This blog records my experiments and successes with fabric and fibers, surface design, stitching, weaving, photography and whatever else strikes my fancy. Enjoy ...
Just back from a lovely weekend with Quilting Friends at Lake Lucerne (aka Quilt Camp) in Neshkoro, WI.
This Spider Web was my Friday night "warm-up" project. I've been thinking about making this little spider web quiltie for some time now. And this was the perfect opportunity to bring it into the real world and get it done.
I thought it would be quick and easy to stitch out the spider web, and attach the spider ... but the stitching kept getting buried in the velvet pile. I had to go over the lines again and again with additional stitching until the stood out. It took most of the evening on Friday. The velvet is from a pair of pants that got a little too thin in certain areas. (Nope! I'm not afraid to use materials other than cotton in my work.) For the batting, I used a piece of an old mattress pad (not too old, but old enough to have lost the parts that hold it onto the mattress) -- It also served as the stabilizer to keep the velvet under control. When it was done, I added the backing fabric and enveloped it, turned it inside out, and added the spider.
The Spider (Isn't is a lovely specimen?) came from the gift shop at the hospital where I work. It's a spooky brooch for Halloween (as if you couldn't tell). Perfect!
How did I hang this little piece? Two triangles in the top corners, and a stick. Simple as that.
The best part of the weekend was 1) doing what I love best (artsy-fartsy-type quilting, free-motion embroidery and free-motion quilting, 2) sitting across from my old friends Laura R., Shirley and new friend Deborah 3) hearing other people's interest in this style of quilting 4) seeing what everyone else is working on -- . We're even talking about starting a small Art Quilt Group again. I would LOVE that support and camaraderie.
It was a productive weekend for me. I made good progress on a couple of other projects (aka UFOs) that have been dogging me since 2008 (or so). I'll be showing those in the coming days ....
Thread Sketch on Hand-dyed Fabric Size : 9-1/2 x 8-1/2 in.
I did another (much simpler) thread sketch based on this photo my sister took of her kids in Japan this past Spring :
She took this picture after the earthquake in March 2010. The kids were walking in the middle of the street in Ginza during a celebration where kids were allowed to walk in the streets. Having lived through that terrible earthquake, tsunami, and the ensuing nuclear scare, it literally changed their View of life. You can read about my sister's thoughts on it here and here, if you are so inclined. Although many foreigners left Japan at that time, my sister decided to stay.
Here's the initial sketch.
Notes on the Making : Stitching through the Golden Threads tracing paper worked fine in this sketch as it was not so densely stitched as Elephant Reunion.
I went over all the lines at least twice. I added the heart to frame the kids. They really are heading into the future shaped by this experience. Even though they are too small to remember much, they know the world is different. The Japanese People know the world is different. Not unlike 9-11 after my son was born.
I see the Heart as a Blessing or Protection for them on their journey, so far from family in WI.
Since it is small enough, I decided against any background filler quilting for this one. For their shadows, I just used a black Sharpie marker to fill in the shapes. I didn't want it to get heavy or distorted with stitch.
With some of the scraps from Unca Ray's Red Barn Quilt, I made a cover for this portable sewing kit. It's really a re-purposed box of matches. This is the sewing kit I keep in my Quilt Guild Bag. This way, I'm always prepared in case they give us some kind of small project to do on Guild night. The safety pin marks to top of the box--so I don't open it up-side-down by accident.
I also made this small journal quilt using more scraps from Unca Ray's Red Barn Quilt. The Rooster is a silhouette made from some black landscape cloth (It seems very similar to Lutradur, and is available locally for much less $$) along with a layer of bronze-sparkly tulle. There's a lot of reflection in this picture, so I took another one below.
I traced the outline of the rooster onto Quilting paper. Then layered it (from the bottom up : batting, red patchwork, black landscape cloth, sparkly tulle, quilt paper), and sewed it. Then I clipped carefully around the rooster; Free-motion quilted the rest of the background, added a backing and finished it with some yarn on the edges. It's 9-1/2 x 9 in.
This journal quilt is made from some of the leftover fabrics from this quilt. When I lived in Madison, WI, I used to drive out to Cherokee Marsh several times a week to watch the best light show in town! Even now when I go back, I try to make the pilgrimage to Cherokee. Sigh!
