100 Days of Creativity

I know it's highly unusual, but here I am with my second post in as many days -- and it's all because of  a Challenge that I've joined with a gazillion of my SAQA colleagues.  There's a special group for it over on FB and probably on Instagram (I'm not on IG)...and it's lit a fire under my slow-slow creative mojo!

I did tell the others, though, that using a real camera (my phone is not "smart" -- it's a land-line!) means I wouldn't be posting photos every day.  Also, because I rarely complete something -- start to finish -- in a single day, my posts would be mostly process.

I figured, while I'm at it, why not share those posts with you?  I mean, I'm suspecting there are some of you not on FB.  So...

The 100 Days of Creativity (this iteration, anyway) started with this group on Feb. 1, so today is Day 3.  Coincidentally, the "Socks from Stash" group on Ravelry started its February Challenge on Feb. 1, so I've decided to include my sock project as part of my 100 days.

In my last yesterday's post, I mentioned the 100 Days project, showed y'all the socks I finished for the SFS January Challenge, and teased you with yarn selections and pattern choice for February.

In the intervening hours I have cast on and finished the cuff of Sock #1 of the February pair:

Sock #1 - Cuff.

Yes, it has ridges.  The ridge at the bottom is the top of the cuff, which is folded over and knitted down.  The ridge showing just before the patterning begins was created by turning the teal portion of the cuff inside out and knitting from there.  A bit tricky, but very effective in the end! 

Sock #1 - working the leg

The leg pattern is 44 rows...and I've managed to knit 18 of them -- almost half-way!  I'm used to knitting on DPNs but usually use 3+1, and this calls for 4+1 (it's the way the pattern is divided up because it's written originally for 2 circular needles, which I dislike -- too many floppy loops!) so it's a bit tricky, but it's working out.

I know the yarns are similar in value, but they're pretty and I'm enjoying the process.  The part completed is the part you see in the chart on the right of the sock...and I think that, however subtle, it's showing up nicely!  😊  I'm using the smaller size (64 sts versus 72) and 2.25 mm needles (US 1) and I have no idea if they'll fit me but...as the marvellous Elizabeth Zimmerman is reported to have said, "[They'll] fit somebody!" 

And then there's the art work.  In yesterday's post I showed you the results of my dyeing with Dylon -- which was surprisingly easy to do with LWI (Low-Water Immersion).  Today...I took a piece of the "China Blue" fabric (the one on the bottom in the photo) and turned it -- and some other fabrics -- into this:

Working Title: On the Edge of Mirror - (C) 2020
Finished size planned: 12" x 14", wrapped around stretched canvas

Lest you wonder, no -- it's not finished.  There is barbed wire and tiny branches and field grasses to stich -- not to mention stitching down the fused fencing and tree trunks.  What you're seeing is what I did -- from "ground zero" -- over 3 hours of concentrated work, having prepped with a few tracings and a print-out of the photo a day or two ago.  I show it here surrounded by "elbows" that I've had for years -- cut from a very large mat. 

Stats?  Finished size will be 12" W x 9" L, wrapped around 1/2" thick stretched canvas and framed.  The sky is the hand-dyed 'China Blue'.  The tree trunks are courtesy of the natural dyeing process practiced by the wonderful arlee barr -- a dear friend.  The fence and the snow are commercial fabric -- some "wrong side" up.

Techniques?  I layered the fabrics on a thin backing (a piece of recycled bed skirt) to which I've applied fusible web; after fusing the layers I sandwich the piece with thin batting -- my favourite is Quilter's Dream -- and a light-weight backing -- whatever I have around (today -- more bed skirt).  As a water-colourist would do, I worked from the background to the foreground -- quilting the sky, thread-painting the trees/shrubs on the horizon, and moving on from there.

Such concentration is tough on my dominant left brain, so I left it there and took a walk.  This evening calls for knitting (another hat commission, and maybe a bit more on that sock!).  Tomorrow through Thursday I expect to be at The Shop, helping the owner pack up inventory, so...see you on the other side!

