Ogden Art Group Meeting – December 2009

I’ve been very quiet lately as not much fiber activity is happening at the moment.  Instead, I’ve been cleaning and decorating the house for Christmas.  Anybody who knows me, knows that cleaning the house is at the bottom of my priority list.  Oh, the kitchen is usually clean, and I’ve never given anybody food poisioning, so my house is actually not all that bad most of the time, but my Dad made me laugh when he saw our living room.  It’s the first time in 2009 that the dining room table has been cleared off.  It could actually be used for dining.  LOL

Today was the Ogden Art Group meeting and we had a grand time.  We had lots of cookies to share with each other, and Pat kindly gave each of us a small gift wrapped Whittman candy sampler.  That was totally unexpected and very thoughtful of her to think of all us.

Lucy was working on some jewelry she’s making as a Christmas gift, so there are no pictures of that, but trust me, it’s beautiful.  She is a wonderful beader and creates the most elegant jewelry.  The gift recipient will be thrilled with this present.

She also brought a knit outfit she made for her grandchild:

I apologize for the bad picture.  I moved the camera when I clicked the shutter, so it’s pretty blurry, but it’s an adorable outfit.  The little booted leggings are so practical yet so pretty, and the top has a duplicate stitch heart embroidered in the center.   Her grandchild will styling big time when wearing that outfit.

Karen finished an art quilt started a few months ago:

If you go back to the September archives on my blog, you’ll see how this piece  was started when Pat was showing us how to weave fabric strips.  Karen added some spinning beaded areas and it will be included in the upcoming 2010 Rochester Arts and Cultural Center DeCadEnce Show.  My Flight of the Hummingbird quilt will also be included in that show. 

Pat finished her Egyptian vest, and I must have been on a sugar high from all the cookies, because I neglected to take a photo of it.  It was a beautiful vest and I’ll try to get a photo sometime in the future.

I brought some quilt blocks that I started a whole year ago.   This quilt was started a year ago, and while there are a few more blocks finished, I have no idea when this project will be completed. 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas here.  It’s snowed a few times this week, and the house is all dressed up for the holidays.  I hope everyone is taking time to enjoy the beauty of the season.

Hugs…

Gerry’s Face DYB Block Finished

Happy December 1st!!!  This morning I woke up to the first snowfall of the season.  It was a lovely sight, and it’s even better now because it’s all melting.  LOL  Can you tell Spring, Summer and Fall are my preferences?

Gerry’s face was picked up by my mail carrier yesterday and here is a picture of the completed block:

 

I had a really rough time with this and should have emailed her about it because I really, really, really wanted to make that face into a saloon owner – ala Kitty from Gunsmoke.  Everything would have been red and gold, but Gerry requested we didn’t use red. 

Soooo, this is supposed to be a sophisticated old broad.  First I added a neck out of some leftover stretchy doll face fabric.  Then came the beaded necklace.  The camel coat was cut from part of a felted sweater, and the padded big white collar is a plush felt. 

Next came a veil for her face – to create an air of mystery.  The glove and hat are made from a tanned deerskin I’ve had for ages.  You can’t see it in the picture but each finger is outlined with thread.  The hat is embellished with feathers, metallic leaves and a big glass flower bead. 

I tatted an edging for the bottom seam out of Sulky 12 wt variegated cotton thread.  I love that thread for tatting and fine crochet work.  A dark green DMC cotton floss seam was next, with a small lace motif and another seam was embroidered with variegated DMC cotton floss.

Random cut beads were added to the next block.  It adds some sparkle and you can’t have enough sparklies in your life.

Some of my variegated hand dyed cotton thread was used for the next seam and I highlighted the textured swirls in the fabric for that block.  Gerry’s beloved dog Maggie passed away this summer, and I wanted to include a picture of her in this block.  Unfortunately, my printer decided to break, so the color is off.  That’s why I didn’t attach that frame with a lot of embroidery, because something tells me, Gerry will replace that photo with a better one and I wanted to make it easier for her to remove and replace the frame.

