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.

regrouping

A small background piece is ready for "collaging."

 

The studio is about as organized as possible at this time. 

last week

cookies

more cookies

Christmas pudding and

 kitty under the tree

another whirled

as a respite from my own one of the things I've done has been to peek into India's whirled and so as a result took a look outside

at the last possible minute before they all blew off and away, I was inspired to gather

a few leaves from the ground and around

added the leaves . . . maple, Japanese maple, oak, serviceberry, for example, and some avocado peelings . . . to pots with bits of cotton, silk, doilies, some bundled, some not

and so have some slightly altered fiber pieces in a natural dye sort of way but nothing spectacular and no prints. nevertheless a good diversion

why stitching helps

No stitching yet but here are some good reasons why it would be a good thing to do. 

unraveling

just waiting. no stitching. no writing. just going back and forth  and waiting.

low tide

The stitching is now complete and a few new embellishments have been added. It has probably been about a year, working on this on and off, and I think it is finally finished.

Background fabrics are assorted shades, weights and textures and include blueberry-coffee dyed cheesecloth. Embellishments include:

lace bits and fiber scraps

yarn and yo-yo's

paperbeads under produce netting

buttons and beads

a decoupaged washer

shells from a North Carolina beach

“Eternity begins and ends with the ocean's tides.” ~ unknown

different stacks

Corrine posted hers here. I'm not a participant because mine are fabric and not paper but after looking at hers and after following the link to Seth's Stacks I noticed this little group of ATCs and other small fiber pieces I already had stacked on a shelf in my studio.

what I actually did

watched the sun rise

watched the sun set

and basked in moon glow

Despite intending to work on the log cabin blocks during the week, I did not sew a single stitch.