The last two weeks

Here's what I have been doing in between things the last two weeks. I made a handbag for a friend as a Christmas gift. I haven't made gifts in years, but this one was fun as I didn't have any pressure to finish for any reason and gave myself plenty of time. Making this bag was more relaxing than most bags I've made, and fun too.
It could be because I'm done crawling around under the house with electrical wire - that puts a damper on your day :)

We got our generator hook up all finished last week, but my body is still sore from the unused muscles it took to do it. Recovery is slow, but it is coming along.
We also picked up some windows to finish the barn's second floor next spring.

I did a doodle on my new polarfleece sweater-thing. Is this too weird?

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The Doll is done, now onto the next piece!

I did some fabric painting, actually ink, yesterday and today. Did I end up with tons of stuff? No, just two pieces. Here they are -
I used Dyna-flow inks and water to see what happened. The blue one, I let dry overnight, but the green I pressed between parchment paper when wet. It made some cool designs in it too.





And then of course, the Hollyhock Doll is finished with some changes.


I took off the buds and added antique buttons . Voila!

This is made with/by: dyed fabric, freezer paper screened stems, inked buds, embroidered stems, wool felted doll head and body, silk dress and leaves and then quilted a little with heavy thread on a canvas panel.

It has a story on the back too. It says:

Hollyhock Dolls

(Alcea)

Nana May taught me how to make Hollyhock Dolls.

I spent endless hours playing with them and imagining

all kinds of wonderful things that happened in their lives.

When I see hollyhocks now, it reminds me of Nana May,

and I treasure the impact she has made in my life.

Check out more great work by talented gals at  Nina-Maries Off the Wall Fridays.

Hollyhock Doll almost done!

So after a week of working on the barn and getting that done for the winter. :)

I'm a bit sore, but very happy about the whole process.

I started the week doing catch up stuff. Here and there I found a little time to do a little more to this piece. I have one more button to put on it, then do some quilting, not much and then add the doll and frame the whole thing.
I'm loving how cute she has turned out and all her sisters on the stems too. All in all I am quite pleased.

Go see more fabulous work at Nina-marie's Off The Wall Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

A Barn Story...........

Today I would like to give thanks for almost being finished with the barn. We have the new door to put in, but it is almost finished.

Don't get me wrong, the bran looks great now and we have done more than most people would do to their barn, especially when we use it for a garage. It really is a carriage house, but did have horses in it at one time = a barn to me.

Thankfully, it is a post and beam building, so easy to figure out how to work with the structure - kind of like a large erector set, kind of. This one has mortise and tenons, not nuts and bolts, even though we did add some where needed.

Consequently, I have not been working on my favorite fabric pieces and creating wonderful things. :(  Today I may have some time to sit with my threads and do a little embroidery on the Hollyhock Doll piece that I am working on. This piece should be done soon and I will post a pic when it is - promise.

Until then, have a great Thanksgiving!

Some of the Process

So, during the week, I have been struggling with the background of the Hollyhock Doll. I had many ideas that I eventually rejected and finally ended up doing something different for me.

Picture I worked from - this is not the fabric.

I took a photo of hollyhocks and I really wanted only the foliage, so went into Photoshop and cropped it. Then I isolated the foliage and put it on a transparent background. Nice. Not enough though, so I added a second. Perfect, except how do I get this idea onto my background? I printed several of these pics and then cut out the stems, one set larger than the other, so I would have some depth to the stem. I like it. Now I transferred this onto freezer paper and sliced the stems out. I then ironed the freezer paper onto the fabric making sure it was really stuck there. Made up a color that was close to the dyed fabric leaves and used my scraper thing to print the stems onto the fabric = freezer paper silkscreen, sort of. Took off the freezer paper between colors. Dried this and then did the same with a lighter color,  and then ironed it.

Time to put it down and think again. Today I made shadow buds to complete the stems, and am currently adding? some felted buds and a couple of leaves? Not sure yet, still designing/thinking.

That's what I have been doing :)

Decisions, decisions.....

So after a week of playing around with this little gal - here she is. Now, the decisions I need to make about her.

Are her eyes "right" I'm not sure yet. I have tried a darker pink, but those looked like she had "devil eyes." :) I put a mouth on her too, but then she looked like "weird skeleton doll."