The Techniques: After the basic background block came together, I made a freezer paper stencil and painted on black fabric paint for the heron silhouette. Then I made my quilt sandwich and stitched an outline of the sun. I used a different free-motion pattern inside the sun (Pebbles) vs. outside the sun (Water). I needed a clear demarcation of where to stitch each pattern, as well as a trough for the beadwork to come later. Once the freemotion work was done, things were a bit wonky, so I spritzed it with water and steamed it back into shape. I like Hobbs 80/20 batting because it crinkles up so nicely after it;s washed, or spritzed. It gives it an antique look. That's also when some of the lines on the bird appeared. I tried stitching through the paint, but my machine and the thread put up all manner of protest, until I gave up on that idea.
Next it was time for the beadwork. I strung several sunset/fire colored beads onto a string, and then couched them down by hand. I'm getting more comfortable with that whole process.
It's the usual envelope binding with a machine-stitched cord to frame it.
Detail of the heron, beadwork, quilting and the yarn border.
I finished the Little Blue Bird Journal Quilt this weekend. The blue and purple background is one of my hand-dyes; so is the pink cheesecloth. The Little Blue bird was free-motion embroidery stitched in a workshop last fall with Karla Spinks.
He's been sitting on on design wall for the past few months in this state. I wasn't quite sure how to proceed. I knew I wanted a cloud of pink for spring blossoms on the tree, but I also wanted to be able to see the sky through those blossom-laden branches. So a solid piece of fabric wouldn't work ... It took me a while to figure out I could use the cheesecloth for that purpose. So I top-stitched the pink cheesecloth onto the batting topped with the background fabric.
In this picture, I had just stitched down the branches, using a piece of quilting paper for placement of the branches. Once it's stitched on, you can easily tear away the quilt paper. For the branches, I made a machine-stitched cord out of 4 pieces of textured yarns. Lots of color in these branches (black, purple, brown and green) all twisted together.
Next, I added the little blue bird with a simple applique stitch and invisible thread. When I first made him, I had also embroidered a branch for him to grasp. That had to go, so I cut it off and let him grasp the yarn branches instead. Since the yarn branches are kind-of 3D, I had to add a little extra batting under the rest of the bird to make his head stand at an even height with the parts on top of the branches.
Next came the little flowers. These were cut off of a silk flower probably gotten at a thrift store. I had pulled the flowers off months ago, and tried to dye them. But they must be synthetic, as they would not take the color. They are not stark white, they took the slightest hint of color. For the centers, I added gold and pink beads. Some of the flowers were folded over or crushed, so I let them stay that way.
Detail of Blue Bird and Flowers.
Here it is trimmed to size and squared up awaiting the backing. [It is square : The design wall is tilted, so it looks a little wonky.] For the journal quilts, I usually do a simple envelope binding.
This is the stitching from the front through the batting layer.
The final step was to add a twisted yarn as a border (which you can see in the photo at the top of this post). It just needed a little something else to finish it off properly.
This is the final installment (?) from the Red Wing Black Bird series that began as a simple sketch in my Sketchbook Challenge notebook. It later morphed into a paper collage, and finally grew into this full-fledged journal quilt.
Requirements : Use some of my hand dyed fabric. * The green background was dyed in Feb 2009 * The green cheesecloth was dyed in Feb 2008
Size : about the size of a fat quarter
Notes : The cheesecloth is free-motion stitched to the wintergreen background fabric and batting. I just followed the crinkles and folds in the cheesecloth. My aim was to secure the cheesecloth down. My regular open-toe free-motion foot did not work at all with this cheesecloth. It kept catching on the strings. The open-toe zig-zag foot worked much better because it's sort of curled up at the front, like a ski; That way it's didn't catch. The real backing came later ... You can see how much I thread painted the grasses at the bottom. Unfortunately, they don't seem to show up much on the front-side. I am considering going over them with Neocolor 2 water-soluble crayons to make them stand out more ...
I liked the scrubby, ragged edge of the hand-dye and couldn't bear to trim it down when adding the backing fabric, so I managed to preserve that textured edge by attaching the back to the batting layer. It's a basic turned binding, envelope style.
