Scissors Sheath

I made this little Scissors Sheath for Anita to show off her hand-dyed wool roving. Aren't they yummy? And the quality is first rate!

It took hours to perfect the pattern, but it was worth it and I think it came out pretty well. I'll also be using this pattern to propose a class to yarn shops.

And don't the colors look wonderful?

Here's one that shows Anita's hand-dyed fabric for the lining:

Of course, I couldn't help but add my own touch:

You can find Anita and her wonderful hand-dyes next at the East Cobb Quilt Show, September 16 - 18.

Thanks for stopping by!

I've Been Busy!

I've finally gotten out of my slump and have been busy this week.

I finished some minimees, this time, instead of mounting them on canvas or mat board, I made them into little quilts and I have to say I like them very much!

12" x 12"

City Street

c 2011



And a detail:

Watery Wonderland:

Watery Wonderland

12.5" x 13"

c 2011

And a detail:







And a landscape:

12" x 14"

Evening Song

c 2011

And a final detail:



I've also been dyeing. I got some gradation dyeing kits from ProChem and it's really been fun. These kits have only 3 colors of dye and will dye 30 fat eighths plus one yard. It's really an experiment (to me) in color mixing. I followed the directions to a tee for the first batch, using Tangerine, Sapphire Blue and Boysenberry from a kit called "Flower Garden." The three colors alone were gorgeous, but look what happened when they were mixed:

 I loved the colors, but I wasn't happy with the big blobs of white. So the next time I wet the fabric before putting it into the cups, and I dyed fat quarters instead of fat eighths. This kit was called "Sea and Sky" and produced some much calmer and cooler pieces:

AND I have an announcement to make! My work will be hung at Jittery Joe's (on the east side of Athens) for the month of July. I know, it's not the Met, but it's a start and I can't wait! If you're in the area, stop in and take a look. Jittery Joe's is on Gaine's School Road, in the Publix shopping center next to Chick-Fil-A.

Thanks for stopping by!







Quilting Arts Alliance Meeting

Last Tuesday was our Quilting Arts Alliance meeting, made up of wonderful women who share ideas and work and techniques, etc. I always love those meetings.

This week Nancy had the program and talked about two of the workshops she's been to recently. She gave us lots of great ideas that she had learned in two different machine stitching workshops that focused on thread sketching and thread painting. Very interesting projects and techniques. I hate that I didn't get any pictures of the work she showed us, it was outstanding!

I did get a few pictures, though. The following is a quilt done by Marybeth--it was wonderful! This is a type of trapunto using felt behind the flowers for the colors and the raised effects. I wish I'd gotten a close up for you!

Anita showed us one of her string quilts. I just love the mountains

And beautiful Diane modeled one of her felted hats:

And check out this hat that Diane created!



Frances had done the most wonderful, whimsical quilt of a close-up of a camel's face. You can check it out on her blog.

Hand Embroidery

That's enough about that, now let's talk about me! I'm still addicted to the hand embroidery I've been doing. For quite a while I have wanted to work on creating layers on and of fabrics. I haven't really put much together yet, but I love making "art cloth" with layers of paint and dye and stitching and printing and stamping and embellishing.

But, in the embroidery process, I've found another way to make layers. After needle felting various fibers, colors and textures on felt, I've been embroidering them and I'm so happy with the way they've turned out. They're all small--the largest is 6 x 8" and they still have to be finished with some edging stitches, but here's what I've done so far:

This one is called "Seasons"

"It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood:"

And I'm almost finished with "Easter Egg Hunt:"

Thanks for stopping by!

Hand Work Is My New Old Passion

I used to do a massive amount of handwork--crewel embroidery, needlepoint, counted cross stitch, hardanger, pulled thread, etc., etc.,etc.

And then I thought my eyes were too old and I didn't have the patience to do a piece that takes so much time.

But! Things do change.

I think it might have been watching my friend, Anita, do her turned applique handwork to pass the time. I, all of a sudden, got the urge. I thought I would start with some needlefelting, and as I was getting out the stuff that needlefelting is made of, I found this:

I decided that this needed to be a part of my next project. So I cut out some shapes (some say they look like surfboards, I think they look like shields, but what they are supposed to look like are LEAVES!). I buttonhole-stitched (not sure if that's really a word) around the shapes to attach them to the background fabric. Added some beads. And then did a LOT of chicken scratch hand quilting and added a binding.

Voila!

I like it (in it's own way). I plan to do more with some different shapes and different types of embroidery. It was fun and got me started in a new direction.

I've been in a slump--I haven't really been able to create any machine stitched works--whatever I try to do just doesn't work out. So I'm happy the hand-stitching bug has hit, because I'm still making art, but just in a different way. Yay for all the different ways to see and create!

I also began an online class with Susan Sorrell, "Creative Embroidery, Organic Designs," and finished my first week's lesson. I really, really, really enjoyed making this piece and if I do say so myself, it's very pleasing to my eye. Only, I think I liked it better before I added the beads, so they may come out any day now. I've started a second piece, smaller, and not part of the lesson plan, but fun, fun, fun.

And I think this is my favorite part:

As you can see, I used different types of threads--embroidery floss, pearl cotton and wool. I'm now on a mission to find even more types of threads and REALLY mix it all up.

Thanks for visiting, come back again!



Hand Work

I'm working on a new piece and am quilting it entirely by hand. That is certainly different for me! I haven't done hand work (except for hemming pants and knitting) in about a gazillion years. But something got into me, and here I am. Even though I'm at the point of no return, I have some questions about quilting threads. For this piece I used 12-weight sewing thread, but it didn't seem fat enough. And for the background, I'm using 3 strands of embroidery floss and that is working for me. But I would really like to know what kind of thread most people use for decorative hand stitching. Can anyone help me with that?

In the meantime, here's a photo of a major component of this piece, a teaser, in other words:

This was the result of some playing I did with my needlefelting attachment. I tried needlefelting all kinds of materials from wool and silk roving to hand-dyed homespun to burlap. I had forgotten all about it and when I was getting out some wool roving to play with, I found this and my plans for my little quilt took a sharp right and something I didn't really plan to do is emerging. That's just the most fun when that happens!

I have almost finished my challenge piece, that I'll call "Go Green and Spicy." The one thing I'm happy about is that the  piece does look like jallapenos (or pickles), but I'm not happy with the stitching and some other things. I'll show it to you and to my quilting group, but then it will go in the "what was I thinking" stack, hidden in a deep, dark closet!

Oh, and one more thing. I did finish the main sample I'm using for the next class I teach (time and date to be determined).

It was a lot of fun and I'm very proud of it.

Until next time . . .