Category Archives: Stencels

Daily's, Flight, Swallows, Transversing - Foundations #4

Dec 13, 2013

AliceHello,

I hope  holiday preparation and events are just what you want and need.  At this time of year it is so very easy to get drawn  in to doing too much.  As I looked at my calendar for this week I realized there was an event of one type or another every day.  I also knew I could not keep that pace up and enjoy the season so I really have cut back.  Next week is much simpler and I am sure I will fill it none the less with little things that make the holiday a wondrous one- but this time I will choose with care what I do.  

 Last Friday I helped Cheri put up a new show in her shop Imaginings Art and Antiques.  It was a delightful way to spend a winter day.  This first picture is of Alice Grant’s curtain frame fiber work.  Cheri put it around a mirror and yes that is me behind the camera in the reflection.  My work  Most of my work hung together.  For this event I am displaying only work that in a stretched or framed fashion.  The show will be up in Cortland on Maine Street until the middle of January.    It was an honor to be asked.

 A second event this week was the FAB meeting.  FAB is a mini group of fiber artists- and although we have agreed on the title there is still dicussion as to just what FAB stands for… could be Fiber Art Bunch, could be Fantastic Artistic Babes or any other set of words that can be Nancyplugged in. I am not going to worry about that too much, I am just glad we are getting together to grow and support one another.   Nancy was the big winner this time as she has finally completed her quilt for her daughter.  It is chinnal and flannel with a post card type message in the center to her daughter.  She even found a fabric with a stamp on it for the corner of the post card.    Nancy and the quilt are off to India for Christmas. 

 Progress Report: Flight

Flight 35.5" X 37.5"
Flight
35.5″ X 37.5″

  I feel this quilt really flows across the surface.  The quilting was especially enjoyable on this work as I Flightclose-up-2added extra swallows that are in just the quilting.    I tried adding eyes on the birds with embroidery thread, but somehow that looked to flat to me so I  added black glass beads instead.    Their sparkel adds a feel of life to the work.Flightcl1 

There are some quilting lines that are just flow lines that could be Flight-Close-up-3interrupted as wind or flight lines. 

 

 

This last shot shows the center of the quilt and also shows how I did not use a pure brown for the birds in some cases, but added a modeled brown to the work.

 

 

 

 

 

Transversing- Foundations Series IV 

Transversing Foundation Series IV 34" X 39"
Transversing Foundation Series IV
34″ X 39″

I am so very happy with how this quilt finally turned out. There are lots of different materials represented in this piece.  I showed the painted back last week.   I used some rust dyed fabric, lots of apolistory fabric, silk Transversing Cl3paper, wool and eye lash yarn on this  top.  It is fun for me to play with all the textures.

I did lots of free motion work on this one too.  I think that adds to  the flow of the work as well as holding all the fabric to the surface.

Transversing-Cl1         There are lots of little units on this work  and I feel it is one I can look at a long time.  Transverisncl2

 

 

 

 

Foundations-Series-VFoundations Series V    This new member of the Foundations series still does not have a name of its own.   The images I am using has water flowing between the rocks so I think a title will come out of that the more I work with the top.    This one also has some rice paper in it.  What a different texture that adds.

 

 

Foundations Series VI    For this one I wanted to work a little smaller-  its 28″ X 23″.new-work VI  My friend Tanya gave me some small  fabric bits last week and I really like them.  So I used them as the jumping off point for this.  The fabrics plus a second section of the water and rocks photo work well togehter.   I also used part of a silk shirt she gave me at the same time( the cream green fabric at the bottom).  This is still in the pin up stage without any stitching so it may change a lot before I get to that step.

 SWALLOWS-closeup Swallows     Last week the shot showed the quilt still in the construction stage.  I took this close up  of one of the sections as I have started to quilt it.   I am out lining the birds first and will build the rest of the quilting out from those points.   There is not full shot of this work because I dropped my camera and it landed on the barrel of the lense.   Now  the shutter will not work.  I had not put the wrist unit on and for that I am paying dearly.  I am not at all happy with this new development, but have no one to blame but myself.   I will not post next week unless I get the camera repaired.  If the cost is prohibitive I will have to ask for a new camera for Christmas.  Please keep watching.