I am also trying a necklace on her. Seeing as I do jewelry as well as fiber, and got a TON of beads, may as well.

What do you think?


See other work at Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday!

Off The Wall Friday

Now that cross country trips and storm disasters are over......... (barn repair still goes on)

I started a new piece for an exhibit (and also my jury review) this week. I decided to make Hollyhock Dolls for the theme, "A Child at Heart."

Circles were cut out and I used Jacquard Neo-Opaque paints and Dy-na Flow inks to create these colors. In trying to expand my color palette, I mixed them, instead of using anything right our of the bottle/jar. I also used the silk/cotton blend fabric and silk, so far. I think I will do silk leaves, which I find tend to curl nicely, once I'm done with them.

I find it interesting to see and watch people during the/my creating process. What I see in my head and what they see are usually very different. When it all comes together, then the Ahhh Haaa, moment happens. Such fun! I think we all enjoy the process.

I also just ordered the new size Gelli Printing Plate 12 X 14 - expensive, but I think it will work better for me than the 8 X 10. I'm not interested in making any jell plates, really.

See more Off the Wall Fridays at Nina-Marie's

Home from California

Here I sit trying to make believe that I am not exhausted from traveling all day Monday. It seems like a much longer trip coming back and my mind is too befuddled to figure out why right now :)

Anyway............. We got there and did some stuff that needed doing right away - registered at the hotel, picked up the tuxes, etc.

Then we got together with the kids at their house. They were very wowed, pleased and excited about the wall piece I did for them :) Not that it would be bragging, but can I now say, "it is in a private collection?" LOL!

I had to stop and work on the barn all day yesterday - today too, so that first line I wrote, just mentally put it here too :)

The next exhibition by the Gallery in Concord is called " A Child At Heart" I have plenty of thoughts bouncing around and will start the piece next week, or whenever the barn is done, this week. I still need to do two reviews before I am considered a "full juried member" for my fabric, so I wonder if entering this is a technicality or not. Why? Them's the rules, that's why. I will find out for sure though.

I started working on a new business card - I am never satisfied, I guess. :)

I have some leaves that I would work as silk screens that I may have to send to my friend so she can do this for me and charge appropriately. I scanned these before it got too cold and I know I can use them in my work, so................ may as well. Then it gives me an excuse to go over her house and play too!

The UNVEILING!

OK, it is finally time to show what I have been working on so long behind the scenes.

My middle son will be married this weekend and I made a commemorative piece for them.

This is a compilation of two photographs that were taken by the future bride's Dad. I had asked him to find out (secretly) and send me pictures of their favorite places and anywhere else they are fond of.

So I received several photos of lovely vistas in San Diego, but this background kept calling me. It is sunset at La Jolla Shores where they went on the first date. The figures are from one of their engagement photos on the same shore line.

For fabrics I used silk, cotton, some kind of see through fabric (the name escapes me so early in the am,) paints, inks, beads, machine stitching and hand embroidery. The figures were silk screened by my dear friend and I am in debt to her for this - it came out so well, that my jury thought it was one of the best pieces!
I hand colored the people and used various paint and inks for the background sections to get the right feel for the scene.

The figures were slightly raised by using a very thin batt material under the cotton batt - cut out to the size of the figures.

In conclusion- I like it and think they will too!

Body of Work

I wrote this a few days ago, when I did not know the result of the jury - well..... I GOT IN for FIBER, so now I am a double juried member :)
Whoopee! That stress is over and it all went well. Just wanted the Friday gals to know too.

Body of Work...........sounds weird doesn't it? Well, that is just what I am finishing this week for my jury on Thursday. All pieces are on their frames, the story is written for each. Next is cutting the mats for the backs and then nailing them on, adding hangers and voila! A finished piece ready to hang.
This time I am not panicked (yet) and have all the work done before the deadline............hard for me to believe too.
I also photographed all the pieces and made two sets, one for the web and one for League publication - I guess I am thinking big :)

These are all the pieces I have been showing you over the last few months, so noting is looking new, but they are looking done!
There are seven,, so keep scrolling - thanks for looking too :)

Apache Gold

Wild Geranium

Purple Trillium

Water Lily

Marsh Marigold

Camelion

Libbey Road


Check out the Off The Wall Fridays Postings at Nina-Maries!

