Category Archives: Hand work

Seasonal Changes

Hello,

We are starting to really feel fall here.  Eric  and I went for a walk around Green Lake this week and enjoyed it a great deal.  We also sat out  doors and read one afternoon while the wind blew down lots of leaves and some walnuts too.   There will not be many more days like these, so we are enjoying them.

I had a full week with a FAB meeting and the Social Arts Tea. The tea was to celebrate this organization that has been in existence for 150 years.      We dressed up and wore hats  as well as having a display of antique clothing.   I had a lot of my aunt and grandmother Ruth’s dresses to share.

 

 

 

 

I showed off my  mothers wedding dress that was part of a quilt I did several years ago.    Mom has a beautiful voice and she was always singing.  I embroider the chois of songs about weddings and marriage around the dress.    The tea included a great speaker, tea cakes and tea.  It was a fine way to kick off our new year.

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Lap 21-25  As the colors show I am already inferenced by the cooler season.

 

 

Autumn Tide  Pool    I picked this finished work from the framers this week.    She dose a great job of making things look professional.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diddie Do   This work is done now.  I have stretch it and tacked it to a foam core board.   I have not decided if I want to frame it or not.

 

 

 

 

Holly Hocks   I am done with all the hollyhock stocks and leaves now.   I will start to design the humming birds this week.

 

 

 

 

 

New Handwork   I was playing with my sewing machine and  running it without tread on a soda can to cut out circles for centers for flowers this time.   Now I will start to hand stitch them down .   It was a fun bit of play.

Friday begins the Sisterhoods of the Scissors retreat.    I have put a lot of time into thinking about what I want to do for the five days  and I have a very full bag of fabrics.     I hope to accomplish a lot.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

 

Fall

Hello,

   I am just home form a drive up to Old Forge and The View to deliver my quilt and Sharon’s for the Quilts Unlimited show.     I saw lots of trees that were colored, but due to the fact that it was raining they were not very attractive.  We need the rain so I am glad of that,  but disappointed by the views.    So you get a shot of one of the few flowers blooming at the moment instead.

My other big event for the week was to judge the original design category  of the  quilt show for the Thompson County Quilt Guild.   It was a great show and would have loved to give more than one ribbon.   My choice for the top original design is  this one.  There are so many wonderful designs going on here  and the applique is beautifully done.

 

I also liked this  bit of machine drawing.   The bird could have been a photo, but it is not!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another of the judges told me she gave this quilt the embellishment award.

 

 

 

Progress Report:  Protesting Sisters   As you can see I followed Kathy’s suggestion and added to the final shape of this work.     I enjoyed doing this work.

 

 

Hollyhocks  and Humming Birds   I keep stitching down the part of this project.  I only have five stalks to go and then I can move onto the birds.

 

 

 

 

Lap 21-25 I pin basted this project yesterday afternoon.  Hopefully I will get to it this week end.

 

 

 

 Cut Ups    I am playing with some squares that I am slicing up and re assembling.   This is about one forth of the blocks.

 

 

 

 

 

Handwork Diddle Do     This work is 24″ w X 18″ t.   I need to stitch the foam core to the work and it will be complete.   It has been fun to do the handwork on this project.

I can’t believe we are nearing the end of September already and the next time I write it will be Oct.  Time is running at full speed forward.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Close of Summer

Hello,

I know that Labor Day is not really the end of Summer, but 28  years of teaching school and it is a hard habit to break.   So I feel like I am heading into fall and all the joys it holds.

I went to the opening of Contrast- Oxymorons,  SAQA NY- NJ   show with Marty on Saturday, at the ROCO gallery in Rochester.    It was exciting for me to not only be a part of the show, but to also see all the interoperations.   Jean had a good piece with great silhouettes  of elephants.

 

 

 

 

Cynthia, had a very political piece of  “Small Crowds”

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really loves this work titled “Head over Heels”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Denoise had a wonderful felted work in this show.

