates are one of the things on my list.  So when I saw this shampoo bottle it caught my eye.   I then purchased the fruit Shampoo bottlewhen I saw it again the grocery and I did a little sketch to make myself more filmier Pomegranit2with it before I cut a series of stencils of this subject.  I am enjoying using the stamped fabric that I created using this idea. So those are three sources of ideas for me.  I will try to pay attention over the next few weeks and mouths and note were the ideas come from and point them out.

Progress Report : PomegranitPomegranate I   This work is still at the quilting step.  I have learned that I do best if I only work for about an hour before I stop and go to something else.  That way I do not hurry and mess up.   I am nearing the end, but I am not there yet.

 

Charlottes Shadow 2 Charlottes Shadow2  I had just pinned this to the wall last week.  I am building away on the top now.  The quilt is taking shape.   I use the tape measure to help me keep my sizes what I have in mind when I am working.  I want all the pieces in this series to be the same size and this method  really helps me do that.

Sunshine-and-rustSun Shine and Rust I really love the print fabric that is in this top.  That is the real starting place for this work.  I also wanted to work with a sunny color this week when the sky was so gray and it was so cold.  This project did help me feel more cheerful.

Foundations VII   I still have not settled on a title for this piece, but I am enjoying the BJ914FoundationsVIIprocess.   There is so much wonderful texture here and the free motion work is so very calming to me now that I have done so much.  This close up shows the use of  waded green organza, wool fabric and wool yarn.    There is also a little bit of colored pencil drawing in the lower left hand corner here.  I am exploiting all  my knowledge and talents on this work!

Daily'sDaily’s    I am still going strong on this project.

Stay worm and keep creating.

Carol

 

January 2, 2014

 Charlotte's Shadow 1 18" X 27"
Charlotte’s Shadow 1
18″ X 27″

Happy New Year.    I am having a difficult time wrapping my mind around the idea that it is 2014.  Time seems to be flying along.  I am going to try to choose a word  of the year for myself.   I want a unifying idea to hold/guide  myself along through 2014.   I read about his idea somewhere and  I like the concept- now to decide on a word to be the guide.   I am still toying with several, but I will have a final selection by next week.

Like most folks in the north east I am dealing with snow and cold at the moment.   I am fine for the most part, but I feel for the birds and beasts out there.  I see lots of crows, but not many other animals.

Progress Report: Charlottes Shadow 1   This quilt came together quickly for me.  One of my quilting friends died last year and  at Quilting by the Lake there was a show of her work that two of her dear friends put up.  They had also emptied  her studio and they gave me some of her fabric.  This quilt grew out of that gift.  I only added the white and the hand dyed pink to the fabrics to create this quilt.  My plan is to create two more little quilts using more of her fabrics and then passing  the works back to the gals who were her roommates.  ShadowCl2I am going to keep using the big florial material as my starting point.    I did hand work in the center of the flowers.  Then   I did free motion Ch shodow cl1quilting around the flowers and learned a lot doing this.  All the circular motion sure distorted the seam lines.  I have done shadow quilting before. But I had always gone to the edge of the quilt after two rounds so there were some on grain quilting lines.  I did not realize how important  those strait lines were to the stability of the quilt until now.  Charletts CL3 The next quilt will be different as there  is not more of the second  pale florial print fabric left.CharolettsShadow-2

Charlottes Shadow 2 I am enjoying this process and I like this little challenge of using colors that someone else has selected.  It is a good way for me to honor  the memory of Charlotte.

 

 

 

Foundations-VIIFoundations VII     I am still doing free motions work on this piece.    All the base units are down now and I am building the textures with yarn, torn satin, and various shades of nylon netting.  I like all the shading this allows me to add to the surface, sort of like cross hatching when one is using a pencil on a drawing.

 

 

Pomegranate  I am continuing to work on this piece too.  Pemagrannte  I will apply the lesson I learned about  doing strait quilting lines as a part of the design on this one.    So far I have only out lined the fruits and done one row of shadow quilting on this work.  I am always surprised by how long it takes me to work in a circle as I have to keep stopping and turning the quilt- but I think it is worth the effort.

Daily's

Daily’s     I am finding  that it is difficult for me not to see the red circle as a flower center or a sun.   Hopefully that will diminish with the work over the course of the thirty squares.

Keep worm and keep creating

Carol

Winter Wonder Dec 26, 2013

TreeHello,

I hope the holidays are treating you well.   I am enjoying all the beauties of winter.   We have had lots of little snow storms that seem to out line the trees in dramatic fashion.  It has been cold though and I have cut my walks short on several occasions.   I am still enjoying my new camera and learning how to use it correctly.  I hope everyone is enjoying their new toys too. Everyone seems to be very busy with family and so I have not had any meetings or  art related events this week.

 Splits 27.5" X 33"
Splits
27.5″ X 33″

Progress Report: Splits  I am delighted with how this quilt came together.   I did not have a firm idea about how I wanted to quilt it when it was finally peaced together.  I spent some time looking at the quilt and decided to emphasize the gray triangles.  I used silver thread and filled in the shapes.  When that was complete I  decided that I did not want to use the silver thread through- but still wanted a little sparkle.  So I switched to gray thread for the next reflective outline of the gray units.  I did this action around the shapes twice and then switched back to the silver thread for the next pass.  I did this same pattern of thread color all the way to the end of the quilting process.Slpits close up 2This first close up shows some of the white silk with a gold Slpits  close up 3pen line on it.  This section also shows the rose print with the quilt patters crossing them.

This second close up shows one corner of a silk and gray block that started this project.  On the left is some of the ground cloth material that I also used in this quilt.     Slpits close up 3

Red Nebula  18" X 24"
Red Nebula
18″ X 24″

Red Nebula

This is my second felted piece.   I have been adding beads to it for the last few weeks and it is now complete.    I want to frame this one just like I did the first one.  Now that the holidays are over I may get them both done.    This first close up shows the center of the piece.  I used  glass and metal seed beads and bugle beads as well as a few squiens to decorate this one.   I felted in some metallic  red threads too to add more sparkle. Red-Nebula close up 1

red nebula -close up 2  I enjoyed working with all the add-ons  and  the many different threads that I used here.  Red-cl3  I also added some hand work stitches too.

Pamagrante

 

 

 

 

Pomegranate    I continue to work on this piece.  I think I started out with too many pieces of fabric and  took some out this week.  I am not worried about using them, as I have a second piece in this series and I can use the extras there.

 

Foundations VII   I started a new piece Foundations-VIIin this series this week.  I laid out the buckram in the size I wanted  then placed several shades of blue on top.  Then I  added a parts of an old wool jacket, old silk shirt and one of my husband’s old shirts to the surface.  I do not let the type of fabric make any difference if the color is what I am after.    I look forward to starting the free motion work on this one tomorrow.  When that is done I will build on top with more layers of fabric and yarn.

Daily'sDaily’s

The last five squares with red triangles and black circles were done this week.  Then I started the red circles and black L’s.  I cannot believe I have been doing them for three mouths.  I sure enjoy the challenge.

Enjoy the cold and snow.

 

Keep Creating

Carol