Friday Finishes...in a Manner of Speaking...

It's been a good week.

On the 29th of each month (or as close as I can get) I update Mark on the Body, my project honouring those who live with and/or care for those living with Type 1 Diabetes.  The past few weeks have been taken up with Part II of this project, which is participatory.  I've asked interested stitchers to stitch on a small quilt sandwich (which I provide) and return it to me to be incorporated into a 'body' of work that expresses "Mark on the Body: Making My Mark".  I have been touched and honoured by those couple dozen who have participated so far -- some of whom have had no experience of T1D in their families or with friends. (If you are interested in participating, please e-mail me).  This week I received 3 finished contributions in time for posting...and today another arrived...

I also got two pieces quilted to send to EB in time for her month-end evaluation in the Master Class...on "Rhythm".  I knew she liked the rectangular approach, but the 'wavy lines' approach spoke to me too.  Both are quilted but...not faced or bound...so not quite finished (but that's okay).

First, the 'rectangular' approach.  I posted about this one earlier when I blocked it out.

Rhythm in Blues I - approx. 16" square (unbound)

Here was her feedback on this one:

This came out very well...I might have had one or two red notes for sforzando!!!  Sudden loud notes!!
and maybe made the black strips even skinnier...but I do like the way the blue notes glide through..different sized but fairly evenly paced...a very nice calm representation of syncopation.
And the quilting pattern definitely adds to it...that's a very good choice, perfectly supports and adds to the original idea.  Plus the squareness of it goes with the squareness of the notes.

Now the "wavy lines" approach.  I used hand-dyed muslin, and sections stamped with a self-made stamp using string on cardboard, and acrylic paint mixed with textile medium:

Rhythm in Blues II - approx. 45" w x 12.5" L (unbound)

And a detail shot:

And here was her feedback...

I like the idea of  the one above....I've enlarged the detail so that we can see the string print....I really think it would be worth pursuing further...the string makes a very delicate line...
I feel though it would be stronger if it were bolder, more varied and bigger. (NOTE: I responded with the measurements; she hadn't realized the size of this one.)

Imagine many more horizontal slices with just small background spaces and the string motif jazzing about all over  them.  Don't think you need the "hangers on"...they really don't make a telling point.  (NOTE: I like the "hangers on" as I intended them to add to the 'syncopation' of the piece.)
so I would say: great idea, but put it to one side - as a sample - and develop it much further when you have time.

 So...we shall see what transpires.  I am setting both aside for a while, because tomorrow there will be a new Master Class Theme...and Other Things are going on.

On the knitting front, I've almost finished a baby sweater (buttons to add; then a wash; then a photo!) for the latest grandchild of a cousin of mine "down east" in Quebec...

And I finished the July Socks from Stash:

Pattern: "Hummingbird" by Sandi Rosner
from Clara Parkes' The Knitter's Book of Socks
Yarn: Celestial Merino in "Fiesta" colour-way
from Lucy Neatby (discontinued)

Next month's challenge?  Knit in a colour/pattern that reflects your favourite holiday.  This is a toughie because I'm not a big "seasonal" decorator/celebrator.  Even my Christmas celebrations are low-key and worship and family focused.  But...I decided to go with Christmas and a red-and-white pattern called "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?"  from "knittymelissa"...

Whoa!  Let's hope mine turn out as well, eh?

Now about those Other Things...

In addition to the two new-month-challenges (EB and Socks from Stash)...I have two friends visiting this weekend, and another the following weekend...through Aug. 12.  Sha and Mary are friends from Anna Hergert's classes in Calgary a decade or more ago...and almost every summer since I moved out here, we've had a long weekend being messy artists in my back yard.  Paint, dye, paper and fabric arts...whatever...we will play this weekend and leave with more inspiration and ideas than we know what to do with!

So...today I mowed the lawns (front and back), made a dozen rhubarb muffins (fresh rhubarb); prepped pastry for Bumbleberry Pie (rhubarb, Saskatoons and apples); made a couscous salad and set lamb cubes to marinate for kebabs for dinner tonight; did 2 loads of laundry (including washing fabric for indigo dye vats this weekend); prepared two guest beds...

And now posted this!

It's time to go to the Outdoor Studio with a cold beverage and some stitching (there's a binding going on the hand-quilted throw...)...and time to link to Nina Marie's "Off the Wall Friday"...my guests are due within the hour...

Have a good one, eh?

Sometimes...

size does matter.  That's one of the lessons I learned from this bit of sampling.  I really wanted to do some sort of free-motion quilting in the grassy areas, but quickly realized that creating the sharp-pointed 'stippling' in a tight space was tough on my shoulders.  I wasn't keen on doing it over a larger area.

Wait.

A larger area... Of course!  The final piece is going to be at least twice the size of the sample!  What could I do in that larger space that would be effective?  I decided to consult FMQ guru, Leah Day, via her FMQ Project -- and I found Lesson #37 -- "Jagged Lines".  Perfect!

