Category Archives: Birds

Birds, Daily Practice, Deep Jellies, FOX, Label Cards, Scrap Happy Quilts, Sisterhood of the Scissors, Southern Crows, Word Forms

Fall Retreat 2018

Hello,

The Schweinfurth Fall Retreat was last week end.   I had a good time and got a bit of work done  along with lots of old friends. IMG_2260Janice, a friend I made at the  fall retreat two years ago, made and appearance and worked on this baby quilts.     Her child is due in April.   IMG_2252Sally finished up this top.   One of her children gave it to her.

IMG_2265Victoria returned to work on this piece that has some hand dyed stuff in it that she created in the wet studio last fall.

IMG_2261Susan made three Christmas stockings( yes, that is an opossum on the one above her head )  and quilted on a piece that she started at QBL two summers ago.

IMG_2262Sally F worked on this wonderful soft colored piece that is a jump off from a Kay Facet design.

IMG_2250  Randy quilted with the quilting machine in the front of the class room and made progress on this quilt.

IMG_2251Janet worked on creating these diamonds in Cherry wood  strips and she got all the blocks done this weekend.

IMG_2248Liz worked away on this piece using some of her hand dyed fabric.

IMG_2230I started playing with some trapped cut yarns just to see what would happen.       Then I also started to assemble a top using the crows I printed at Susan’s in Florida in March.   IMG_2229   Everyone had fun and made progress.   There was so much going on it was rather exciting.

 

  Sisterhood of the Scissors meant at the Schweinfurth today and looked at the the Q=A=Q show.   We  decided to use this  nine patch  quilt as the basis for our next challenge.   The wild piecing and applique work  appealed to us.   Not sure about he rules- but I think it will push folks to some unique work.

 

 

 

After checking out the Q=A=Q show the group went upstairs to view the Members  Show.   This is my piece, Deep Jellies  that is in the show.

Lots of my friends are in this one too.     There is work by Victoria .   I know she dyed  this in a workshop with Pat Pauly.

 

IMG_2301Lori’s piece from Danalia was displayed.

IMG_2303Angela’s felt work was shown too.  I  regret to say that my shot of The Crows Of Auburn, by Regina ,  is too fuzzy to post- but it was there as well.     NOel had a ceramic piece too.    It is a strong show with lots of variety and very enjoyable.

 

Progress Report: Purple Study  I enjoyed building this little  11” X 11” piece.    The hand work class is still resonating with me.

 

 

 

JacketIMG_2274As   further proof of that the  handwork  classes  influence, I started altering this linen jacket this week.   I took out the shoulder pads and added a few patches of color.   I have even done a little hand stitching here as well.   I can see this is a long term project.

Black Capped Chickadee  I did some tread painting of Chickadees this week as I want to keep building  the free motion skills.

 

 

 

Earth –  WaterfallIMG_2271  I have not touched this piece in awhile but I got back to it this week.   I am building in the trees at this point.  The water over the rocks will come later.

IMG_2321Scrap Happy   I am assembling the rows through the backing and batting in a sew and flip fashion.   I will quilt over all of it later to add strength.

Rework FOX IMG_2317   I thought I was finished with this work a few weeks ago.   When I took it to the QuEGs meeting folks like the colors and the layout- but said it needed more quilting.   This is a case where  in my rush to finish I did not really look at the work to see it’s flaws.   It is easy to repair this one- I merely took off the sleeve and labels and pealed back the facings so I could add more machine quilting.   I am building up the new quilting in a diagonal pattern.

 

 

Daily Practice      The hand work continuers to fill in on this work.   I need to finish that step and then live with it a while to see if it needs any additional embellishment.   I am trying to allow for the looking stage.

 

IMG_2278 Southern Crows    The top I stared at the the retreat is all assembled now.   Pressing and basting need to come next so I can begin to quilt it.

Shredded  Color This is a close up  of the other piece that I started at the retreat.      I have plastic bags of  shredded yarn in color groups that I capture between the felted background and various colors of nylon net with free motions stitching.IMG_2318  It is an experiment and I am leaning lots.   I may or may not keep the piece as a whole unit.      Got to do the careful looking and living with it – but first I need to finish the work.

