Ar-g-g-g-h!

I've been very busy in the studio, and have two new quilted hangings to display, but can't seem to figure out how to get them onhere. In the past I've always uploaded directly from my camera, however, we very recently upgraded our computer, and I can't do this any more. i was told that I should use the card reader on the new computer--but I can't find it. So I tried to up load from the card reader on my lap top--could find that one--but no luck. So I went into PSE, which will send e-mail, make greeting cards and burn onto a cd or dvd--do everything except mount it on a bill board, evidently. But not up load onto a blog.

This blog is getting less and less of my time. I have to wonder if it has ended it's usefullness. I don't know how many people read it--one or two maybe. If you'll miss me let me know. Leave a comment.

Back in the saddle again

On Monday five of my friends came over for a "Play Day". We painted and dyed and talked and ate and had a marvelous time. I now have three pieces of fabric prepared with a flour resist that has lead to a black "crackle" pattern all over. Two of them had been previously hand dyed, and I plan to submit the third to a low water immersion dyeing. The other previously dyed piece will now get some stamping and stencilling in gold, before some embroidering.

I have several pieces that were coloured with a paint method that involves shaving cream. This results in a swirling pattern. In the past I used shaving cream to create a faux marble effect, but this is quite different. I also came away with a piece of previously hand-dyed fabric that I used as the base of a sun print. I did a couple more today and learned that the top painted layer must be significantly different in colour to create the efffect I wanted. Even if there is a noticeable difference in value, if the hue is too close, the result is just a muted sunprint. Lesson learned.

So now I have several projects lined up---and--hopefully, the energy to deal with them.

what's wrong?

I'm sitting in my studio. All of the beautiful new fabric is on my work table sorted into colour groups, the bits and pieces of my dragon flies are gathered together with the last bit of painting on their wings done, my quilting books are all out on accessible shelves ready to sort--and I'm playing internet poker. I just keep procrastinating. I have no deadlines, and so no incentive to get my act in gear. But I do have a few deadlines in that my art quilt group will be here next Monday, and I have a meeting the day after tomorrow when I'm supposed to have some samples ready for discussion--not even started yet.

So tomorrow, I may just have to start writing those dreaded "to do' lists again. It was fine to say that I would take a year off the heavy production work and show entries, and just see where my muse might lead me. Obviously it's leading me into sloth. A lesson learned. I don't have the self discipline to function without clear objectives and a focus for my energies.

An explosion of riches

I used the last of the little bit of extra money I made this summer, and bought fabric. (To be honest I used a wee bit of credit as well). I ordered 20 fat quarters of African fabric over the internet. These are from Uganda. The pieces I've made with the African fabric have sold well, and they are certainly eye-catching in my booth. So it would be nice to have a couple for the sales coming up this fall. So having done that, I needed some calmer "filler" fabrics to add to the mix for my piecing. On my travels, I also finally found some appropriate beads to go with the African fabrics. Finding any insertion beading has proven difficult, but I finally checked out a store half way across the city and not only did they have them, they were on sale at 50% off!

The Gloria Loughman book has been put aside. I have been sorting my library and came across a book on stumpwork dragon flies by Jane Nichlas. All of a sudden the idea for the Acceptance collage for my Serenity pent-tych was there, and I've been working on that. The stump work is hand embroidery and it's been along time since I've done much of that. I can certianly see that my fine hand sewing skills have deteriorated over the time away from the work, but I think I can finish the dragon flies well enogh for the use I have in mind for them.

The Serenity pent-tych has been in the works for a couple of years. It is based on the five concepts expressed in the Serenity Prayer: the concept of a Higher Power, Serenity, Acceptance, Courage, and Wisdom. Each piece is entirely separate, and each is based on a different colour scheme, but they are of the same size and similar techniques, and each concept is expressed in a distinctive Celtic Rune. But developing five distinctly different but similar desings has been a challenge. I was discussing this yesteday with a knowledgeable friend who suggested researching the symbolism of each concept via the Internet. Duh! Wish I'd thought of it sooner. Regardless, I have decided to use dragon flies as a symbol of acceptance, as they, as a species, have accepted everything nature has thrown at them over milions of years--and survived.