Started quilting

Posted this earlier in the week but wanted it to be on the Off The Wall - Fridays WALL too.


Here he is again............sick of looking at the same piece yet? I am working on another, but can't show it - yet. Soon, very soon - well maybe next month soon.

In the meantime, I have finished beading and stuffing and now basted it lightly and am quilting the camelion. The other two leaves are on and it is really coming along. I may add some more beads as I go to the leaves or background if needed. Decisions, decisions......

More Camelion update

Lately, I have been working on the Camelion in my small amount of spare time. (Occasionally I think I need one of those t-shirts that say - "Wait I'll drop everything I'm doing and help you" - we've all been there.)  I have achieved some more beading and a little embroidery and the little guy is coming alive! Actually my slowness in this is not only because of the distractions, but I keep changing things. I think that now I am happy with the beading on him (I kept snipping it off and putting it down)  and have moved onto the embroidery.
I also have another project that is coming along really well, but can't show you yet - it is a gift, sorry.
One of my tables is just PILED with stuff and I am quickly losing any idea as to what is on it anymore :)
I got word that my jury for LNHC is October 11th for those who are interested. HMM, that would be seven days before my son's wedding in San Diego. No stress during that time, I'm sure.

A request to check out the beading in the head shot - 

Well that's it for me this morning.
Hop on over to Off The Wall Fridays to see what Others are doing - Thanks, Nina-Marie!

Camelion Update

It's been a while as life has caused a whirlwind of activity around here. Typical of the summer.

I enjoyed attending the World Quilt Show in Manchester, NH last week and may go to the Gathering in November too. Lots of beautiful work was showcased - tons of eye candy to enjoy.
Of course, bought stuff and will eventually incorporate it into something :)

So the Camelion is coming along nicely. I am at the slow stage right now of adding beads to his little body for drama and color.  I will also be adding two more leaves above him, but they would just be in my way annoying me while I bead.

I would like Andrea to know that the worms have been removed and I like it much better too.

I am also working on another project - this one is top secret - kind of. These are the colors I have put together and I do like the arrangement. It needs more added, but this is what you get for this morning :) By the way Ladies (you know who you are) I have fused this background instead of applique. The deadline is sneaking up on me - LOL!

That's it this morning. TA!


And check out the other work in the links at   Nina-Marie's 

Camelion update

Now that the awful humidity has passed, I am finally able to go out :) Yeah! But while I was stuck in I did some more work on the camelion. I also did a lot of staring at it to evaluate it's progress.

I made some extra leaves that are independent of the background too. The little guy is just in the beginning stages.  They have a lot of texture on their skin that needs to be added, as well as googly eyes :)  Picky stuff, but so worth it. The next one up is a landscape that will be done for September, probably.

Yesterday's progress

Here's what it looks like today. The camelion is in its initial stage of creation. It gets better with work.
I am planning on adding more leaves, eventually :)

Background by monoprint

Started a new piece today. It will be a background of tropical type forest and a camelion. Playing around with printing leaves and coloring the background too. This is a far as I've come today. Had other stuff to do too - what's with that?Adding more to this tomorrow :)

Just rambling thoughts

Writing - a way to convey thoughts and feelings into black marks on a page. These marks can last a few minutes or a lifetime.
I really enjoy reading and spend a bit of time each day with a book. Books have always been my friends and I do find that I use this way of entertainment to escape from stress.
Which brings me to my current stressful period of an illness within the family and my complete abandonment of any creative work.
Now that things are working out for the better, it is coming back. Creating my work, not reading.

My creative work comes from the soul and it only makes sense to me that when I am stressed, the creative self submerges and the "rescue, help and nurturing" self emerges. My she is a very take charge kind of gal! But when she takes charge everything else seems to just fall to the wayside. I couldn't even cook!

I started work on my waterlily again and now am appliqueing it to the background. Thoughts have surfaced on how to do some dyeing of some silk strips I have - just need cooler weather. I think I will take the soda ash soaked fabric outside on platters and paint it with dye mixed with the fishy stuff. (the name escapes me)
That is as far as I have traveled this morning. Waiting for weather to change and spending time working in Concord all day. Taking the waterlily with me too.
Makes for entertainment and keeps my  hands busy.

