Quick Update -- I Quilted It!

Okay, so I did what I said I'd do: I went into the sewdio and quilted the darned thing.  Then I trimmed it to 15 1/2" square (for now):

I tried to put swirls in the sky for cloud movement, and long, tree-like shapes in the rest of it.

Sky detail

Land detail

I think it's calling for a bit of hand stitch before it's finished.

Oh, and a title would be a good idea too.

Somehow, "Playing With Trees" isn't quite right!  ;-)

WIP for a Wintry Wednesday

I'm not fooled by the clear, clean blue sky and the bright sunshine; it's -25 C out there, with a wind chill to -33 C.  I've been out once already this morning -- walked downtown (about 5 blocks) for my hair appointment -- and that's it for today!

It's okay; I have plenty to do inside.  Before the WIPs, though, a "finish" of sorts: the February Block of the Month for the "Four by Four" semi-kitted pieced series I'm working on this year:

"Four by Four" in February: Propeller

"Propeller" seems an odd title for a block in a kit with a Christmas fabric/colour scheme, but there you are.  The background came with the pattern; the rest of the fabrics I collected to go with it -- or not.  The gold was a late discovery (Saturday!) in my stash.  :-)

As for WIPs...not much in the way of photos this week.  I'm still working away on the sheepie sampler for my friend B; I've finished the gusset and am well down the foot on my daughter's sock; I've finished a hat for the charity tree -- except to sew it up at the top, sew in the ends and add buttons; and I've finished a cowl as a birthday gift for my friend C. "Mark on the Body" marches on.   None of these things have had photos taken of them -- at least, not recently.

I am, however, in the last week of Pamela Allen's class, "About Contrast".  This week we can work on whatever we like, using the principles we've studied, as long as we explain our intent with the piece in question.

Typically, I'm still playing with trees.  Here's what I wrote when I posted to the Yahoo group earlier this morning, referring back to the piece about which I posted HERE:

Worked some on my "Lesson 3/Lesson 4" piece yesterday.  As I didn't have enough of the background fabric to enlarge the piece altogether, I decided to cut the building down to size (as it were) and add more trees.  Of course, it's full of fiddly bits now so I was darned if I was going to take it apart to spray baste/fuse everything. So I pinned it.  I am going to stitch the silly thing and see what happens.

My intent with this piece?  No clue!  There is some colour contrast and some size contrast but frankly, not much of either.  You will notice that to re-size the building, I left part of it off (from the inspirational photo) and I've switched the locations of the trees around and added one that's fallen down.  This was the only way I could make the piece "fit" for me, reflect my style and the subject matter I like to work with (trees, old buildings, prairie landscape).  

I don't have much imagination when it comes to creating scenes and I don't like making still life pieces (though I admire those done by others).  I get my inspiration either in photos of the natural world around my home, or by being given whole pictures (visions of a sort) that come to me holus-bolus and dictate how they are to be made.  Go figure.

So here are a few photos of the WIP.  One is a full photo, and two are detail shots. I tried to make the bare trees have some sort of dimensionality by the use of fabric that implies colour/shape.  The piece is still about 18" square but will be trimmed once it is quilted, to about 15" square, I think.

A couple of trees "up close"

Building detail

Linking in to WIP Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network...and then going into the sewdio to stitch things down.  That oughta keep me warm, eh?

Layouts, Samples and a "Reveal"!

It was a Full Friday in the sewdio yesterday.  I began by laying out a piece for Week 3 of "About Contrast", the class I'm taking with Pamela Allen.  This week's assignment is to work with contrast in shape and/or size -- whether low or high contrast.  Definitely harder for me than with colour, because I like things to be in proportion.

That said, here's an example of past work where the piece is dominated by one large item:

House I - mounted on linen-covered stretched canvas

Loving abandoned buildings, I went back to them for the assignment.  Here's the inspirational photo:

And here are the two layouts I've tried thus far -- nothing is stitched down, just placed on the background.