Mixed results

I made a small sampler of techniques based on the Gloria Loughman book. The overall design is the pits, with too busy fabric and value problems. I won't be adding it to the sample book, but I think I'm going to cut it up and made a couple of small purses out of it. My fabric paper bookmarks haven't sold at recent sales, and I thought I might make a few quilted ones to test, so every scrap of the sample will be used. Here are a couple of pictures. Whoops! The first oneis up side down, but I think you can get the image.

Here is a close up. I didn't try out every technique in the book, but I plan to. I have an idea for another piece, with a very different look, that will include some of the more subtle ways she breaks up her shapes.

Best laid plans etc

I've been seduced by the book Quilted Symphony by Gloria Loughman. My sister and I have been playing with paper and coloured pencils and construction paper and glue! We were almost embarrassed to be buying children's art supplies in Wal-Mart ( You don't need artist quality stuff to play with!) But we decided to claim we were shopping for "the grandchildren", if asked. The concept and resulting images are very far removed from what I normally do, but this is a year for play and experimentation, so I will travel where ever my Muse directs. Certainly my experiments with using African fabric paid off, as I've sold two of the three pieces I made--and for a good price!

However, neither of the recent sales were particularly lucrative. But on the positive side, I have lots of stock left for the other two sales I have committed to, for later in the fall. (HoHoHo) I had hoped to make enough to be able to spend a day or two shopping for supplies South of the border, but now I have neither the funds nor the need. Well, there's always the Internet!

Enjoying this year so far

As you know, this is the year that I hope to be able to forget the shows and commitments and producing for sales. I plan to play. I borrowed the book "Stitching to Dye" from the library and have been slowly working my way through the exercises. It's also been a good chance to put the new sewing machine through its paces. The concept behind the book is that you can produce/finish everything in neutral colours, and then apply dye to the finished project. I produced three pieces.
The first was whole cloth cotton, heavily free motion quilted. I then tried to apply the dye to various parts of the pattern, and was moderately successful. I had put the piece on a piece of construction plastic to protect the table while I worked. I hadn't thought about the dye moving between the plastic and the fabric and then seeping up through the fabric in places I didn't want it. I had used three colours of dye--yellow, green and blue. Well, the blue got into the yellow, and the green got overpowered by the blue. The finished piece looked fine, but the yellow had a green tinge and the green just appeared to be a blending of the two other colours--sort of what I was looking for, but not really.
The second piece was entirely silk, except for the batting. Again it was heavily FMQ'd. I used a much more subtle colour of dye this time and only two shades--spring green and aqua marine. I applied them with a funnel spouted plastic bottle so that I had more control over where the dye went. This worked well. Each of the 5 types of silk took the dye differently, but the differences were very subtle. This project had the best result--imho.
The third project was a combination of silk, acetate and cotton within the piecing. I FMQ'd with a more planned design that had minor variations in the density of the quilting. I pre-soaked the bound piece in soda ash, and discovered that this helped immensley in controlling the spread of the dye. I used four different dyes and their spread was quite controlled. I used very dilute dye, hoping for very pale subtle colouring. Boy, was I ever fooled. The silk noile took up the dye and became quite dark, the acetate barely took the dye ( I didn't really expect it to). The piece is much darker than had wanted. If it had been important --and it could have been--I would have thrown it out and started again. But I think I'm going to keep working and use it as a practise piece/bad example.
My next project is to start working through the book "Inspired to Quilt: Creative Experiments in Art quilt Imagery" by Melanie Testa. This one has several printing methods including the use of soy wax, as a resist. Guess I'll have to wait until I can afford the soy wax.