 Daily’sdaily's     As this shot shows I am still working away on the Daily’s.     It is good to have a little daily required to work at this time of year.  That keep me on track so when I can get  back into the studio is is easier to get going again.

 My hope is that all find the joy and peace this season has to offer.

Keep Creating

Hugs

Carol

 

 

Daily's, Diva Meetings, Flight, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Swallows, Transversing - Foundations #4

Dec 6, Holiday Happenings

1 Comment

generous-Liz  Hello,

 Thanksgiving is really the beginning of holiday season for me.   The QuEG’s group started the week off with a Holiday Potluck  as a part of  our meeting.  We also added to the craziness by having a cookie exchange too.   This first shot is of Liz and our hostess Linda with the gift that Liz brought her.   We all were in top sprits and the food was great as were the cookies.BD5The-Feast

Friends always make my life full and this day was no exception.   We did the ususal show and tell and there was lots of both. Linda Chow's AlbumLinda started us off with her beautiful  Baltimore  album squares that she had unearthed when she moved.  They show  excellently exicuted hand  applique’ work on this  old project that she now feels she is ready to complete.   She suggests that doing a UFO is a good way to get back into the creative process in her new space. 

 Angela was the next power house to show her work.Angela    She is framing her felted works now and they look wonderful.   Her Hawaiian dased petrogliphits are wonderful.   She is also experimenting with felting, hand stitching and dyeing.   Sometimes in that orderis her order.  She then goes back in and stitches even more .

BD5Angela's-Experiment I really like the color combinations she is using too.  This work is also based on her petrogliphic series.

Sally's work Sally continues to blow me  away with her thread drawn  Computer / Quilt work.  She mixed  and manipulated five different programs to create this holiday quilt.   She also had some stunning little works that she had made into cards- her other specialty.   What a gal!

 Alice and-Gardians I then went off to the Quilt Diva meeting  the same evening.  Alice was a busy this last mouth and she shared four finished and one work in progress.  The work in this photo is called Guardians.  Ruth plus-work  

Ruth is continuing her work with on blocks that are based on Guyana symbols.   This symbol is used to purmote Versatility, Intensity and Dynamism.   She asked for ideas about how to quilt this work.  What a strong graphic!  I am impressed with her work.

 Donna’s  busy getting ready for her solo show.  Donna's-work She is using found wood pieces and found objects as starting points for her new spirited figures series.  She says she needs to make 27 by February.  So she will be one busy gal to meet that self created challenge.

Elsie had been busy creating new bird blocks for Christmas.  I enjoy her cardinals.  They are so chipper and bright.  They really make me smile. 

Elsie

 After spending a day with all these  intense creative folks all working in their own directions,   I always go home with a mind full of new ideas and images from these two wonderful  groups of gals.  

 

 

Progress Report:    Transversing Foundations #4   Because I am not a real fan of numbering art works I now have  added to the title of this quilt.   I added lots of machine drawing  on this quilt this week and now feel it is complete.  This Painted-back of Transversing- foundations #4morning I painted the back and so that is the image presented here.    I will add the sleeve this week and the piece will be done.  Using the bobbin thread colors as my guide I tried to paint in similare  color and patters as the  front.  I know this is a lot difference, but it still works for me.  

Foundations #5   Foundations -#5  I continue to work away on this piece.  Everything here is quite fluid because so much work needs to be done on this piece before it is were I want it to be.  I did try adding  paper to the surface of this piece to get the color and effect I wanted.    I will do almost anything for the sake of texture.

FlightFlight:  This quilt was called Swallows last week. I do not think that is accurate any more so I changed it.  I am going to use that title on another piece where I used the swallow stencil on a more traditional piece.   I worked on the quilting portion of this work this week.  I am going to try to add some shadow(only machine drawn) swallows into the flight pattern to add interest and more texture.   There is one small one drawn in the lower center of the flock at the moment.  Can you find it?