I'll be sharing this on FB...but also linking it to Off the Wall Friday (again!)...just because I can!

Thanks to all on FB who have commiserated with me about my children's health troubles.  I appreciate each and every one of you.

The yarn and fabric therapy have helped immensely, too. 

Hugs and have a great week! 

Artists' Date (Part II)

When I left you at the end of Part 1, M and I had finished our tour through two exhibits at the Art Gallery of Alberta.  From there, we walked back to the Alberta Craft Council and our car, parked across the street from it.  We bought a bit more time on the meter, and went in.

The exhibit we really wanted to see was in the Feature Gallery -- X3, a collaboration of artists from three "organizations on the cutting edge of fine craft": the Alberta Potters' Association, the Nina Haggerty Centre and Contextural I Fibre Arts Cooperative.  My friend, arlee barr of Calgary, is a member of the latter, and it was her work I particularly wanted to see.

First, though, we popped into the Discovery Gallery, which is a small space in a front corner of the main level, just on the edge of the Gallery Shop.  What we found there was "What Grows in the Ditch", an exhibit of Donna Brunner's rug hooking and pottery based on her "observations of the changing vegetation along the roadside near Battle Lake, AB."  The contrast between the lush, textured hooked surfaces of the hangings and the curved, solid lines of the pottery was enthralling.  As I cannot find contact information for her...I will share only one photo (without permission)...but you can see what I mean...

Lily Still Standing
Donna Brunner

Donna's exhibit is in the Discovery Gallery at the ACC through March 19th.

From there we went downstairs to the "main event".  arlee has given me permission to share what we found -- Contextural's share of the exhibit being our main interest -- so I'll begin with her piece:

The Birth of Silence
arlee barr

Moving around the space...examples of a wide variety of textile/fibre expression:

Saori-style Coat
one of two pieces by Karen King

Dahlia Log Cabin Series: Quilt #2
Terri Illingworth

Cariboo and Cutlines (front view)
Dana Bush

X3 will be in the ACC's Feature Gallery through March 26, so you still have a couple of weeks to enjoy the entire exhibit...  :-)

Moving back upstairs, in the Gallery Shop the felted landscapes of Corinne Cowell held me in thrall...

Along with that of SAQA Colleague, Margie Davidson, and the fine line art quilts of Leah Gravells...just to name a couple...

But we were out of change, and it was time to leave the downtown core before we got completely tied up in rush hour.   Our heads spinning with colour and our creative juices completely replenished -- and then some! -- M and I climbed into the car for the 'drive home de-brief'.   It had been an entirely satisfying day...

And it was time to get back into the sewdio!

What about you, Gentle Readers?  What do you do to fill your creative well?

Bundles

Remember those wrapped bundles I put away on the spur of the moment a couple weeks ago?

This...

has produced these:

Bundle #1 - Revealed June 22, 2015
Silk charmeuse, rose leaves and onion skins

Bundle #2 - Revealed June 27, 2015
Silk (haboti?), rose petals

arlee warned me that Bundle #2 might just be dark blobs of colour, so I'm rather pleased that it's more subtle...and there's even a hint of pink/purple in spots:

Bundle #2 - close-up view

Not the foggiest what I'll do with them...but they'll let me know eventually, I'm thinkin'.  One thing I do know: I'm going to do more with my stash of onion skins...maybe even with yarn.  I brought out my wheel today...

I'm Going to See This

Thanks to my friend arlee for posting this on the SDA Alberta site:

Blessedly, I'll be in town that weekend for a family wedding and will take time to view the exhibit before I drive north.  One of our newer SAQA Western Canada members is involved (Diane Duncan) as well as our member Karen Jurek, and a several-years quilty friend of mine, Suzanne Stranks.  I hope they'll all be there so I can give 'em hugs and kudos for stepping out to exhibit.

