Category Archives: Pods

May Apples

May ApplesHello,

As this image shows the May Apples are up.  No blossoms yet- or at least  none as of yesterday.  But they will appear soon.  They are such fleeting plants as they will all be gone in a month.   Knowing  the hill side where these live means I look for them year after year in one of the small wild areas close to home.

Liz with work

 

 

 

 

This week was a busy one that started last Friday with a three day  open studio at the Schweinfurt Art Center.  I spent the time in the wet studio again and had a great time.  There were only three of us down stairs,  so we all had lots of space to work.  Liz worked on top  of old black ans white samples for her dyeing.Penny    Good way to give this work a second life.    Penny built paper screens and did lots of stamping.      I had a lot of new thermofax  screens that I enjoyed playing with.  There were some problems  though.  Liz and I used the dye  and print paste we

 

had mixed up in Oct.Liz'z wall  Most of Liz’s work washed out to very pale colors. This great big piece went from a strong powerful work to IMG_8008this timid pastel work.     I did not have as poor a luck as she but my works could not seem to keep their whites.

My wall  None of the browns, that I truly love ,worked either.      I did have good luck with my greens though.

Liz's shot of me Liz  shot this one of me working.

Washed out  I am still washing out they dyes so I will wait for my final decision about the success of it all.   We will start from scratch next week.  There were seven gals upstairs working in the sewing studio too.  We got to talk with them at lunch time.IMG_7985IMG_7987

The “Made in New York” show was also up in the gallery.    Wings   The wings were especially striking.    The whole week end event was fun and exhausting.

 

 

 

Because Tuesday was the first Tuesday of the month, I had QuEG’s and  Diva meetings too.

At QuEG’s   Sally had lots of great work to share.IMG_8030  The more I learn about machine embroidery the more impressed I become.  All those little  red snowflakes on this tree skirt are machine drawn!    She had some wonderful hand work too. IMG_8026   The light color of the ribbon, basket and flowers was done with Crayola crayons before she did the embroidery work.  It is  quietly luscious.  Linda has been exploring water soluble crayons  and having fun at that.IMG_8024    She is also playing with black and white fabrics .

Regina'sThe  Divas were also inspiring this month.   Regina shared more rust dyeing and this wonderful Bird of Paradise  miniature quilt.   It is paper pieced.  I find the idea of all those little 1/4” seams coming together in the points a  task I do not even want to attempt.IMG_8042 Ruth is working on a  social commentary piece about the massacre.    It will be a pleasure to watch this work grow.   IMG_8044  Lori is doing Gelli plate printing to create backgrounds for her stitching work.   The quiet  colors are  so beautiful  here.

Noel's leaf Noel brought her big leaf top  from a Pat Pulley Workshop  she took a few weeks ago.  The fabrics are very strong.    There was a lot of stimulation this week so not a lot of work got done.

 

 

Copper leavesProgress Report: Ice  I am to the point on this piece where I am machine drawing the leaves that are in the water.  There is no pattern for what I am doing and I  get to invent the vain and leaf shapes as I go along.  It is fun, but very exhausting at the same time.   IMG_8057   The few place where I have cut  and applied  fabric leaves are much easier  to complete.

PodsIMG_8068  Only one pod was finished this week.  I have two more that I am sure I will complete this eve, but they are not done yet.  I am using lots of the special buttons I have been purchasing over the years and  some from the of the fancy ones that Sharron gave me  as my center points on some of these latest ones.

Label Block # 119Label #119

Again I keep working away on these blocks.   Only 26 to go now.

Keep Creating,

Carol

Spring Rains

 

Red BudsHello,

The spring rains here in central New York sure have pushed the buds forward and the trees are greening up.Silk Paper  Its so pleasant outdoors I even ate my breakfast out on the patio this morning.       I finished up the drying and pressing of the silk paper from last week.  This one is my new favorites with the captured Japanese Lantern pods from Regina in it.    I did a lot of work in the studio this week and the project report will support that.

Milkweed Pods

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report:  Milkweed Pods    This stretched work is 18” X 24”.     There is a lot of  free motion machine drawing in this piece.   IMG_7977   The background was built up and then the milkweed pods were added on top.   The steams were created with three yarns that were   zig-zagged   together and then sewn down on the surface.   I did a lot of stitching on the pods to show the woody  textures on them. IMG_7978

ScribbleScribble    This small quilt is 18” X 21”.   It is made from   the cut away fuse backed scrap fabrics that I have  have created in the last few weeks.  The green from the Jacks and the pink from the blossom projects.   I then just do a lot of free motion machine play on top to hold it all down.   This quilt along with two others will go to the  Animal  Shelter here in town to be put in the wire cages.  They  soften the effect of the  metal cages a bit.

