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Archive for August, 2010

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A Day of Getting It Together

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

I am working on a couple of pieces that I cannot show. Today was a day of getting myself organized so that I have some uninterrupted time for working.

I bought some beads and blue perle cotton to finish the lorikeet felted piece. I love to test myself. I went off to the store with no color samples and came home with perfect color matches.

When we were remodeling a house in North Carolina, we had all of our furnishings in storage. The designer we were working with picked a blue for the dining room walls. I came in and looked at it and said, this is wrong. It will not match the Karastan rug that is in storage. We kept fiddling with the color until I was happy with it. When they unrolled the carpet from storage, she took one look and said, “Damn, you are good!”

I found a bag of scraps that I started saving after taking a class with Sue Benner. She is a fuser. When you attach Wonder Under to the back of fabric, it does not go all the way to the edges. She cuts these off, leaving a bit of fusing on the edge and then uses them to create wonderful strip landscapes.

I used some of the painted lutradur as the background and let it show through in areas. That piece is rather Lorikeet looking, don’t you think?

Tomorrow, I am off  to see the ENT doctor and find out if sinus surgery is in my future. Then, I hope to get a lot done in my studio. No time to waste.

Posted in 12X12 challenge, My creations, Sketchbook Project | 6 Comments »

Aerobic Creativity

Saturday, August 21st, 2010

I was determined to come up with an idea for my next Twelve by Twelve piece. The color way this time is the colors of the Lorikeet which our Australian member, Brenda, sees around her home.

I was in my studio looking at fabric and paint and then saw my wool roving. Bingo! I would felt something. I started by using my felting attachment on my Bernina, but I made an error attaching the needles and sheared off the screw that holds the attachment. I thought, I can do wet felting!

And so I did. It is quite a workout as you have to roll up the piece and rock and roll it. Then you undo it give it a turn, roll it up again, etc. etc. My arms are feeling it tonight.

Here is a sneak peek of what I did.

It is drying. I will do some hand stitching and maybe some embellishment. I am so relieved to have this well on its way. I hope you are having a creative week-end, too.

Posted in 12X12 challenge, Felting | 4 Comments »

Deadline Met

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

The Stormy Aspen Landscape is done except for satin stitching the edges. I am quite happy with it. I found the perfect thread in my stash. The colorway was French Country which seemed appropriate for the colors of this. I ran to the store and picked up another spool — good thing because the spool ran out tonight. You can click on it to get a closer look at the stitching.

I got the facing done on Aspen Grove piece. I think this looks quite good too. My art quilt group was surprised at the size of the aspen quilts that I have made. This one is 50″ high.

So tomorrow, I will burn a cd and get it in the mail and on to the next show. It is the season for entering shows — often an exercise in futility!!

It has been a hard day as I have had another horrendous headache. I guess it is a sinus thing. I am getting so tired of this. I see the ENT doc on Tuesday to discuss having surgery.

Posted in Juried Shows, My creations | 9 Comments »

This and That

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

I have been dealing with the heat and struggling with this piece that is on my design wall. have you ever gotten an idea for something in your brain and then struggled to see it come to life? I had this idea for a simple abstracted aspen landscape, but was having trouble with the fabrics.

Last night, my art quilt group, High Fiber Diet, met here for a potluck and celebration of our great year and our new members. It was a lot of fun. Bonnie Bucknam, our fearless leader, dyes fabric and sells it under the moniker, Handwerks Textiles. She always brings her latest collection to entice us. I bought this bundle, titled Storm Watch.

I used a couple of these fabrics with some I already had in my stash. I think I am getting somewhere with this. I am calling this piece Stormy Aspens.

It was really hot yesterday, and they were doing noisy construction work on the road behind us. The house was vibrating from the machinery. I soldiered through with the help of Mr C and we got the house ready for guests. We put out fans and turned on the AC, which is not that efficient. By dinner time, it had cooled off quite a bit and some of us ate on the deck.

I received this postcard for the Blurred Boundaries Show. I shipped my two quilts on Monday. You can click on this to see it larger.

I just found out that 50 quilts were submitted, 2o were accepted from 12 artists. I am quite happy to be a part of this show with some great fiber artists.

Today was farmer’s market day. Here is by take home:

I finally got a new fiber sketch done.

I don’t usually stitch these. I think the stitching makes the aspens come alive so this seems a bit lifeless to me.

Posted in High Fiber Diet, My creations, Out and About in Portland, Sketchbook Project | 3 Comments »

Aspens, Birches, Overdone?

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

I have spent much of today stitching the lutradur leaves to the quilt, one at a time and reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

As I stitched, I thought about Aspens and Birches as themes in art work. My friend who has been sending me links to birch and aspen work said she is just seeing them a lot lately.

She said she had even seen them on a bag for sale at Target. I couldn’t capture the image, but it is this one, painted by my daughter, Lisa, and licensed for this wallet and for a bag on sale at Target. She paints birches. I make aspens out of fabric.

There is also a new set of stationary from Chronicle Books with her tree paintings. I love these:

I have been using aspens in my work since my first Art Quilt Tahoe workshop with Sue Benner. I took that class in 2004, I think, and took another class in 2005 and did this piece:

My friend Teri Springer owns this. The other piece, much more abstract, is owned by Sally Morris, a friend from California.

In 2006, I started painting organza and creating simple aspen landscapes.

I see my recent work as expanding the aspen pieces into grander landscapes on a scale that I had not known I could accomplish until now. Perhaps the progression of my work has now thrown me smack in the middle of the au courant, seen every where, image of the day. I did not see it coming.

It is hot here in Portland. I am just happy that I have my fairly cool basement studio where I can happily work on my art.

Posted in My Brilliant Daughters, My creations | 7 Comments »

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