To get an idea of what they'd look like, I tried them in the tiny space left on my sample -- see that brown area on the far left?  (Yes Carolyn, you and I were on the same wave-length here. :-)  Thanks for your comment! )

Then I added some hand stitching to see what it would look like (sorry; this one's a bit blurry).  I like it!

The 'what ifs' continued -- next with the sky.  Now, I'm not fond of stitching in the sky.  I'm always concerned about over-doing it.  However, I did try this:

It might work in the larger piece if I can get into the rhythm of the sky fabric, where clouds 'need' to be.  I know that others stitch in the sky, but they're not always working on batting.  (For example, I believe that Monika works on two layers -- fabric and some sort of stiff backing -- Timtex or some such thing that's not batting.)  When you have a stiffer substrate, your sky stitching has quite a different look to it, right Monika?  :-)

So...I reserve judgment on whether or not I'll stitch in the sky on the final piece.

There there was the bark.  I did go back in and play around with tiny bits of painted fusible web, with very ho-hum results, so I decided to try a technique I learned in a workshop with Anna Hergert in Edmonton in the spring of 2010:  stitched, painted and distressed paper napkins!

First you stitch a grid on your favourite paper napkin.  This one is from an inexpensive pack from a dollar+ store, free-motion stitched with whatever I had in the machine (brown, I think):

Next you paint the grid with textile paint.  I had brown textile paint (Jacquard) and black artist's acrylic, so I mixed 'em, diluted with a bit of left-over brown dye I'd mixed up a while ago:

You let that dry.  Then you spritz it with a water bottle, and distress it with your fingers to get this:

Actually, I think the plastic in the black acrylic paint kept this from being as distressed as it might have been.  On the other hand, it enabled me to get a firm tug on a piece, tear it off, and apply it to my tree trunks.  I used a touch of glue stick for the sample, but on a larger piece, I would stitch it down.

See the dark bits on the centre tree trunk?  See how much more effective it is than the snips of black-painted fusible web on the other tree trunks?  See how on a larger piece you'd have to be very judicious in your use of this material so it wouldn't overwhelm?

Yep; sometimes size matters!

Today's the Day!

The Online SAQA Benefit Auction 2012 gets underway TODAY at 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (noon here in Alberta) with this selection of lovelies.  For the first time, my piece is one of those in the very first batch on offer!  (It pays to be an Early Bird when one submits to these things.)  Also included in this batch:

"I Spy" by my friend and colleague, Judy Warner

and

"Maelstrom" by my former teacher and continual source of inspiration, Anna Hergert

and

"Death of Desire" by the talented and prolific Susan Lenz

Something for everyone!  Ready?  Set?  GO!

My Day Was Made

Nobody Here But Us (C) 2011

by 8 a.m. this morning, when I opened an e-mail to find that my piece, "Nobody Here But Us" has been juried into the Focus On Fibre Arts biennial competition out of Edmonton.   Exhibit dates etc. should arrive by Canada Post in the next week or so.  :-)

What's more, Anna Hergert, the SAQA Western Canada co-rep who runs the SAQA WC weblog, has just told me that my turn as 'Featured Member' is coming up at the end of April.  This calls for an updated photo of me at work in my studio.  I've asked my daughter to do the honours, so stay tuned!

Will You Be There?

Online, that is, at the new "Inspired to Quilt" online Quilt Exposition that starts tomorrow?  It includes a wonderful competition for "The Most Inspiring Quilt Teacher(s) of 2011" -- and my teacher, mentor and friend, Anna Hergert, is one of the nominees.  Whether or not you vote (and I'd encourage you to do so!), you need to register (free) and check this out!  Anna has written about it here on her blog:  

It’s Time… To Cast YOUR Vote! « Anna Hergert, Art & Design

To go directly to the Expo site:  http://inspiredtoquiltexpo.com

Enjoy!

'via Blog this'

More than a month...

has passed since my last post -- but there's a good reason! I've been busy, with a capital 'B'. Where shall I begin? Since April 9th, I've worked part-time at our local Library, gone to the 11th annual Lacombe Art Show, volunteered at Superfluity, the thrift shop in Stettler, sung at church (and had practices for same), gone to Calgary and to Edmonton twice each, endured two spring blizzards, and won a prize at a gallery show. It may have been over-the-top busy these past few weeks, but it's also been a great deal of fun!

The Art Show in Lacombe is a true 'Artist's Date', and a delight for the eyes. This year my favourite booths were those belonging to the Ponoka Potters Guild, and to a young woman named Sally Towers Sybblis. From the Guild, I bought a tall, slender mug fashioned in brown and blue glazes by Noni Chalmers, the wife of the fellow for whom I'm making the kilt hose. She does most her potting in caramel-coloured glazes, but this mug was very different, and I had to take it home with me. :-)

Sally is a calligrapher and artist who paints and writes on both paper and fabric -- mainly canvas. From her I bought a very pretty little canvas tote that was inscribed with one of my very favourite sayings: "Bloom where you're planted." It was decorated with a pot of purply flowers -- the name of which I forget at the moment! She and I had a long chat about painting and working with inks and dyes on fabric, and about showing work. She had a single booth, the cost of which was so reasonable for the 3 days, that I have decided to use next year's show as my Firm Visioning Goal -- and prepare my body of work with the show in mind. I hope to see Sally again then, if not before!

My first trip to Calgary was to my mid-April meeting of the Wild Rose Stitchers, the only Alberta Chapter of The Applique Society, which meets on the third Wednesday of each month -- year 'round -- at 10 a.m. at Addie's Creative Fabrics. That particular meeting was full of our last-minute plans for Quilt Canada 2010, which began shortly thereafter (April 24) and ran through May 1. Suddenly, the Week was upon us -- and we were ready!

Here's one of our members, L, sitting at the table at our 51-piece exhibit on the morning of April 28 (the exhibits were open from the evening of April 27 through to 5 p.m. on May 1). I was volunteering with her that day, and it was a full one indeed. We had lots of visitors, asking questions, and were thrilled to be able to link people up with TAS chapters near them, from Dawson City, Yukon, to the 'Cyberspace' chapter at Yahoo.com.

That night we had a spring blizzard, complete with heavy, wet snow, howling winds and icy roads. We awoke to 10 inches of snow on our vehicles and virtually impossible side streets. Still, the show must go on, and most of us volunteering managed to get back to the show. In fact, by the time I finished my second day as a volunteer (April 29), you could hardly tell we'd had the storm. Alberta in April; ya gotta love it!

Thursday, April 29, from noon through almost 6 p.m., I worked at the SAQA exhibit, Synthesis, which up till Quilt Canada 2010 had been travelling in Eastern Canada and the Maritimes. From Calgary, it's scheduled to go to Fibreworks on the Sunshine Coast of B.C. later this summer. I was blessed by J, one of the exhibit's other volunteers, when she took my picture next to my piece, "Snippets: An Art Quilter's Learning Curve". This was the first time I'd seen all of the pieces in one place -- and it was a thrill to be there with my heroines, Anna Hergert, Pamela Allen, Laurie Swim and Karen Goetzinger!

Another thrill came when a total stranger told me that as far as she was concerned, my piece, "Prairie Autumn" , was the best in the show! She asked me what I'd sell it for and when I told her, she said, "...reasonable, for a piece that size. I was over the moon to have my work validated by someone who was not a friend, colleague or family member. This, and my experience at the FFAA Show (see below) have given me renewed confidence, energy and motivation for my work, and for my future.

I had introduced myself to Pamela Allen at the Opening Reception on Tuesday evening, and we kept bumping into each other thereafter. This was great, because I felt we were well acquainted by the time I served as her "Class Angel" on Friday and Saturday. The name of this 2-day workshop was "What Makes a Good Composition?" Because there were only a few others in the class, I was invited to play too -- quite unexpectedly -- so I had to go to the Merchant Mall and buy some fabric (all together now: "Aw-w-w-w-w"). I participated in the first 2 exercises -- a black and white study, and a colour study -- but spent Day 2 stitching while the others worked on the linear study. Here are a few samples from the other participants (who shall remain nameless):

Left to Right: Black and White Studies ; a Colour Study; a Linear Study under construction

Stay tuned for forth-coming photos of my efforts!

I arrived home Sunday to no phone service. Turns out the storm had knocked out lines in the area, and my land line was affected. Blessedly, anyone I needed to contact was on e-mail!

Bright and early on Thursday, May 6th, I was on my way to Edmonton for a 3-day version of Anna Hergert's workshop, "Cause and Effect". As it's usually 5 days, it was a pretty intense time! There 11 of us had a great deal of fun melding layers of painted plastic wrap, and testing Tyvek, acrylic felt, used dryer sheets, paper napkins and landscape fabric with stitching, paint, heat guns and irons. I started a new sketchbook for this class; though I have expanded my horizons already with those 3 days, I know I have more experimenting to do -- and I have some great ideas for the next piece in my 'nature' series.

On the evening of May 7th, most of our class -- and Anna -- were present for the Opening of "Green", the latest show from the Focus on Fibre Arts Association. What a thrill to find that my entry, "Picked for the Ripening", won 3rd Place in my division: "Small Wall-hanging, Original Design"! (That's it next to me, the bottom of a trio of small hangings.) Even better, at least 1/2 dozen of us in Anna's workshop had entered -- and won -- so Anna was thrilled and proud of and for all of us. What a great group of which to be a part!