New Work

Are you having a heart attack yet? Three posts in less than a month. I think it may be a record for me! But I am so excited to be sharing a piece I have been working on for the last 4 months.

Full size

I created this from an image I had in my head one morning when I woke up. Not sure where it came from but I knew I had to make it.

Closeup

I started with a brown batik for the center of the piece. Then sewed a brown satin material onto each side of it. I made folds for the lines made in the sand when water washes over the sand. This was sewn down by a machine. The waves are different sheers that were sewn on in folds and then I used a wood burning tool to cut them apart. I have to clean them up a little as there are tiny brown spots where the tool was on it a little too long. The rocks were applied after I free motion quilted circles to create sea foam. The rocks were from material my friend Christine sent me that she hated. Perfect for rocks! They were hand sewn on and then stuffed with batting so they pop off the surface. The sand was created first by hand stitching and then different beads and small shells to mimic the waters edge. The final part was a dark brown sheer sewn in to create water over the sand. I added in some more details with shiva oil sticks.

I am linking up my post with Nina Maries Off the Wall Friday Blog. Check out what everyone else did this week creatively :http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

I am loving how this turned out. It is an abstract representation of the different elements of water. Its very textural and the colors blend so nicely. I have named it "Opposing Forces" because it represents the world we now live in. So many people think that we are either one side or the other and yet when you talk about the problems, everyone seems to be of like mind and upset about the same things. Its the fixing of the problems that we all differ. Until we find a way to work together again for solutions, we will be forever butting heads or "crashing" into one another.

Thrinchies!

I am putting up a second post within a months time. I know, scary right?!! This group decided to stretch it's wings and try new types of projects. I joined this one and obviously didn't finish on time. But they are a great group of woman and are not beating me up over it! So the additional trade the last month was called a thrinchie. I had to google for info. It's like the trading cards but 3" x 3" and the basic theme was spring. See the others here: http://heartisttradingcards.blogspot.com/

When I work on new pieces, I find myself being pulled in the direction of playing it safe and make the same type of pieces. It's okay I guess as it is my style but I wanted to bust out a little bit. So I fused white fabric to peltex and colored it with neocolor crayons. I used a paintbrush with water and blended the colors. Then I stamped a funky flower in the center. Immediately I hated the piece.

So I did what I usually do. I put it off to the side and ignored it. I was cleaning up my studio and ran across my stamps and thought that would be cool! I used my hand cut leaf stamp and stamped in lime green. Then went back over them with dark green. Then a commercial tree stamp was used in dark blue ink over the top of the whole piece. Very nice! The pale green stripe is a ribbon sewn down using the machine. I hand sewed the gold washer with red thread. The edges were done in a dark red on the sewing machine.

I love them and of course did a crummy job of photographing them. They are way more vibrant in person. Also never use a shiny surface to photograph pictures. Bad idea!

Gustavo, Georgie and Fib

I finally finished this piece and named it after my daughters three African fighting frogs. This piece has been in the works for over two years. I would get excited about it, work diligently and then hate it. So it would be put away until I would find it again while looking for something else. Up on the design wall, critique and then figure out what was going wrong with it. The last round was the fact I needed something in my underwater landscape. Enter the frogs.

Closeup of one frog

Here is another closeup

Final finished piece

I really love how this finally turned out. There are so many design techniques and materials that went into this that my hand would go numb typing them up for this post. Let's just say I am extremely happy with the results! Maybe I will enter it into the Celebrate Spring call for entries.

On to my next adventures. My one goal for 2013 is to finally put together a website. Another goal is to start entering my pieces into shows. I need to get back to art again.

Stormy Lake ATC

Wow! This is embarrassing. I haven't posted anything since August. My sincere apologies. My kids, work and life took over. I didn't even participate in two months of ATC trades because of all the events in my life, but I am back on track. I did manage some creative endeavors though and the Lake trade was one of them.

As you know, we have been using colors as our prompts this year. Lake was one I was looking forward to doing. I love all the colors and reflections that are involved in lake.