The rock was made with a scrap from a pair of wool trousers that I managed to felt (by accident). Since I can't wear them anymore, I've discovered the fabric makes fantastic rocks. I just sort of crumbled it into a rock shape, pinned it in place and stitched it down. Then I added some yarns to add depth to the crevices. It's a great perch for this red-wing!
The bird is made from black felted wool. I started to attach the red/white patch on the wing by needle-felting, but soon realized that it would distort too much. So I went with Plan B : applique the wing at the shoulder and thread paint the red and white patch. That worked! The bird's wing is attached only on the shoulder side. The wing-tip can pull away from the bird body. In this picture you can see a slight shadow under the wing ...
If it had been a smaller quilt, the bird on the rock would have been enough of a focal point. But it looked like the bird was watching something in the sky--it needed something up there for balance ... but what? A dragon fly? A green marsh star? I considered beading something to put in the sky, but I knew that was likely to add years to finishing this piece. I am not a confident, nor an efficient beader. Plan B : Try to find a suitably hideous brooch at the thrift store. Enter this Emerald beauty found at the St. Vinny's in Madison, WI (They have really "good" junk there!) It's just the thing to balance this piece.
This is what's up on my design wall at the moment. It's the "draft" version of my next journal quilt. No--it's not technically in my sketchbook, but a design wall can serve a similar (and different) purpose on the road to actualization.
I had started this months ago, even fused some flowers down, but it just didn't work. I guess I was waiting for this perfect prompt from Jane Davies! Already, I like it much better--even with this mixed media version. The branch is an ad torn from a newspaper.
This journal Quilt came before the sketch below. I was thinking about the magnificent "fire fall" at Horsetail Falls in Yosemite National Park. It's not lava, but a trick of the light. The water fall is seasonal, only when the snow melts, usually in February. If you can be there at just the right time while the sun sets, you can see an amazing light show :
The Fire Falls
After watching the PBS documentary on The National Parks, I was also remembering how the park officials used to stage a fire fall for tourists. They built a gi-normous bonfire, then pushed it over the cliff. It looked spectacular, but I have to say, I'm glad they don't do that anymore.
"Thousands of people from around the globe would line the meadows and
roads every evening to watch the spectacular event of fire falling more than
3,000 feet from Glacier Point to the valley floor. In fact, many came to
Yosemite just to experience the "Fire Falls." From 1872 to 1969, for almost
one hundred years, every summer, at exactly 9 p.m. a man would stand at
Camp Curry below and shout to the man at Glacier Point above "Let The
Fire Fall." At that instant, the man tending the Fire at Glacier Point would
shout his answer down, "The Fire Is Falling," and they would
immediately begin pushing the burning coals and fire over the cliff. It was a
spectacular display of falling, descending fire! Over 3,000 feet of brilliant,
flowing, glowing fire cascading down the sheer wall of Glacier Point."
A Spiritual Experience
In a recent TV documentary interview one of the 'old timers,' that called the fire down, emotionally said, "we always thought it was like a spiritual thing, like a church experience." With his voice breaking, he said “people were deeply touched. Each night when the event ended there would be deep silence, or almost reverence.” He said “people would be weeping everywhere. Then, after a minute or so, hesitantly, someone would break the silence with a weak applause. The applause would then escalate into a roar.” It was an awesome event, a momentous occasion. Everyone was blessed, the rich and famous as well as the more common folks. All races and colors of people from all over the world were somehow deeply touched by the Fire Falls. The old timer said “it riveted the people together.”
Enjoy these pictures!
Detail The Making of Fire Fall I started with the blue background fabric--a piece I dyed in 2009. One of my self-imposed requirements for these journal quilts is to use some of my own hand dyes. I thought this blue worked well for the sky ...
After choosing the base fabric, I started in on the cliffs. I'd been thinking about a mono-color collage, so I pulled out my bag of black scraps and started laying them out. Then I decided it needed more dimension to make the rock faces, so I pulled out the yarns and started building a composed fabric. My friend Lois (by way of Lynda) gave me a skein of silk from China. It has strands of copper in it. It doesn't show up well in the picture, but that little bit of sparkle adds to the piece. Once I had the cliffs "built," I covered it all with black tulle, and stitched it down to hold all those bits in place. The orange is the last bit of a striking Halloween fabric. The orange wave seemed appropriate for this piece.
