A frenzy of activity

Over the past couple of weeks I've been making charity quilts.  Nothing bigger than about 44" by 44", as that's the largest I can cope with when machine quilting, on my domestic.  Today, with my husband's help, I got all five of them sandwiched, ready to quilt.  I started with a large Zip Loc bag crammed full of 2 1/2" squares, and a big pile of 4 1/2" squares.  That Zip Loc Bag isn't even half empty!

This is my favourite design.  I did one in browns and yellows and another in everything else.  

And here is the pile waiting for me to get started tomorrow.

I Plan to link this with Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Whoop Whoop Fridays.

Satisfying the soul

When asked what I do, I use the term "fibre artist".  Since I am really a dilettante, in many, many ways, I think that the term describes me nicely.  But someone looking at me from the outside might call be an art quilter, as most of my pieces have quilting in them somewhere.  I did start out as a more traditional quilter, but my family used to joke that I could never find a pattern that I couldn't change.  I was surrounded by family who were crafty, but usually in a fibre related form, as my grandmother and paternal aunts were all embroiderers and quilters.  They, too, would tackle any creative sort of task without fear.  I have taught embroidery and traditional quilting.  I've taught art quilting techniques.  But, I've also taught mixed media. I exhibit my fibre work.  I have a whole collection of variously coloured ribbons from local agriculture exhibition competitions.  But I only buy fabric that is white, black or navy, as I paint or dye any fabric I use in my work.  

What I'm saying is that I aspire to be accepted for my original work, but this is really an uphill battle, when one works with fibre. Otherwise, I pretty much follow my muse, where ever it leads.  When one thinks of the term "battle", one thinks of effort, work, fear, and exhaustion--all valid terms.  Lately, I've found myself tired of fighting.

So-o-o, I'm making traditional quilt tops that will be finished and given away to charity.  Three are finished, and one will be finished today.  Another one is planned and arranged, ready to piece. Over a year ago, before hurting my shoulder and losing the ability to use a rotary cutter, my husband and I cut a laundry baskets full of various shapes for this sort of use.  They have been sitting in my studio and making me feel guilty ever since.  Three of the tops mentioned have been made using 21/2" squares.  I had a large Zip Loc bag tightly filled with them, and have only used half of that, at this point.  

Now, here is my question.  Why, given my history, do I feel so guilty about finding so much pleasure in doing this very traditional task?

Putting the paper together

The first paper piece is finished, and stitched over Foam-core, ready for framing.  It's very slightly different from the previous picture.  I can't remember if I mentioned that the small squares are tea bags from my experiments a few weeks ago.

There is another piece laid out and ready to start stitching.  I will be backing this one with a satin weave not-quite-white cotton.  some of the paper in this has been lightly waxed, a process that really appeals to me. Whether I do any more of it depends on how well the hand stitching goes with this one.  The copper-y bits are brown paper bag painted with Lumiere metallic paint.  The three long vertical pieces are all the same hand made paper, with the darker pieces being the waxed ones.

I also prepared some waxed samples of all three of my hand made papers, plus plain brown paper, and put them in my sketch book, along with a bit of the original paper.

Playing with paper

My paper making continues, and with it comes a bit of skill development.  I have planned my first mixed media piece using my own paper.  Actually, I've fallen in love with it, and can only hope that my physical skills live u to expectations--not always a sure thing at my age. As you will seein the picture, my paper making skills aren't good, and the edges are very, very feathery.

Here is the basic design, laid out on a piece of paper the exact size.  I plan to use a very light beige silk noile for background when the actual piece goes together. The small stitched squares are used tea bags on which I have sewn a circle of fabric and added hand stitching for emphasis.  The green/brown paper is left over from the latest batch of ATC's, that I finished yesterday.  I can't wait to get started on actually putting it together.  I have a suitable frame waiting.

Now, as I mentioned, I have finished a set of ATC's for the meeting at the end of the month.  I also mentioned the feathery edges of my hand made paper.  I decided to use those feathers in the ATC's.
I cut off the edges of a very poorly made piece of paper, and added them to a piece of watercolour paper that had been coloured with Distress ink, and then spritzed with water.