NOTE: this show is on for a mere three hours.  One day only.  You snooze; you lose!  If you can get there, do so!

Gob-smacked -- and Grinning! :-)

I just had a wonderful two-day visit in Calgary.  I go down every six months or so to see my lovely dental hygienist and her boss, my handsome dentist, and I'm happy to report all's well on the dental front.  :-)

While there, I visited with several friends.  D and I went to Out of Hand, where I always have fun browsing the fabrics, magazines, paints, pens, threads... you name it!  I came away with some fabric for my Annual Christmas Project (wink, wink) and some Valdani hand-dyed perle cotton for yummy grass embroidery.  D spoiled me with the latest issue of Stitch magazine and the summer issue of Where Women Create.  Both are a real treat for this gal from the boonies!

I stayed over with Sha-and-Mary, and the former and I went out for a scrumptious dinner at Joey's (Calgary)...Shrimp with pesto on flat bread, quinoa and barley salad, sinfully rich chocolate mousse cake (aka "Happy Endings") and red wine...mmmmm...

S is taking her C&G from Linda Kemshall, so we spent a happy time looking at her samples, sketchbooks and work thus far in the program.  She's a very creative soul with a very different vision and view of the world than mine, so our artistic 'boxes' are stretched even as our friendship deepens over these times together.

This morning, arlee and I met at a gallery inside Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD, for short), to view "Indigo", a new exhibit that arose out of the latest residency of her friends in "Contextural".  It's small as exhibits go, but the pieces are an eclectic and interesting mix that, for the most part, works well.  If your in and around Calgary between now and Saturday afternoon, you might have a quick look.

After thoroughly digesting the show, arlee and I made tracks for a cafe on the SAIT campus where we lunched over more conversation about art, our respective activities and aspirations, and our beloved furry friends -- feline and canine -- and generally got to know each other even better (we've only met 3 times and only twice had time to really talk).  It's a bit of "Mutual Admiration Society" but it's wonderful to have face-to-face friends with whom to share.  :-)

After our lunch I headed up to Olds to meet with Deb, the owner/manager of Different Strokes Art Gallery.  I walked in with 3 large pieces:

Tree Line (c) 2013

Trio (c) 2012

 and

Abandoned: House I (c) 2012

Plus a mid-sized piece that I'd matted to 11" x 14"  (no photo, but it's a still life hand-stitched on hand-dyed fabric), and eight miniatures (the new ones and 2 from April of this year).

With the exception of the "Abandoned" piece -- which she really liked but would prefer mounted differently because she said her customers wouldn't like the fraying linen background -- Deb took them all.  We signed a contract for six months, and she said she'd have them up in a show of new work in late October or early November.

I'm going to explore her ideas for the "rejected" piece...and believe it will find a home someday, one way or the other.  She said if I re-framed it, she'd be interested in seeing it again.  :-)   

So...

Now it's back to work to finish my current 15 x 15 piece...and make a passel of new miniatures, as I have nary a one left in my sewdio!!

Do I mind?  Not in the least!  :-)

Uniquely Albertan

While I was busy collecting bed quilt materials, my friend and colleague, arlee, was making an art  quilt.  Turns out, she and over four hundred more artists were involved with  the Alberta Flood Rose Project.

I knew she'd been working on a piece to do with our provincial flower, the Alberta Wild Rose, but didn't realize just what that was till tonight...when she posted a conversation on Facebook that made it clear for me.  (You can visit the Project's Facebook page HERE.

I won't be in Calgary to participate in the auction (it's an in-person event only, as far as I know, but details are pending), but I do hope to see it if it gets as far as Red Deer on its post-auction tour.

Congratulations to all the participants, and may the auction bring much needed funding to the Red Cross for all those affected by the flooding in Southern Alberta in June.

