Category Archives: Hand work

Collage, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Scrap Happy Quilts, Stencels

Changing Light

Hello,

The world shifted just a bit when we went back to standard time.   I always have  a time of adjustment doing that shift.  I am not real happy to find the sun going down at 4:30.     It is beautiful none the less.

On Saturday I went to the opening of the Quilts=Art= Quilts show at the Schweinfurth.

  This show  is a real winner!   I was so overwhelmed by the work and the many people I new and talked with that, I did not even enter two of the galleries.    Good thing I will be going back for the Fall Retreat and two trunk shows by friends.    This work is by Michelle Browne and called The Landscape Becomes her.    I like how she used and old quilt that almost gets lost in the work on top.

 

Roger Blum did this work called Greenfield.    His use of transparence makes  it  look like a painting to me.

 

 

 

 

 

This work is by Valerie Goodwin, my old teacher.  She is really exploring the use of the cut machine work a lot in  her  art.

 

 

Laurie Paquin, my friend from QBL entered this strong piece called Composition 4.   It is also on the front of the Schewinfurth mailer this month.

 

 

 

 

I was fascinated by this work by Sheree Rasmussen called  The Landscape Within.   I found all the bits and pieces really drew me into the work.

 

 

 But  thinking on the title I can see how one could picture that world in this fashion.

 

 

There was also a Pixie meeting this week.

Progress Report: Lap #5  I got busy and finished this one this week.   The stack  of lap quilts  is getting big,  so I will make a run to a nursing home sometime soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap #6     This top is all pin based now and I have done a little quilting on it .   I am getting to the bottom of the stuff I printed for the 100 days project from last year at this point.

 

 

 

 

Bleaching Coral    I am making progress on this project as I have put in a little time every day.     The roving with machine work is a little disappointing as it really sinks into the background.   But things are bound to come out less then satisfactory when you are experimenting .

 

Scrap Happy    I got busy on this project  this week and all the rows are stitched  to the backing.  I even put two pieces of boarder on it.

 

 

 

 

Autumn Cuts      I just keep stitching away on this one.    Sometimes it only gets a little attention at the end of the news.

 

 

 

 

 

Tutti Frutti Collage   I kept self promise  to myself and did  a collage this week.    The catalog’s for Christmas  fruits were on the desk and many parts of pages ended up in this work.

 

 

Printing  I finally printed the foam stamps that I made in June.   I am not sure if they are done or need a second stamping over the top.    I need to live with them a bit longer to know the answer to that one.

 

 

Enjoy the seasonal changes and keep Creating.

Carol

Applique, Collage, Cut Away, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Scissors, Shows

Indian Summer

Hello,

We have enjoyed two wonderful days of Indian Summer here in central NY.  The temperatures were above 75  and I finished most of my yard work on Wednesday.   All the lawn furniture is put away and   first run at sheading leaves is done.

 

 

 

 

Then on Halloween the FAB  group  with Judy, Nancy and Sharon up to Old Forge to see the Quilts shows at The View in Old Forge.      Most of the trees had abandoned their leaves in that part of NY, but the shows were all stimulating.   I loved this work because the apple green shape on top really adds depth to the work for me.

Sharon had three works in the show.   This is one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

She  won an  Honorable Mention for one of her works.   This is great.

 

 

 This work was also in the Schweinfurth show last year.

 

 

There were many works with great raw edge applique of very small pieces that I really enjoyed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found this work really intruding too because of her use of overlapping  nylon net circles  to created different colors on the background striped fabric.

 

 

Marcia Decamp was in this show.   This is her work.

 

 

 

 

 Julia also had a work in this show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The show upstairs was a small repetition from Genesee Valley Quilt Group.     This example of wool applique was especially enjoyable to me.

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed the strong graphic  feel in this work too.

 

 

  In additon there was  a SAQA show called “Imagery in Fiber”.   It was fascinating too.     Most of them had a bit of Photo transfer in them.      This work is by one of the gals  who was in my dyeing class last summer.