I hope Gerry will like this block and am looking forward to working on Debbie’s block.  It seems like we just started this Face DYB and Debbie’s block will be the last one in the rotation for me. 

Hugs…

The Last Days of November

Sunday November 22, 2009, I was one of five RAFA members to present a trunk show at the Schweinfurth Art Gallery in Auburn, NY.  It was quite an exciting day.  I don’t have any pictures as my husband got sick and didn’t stay for the show.  As he’s my official photographer, I lost the opportunity to personally document this happy occasion, but some of my fellow RAFA members were in the audience, so you can see pictures of the event at Priscilla Kibbee’s blog.

My husband and I also dog sat for my daughter last week.  She’s got a beautiful home, and we enjoyed caring for Reilly.  She gets HBO, Showtime, and lots of other premium cable channels, so we caught up with lots of movies while sitting in front of the fireplace, with Reilly by our feet.

Tuesday I got the orthotics from my podiatrist and headed out to shop before we went back for more movies.  All I can say is be really careful if you ever get these.  There is an adjustment period.   I bent over to get something from a bottom shelf at Kohls, and the next thing I knew I was on the floor.  There is nothing quite so embarrassing as tipping forward, then backward, and ending on your butt in the middle of a busy store.

My sit upon is still sore, my good knee got hurt, my bad knee got reinjured, and my ego was bruised.  Ice packs helped my knees, time will help my sit upon,  I’m back doing physical therapy, and I’m in a positive frame of mind.  I know physical therapy works, I don’t need pain medication, and Christmas is right around the corner. 

We had to cancel our Thanksgiving plans, but it was still a good day.  My daughter and son-in-law stopped by and visited.  It was so nice to see them and hear all about their recent vacation.  Then my husband made a simple supper, and we gave thanks for our family, the food on the table, and a warm home. 

Hugs…

Hole Mole Challenge II

As promised, I’m back to finish the Hole Mole Challenge story.  My leg surgery was in the middle of this quilt construction, so I rested for a couple of days while my brain was busily considering techniques and options  for emphasizing the curved piecing and for adding the bright colors that were in the mola. 

Various widths of black thread zig-zags along the curves helped to define the curves, and weaving has always appealed to me, so I decided to fuse small wavy strips of color to the center to add the bright colors.  They are supposed to look like they are floating over the base:

 

When the quilt comes back home, I plan on adding quite a few more fused or embroidered wavy lines.   I think it’s a bit sparse right now, but the challenge deadline was looming.  One of these years, my propensity for procrastination – and alliteration will get me in deep trouble, but I was able to make the deadline – by almost 24 hours. 

Next was the border.  The angular design around the mola really appealed to me, but I did not want to copy the entire border.  Instead, I drew one of the border designs on graph paper, cut it out, and placed it over fused fabric.  Then I traced around the paper cut out and added the 2 corner motifs.  10 small fused lines were added alongside the corner motifs.    Here is the first version:

It is not what I wanted.  I fused one group of small 10 pieces to the wrong side.  All I can say is don’t fuse fabric to a border when you are taking Tylenol with codeine.    That section had to be cut out and replaced.  I tried to reheat and remove the fused pieces, but there was fusible residue left behind, and some pieces just wouldn’t pull up.  Thank heavens I had enough fabric to replace that small section.  This is how I wanted it to be:

Now, it was shaping up.  But it needed a third focal point.  One of my best friends always talked about the holy trinity of good design – 3 focal points.  They serve to add interest to the surface, and keep your eye moving across the piece.  It’s hard to see in the photo, but there is also a hidden hummingbird quilted on the quilt:

It was a bit too hidden though, so a  black bead was added after the photo was taken.  This way it’s  a little easier to locate. 

Next was the quilting.  The wavy fabric strips were quilted with invisible nylon thread and the border was quilted with a rayon thread that was a close match to the fabric.  Then out came black acrylic paint.  It was scary to paint on a fully  quilted piece, but I wanted the fused orange border designs to relate to the mola.  Black paint down the center of the fused pieces  hopefully gives that section a mola-like effect.