Finished!!!

Yes, I'm finished and wearing it! It's lightweight, and roomy too. I made a change and needed a closure/belt, but didn't want just a belt, so came up with this triangle shape at the waist. Then I went into my strange collection of buttons and stuff. Found this 1940's belt buckle and thought that looked just fine. used a half belt connected at the side and Voila!

Almost done!

So I went off the beaten path and decided to make myself a Kimono (actually called a Hanten Jacket) and now it is almost finished. Sleeves and collar is basted on and waiting for a good sit down to just hand stitch it down. I have also been working on (in my head) a closure for it besides the usual obi type waist band.
The fabrics were a gift to me a long time ago by my BF and I never had a use for them and then recently the light blub went off. :)
I am pretty happy with the garment and have been working on it for two weeks (off and on.)
I have also been quilting and beading, changing banks, working cooking, gardening, etc. Off to start TODAY!

Another finished!

This one was done, then I added more and quilted it. No rules!!!!

Working away!

Finishing up my Apache Gold Iris and still thinking about my Water Lily. Strolled around in my garden with a friend yesterday :) That was fun as I usually do this alone. Lots of huge plants this year and my peonies are actually budding. I have never seen them flower since my Mom gave them to me years ago, but kept trying. (Maybe that's why... I should stop moving them!) They are in the best place now and will stay there.

Sliced my index finger last night doing dishes..............makes me wonder if I should do dishes anymore. Throwing them out is not an option, so I guess if I want clean ones then.....

I am attempting to clean my studio room this morning before my MIL comes over :)

Photos are a tad dark and slightly blurry - sorry about that, but it was early when I took them :)

Shoes and jewelry - not fabric

I feel like I ended up with the BEST deal on shoes for the wedding. Got a pair of Bruno Magli (leather, hand made in Italy) off of EBay. (got this idea from Melody Johnson) This type of shoe typically goes for $250 - $300 a pair. Got mine for $35 bucks! Perfect condition, never worn and come in their own separate bags. For someone who doesn't wear heels, these are perfect, low heel and in my skin color to boot. Ok, enough crowing :)

I went to a friends' Open Studio yesterday and got a neat-o pair of earrings and ordered a bracelet too. It was a fun time and then the pollen came out and I went in. That's it for now.

And here it is!

So yesterday I showed a photo of the flower I am working on and here it is. It is not embroidered or quilted yet, but I like the progress so far.

I made the background at a friends house with the Gelli plate - I like the contrast with the flower.
Working on a water lily at the same time. All the work I am doing right now is fairly small - why? Just because.

Still here and lurking

I have been pretty busy since last time I posted with several pieces. I'm just pleased that flowers come in so many shapes and colors.
Today I am working with my Inktense pencils on a water lily. I tried my other inks and paints, but the result I wanted comes best from the pencils and plain 'ol water.
When I am happy with all the petals (which are drying all over the place, then I will baste it together.
I got some stuff since I visited my friend and saw her toys. Mainly I got a Speedball baren (round thing that you can use to press fabric onto your Gelli plate.) I also got a yard of silk screen fabric and a couple of small canvases.
Once I am done the petal painting I will move onto making some gelli and silk scree-type designs for backgrounds.

Here is a photo I am working from. No actual work to show yet.

Won again!

I belong to the DAR and they run a contest every year, called the American Heritage Contest. I entered again in the Fiber Arts - Wall Hanging category. Well, happily, I won the Northeast Division! My entry will now go onto the National Competition. Time will tell how that will go.
Here's my entry, I'm sure some of you will recognize it too.

Waiting for IT to come back...

It has been a while, but I have been busy doing lots of stuff, mainly cooking, and am waiting for the creative spark to come back. I feel that I am in some kind of creative limbo. This has happened to me before, many times, but it does come back - so I know that it is not lost forever.

In the meantime I am getting a little knitting done and wishing I could go out to garden. It is way too early here do do any gardening, but the weather is just so beautiful. Mother Nature is just waiting to pounce on us New Englanders, I know it.

This morning I woke up to such a beautiful sunrise! Here's a photo so you can enjoy it too.