 

 

I spent all afternoon on Monday playing with collage .  I limited myself to using something from the Gelli plate play days of a few weeks ago and an images of a bird  in each of them.

 

 The play was fun and it change with time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend Patti, had moved to Penn Yan and she left me with a parting gift of two boxes of oil pastels.  I added the rule that I had to use them in the works too.

 

 

 

 

 

I think I will try to do a little collage work every  Monday for a while.

 

 

 

 Progress Report:  Cut Away   This work is  35.5″ X 42″.      The background fabric ( deep purple and blue) for this work is hand dyed by a fellow artist.

 

 I really enjoyed doing all the pebble quilting on this project.  I also learned that my machine likes some metallic threads better that others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap #5  This work is pin basted and  all ready for the quilting   step now.     I need to deliver some of these lap works to the nursing home soon .

 

 Lap # 6    I have cut the strips to fill

in   around theses squares for this project and will get moving on it soon.

 Bleaching         I    still have pieces form the rock series that I want  use as bases for for additional stitch work.

 

 

 

I did a little free motion  work over roving   to create  sea shells.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I did some punch needle work for this next project.

 

 

 

 

 

 I plan to add these two elements and  other stuff from my collection of goodies , plus stitches and buttons to create  and work that will be my little commentary on  Coral Bleaching.

I hope you adjust well to the day ight savings time change this week.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Applique, Cut/ Print, Fish, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Rough Cut, Scissors, Uncategorized

Working Away

Hello,

Mother Nature is starting to paint our trees with color around where.      I love  the daily changes even though I know that raking will soon be a big part of my days.

It has been a very quiet week  for me  with only the Textile Talk yesterday and the Pixie meeting.

Tomorrow I depart for a five day quilt retreat so I have put a lot of time into preparing for that event.

Progress Report: Rough Cut     This work is 40″ w X 37.5″ t.     All the scissors are cut form wool this time.

  Some have frayed out  more than others.  And several just felted when I washed them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tropical Floor    This work is 27.5″w X 21″t.   I sure had a good time building this  project.   The fish are all free motion thread drawings on roving done with neon threads.

 

 

I am sure I will do even more of this work in the future.

 

 

 

Lap # 4        I now have four of these done.   I want to do a couple more before I drop them off at a nursing home.   These are always play events for me.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap #5   Yesterday I pinned out  out these blocks as starting points for the next lap project.

 

 

 Drawing   Now that Susan has reminded me how much I like to draw I am   trying to put that idea back into my routine.

 

 

 

 

 

Line Shirt      I saw a shirt for $179.0 in a catalogue this week and I love it.    But not the price. So I decided to try something similar myself.  I had also come across a new technique were on stitched across a squire to give the stitch some texture. So I am trying that on this project too.

 

 

Cut and Print       I took the Gelli Prints form last week and printed  scissors on top .  Angela suggested that one could make stencils with Tyvek, so I tried that too.   I was trying to work out a new Scissors project -but the print that is pinned to the left just dose not work for me.     At m\least not with the prints.   So I will try to work the piece out at the retreat.

Roundies     I realized I had not done any hand applique in a while , so got busy and tried my hand at a little of it.  I am pleased with these little guys.   I will keep playing until I run out of gas on this  one.

 

 

Enjoy the changing season and keep Creating

Carol

Drawing, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Scissors, Scrap Happy Quilts, Short Cut

Full Week

Hello,

I am having a full life at the moment.  I started on Friday by going to meet with my fellow retired art teachers to the Everson for lunch and a view of the galleries.     Many of them are being set up for the next exhibition, but one of the  open ones  was loaded with  work from the perinate collection.  It was a joy to see some of the old pieces that I recall and some I had forgotten about.

There was a great ceramic show too and I loved this owl plate.

 

 

 

Then on Saturday I went off to contribute my work to the Associated Artist show  and  I  helped with the hanging.

 

 

 

This work is by my friend Adam Vural  and a part of the show.

