Winter School Continues...

Photo courtesy of
the CRM Society and the
Glasgow School of Art.

In my last post, I promised an update from "Winter School".  Recent study hasn't involved a class, though.  Rather, I've been working through books on Charles Rennie Mackintosh for the piece on roses I'm preparing (scroll down).  There are two motifs he favoured that I want to refer to for my work: the Glasgow Rose, which I already mentioned, and the idea of squares/grids/lattices.

To wit, I've been exploring ways to create grids, including surface design, and the work of Beryl Taylor -- specifically her diamond grid hanging shown in Mixed Media Explorations (QuiltingArts, LLC, 2006).  This is a step out on a limb for me, as I far and away favour working with fabric over paper and glue...but in the course of this work, I decided to go ahead and try a couple of samples.

I began by making what Ms. Taylor calls "fabric paper", with a piece of muslin, basic white glue, and assorted paper and tissues:

Paper fabric hanging to dry

Once it was dry, I cut it up and made this sample:

Paper fabric grid mounted on felt-backed silk
with stencil ready for paint

What I did was this:  I had an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of acrylic felt which I covered with a piece of thin silk fabric from a bag of scraps recently given me by my friend C (from her friend, G in Calgary).  I then cut a piece of the fabric paper, and stitched it down over the silk piece.  I further stitched a grid of rectangles over the whole thing, and cut out every other one to make the grid...but left space at the bottom because I wanted to test out the layout and impact of a Glasgow Rose motif stencil.  I did the stencil in gold -- it turned out rather well -- and mounted the entire thing onto a larger piece of the fabric paper, stitching it down by hand all the way around on the pink silk.  (Sorry, no photo taken.  Later -- I promise!)

The upshot of all this was that while I liked the effect, I don't want to work with fabric paper in a large size.  It's messy to make, and -- more importantly -- too stiff for what I want to do.  However, it gave me a sense of what the work could look like if I combined a grid and the rose motif, and I learned something new in the process.  Oh...and I have one more grid sample to make from the left-over material (again -- photo to come; I promise!)

Meanwhile, back in the woods... I made up a large version of "A Walk in the Woods" that needs to be quilted for my 15 x 15 "Contrast" theme, and then I thought about interpreting it on blue background, like this photo:

Yesterday, I dug out some of my own hand-dyed blue fabric, a closely woven cotton, that would be tough to use as sky because it had some 'spots' on it that were very uneven.  I thought about how to paint it, and decided to use freezer paper to create a mask.  Here's what it looked like partially painted:

It's clipped to a piece of foam core for stability, and sitting on the counter in my south-facing sunny back room, but you get the idea.

So...as of today, two pieces are ready for quilting, and a third is on the wall in a life-sized mock-up of paper and plastic film:

(L) Mock-up of "Homage to CRM" (working title)
and (R) painted "A Walk in the Woods II"

Anything else?

• The Japanese Taupe Quilt design is making slow progress: the medallion centre block has half the applique finished;
• And the traditional medallion quilt from the door prize I won a few years back looks like this:

• Pattern: "Carpenter's Star" -- technique designed by Debbie Maddy of Calico Carriage.  The kit contained all the fabric for the top, and the pattern for a 70" square finished piece.  I've gone back to my Craftsy class with Ann Petersen - "Quilting Large Quilts on a Small Machine" -- and will be doing this with her advice and guidance.  There are 4 borders to add; all but the outermost are very narrow.  She's given me some great options for quilting the central motif and then adding borders in such a way that there's not too much bulk in the seams.  That said, I don't have enough batting to do such a large piece, so it will have to wait for now.
• Knitting?  Yes...as always!  
• DD's "Elm" socks continue: #2 is cast on, and I've made my way past the ribbing, past Chart A and into Chart B.  Much easier the second time around, now that all the pattern adjustments have been made and all I have to do is follow my notes.  :-)  
• As a respite from all the brown...I started a quick scarf from stash 'novelty' yarns -- Berroco 'Cliche Colors' and Katia 'Flash', a ribbon yarn in hot pink (both discontinued, I believe):

I recommend this book for those of you who aren't into designing your own knits, and/or are looking for colourful inspiration -- especially for what to do with those fun and funky yarns you might still have in your stash and which are making a bit of a come-back these days.  It's Scarves and Shawls for Yarn Lovers: Knitting with Simple Patterns and Amazing Yarns by Carri Hammett, Creative Publishing International, 2006.  Mine is the hard-cover version, which has a spiral-bound spine so it lies flat when opened -- always a plus!

Now...off to quilt!  But before I go, I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday on The Needle and Thread Network -- because clearly, this week, I've got WIPs!