 

Label Card:   Beyond     In this crazy fast pasted world, it is difficult to look beyond our  next step or the next day.   I fear we are losing lots of joy and wisdom by not looking a little bit beyond the immediate  events.    So this card is to remind me to slow down and think about the future as well as the past.

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving so there will not be a post next week.    Enjoy your blessings.

Keep Creating,

Carol

Birds, Creative Assistants, Crow Calls, Daily Practice, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Feed you soul, Felt Work, FOX, Label Cards, Sisterhood of the Scissors, Thousand words, Wildfire, Word Forms

Good News

Calling Crows 49″wX 34″h

Hello,

This work is in the Quilts unlimited Show in Old Forge NY.  I got a letter in the mail this week that told me this work won a Judges Choice award.   I am delighted.

Other events happened this week as well.   Tanya came to visit and we talked of dyeing.  She is working with silk and experimentally dyeing with different materials.   I love the colors she   The big event was yesterday and it was my first meeting with the Sisterhood of the  Scissors.  It was a play day at Regina’s house.    Everyone just did their own thing. 

 

 

 

 

Wendy spent her time at the meeting working on shome stitchery.  Several gals worked on their weaving.

They both had handmade looms.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

one can see the image of her dog under this weaving.   It will be great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regina is mixing her indigo dyed doily and a rust dyed one.I dyed with shaving cream and put a few items into Regina’s Dye pot.  We had a good time and d to the next meeting.

 

Progress Report:   FOX  This work is 25.5” w X 4hhh.   I am finally finished with this work.    I used some of my hand dyed.

IMG_2051The modeled orange red here is that fabric.   The background with the greens is one of the fabrics I inherited from Ethel.   Her influence just keeps going in my life.IMG_2052

Wildfire-  I am now done with the free motion quilting on this piece.  It sure seems to give the work more of a flow  pattern across the surface.

IMG_2046Friends   I am done with the hand applique  and directive stitch work on this piece now.    The glasses are from my friend Mary and the copper belt buckle is  from my mom.   I now need  to purchase some additional stretcher bars as I did not mark the outer edge of the size and I filled the space allotted.    So I will purchase some 16” bars and finish this work.The wool is from Tanya and  the leaves from  Pam.   I got the buttons from a big tin from my friend Sally.    Folks are so very generous.

 

 

 

 

 

Daily Practice  IMG_2045  All  the fabric pieces are attached now and I am working on stitching to pull them together.

IMG_2054Felting    I went a little crazy when I got the felting machine out and did four bases.IMG_2056    IMG_2057Then I ordered more roving as I did not have as much blue as I wanted.IMG_2058

Birds   The felting lead me to do some machine drawing and the Blue Jay and the Killdeer are the result.   I will build a few more birds to

apply to the backgrounds.

 

 

 

 

 

New  Work   I started a new background using lots of my hand dyed stuff .

Creative Assistants    I watched a little football this week and built a few faces along the way.

IMG_2064Label Cards Thousand Words    I think this is a true and powerful statement. IMG_2066Feed Your Soul    For each and everyone of us that idea is unique.   Color, texture and exercise are some of the things that feed my soul- but I am sure that is not true of everyone.

Keep Creating

Carol

Collage, Dad's Barn, Daily Practice, Dreams, Persuasion, Ravens, Trinkets

June Day trip

 

Hello,

I love to do little short day trips in the summer.  This last week end I went with my daughter  to Sonnenburg Gardens  and to the Out Door Expo.  We had a good time an enjoyed the our excursion.There was a little animal show at the Expo and  this tortious  was one of the animals there.     His  textures are wonderful to my eye.     One needs to follow  ones interests as  you never know where they may lead.

IMG_1317Progress Report:  Ravens   I am redoing this piece with reflective quilting now.   The process is slow but the end results make for a better work.

Linda’s Luck    Working away on line quilting on this piece.   The  Progress is  time consuming.

Dad’s Barn   Being unsure of just what I want to do with this piece I am doing a lot of studying  at this point.

Persuasion IMG_1315 I am to the reflective step in quilting on this piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daily Practice   I am just starting this new work.     I am stitching down little brass flowers that my friend Carol gave to me as my first step.