This quilt was faced instead of using a regular quilt binding, and I’m really happy with how that turned out.  A 2″ hanging sleeve was attached to the back, and the label was added last.  Voila, the finished quilt:

 

I hope you all enjoyed reading about how this 24″ x 24″ art quilt  “The Flight of the Hummingbird” was created.  Now to clean up my sewing room, and start the next project.

Hugs….

Holy Mole Quilt Challenge

I’ve been very quiet in blog world this past week as I’ve been busy making a quilt for a Holy Mole Quilt Challenge sponsored by Pat Pauly, a fellow RAFA member.  The challenge was to use a mola as a design source or inspiration for the work, although the mola may not be used in the work itself. 

Priscilla Kibbee – another RAFA member – travels the world and brings home lots of wonderful textiles for the rest of us to purchase.  She’s been buying molas for years and lots of us have been purchasing them for years.  They make their way into jackets and quilts, but a lot have been on our shelves waiting for the right project. This was the right project for me to use my first mola, and believe me, I have lots more on the shelves waiting their turn to be brought to light.

Here is a picture of the mola I chose to use as my inspiration piece:

Resisting the attempt to make a realistic piece, I decided to try my hand at an abstract piece, focusing on the colors in the mola.  A pleasant afternoon was spent sorting through my fabric until I found exactly what I wanted. 

The center is a 9 patch and I wanted to create gentle curves reminiscent of a hummingbird swooping in to get some nectar from my perennials.    Out came the graph paper.  There are times I really need to draw something, cut it out and play with the pieces instead of using a computer graphic program.  This was one of those times.

I drew a 6″ square and placed a dot 2″ down on one side and 3″ down on the opposite side.  Then I took my flexible curved architect tool and joined the two dots.  That created a gentle curve that could  easily be pieced on the sewing machine.

Okay, that was one line.  I wanted this square to be a 4 patch, so I turned the square and placed a dot 2″ down on one side again, and 3″ down on the opposite side.  I shaped the flexible curve differently and connected the two dots.  Now I was in business.  A 4 patch block was born.

By repeating the dots the same way, that meant the seams would connect and curves would flow across the entire row.  I also mixed things up a bit by flipping some of the squares so the curves would flow gently vertically, as well as horizontally. 

Here is a picture of the paper pattern layout I made for the center:

Those arrows are marks for the fabric grain.  It helps keep the squares from getting all wonky. 

Onto the piecing.  I selected 2 dark values and 2 medium values of blacks and greys hoping to add more movement to the squares.  After piecing the first row, I thought one of the medium values was reading too dark.  What to do? What to do?  Of course, you look at the other side of the fabric and voila, you have a different value.  So I pieced the second row with that one color used on the wrong side.  Here is a picture of the 2 rows:

I was still torn as to which version to use.  I was way too close to the fabric for me to make a good decision.  Out came my reducing lens.  Once those 2 rows were viewed through the reducing lens there was no doubt which row to use.  There was much more movement with the fabric turned to the wrong side.   The first row had to be resewn, but it was so worth it.  Here is a picture with the center completed and the borders attached:

All that was accomplished in 2 days.   This post is getting rather long, so I’ll finish it up tomorrow.

Hugs…

November Rochester Area Fiber Arts Meeting

Last Thursday was the Rochester Area Fiber Arts meeting, and it was wonderful as always.  It’s always nice to see what everyone is making.

Anne has been painting fabric and adding words:

It’s going to be hard to cut into that fabric. 

Caris completed 3 little pieces: 

They are all very different and I’m really impressed with her composition skills.  The last one was photographed sideways and when I rotated the picture, it looked very peculiar, so I left it with the sideways orientation.

A new member, Glynis, showed some of her hand dyed fabric.  Her 8 year old son Harry helped with these two:

It’s wonderful that Harry is so creative.  Imagine what he’ll be making in another few years.