Rough layout #1

Rough layout #2

I'm thinking that the building is too big -- there's not enough contrast in size.  I want the building to look lonely and forlorn and small.    The upholstery fabric for the roof and walls has a great texture, and I've put a couple of slits in the roof, showing how its falling apart:

Of course, there's no stitching on the piece yet, no over-grown grasses...

While letting that 'percolate' on my work table, I went into my 'wet room' (i.e. my back room where I do messy things) and played with paint.  I wanted to add colour to the pebbles in the sample of the beach piece about which I recently posted (scroll down).  You'll note in the inspirational photo that there are coloured pebbles in the water...

So I stitched a scrap of the pebble fabric, using monopoly (clear) thread, and daubed on some colours from my newly-acquired collection of Pebeo Setacolor paints:

I liked the results, so I went ahead and painted some of the pebbles on the miniature sample.  The trick was to paint just the right number of stones (it's so much fun, I wanted to keep going!)...and to space them out "artfully"...in the right proportions.  The pearly white paint was a wonderful accent to add the glisten of the water, as well as to soften the brightness of the colours.

Gems on the Beach

I like it so much that I've given it a title, and am going to attach the black mat and put it in my inventory of miniatures for sale.  :-)  Doncha love it when a sample works out?

Now to go forward with the larger piece, which I want to mount on stretched canvas and put in the Lacombe Art Show in April.

Speaking of shows, yesterday was also "Reveal Day" for the Fifteen by Fifteen Group's latest theme, "Rhythm".  You can see all of the pieces on the Group's blog...I think they're our best yet!  But here's my piece...

Rural Rhythms  (C) 2014

A face only a mother could love, eh?!  ;-)  My artist's statement (on the Fifteen by Fifteen blog) explains...

I'm linking late to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...why not stop by there too?

Winter School and Other Things

Those of you who've been following this blog for some time have likely figured out I'm a bit of a perpetual student.  Having finished with the C&G (December 2012) I pretty quickly set up a "Self-directed Summer School".  It should come as no surprise then that late last year I signed up for an online class with Pamela Allen entitled "About Contrast".

We are now almost through Week 2, so I thought I'd share what I've been learning.  Karol Kusmal is a class-mate; I've been relieved to read in our class forum that she's been having challenges similar to mine.  (Grin)

We've begun with some colour theory, and in Week 1 had to try out mono-chromatic or low contrast pieces.  I had a miniature in mind already, so I submitted this as my first piece (yes, I shared it recently HERE):

January Afternoon (C) 2014

It didn't quite meet expectations (only 2 fabrics used), so I tried again, but still in miniature:

Sample with stack of potential fabric

Again, not quite...so I promised to work larger and from a wider stash of fabric for Week 2.  :-)

This week we had to create a 2-colour work, preferably in collage style.  I'm not fond of collage, even though that's how many might classify my pieces.  I prefer to think that my main technique is a combination of piecing and fused applique.  Semantics aside, here's the stash I dove into for my second piece, focusing on blues and browns:

I cut out a foundation fabric that was 18" square, thinking I might use this for my next 15 x 15 piece, as our February/March theme is "Contrast" (I kid you not!), applied fusible in my usual way and, thinking about my favourite local landscapes, drew inspiration from this photo:

Slough on the way from Mirror to Alix, Alberta

From which I'd originally created this miniature:

Autumn at the Slough (C) 2013

And yesterday afternoon I put together this collage:

Working Title: Big Sky Country: Autumn at the Slough Redux

It needs sandwiching and quilting to become anything...so we shall see what transpires.  :-)

Other Things have continued under construction: Mark on the Body (a new post on that blog next week); Deterioration of Civility (embroidery happening now, quasi-trapunto, to be shared later); my daughter's sock (heel turned, working down the foot); and this newer piece -- from Little House Needleworks "Sheep Virtues" series, for my friend B's birthday in early February:

Friendship Sampler

(I'd love to collect the series but money and time don't permit it.  You don't wanna know the size of my embroidery supply stash -- the third "F" in my company's name, 3F: Fabric, Fibre and Floss...)

Linking up with Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday (even though it's now Saturday morning)...and going back to my stitching.  Why don't you pour a cuppa something and join me?