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!



Fiber Frenzy

Today my Fiber Frenzy group had our monthly meeting--what a bunch of accomplished artists! I gave the program, just talked about threadwork (thread painting, thread sketching) and it was fun. But we also got to see the challenge pieces that were due this month. The theme was "Go Green." And it's amazing how different each of our works were.

Jodie used Inktense pencils on hers and it was quite wonderful:

Shirley did two that were really great:

Frances used water soluble oil pastels and caught the green icky sky of a tornado. It is wonderful:

And last, but certainly not least, Sue got creative with old neck ties! It's lots of fun!

You've already seen mine. It was the "Go Green and Spicy" jallapenos that look more like pickles. Yuck, I'm hiding that one--maybe some day I'll cut it up to make something I like better.

One more thing, I have finished the stargazer lily, complete with binding. I like the way it came out.

Bye for now!

Experiment

I am not a painter. I don't even do well when painting walls in my home, and to try to paint something with a steady hand and a good eye, I just don't do well with it.

But I have these wonderful media that I've wanted to try, and so I did a little experiment in comparing neocolor water soluble crayons and water soluble oil pastels as well as the tool that I used to apply the colors.

I started out with this photo of a stargazer lily:

And then I traced the flower on to pfd cotton sateen. For the first test, I applied the crayons to the fabric using a q-tip. The results, pretty, but not at all satisfactory for painting the lily--way way way too much bleeding:

On the next try, I applied the neocolor crayons with qtips again, but this time I squeezed out the excess water. Better result, but still not what I wanted to do, not enough control:

For the next one, I used the neocolor crayons with fantastix (the "brushes") that come with tsukineko ink. It was much better:

But I decided to keep on going. On the fourth try I used the tsukineko ink with the fantastix. It was too "inky" and not enough "water colory" for my taste. And I couldn't get a very smooth texture:

 And finally, I used the oil pastels and applied them with the fantastix and we have a winner, ladies and gentlemen!

This one did not bleed much at all and blended the best. So now it's become:

I also used the pastels on the background of the fabric--4 colors of blue  and a purple. But then, the flower looked flat and boring. So I quilted lots and lots of leaf shapes on the backgroun and filled in a few with more thread. Now all that's left is the binding. I hope to teach a class using this sample at some point in the near future.

Until next time . . . .

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 . . .

Classes

I've been teaching some beginner sewing lessons to a few people in my home. I just have to tell you about Ashley. She is a UGA student majoring in Fashion Merchandising (I think) but with plans to go to Savannah College of Art and Design when she finishes here. And she is quite amazing, designing clothes with only 2 classes under her belt! Check this out!

She is almost ready to give Project Runway a run for their money!

The Fashion Design Student Association will be holding a fashion show of their own creations in April and I can't wait!

Some weeks ago, Anita and I taught some classes for I Art Athens, a great non-profit organization that takes art to young people who may not be exposed otherwise. We worked with a wonderful group of teenage girls who belong to Strong, Beautiful Godly Girls. First Anita taught them how to make fabric beads. I only have one picture here, but you can see what a wonderful job they were doing:

For the next session working with these girls, I helped Anita teach the girls to make table toppers for their upcoming fundraiser. They used sharpie pens, alcohol and plenty of stamps and stencils and their own drawing abilities:

Their tables will be bright and colorful!

And then, I taught the girls how to make note cards out of card stock and ephemera. It was fun!

I Art Athens is a non-profit that stays busy, operates on a shoe-string and was founded by a young woman who does amazing work through her art and through the non-profit, Jillian Guarco. This month these projects and more are featured in the window of Frontier, a gift shop that carries and honors hand-crafted items, in downtown Athens.

And while we're on the subject of classes, on my next post I'll show you what I'll be teaching next. I had such a good time teaching last week that I hope to do it again and again! Until next time . . .

Remember the tulips?

I struggled and struggled with these tulips and finally decided that, as they were, they were a lost cause. So this is what they look like now:

Sometimes you just have to change direction, even if it means starting over, almost from scratch.

Back Again

Okay, so I haven't been the best blogger in the world, but I'm starting fresh and plan to write more often. I don't know why I have a hard time making myself do this, fear? self-consciousness? I don't know, but I'm working on it.

It was such a busy week and lots of fun, too.

On Tuesday, my art quilt group, the Quilting Arts Alliance, met at the Lyndon House to play with paint and resists.

Above, there's Anita, Diane and Nancy. Frances also came to watch. It's just so much fun to get together with good people and laugh and experiment and play. I could do this for a living!

Nancy and I both used some fabric that I had dyed, was not happy with so then I bleached it, washed it in anti-clor, dyed again, bleached again, dyed again and finally gave up on it. I call it my butt-ugly fabric. I think surface design play can only  help it. It's unfinished, but here it is:

Nancy was a bit more selective in what she wanted to do to her piece of butt-ugly fabric:

Anita had done some prep work ahead of time, and she was just painting away:

It was great! It was fun! and I tried gel glue, soy wax, potato dextrin and used the little binder rings. Whenever I get my piece finished, I'll post again.

But that was only Tuesday. On Thursday, I taught my first ever art quilt class. I made a cute and happy sunflower in 3 versions: easy, easier and easiest. So I called my class, "Easy and Easier Art Quilt."

The class was held at the Dragonfly Quilt Shop in Watkinsville. I had four students--three quilters and one who does heirloom sewing. It was so much fun and everyone brought their own tweek to the quilt. It went so well, I can't wait to teach again! Here are my students with their quilt tops in various stages of completion:

From left to right: Janie, Anita, Holley and Linda. They were great ladies and a whole lot of fun. And the best part of any class I teach is that I learned as much from them as they did for me. All around, a great day!

And now to Saturday. Nancy came over and we played again. This time we did deconstructed screen printing. It's so much fun and always a surprise as to how things turn out. We were a little disappointed in the outcomes, and just didn't work as well as we expected. I'm not sure if it was because I added liquid dye to the print paste instead of powder, or if the print paste was too old. We did learn some things though and do have a little bit to show for our efforts. These are Nancy's:

And here are mine. The first one is a monoprint that I made after setting up the screen for printing:

The last one was done when the screen print was almost exhausted, so I added a little chartreuse paint to the mix.

As usual, I'm not sure what I'll do with these. I'll hang them in my studio until an idea comes to mind.

After all the playing I did this week, I was ready to get back into my studio to sew. Currently I'm working on a small piece for my second art quilt group, Fiber Frenzy. The challenge for April is "Go Green." I went to my local grocery store and asked permission to take photos in their produce department. The photo I got with the most interesting shapes and highlights was of jallapeno peppers. After cropping and manipulating a bit, this is what I'll be doing:

Wish me luck and tune in next time to see what I've done with the jallapenos!