Category Archives: Machine Drawing

Daily's, Diva Meetings, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Three Trees

Enjoying the Spring June 5, 2014

ColembineHello,

I have been enjoying being out of doors and doing lots of yard work this week.  Being gone always means lots of catch up for me and that seems to be how I have spent most of my time.  That and meeting with my friends that is.    The first Tuesday of the month was this week so I had the usual QuEG’s  and DivaBarb meetings plus the FAB group has moved to the first of the mouth too.  It is good to see all my friends  and it is very stimulating.

Barb started off the QuEGs meeting  with her three “sliced block” tops.    She sure seemed to be having fun with them.   Then we moved on to Linda who is taking an on- line class where she is doing prep work for a quilt about her Irish Linda's-notebook BJuneLiz's-work Grandfather.   The notebook is a work of art all by it’s self I think.    She is collecting lots of ideas to work from for the project.

Then we looked at Liz’s strip blocks.   It is a memory quilt using  her friends father’s shirts. The  outside  strips of each block  are from the shirts.  The florial  prints in the centers rBJUneSueEllen's-new-fishepresent the friend.

Then we looked at Sue Ellen’s work.  This new fish quilt of hers really is a joyful one I think.   This photo does not show it- but the green has a wonderful reflective quality that really adds to the feel of water in this piece.

Next we Sally's-onelooked at Sally’s wonderful work.  She has finally finished piecing  her “One Block Wonder” top.   I love how she used the fabric in such a way that the quilt goes from light to dark in a Sally's-work machine embroderydiagonal sweep across the top.      She continues to work hard on her Machine Embrodery too.   All the lemons are drawn in thread as is the green sprig and the pie crust.     Her work always blows me away.

After the meeting I drove south and picked up Susan who is now back in Central New York andBJUNE5Sharon we rove to the Diva meeting together. Where I got my second jolt of creative stimulation.   Sharon who is going to graduate school had lots to share. Photos, prints and quilts   as she prepares for the many art  shows she partisipates in during the summer.   She is one busy gal.

BJUNE5-Donna Donna is taking a class in Spirit Cards and this a shot of one of them.   I am sorry that there is so much glaire here.   I like too how all the groups I belong to are so accepting of a wide varitey  of different materials as well as styles.  ANNE's-work

Anne peresented this finished piece at the meeting too.  I think the machine work really adds a lot of secondary interest to the surface.    I admire how she uses her fabrics.

-Susan's-holidaySusan spent six weeks in Mexico and she built this day journal of that event.   She challenged herself to try lots of different techniques on  six inch pellon squares with each square representing an event for each day of the trip.    I think it is a wonderful way to stay on track and to be creative at the same time. This close up shows foil she found in Mexico behind the painted and  cut out pellon sheet.  SUSANcloseup

 

 

 

 

 

 

The FAB group meant this Victoiraweek as well.    I taught them how to make silk paper.  This shot shows Victoria working at that.   Nancy made clouds with the silk roving that she intends to use on her new bed room quilt  as a part of  the sky.

Victoria and I are in a color class later this summer.   She is preparing for that by doing a  bit of progressive dying  for that -Victoria's-colorrun - Copyproject.   I think this color run is great.  It will be fun to use them in class later.

Patti is the Patti's-loomowner of a new pin loom and she has been weaving away.    She loaded it up and started a new project during our meeting.  I can hardly wait to see  the finished piece.

PattiI like all the color that she is using here.     With all the visiting going on, I did not do much work on my own stuff.  I am OK with that one needs to fill the well every now and then.

 

 

 

 Progress

Three Trees and a Singer 21" x21" $80.00
Three Trees and a Singer
21″ x21″
$80.00

Report:  Three Trees and a Singer   The title of this quilt has changed from just Three Trees  to the new one because I added a black bird.   It is very small in this image, but it is there on the far left tree about half way up.  I added the bird last because I thought the work needed a little  reason to look with  a bit more care.

Bird The bird is in this closeup. The trees are all based on pictures  I took  in the winter of  trees in my  backyard.  The trees are all full of leaves now I am glad to say.      The photo to the left here shows all three techniques that I used to create the  trees.     The brown is a woolThree-close up I started with and the black is yarn that I stitched down on top of  the wool.  Then after I had stitched together i sewed it  to the background.   Then  I loaded the bobbin with thick tread and from the back I free motion drew the limbs onto the surface of the quilt.   I enjoyed creating  this quilt.

 

 

 Daily News ( Formerly Daily’s) Daily's  These are the last of my Daily’s.  I say that because I feel I have learned what I needed to from this project.  I am calling the work Daily News because I worked on the pieces every evening  during the time the news was on TV.   Now I have to figure how what to do with the pieces I have created.   I have 240  four and half inch squares.   They are not finished so this can’t be the end.   I do not want them to simply end up in a box and  I do not want to simply sew them together as I have enjoyed placing them next to one another in various arrangements.      I am thinking of several possible solutions and I will spent this week making my final decision about that during this time.  That and planning the next possible mini challenge.

I hope the week ahead is full of good creative time for all.

Hugs

Carol

Daily's, Fundations XIX Mossy Stone, Fundations XX Asurite, Growing in the Dark, Machine Drawing, Paper Quilts, Spring Iris's, Three Trees

Back in the Studio May 29, 2014

Foundations XIX -Mossy Stone 33" X 29" $340.00
Foundations XIX -Mossy Stone
33″ X 29″
$340.00

Hello

It is good to be home and after I recovered from my jet lag I enjoyed getting back into the studio and working.    I think having something partly finished helped me get started too.   So I will jump into the Progress Report.