  New  Swallows:    Here is the new work that will carry the Swallows title from now on. new Swallows I am still in the construction stage, but that is almost done.   I find  that I really like this stencil and may even do some more work with it.

Daily'sDaily’s – This project continues.    I have two more weeks of squares with red circles and black triangles to work with before I change the beginning lay out units. 

The season is full of visual images and lots of action.  Keep Creating.

Hugs

Carol

Baby Quilts, Blue Bugs, Goddess Series, Shaving Cream Printing, Stencels, Three Pooka

March 28, 2013 Daffodils

Hello,

The flowers really seem to brighten my days  so I am sharing them with you too. Daffodil’s   really are so bright!  The sun shine we have been enjoying the last few days really pulls my spirits up.  The buds on the trees are starting to get really fat too so I am sure the young leaves will pop out in the near future.    This last week has been as full as they all seam to be for me.  Friday I went to the Turquoise Studio- that seems to have become a bit of a habit that I do enjoy.  I shaving cream printed a second layer on some of the work from earlier in the  week.  Every thing is all pressed and sorted in my “starter basket” now- ready to server as a jumping off point for a new quilt.   The same problem is still a part of me- more ideas then time.  But I will keep trying to master that.   Both Pat and Beth were at the studio  this week.  They are both working on pastels for a show that is coming at the beginning of next mouth.  Beth was working on her project upside down so she could really see the colors and shapes she needed to add to her work- that is why she ended up on the floor.

Progress Report:  Baby Quilt  This work is also coming along nicely.   I have not done a baby quilt in such a long time I sort of got carried away with the creatures.  I think it will fit the jungle theme of the nursery.    I enjoyed doing all the zig zag work even though it is very slow.   I did the  machine binding step yesterday and it will take about an hour plus  to do all the hand work to attach it to the back.  Then only the sleeve will remain and the off to wrapping and a new home.

West Window Quilt  This quilt is all done now.    I enjoy using up some of  the extra blocks that remain from Scrap Happy quilts in these projects.  Matching color is not an issue for me either so when I start the next one I will only keep the blocks and strips as unifying factors.    One down and three to go and this project will be complete.

Blue Bugs  This project is the result of two playful experiments.   I had read about putting paper on fabric with matt medium.  So I did that with a torn  dictionary page.  The text was too strong so I painted color on top to obscure the words.   The second experiment was the blue  turquoise and purple fabric- that has the bugs on it. (  More about that step later.)  That fabric was created from whipping up after other work and then scrunching the fabric  into a cup were I poured  a mixture of turquoise and water on top of the fabric and  into the cup.   That is why there are darks and lights in it.  Both fabrics have been shuffling from one pile to another for weeks when they ended up one on top of another.  They looked like they could work together so I started pulling fabric to go with them.  I ended up  seeing that it need  more light and my eye fell on some of the stamp printed fabric from earlier this year, so it got put into the mix as well.   When I started putting the bindings on I realized that the two big units needed some embellishing.  The work hung on the wall for several days until I was tiding up and one of my stencil notebooks fell out on the floor.  The book was open to the insect.   Problem solved!   I got excited by the insect stencil and drew two more- both too large to use here.   They will appear in another work.

Three Pooka   This is the last work played with this week.  It grew out of that  Starter Basket that I mentioned before.  I had spilled it and was putting things back. I selected figures for  this piece first.  I stenciled them about four years ago.  I had been to a Donna’s Creativity Retreat  and I was experimenting.   All the others that I had created had long gone into pieces.  These three were weak by comparison until I got out the squeezie paint and added hand drawing detail to them.   The canvas- the two big blue green rectangles,  are also very old-from a class I took with Elizabeth Bush  over ten years ago.  They seemed to go together too- so I was off and running in a new direction.  It is spray basted and all ready for quilting.  I will start with stitch in the ditch and then do free motion around the pooka’s.  The  last bit of quilting will be to “draw” pooka in the canvas areas in thread.

I hope spring is filling everyone’s heart.

Keep Creating

Carol