 

 

 

Sense I seem to see owls everywhere, I took this photo of another of the artists work.

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday I discovered that I had won the Best of Show  award for Tide Pool .  I was amazed.

On Tuesday, I went off to a play date with Angela’s.    She continues to create wonderful felted work  and she won a Purple ribbon at the State Fair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a good time playing with printing with  Gelli plates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Angela also showed off her latest piece that  she did in memory of her dog, Jetta of 17 years who passed away .

 

 

 

My last adventure this week was a trip to the Syracuse University Art Gallery.  I was especially taken by this work of an Indian woman artist .  It is about how life for the women changes when she becomes a widow.

I did sneak a pixie meeting and my on line  class  in this week too.   It has been a bit crazy.

Progress Report:  Short Cut  This work is 35.5″ w X 46″ l.      The scissors them selves are cut form a metallic fabric .      The edges are zig zag appliqued down with a  yarn captured with the stitch.

 

 

I have several more ideas for this series.

 

 

 

 

Lap # 13    I am building away on this project.

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap  Happy   This Scrap Happy is for my daughter.  It is all assembled now and ready for  the extra  quilting.

 

 

 

 

Stitch Club     I worked on this bit of hand work this week .   Limiting the pallet to white is a difficult thing for me, but I sure like the texture challenge.

 

 

 

 

New Work    I got out more of the roving and  did  a bit more work capturing it under wash away and stitches.   It is ready for the water now.

 

 

 

 

Drawings   The pixies have a bit of a push toward drawing now.      I did these two this week.  Robert suggested storms so that is were this one came from.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Laura, wanted to try scissors. drawing .

 

 

Hopefully this week will be a little bit calmer .

Keep Creating  my friends

Carol

 

 

 

 

Applique, Cut Up, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Scissors, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Fall is Approaching

1 Comment

Hello,

I have had a busy week.   Last Saturday I went off to the Schweinfurth Art Center to their new show opening, Beyond the Surface: Contemporary  Artists ad Printed Textiles. I was lucky to attuned the Artist talk beforehand as well.  It sure enriched my viewing of the work.    One of the artist, Krystile Lemonias ,  mixed wood cuts with her quilting process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another artist, Sarah Fairchild,  mixed foil and flocking  with her printing on fabric.

 

 

 

A third   artist, Gerri  Spika,  used deconstructed screen printing with her work  fiber work.  I know how to do all three of these techniques.  The show has made me rethink things a bit.   These are only small examples of the eight  artists in the show.     I highly recommend a trip  if you can make it.

The  Pixies meant as did the QuEGs.    It was all stimulating.   I also listened to the  Textile Talk this week that was about the  Beyond the Surface show.

Progress Report:  Lap Quilt    This really is the last of the blocks from my friend Ethel.     I had to make some solid ones to fill this project out.

New Lap  I can’t let these projects go, so I pulled fabric for the next one yesterday.   It is such free play for me and they go to a worthy cause.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green Lichens  This work is 18 ‘ w X 24″ l.     It is the next one in the stitch work series that resulted from my Joyous Embroidery  class.   I did have a good time as usual in the process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cut Up    Only one more pair of scissors to cut out a apply and then I can move on to the next step.     I am having so much fun exploring this shape that I already have ideas for at least two more of them.

 

 

Stitch Club    I got and email form Stitch Club offering a free class so I took advantage of the process.  Lots of new ides here.

 

 

 

 

New Roving    In searching for some fabric I came across some  roving and Angelina that I had set aside for a new project.     So I am off on a  further exploration of this process from two  summers  ago.

 

 

 

Repair    My grandson drought me some of his clothing that needed repair.  I am epically prod of the patch I put on his Lakers shorts.

 

6X6 I came  across this mammoth  that Mom had made for a museum project in the bottom of a drawer.   Such a shame for  it to be in a dark, so I decided to feature it in one of my entries for the Rochester  Art Center fund raiser for the spring.

I hope you are enjoying the season and  creating a bit too.