 

 

 

 

My work Plastic Silverware was a part of the show too.

 

 

 

 There was a fun Artist talk as a part of the event and I enjoyed that as well.

 

 

On Tuesday I took Liz to the Rock Garden show and  the Diva meeting that Cheri held.     There was lots of exciting work by my friends.  Cheri had complemented a second feather pieces from Pat’s dye class.

 

Donna had several good works.  I like this paper Mache’  Alligator head  that I liked a lot.

 

 

 

 

Denise had some great handwork on one of her dyed felted pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barb is going great guns with lots of work too.     I really like the movement here.

 

 

 

Then I stopped at the  Edgewood Gallery   yesterday and saw this colorful work.

It has been a busy week.

 

 

 

Progress Report:   Hollyhocks and Humming Birds       This work was formerly called Sumer.  I have changes the flowers as I did not think the organza showed up well enough.   I am much happier with the taffeta.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy 2-25  I am now adding the binding to this work.  Next step is do the extra quilting that I like to add.   bed quilts get lots of washings so I want it a bit more stable.

 

 

 

Tropical Waters   I am now  ready to finish this work up.  I am done with the stitching and ready to face and hang this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exploration 2     I have started doing the quilting on this project.    Progress.

 

 

 

Square Beads    I only have about 20 more of these fabric beads to stitch and I will begin to string them.   I am looking forward to that step.

 

 

 

The weeks are full and I am enjoying them.  I hope the same for all my readers.

Keep Exploring

Carol

 

 

My Walk

Hello,

We are enjoying a very pleasant cool spell here in central NY.   A  little rain made the Goldenrod bend over a bit, but they are still flying their flags of yellow.   The sparrows are busy arguing with one another and  the blue jays  make their raspy calls every now an again as we walk.   I am seeing evidence of  little squirrel feasts   in the form of acorn and walnut remains on the street.   I often see them running down the power lines from one tree to another as I chase my own shadow down the hill.   Even the apples are starting to add a little color to their skins.    Fall is definitely around the corner here.

I went to the opening of the Rock Garden Art Show on Thursday last week.    Some great work.  This is a quilt that Cheri started in Pat Pauly’s dye class earlier this spring.     Cheri had her wonderful felted flower piece and several prints too.

 

 

 

Robin, who Liz and I meant in Florida in the spring, was also a part of this show.   Her big life sized ceramic  women are very powerful!

 

 

 

 

 

 Progress Report: Under Grand    This quilt is 35.5″w X 42″ t.   I started this work at QBL in Sheila Frampton Coopers class.     It is my interoperation ow what I saw when  I looked under the Grand Pinto in the classroom.

I enjoyed working with the curves and using orange and blue together.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap # 19  I am having a good time with the fabrics form Pat Pauly’s dye class.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 20  More of the product form the dye class here.

 

 

 Protesting Sisters   I have been struggling with how to move this project forward.  I got a little help from the Pixie group yesterday.    I still do not have a real clear vision – but I can see hope here now.

 

 

 

Summer Delights   The next SAQA challenge is Pollinators.   I have decided I will do flowers as my starting place.  I read about using organza and doing free motion with it.   So this  is really a self challenge to see if I can do this to my own satisfaction.   So far so good.   It has a curvy cut background too.

 

 

Tropical Waters    This is my newest handwork project.  I used plastic news paper bags that were pressed between typhoon sheets as my bottom layer.   Then I added  some blue vegetable bags that my friend Marcia gave me and I was off and running.  I am enjoying this work and plan not to add any buttons and limit the beads I use here.

 

 

 

Class 2    This project is also form Sheila class.  I used this  pieces to explore and play with the new techniques she was teaching.   The top is now ready for the next steps.

 

 

I hope you are enjoying the end of the summer season .  Yes I still a see Labor Day as the end of summer just as if I was still going back to the classroom.