Marcia made a wonderful wall hanging from arranging vegetable produce:

 
Pat shared a work in progress for our upcoming De CaDence gallery show:

And Sarah modeled the pants and jacket made from fabric she hand dyed:

She has also been making a lot of jewelry lately and this bracelet was my favorite:

There was even more for show and tell, but some of my pictures were on the blurry side.  Linda finished a fabulous face quilt and Diane was working on a piece for the upcoming De CadEnce gallery show also.  So am I.  Elaine was wearing a great jacket and Julie made a really stunning quilt using cyanotype images.    That photo has a great big while post in the middle of it. ;-(

Show and tell was moving so quickly, I couldn’t keep up with all of it.  Next month I’ll be sure to take my vitamins before I go.  That way you all won’t miss a thing. 

Hugs…

Rose Anne’s Face DYB Block Completed

Ah, a new month.  There is something refreshing about the beginning a new month.

Rose Anne’s Face DYB crazy quilt block was completed and mailed yesterday.  Here’s how it turned out:

 

So much was learned on this block.   The  polymer face was painted properly this time.  I really messed up Leslie’s face and am so sorry about that.  This time I sanded, put very thin coats of paint on the face and blended colors.  Would you believe thatface has 3 different colors on it?  It is also sealed. 

Then onto the beading.  Number 6 beads were the base row, followed by a row of size 11.  Then I added the bugle beadswith a small seed bead on the edge.   It sat there like that for over a week.  While it was pretty, it was too round, too isolated, had no movement.  It just sat there on the block doing nothing.  I was happy with the beading, but not how it looked on the block.

A few months ago, I had purchased a book on goldwork and recently purchased a lot of the supplies.  This was the perfect time to attempt my first goldwork embroidery.  I couched the gold strands close to the face with red thread, then curved it every which way, and couched the strands in place with gold YLI metallic thread.  Now that face was smoking hot!!!

As a regular reader of Rose Anne’s blog, I remembered she has a May birthday.  So the next addition to the block was the actual Gemini constellation in the upper right hand corner.  Sparkly silver metallic DMC thread was used for the body withsilver lined clear beads for the stars. 

One more motif was needed to balance the block, so the Gemini symbol was embroidered in the lower left block with thesame thread used for the constellation. 

Unlike everyone else, seams are afterthoughts for me on crazy quilt blocks.  I know I should start with the seams, but every time I do that, I get carried away and don’t have room for the motifs.  Plus, the print fabric in this block had so much interest, I really didn’t want to add a lot of seam embroidery.  It seemed to detract from the block.

The first seam was the one in the lower right corner.  It has red rayon DMC floss, green KNK buttonhole twist silk thread , and crystal beads in the center.  Some gold metallic beads were added to fill in the bottom triangle.

The second seam is a looped buttonhole stitch.  The first pass was done with 2 strands of DMC cotton floss, and the second pass with a lighter color.  It was a simple seam treatment, and I was thinking about adding a third color, but wanted to get the block in the mail.  It was supposed to be mailed by 11/1, but as that was Sunday, I figured mailing it on Monday wasn’t too much over the due date. 

Last but not least, I added gold beads in different sizes scattered across the blue and red star fabric.  I hope that RoseAnne will like this block.  It was an honor to contribute to your wall hanging, Rose Anne.

Now for an update on my leg surgery.  This year, when I haven’t posted to my blog, it’s because I’ve been dealing with medical challenges, and this year has been one for the record books.  The most recent was damaging all 3 tendons in my left ankle.  I just completed my  physical therapy for it.  I tell you, that electric pulse therapy, followed by ultrasound, followed my massage, followed by more electric pulse therapy works wonders.

The ankle is still swollen, but I can walk with no pain, not very far, and not for very long, but I can walk again.  Injuring my ankle, made my knee injury regress, so I’m trying to get that back in shape now.  It’s been a long haul this year, but I’m a firm believer in physical therapy.  Hopefully, the leg surgery will occur next week, and I’ll finally be able to concentrate on strength training.  

