Glyph IV with Beads, Glyph Series, Hand work, Label Blocks, Pond Water, Series

Tree Work

August 10, 2017 admin

Hello,

I am feeling a bit sad today as the tree men came today to do some necessary tree trimming and removal. As this shot shows the oak was rubbing on the roof as was the white pine. I love trees and have done many works celebrating them so having two cut to the ground is the source of my distress. One, the ash in front of my studio window was suffering the effects of the ash bore beetle. I did do a drawing of a short branch. The second was a Maple that was greatly distorted because it was growing in the shadow of a second tree. There is a lot more light in the yard and house now. The roof will be better for the cutting, one can see the street signs again and walk the sidewalk without ducking. All this is positive and I will concentrate on those positive things. One can always plant more trees. And there are always more quilts to build using trees as there themes.

As if a week of dyeing with Kerr was not enough, Liz and I did dye on Monday. This is a sot of the dyes we have to choose from on the work table. What fun.Some of the altered fabric on the line.

I received a wonderful gift this week too. My friend Marilyn stopped with a bag full of trims and linens from her Mom’s attic. She said I knew you could and would make something wonderful out of some of this. What a fine vote of confidence. I can see several things I want to work with already.

Progress Report: Owl I am to the quilting step of this work. But I have also decided I like it with a vertical layout better then the horizontal way I had it laid out.

That means I will need to change the title as one can not “read” owl with this change in orientation. But it is still a work in progress so things could still change.

Pond Water I am still adding hand work to this piece. The end is in sight however.

Glyph IV I am quilting the background of this piece now. I want to bead the actual Glyph now that I have removed the interfacing I put in last week. I did some stabilizing quilting every 2.5” out from the center in both directions. Those quilting lines will stabilize the piece.

Label Blocks I finished up two more blocks this week. The pile of black squares is getting smaller.

Enjoy the trees in your life and

Keep Quilting

Carol

Diva Meetings, Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Label Blocks, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

Quilting by the Lake 2017

August 4, 2017 admin

Hello,

I can not believe that this is how the gym at Onondaga Community Collage looked on Friday July 14 the day after my last post and the day we started preparing for Quilting by the Lake for this year. This post will be full of photos and snippets of what happened in those glorious days plus a bit of what has happened this week too.

So by the end of the day we had filled the gym with all the quilts that we had received at that time. It was not ready for guests as more work

came in on Saturday, but we did a lot.

I spent my Saturday helping my friend Sharron move into her dorm room and decorate for Christmas in July. We had fun, but more about that later.

There were four special shows within the quilt show at QBL this year. One was five Dear Jane Quilts by Sharron.

She talked about her journey with the development of this project one afternoon after class. I have watched her work away on the blocks doing all the color variations at the same time for each of the 350 blocks. It has taken her six plus years to complete this master body of work. It looks great. Marcia De Camp had a solo show as well. Non on my photos of that are strong enough to be included here, but believe me when I say it was powerful too.

The Finger Lakes Fiber Artists had a great display . These two works are from that section. The top Quilt is by Sharon Souva. The bottom one is by Cheri Sheridan.

This quilt is by Liz Anderson, she is also a part of the Finger Lakes Fiber Artist’s group. The little girl on the far right is Liz at the age of six.

Noel Keith also had a solo show and talk the second week . Some of her works have been included in the Quilts=Art=Quilts shows in the past. She works with silks that she has hand dyed herself and that adds a wonderful layer of excitement to her work.

Sister Sew and Sew made an appearance at the quilt show. She had lots of tips and bits of knowledge that she shared with us as well.

This shot is of Sister checking the length of this woman’s hem from the floor. An item that my Catholic friends assure me was common in their pasts.

My class week one was with Cynthia Corbin. I am going to post a few of the solutions that folks created in class.This is a shot of Annette’s project in the middle of the week. It changes as she assembled it. I really like the quiet colors.

This work is by Diane. Her first work with all solids she tells me. This shot is of my table partner Robin and her work as we did our Mimi talks about our work for the week on Friday afternoon.

We were Cynthia’s last topic class and so we gave her flowers as a thank you for her kind support and help.

Friday night at the end of the first week of QBL we have show and tell where each class with their teacher get up on the stage and show what they worked on. This is a shot of Alice with her project from Studio class.

One class- on the use of wedges- just moved there boards with their work into the auditorium and display them. Nice touch.