Progress Report: Foundations XIX Mossy Stone   As this image shows I am now done with this quilt.      I am not sure about Mossy Stone-cl2how to declare the size, but have settled on measuring the distance at the longest points to  come up with the numbers.   This quilt  has a very large number of fabrics in it as well as threads, yarns  and some silk paper.   I enjoy the extensive thread work that finishing the quilts in this series requires.   The thread patterns create nice direction and flow directions  to Mossy-stone-cl3my eye  and when I get to that step it is almost meditative in nature when I am working away at it.    I do not see the end of this series any time soon- it is just too much fun to see how many fabrics I can use and how many textures I can include in the process.

 

 

 

Growing in the Dark – Paper Quilt  

Growing in the Dark Paper Quilt 16" X 21"
Growing in the Dark
Paper Quilt
16″ X 21″

 

I took a  day workshop in  using the Gelli plate on the weekend before I went off to Paris.  I  made a lot of  wonderful paper and fabric printed images.  I decided to challenge myself and use some of them to do paper quilts again.  I have not done that style growing in the dark -cl2in over two years so it was a bit of a challenge just to recall the process.   The Gelli Plate process is full of chance and I really like that aspect of  using them.  Paper is in the bottom section of this shot   and fabric in the top- they do take the paint /ink differently , but I like them both.    This work because of the nature of the stiffness of the paper Growing-in-the-dark-cl1requires  that one work smaller.  I can only roll so much under the machine arm.  The paper  also is a much flatter material  so it goes together much more quickly .  I added in some of the silk paper as you can see here and it works well with the  other materials.  I have pulled another pile of paper and fabric from the workshop to start another soon.

 

 

 

three-trees

 

 Three Trees   This work is coming along.  I made the base of the trees on wash away with a dark gray green  wool and then added black yarn on top with machine stitching.  I then trimmed the  away as much of the wash away as I could before I submerged them in  back-of-3-treeshot water.  When they were dry I arranged the trees on the surface and sewed them down.   I loaded my bobbin with brown embroidery thread and the top of my machine with black.   I turned the quilt over and did free motion drawing of smaller branches in the trees using the outlines of applying the trees to the top as my three-trees close up 2guide.    This shot of the back of the quilt helps show what I did.    This closeup shows all three processes.  The dark green is the wool, the black is the  yarn and the brown is the thread.  This project  proved to be a very good way to get back into the free motion process for me.

 

 

 

AsuriteFoundations XX- Asurite  This is my new inspiration stone for the new work in the series.   The first step is to cut the bucrum in the shape of the stone.  Then I  start pinning the background  fabrics to the surface.  Asuritestart   I did the light area first this time and used two different blues and some hand dyed that had blue, white and gray in Pileit.  I then pulled  a pile of blue fabrics that I thought could work and piled them on the floor below the BM29Pinned-Asuritepinwall.  Having them at my feet meant I could pin look down and cut the next piece I wanted with ease.   I continued building on the surface until I had the whole color areas built  in.    The next step was to begin to Asurite close upstitch and pin more into the work and start to build the surface.  I like to work in this free form way and let the process guide me along.  It does mean that I stop and pin the work up frequently and look at the work, but I like that step  as well.

 

Spring Iris BM29-Spring-Iriscl1 Spring Iris   I am doing the free motion outline step of this work now.    I was so happy to see the Iris in Monet’s garden and I took a lot of photos.  I think I will try to add a  bit of applique on top with the photos in mind.   I am not sure how I will do this yet- but I am thinking on the process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red Canvas   red-canvus I started the painting process of this work in the fall as a play day with Cheri.     Seeing the great way she used what we started that day at the Diva Meeting  in March got me to pull the canvases I had created out again.  I cut them up and then zig zagged them back to create a bigger unit.  I then painted on top again to add more depth.  I was still not happy.  So I have now done some hand work and I think I am nearing completion.  I added beads, buttons and some altered metal to the  red canvas close upsurface.   I need some assistance as to how to finish this work  so I will take it to the Diva meeting and get some help.

 

 

Daily's Daily’s     I think I am done with this series as far as making the little units is concerned.  I have eight more and that will complete the thirty blocks I have with the two triangles on them.   I have done this daily work for eight months and feel I am ready to find and ending place and move on.  I will take this week as I finish the blocks to decide on a way to complete the project and to think about a new daily or weekly challenge.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Daily's, Diva Meetings, Foundations XVII Granite, Foundations XVII Obsidian, Foundations XVIII Rusty, New Iris

National Choclate Chip Day May 8, 2014

Hello,

I hope everyone is enjoying a choclate chip cookie today.  What a wonderfully silly thing to make a national day.  Not sure of the origian of this idea, but I am sure  the cooks approve.  As do those of us who will eat a cookie for any reason.

BM8SueEllenThis week contained the first Tuesday of the mouth so I had meetings.   The  QuEG’s  meeting was  great with lots of show and tell.  Sue Ellen showed us this wonderful book/ album/portfolio of all of the fish quilts she has done this year.  What a great wayCorrinie to present your work.     Corrinie is not beading on this wall piece.  I sure love the semenate.    Linda and I showed the  fabrics we had created in the soy dyeing class from last month.