Collage   I am doing collage again and this is my work for this week.     I could not resist playing with these strong graphic patterns.

Cards: TrinketIMG_1309 It seems like my drawers fill with little trinkets of so many items from various sources.   One dose like to keep these tiny memory  things.

 

Dreams    Everyone is unique and all our dreams are too.    One has got to love the diversity!

Keep Creating

Carol

One  last picture of one of the orkids from the gardens.

Carrol Iowa, Dad's Barn, Daily Practice, Diva Meetings, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), IV, Modern, Perception, Persuasion, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Ravens, Self Knowledge, Word Forms

Taking stock

 

Hello,

We are beginning to enjoy the wonders of summer.   These poppies are in Susan’s garden and look wonderful.    This was the first full week of June and I had three meetings.   QuEG’s meant on Tuesday morning.  It was a small group but folks had lots to share.IMG_1191Linda  C  is working on a baby quilt for her niece.   Elephants are the nursery theme.  Liz is working on her transparency piece and it is looking good.   IMG_1199Sue Ellen is playing with her collection on non cotton fabrics. IMG_1192 And there is a row by row project in the works too.

I went from the meeting to Moravia and spent a wonderful afternoon working with Susan.  We then went off to the Diva meeting where more things were cooking. IMG_1207Donna has a new batch of mirrors that she has completed.  She sure knows how to use Fimo effectively.     IMG_1209Lori is creating portraits with her needle now.     Noel is doing portraits too- but with quilt a different bent.   Her fabric faces are stretch and very whimsical.

IMG_1216Yesterday I went off to the FAB meeting.  Judy and Patti are knitting like crazy and Sharon has finished her Relative quilt now.

Because of all these meetings I spent a lot of time in the car alone.   This plus sorting through work looking for a specific piece brought up some issues.     Susan wisely said of reworking pieces one is “playing with your younger self.”   What a grand way to look at the process of redoing works that do not quite make the grade.       Time away from work allows one to look with new eyes at the pieces and I often see things I wish I had done differently.    I can spot the problems in some cases too.   In my sorting and musing I have decided I will return to some works in the hope of making them stronger.

Progress Report: Perception Daily    This work is 30” w X 46” l.   It is a part of the text series .     One of the challenges that Liz and I made for our selves this year was to use some of the fabric that we hand dyed.   All the material except the dark turquoise fabric in the background is something that I altered.    IMG_1255   I did reflective quilting around all the words after I had raw edge appliqued down the words. IMG_1258

Daily Practice I   I finally stretched all the finished Daily Practice work  this week.   This piece is 18″ w X 24″ l. IMG_1238   The base of this one is a piece of fabric that was a wipe  up cloth at one of my print sessions last summer.   The lace is from grandmothers collection and I hand dyed it last summer as well.IMG_1239

 

 

Daily  Practice II       This piece is 16″ w X 18″ l.      The base for this work is several  trimmed tans that  looked good together.    IMG_1232  This piece has lots of buttons on it for textural contrast.IMG_1233

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Daily Practice III      This work is 18″ w X 24″ l.   The purple background is a commercial fabric and all the other material added on top is some I have altered.   They are also scraps left over from other projects.    IMG_1247  I have always been fascinated by negative space and in using those negatives this way they become positive spaces.   Stitches and pompoms are the textural elements of this piece. IMG_1246

Daily Practice IV 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The  orange part  base of the  background isone of the  shibori projects Liz and I tried last summer.   The metal flowers are from Carol.

Rocky Shore I worked forward on Water – the class assignments this week.   The hand painted   sky and  water have been stitched down and the three different types of foam have also been applied.IMG_1227    One foam is made from Angelina, a second is florist plastic that was painted with opalescent paint and the third was a textured plastic ribbon that I ironed.     I will move on to the next element next week and finish all the elements at the end of the class.

 

IMG_1261Mulberry Memories    This work has become a problem for me.  I tried to put too much into the top for the size of the piece.     It has become impossible for the viewer to “read”.     Therefore I have decided to scarp this  particular  work and start again using the same ideas plus a few others and create two or perhaps  a  three units  to represent this time and geography  of my life.     We lived in this location for 5 years and there are lots of memories.