Moon Watch

I confess I'm not one to pay attention to the phases of the moon.  The full moon is always a delightful surprise, especially if it's so bright that I don't need my high beams driving home after dark on Highway 12 east of Lacombe.

So...I've sorta been relying on arlee to poke me when it's time for the TUSAL 2013 ORT Report.  Last month I took a photo and then ran out of time to post it on The Day, and then forgot altogether -- which I believe is at least slightly in the spirit of a Totally Useless Stitch-Along, don't you?

So here's what my jar looked like at the last New Moon:

ORT Jar New Moon Feb 2013

And here's what it looks like this morning:

ORT Jar New Moon March 2013

That orange stuff is 'way down there.  See it on the right?  I've obviously been working!

Thanks for the wake-up call, arlee.  Now let's go cut more thread!

WIP-less Wednesday

I begin with an apology for losing count.  In my last post, I said that St. Monica's Under the Sky was the ninth miniature.  I was mistaken; it's number eight.  Here's Number 9:

"Plough the Fields and Scatter" (c) 2013

It's based on a photo of a newly-ploughed field near my home...not far from this winter scene.  (For those of  you wondering, I took the title from a favourite old hymn, and that is the correct spelling of 'plough' in that context -- from the U.K.  :-) ).

What?  You want to know what the wee white 'v' shapes are in the ploughed field?  Those are gulls, which have swooped in after worms turned up by the plough.  I've seen them follow a plough in a flock of at least a gazillion; however, I've just put in a few to give you the idea. :-)

Materials?  My own hand-dyed blue sky; sari silk ribbon "trees" along the horizon; arlee's wonderful eco-dyed silk for the grey hilly soil; cotton for the dark tilled soil; and batik for the mix of dried grass and soil at the bottom.

Though I'm linking this post to WIP Wednesday on The Needle and Thread Network, it's still Tuesday evening, and there'll be no WIP to post tomorrow, for I am on my way to Calgary...not to return till Friday.  While there I'll be seeing several friends, visiting Mutt & Jeff and the rest of the SAQA WC Best of the West exhibit at Galleria Inglewood with one of them (who's never seen my work on exhibit before -- be still, my heart!), and introducing another of them -- an embroiderer -- to my colleague arlee at the Collaborative Quilting event at Art Gallery of Calgary on Thursday evening.  You can check details about that HERE.

Have a great week -- see you later!

The Thing About WIP Wednesday...

is that while I'm Working on what's In Progress, I often don't stop to take a photo! ;-)

Thanks to all of you who left kind words about the miniature I finished yesterday.  These pieces are all 6.5" x 8.5" with matts that finish them at 8" x 10".  I got hooked on making them after I did the piece for "Santa Fe Spotlight", the silent auction being held at the SAQA Conference there at the end of April.   Seems I couldn't make just one!

Here's the one I've made today -- shown in it's matt, but it's not actually mounted, as it's not quite finished.  If you look closely at the bottom right side, you'll see tiny seed stitches in the green grass.  A bit more of this work needs to be done around the trees and to the left side, but I'm off to Red Deer shortly to run some errands, followed by a one-man production, "An Evening With C.S. Lewis" featuring British actor David Payne, so the rest of the hand-stitch will have to wait until tomorrow.

Trio II (c) 2013

Look familiar?  ;-)  It's a mini of my Final Assessment Piece...after a fashion.  More of arlee's eco-dyed fabric for the tree trunks (though not the same fabric as in the larger piece) and my own hand-dyed fabric for the sky and the grass.  (Oh, and those golden "hills" -- trees, in real life -- in this morning's post?  arlee's fabric too.)

And so I'll close by linking to WIP Wednesday on The Needle and Thread Network...and hope to take some time to look at all the posts there...tomorrow, with a cuppa.  Ciao!

Wintry WIPs

It's the second day of high wind chills here in my wee hamlet; today, snow's been added for good measure.  I'm glad to be indoors working away, and thankfully, doing so with greater focus than yesterday!