The base fabric was a commercial brown material that had swirls and spots that reminded me of the bottom of a lake. I took a shimmery dark blue sheer fabric and scrunched it, pinned it in place then sewed it with dark blue thread. I did the same with a light turquoise sheer to finish off the top part. The lake has these colors when a storm is blowing in. I brushed interference blue paint across the tops for a wave like action. The final part was Glossy Accents to add the shine of water on sand and a few seed beads dropped in for texture. This turned out to be one of my favorites that I have done.

Maybe a larger version of this piece would be nice and donate to the swim team for fundraisers!

Death/Rebirth - Opposites Challenge

Time for the monthly posting of my ATC trade! See the rest here: http://artsinthecards.blogspot.com

This month was Opposites. I thought it would be an easy one to do but I ended up struggling with it. I was not feeling very creative as the day before this was announced, we learned of the sudden death of my BIL Paul. My husband was devastated as he had just lost his father 8 months prior. Events like this always gives us pause to contemplate the cycle of life and other things.

Driving home from the store, my attention was caught by a dead tree spiraling quite high into the sky. It was quite striking against the blue sky with fluffy clouds. I am sure it was a very stately tree with a very interesting past - kind of like my BIL. Below the tree, there were tiny trees, shrubs and flowers growing up all around the dead tree. So that became my theme - death/rebirth. Interesting how after death, other things show up to fill the void.




I used a fabric I dyed with blue dye and a flour paste resist. The trees are made from black and white puffy paint added on top of one another. At the base of the tree, I couched green yarn to create to shrubs and silk scraps are held in place with beads to create the wildflowers. I beaded some additional sprigs of orange flowers to add to the image.

Rest in Peace Paul Cox.
Your outrageous personality and quick wit will be dearly missed.

Lily and Pads

I finished this piece a while ago but was agonizing on how to finish off the edges so I put it off to the side and forgot about it. Lark Books is looking for nature related photos of art quilts for a book series they are looking to do. So while I was looking through all my pieces, I realized that this would be perfect. I decided to just face the piece after consulting my critique group for their opinions. I was surprised they all agreed on no borders! Now that it is complete, I have to agree it looks great.

Call for Consideration
Art Quilt Portfolio – A New Series from Lark Crafts
First volume in the series to be published Spring 2012

Art Quilt Portfolio: The Natural World
An Inspiring Collection of Art Quilts
By Martha Sielman

So here is one of the pieces I submitted for consideration. I painted the fabric and then added details with dye pens and shiva paintstiks. I hand quilted around all the leaves because I wanted it to puff out - thinking it would add to the 3 dimensional look (it did!). The lily is three dimensional. I created a petal template and cut 2 different types of white fabric, stitched around and then reversed out to put the seams inside. I layered and stitched them in place. The center is done with embroidery threads. I beaded the background to add additional texture.

I really feel good about this piece. Wish me luck!

This and That

Well I have not been as busy as I would like to be creating art but I haven't been a total slacker either. I just finished my ATC's for the latest trade - Sew What's Buggin' You? Mine are dragonflies! The write up for them is on the blog - http://artsinthecards.blogspot.com/

I am also working to get some pieces ready for submission to Art O Mat. I have two ideas but need to get them sent off and have them ok'd before I post pics. Wish me luck!

Warped Challenge

Finally finished my ATC's for the latest challenge and I am about 10 days behind schedule. What can I say. Life.

Anyway, I was inspired by the meteor that flew over Illinois and landed in Wisconsin, as well as time warp and the images of the volcano from above. So I was thinking "What if a meteor ripped through the fabric of time?"

I painted white fabric with black puffy paint, let it dry and then puffed with heat gun. I then painted the "islands brown and green and the water around in various shades of blue. I painted a thin lutrador with midnight blue acrylic paint and smeared a glitter glue in areas across it to simulate space and stars.

When dry, I sewed to the top of each card and hit it with a heat gun to "Tear" through the sky. I added some small silver beads to create little meteors and then a silver washer - hand numbered to make a clock and had a small white cardboard circle behind it. I edged each with black/blue thread.

