I've got more work to do...
Last weekend, BSP and I decided to go and see Quilts=Art=Quilts before it closed. I'm currently working on several pieces at once, but they were all either too big to take in the car, or I needed to a sewing machine, iron, or pin roller at the ready, none of which are conducive to working in a car!
So I decided to get a couple of hand pieces ready for the car trip.
(apologies for the varying light levels and quality of the photographs. They were taken in the car and in the hotel, at various light levels with my camera phone!)
I already had a couple of 8x10 pieces of cotton muslin that had already been fused to batting and had a coat of gesso applied. I made them a few years back in preparation for painting, before I knew that I could just apply acrylic paint directly to fabric!
As I needed to get these done lickety split (I was up in the studio at 6:30 before leaving, whipping something together quickly to take!) I decided to work with aquarelles - so having a gesso'd background was perfect.
As you can see, I just lightly stroked on some colour with the side of the aquarelle.
The watercolour dried to the touch almost immediately, which was great, because I had to pop them in the folder, into my bag, and off we went!
I had this idea for an embroidered box behind the tree. Ordinarily, I would have stitched the box first and then added the tree, but I had to go, so I applied the tree first and then started stitching.
Here, it's lighter, and you can see what my "go bag" looked like in the car. The folder on the left contained the other painted piece, some reference photos of grasses and flowers, a box containing embroidery floss, and that little blue cosmetic bag contains, snips, my needle case, etc.
Here I've added some little flowers...
And then we're back to where I am now.
Initially, I was going to embroider the leaves, but I found these little bead leaves in my stash and it seemed like fun to use them, so I popped them on.
More to come!
Happy new year. :)
Kit
Wishing you all, whoever and wherever you are, a wonderful Friday, and much love, luck and creativity to us in the new year.
See you soon!
Kit
I’ve had a piece in mind since 2013, and actually intended
to make it for 2014’s International Quilt Festival in Houston (the "Oh Canada!" exhibit), but as you know,
2014 turned out to be a year of badness; and when I poked my head up from all of that, it was early 2015.
Since then, I’ve had difficulty getting my mojo back. Fortunately, I was “discovered” by the birding community in late winter of 2014, so thinking about and producing birds has been enough to “keep my hand in” while I waited for the return of the muse.
Since then, I’ve had difficulty getting my mojo back. Fortunately, I was “discovered” by the birding community in late winter of 2014, so thinking about and producing birds has been enough to “keep my hand in” while I waited for the return of the muse.
In late August, I got one of my regular mailings from a
local art gallery/working studio, and saw that someone was offering a technique class. The picture posted along with the class information was strangely compelling to me –
and I decided to take the class if only to discover how to produce this very
abstract, contemporary look.
It was my second class ever (the first was a free motion quilting class in 2007), so I felt a bit out of my element when I got to the class. The teacher asked why we were there, and, a bit flustered, I explained to her that it was the picture she posted with her class that I found so intriguing. She smiled and thanked me, and said she would show me how to do it, but first demonstrated the basic technique to the class.
It was my second class ever (the first was a free motion quilting class in 2007), so I felt a bit out of my element when I got to the class. The teacher asked why we were there, and, a bit flustered, I explained to her that it was the picture she posted with her class that I found so intriguing. She smiled and thanked me, and said she would show me how to do it, but first demonstrated the basic technique to the class.
I happily spent the rest of the day exploring what I could do
with this instruction, and it wasn’t until days later that I remembered
that I had never found out how to produce that piece that so drew me in the first place!
But I continued to work with the pieces that I had made in class, at home, and began researching how to obtain the “home version” of similar equipment so I could explore the technique further. That’s kept me very busy since then.
Every once in a while, I thought about sharing what I was doing with all of you; but it was so very different from what I had done before; I wasn't entirely sure whether it was a new direction or just a flash in the pan, and I wasn't sure whether I actually *wanted* to blog anymore, so I just kept plugging away, and kept myself to myself.
But last week, something awakened in me.
The piece I referred to above kept popping into my head at odd moments. At first, just a fleeting image would appear on my "brain screen" as I was doing something else, and then I’d find myself woolgathering in front of my computer screen at work, thinking about the “how” of constructing it.
Then I started collecting images of creatures who might make an appearance in such a piece, were it to be made, and by last Thursday, I knew I was going to make it, and soon!
But I continued to work with the pieces that I had made in class, at home, and began researching how to obtain the “home version” of similar equipment so I could explore the technique further. That’s kept me very busy since then.
Every once in a while, I thought about sharing what I was doing with all of you; but it was so very different from what I had done before; I wasn't entirely sure whether it was a new direction or just a flash in the pan, and I wasn't sure whether I actually *wanted* to blog anymore, so I just kept plugging away, and kept myself to myself.
But last week, something awakened in me.
The piece I referred to above kept popping into my head at odd moments. At first, just a fleeting image would appear on my "brain screen" as I was doing something else, and then I’d find myself woolgathering in front of my computer screen at work, thinking about the “how” of constructing it.
Then I started collecting images of creatures who might make an appearance in such a piece, were it to be made, and by last Thursday, I knew I was going to make it, and soon!
This past weekend, my BSP and I put Tyler in the car, and
spent some time in the woods.
I was entranced by the foliage at the feet of the different trees, the shapes of the different leaves, and most especially, the barks.
Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines, and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term.”
Wikipedia
And when we got back, I went up to the studio, and started making bark.
Usually, I needle felt my bark, but I tried something different this time. It's much faster, if not quite as heavily textural, but I produced a 3 feet long by just over a foot wide piece of "bark" comprised of hundreds of tiny pieces of fabrics in just 9 hours, whereas normally, a piece this size would take me 20-30 hours. So, a small sacrifice in texture to save me a lot of time!
Speaking of time, I'll post from time to time, and let you know how I'm coming along, shall I?
How are you? It's nice to see you. :)
Kit
(much better picture thanks to the lovely and talented Monika Kinner-Whalen at My Sweet Prairie Studio
I've been meaning to post this - a little something I made late last year for a friend's birthday.
Unfortunately, this is a TERRIBLE picture - the frame it's attached to (the wing is actually sewn on to the board) is white, not lavender, but it's long been sent to my friend, and I've just now uploaded the pictures to my 'puter, so didn't know. Alas.
However, I am pleased to show it to you - I think it turned out rather well.
16 x 20, paper, cloth, stitch, and love. :)
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