Anne work1Then it was off to the Diva meeting on Tuesday evening.     Anne and Ruth had both taken a workshop with Gwen Marsdon.  This first one is Anne’s take on the processes.   I like how crisp and clean Anne’s work always is.  She limits her color and uses it so very well- something that I could afford to learn a little be more of.

Ruth chose to try all the techniques and plans to assemble them into a samplerRuthall type thing when  she is done.    As is usually true in a class each person puts their own stamp on the final outcome. They both had a good time too.Donna

Spring seems to bring a lot of workshops to all of us as Donna took one as well on Encostics.   She came away with three wonderful images and I found it difficult choosing the one I liked best to show here.

Liese continues to wow Save-the-waterus with her wonderful little dioramas.    This one she finished up on Earth Day (April 22) and it is her statement about all the pollution in our Oceans.     I really enjoy her little people- they are so very animated and full of life.   She told us this work was the center piece for the dinner table on Earth day too.

This meeting marked my fifth anniversay with this very diverse group of gals.  I so enjoy them and I drive home with my mind spinning with new ideas and inspirations every time.

Foundations XVII Obsidian 34" X 33.5 $400.00
Foundations XVII Obsidian
34″ X 33.5
$400.00

Progress Report: Foundations XVII Obsidian   This quilt has many different fabrics in it.  I used some denim from my husbands pants in one area.  There is velvet, silk, cotton, taffata and nylon fabric here too.   I made my choices based on  the  colors  that I saw in the rock  ( there are lots of reflections due to the nature of the stone)  – it did not matter what type of material it was.     The process alsoObsidian cl1 involved some fibers that  I purchased years ago  without any knowledge of the content or type.  I was delighted by the color Obsidian close up 2then and I still am.    I am glad to finally find a home for some of them.      There is some aposistory fabrics in this too.   the textured gray black show here was on the piano seat  Mom covered when I was in Jr high.      I m glad to find a home for it too.ObsidianCl3

 

 

 

 

Foundations XVIII - Rust 26" X 42" $385.00
Foundations XVIII – Rust
26″ X 42″
$385.00

 Foundations XVIII – Rusty    This quilt has lots of old fabric that was intended to become clothing.  The rust colored wool was  purchased for an a-line skirt.     I am still struggling with  the  irregular shape and the high point at the top of this quilt  is still a problem   here.  I though I had it sloved, but that proved not to be the case.  I plan to add some stays in to that section today.  I am not surprised  as there are always new problems withRustycl1 unexplored territioy.    This first close up shows some fabric that I rust dyed.  I did break a needle when I tried to  free motion through the three layers of the Rusty close up2rust dyed fabric.  I do not know why, but I fear that even though I did wash it when I finished the fabric there still could contain a bit of  residue .    Again I used lots of different fabrics on this piece.  Wool, velvet, cotton and the back side of taffata can be seen here.   I am enjoying the process.Rusty cl3

Maya's-quiltMaya’s  Tee Shirt Quilt    I finished this quilt this week  too.    It took me   four hours to do the hand stitching on the binding of this project.     It is a queen sized quilt.    The free motion work  Maya's close up on the blocks was the most enjoyable part for me.

 

 

 

New-IrisNew Iris’s     This top is now ready for the quilting step.  It is a little too much like a very nice background at this point so I will  need to think carefully about how to go forward on this  project.

 

 Foundations XIX –     Foundations XIX stone  This is the new pinned up section for the next work.  I love the wonderful moss green fabric that Noel gave me a few weeks ago.   This mossy stone is  the outgrowth of that feeling.   I feel the striped fabric that is the base for this one is still too strong so I will keep building on top of it.

Daily'sDaily’s       My  storage box for these little exercises is almost too full so I think I will end this series soon.    I want to move on to another idea as well.

Keep Creating.

Carol

PS  I am off to spend a week in Paris so there will be no post next week.  Look for lots of pictures the following week.

Daily's, Electric, Green Grow the Grasses, Scrap Happy, Scrap Happy Quilts, Smoke

Knowing when to stop. March 27, 2014

Hello,

BM27fullOne  problem I  often face when I  paint  is not knowing when to stop work on a painting.   So I often go too far and add that extra tree or bit of red and then  ruining a  work because I am not be able to repair the problem…… I usually do not face that with my fiber work because I can pin things up and nothing is permanente until I make the final decision ans sew then down.    This week I seem to  be filled with lots of doubt about this completion  “thing”.   I can not seem to decide if I am  finished with either of the  two Foundations pieces that I am currently working on.    So I pinned then backward to the wall top-halfand have not looked at the surface  for several days.  I hope when I  face them with fresh eyes early next week  the absence will help me make the decision about rather to go forward or stop.     There is one other little quirk in my mental state as I  discovered a work I had folded up last fall  with a similar problem. (This blue and purple work)botton half  Now it is easy to see that the there are really two haves to this work and they do not go together.   So I think I will slice then apart and try to solve each half independently of the other.  After I slice them in two I will be able to work with each half  to see if I can save all or any portion of the work.  I may still need to rotate the  sections but as seperate units I think my chances of success are much better.