 

Carol

 

 

Applique, Hand work, Lap Quilts, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Scissors, Scrap Happy Quilts

Summer Days

Hello,

I feel summer ending.   The season is still here, but I still see Labor Day as the end even though I  have not started the new school year  at that time in years.     My husband and I took a little field trip to drop off books at the library for their sale and then drove on to Chittango Falls for a short walk.  I so love the sound of moving water and this was powerful.    The plants are aware of the shorting days too.    I am seeing puff balls that appear over night in my  yard.  The squirrels  had to take a little taste out of this one like how they have to taste test my tomatoes.

Not a lot  of meetings this week and the Pixie meeting was canceled due to storms in Florida.

 

Progress Report:    Cut Up  I completed this project this week.  It is  43″w X 36″ t.     This work has reflective quilting.     There are nine scissors here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Bunny   I got busy and used the back legs I had created in my  class with Paul Kavark at QBL this summer and made this rabbit with them.   And he does have a puffy tail.

Scrap Happy Back   I put together four of the units I had made  to create a back big enough for a queen sized quilt.

Now to layer and add the strips together on top.

 

 

 

 

 

Handwork   I took a second look at this and decided to stitch it to a back and add  a boarder and sleeve.

New Lap    I was sorting through a box and discovered  some additional Ethel Blocks  so I used some to make a new lap top.    With a little work I see yet another lap quilt with the few leftover ones.

 

 

 

 

New Scissors project      I thought I was done with the scissors series until I talked to my hair dresser while getting a hair cut.  She suggested several new titles for me and  that in turn, got my brain going.     I am now off and running with  new work in the future.

 

 

 

Green Lichens   I keep putting in time on this project.

 

 

Keep enjoying the bounty of the season and keep Creating too.

 

Carol

 

Hand work, Pixies Group, Re Work, Scrap Happy Quilts

Dog Days

Hello,

The season is calming down for me and the cool days make me want to sleep more.      It is a good time to reflect before we get into the hurry of fall.   I only had  one meeting this week and that was with the Pixies.  They too seemed to be in a lull with very little happening.   I am enjoying the quiet.

Progress Report: Cut Ups    I am working away on this project and I want to share a little trick that I came across on Facebook.   Sense I am again outlining all the parts of this scissors piece with an appliqued yarn , I learned that you can tape a straw to your machine to direct the yarn to line up with you foot so you have both hands free to control your piece as it goes under the needle.   It sure makes the process easier.

Scrap Blocks  I have added the scrappy side panels to all my 4.5 ” centers and cut the blocks   into  8.5″ units now.  The number pinned to the top tells me how many blocks of each color I have .  This will make doing the layout step go quickly when I build  the rows.

 

Playing with Purple   This work is 24″ w X 12″t.   I started this in the Joyous Embroidery class  with  Fiber Art take 2, earlier this year.    It is finally done.      I enjoyed adding all this fun bits and pieces onto the surface.

 

 

 

 

 

Generational Mix  This work us 24″ X 18″.   I made some of the add on units and some were from the fabrics that Casey sent me of Grandmothers stuff.    Again the inspiration came form the  Joyous Embroidery class.  The buttons are from the ones my Aunt May brought home from the button factory . They are all pearl buttons that  where called seconds.    I think they  are beautiful in there imperfections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lichen   I started a new  piece that is built on and old work.  I painted Tyvek and melted it with a heat gun and then mixed  it with some new punch needle work to begin this piece.    This will take a while as I embellish it with buttons and beads as well as stitches.

 

 

 

 

Handworks  I also finished up these two little  works from the Angela’s challenge.

 

I  am sure will keep busy this week as I always do and I hope that your days are as full as you want them to be.

 

Keep Creating,

Carol

Applique, Hand work, Pixies Group, SAQA, Scissors, Scrap Happy Quilts, Sisterhood of the Scissors

Visiting

Hello,

It has been a week with several visits to other quilters.  Thursday,  I went off to Mill Sight Lake with Nancy to visit Judy at her camp.   I was surprised to find several of my old works hanging on the walls there.    Sharon joined us too.   Sadly,   it rained both days, but we still had a good time talking and doing hand work.