Another event at the end of the week is the action of TOTE Bags to raise money for the Scholarship Fund. This is Rosalie Dace with her “Chicken bag” .

Week two I had a class called “One Theme – Many Variations” with Kerr Garbowski.

We started each morning with some drawing. This shot is of Cherri doing a blind contour.of onions- her subject.

We worked with colored pencils, chalk and paint blocks too. This is Cherri’s experiment using those things on a silk screen. With each pass she added more color so the image changed with each print.

Lots of my friends where in this class and we all had great fun. We did lots of deconstructed screen work. Cris and Ann were in front of me. Both worked hard. Robin sat next to me again and did some strong work.

Gerri really did some big works with her little screens. I have been dyeing with Liz on most Mondays this summer and her big strong gestural work is so inspiriting. These two works from class confirm this feeling.

Angela was also in this class and she did this wonderful series using a glue line print of her husband’s saxophone keys. She too changed the background color with each pull.

These are some of my fabrics from class.

Quilters are a divers group. One of my friends, Emily has done a lot of beading in the form of bracelets this year. She shared them with us. They are wonderful!

Week II of QBL also brought our Christmas in July celebration.

We played games based on carols. We pulled poppers. We drank eggnog, we had a garb bag gift exchange and laughed a lot. Sharron dressed in red and was our master of ceremonies. It was great fun.

The second week ended with show and tell like the first. Debbie had completed this quilt.

This shot is of Linda with one of the works she did in class. And another class project.

The week ended with the tote auction and Cynthia’s tote sold for $1,350.00 – the highest price paid for any work that was going to the scholarship fund. Cynthia sweetened the pop of her tote by adding some of her own hand dyed materials to the collection. This is a shot of the bag after the sale. Nice way to close QBL for 2017.

Saturday I went downtown to the Art’s and Crafts fair where I saw several artists friends and watch the native American dancers. They really moved and I enjoyed all the action.

My daughter’s company had a booth there too and this shot is of her and several of her fellow workers. Wendy is the one in the middle.

I also had QuEG’s and Diva meetings this week. At QuEG’s we looked at many projects folks worked on at QBL.This is the piece that Linda was working on in Independent Studio.

This piece is what Liz worked on in Rosalie’s class week one at QBL.

This is another 3-D work by Sally. The whole section at the bottom is all made with thread- except the door. The light house had a lite in the top too. She does amazing work with her embroidery machine.This is another bit of jewelry by my quilting friend Corrine.

The Diva gals had lots of wonderful work too. Lori showed off her knitting with these hand warmers that she made on her curse to keep her hands warm. She also showed off her stitch work.

Sandy proudly displayed her work just home from a quilt show.

Noel showed off her newest work where she was mixing black and white with solid colors.

Sally displayed her second quilt showing off her morning walks. The quilt shows a map of the rout in red and the photos are some of the items she sees.

Ruth is actively working away on her dinosaur track quilt. These first layers are ready for the mud layer now.

Maureen is working away on layers of dye for her new projects. This is lovely.

Susan is still doing little units of work on Pellon. These are memory pieces of her experience in Mexico. As I have said many times I am so very fortunate to have so many stimulating and creative friends.

Progress Report: Owl project

The first week I took a class with Cynthia Corbin called The ABC’s of Composition. In this class we design blocks using letter forms as the basis of the blocks.This is the black fabric patters for my blocks. We then interpreted the patters in color and built the quilt around them. I stayed with this word all week and went from this first start to a “glyph” using the word owl.

I have always been fascinated by the positive and negative spaces in art and this project played into and developed several more pieces in this vain.

At this point I wondered about a size variation with the glyph. I did a shrink and an enlargement. I have not done any work with the smaller ones even though I have several ideas.

The larger one however has become two pinned works. Watch for upcoming developments.

Label Blocks More blocks is getting smaller and the end of this step is insight.

It has been a busy few weeks and my mind is full of ideas. Now I need to slow down and get some work done.

Keep Creating.

Carol

Diva Meetings, Label Blocks, Natural Elements, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Teasel III

Preparations

July 13, 2017 admin

Hello-

I am getting ready for the start of Quilting By the Lake this week along with the usual stuff. I always get excited about seeing my gal pals that I only see for these two weeks every year. It really begins tomorrow for me as I will spend the day helping to hang the quilt show that is a part of the two week event.