Scarp-Happy-1 Progress Report: Scarp Happy  I have been working on this bed quilt for a few weeks.    It is done and has gone from my life.  The woman from Prevention Net Work came yesterday and picked it up for their Spring Fund Raiser.  This organization works to keep teen off drugs by providing alternate activites for them to work on.  My grandson worked on a play with/for this organization a few years ago.  I am glad to support groups that deal with teens.   scrap-happy- 2

Scrap Happy   I also  passed this quilt to a second auction.  This Scarp Happy  has a diagonal  block lay out.   It is going to the Meals on Wheels of North Syracuse for there benefit.   I was assured that it will sell well and add to their coffers.  Again I am happy to support this organization.

ElectricElectric    This top really went together quickly when I finally got to it this week.  I am now in the process of adding the quilting.  I am using the silk screen printed fabric that I made as the inspiration for that quilting.   It is fun- but very slow as I have to stop so often and change the direction of the stitches at sharp angles.  No  stitching line thus far is longer than an inch and a half and most are under a half an inch.

It is quite a slow  process.Electric close up

 

 

 

 

Green Grow the Grasses  Green-grasses-cl  I am having a good time doing the free motion drawing of the flowers on this quilt.  Some of the  machine drawing is just on top of the print on the fabric and some is just my own creation.   I have also added some leaves to the surface to add interest and varity.

Smoke-cl

 

Smoke I am still working away on this piece.  Every time I think I am done with it I pin it on the wall at the end of the day and then look at it first thing in the morning before I turn the lights on.  That is when I  can see what the quilt needs and thus far that has been more hand quilting.  One cannot rush the process.

 

New Worknew-work Then of course when I do not know what else to do I start a new piece.   Seriously,  I was not done exploring the slender inserts idea and this thing popped into my head just as  I awoke the on Tueseday morning.   So I am off and running with a new thing.

Daily'sDaily’s   These little works seem to be one of the constants in my life at the moment.  Thank goodness for routine.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily's, Foundations XI- Stream Bed, Machine Drawing, Smoke, Striking Gold

Changing Spring Weather March 13, 2014

snow-treeHello,

The Weather is full of spring surprises.  Tue is it was sunny and 54 degrees here. I enjoyed my walk noting all the bare ground and seeing may birds.  Wednesday morning  it stared raining early and continued  until about 8 am  and then started snowing.  By 3  in the afternoon I only did a shot walk as the snow on top of ice  was a foot deep, slippery  and the slogging was difficult.  Today it is beautiful with full sun and blue sky’s- but a chilly  16 degrees with wind.    Tomorrow it is set to be 43.  All this snow and cold will soon be a memory as we all enjoy the wonderful changes spring brings.

Progress Report:Foundations XI  -Rust and  Rifts

Foundations XI Rust and Rifts 30" X 38" $400.00
Foundations XI
Rust and Rifts
30″ X 38″
$400.00

 

I continue to truly enjoy this collage like process of assembling works.   The chance to use so many fabrics combined with how one can twist and turn those fabrics as one works with them is so much fun.  I like too the fact that I can just keep building on top of each section until I get the effect I want.   This means that I can use yarns and threads to produce different types of lines across the surface.  The free motion work adds so much freedom and direction to the surface.

 

Rust&Riftscl1

This shots shows rusty velvet and the back side of one of the rusty colored fabrics. Rust and Rifts close up 2                                                         This second close up shows the several of the threads that I used on this piece as well as the tucked and folded fabric.   

Rust and Rifts close up 3

In this third  close shot you can see the silk paper the frayed out heavy  fabrics  and threads that are attached.

 

Green Nebula.  I finally got this Green-Nebulafelted piece framed.  I think that is the best solution for felted works.  I think I will work a bit smaller on the next one as so much of it is lost in the framing process.  I did enjoy adding all the bead work to represent planets and stars among the green gasses.

 

 

 

Green nebula-close up 2 The sequins on  this  piece are antique ones from my Aunt May’s sewing box.  They are of a material that is not fractured or as highly reflective as most of the sequins that one can purchase today.   I learned a little bit more about photography with this project.  Both

Green Nebula -close up 3 closeups have flash reflections in the form of  lines near the center and the  full sized shot has a shadow across the glass.    It seems there is always more to learn.

 

 

 

 

 Foundations XI – Stream Bed FoundationsXII -stream-be  I am doing the fun stage of this project now.  I love the free motion work that all of the works in this series require.    I like how the project leads me forward and how much time it takes, because the time means I put it up and look at the work in progress a lot.  I am not real happy with the piece at the moment.   I see that it is too dark- and the one tan area is far too square.    All these problems can be changes and that is exciting to me.Smoke

 

 

 

 Smoke This quilt sort of got away from me as I worked on it.  I did not intend for it to become so large, but the gray silk units seemed to call for that action.  I did fuse inner facing to the back of those same units as they were far too flexible and wandered around a bit with the seaming.  I am now in the process of doing hand stitching on this one.  In my typical style I am letting the surface tell me what to do next.

 Striking Gold I am having lot of fun working on this piece. The base is one solid piece of fabric and thenStruck-Gold I added Lumier painted torn grown cloth on top.  There is also a bit of orange nylon netting on the surface as well as fabric bits.  I then did some hand work with some Taylor’s thread that my friend Judy had given me several years ago.  I also have added some free motion bobbin work to the surface. (The zig –zag lines)  I am enjoying working away on this project.

New-WorkNew Work  All the snow covering the ground has brought my desire to work with spring colors back to the surface.    Just pinning these up yesterday in the snow storm was cheering.  I am going to really emphasis the green this time in the form of long lines to represent grass coming up.