Something New ATC trade

I have added my new ATC trade. We were supposed to do something new. I used some hand dyed blue fabric as the background and then painted some shiva white onto the background to create clouds. I then fused white on for the trees and the snow. I machine quilted around the trees with black and free stitched additional trees. I had wanted to do something that was "sketched in black" for some time and this was the perfect time to try out the technique. I hand beaded for some leaves and painted some glitter glue onto the snow to make it sparkle! I love how these turned out - especially since my first attempt had to be put away because I hated how they looked. I will think about them and used them another time.

Going Green ATC Trade

I am actually early on my next trade. It isn't due until March 1st but Hubby's birthday is next weekend and the weekend after, I have to go on a girl scout camping trip. So this was it for me to get them done. I am really excited how they turned out but my photography is not so great.




The background is a paper towel I used to soak up excess dye during my summer experimentation with daughter and friend. I thought the colors were cool so I kept them. They were perfect for this challenge. I stamped a fern type pattern on each with a hand cut stamp. Then machine quilted around to accent them. I added some left over angelina fibers and some green netting I had on hand from a lime bag. They make great grasses! I sewed over them with some thread to make blades of grass. I added some sequins and beads for a little extra something and then finished the edges. I am really happy with these and have 3 left over!

Comfort

The Fiberarts Group I belong to had a challenge. Every two months, we will get a new theme to work with. Our first was Comfort and what it means to you. I am late getting my entry in as I am getting over a nasty sinus infection and the in-laws have swooped in for an impromptu visit. Was supposed to be two weeks but is going to be 4. I love them to pieces but the little time I have to work on art has been whittled down to near extinct. Oh well.

So my entry was born out of a small snow storm that we had. There is something very peaceful about the world blanketed with snow. (Not the 30 inches in DC mind you) but a few inches that makes you stay home and hang out with your family.

I used some fabric from a previous experiment. I drew the background with Neocolors watercolor crayons and then added water to blend. When dry, I used various rubber stamps of trees and leaves and grasses to create the treeline. I placed the stamp underneath and rubbed using the same water color crayons. I misted them with water to let them bleed and blend a little and then quickly ironed the fabric (from behind) to heat set and stop them from disappearing all together. I thread painted the trees and grasses. I also added angelina fibers to create the snow in the foreground. The tree in the middle was beaded with some metallic beads to add some texture.

I still feel it needs something in the lower right hand corner. I wanted to add some tall grasses but my hubby thinks it looks great the way it is. What do you think?

Houston Entry Accepted!

I got the fat envelope on Monday saying my entry was accepted! This was my first try ever entering Houston and I made it in! I am still on cloud nine! Everyone on the Quiltart list is putting their entries up on their blogs. Apparently it is okay to do so. I was hesitant to post it but was told that it was okay. So without further ado, here it is:







The piece is 30" x 50" and a whole cloth piece. I drew out the design using watercolor crayons and water. I created the rocks using puffy paint and acrylic paint. I added details in the water using fabric paint. The trees are couched fibers, hand embroidery and beads. The face was made from the watercolor crayons and dye pens and hand embroidered with thread. The grassy areas were more couched yarns of various colors and weights. The flowers were made from painted cotton face cloths and cut to form petals and then sewn together. The leaves are created from various green batik fabrics fused together and cut into leave shapes, then hand sewn on. I machine quilted around the rocks to add more dimension. The red flowers were silk tangles from Jane Steinberg (Artistic Artifacts sells them).

This piece was from a photo my mother took out of a bus window and it was going to be thrown out. The picture caught a reflection in the glass of a lady on the bus and part of the scenery outside. The idea stuck in my head and I tried many different mediums to make it work - 15 years of trying! I finally tried it in fiber about 3 years ago and was liking how it was turning out until something made me stop. I let it sit for two years and then picked it up again and didn't stop until finished. I was so pleased with how this turned out.

Wish me luck in Houston!

