Category Archives: Asters

Asters, Black-capped Chickadee, Collections, Diva Meetings, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), NEW, Odyssey, Raw Edge Applique, Riotous Romp

Spring Has Come

May 3, 2018 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

Spring has come to central New York with a burst of color and warmth. This Bloodroot blossomed this week after several cold days when I could see the buds tightly furled. It is wonderful. I am rally enjoying my walks now. May day was the first Tuesday of the month and I had meetings. The QuEG’s meant and we had a good talk. Liz showed off her sketchbook where she had altered some of the pages that she printed at Regina’s last week. Linda wowed us with her wonderful jewelry. It is good to have her back in central NY.

Then I went off to the Diva meeting . Again I got lots of stimulation. Lliese did this work during the gray days of April. Tulips are always cheerful. It is painted silk. Noel is making baby quilts as her brood expands. This one is created from Liberty of London fabrics. Anne is also dealing with the transition from winter to spring with this work. The weather sure effects lots of us. Cheri continues to develop her stencil/layers of painting style. I like what she is doing and know she is challenging herself. She is also exploring uses of the wash away from our fall class. The Lavender in the center of this work is machine thread drawing.

Alice has this opening this week. I will not make it to the opening, but I will pay a visit some time this summer.

This is also a work by Alice. She does great work with crows as so many of us do who live here in central NY where they are abundant. Lori, Christen and Ruth all took a workshop on the use of fusibles and did some wonderful flower work. Lori is working on her embroidery on a woven background too.

Maureen showed off more of the work she did at the spring retreat.

She created this resist with a potato masher.

Sharon also shared some of her work with us. It was a lively meeting with lots wonderful ideas.

Yesterday was a FAB meeting and sense we had not gotten together sense March we had a lot to share too. This is a new piece by Judy and she is hand quilting it now. She also finished her the topthat she started at camp last fall. We too had a lively conversation. Judy was given a top that she passed on to Sharon who fell in love with it. I am so fortunate to have so many great folks to support me.

Progress Report: Asters This work is 33” w X 33.5”l. It is all raw edge appliqued down. The center’s of the flowers are hand appliqued circles. Some of the leaves are hand painted fabrics. The vein’s of the leaves are all stitched down with two threads in the same needle on the sewing machine.

Collection This work is 17”w X 27”l. One of the little challenges that I put up for myself this year was to create a work that is based on a article from Quilting Arts. This is one from last month. I had a good time layering up the stacks of fabric and objects to create this work.

Black-capped Chickadee This work is 12” X 12” and stretched. I am working on backgrounds for the other birds too.

NEW This is a new exploration using text as my starting point. The word is “NEW” and far too visible and poor in composition for this to be the final lay out – but it is a start.

Riotous Romp This is also a text based start. The word is New- done in a cursive curvy style. ( check last week for the shape) I have zig-zag appliqued down the letters and I have started to reflective quilt the central part of this work. It has a curvy cut background.

New I built this background this week too. Again I have no direction as to what I want to do with this surface. I thought I could use the cut-ways from Riotous Romp as a start- but that idea was awful…..

Blue scarf I made another scarf from silk paper and yarns that I had in my stash. I love the textures

Card: Odyssey I am still making little cards and enjoying the collaging process. The moon is in constant change and watching the constant change of mankind’s history unfold too.

Keep Creating

Carol

Asters, Daily Practice, Discover, Fiddlehead Ferns, Layers, Raw Edge Applique, Relax, SAQA Blocks

Still winter

April 19, 2018 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

The weather here continues to be cold and filled with snow flurries. I dream of spring and hope next week will find us warmer. Done a bit more drawing this week too. I have been watching a video , “Interpertations ” by Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn, that Angela lent me and hope by following some of their suggestions I will build some better compositions and avoid the struggle I am still feeling with my Frozen piece. I have been reworking the ice lines.

I went south with Liz to visit Regina yesterday to do some printing. Regina always has beautiful treasures that this shot shows. I like the patterns of these two beaded add onus. Regina is also doing finishing hand work on this big print she made of the Tree of Life.