Keep Creating

Carol

Summer Progress

Hello,

 

The  days are running a head of me and I can’t believe we are  moving so quickly.      Last Friday I went to Cazenovia Artisan’s with Liz  to see Sharon Souva’s solo show.   It is wonderful.  She told me last night that this work has sold.   I am so happy for her.  There are lots of other wonderful  works still for sale,  including this one .     She is doing so very well.

 

 

 

 

On Sat I went to the retirement party   for Donna Lamb.   She is leaving  after 25 years of leading the Schweinfurth forward.      She has moved the Art Cente in amazing ways and I will miss her a great deal.  I ,  along with Susan and Liz’s help produced this giant Creative Assistant to present to her at that event.

 

 

 

 

My other big excitement came in the mail in for form of the Catalogue for the Elements Fire  show.    It is exciting.   I was also in the  SAQA journal – again about the show.   Published in two places at one  is a real high.

 

 

 

Progress Report:  Sparrows  This piece is 38″wX 52″ l.     I am pleased with the final result here.   I tried to use the quilting to show the wind action around the birds.

The four color stencil proved be be a bigger challenge than I expected.    I am glad I did it however.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap #19   I made great progress on this piece this week and now I am doing the binding.

 

 

 

Lap#20  I hare a real running start on this project at this point.   The colors are sure a contrast  from the previous one.   Again I am using fabric from Pat’s Class here.

 

 

 

 

Shore Line  I think I am nearly done adding to the surface of this work.   I will live with it a few days and then decide.

 

 

 

 

 

Scarp Happy # 2- 25   I got busy and started assembling this pieces this week.   With out a definite person to deliver it to I am a bit slower to act.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAQA Auction Piece 

I see that the SAQA auction stuff is getting going again so   I finished up this work to ship this week.

 

The week has been a full and exciting one.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Needs

Hello,

It is very dry here in our part of the country as apposed to the areas were flooding is a problem.   The trees here desperately need water, so many are sheading some of their leaves.   We all experience needs in our lives.  After the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter we all experience needs that are special to each of us.  Some need power, some need fame, while others need to go along without being noticed.    It is a really good thing we are all different with different desires and wants.   For me the space and time to create is a strong need.   I get so much joy and satisfaction out of the designing and making  work.    I can become very crabby when I have not had ” me time”  to do these actives , epically when the situation  has  gone on too long.    I am almost driven to go to the studio and play with the fabrics and sewing machine.     After I am done with the work I have no real need to hang on to   or sell the projects.   They just become a storage problem.   I guess my next need  is to find a home for the work I do.

I did do a trunk show over the weekend and in doing that I did have a wide variety of works to choose from.   I designed the show specially for a friend who asked me to do the show as she had seen the one I did in the winter.  I designed this new one to show off work she had not seen the first time and I was successful with that.  As it ended up she was not present.

Progress Report:  Canadian Wildfires This quilt is 35″ w X 42″ l.   I started the work in Quilting By the Lake in Independent Studio.   There are still over 700 wildfires burning there.

 

We have felt the effects of the smoke for the fires a lot this summer.

 

 

 

But I am really more concerned with the loss of the oxygen production that is being lose with the fires.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap # 18   This work is made with fabric that I printed in the Pat Pauly workshop earlier this spring . The big squares where stenciled and rubbed with dye.

Lap # 19    This is just the beginning of this project.    The  printed  fabric with  strong dark with lines is some  I printed  in the past.

 

 

 

 

Souring Sparrows   This is  a second project that I stated in Independent Studio.     I really learned that cutting a four color stencil pattern is much harder to register that I expected.    I am trying to  quilt in what I imagine  might be the wind patterns  on this quilt.

 

 

 

Under Grand   I have started to quilt this work now.   Again I started this project in class with Sheila Framton-Cooper.   It is based on a sketch I did of the space under the grand piano in the room.

 

 

 

 

Shore Lines    I just keep puttering away on this project.   Some sections are complete at this time.

 

 

 

It as been a good week for me and I feel like I am moving forward.