This week was busy. I did go and dye with Liz one day and we did a few more pieces. I will take a lot along to use in my class the first week. These are Liz’s dyed works that she shared at the QuEG’s meeting on Tuesday. She also finished her piece that is her entry for the Finger Lakes Fiber Artists show that is a part of the QBL show . This is not the best shot of it and I will try to get a better one. There was also a Diva meeting this week. This it a shot of Alice’s new work for the Women’s museum. It is early in the process so things will change. But a strong beginning. Anne is working on this piece for a show about folks with disabilities. This is braile. Both meetings where stimulating and I enjoyed them.

My Three Jacks was finally installed in its new home with my friends Dave and Betty. This is a shot of it’s place of honor over their new fireplace.. I am quite proud of how good it looks there.

Progress Report: Teasel III This work is 17” w X 22” l. It is going to my friend Vyvian who lives in England . I will try to get it shipped soon. It is the last of the teasel works that will have this shurbi dyed fabric in it as there is none left in my stash.

I hope she enjoys the piece. I certainly enjoyed creating it with her in mind.

Prayer Flags I made up three more of these little guys this week. They are so much fun and go so fast. I often get nice positive comments on then too.

Label Blocks Two more label blocks are done now. I am nearly finished with a third. It was my plan to have three as I will be away at QBL for the next two weeks and there will not be any posting until I return . The next post will be Aug 4.

Enjoy summer

Carol

Curvie Cuts, Felt Work, Label Blocks, Little Jellyfish, Rainbow Tree, Teasel III

Travel

July 7, 2017 admin 2 Comments

Hello,

Summer is here and the long days are warm and pleasant. I had a good time on my travels to visit Frank Lloyd Wright Houses. I saw four from dramatic Falling Water to the simple Duncan House. The house I really loved and thought I could live in was the Kentuck Knob house. It has a hexagon theme that he repeated over and over. We were only allowed to take photos outside the house so this shot of the ceiling over the porch is my best example. It was all built on one level under the brow of a hill and had a studio. I really liked the crenulation and the cutouts he added in the window openings too. His use of local materials is wonderful , epically stone ,as well as his love of fire places.

Gray Stone, outside Buffalo was the only place we could take photos inside and so I am showing this shot of the fireplace. Please note the black fire irons so you get a sense of scale here. This house was very livable too. The association that owns this house is restoring it and some of the local artisans are building furniture from photos to fill it. This table is an example. I had a good time and enjoyed seeing all the houses. It was a trip to see an American Artist whom I have long admired.

Before I went on my trip I went to an opening at the Edgewood Gallery where my friends Angela, Carol and Sharon were showing their work. Angela’s felted works looked divine. She did 25 new pieces just for this show and only showed 18 of them. She is a powerhouse. This shot shows Sharon’s new style- on the wall and the sculptured bird is Carol’s. I was so thrilled to know three of the four artists in this show.

I have had two dye days with Liz sense I wrote last too. This is a shot of the ones from last week and the new stuff is in the wash this morning. We are having fun and I am working on a quilt using some of the fabric we have dyed now.

Progress Report: Little Jellyfish This quilt is 34” w X 43’ l. I was working with transparency and feel I still need to explore this subject. I have learned so much about jellyfish sense I started exploring this topic. Their only predators are sea turtles and they come in a wide variety of colors and shapes. I love how they can change there appearance with ease.

Rainbow Tree This work is 16” w X 20” l. I had a good time adding all the beads and sequins to this work. Everything I used on this work except the wool I felted with was a gift to me at some point. Yarn form Judy,beads from Ethel and sequin from Sharon. Perhaps I should call this a friendship tree.

Wool 1 Cut up some wool from Tanya with the idea of using it to build bases for the three sets of 12” X 12” stretchers that Joyce gave me a week ago.

Wool 2 This is the second start. It takes me about an hour of work at the felting machine to build this base.

Wool 3 All three works are based on the light and dark patterns from one of my rock face photos. I was liberal with the colors though.

Bits and Pieces Liz challenged me to use the fabrics we have been creating. This work does some of that.

Teasel III I am creating this work with my friend Vyvian in mind. She liked my first two teasel works but they were too big for her use. So this time I did the design with her in mind. I am to the hand stitching of the spears around the heads now. Six completed and five to go- with one half way done.

Label Blocks This was the only project I took on the trip with me. It is small and easy to transport.