Quick Project

Between girl scouts, helping my son with homework (ISATS are coming up) kids projects, working and trying to get some challenge pieces done - I did manage to get a small piece finished. Pamela Allen's husband had medical issues requiring surgery on his heart. A. Carole Grant organized a group of us to make some "lovies" for her. I forgot about it - well put it on the back burner thinking I have all this time. She sent me an email reminder and I couldn't believe that February is almost gone!!

I jumped into action and had it completed and mailed in less than a week. That must be a record for me! Anyway, I am posting it here so you don't think I have been a total lazy slacker.




I used hand dyed fabric backing and then used left over flowers from my Voice that is Great Within Quilt. I sewed them in place and beaded the centers then stitched in flowers throughout. I found some flower sequins to add a little bling. I have to say I like how this turned out. Flowers always make people feel better. As usual, the picture doesn't do it justice.

Awesome Gifts!

My dear friend Christine - the chick who needs to buy a vowel in Walnut Creek, made me Christmas gifts this year and I was beside myself with joy! She makes purses and sells them locally. This year she decided to gift one to me and I am so very happy to give it a good home!!



Isn't it fun? Her company name is Lily and Paris Designs. She is still working on her logo. Now that I am posting this, she is going to have to get her butt in gear and update her blog! Hee-hee

This piece is hand stitched by her and finished with marbled fabric. This is her version of a friendship ring.



I love the details in the heart. She made another piece the exact same as mine but with the heart embroidered on the opposite side. Very cool idea.




Thanks Christine!

Garden Art Quilt

This is my contribution to a project done for a very special lady - Ms. Anne Copeland. She founded a non-profit organization to help promote textile arts and people with disabilities doing art. She is tireless in her effort and for that, we are all especially grateful. You can visit her group at http://www.fiberartsconnsocal.org/gallery.html A group of people made little mini art quilts for her. We put them into a scrapbook album so that she could look through them whenever she needed inspiration. I was in charge of the cover.

I dyed the fabric using setacolor dyes. When dry, I heat set and then stamped a fern image through the background in three different colors. I then outlined each of them to help pull out the details a little more. Annie loves flowers so I decided to make her a little garden she can enjoy year round. I embroidered various flowers around the front cover and also added sequins and beads for tiny flowers. I just loved how it turned out.

SAH 2008

For those of us not going to Houston Quilt Show, Diane Petersmarck hosted a Stay at Home Challenge. The pieces will be donated to the Alzheimers Art Quilt Initiative hosted by Ami Sims. These quilts are donated to Ami and then auctioned off online or at various shows throughout the year. The proceeds are used for Alzheimers research.. This year, Lois Jarvis of Rust Tex fame is donating fabric to each person willing to make a quilt with her material and for each one registered by November 4th, she will donate $5 to AAQI!!



I received my fabric from Lois and it had stars all over it so I was inspired to create this little piece. The stars were not readily apparent to me when I first received the fabric so I wanted to show case them by stitching around each one. I added a scrapbook metal plaque that says BELIEVE IN YOURSELF, a central star, three gold stars and black sequins. I have a couple more to finish but this is the first one.

Colors of the Wind

I am so excited! I finally get to post my quilt to my blog for everyone to see. This is my entry for the "Voice That is Great Within" challenge hosted by Annie Copeland and Michelle Verbeeck. We were challenged to create something that shows what makes us tick creatively. I had to think about it for a good month and then actually did a sketch.

I drew out my design on white cotton fabric using watercolor crayons. I added the water to blend. I love the happy accident for the face! Once dry, I heat set it with an iron and then fused purple organza (from my friend Christine - thanks!!) into the head to create the hair. I machine quilted to create more of a hair like appearance. I hand quilted the sky and grass. I added beads to create more of a field of flowers. The large flowers were from a beautiful orange/pink batik. I cut out the shape, sewed together, turned outside and then added detail with purple thread. I hand stitched down, added beads and fibers.

My piece is about my creativity spiking when spring hits. The colors from the sky, flowers and nature are very inspirational for me. The head is representational of coming out of my winter slumber to enjoy the weather outside once again!

What kind of flower are you?

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?