Playtime

Over the past little while I've been playing with the reversible quilt technique described by Sharon Pederson, in her book, "Reversible Quilts".  This is the technique I had been asked to use in most of the charity quilts I've worked on over the past few months, and I wanted to learn more about it.

She has a second book, "More Reversible Quilts", that explores the technique a little further, but I couldn't afford to buy both, so information in that one hasn't been available to me.  In my exploration I've been using fabric that is mainly from my stash of hand dyes, especially some of my dyed cotton Damask tablecloths.  The cotton Damask takes a Procion MX dye beautifully, and there is something about the soft, well aged fabric that gives the colour a glow that I've never found anywhere else.  Only one of the light blue strips was cotton Damask, but all of the red/purple strips were Damask.  I found that using it this way requires a very cautious cutting and seewing technique.  I buy my cotton Damask at thrift stores, and the used tablecloths often have stains or holes in them, that I have to work around.  Trust me, I don't cut up valuable antiques

I particularly like a low water immersion dyeing technique and most of the fabric used was dyed that way.  However, the darkest of the light blue strips could only be found in a commercial fabric.  The patterned fabric used on the dark side of the piece was originally a pale red hand dyed piece that was overdyed with navy using a Shibori-type technique.  I've had this one for awhile and was glad to finally find a use for it. I think it works very well. 

The following pictures show the trimmed but not joined sections of the piece, both sides. As well there is a close-up of the red/purple Damask strips.

the frustrations of a happy marriage

The kitchen was finished, although we had discussed needing the paint the ceiling.  So, back to the studio, with glee.  A whole day to work, and enough on tv during the evening to accomplish a lot of hand finishing.  That was yesterday.  Today, DH announced that it's now time to paint the living room and hallway.  I reminded him about the kitchen ceiling, and he denies ever having discussed it with me.  But now we're doing that as well. 

My time in the studio had allowed me to plan out my work for the next three months.  Along with doing all of the preparation for a class I'm teaching in mid-October, I'm half of a two-woman team jurying a fibre show for the month of November, hanging it, and organizationing the necessary demonstations and volunteer, knowledgeable docents.  Add to this my plans to attend a four-day fibre retreat at the end of September, and the need to be ready, willing and able to provide any sort of help DH needs, over the next while.

So, today I bought some fabrics to start making embellishments for the next fibre art piece.  It will be simple hand work that I can put down whenever duty calls.  I also bought flexible plastic cutting boards from Dollarama.  These are perfect for making sturdy templates and cost $1.00 each for a piece of plastic larger than the template plastic sold in quilting stores for $5-6.00.  The eyeglass cases are finished and in use, but teaching samples need to be made.

Life takes over

Yes, it has been a long time between posts.  DH has been painting the kitchen, with me standing by and cheering him on.  The job has included the back door foyer, and some of the pantry.  Since DH now admits that he's not 22 any more, it has been a slow process, as I've had to ensure that he paces himself carefully, and the hottest July in years has complicated the issue.  The downside, as far as this blog is concerned, is that very little has been happening inthe studio.

The most that has been accomplished has been a little bit of hand work.  For many years my arthirtic hands and wrists have forced me to minimize the amount of hand work that I do.  This has lead to some wonderful times teaching myself to use my machine more creatively, and to develop my machine skills in a number of ways.  A fantastic period of new concepts and ideas and learning.  But there is also something to be said for the gentle peace that can come from repetitive hand work.  No, I'm not ignoring the tantrum-inducing frustration that can occur when something goes wrong, but rather, I'm celebrating the satisfaction when something is going well, and you are truly "in the groove".

My "groove" used to be found in delicate, fussy detailed embroidery, and applique, and I know I  will never again have the patience to get involved to any extent in either of those.  However, I needed to make myself a couple of eyeglass cases.  Since I must now use reading glasses in several different areas of the house, I have five pair of dollar store glasses that I need to keep track of.  So, given the bad influence of friends who are heavily into crazy patch right now, I've been working on Duippioni silk, with one or two strands of silk thread.  The work had to be small, given the small size of the project. It's amazing how quickly old skills can come back!  The success has caused me to consider trying some other older techniques that I have abandoned, possible the hand applique.  One of the friends mentioned has offered to work with me on an applique project, and this just might provide a counterpoint to the heavy machine work that has occupied my creative life recently.

