Sunday 10 January 2016

WIP: fabric grid art - part two

I am again working on my grid project.

For Louise Penny fans: the last chapters of "The Nature of the Beast" are exciting, as I have come to expect from any of her Inspector Gamache novels. Penny's novels captivate me; I love her characters and depiction of living in a small community in Canada. I also love how food and sharing meals ("breaking bread") play a significant part in her novels.

While on a break from my grid project, I also replaced a zipper in a dear friend's coat. I don't enjoy replacing zippers and don't do it often. Isn't a shame though, that a winter coat with a malfunctioning zipper pretty much renders that coat useless (and to many... garbage). Anywho (as my dear mom-in-law would say), that's finished and I can get onto fun things. 

I finished sewing all of the horizontal seams of the grid and have pressed them open (like I did with the vertical seams). The piece is now about 22 inches by 14 inches.

I burned my thumb while pressing, but that happens. I'll nurse it for a bit with a glass of wine and a new novel.

Next is the embellishment. Obviously (at least I hope it is obvious), the tree trunks need branches and the branches and twigs need needles. I haven't completely planned my next steps, but at this point, I plan to do the embellishment by machine and by hand.

It has been really nice to hide inside on such a cold day with a cup of tea, sewing, and NFL wild card games playing in the background.

Tuesday 5 January 2016

WIP: Judy's "Million Miles" postcard challenge

During the holidays, Judy from Judy's Quilting Studio sent me this gorgeous post card. I was more than pleased to get it in the mail. It now hangs in my creative space: my little studio.

photo posted with permission from Judy Stupak
I love Judy's energy and commitment to her art and her blog. As well, I especially enjoy her dedication to her craft. Just look how straight the stitching in that rick rack is! My stitching would not be as accurately placed.

Judy recent began a "1 Million Mile Postcard Challenge".(https://judystupak.wordpress.com/2016/01/01/announcing-the-2016-quilted-postcard-challenge-1-million-miles/).

Do you think you might be able to help her out?  I don't think her requirements are very challenging... do you?

I'd love to hear of her sending postcards to Europe, Asia, Africa, South America. If you are from there, perhaps you'll help Judy with her challenge.

Monday 4 January 2016

WIP: fabric grid art




In July, I wrote about cutting small squares for a grid project (WIP: using fabric scraps). I placed (and very carefully pressed!) dozens of the little fabric squares onto the grid and imagined what the final project might look like. My inspiration is the lake scene below.





When I ran out of squares, my progress stalled. This project waited as I worked on other projects that had deadlines. While it hung at the entrance to my little studio, waiting for my attention, I walked by it frequently. It waited. I walked by.
























And now, several months later, I am back from a wonderful vacation and with a lot more inspiration from several artist dates. I'm back to my lovely lake scene and enjoying every second of it.

It takes me longer to match and pin together the grid lines (that are printed on the back of the grid fabric) than it does to sew the seam. (When I pin, also remove and reattach those fabric squares that I haven't placed with enough accuracy.)























I chose to sew the long vertical seams before the horizontal seams. I love this part of the project because a more finished design emerges. As well, the size of the project dramatically decreases. The below photo shows the project once all of the vertical seams are sewn and pressed. The next step is to sew all of the horizontal seams. 

Perhaps I'll do that tomorrow. I'm completely absorbed in Louise Penny's "The Nature of the Beast". I have only a handful of chapters left and am quite anxious to find out how the story ends.

Sunday 3 January 2016

WIP: transforming beings 2: from concept to fabric

In November, I spent some time with Ryan, a creative young man who created a number of beings for me. Some were animals; some were human, but with their body parts replaced by appendages with a variety of uses.

When I began to work on making prints of Ryan's artwork, I felt quite challenged by his drawings and I doubted that I would be able to create a fabric print that would work well.

After a lot of fun, playing around with Ryan's work, I created several designs. I had five designs printed, using Spoonflower.

I love how all of the fabrics turned out. My next challenge is to determine which of these designs I want to print onto more yardage...

I am also looking forward to continuing to work with both Ryan and Chelsea to create some more prints.




Saturday 2 January 2016

WIP: elephant festival 2: from concept to fabric

I am very pleased with my first Spoonflower order. In November, I spent some time with emerging artist Chelsea. She drew some wonderful images for me and I created several prints. Below are the three that I had printed onto small test swatches.





I am very happy with the two elephant prints. I will be making an order for more fabric once I correct a couple of small errors that I made. I can't wait to create some more!

Friday 1 January 2016

WIP: honouring today's quilters


Last week, I had an opportunity to visit the The National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky, USA. I especially appreciated the WW1 and Red and White exhibits. 


The exhibits were very inspiring to both me and my honey. 

If you enjoy fibre arts, I encourage you to spend some time at The National Quilt Museum or if you can't get there soon, their website http://quiltmuseum.org/.

The volunteers who keep the museum running were especially wonderful and knowledgeable. Thank you to the donors who help to make the admission rate very affordable.

WIP: cotton

Even though I've lived in a city for three decades, I'm still a farmer at heart. Thanks to my MIL (aka my mother-in-law), for the past couple of weeks, I have had a tremendous opportunity to visit the American mid-west, south, and specifically, Florida. I've seen a LOT of American countryside (based on our drive time, at least 60 hours of it). 

Unfortunately, given the current weather, I've also seen a LOT of flooding while driving through Tennessee and Missouri. My thoughts and best wishes are with those folks whose lives are ever changed by the wrath of an especially damaging storm system.

* * *

I grew up on the Canadian prairies, and when we travelled south, it seemed natural that we would spend time in Montana, and the west coast. Alternatively, my in-laws, who are from the east-of-centre part of Canada, travelled toward the eastern coast: the Carolinas, and Florida. On this trip, we retraced the route taken almost forty years ago by my honey's family.

As my early studies in textile sciences took me east (in Canada), the farmer in me encouraged me to love the natural fibres over the man-made fibres. In lectures and textile labs, I leaned the properties of cotton, wool, silk, and other hair and grassy fibres. I saw photos and videos of growth, production, harvest, and manufacturing. I could always relate what I learned to real-life because I've seen dozens of crops and animals grow to fruition and be harvested.

However, I have never, until last week, stood before a cotton field and seen it in real-life. I had never touched unharvested cotton. After travelling past what I think were harvested cotton fields in Georgia, we stopped for gasoline at an Interstate stop. At the gas station, I looked around and saw a field of brown, spotted with white fluff! At first glance, I thought I must be wrong. It was December. Surely, cotton should be harvested by now.



As we got closer to the field (on our way back onto the Interstate), I discovered that yes, it was a cotton field. I was dumbfounded. I hadn't searched out a field, it simply appeared. I was thrilled.



What a beautiful crop! The cotton fibres are wonderfully soft. What a tremendous surprise (for me) that punctuated a wonderful vacation.