Keep Creating

Carol

Dream, Ethel's Nine Patch, Fly Fast, Green Dargaons, Label Blocks, Little Jellyfish, Machine Drawing, Wind Blown Tree

Summer

June 22, 2017 admin

Hello,

It is the first full day of summer and now the days begin to get shorter. It is also the beginning of what as kids we called “Maple Whistle Time”. As a kid for about a week we would use the maple seeds as a devise to make a whistle sound and drive my mom crazy. There is also a mulberry tree that is dropping its fruit that I pass under when I walk. That too brings up great childhood memories of climbing the mulberry tree in the front yard and eating those berries. They were so juicy. We even tried to make mulberry one time . Summer was always one day of adventure after another.

Progress Report: Green Dragons This piece is 31” w X 37.5” t. It is quilted with stitch in the ditch work and then machine drawing of five dragons was added on top. I stated out by outlining the dragon that was printed on the fabric panel in the work. I did little research on Google and then some drawings I then did the others in a mimic of fist dragon.I have not done a dragon quilt for many years, but there was a time when I did one as a yearly thing. It is fun to revisit themes .

Wind Blown This quilt is 16’ w X 29” t. I built up the background and then painted that ground. I knew I wanted a tree on the surface so I did some drawing.

After this step I had to decide how I wanted to build the trunk of the tree. I used tear away paper and drew the image again. Then I laid out yarn for that trunk and the limbs and free motion sewed them all together. After pulling away all the paper I free motion stitched the tree down. Next decision was how to make the leaves. I placed a piece of wash away on top of the tree and then sprinkled shredded bits of green fabric on top of the wash away. Last, I placed a bit of green organza on top to create a sandwich and free motion stitched the everything together. After washing out the wash away I flipped the organza to the back and free motion stitched it to the tree area.

Little Jellyfish I am still doing the hand work on this piece. Stitching down all the tentacles is slow.

Ethel Scrap Work I sewing sold blocks to the 5” pattern ones at this point.

Flag- Fly Fast For this banner I set the machine on zig –zag and drew the letters in free motion. I like the strange effect.

Flag-Dream This is the last banner that I made in Florida this spring. The letters are done with a chain stitch.

New Work I am building this in the build a unit technique that I use. The challenge Liz made was to use some of the hand dyed materials we had created.

Label Block # 130 I can see the end of this process now.

Keep Creating

Carol

PS I will be away again next week . I am off to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright house Falling Water.

FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Green Dargaons, Label Blocks, Little Jellyfish, Rainbow Tree

Spring Warmth

June 15, 2017 admin

Hello,

The north east has finally warmed up and we are enjoying the weather. I have spent a lot of time pulling weeds and moving plants. I do like playing in the mud almost as much as doing studio work. I did spend and afternoon dyeing with Liz, but I have yet to wash out the dye so there is nothing to show for that yet.

FAB did meet on Tues and there was lots of activity. Judy was tying three baby quilts during the meeting. She always uses such bright colors for them that it is a joy to the eye. Nancy is finally finished with her Blue Bird quilt. It is beautiful. Unfortunately my photos of it are not- so take my word for it.

Progress Report: Spring Jacks This work is 18” X 20”. The background is all felted work and the Jacks are appliqued on top. Sense the big Three Jacks piece has a new home I did this smaller one to remind me of that other project.

Prayer Flag Pins As the picture shows I am having too much fun using little bits of projects and stuff that ends up on my desk making these little guys. The freedom of no size or shape restrictions is wonderful.

Rainbow Tree I keep working away on this project in one hour units. I love the effect so I am not at all unhappy that I am only about one third done with this project. I am sure it will be well worth the time when it is complete.

Little Jellyfish I am working by hand on this piece with a fly stitch. The tentacles are couched. I do not want to use the machine to pull away from the movement they produce.

Green Dragon I am doing machine drawing on this piece. I did outline the print( its from Ethel) and started to continue the body. I took a lot of that stitching out yesterday as it was too big for the body. I will try again this week.

Texture Project I painted this background this week. In doing a second look I think it needs another layer of horizon so I will go back in and add some more paint before I machine draw on top of it.

Label Blocks # 127 #128 #129 Do to the warmth I spent a lot of time out of doors in the evening this week and did a lot more work on this project then usual. I am having fun as I see the pile of black square diminish.

Keep Creating

Carol

PS I made an error last week I Label this jewelry as being created by Carrine and it is by Linda C.