I just finished tidying up my work room and now it is off to do something else - at least I am busy, busy and not just sitting like a lump :)

Working in the background :)

I have been doing a lot of stuff, but not saying a word. In between working on the house, I have quilted two small pieces and this one is basted and ready to quilt on too. I have another in the to-be-appliqued stage, too.
The work on this Trillium was interesting - as I have recently given myself permission (don'tcha hate to have to do that) to use my inks and paints to enhance the colors. It has been lots of fun and has incorporated my painting and drawing with fabric. The best of all worlds!

Lately it feels very spring like and I have spring fever and want to be OUT since there aren't any bugs to bite me. I do like this in between season best. I get to walk around in the woods and check on what lives where and pick up nice rocks for the garden - stuff like that.

I continuously lurk and keep my eyes on everyone too! My BF has just stopped working all the time and I am looking forward to some good quilting/creating time soon.

February Challenge - Feathers

Here's my example of the feather challenge for February. I found it hard to do and practiced a lot, but I seem to write better than I can make feathers. I did learn stuff from it which to me is the whole point of the challenge.

If you glance at it really fast it looks great! LOL!
Next up March!

Moving on

That Grackle finally kicked my butt and I let it go! For some unknown reason, the beak came out huge again, so I just gave in and put it in the UFO pile.
Moved on to actually finishing a piece and basted two others and am contemplating another this morning.
I think I need to make some lighter background pieces for my work. Can't decide to use paint or to dye them.
Spent most of the day yesterday painting Mike's bedroom - with Mike! We did a very nice job and now we need to do a teeny bit of work on it to get it ready for the flooring. I also need to wash down the woodwork to paint that too. After Norm fixes the heater cover (got beat up through the years) then I will paint that too.
That's it, just working on stuff all over the place.

Not working on fabric but -

I spent all day yesterday painting the new drywall. It sucks up the paint like crazy and I only have a little left too. Today the flooring guys will come and measure. Are they in for a treat! Nothing is square in this room :) It is one of two odd rooms in the house - well really odd rooms, the rest are just normal odd. Can't wait for it to be done too.

I did start placing fabric the other day on the next piece to applique. It is a scene that was down the road last summer of a small tree growing on an post. I liked it, so thought it would be nice to make. The POSTED sign on it was fun too.

Off with his head, off with his head!

Ok, so that may sound a bit overboard, but yesterday I went a little too far when working on my Grackle's beak and he ended up looking like Cyrano de Bergerac.
So I did the next best thing a girl could do and cut out his head! Like completely out - then I had a hole in my piece and thought it was a complete loss. While pondering my situation, (I walked around with crabby face for 30 minutes or so,) I came to another conclusion and a solution to my dilemma.
Lucky for me, I had more of the background fabric, so I pieced in a large triangle and then covered the seams with more reeds. Now I am working away at the repair and will baste a new head and beak today :) Voila! Happiness again.

Picking it out!

You know when you do something to a piece and then let it sit for a while? I did that with one of my pieces because something just wasn't sitting "right" with it for me. I goofed around with it again this morning and then just decided to rip it all out.
Now I'm glad I did. So far it is much more appealing to me and I can continue to work on it..........as soon as I am done picking it out.   :0)

January Free Motion Challenge and things I already knew

So what are the things I already knew? I knew I didn't like repetitive designs, I knew I do a better job is whatever I am sewing is small - tiny leaves vs. large ones.

So here's my January Challenge piece. Because I get bored easily, I did mine in more than one color. I started with brown, then blue, purple and then green. This gives me an idea as to whether or not I have made any improvement.  What do I think? Looks just ok and no, I'm not doing another one this month. :) Enough said.

12 Month Free Motion Quilt Challenge

While reading Ann Fahl's Blog, she is one of the instructors in this free motion challenge, so I looked into it and said - what the heck! Why not, so I did.

Now on to improving my quilting skill - there is always room for improvement and following along with others can be fun. I'll post my doodles here on the blog.

I have been beating myself over the head with Quickbooks these past days and I think (I hope) I am done for this year.  It is time for taxes and my Tax Lady would like to have my stuff really soon. We like to do taxes early, it is stressful enough without a deadline.

So I think I am back to the land of having fun again. Maybe I will make the practice blocks into a quilt? Nah.