A rose by any other name---

So, okay--I'm now accepting the idea of re-naming Lucifer's Tears.The original concept was the idea that not all apparent remorse is genuine--that remorse has to come from the heart and soul--and how important it is to be able to recongize the difference.  So--have I actually expressed this concept?  Or have I just produced an image of hellfire?  Any suggestions for a name change?

time passes

Between  an unexpected, slow but steady, painting of my kitchen, and some time-consuming, and not completely resolved problems with my desk top computer, it's been awhile.  There hasn't been a lot going on in the studio, but, finally, yesterday, I finished the thread work on Lucifer's Tears.  Comments from friends have been mixed.  Some appear interested, and anxious to see the finished product, while another doesn't like it--no discussion, no constructive critique-- just doesn't like it.  This sort of response is hard to deal with, ranging from acceptance, to luke warm to dislike.  I have to really examine my emotional investment in it, and separate that emotion from my technical investment.  The result is 50/50.  This was a technical challenge, and that sort of challenge has always driven much of my work.  But I experience a sense of emotional discomfort, in response to the name, as much as the actual image.  (There was a lot of thought behind both the name and the image.) And isn't art supposed to evoke an emotional response in the viewer?  Maybe it's this subconscious response that is behind the reaction of my friends.

In any case, I'm having second thoughts about entering it in a mainstream show.  It should be finished in the next couple of days,and I'll post a picture then.

Prairie Moon

Here is the very basic starting point of Prairie Moon. Taking a picture is so useful.  Already I know that the moon is too small, and that I need to make another one--about twice the size.  No, this one isn't on permanently.  The only further changes will be to do a lot of FMQ'g to turn the chaos into prairie grasses.  The only thread that seems to blend in well, is grey!  Go figure! I had picked out pale lemon yellow, but it was just too strong against the navy.  I'll have to play with it a bit, but I may have ot use dark bleu to define the grasses and then the grey for texture.  The pale lemon yellow may end up being useful in the very highly discharged areas.  I have a feeling that there will be some crystal beads along the edges of some of the blades of grass, as well.  It's a good things that I have a "doodle" cloth to try things out on.

Still dreaming

Some of my fibre art friends were over on Friday afternoon for a bit of casual stitching, and they took a look at my discharged moons. Neither of them could come up with any sort of clear idea of what it could be, any more than I could.  Later I went back to the idea of bamboo and translated that into grass.  If I reduce the number of moons to one ( Duh!) I think I may have a prairie moonscape.

But Lucifer's Tears is still trudging along.  The re-vamping of the background is not yet finished, although I put several hours into it yesterday.  Now that I have an idea for the Prairie Moon piece, there is incentive to finish Lucifer's Tears.

One of my goals for this year of sabbatical was to try to develop a body of work, so that I'm not always scrambling to catch up with myself.  I have two pieces (Silken Blossoms and Inua: Spirit in the Wind)away for the Mancuso show in New Hampshire in August, followed by the Pennsyvania show in September.  My Twilight Snowfall is still travelling with Canadian Content. ( This one can be seen on the Fibre Art Network website  http://www.fibreartnetwork.com/ )That show was supposed to be a one off, at the Remarkable Symposium in Queenston New Zealand, in May, but has now been booked for three exhibitions here in Canada over the next few months, and may possibly travel to Houston later in the year.  As well, I'll be assisting with the organization for a fibre art exhibition at Gwen Fox Gallery in Selkirk, for November.  While I can't be part of the exhibition, I can have a piece mounted, as part of my bio, being one of the organizers.  I was hoping to use Lucifer's Tears for that, but maybe, I can come up with something better, in the meantime.

There is also a show on the horizon for 2012, in Saskatchewan.  I am considering a new box to enter there.  It's been awhile since I made a box, but I've been gathering bits and pieces to use in one that may ended up being called Silver Seas.

And, of course, there are still at least three UFO's lurking around the studio.  One of those is a major piece, and I had hoped to have it finished before I go the my fibre art retreat at the end of September.  I had it critiqued at last year's retreat, and received a suggestion about a lot ( read a lot) of thread work on it, but now I'm considering using paint for some of the shading, or maybe even Inktense pencils, as I've had such success with those.