Keep Creating,

Carol

 

 

Return form Quilting By the Lake

Hello,

Summer is rushing forward and I am feeling a bit behind.   The two weeks of  Quilting by the Lake was  a wonderful  time and I am still coming down from that.    Week one I had independent studio with a dozen other gals.

I worked on two projects that I will cover later.   I did spend time every morning doing  a block for the raffle quilt that will be a part of QBL next year  as  a fund  raiser  for  a Donna  Lamb Scholarship  to  attend.

And then I did a few extras for Liz as she could not attend.    This sample is one from the fabrics that Nancy and I cut with Kathy earlier this spring.   The fabric all came from the Sally Davis donated fabrics collection.

 

 

There were lots of old friend in the first class.   This is one of two Christmas tree skirts that Barbra A was working on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linda L did this little quilt as a gift for her nephew’s  new baby.   Among other works.

 

 

 

 

Jeanette  created this memory quilt as a why to help work through her grief.

 

 

 

I had friends in other classes doing other things.   Susan was in Paula Kavairk’s  class.   This is her project.  I had given her old work to share with the class for cut up and she used one of my pieces here.

 

 

 

 

 

Another friend, Diane was also in this class and this frog is her work.  I love this little sculpture.

 

 

 

 

Show and tell at the end of session one was enjoyable.   This is Emely showing off her pieces form Sheila’s class.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jea was in a dye class and this is one of her works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dessie was also in the dye class and this is her work.

 

 

 

 

This class produced a lot of variety and Lori’s work is more prof of that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The teachers did auction off their aprons with Linda acting as auctioneer.

 

 

 

 

Week two I was in Sheila Framton-Cooper class.      This is her work and she taught me a great way to do curves so they really lye flat.

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of friends in this class too.      Lisa was setting next to me  and she really powered forward with her piece.  I do not have a shot of the finished piece, but believe me it was powerful!

 

 

 

 

A new aqueous, Phuong was on my other side.  She came with a very clear vision of what she wanted to do as well.   It was fun to watch this piece change and grow over the week.

 

 

 

Sue Ellen  was a real power house and did three pieces  during the week.   This is a shot of the last one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Debbie did this wonderful work.   The colors  and fabrics  are all from the Cherry Wood Challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Newbie Jane really plunged into QBL and took two weeks.  This  is her work for week two.

 

 

 

Peggy did a great little job after lots of struggle.

 

 

 

 

 

Another new gal I enjoyed was  Ashley.   I liked her colors.  She was by the door so I talked with her every time I came in and out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annette did a a clean little work as well in this class.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bree did a huge pieces and really hassled at the end to pull it together  so she could take it home as one unit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Show and Tell for the end of session two allowed  us to see what folks did in other classes.   This is Emely again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Susan had fun in Studio  and did this work.

 

 

 

 

 

Victoria also arranged a little Retirement party for Susan at QBL.    She is a full time artist now.

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Lap #17   I started this pieces before QBL and now I have done most of the stitch in the ditch work.  I used fabric I printed in Pat Pauly’s class as my starting point for this work.

 

 

Lap # 18   This too is also a pre QBL project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shoreline    This projects is one going.  I am making progress even though it is slow.

 

 

 

Sisters   This too is a pre QBL project.    I did work on the body of the dark haired gal before I went away.

 

 

 

Canadian Wildfires  This is the first project I worked on in Independent Studio .     I am pleased with how if it developing.

 

 

 

Spring Sparrows   This is the second project that I worked on week one.   I cut the five  full  stencils of the birds.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I cut new stencils for each of the  four colors of  each bird.      It was difficult to line them all up .

 

 

 

 

 

Blue  This was my first project in Sheila’s class.   This is were I really learned about the insertion of the curves.

 

 

Under Grand   This is my second project from Sheila’s class.     It is based on the Grand Piano in the class room.      It was a good growth project for me.