Bent Needles

I have two bent needles. One is the needle I baste with and the other I discovered this morning. I decided to recreate a needle holder I had made when I got a thread book I had bought. I would tell you the name, but it seems that my room ate the book - figures. Now that I decided to clean it up yesterday, the book went into hiding and is nowhere to be found.

The second needle I discovered this morning as I was making the needle holder. Such a nasty sound came out of my little sewing machine! I immediately stopped sewing and took out the bobin. No, nothing there. Took out the race - it looked fine, so I cleaned it and put it back. Started to make the machine go very slowly by hand to see what was up. EEEWWWW! The needle was hitting the race. I took the race out again,  put it in, took it out and repeated the whole dry run several times.
I finally pronounced that the machine needed fixing. I took out the race again - lifted the machine and looked into the hole where the race goes and saw NOTHING and decided that the calibration? was off and needed to go to the shop.
Feeling defeated, I went away and pouted a bit. Came back and thought that maybe I should try another needle. Was this a light bulb moment? No, more like a conk on the head. Put the new needle in and guess what? It worked perfectly :) I was up and running again.

So it took me a hour to actually make this silly little thing and it is not perfect, but the old one was SO UGLY I couldn't stand it anymore. And here it is - voila!

Oh, I just found that little sneaky book! It is called Thread Work Unraveled by Sarah Ann Smith

New Venue!

I have four pieces accepted to show/sale at Handworks Gallery in Acton, MA! It is pretty exciting and I am looking forward to a long relationship with them. You can see the pieces on my stitched stories page. One piece, Dwarf Iris, will be in the "Expressions of Love" Exhibit running Feb. 3rd through the 25th. You just need to see the show! So stop on by and check out the "Expressions" people have on display.

Seeing as I will not be doing the show (Merrimack Valley Artisans) this year due to my son getting married the same weekend (do I need a hat?) I needed somewhere to show my work and this is a great fit.

BUT, that doesn't stop me from making things, so I have three peices in the works and I have shown them here in the not too distant past. I will be working on them and others as we travel on in time.

My studio is a mess again...........who did that to it anyway? Today is a bit of straightening out and then more creative work (cut, cut, pin, sew, etc.) One of my tables is underutilized, so I thought I would see what I could do about that too. Why is it that when you get everything "just right" you run out of space for anything else? Funny that, eh?

Directing energy

Yesterday was such and odd day for me - I seemed to go in a zillion directions and got nowhere very fast. Ever have those types of days?

Started out experimenting with my Gelli Plate. I still haven't figured out how I should use it.  I've seen the videos and read everything, but it still doesn't do much for me. Fiddling around with it may help, but not yet. I think I am stuck on doing silk screening as I like the neatness of the "figure" that results. Don't have any of the tools and don't want to buy MORE stuff.

Stared at my Gyotaku supplies and shoved those aside. Took out my vessels and goofed around with them.
Got out some magazines and thumbed through them - pretty pictures - no ideas resulted.

Then took down off of my design wall a piece I had been working on and thinking about. Looked at that again and decided it was done. Took out the basting and did a bit of beading on it. By this time it was supper and I found I did not get one thing done, except laundry. Fairly frustrating day, but today is new and another horizon awaits! :)

Experiment and Voila!

I got a set of Gyotaku (which means fish printing) leaves - go figure and one fish for Christmas. Decided to try it this morning. Yesterday I washed some plain fabric in order to do this.
The idea is not new, but I have never done this and I do like mono-printing and waiting until something grows again so I can have great leaves is like waiting for paint to dry.
This is my result from a few tries this morning.I love this! The recommendation is to place your fabric or paper onto the painted object, but I seem to do better the other way round.
I intend to overdye this little tableau once it is dry and thoroughly pressed. We will see later how it comes out.

Planning or going with your gut feeling?

smaller version

I am struggling with myself about whether or not to make the marigold as I originally planned or go with my gut feeling of "make it bigger." The smaller version would just be about a 5 X 7, but the larger would be 6 X 6.
I KNOW which one to do, but my little cheap voice is saying to use what you have and don't buy any more canvasses. So this is just a matter of beating up that little voice and plowing ahead.
I need to mention that the "picture" does go over the edges of the canvas and are continued on the sides of the piece, so nothing is really cut off, but.............