This beautiful work is by Carrine. Please accept my apologies.

Along the Shore, Button Weed, Felt Work, Flag Challenge, Label Blocks, Little Jellyfish, Monkey Business, Play Time, Pond Water, Rainbow Tree, Soeing Jacks

Travel plus

June 8, 2017 admin 2 Comments

Hello,

We hit the open road to test out Eric’s new car. It was fun but we spent a lot of time in the rain. We went to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Coppers Town first. Then on the Norman Rockwell museum. We saw Edith Wharton’s newly restored gardens were a sculpture show was going on. The sculpture was mixed among the woodland paths too. We did the Emily Dickinson home and then moved on to Shaker Village in Canterbury. I really liked all the wonderful innovative machinery there. These machines were in the wash house. We made it all the way to the Maine coast before we headed back west. This model boat was in an old boat house that was converted into restraint where we had dinner. We stopped in the Adirondacks for the night and then went to the Adirondack Experience museum and had a good time looking at the treasures there. The travel was great but as always I am glad to be home with many great memories, lot of photos and the ideas are flying in my head.

Tue as the the QuEG’s meeting so I got even more stimulation. Corrine has been doing a lot of beading and the results are beautiful.

Linda C showed us this beautiful top. There is a lot of hand work on it.

Liz is finding lots of UFO’s as she dose some spring cleaning. She shared three. I look forward to seeing the finished work too.

Linda H shared this hand printed fabric that she has started doing hand work on. We all had stories and lots to share. It was a good time.

I have such great friends . Yesterday I got a treasure box from Debbie. I love all these little bits of trim and ribbon. She knows me too well. They will all go into the next batch of Creative Assistants that I will begin as soon as QBL is over this year.

Progress Report White Iris This work is 15”w X 19”h. The white blossoms where originally created for the 9 Blue Iris quilt that I showed in the last post. But they were too pale and faded into the background.

So I did a felted and fabric wall and used the flowers on top. I do like the shape of iris and hope to do some more of them.

Button Weed I did a little rework on this piece. It needed a center of interest so I added a dragonfly. The body is three cords twisted together and then zig -zagged over with a satin embroidery thread. The wings are a florist’s ribbon.

Pods These are the last two pods. I have 36 of them and I have had a good time. I also have all my little Christmas Favors done for this year.

Prayer Flag Pins I made these after reading the June/July issue of “Quilting Arts Magazine”. The article made it seem so simple and it really was. This shot makes them about life size on my computer. I will make a lot of these little guys as they are fun too.

Spring Jacks When I make felted backs I try to do more then one at a time. I did three when had the felter out and this one is going to be my support for the third Jack In the Pulpit project.

Rainbow Tree This is the third of the felted pieces. I am having fun using my many clear beads to embellish this work.

Pond Water

This project is also done with a lot of hand work so it usually does not get much attention. I did add the gold units and a lot of stitching this week because I got a head on my Label Block project while traveling.

Jellyfish I continue to struggle with this work. But I keep at it. I sliced the top layer of the organza and did hand work on top of that. I like the texture and will continue to work on all the Jellies in this fashion.

Green Dragon This work is all assembled and I have done the stitch in the ditch step on it. Now to move to the dragon quilting.

Flags- Play Time I worked on the flag project from my trip to Florida this week too. I only have two more images to alter. I used oil paint sticks to add color to the works this week.

Flag- Monkey Business With this flag I used a paint marker to do the lettering.

Flag –Along the Shore With this piece I used the oil sticks for the water. The lettering was done with markers.

Label Blocks #123, #124, #125, #126 This was the only hand work I took on the trip so every night I worked away on these blocks. The pile is getting smaller.

Keep being Creative

Carol

Creative Assistants, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Label Blocks, Nine Blue Iris's, Notebook Covers, Pods, Transparency work

Keeping Active

May 25, 2017 admin

Hello,

These beautiful Alliums where blooming in my friends garden and they just captured me when I drove up. There are constant changes as the weather grows warmer and the days are longer. One needs to pay attention to the catch those changes. Keep Your eyes open.

I had two meetings this week. The FAB group meant and it was an active meeting. Nancy is making great strides on her Mother’s quilt. I spent time helping her with the free motion work in the center section around the little sunflowers and the birds. She is does not have enough experience with free motion work to make it work flow for her yet. But time and work will solve that problem. Patti is taking painting classes in both acrylic and watercolor. I think that takes courage.