 

 

 Daily’s   I think these little Daily’s are the reason I am doing so  much more hand work then I have been doing past years.  I just seem to get going onDaily's the square and the thing is done.  So picking up another project is a very easy and natural progression.

Keep Creating

CarolblueSky

Daily's, Foundations IX, Foundations Series, Foundations X, Machine Drawing, Rounding up Green, Spring Iris's, Tropical Palms

Valentines’s Day February 13, 2014

ValentinesHello,

Valentines’ day was always one of my favorite holidays, I am a romantic I guess.  I never really had any big crushes on anyone as a child- but it was decorating the shoe box or the big envelope that all the exchanged Valentines came in that I enjoyed the most.  When I was teaching IIce1 always had the kids spend a day making a Valentine creature- the only shape they could cut was a heart.  Now the heart could be long and slender , short and fat- just what worked.  We used the scarp box of construction paper so there was lots of colors to choose from.  I loved the green heart frogs, black  bats and other animals that the kids produced.  This year   I  had some wonderful Mylar red paper so I started playing and made Valentines with it.  I great fun and I put them in the mail yesterday.  It really cheered me up as all the snow is getting to 6X6me a bit.

I did four entries for the  6″X 6″ fund raiser that the Rochester …….. does every year.  I think it is a great concept/fund raiser  were they accept small( 6″ X 6″) works from everyone who wants to particiat.   The gallery t then sells them all for $20 each.   I enjoy making  my little petroglyphics stencils and stitching them to the backgrounds.  I made four.

Rounding Up Green 34.5" X 38.5" $ 465.00
Rounding Up Green
34.5″ X 38.5″
$ 465.00

Progress Report:  Rounding Up Green  This quilt was nearly completed last week.  I was working on the facings last Thursday.  I created the blue fabric a few years ago with a silk screen print.

rounding up green close up 1This close up shows some of the dyed fabric and on the far left there is some commerically  embrodiered fabric that was in my stash.  Rounding up Green Cl1     I also used a bit of the fabric that I experimented with when I was preparing to dye.   I really like the wildness of these “rags”  and always find a good use for them in my work.

Tropical Palms 16" X 23" $130.00
Tropical Palms
16″ X 23″
$130.00

  Tropical Palms    This quilt went together really quickly.  I realized with this one that I am ready for spring as there is lots of fabric out on the  cutting table  that is in the pastel range- with a big emphasis on pinks.  I had a very enjoyable time drawing the palm trees on this project.   It did make me feel warmer too.  The purple hand dyed fabric in this work  is bye Judy Roberts.   She does wonderful stuff in my option.   I used the print fabric as my starting point for the quilting pattern.  The biggest area needed Tropical Palms cl2a bigger tree so I improvised and mad the leaves of the tree with that section.    The other quilting- all in a horizontal waving pattern- is meant to represent the rolling sands that I remember from a trip were I saw palm trees.   I was tempted to add texture to the stump of the tree- but after doing a drawing first I decided Palms 1that an addition like that would be distracting.   Using my sketchbook is never lost effort and it really dose help clarify what needs to happen some times.

 

 

Spring Iris’s   This is another one of my

Spring Iris's 17" X 21" $125.00
Spring Iris’s
17″ X 21″
$125.00

responces to all the cold and snow.  The big print that dominates this work was a piece of decorator fabric.  I really liked the beautiful color work in the flowers and tried to emphasis that with my quilting.  I also tried to spread out the limited bit of fabric that I had across the surface of the work to add to the movement of ones eye around the piece.  There is some of the pink and purple fabric that I printed a few weeks ago in this Spring Iris's close up 2work.      After I did  a few drawing in my sketchbook I  free motion drew around the flowers and again with the same types of lines.  I added some flowers using the same style in different areas of the quilt to make sure there was enough quilting to keep the work stable.  I also did free motion work around the leaves and tried to push the iris close up 1garden idea even further  with this action.   Then as I did the clean up of the materials form this project I found another piece of the Iris close up 3florial print so there is a place to begin another quilt with this theme.

 

 

 

 

Foundations IX 25" X 32.5" $285.00
Foundations IX
25″ X 32.5″
$285.00

Foundations IX   This quilt was nearly complete last week too.   I just wanted more green it the work so I held it back until I had made that addition.    I added treads I had pulled from some green silk and some green silk paper to get that additional color on the surface.   The works in this series are highly textured and all the wadding and overlapping of the fabrics makes some areas very thick and others very thin, but I sure like the Foundations IX close up 3effect I am getting with this technique.   The machine drawing Foundations IX-close up 2adds to the texture and colors of the surface too.  I am still using some of the fabric that Marty and I discharged last spring on these works too.    The dark fabric with the light areas is one of those pieces.  

Foundations X   I pulled fabric Foundation Xfor the next work in this series and this is my current selection.    I may add some additional material and or subtract material- this is just a beginning pallet.