 

Flags- Wood Ibis    Wood IbisI just keep working away on the flags that I made in Florida.   The lettering here was done with a Sharpie marker.

 

 

THe FoxFox This too is one of my Florida Flags.   I used fabric markers to add color and do the   big lettering on this one.    The small text is stamped work.

MantisIMG_7939 This work has fabric crayons as the color agent.  The lettering is done with a stencil and  silver stamping ink.

 

 

Pond Water  Pond Water  This project is going slowly as most of the current attachments are being made by hand.  I work for several hours last week  adding these little white units.   This work is a part of my curvy cur series.IMG_7980 The white is deconstructed screen worked fabric that I purchased from Randy.

Four more PodsPods   I continue to create more of these pods.  I am having fun using lots of the beads from my box and some of the fancy buttons I have purchased  of the years.   It is much nicer to do little projects then to build a big beaded work.

 

 

 

Scrap HappyIMG_7982   Ethel’s scrap box was calling to me this week too.  So I got busy and spent time putting together the little  strips she had precut.   I can see this project will be a slow one- but sometimes I need to do “no mind” stuff  and this will go the trick.

 

 

Iced LeavesIce   Two days of cold rainy weather got me going again on this project.  All the white/snow  is free motion quilted  now and most of the leaves are attached as well.

Close up I do enjoy the process when I get going.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scarves    ScarrvrsI have completed the stuffing of two more scarves.  I like the process but it is very slow.  I takes over half an hour to fill all the units for one row of the scarves.    I am ready to add the silk fabric in the centers of these works.  I have learned that the nylon net is to scratchie for the neck, so I add a unit of softer fancy fabric to the center that rests against the neck .  The good part is finding homes for all those little  stray objects that collect in the drawers.   I am including lots of jewelry bits from grandmother’s   button tin  too.

 

Label Block # 118 Label Block #118 I put a lot of hand work into other things this week so I only got one block done.    Only 27 to go now.

Keep Creating

Carol

Wintery walks

 

pathHello-

I am so very fortunate to live where I can walk three blocks and be in a wild area.  This was the trial( made by deer) I took earlier this week after we had a 10 inch snow fall of lake effect snow.  It really loaded down the branches and out lined them as well.  IMG_7462I so enjoy looking at the way the snow shows off the liner structures of different types of trees.  It is fascinating to me.  It has also set me on a new approach for some new work I want to try.  That idea is not developed enough to share it yet but if and when it does I will inform you.

With all that snow I did two batches of snow dyeing.  And the new IMG_7491snow today will be the beginning of a third.  Only one  is completed and pressed.  These are a great combination of yellow, green and brown.

Teasel IProgress Report: Teasel I  This work is 24” X 18”.    It is stretched and has a wire in the back for hanging.   The pods are made from  a bit of Kimono silk with hat netting placed on top to give the feel of the many sections in the pods.IMG_7496 The spear’s are hand embroidered on top and along the sides.   The handwork step is done last.IMG_7499

 

 

Teasel IITeasel II  This work is now ready for the spear’s to be added to the work.   Again they will be done by hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Xavier Wood Ice Xavier Wood Ice   This work is just getting the start of the machine tack down.  I keep turning it different directions to decide what way is up.  Things will change a lot as I add in more and more texture.

 

 

 

 

PodsPods   I have finished all  of step three for the first pods.  Now I need to add a few beads to the bottoms and decide if I want to make more of them or move  onto the next project in the book.   I have lots of  created fabric leftover.  It could go into other things  too.  I need to consider.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sharron’s Challenge  Cherry BlossemsAll the parts of the silk have been connected for this challenge.  I am thinking that I will build up a further surface on top of this work.   It is too mono chromatic at this point.

 

Scrap Happy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy   All thirty  17.5”  blocks are built for this project at this point.  The photo shows two blocks.   All the fabric is from Ethel’s scrap box.    I need to build more sashing and assemble it now.  It will be colorful.

Label Block # 107 

Label Block #107 The two big labels made this block go together quickly this week.

Enjoy the season and

Keep Creating

Carol

PS       One last snow covered tree.Tree