Judy is working away on her “Disappearing Nine Patch” and assembling it . She has plans for a second already

Marty was at the meeting too and she showed us the quilt she made for her great grandson.

I really like how the longitude lines curve just a bit to give the rounded feel to the piece.

The Finger Lakes Fiber Artists also meant this week. It is so stimulating and there is lots of interaction between the participants. This shot shows Regina and Sharon talking at lunch. ( the works on the floor are Sharon’s)

This is one of Pat ‘s rare small works – it’s about 16″ square. Her hand printed fabric really lends its self to a big format so this is a different challenge for her.

This is Julia’s piece in response to a collage that she did in David Horning’s class at QBL two summer’s ago.

This work is by Bev. I love how she breaks up a shape and re assembles it. The colors work well together too.

Then on Monday I went to Liz’s house we spent the day using thickened dye to alter the color of fabric. We both did about three pieces and will meet aging in a few weeks to do another batch. These are mine and I am most delighted by finally getting some pure white in the front piece.

Progress Report: Nine Blue Iris This work is 15” X 31” . Iris are one of my favorite flowers that bloom early in the spring. The old lace in the background here is from a pillow case that my Grandmother Ruth made . I am continuing to challenge myself to work with organza and build up layers of color. Flowers work especially well with this idea as they are so delicate.

Most of these flowers are three layers thick,

Pods I am continuing to build these little works. I only have enough altered felt to do two more and then I will move onto another project.

Jellyfish This project also is working with the layers of transparency. The colors do not come through as well as I had hoped. Not enough contrast here I think. But that is part of what I am learning about this material.

Notebook- Harlequin Paper

I made this book cover from the Harlequin paper I made last week. I fused down candy wrappers to black felt and then layered golden brown nylon netting on top. The work was then free motion quilted over the surface to hold it all together and give it a strong body. Making it into the note book jacket was the final step.

Creative Assistants I finished up another 30 of these little fellows this week. They will disappear that QBL as I give them away.

New Work

Liz challenged me when we were dyeing to create something with some of the fabric we have created together over this last year. I pulled all of these to do just that .

Label Block # 122 I keep working away on this project one little block at a time.

I will be away from home so there will not be any post for the next two weeks. I will have holiday ones to share when I get back.

Keep Creating

Carol

Button Weed, Curvie Cuts, Felt Work, Label Blocks, Little Jellyfish, Pods, Pond Water, Truquoise Street Studio

Going Forward

May 18, 2017 admin

Hello,

We continue to go forward into the wonders of spring. I love all the smells that assault my nose as I take my daily walk. Some flowers are fading, but others Like Spiraea, and Lily of the Valley seem to quickly take their place and demand the attention of the bees.

I went off to see the art show at St David’s last week. It was very impressive and with so many of my friends represented I really enjoyed the powerful work. This is one of Sharon’s new works. I like how she is building up the surface and overlapping the leaves. Carol had two sculptures in the show. I know she struggled with this one.

Barbara had two pieces as well and this one is a part of her street seen series. Beth had two pieces too and both of them had red stickers on them. She was delighted with the sale news.

My Friend Angela had work in the show too. I learned later that this piece sold too. It is always a powerful show with lots of interesting work. I am delighted for my friends.

I went off to play with Beth and Barbara on Thursday afternoon at the Turquoise Street Studio. They were both working away on pastels as is there usual thing. It is fun to work in a parallel setting.

Progress Report: Button Weed This work is 16” X 20”. I enjoyed working on this piece as I have good memories from the Iowa farm and picking these weeds. We use to use them as noise makers when we did Indian dancing. I was always taken by the fact that they where such a strong spring green.

Pods I keep working away and finding new ways to embellish these little pods. It is fun to find homes for the last few odd beads and buttons that I seem to have lots of.

Pond Water I did hand work on this project at Turquoise Street. I am adding the gold units now. It is very calming almost meditative work for me.

Iris This project had proved to be a challenge. I made all these iris blossoms and then discovered that they just got lost on my background. I guess there will be a second one in this grouping. So I built some in blue and purple for the actual project. I am ready now to go back in and build up this flower with more detail and color.

Curvy Cut Jellyfish This project is moving forward. I really like the shapes of these jellyfish. I have had to really challenged myself with I could how to build them up to get the effect I want. I am sorry that the dark centers get lost with the many layers of organza.