The binding is a basic envelope treatment, turned right side out. I did that before the quilting--because it would not have worked afterwards. Turns out that quilting the sky pulled and shrunk things enough to pull it out of square. On a small piece like this, I don't think it's a problem.
For the quilting, I decided to use on of the Beyond Meandering designs I learned in the Chris Lynn Kirsch class at the Sewing Expo. The wave in the sky seemed like air currents. That's a fun filler pattern to stitch out.
Finally, I added the beads to the fire.
The sketchbook sketch came after the journal quilt. I wanted to document the process, so I glued the inspiration picture int my journal. Then I decided to draw a rough sketch in pencil. Then I colored it in with Neocolor 2 water-soluble crayons. Above you can see the BEFORE water version. Below is the AFTER water version to soften and blend the colors. I LOVE these crayons!
This rough sketch took all of 15 minutes start to finish. I remember how I would agonize over drawing anything back in January. How things that should be quick took 3 hours. Maybe that's the difference between doing it to start, or at the end. By now, I know the subject and drawing it is easier.
Here's my entry for the 3CS Journal Quilts Challenge. A few years ago, I had a hollyhock in the garden that was this dark. No kidding! I think it was called Midnight Watchman in the seed catalogs. I loved it!
This one is actually postcard size. It's been sitting in my studio for more than a year, just waiting to be finished with something. I added the beads this weekend. It's made from some leftover burnout velvet, along with the red leaf that came from a spray of fake flowers. Lots of rich texture that is difficult to photograph.
I stitched it to the flap of this messenger bag. It was a freebie with a company logo on the flap, so I covered that up with the new postcard. I'm using this bag, now to hold my art supplies (pencils, brushes, erasers, Neocolor crayans ...) for the Sketchbook Challenge. This keeps everything together, and makes the kit more mobile.
at a point when you realize that you have been missing from most of your life ...
You will search ...
and you will find pieces that fit together and pieces that aren't there
someone took them from you without the permission you never knew you had
you will glue the pieces together and the cracks will leak you will break open fall apart and I will help you find you
we will wait till May and dig a hole together bury the pieces you have and don't have
and I will lie next to you on the ground until you grow
--Andy Young, in What Have You Lost
Andy Young (She's a woman--It just didn't work in my mind when I thought of this poem written by a man.) wrote this poem called "Sister." It appeared in an anthology edited by Naomi Shihab Nye called, What Have You Lost?
This poem hit me like a ton of bricks when I first read it, and I knew that one day, I would spell it out in fiber and stitch. My friend Sandy was this kind of Sister to me. How many days did we spend sitting out on the dock at Cherokee Marsh .. laughing, walking, canoeing, supping, crying ... quiet times, too, just being together.
She helped me pick up the pieces after many a broken heart. She helped me plant them, and stayed right by my side to watch them grow into something strong and beautiful. She taught me to stand up for myself. She made me understand and believe that I was a worthy person, not a doormatt.
Sandy died unexpectedly 2 months before my son was born. It's been 8 years now, and I still miss her ... I am the person I am today because I knew Sandy. I have not forgotten you, my Friend. Now it's my turn to help someone else pick up the pieces ...
Detail of the shattered pieces at the root of the tree.
The page from my notebook, holding the idea until I could make it real ...
Someone recently gave me a set of "trade blocks" (You make a set of blocks along with everyone else in your group. Then you trade so everyone has a complete set - one of everyone else's blocks.) One of the blocks had this green and blue tree painted on it. It looked a lot like the trees I tend to draw ... It was a kick-start to make this project happen.
Techniques : It's a small journal quilt. Journal Quilts are not necessarily meant to be beautiful. They are usually small works (9x11 inches, or so) to try out a new technique, or in this case, work out a spiritual quandry. This one is in the spirit of the Diary Quilts by Susan "Lucky" Shie.
I put excerpts from Andy Young's "Sister" poem in the background. Sandy's words of wisdom over the years are in the branches of the tree. I added the ground and the shattered soul pieces in the roots of the tree. In that womb of earth, the pieces are safe enough, warm enough, close enough to pull together and regenrate into something new. Stronger. Self-assured.
