INDIGO-DYED WOOL PROJECT IN PROCESS

I'm crazy about dyeing with indigo and often hoard what comes out of the dye pots!  Silly me...why not use it?

This piece happens to be accordion folded wool, but just about any fabric yields fabulous results.  Because it's a dress weight wool, it didn't felt really well.  So it's being stabilized with a Pellon lightweight non-fusible that was marked with the outline of the desired size.

By thread basting along my marked line, the outline is visible on the right side as a working guide to its size.

This is a small design, to be mounted on a 9" x 12" canvas covered frame.....hand appliqueing is in progress.  The materials are bamboo rayon felt, Ultra-suede, and silk hand dyed in iron water.  Stay tuned ........

PTA APRIL MEETING

We had a ton of show and tell this month.....I guess everyone was still hibernating/recovering in their sewing rooms from our March PTA annual retreat!

 I had shared this link of instructions for the 'disapparing hourglass block" from Sarah's blog "Confessions of a Fabric Addict" with a couple of the more dedicated piecers in our PTA group.  Janice took up the challenge!  However she said she wasted more darn fabric because of her cutting mistakes and lots of unsewing too.....I say it was worth the effort!

 You can see, Janice is a piecer at heart.....this is another one of her new quilts.

 Marene will be an assistant at a Georgia Bonesteel workshop where students will be creating this pattern.  She's practicing with this section of the quilt that will finish at a whopping 72" square....

 Dort is an excellent illustrator with an eye for detail.  We are all enjoying how she's translated photos she took on a recent trip to France.

 These two pieces are small...less than 12"....amazing!

Georgia Bonesteel hosted our group this month. Usually we brown bag our lunch....but never at Georgia's!  She prepared a feast and provided the BEST coconut cake I've ever tasted.  And that's saying a lot...I love coconut cake which is readily available around here....apparently it's a 'southern thing'.

She's working on this "Trip Around The World" quilt which (if I got it right) will be displayed at a function at the Flat Rock, NC playhouse.

 Here's Kate's contribution (one of several she's donated) to the Carolina Hurricane Quilt Project  She pieced the top at our PTA retreat and quilted it on her long arm.  

Kate is a fan of the Accu Cut tool.....and often chooses the rectangle die when she wishes to show off the fabric!  These ethnic fabrics were from my friend Helen's stash.....and Kate did them justice!

 She also brought a couple of quilts she made using a men's ties from a family member.

 How clever is this....she allowed one of the ties ends to remain loose...and once opened....a pin up girl is revealed!!

 Barbara stitched together one of the charity quilt kits our Asheville Quilt Guild supplies to members that are then donated to worthy organizations.

 Barbara is nearly finished with this beauty she had been working on at our PTA retreat.  Stunning!!!

PUZZLE FUN

I normally stick to fiber related posts but thought this might interest some of you that have grand kids.  We just returned from meeting our CA son/family at a resort in Hilton Head.  Fortunately the weather cooperated except for a couple of hours one morning.......

.....which was the perfect time to assemble a puzzle I had custom made to use as an activity in case of poor weather! The colorful areas were the most fun for the kiddos who had a little help. But everyone stuck with it and in about an hour+ it was assembled.

 'The husband'...who doesn't like to be featured in my blog is on the right.  From time to time some of you ask how he's doing after his two very difficult spinal surgeries...so here's an update.  He's wearing what looks like a 'horse collar' with a mini iPad like computer on the lower front.  It's a bone stimulator which is worn 4 hours each day.  That doesn't seem like it should be a hassle but oh my it is.  One certainly wouldn't want to go out in public with it.....I'm sure it would frighten folks.  I call it voo-doo medicine.....it's supposed to help stimulate bone growth in the areas of his 6 cervical disc fusion failure.  It's been a couple of months with 1 1/2 more to go.  Scans will be taken at the end of May to see if there are any positive results.  If so, that might lessen the chance of more spinal damage by strengthening this area, unfortunately he'll still be in pain 24-7 forever.

The puzzle was made by Shutterfly....ordered online with a photo I had of the boys being boys.  Highly recommended.....fast service at what I thought was a reasonable price.

EXPERIMENT FAILURE

A friend gave me a 3/4 yd. piece of what she thought was Ultra-suede. At first I thought it was velveteen....but after getting it home and examining it....I realized it was probably faux suede.

 Nice blue color...the purple is the result of light reflection from my camera.

 My in-laws spent a lot of time in Indonesia years ago - Father-in-law's duties were guiding the set up of graduate programs in their universities.  I got these metal batik printing plates from my MIL who used them as decor when they returned to the US and I have since done the same.