Brown Back I found a use for the back I made last week already. I am ironing down all the cut-a way’s from the fusing I use in my work.

Red Scarf I keep working away on these works. They are fun to build, but they do take a lot of time. I will add the soft neck unit when I have all the nets filled. Only three more to complete.

Wool Brown I am a little beyond half way along with the felting of this work. I will do the free motion work on top when that step is complete.

Mixed I am all done with the felting here and ready to add the stitches on top.

Label Block # 121 They just keep on coming.

Keep Creating

Carol

Curvie Cuts, Felt Work, Flight, Label Blocks, Pods, TaJira, Thaw in Xavier Wood

Spring Energy

May 11, 2017 admin

Hello-

Spring really brings on fast changes around here. Last week this lilac barely had leaves and now it is in full bloom. And the smell is wonderful. So too of so many plants. I love all the quick changes that happen this time of year. The leaves fill in all the empty spaces as they reach for the sun shine and soon one feels under a canopy of green. The vast views of the land are cut down as the leaves block the eye line to the horizon line and one feels enclosed and protected. I find it really energizes me as well and I have had a great week.

Progress Report : Thaw in Xavier Wood This work is 38” X 40” and based on photos I took last fall when we had a nice thaw in mid November. Ice is a subject that seems to constantly call back to me. I love how the leaves are effected too not only in color but how they deteriorate. I even tried using copper for a few of them knowing that they will also fade with time.

Pods I seem to be fascinated by the areas of connection of the units for these pods this week. They sure got most of the attention. I am also using Sharron’s buttons as focus points on the surfaces of many of the pods.

Curvier Cuts This is the back ground for a new study of jellyfish. All the curved cuts suggest the motion of moving water to me and jellyfish sure take advantage of the ocean’s motion to move.

Flags: Tajira I keep working away on the flags that I started in Florida. This one is called Tajira because that is the name of the new baby Giraffe that was just born to April last week. This “ child” was 90 pounds and 6 Feet tall at birth. The lettering was done on silk paper.

Flight I enjoyed making this stencil. It is colored in with water color pencils. I had to add the beaded fringe because so how this piece of cloth was too short to meet the size requirement.

Spring Iris’s I built up a base of several layers of different types of creams and white fabrics and then added some brown and yellow stains to the surface for this piece. I used some old lace that my grandmother Ruth created for the edge of a pillow case here too. Then I did a life sized drawing of the Iris’s I want to put on top of this work and now I am ready to begin that step. Because I want to use layers of sheers for the petals I am moving very slowly. I am considering adding roving between the layers for more color.

Buttonweed This rock wall background has been waiting for me to make a decision about the top layer for a few weeks. This week I finally decided to go with my original plan and drew these big paper patters for the seed pods for the Button Weeds. They will be cut from this bright green because that is the strong color the weeds are and that plus the shape is what draws me to them.

Harlequin Papers This is a pure experiment. I had read some where that one could fuse down candy wrapper papers and use them on a work. So this week when I spilled the box of papers I thought that it was a sign that I needed to act on that idea. I will need to look and think about it for a while before I know how to proceed from this point.

Wool- Red My friend Tanya , gave me a big piece of red wool this winter and I finally pulled it out and cut three pieces from it. The roving is just hand felted into the surface here.

Wool- Brown This felted beginning has the same red wool base. It also has a lot of fabric mixed with the roving and wool yarn on the surface. I have not started laying out the third one yet. When it too is hand felted I will get out the felting machine and do that step to all three pieces and go from there.

Brown Base These fabrics seemed to go together so I untied them. It is just a raw base for a future something. I know that I will use it at some time and be glad that it is ready like a primed canvas is for an painter .

Purple Possibilities While I was pawing through my stash looking for the the green to use in Button Weed and the blues I used in the curvy cut piece, I noticed that there were lots of small purple bits in the bottom of bins and such. So I started collecting them in one place. I will use this as personal challenge to use them all together in a piece some time. I enjoy a little problem solving every now and then.

Label Block # 120 I keep working away on these blocks. Only 25 more to go at this point.

Keep Creating

Carol

PS- One last look at the spring flowers.

Cre-8

Tree Work

Quilting by the Lake 2017

Preparations

Travel

Summer

Spring Warmth

Travel plus

Keeping Active

Going Forward

Spring Energy

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer