Saturday, December 29, 2007
Summer Symposium information
Melanie was my instructor last summer, and she has worked hard to put this event together for us. I already have at least 2 classes I hope to attend... maybe 3! Check it out...
Monday, December 24, 2007
'Fern' quilt experiment
Sunday, December 23, 2007
New 'Fern' Art Cloth
I really like the colors and the interesting markings that I got with this piece. Here is a detail of the piece:
This was hand-stitched, then dyed with Turquoise, Periwinkle Blue and Dark Green, but as you can see, I got a lot of interesting shading and highlights, which mostly come from the Periwinkle. The Turquoise gives nice highlights when I can trap it in the stitching.
Great day, lots of creative energy! Now I have tons of new projects to keep me busy!
Leaves on the Lake
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Whole cloth quilt or wall hanging?
Monday, November 26, 2007
Sea Pear
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Last show of the year
Here I am in the middle of the 'very tiny' booth! It was 10' X 10', but felt much smaller.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Trip to Fort Lewis, WA
Saturday, we took a ride out to Mount Rainier, which was actually visible for a change!
While we were at the visitors center, our Daughter-in-law April was having some trail mix. She was generous enough to share with some local beggars.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
My challenge piece/Art Quilts
One thing I discovered today: my Pfaff 1210, which I got in May of 1980, has feeders that can be lowered, and a darning foot. Hard to believe I never knew about that all these years! So I can at least start playing with the freeform machine quilting technique. Meanwhile, I have done a little more to my challenge piece, although I'm slowly running out of ideas of what to do next... guess they will come to me! Here's the latest:
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Progress report
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Uncharted territory
I cut away 2 of the stamped areas and pinned elsewhere on the main piece, then slashed some of the remaining fabric to create the 'rays'. Now it's time to let my imagination have a go at what I should do next.... more to come!
Cromer Elementary Craft Bazaar
My Next show is in November, at Northern Arizona University... stay tuned!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Surface Design Play date
I worked on several pieces, and here are my favorites:
Autumn Leaves
Untitled - I spritzed bleach water over sequins on a LWI dyed fabric... kind of looks like deep space!
Discharge dyed on LWI-dyed fabric
using torn newspaper as a resist
Overall Pattern on LWI-dyed fabric
I was very inspired by the work done by the other gals... what an incredible amount of talent and creative energy! I hope we make this a regular event!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Autumn Leaves
I'm soooo jazzed with the results, that now I need to do bunches more!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Where does inspiration come from?
Progress!
Here is where my dye powders are stored (I'll need a stepstool!)
Here is where my tools are - right over the work table!
And this is where all my craft books are stored
I finally feel like I can get some work done without having to shift everything around each time I start a project.... yaaaaay!
Getting my act together...
Here are some 'before' shots... well, really 'in progress' shots, since the shelves were just installed, and I didn't have the foresight to take pix before I moved things out.
This shelf is in the far corner of the room, and has room underneath for rollaway drawer storage units.
This shelf fits nicely over my work table, so I can store supplies there I will be using more often than others.
This shelf is next to my sewing machine and adjacent to my worktable, so it will be handy for storing 'How to' books, sewing books, sewing supplies, etc. I will post more pix when I have done the magic conversion from chaos to order...
It's never too late...
In this example, I created a screen of the owl, printed a blank shirt, colored the owl with thickened dyes, then waxed over the image. I then used Low Water Immersion to dye the background.
Below is a design where I used a stamp to apply dishwasher gel with bleach to a pre-dyed shirt.
In this example, I traced a design on an undyed shirt, waxed over the design, dyed the background using LWI, washed the shirt, re-soaked in soda ash, then painted the sunburst with thickened dyes.
Here is another example where I traced a design on an undyed shirt, waxed over, used LWI to dye the background, washed, then painted the image with thickened dyes.
I feel like I have reached a turning point in my creative life... not the first time this has happened, but it's been awhile! I will post more pictures as I continue my new adventure...
Class pictures
1)Decomposition screen print. I pulled several prints off the screen before it began to disolve. Here are the first 4.
2) Flour paste screen that I then overdyed with a light dye wash
3) Detail of the flour paste screen printed on a monoprint. This is the actual print direction - the one above was reversed when I uploaded the picture.
Creative Endeavors
In addition, I am working with some new color combinations for fall, and have had one success that I hope to use again:
This piece has 8 colors: Camel, Rust Orange, Charcoal, Turquoise; for complementary colors, I used Chocolate Brown, Rust Brown, Black, and Periwinkle. I did other pieces using this mix, but the designs did not come out as well. I also want to come up with some color combinations that will include Dark Green and Burgundy for winter. More to come...
New Year, New projects
I am also working on a series of purses and totes using hand-dyed fabric. I have completed a large tote, a pocketbook, a smaller tote, and have 2 more in the works. I really like how this one came out:
The fabric was dyed using an accordion fold which was held in place with wooden clothes pins. The dyes(chocolate brown, rust brown and black) were then applied randomly on both sides. I love the markings!I also plan to work on a variety of throw pillow covers later this year. I have been mulling over these 2 projects for at least a year or so, and finally got up the nerve to try them. Can't wait to see what my restless brain thinks up next! Later...