Daily'sDaily’s  They are still being produced.  I only have a little more than a weeks worth of this layout left and I will need a new starting place for the next batch of works.   It all goes together so quickly when one does a little bit at a time.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily's, Diva Meetings, Golden Path, Maya's Tee Shirt quilt, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Scrap Happy Quilts, Tee Shirt Quilts

Snow February 6, 2014

SnowtreeHello,

It is a snowed like crazy yesterday and  I just could not stay in doors.   I had a good time waking in the deep snow.Fireplug  The going was slow as there was about 10 inches of new snow on the ground and it was falling very thick and fast.  I walked a block from home and looked back- I could not see the house.   I did enjoy the way the fire plug  and several small pine trees seemed to be wearing pointed snow hats.  I helped push a gal out of her driveway and the snow plow did pass by before I got home form my  short  walk. Sally's work   It is getting difficult to find joy in this long winter.  But I console myself by remembering that this too will pass.   The QuEGs group meant on Tuesday.  There were only four of us but it was still a good time.    Sally is doing some amazing stuff with her embroidery machine.  She programed and stitched all of these  bags herself.  She said she wanted to test thread and needles.     There was also a Diva meeting on Tuesday evening and again it wasCheri very stimulating.   There is so much variety going on in the group it is hard to keep up.   Cheri is exploring painting on canvas and really starting to make it her own thing now I think.  She not only adds hand dyed fabric on top in a collage like process she is also doing lots of hand stitching on top too.  Lori's-new-work

Lori is doing a wonderful job mixing machine work with hand embroidery on silk.   This piece will be a real WOW when it is done.    There are two folks exploring book making processes at the moment.  Liese  is working on a book with individual hand made fabric pages- she is not sure how it will go together at BF6Liesea's-booksthis  point.   Several pages are sun prints. One is marbaleized, and some are collaged.   It is an engineering problem now.   The other book worker is Alice.   She is using an accordion book format for her works.  One book is titled “We Love the Sky”  and sun rise to moon rise are represented in Alice's-book1her book as one continuing diorama .   This image is of rain and storm followed by the rainbow.    Her second work is  titled ” We Love the Woods” and it too is in the diorama layout. ALices's woods  I love how she mixes her painted parts with commercal  fabrics and images.   I find her trees BF6Sandy'sreally strong.    Sandy is busy doing wonderful hooking projects.  She has two works that are both landscapes that work as a set or stand alone.   Her mix of sliced wool and yarn do wonderful things  together is powerful.    The work in small but this style works for her busy life at the moment.    Anne went to a work shop in Vermont withAnnie's1 Cynthia Corbin  called  Emerging Styles.   She came home with a wonderful pile of great started projects.    She discovered how Annies's-lightimportant light is to her way of creating and that has pushed her into a new direction.  I can hardly wait to see how this develops.    Noel likes to use silk in Noel's-workher work and although this is an older piece it shows her wonderful handling of this some what difficult material.  She does not fuse the silk to any thing either and that allows her to distort the material in the manner this shows.   Ruth is still working away on her African symbols project.  Ruth's-work    She is ready to begin quilting on this work now.  I think it is very strong graphically.   Needless to say I am all excited  by all these wonderful works and ready to charge forward.    I am so very fortuniate to belong to two powerful groups of creative folks.

Golden Path 29" X 30" $ 305.00
Golden Path
29″ X 30″
$ 305.00

Progress Report: Golden Path   This quilt really seemed to come together without much in put by me.  I had all the stripped sections left over from another project and they were in the bottom of a box.  When I came across the red, gold, and blue fabric last week it just seemed to pull the other fabrics with it.   The big gold and white chunks of fabric are from the printing day I did a few weeks ago. BF6GoldenPathCl1    I looked at the surface of this quilt a long time before I started quilting it.  I decided to emphasize the square shapes in the center using a Greek Key pattern.  I started quilting in the center making first one key and then another connected to the first using variegated yellow thread.     GoldenPath close up 2I then stared outside the second squared area and built a second set of units.    I continued to build until I had about a dozen keys and by then I had worked for an hour on the project.  So I stopped.  Before I began work the next day I looked critically at the work.  It needed a bit of punch so I added a row of gold thread in an outline pattern all the way around all the created units.Goldenpathcl3  Thus the name – Golden Path- as it just leads one around the center units.  I then  switched back to the yellow and repeated the same procedure as the day before.  I then added as second out line of gold and retuned to the yellow keys to the out side of the quilt.   I am pleased with the results.

BF6Rounding-up-GreenRounding Up Green   I am quilting away on this quilt now.  I am using the same idea as I applied to  Golden Path only I am using spirals.  I create one and then from it I spiral out and create a smaller one next to  the first and keep building the pattern out from the center of the work.  I will not add a row of gold thread however.  It is working without that addition.

Maya’s Tee Shirt Quilt Maya's Tee shirt   I continue to work away on Maya’s quilt.  I now have three rows completed.  It is getting bit difficult  to handle on the pin wall.   I still have two rows to construct and then it will be time to start a back.   

ScrapHappyScarp Happy   I have been working on putting together scraps for about a mouth now.  I decided to give myself a break for that and build a top out of the work.   I cut the pieces into long 2.5″ widths and then added those pieces to 4.5″ centers.    There are blocks with an Egyptian print center and blocks with a red print center .  I am now ready to start creating rows for the top of this quilt.

newworkNew work-purple and  pink      I think the cold and whiteness of the weather is effecting my  leaning toward spring colors at the moment.   This one is just starting to come together.  I am going to  try to work in the 18″ X 24 ” format again.  This is my first return to that format.

 New work spring BF6audition

I pulled out the fabric for this project yesterday during the storm in the morning.  Again I think this is my attempt to think about spring instead of the cold all around me.

new workNew work Foundations IX

This is a close up of the new work on the next Foundations piece.  It too will be on a smaller format.  All the green thread is unraveled silk thread from a woven section of fabric.   The solid green and blue are silk papers.