Hugs…

Knitted Baby Bonnet

My leg surgery was postponed yet again. I managed to sprain my ankle but good. Seems there are 3 tendons that meet in one spot on the front of the ankle, and I managed to hurt each one of them. It’s been tough being me this year.

Back to the sofa for yet more time spent with my leg elevated and resting, but not wasted. I have enough yarn to last several lifetimes so decided to knit a baby bonnet:

 

That picture is of the back of the bonnet. Isn’t that a nice swirling star design? And this second one is of the side of the head:

 

A nice relief lace pattern with a pretty ruffle to frame the face was the pattern for the sides. I didn’t take a front view as I don’t have access to a baby/doll so substitued a ball of yarn. It didn’t look so great with a bonnet on it. Where’s a baby when you need one? LOL

This was a pattern from an old Piecework magazine, and since I’m pretty much well stuck with being on the sofa for awhile, I pulled out something from my stack of “want to knit” patterns and enjoyed every minute of knitting it.  

Next will be a sweater for myself, or attempting to work with some gold threads for Rose Anne’s DYB Face block.

Hugs…

Pole Barn Completed

The pole barn was finished a couple of weeks ago, but I haven’t been the most mobile this year so didn’t get a picture taken till now.  Here it is in all its glory:

Those walls are 16′ high.  It’s quite something.

Between the driveway and the pole barn is a planting of azure monkshood:

This plant is thriving.  It was under an English walnut tree, which had to be cut down to make the new driveway extension for the pole barn.  My husband left 5′ of trunk at my request, so the plant will still have nice support.  Since we have more than 1,000 trees on our property (and it was a corn field when we purchased it), it was sad that the tree had to be removed, but won’t make much of a difference for fall raking, and the firewood will keep our neighbors nice and cosy this winter.  

The perennial is only 3 years old and is the latest blooming perennial in our yard.  It’s something I look forward to seeing every year.  And here is a nice close-up photo:

 

Hugs…

Leslie’s DYB Face Block Completed

The embroidery on Leslie’s DYB Face block is completed.  Yippee!!! I’m a wee bit late in mailing it, but since Debbie is still out of town, I had some wiggle room.  Here is her little sugar plum fairy:

This block actually made my husband smile when he saw it.  It’s way out of my comfort zone, as I’ve never worked with a 3 dimensional face, but it turned out better than I thought it would.  I was really intimidated by having to paint that face, and I know it’s not a work of art, but she does have personality plus. 

I did the gold seam first.  It’s some trim that came from India and is properly glitzy.  The woven rose/pink yarn was hand dyed and there are some deep burgundy beads finishing the seam.  Next to it is a lace motif I painted, then used pink sequins and gold beads in the center of the 2 smaller flowers, plus a larger gold bead for the middle flower.

The next seam started with gold ribbon appliqued in place.  Then I edged it with 3 different colors of DMC cotton floss.  It’s a seam treatment from Jo’s great seam book.  Jo – from New Zealand – excels at seam embroidery and I’m very glad I purchased her little book. 

Next was the holly sprig along the bottom.  I traced it onto tissue paper to get the leaf position and size in scale for the block, then used rayon threads and glass beads for the holly berries.

Last, but not least, was the plum fairy herself.  The wings have 2 layers of Angelina and metallic thread for hand embroidery over them to keep the Angelina in place.  The dress has Sulky Sliver thread embroidered down the center, with glass seed beads along the hem.  I crocheted a Candlelight collar for her as the holes to attach the face are at the neck and wanted to cover the holes.  Some leaves were added to finish off the collar.

Her hair is short, curly and brown – like mine.  She’s sporting a petal shaped hat with more leaves, and some beads to keep her hat in place. 

I hope Leslie will like this block.  It was certainly fun having this sugar plum fairy visiting for a bit.  The little darling will be going to a good home. 

Hugs…