 

Rose, Judy’s dog and good companion, spent a lot of time on her lap.

 

 

 

 

Then on Tuesday,  Sharon and I went to Ann’s Barns for a  day of quilt play.    It was sort of a mini Sisterhood of the Scissors meeting.  She as been busy doing lots of renovation so the space is more livable to her and the new studio looks wonderful.   This is a shot of her fabric wall cabinets.

Ann’s work   looks great on her new walls too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Val shared her City Scrapes piece with us.   In the sky she free motion wrote lots of words about the city of New York City.

 

 

 

 

  Sharon has only to stitch the binding on her Heron Quilt now and it will be complete.   It is one of her best works in my opinion.

 

The Pixie’s meant yesterday and we had a good talk and I also listened to the SAQA lecture on “Labeling Your Quilts”.

Progress Report:   New Scissors    I started a new scissors piece and I am making progress.  Many pieces are cut, but nothing is fused down yet.     I hope to start that step later today.

Scrap Back   I am in the process of adding together scarp pieces for the back of my next Scarp  Happy project.  Grandson Gavin, expressed an interest in a new one, so I am off to it.

 

 

Scarp Blocks     I have cut the 4.5″ centers for the new blocks for the Scrap Happy and they have one side of the Roman Strip added to them.  I know this pile does not show much- that’s  it.

 

 

 

Handwork -Glove Block  I work on this up at Mill Sight.  It is started now and I am sure I will keep at it.

 

 

 

 

Little Monsters     Joyce and I have a little challenge going and this it my solution.      I think they work  as the only two rules were that there had to have ears and teeth.

I hope that the summer is providing you with good times and joy.

Keep Creating

Carol

Cutting the Corner, Diva Meetings, Hand work, SAQA, Scissors

Early post

Hello,

I am off to Mill Sight Lake tomorrow , so I am posting a bit early.

Liz and I went off to Marcia’s on Friday last week and meant with three other gals.  Joyce had created a wonderful beaded doll sense last we saw her.   She is just getting better and better.

 

 

 

 

Deb was busy finishing up the binding on  a  work she created with some parts from Perilla’s collection.

 

 

 

 

 

Marcia is working on her challenge piece.

 

 

 

 

Our community Art, Garden and Sustainability Trail was Saturday.  It was  hot , but enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

 

I sold 12 little pieces and felt really good about the day.   This is shot of my booth.

 

 

Yesterday the Diva ‘s meant at Seneca Falls  at the National Women’s Hall of Fame.  It was very informative and I learned a lot.

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed this painted collage of Katie Statian .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Denise was in the Art show that was there. In addition there was also a display from the Smithsonian on the history of voting.  We all had a great time .

 

This shot is of five of the ten  Diva gals who were there.

 

 

 

 

We visited a local art gallery after lunch   and enjoyed the art work too.

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report:  Cut the Corner   I finished  this work yesterday.  It is  41″ w X 28.5″ t.

   I am having a good time with scissors at this time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gloved square  i finished this square at Marcia’s.   Only three more to go.

 

 

 

Small    This work is my response to the SAQA  Big Small challenge.   The big work is Cut It Out.   I think  I am nearing completion of the embroidery work on this project.

 

 

 

Creatures    Joyce and I have a little challenge to create  a creature with ears and  teeth.   I am enjoying the process.

 

 

 New Work   This is my color run for the next scissors project.

 

 

 

I hope all are enjoying a wonderful summer.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

Animals, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand work, Machine Drawing, Pixies Group

Home from QBL 2024

Hello,

I am now home from my two weeks of  Quilting By the Lake.   This year it was held at  Hobart, Williams, Smith College in Genova, New York .      This was a last min change as Wells collage closed in May and Davana had to do seme scrambling to find us a new location.    It worked out remarkably well for such a short notice.    The housing and class rooms were scattered all over the lovely campus and that made for lots of walking, but it was so beautiful that I enjoyed it none the less.   My Cottage was across this little pond and I got to walk around it going to and from the main campus every day.