Daily'sDaily’s   I do my Daily’s when I watch the news in the evening.  I have been following that practice for a while now and my attitude about the news is much more mellow.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily's, Lacy Roses, Maya's Tee Shirt Quitl

Happy Chinese New Year January 30, 2014

PattiHello-,

The Chinese New Year begins tomorrow.  It is the year of the Horse. Folks  born in this year are said to be popular, cheerful, skillful with money and good  with their hands.   It sounds like a good combination to me.  One of the few traditions that I am aware of is that oranges are a good fruit to consume tomorrow because you eat the whole thing and that will bring you luck.  Eating something green is said to help with money items too.     I enjoy learning about different cultures in relationship to days of the year.

There was a FAB  meeting at my house today and  we did metal embossing.  We all ended up creating valentines and had a good time at it.

Lace Roses 21" X 26.5" $ 195.00
Lace Roses
21″ X 26.5″
$ 195.00

Progress Report: Lacy Roses  I seem to be running on a real high this week.  I started this piece on Friday and it is done already.   I did all the cutting of the fabric with my scissors instead of using the rotary cutter.   Sometimes the distortions were huge- and then filling in those areas proved to be a bit of a challenge to me. The starting fabric is the red print that I created with fabric and a paper doily.Lace-Roses-cl2  I was a bit surprised when I printed this as I did not expect it to be as delicate as it is.   I enjoyed the free motion quilting of the rose like shapes with the addition of leaves and spirals on the surface too.   I used a lace-Rosescl1variegated thread for the whole top.

 

 

 

Foundations  VIII    I am enjoying this collage like process of assembling  quilts on buckram.  Foundations VIII As usual I did start with a sketch , but quickly pulled away form the drawing as I started placing the fabrics on the surface.     The challenge I presented myself with of working in the smaller format does change my approach as I can do the tacking down of the parts much more quickly. ( check the image form last week)   I again used silk paper on the surface as well as pulled threads and yarn bits.  I like how the raw edges play across the surface too.

Maya’s Tee Shirt Quilt  Maya's-tee-shirts-quilt

New-work-greenI just keep putting in time on this project.  It is moving along.  I always forget how long it takes to created a queen sized top between the times I work on one to the next.   I think it will be a very bright quilt when it is done and one that makes me smile.

New work Green  I had so much fun creating the print fabric last week that I though I really should do a piece using some of the fabric that I printed.    So this is the second thing I started this week. lnewwork-green I pulled out the stack and this blue fabric from two summers ago and the green wipe up rag  fell on the floor.  I decided that I would use these two to get me going on a new work.   The blue fabric was printed using a silk screen and the blue Elmer’s  school glue.  It is water soluble and as I printed with the water based paint the lines deterioated.  That made for a changing image that I really enjoyed.  It was fun as always fitting the pieces and color balance together too.

New-Work-goldNew Work- Gold   I so enjoyed the challenge of the green and blue top,that I pulled out some other fabric and built a pallet for the next top.  The red blue and gold piece of fabric is one I created with Ethel last spring using a wonderful technique were one sews fabric to thick batting with water soluble  thread, paints the raised surface with wax and then adds dye.  The dye sinks into the valleys were  the wax does not go and dyes the fabric and when you clean up the fabric this is the result.   I hope we do it again some time.Daily's  

Daily’s   I am working away on the Daily’s.  The half circle  plus the double line serve as  great new challenges for me on this project.   It sure is fun.

Keep Creating

Carol

Charlottes Shadow 2, Daily's, Foundations VII Fragments, I'd Reconsider, Pomegranate

Moon Light January 16, 2014

 

Hello,

Tonight is the full moon, but last evenings moon light  was beautiful too.  The light was so silvery white  through the sky light that I had to go to the window and look out.  Most of the snow had melted, but there was still one drift in the back yard.  The tree limbs cast beautiful blue gray shadows across the snow and my mind catalogued the colors and patterns for a new work.   This morning I did a sketch of the idea so I would not lose the feeling.    I can hardly wait until I have time to begin this new project.

Pomegranate 33" X 46" $535.00
Pomegranate
33″ X 46″
$535.00

Progress Report: Pomegranate I am quitePomegranatecl3 pleased with how this quilt ended up.  All the shadow quilting around the fruit did have a pull on the seams- but I minimized it as much as possible by sewing in one direction all the way around and then doing the next pass in the opposite direction.   All this action made for very slow work.    I also added a spike every now and then to the pattern so there were some strait sewing lines too.   I also tried a little experimentPOMEGRANATEcl4 with the paint on this project.  To give the fruit a little more “punch” I painted clear fingernail polish over some of the red seeds.  Pomegranatecl1      I really like the transparency of the paint on this piece.  It adds to the interest of this work for me.  The paint is fabric paint.

 

 

I'd Reconsider 16" X 25.5" $145.00
I’d Reconsider
16″ X 25.5″
$145.00

I’d Reconsider   I spent a lot of time looking at this quilt before I started quilting on it.  Titles are always a difficult thing for me.   I had been calling this work  Sunshine and Rust- but looking carefully at  the surface-working out the quilt pattern- I noticed the eye shapes in the printed fabric.  I decided to  use those shapes as a starting place for the quilting.    The shape was so easy to quilt and just seemed to flow across the surface of the work.I'd Reconsider  Then when I started altering the size of the eyes to fill in the space it was even an easier process for me.  It took on a life of its own and I went with that feeling.   When it was all done the I'd Reconsidertitle of Sunshine and RustId Reocnsider cl3 seemed  to be a major miss fit.   “I’d Reconsider” seems to work a lot better for me.  I have learned that I will not title a work until it is totally finished from this point forward.