 

 

 

 

There were many other friends and  buddies a QBL, but I did not capture images of many of them.  I had  a great time as always   and I came home happily exhausted with a mind full of new ideas and directions.   I am still playing catch up and will continue to think and develop ideas got there.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

 

Holiday week

Hello,

I hope all enjoyed the 4th in their own way.  We went to dinner and fireworks with friend’s.     It was a cool and beautiful evening.

Not a lot going on this week but work in the studio.

Progress Report: Lap 15-25   I am all but done with this project.  I only need to finish the binding on the side and bottom.  This is a successful use of some of the fabric from Pat’s dye class from last month.    I am glad I can use it in this fashion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robin Pillow   I finished this project this week.  Not really sure were I will put it as the couch does not need any new ones, but I am sure it will find a home.

 

Scarp Happy 2-25   I made this quilt for my own bed and I am sure I will enjoy it this winter.   The old one is getting a bit thin.

Lap 16-25   This project was made with fabric that I purchased on the Canada Trip.   It was fun to use mostly material that someone else selected for a change.   I will mix the remainder with my own selections next time.

 

 

 

Lap 17-25   I pulled these fabrics for the next lap quilt. Again I am trying to mix my prints with commercial  stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shore Line   I can’t seem to help myself when it comes to these high textural pieces.   This one has plastic fruit bags and silk paper on it too.   Only a few buttons and such so far.

 

Blue Blossoms   While I had a the felter out,  I made some flower forms too.   I am ready for some handwork on this one I think.

 

 

Experiment    At the family picknick we had lots of soda and that  lead to several of those plastic carrying units.  I just could not seem to toss them aside, so I did a little play them as the starting  unit. I crouched with two strands of yarn in a free motion form around  them.   They are interesting- but not sure what to do next…    Got to live with them for a while I guess.

Enjoy summer  and  Keep playing

Carol

 

Summer Time

Hello,

The time rushes forward and things grow and change.  We had a good rain over night and the birds took advantage of the waters yesterday.   The joy and splashing went on for about 10 min.   This week was a busy one for me.  I enjoyed  the two days I spent a Mill Site Lake.   Nancy and I took out the canoe a  prattled all around the lake.   We dogged some fishermen too.     On Saturday  I took down my solo show and learned I had sold a third work.   I had two luncheon dates with different  Quilt buddies.  Always good to talk and support one another in any way we can.

Progress Report: Alpha Lepes  Galaxy     This piece got a lot of work this week.  I added many more beads to represent the stars.  It also got stretched.

Lap 14-25     I enjoyed working on this new lap quilt this week.   I recall years ago being in a class were  the teacher asked us to list our least favorite color.  I said this green was mine.  I have grown to enjoy using it very much.  She sure was correct in her evaluation.

 

 

 

 

New Lap  Laura selected purple as the color to look out for this week.  I got so far as to pull out a bunch for my next lap quilt.   I am also using one more of the fabrics from my dye class with Pat Pauly.

 

 

 

 Closer Look Inspirations   This work is based on a close up of a Suzea Phone that I saw in  the Ringling Museum in Florida after the SAQA Conference.     Looking close was one of the challenges from one of the speakers.   The fabrics are mostly form the Canada trip.  Its a good stretch for me.

 

 

Necklace  Squares   I am still making squares for this project. There are over 100 now and the bag is still full or more to stitch.

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Poppies  I am now ready to felt these blue wool units to turn them into poppy seed pods for my next felted work.

 

 

Experimental Landscapes  #2 Field of Gold   I put a lot of new work into this challenge this week.  The birch trees got added.  I free motion stitched down lots of leaf shapes on top and next to the green.       Adding flowers with be the next.

 

Sisters  I layered this pieces and added  hair to the faces this week.   I got the purple shirt at the Mission Possible store in Redwood while I was up a the lake.

 

 

 

Scarp Happy 2-25   All the rows are assembled and the boarders are on now.  I need to do the hand step of the binding and add the diagonal quilting and this project will be complete.