The fist week I had  Natural Dyeing class with Ellen Noble.    That class was in the art building that is surrounded by woods on three sides.  I saw a deer and a fawn one morning on my walk out to the location.

The class was very small with only eight of us, but oh so enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

Ellen really knows her stuff and she did lots of demonstrations for us.

 

I think I enjoyed learning about  Indigo the most, but the walnut and Palma granite dyes were fascinating too.

 

 

Ellen sat next to me and we shared lots of laughs.

Here she is painting a restirs on  a pre dyed of iron oxide.       There was a lot of chemistry in this class.

 

 

 

  This is a sample shot of many of the techniques that I came home with .

 

 

 

 

 

One evening there was show and tell were folks broth things from home .  This is a shot of my cottage mate, Desy with her project from last year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was class show the last even of the first week  usual and this is a shot of my friend Diane  from her class.

 

 

 

 

 

Kay was in the same class as Diane.

 

 

 

 

Week 2,  I was in Alter Ego class with  Paula Kevork as the teacher.   We started out with lots of free motion work and then she introduced three  dentinal ideas.   In doing  the free motion drawing I did scissors and  I discovered how I might add safety pins to my  play too.

On Tuesday afternoon, Paula  provided a pattern  for a mask/head and we were off and running.  She said she lost control at that point and never got it back.  As a class, we   were enjoying the challenge so much it was fun all the way to the end.

 

 

 

 

I had lots of friends in that class.  and I made some new ones.   This work is by a new gal- Holly.  She challenged herself to creating the whole think by pinching  and folding the fabrics

 

 

 

 

  Desy was seated behind me and she created a wonderful deer head  with a halo and wings.

 

 

 

Susan was behind  Desy and she did a wonderful crow  on a pastel block  background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jea was seated in front of me and she took the prize for creating the most three dimensional pieces.     She did a face , a dog, a creature   and 2 jelly fish.

 

 

 

 

Laura did this wonderful creature were she mixed in limbs from out side in her piece.

 

 

 

 

This shot shows our teacher and Liz  plus  Liz’s  Chick  .   It  is just too wild.

I loved the exploration that went on all around me in both two and three dimensions.

 

I worked on a dragon .      I used an old quilt from 1991  so I did not have to make any free motion pieces to work with.    But due to the fact that I had no pattern my head did not fit the body .   I was ready to toss the whole ting when the teacher suggested that the body only needed a face to stand alone.  So the “One Eyed flying purple people  Eater” was born.   ( right shoulder)  And due to the cut off broom stick that Liz happened to have in her car the head became a jesters assistant.       I am delighted  with both on them .    Now I still have some great back legs- so I many have to use them  along with the remaining scarps from that old quilt to create another creature…

 

This is Paula’s work .  She is having fun along with us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is one more of Holly’s very inspirational pieces made from the scraps of one of her other projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Cunningham did a lecture and showed us his strong work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The week ended with  another evening of work from the classes and the teachers apron auction.    The money raised from the auction goes to the scholarship fund.   Here we have Paula with her apron and a bonus of her book in the pocket.

 

 

 

Liz broth this apron  of Joe’s.

The whole event was a good one as  usual.   I so enjoy the people and new experiences QBL has to offer.  I along with Linda were honored this year with having attend  40 years.     I can’t quite believe that.

 I had a pixie meeting this week along with a FAD meeting.    Sharon had a wonderful background built for  a pieces she is making for her sister.

 

 

  Here is the bird.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report:    Cut Short    I spent most of this week catching up with  many things, but I did get work done on this piece.   It is ready for the zigzag  application of the parts now.

 Handwork- Small    This is my small work made with scarps from Cut it Out- the big  part.

 

I am enjoying my summer and having lots of fun creating new work.

Keep Creating
Carol