 

 

Charlotte’s Shadow II I am to the quilting stage of this work now too.  It is going to be more in the nature of the fabric that is the main material for this series.  Charloett'sII-cl   I have started adding leaves and finishing flowers on the top at this point.  I will keep working away in this type of style until I have completed the work.

 

Charlotte’s Shadow III  Charlottes-ShadowIII  This is the third and final quilt in this series.  As this shot shows I have only begun to pin some parts to the wall.  I will shuffle them a bit before I begin to put it together.

 

Foundations VII- Fragments   I am still quilting away on this work.  It was pinned to the pin wall and when I came into the room before I turned on the lights yesterday FoundationsVII close upmorning I looked at the piece.  With all the color washed to darks and lights by the laque of light I suddenly saw a section of the quilt that was not working at all.  I had created a whole in the upper left hand side by surrounding a section  with darks.  When I turned the light on it was still there.  My eye is still drawn to that flaw so I will begin the correction today.  That is one really paint/college like quality of this construction method.  I will build over the area that I find offensive a with layers of organza so I can keep the texture.    This shot shows how I am building texture with yarn in one of the areas of this quilt.

tee shirt quiltTee Shirt   I have a new commission piece.  It is a tee shirt quilt.  All the images have been mounted on inner facing so they will remain square when they are seamed together.   Sewing on double knit fabric is always tricky.  I am now ready to lay them out and add the sassing to them so they are uniform in size- like building a log cabin block.  That step will make assembly easy and simple.

Quilt Daily’sDaily's   I believe the daily’s are getting more complex with time.

Keep your eyes open to the beauty around you.

Hugs

Carol

 

Blue Yonder, Daily's, Diva Meetings, Oak Leaves, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

November 7, 2013

2 Comments

OakHello,   

The weather is still somewhat mild here.  I find because I am working on the quilt with the oak leaves on it I am looking more at other oak trees too.  This one is in the Oak Wood Cemetery were I walk some days.  I Have noticed how different trees have differnt colorations.  This old one is  a deep red.  The one along the drive is primary yellow- but that is only at the bottom, now as the top has turned brown.  I have also observed that there are many different shapes to the leaves. I know that has to do with species differences.  Some leaves are very sharply pointed like the one in my yard and some are all curves ends.  I picked up one in the parking lot in Ithaca yesterday and not only were the ends of the leaves very curved the leaf had a really deep dip, almost to the spine, after the first vain from the base of the leaf.   Mother Nature loves variation on a theme.  I may have to get a tree book and do some serious study.  Ruth- b/w

This week was the first full week of November and so I had my group meetings on Tue.   Both were very exciting.  The QUEGs group had severl members who had be to the big quilt show in Houston and they had lots of wonderful pictures and gadets to share.    The Diva’s were inspirational too.   Everyone seems to be so energized with lots to share.  Ruth is working on a project using African simbiles as the bases for the block.  This one sure is bold.  She had also Ruthcreated a wonderful study using her style of expertly mixing  batikand hand dyed fabrics. Cindy     Cindy shared her amazing prints.  She did them with the big Gelly Plate.  She is now going back into the work and adding machine stitching in top.  They are the faint red lines crossing the yellow in this photo.   The work is very elegant.Donna   Donna was kind enough to bring her Alchemist  Mask. I love masks and this one is a great one.  She built it over the old store mannequin she has in her studio.  The face is nobel.   I like the life size doll eyes she put in the face too.  They add so much in the way of focus.  Alice   Alice is working on a Human Angles series and this is one of them.  I am showing this image because she has a unique style of working were she paints the image she wants on the back of her cloth.  Then she turn it over and  lays a piece of black fabric  on top. With the two layers  together she flips the work to the back and  sews around the image she has painted.  So this picture is from the back.  She then trims the black off the front  along her seam lines and her images are outlined in black- her signature style.   It is very cool I think.      

 This work with four figures is by Cheri.  I especially like the unfinished edge she used here.Cherri    They are a wonderful and inspiring group of gals who seem to be all working away in their own direction.

Progress Report:  Blue Yonder  This quilt is ready for quilting now. Blue-Yonder  I have done my “stitch in the ditch” step after basting.  Doing that makes the work stable for all the crazy directions I always seem to want to go.   I have not decided  what that  free motion quilting will be yet.

Oak Leaves Oak Leaves   This is a close up of the project.  I am having lots of fun making more and more leaves.  I just love how the unattached body of the leaves casts such wonderful shadows on the quilt.  They also flutter a bit when there is a breeze, like when I come in the studio door.    There is a lot of texture here and I love that. Daily's

Daily’s   The Daily’s are coming along.   I now have a full cigar box of the little fellows and they are starting to look really impressive when on puts them all out.  I still have ideas of layouts for the parts and shape and color changes I want to try- so I will keep the practice up.  I also added a silly rule- no new purchases for this project.   I am almost out of red embroidery thread so I will have to switch to crochet thread- I have several huge balls of that.  I am sure that will change the character of the stitches.   But that is part of the experiment.

Keep Creating

Carol