 I had the hare-brained idea to heat one up on my electric stove to emboss the fabric.

 What a stinky mess I made.  Clearly there was still some dye left on the stamps and yes it did melt the fibers but certainly not evenly...with blotches of whatever was loosened by the heat in the designs.

And now I have a mess on the stamp.....hoping I can get it off without too much work.  However, you should see my stove top.......geesh!!!

Time for plan B???

Linking to Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday and Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday.

FROM PHOTO TO WALL ART

                     

I've been inspired by the photos of a long time friend, Doris Kramer-Sager, specifically those of Wisconsin sunsets.  After promising myself for ages, this week I set about translating one into a small art quilt.

 The first step was to dye-paint a piece of sheer fabric.....

 ......and pair it with an ice-dyed cotton sateen.  (photo not true color....it's reads more red, rather than pinkish.)

 A non-fusible interfacing square was basted to the two fabrics to act as a stabilizer.

 All the layers are now prepared for stitching....with a wide border to accommodate mounting on a frame.

 I don't draw so this step took quite awhile....but with pencil and eraser in hand, I sketched out three trees on tracing paper.  It was pinned to the prepared fabric to act as a guide for the machine stitching.

 It took me one complete Netflix movie to remove & pick out all the paper pieces!  This could have been avoided if the stitching was done from the wrong side, with the heavier embroidery thread in the bobbin.  However, my brain doesn't work that way...preferring to see the stitching on the right side as I work instead.  

Next it was wrapped on a canvas covered wood frame.  I like to finish the back of these pieces with fabric. Hand stitching it in place is a killer task on the fingers since there is no give to manipulate the needle.  But, I feel the polished appearance of the piece is worth it.

SHEBOYGAN SUNSET

8" X 8"

Artist ice-dyed cotton sateen with hand dye-painted sheer overlay.  Machine stitched. Prepared for hanging.

Linking with:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday & Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday.

UTILIZING HAND-DYED FABRICS

 I've spent the last couple of days....yes days.....far more time consuming than one might expect......creating book covers.  It's so gratifying to utilize a variety of my hand-dyed & screen printed fabrics

 These are 5" x 7" composition book covers.

While this collection covers the mini-composition size books.

 Ice-dyed silk noil - mini

 Ice-dyed bamboo rayon felt - mini

 Deconstructed screen printed silk noil - 5" x 7"

Deconstructed & traditional screen printed cotton - 5" x 7" 

Contact me if you are interested in any of these.

ADDITIONAL GALLERY REPRESENTATION

I'm pleased to announce a select collection of my wool felt art quilts are now being showcased at Mountain Made Gallery in the historic Grove Arcade, downtown Asheville.  Mountain Made features only locally made contemporary Appalachian handcrafted items from the Western North Carolina region.

One of my pieces on display is shown below.....

                               THROUGH THE TREES - 15" X 20"

Artist hand-dyed, copper foiled, wool felt, machine and hand embroidered.  Prepared for hanging with sleeve and rod on the back.

Please stop by the gallery when you are in the area!

WOOLWORTH WALK GALLERY - SPRING FACE LIFT

A spring facelift for my space at Woolworth Walk gallery, downtown Asheville, NC.  

 Nice to find an empty space!!!

 Newer pieces with a nod to spring now hung.

 Some rearranging on the entrance railing that welcomes visitors to this historic gallery.

I added one of my embellished pieces....(Left).....hard to put these well published and trademark style pieces up for sale, but I can't store them all either! Hoping someone will see the humor in it as technology only invades us more and more.

NC HURRICANE QUILT PROJECT DONTATION

The dontation quilt I've made for the NC Hurricane Quilt Project is finally complete.  Please consider getting involved as the need is great, my friend Carole is helping to coordinate the effort....details can be found on her site.

I rarely make bedsize quilts, so I truly underestimated the time it was going to take.  Additionally, since I don't make big quilts, my inventory of backing fabric is nil, requiring piecing a backing as well.  BUT...what a great use of fabrics. All I have left to do is make the binding and it will all be packaged up and on the way to a generous long arm quilter who will finish it.

TECHNICOLOR WALL ART QUILT

You may have noticed....I changed the orientation of this quilt from vertical to horizontal.  I can't explain why I worked on it one way and decided it presented better hung differently.  That's one of the many reasons I love creating one-of-a-kind work......the quilt and I make the decisions.....not someone else! 

TECHNICOLOR    21" X 21"

Available Here

Hand-dyed cottons and batiks. Machine pieced and quilted.