The theme of the meeting is re-purposed art, so using the watercolour paper, and excess edges of the hand made paper, fits right in, especially as I used the leftovers from this in the piece pictures above.  The cards are as plain as they appear.  I thought about covering them with a thin coat of GAC100, to give them a good shine. But then, the aesthetic of hand made paper is the texture, and muted colour, so leaving them au naturel was a design decision.  Knowing the group I trade with, they will be well accepted.

Paying the piper

When you've been working with fibre for as long as I have, the day comes when you are forced to upgrade or replace equipment and tools. Over the past 55 years I have had close to a dozen good, new sewing machines.  I wore out the internal cams in two good quality Kenmore machines, teaching myself to FMQ--and do it well.  At this point I expect that my current machine, less than 10 years old, will be my last.  It is a Janome Horizon 7700, and it has a lot of miles on it.  I love it, but recognize its limitations, and have accepted and accommodated to them.  One such is its weight.  It's a heavy thing, and I'm not getting any younger, nor is my husband.  Today we bought one of those huge rolling carts to move it around in, for when I'm teaching or taking a workshop.  K-a-a-a-ching!

Got me thinking about the sort of expenses I need to start anticipate. I have a short shopping/wish list of things that will have to be replaced over the next year.  First on the list is my cutting board.  Even the best self-healing boards wear out at some point, and mine is there.  Earlier this year my ironing board was replaced.  The old one was over 50 years old, and was a darn good board.  It was 18" wide, and I could no longer get covers for it. The foot on one leg was worn right through, making positioning the board on the floor a tricky issue.  Originally it had a cord that could be plugged into the wall, and then an outlet on the end of the board in which to actually plug in the iron.  Long gone.  It had followed me to six different houses over the years.  The frame is still tucked into a cord in the garage, as I can't make myself face the reality of putting it in the garbage.  Funny how attached I was to that, but sewing machines and irons go through my life without a ripple ( except in my cheque book, of course)

Now I've reached the point in life that I have to take into consideration how many years I'll be around to make use of any new equipment, when deciding to replace items.  Don't want to go there either.

Changed my mind

The blue piece in my previous post has bothered me since it was done.  Finally I "bit the bullet", and changed it.  There was probably nothing wrong with it, but, in my mind, it wasn't right.  I took it apart.  Then I took out all of the tiny snowflakes filtering down, turned it upside down, and put them back in, but falling from the opposite end. As you can imagine, this was a bit of work, as it had been beaded and bound already.  The binding, backing, and  both the tiny beads, and their glitter-y white trails removed, stitch by stitch.  Re-stitching the glitter-y white trails, was a challenge, as all of the other beads, within the larger snowflakes were still there, and had to be avoided with the presser-foot, as many of the trails went right over the larger snowflakes, but it also gave me the change to put some of those trails behind the large snowflakes.  

Sounds a little ridiculous in writing, but I feel much more satisfied with the piece, and it's no longer keeping me awake at night.

I plan to link this with The Needle and Thread Network

A few busy days

Made a small batch of paper.  It turned out that the hardest thing to gather was enough old newspaper to soak up the excess water.  Most of the flyers we've been getting were to oddly shaped to be useful.  My results weren't great, but I did get 6 pieces that may have some potential for use in Mixed Media.  I learned a lot.  My metallic mesh was too light, and this made it difficult to control.  I have now layered two pieces together, and sealed the edges with Duct tape.  My hands are still covered with small cuts from trying to control the mesh.  

There wasn't nearly enough pulp emulsion.  This meant that it was very difficult to get enough pulp onto the mesh, made more difficult by the mesh bending with any weight, and causing the pulp to move, and gather in lumps.  Obviously, pulling the mesh through the pulp is a learned skill!  One that needs practice!

But what I have is well coloured, and the bits of green tea I added to the emulsion, worked very well.  The lacey bits around the edges intrigue me, and I know I'm going to try to make them a feature of any Mixed Media pieces I do.

The blue snowflake piece is also finished.  I really struggled with a title and settled on "Gentle Snowfall".  This picture doesn't show detail well.

Here are a couple of close-ups.

But now, I'm all caught up with the studio work.  Not sure what to do with myself over the next little while, until I come up with a new challenge.