These are the prints that I made.

Progress Report: Fiddlehead Ferns This stretched work is 24” X 18”. I built up the forest floor with bits and pieces of fabric and yarn before adding the ferns on top.I used silk paper, fused backed hand dyed cotton for the leaves and frapped chenille cleaners for the steams of the fiddleheads.

Layers This is my entry for the SAQA auction. It is 12” X 12” and is a work built to show how one just keeps adding more and more experiences layers on top of one another as we age.

Parts I have been building little units to work together for the last few weeks. Now I am beginning to add them together as a whole. Another example of how I feel we are many small things added together.

Asters I am building the flowers on the surface of this piece now. The petals are raw edge applique and the centers are hand stitched on top.

Felting This is just the start of the background for one of the Black Capped Chickadees that I did in tread painting at the spring retreat two weeks ago.

Daily Practice This work just keeps steadily building up with stitches.

Cards: Relax Time just keeps rushing forward in this day and age. I find I often feel a bit overwhelmed so I need to remind myself to slow down and breath.

Discover One is forever changing, but unlike butterflies that graduate from a caterpillar to a butterfly our changes are often much less dramatic and slower.

Keep Creating

Carol

Asters, Daily Practice, Dill, Fiddle Head Ferns, Layers, Talk

Spring Retreat 2018

April 12, 2018 admin

Hello,

The big event for last week was the Schweinfurth Spring Retreat. This time I was in the dry studio as I seem to have a lot to catch up on and I did not feel I needed to work wet again. As is the point of these little retreats we all worked away on our own challenges. This first shot is of Linda quilting a piece for her self. She finished it and pin basted seven more baby quilts that she had waiting. Liz spent the time doing a mystery quilt that the guild is doing. She was weeks behind and did accomplish a lot. Nancy spent the week end building a quilt for one of grandkids. Linda S. worked thread painting/quilting on this owl and a hand painted sea shell. She does such beautiful work. And so detailed!Kitsy worked away on these two projects.

One of our usual participants is fighting cancer so we all make blocks to put into a quilt to encourage her to wellness. Each block is to have a W on it. Liz went a bit crazy and did five. I brought mine block all finished.

Maureen was in the wet studio and she did some beautiful shobori work.

I worked on more thread painting and use of wash away techniques that I learned from the class I had last fall.T he branch is from the class and made thread painted birds to be a part of that project. The intensity of doing the tight work with the sewing machine , made me tense. So I did two scarves as a

a way to relieve that tension.This green one has silk paper along with yarn ribbon and sequins on it The brown one has lots of ribbons and yarns only. I also did drawings for several other birds.

Monday I went back to the Schweinfurth to help take down the “Both Ends of the Rainbow” show. I picked up and returned several of Sharon’s pieces too It has been a busy week.

Progress Report: Dill This work is 12 “ X 12 “. The seed heads are beads that were stitched on top of the thread painted dill plants, that were stitched onto a wool and fabric background. Then I stretched the piece to finish it. I enjoyed the process.

Asters I am to the stage where I am ready to add the flowers on to this work. I am doing the petal’s now and will add the faced flower centers on top of the 1/2” petals next. All is done with raw edge applique.

Fiddle Head Ferns The fiddle heads are all done and the background is ready for the addition of actual open fern leaves now I think.

12” X 12” I am starting work on my entry for the SAQA 12X12 auction. At this time it is only tacked up.

Altered garment After purchasing a great jacket in Florida with lace applied to it – I wanted to alter a jacket of my own. I am auditioning lace on this coat now. I have a great collection of old lace and tatting that my grandmother and aunts did. I will give these works a new life with this project. Again things are just pinned down and nothing is stitched.

Daily Practice I just keep adding stitch work to this top. They are adding up but not to the degree that I want yet. But that is to be expected as this is only the second week.

Necklaces I stopped at Jo Ann’s this week and because I was tempted and the beads were 50% off I purchased some. I told myself I would make at least one necklace with them using beads from my stash. These two necklaces are the result.