 

 

 

 

 

New Work     I feel ready to start a new texture work with beads and such.   I reworked this old rock piece and made it into a rectangle for my base.

I hope all  enjoy the 4th of July.

 

Keep Creating

Carol

Canada Trip

Hello,

  I am posting today because I will be off to Mill Sight Lake tomorrow.

The trip to Quilt Canada was wonderful.  There were so many inspirating works I hardly know where to start .  I am glad we had two days to absorb all the pieces.

 

 

This three part work won best of show.    It sure is a subject that is close to my heart.

There was lots of work with wool this time.   I really liked this sampler with the use of rick rack  as the edging of the circles  was also a nice touch.

 

 

One could also see the Modern Quilters influence.   There were several pieces like this in the show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This work was so quiet among all  the bright colors that many just walked past it.

 

 

 

I was impressed by this work because it is all machine drawn.   I can’t imagine how many hours it represents.

 

 

There was also a limited fabric challenge  show .    A pink print, cream print and a black print were the required pieces one had to use.   This one is specular.

 

 

 

 

I found this work to be inspiring as well.   So many layers of depth here.   I am sure lots of careful planning went into it.

 

 

 

 

 

There was also a SAQA show and I found it very inspiring as well.    This work used paper as a base with organza as color on top.   It is a quilt as it is three layers.

 

 

 

 

 

The SAQA exabit had a 3-D part too.   Wool and corduroy were used in the stump part .

 

 

 

 

This work was called Save Our Wetlands .   The turtles were stamped blocks and  the quilting was the words of the title.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   I did go to  Sue Sherman’s Lecture Activist Art: Let Fiber Art Do the Talking.       She had beautiful work and the strong  point that I took away from  it was try to do it with humor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liz  came prepared for rain, but we did not need it.    I am very glad I went and I am inspired with new ideas to explore.

 

 

 

Monday was our day to meeting at Marcia’s.  We did share our first solutions to the Experimental Challenge, but I did not take any photos of that.    Liz worked on her little houses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nancy shred a pieces that she   purchased and did some repair work on .  Its a real beauty.

 

 

 

 

 

Jean has been dyeing with grapes and had some glorious fabric to show for that effort.

 

 

 

Progress Report: Distracted 

This quilt is 24″ X 42″ .   I enjoyed working on Spot on so much I just kept playing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pat’s Posies- Lap 13-25   This lap quilt came out of my first attempt at using the fabric I made in Pat’s dyeing class.  It is difficult to use with print fabric as it is so strong.     I mixed it with some old fabric from my fist class with Pat about 15 years ago and solids.

 

 

 

Lap 14-25      This one is all pin based and ready for quilting now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Re Work     I was working with textures here and mixed painted and melted Tyvek,  roving and beading for this piece.

 

 

 

Scrap Happy 2-25   I started to put the rows together on this  work this week.   I like the two center blocks, but they may get a little lost with all the prints.

 

 

 

 

New work     At the SAQA conference, one of the lectures encouraged us to look closely at the world and use that as a starting place.  I took a photo of a Sousaphone  at the Ringling Museum, and  I used that as my jumping off place for this one.  The fabrics are mostly form ones I purchased at the Canada Show.   Lots of work to do here.

 

Experimental  Challenge #2   After the meeting at Marcia’s I felt inspired to move on the next piece of the challenge.  So I picked up the second base I had made and felted roving mixed with Angelina on top.

 

 

Necklace Squares   I wanted some handwork for the seven  hour bus trip so I cut squares of various sizes from 2.5″ to 5″ and folded them as was suggested in the article  in  Quilting Arts .   I have lots of squares to fold and stitch, but I’m started.

 

 

 

Alpha Lapis Galaxy   Having the Feltre out, I thought I might try adding organza to the surface of this work.  I am happy with this, but I can see that practice will give me better control next time.

It’s been a busy two weeks and I enjoyed it.

Keep Creating

Carol