Ravens  I thought that this work was finished last week and I presented it as such.  But a  second study this week as convinced me that it needs more quilting.   The gals at QuEGs pushed this idea too.   So I am taking the time to make these additions.

IMG_1251Persuasion I have been busy doing pebble quilting on this  text piece.   I am ready to start reflective quilting on it now.

Dad’s Barn  I came across the orange and yellow base in one of my boxes from  Ethel.  I pinned it to the pin wall and it hung there for several weeks.  In thumbing through a sketchbook I came across of the old barn on Dad’s Farm and though I would like to do a work about that.  The two came together.  I also wanted to do some more thread painting  so I drew our some swallows on wash away and started them.IMG_1185   After the backs were done I added the chest and beaks.IMG_1187   I have learned that I do not need to do the legs as they are so slender that they do not hold up well after washing and they seldom are in the position I want so I add them when I put the work together.     The birds are washed and dried and ready for mounting on the image.  I need to decide how I am going to add one of them to the work now.

 

 

 

New Work IMG_1225I am trying to pay attention to shape and contrast with this work.  It is made up of mostly the cut-away’s  of several  older pieces.    Again my love of the negative spaces.

Label Cards Modern    I became weary of the word Modern when I was about 10.  I was helping Mom and Aunt Marci clean grandfather’s cabin.  We were taking  The books off the shelf sorting and dusting them.     I came a pone  one called “ Modern Science” and I flipped it open.  It revealed a drawing of  all of the parts of atom with the Neutrons, Protons and Electrons labeled.   Knowing there were more I decided to always  be wary of things labeled as “Modern”.

Self Knowledge     One develops an understanding that they are unique entities separate from others at a  young age.    But the real development of self acceptance takes years and for some never occurs.

Keep Crating Friends

Carol

Birds, Birds, Carrol Iowa, Collections II Grandmother Mc, Daily Practice, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Memory Map Quilts, Perception, Persuasion, Ravens, Spring Spin, Summer Family - Cardinals, Thread Painting

Great Weather

 

Hello,

After several days of spring rains, we are enjoying wonderful weather.   I now need to do some yard jobs.    But any excuse to be out doors will due.    It is so wonderful with pleasant temperatures  and   almost daily changes in the environment.   There was only one meeting this week and it was of the FAB group.  I forgot my camera so there are no new images.

 Progress Report:   Ravens   This work is  38”w X 49” l.    It really came together with ease.  I made a drawing and then  added a Raven’s head to the big white areas.

IMG_1153  I enjoyed working with the limited palet.

IMG_1156

Summer Family- Cardinals Texture is one of my main interests, and this work has a lot of them.  IMG_1146   This mother Cardinal has the most variation in thread colors of the three.   Her position is more animated then the males.

  I do seem to be in a bird phase at the moment.

 

Persuasion I was all ready to add the words on top of this work and then I realized that the value of the text was too close to the background.  So I took them off and made some darker words( navy blue ) and brighter greens.

IMG_1142I am raw edge appliqueing them down with silver and pale blue metallic threads.    There are two threads in one needle of the sewing machine.

Perception   I could not bring myself to toss the pale purple words so I made a new background for them.   The fuchsia and pink really high lights the words that were lost on the first work..   Then I added some of the leftover navy words too.   I think that  they add interest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New  Collection II  Grandmother Mc    This work is moving along.   I am enjoying going through the  old button collections and adding them to the surface.

IMG_1137

Daily Practice IMG_1130  This work just keeps building.

New      I seem to be fascinated by the purple and apple green colors of late.   This is a  new combination for me and I guess I am not done exploring it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mulberry Memories- Carroll   This work is moving slowly.     IMG_1149I am adding the images I painted last week on the surface.    As a child, I  lived in this house five years and there are so many memories  that I am having a hard time deciding what to use.IMG_1150

Card- Spin    Spring seems bring on a dramatic change in the outside world and  those changes  push me in a new directions.   I find that my mind is full of a wide variety of ideas.

 

Keep Creating

Carol