a larger view

still in the process of stitching and embellishing 

another direction

A small piece started last year and left to simmer is now going in a slightly different direction. I've added some fragments of old fabric, some dyed work, and some experiments with stamping.

Hadn't been in the city for awhile. This is Philadelphia.

This is from his trip to Australia.

more success

with red this time. Although it's been said that I cheated by using a kool-aid/vinegar mixture.

As always, the best results are with silk.

Art Quilt Elements

I've already been twice and each time I've noticed new things. This is one of my favorites - a piece by Ilene Perlman whose studio I visited last winter during a local open studio tour. The folk art approach appeals to me as well as her incorporation of objects such as bottle caps and buttons. Part of her unique style is the way she couches some of these objects under the fabric as well as using them as surface embellishments.

not red

Dyeing with red onion skins yielded a golden color, not red.

continuing

with what I'm thinking of as a confetti piece

the redbud is beginning to bloom

contrasts

the beginning of a little something new 

it's still cold enough to continue to have fires

even as first blooms are appearing

"re-imaginings"

although practically a perpetual project, the time came to stop and send it on its way

not always what they seem

Embroidered linens, vintage patchwork pieces, heart appliques . . . separately they are one thing, together they are something else. 

first sightings

It's lighter longer and the first of the daffodils are up.

rain and change

It's a rainy day this bonus day in February. 

These two are good helpers.

another place

Several hours of stitching While I Was Waiting in yet another one.

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."  ~ Viktor E. Frankl

practicing

A little gift I made for her using the beads she gave me for Christmas.


"There is a calm center to everything." ~ Joyce Sequichie Hifler

hopeful hearts

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

an unexpected window

of opportunity yielded a few additional components for an ongoing project (as well as a cheesebox for storing them).

an alternative

So far I like this better than this.

With only four completed of a planned sixteen, the current arrangement is not permanent.

a large project

is currently taking shape but due to the size remains on my design wall upstairs on the third floor, where it's too cold to spend any substantial amount of time. So in the meantime I've been using up bits and pieces of yarn on another project that is really more about process than about the finished item. While I'm downstairs where it's warm and my fingers are busy crocheting, I'm working out the details in my head for the fiber collage/quilt project upstairs.


Recently I came across an interesting quote from Teresa Barkley

“And the realization that this was a very time consuming way to work made me very anxious to do something that was one of a kind. I really like the tactile quality of quilts and I loved working with fabric. But the realization came to me very early that fabulous quilts had been made for a very long time by people with more time and skill than I had and it was really kind of pointless for me to duplicate those designs in contemporary materials when I had so little time, I would rather use it on something that was uniquely my own. One - that it would be more interesting looking, and two - it would be a better use of my time. The world doesn't really need another flower garden quilt and that was the quilt that I had admired so much of my great-grandmother's and the first traditional one I had begun to piece and I've never finished it because I made a lot of technical errors along the way. It was a learning experience but I never felt the need to finish because it became much less interesting to me to make a quilt to use. I wanted something that was interesting to look at  . . . “

in stitches inspiration

Currently a collaboration between Westtown School and the Chester County Historical Society provides an opportunity to see  "select samplers and other embroidery made by girls from Chester County and the surrounding area 200 years ago."

IN STITCHES: Unraveling Their Stories

This exhibit is inspiring on many levels, not just for the needlework itself but also for the approaches, categories of samplers, historical information about differences in philosophy between function and decoration, examples of mixed components that provide inspiration for current art quilt/fabric collage making, and some sewing items previously unknown to me.

There were several examples of this type of pincushion or pinball. This example came from this source.

In the forefront of the postcard you can also see one of the many embroidered globes featured in the exhibit.

not working out

This project (like so much else) is just not working out. I'm going to leave it on the design board for now and have started in another direction with the strips already cut out.

happy hopeful

new year!

In the spirit of bricolage . . . using what was at hand . . . this cuff is the result of working from the box of leftovers from Low Tide.