First thing this morning, I finished the finger-less mittens for B:

And here's a bit of detail:

There's a bit of a halo on this yarn, even just after working with it -- so it's fairly delicate.  These will be for dressier occasions, methinks.

I warmed up by assembling yet another row on Easy Street, and attaching it to the corner I put together yesterday:

It's so darned big that I'd have to climb on a higher ladder to get it all in the photo!

From there, I went to my dye pot, where the cotton I'd put in there had been steeping for over 12 hours (no heat).  I rinsed the fabric in cool water and then let it soak in warm water with a bit of vinegar for about 1/2 hour.  After that I washed it in mild detergent, rinsed it and threw it in the dryer.  Once dry, I ironed it out:

Even though I took this photo with no flash, under my daylight lamp, it doesn't do the colour justice; it's really a lovely rich caramel brown, and is going to feature in at least one of my miniatures.  There are 3 fabrics -- the large piece of muslin in the background, and the two pieces of neutral print over-dyed in the front.  The print on those fabrics gives it a textured look as you can see in this close-up of the piece on the left:

After lunch I tackled a couple of landscapes.  One is ready to quilt.  This one is "Chinook", referring to the warm winds that blow into Alberta over the Canadian Rockies.  A Chinook can be identified from a distance by the arch formed between the horizon and the clouds above.  I took this photo of the fabric layers framed by my working 'L' shapes, and trimmed it so you'd get an idea what it'll look like in a 5" x 7" space.  Oh...and after the quilting there may be a bit of thread painting to add either trees or a fence or something...

Chinook - commercial cotton, my hand-dyed cotton, arlee's hand-dyed silk

The second piece is being pondered.  I'm calling it "Winter Sunrise" and am wondering about something:

Should the snowy area below the hills echo the red of the sunrise?  (This would be done with red tulle.)

OR NOT?

Winter Sunrise - commercial cotton and batik, my snow-dyed muslin,  more of arlee's hand-dyed silk

Note that again, I've trimmed the photo to show you what you'd see in a 5" x 7" space, surrounded by a matt.  Quilting to follow once I've made up my mind about the tulle.  Any thoughts?

Linking up with WIP Wednesday on The Needle and Thread Network, so go on over there and check out what Canadian stitchers are up to!

Some Knitting and Some More

In all this quilting activity, please don't think I've not been sticking to my knitting.  :-)

Isn't she lovely?  I made the hat at left with THIS FREE PATTERN and Bravo Crazy Color yarn in a darker colour-way featuring deep blue, wine and a hint of gold.

As you can tell from the photo on the right, I'm no model, and it's hard to photograph oneself!  LOL!  However, it'll give you some idea of the colour (#85 in the Bravo Crazy Color scheme of things).

And I've been knitting away on the fingerless mittens I mentioned a wee bit ago, a birthday gift for my friend B.  I've finished the one for the right hand (this pattern is specific) and the cuff for the left, and I'm just about to start the gusset for the left thumb.  Although I've not washed and blocked it, you can get a good idea how it looks in this photo:.  Isn't that cuff simply too pretty?

The pattern is Short & Sweet Fingerless Mitts by Anne Sahakian, and the yarn is Elann Collection Peruvian Baby Silk -- a luscious blend of baby alpaca and silk -- in Raspberry.  The ribbing for the top and thumb isn't tricky, but it takes a bit of juggling to do it on double-pointed needles!

And for those who may be curious, here's the results of my 'snowverdye' experiment.  I laid all 4 pieces (2 large, 2 small) on my cutting table here:

And the same group, taken from the top (I stood on a step-stool):

A close-up of one of the large pieces (muslin):

And the two small pieces (cotton sheeting - originally white):

As these pieces will be cut/torn into strips for sunsets and sunrises, for the most part, I'm very happy with the results.  The colour reminds me of the inside of a fresh peach, and I managed to achieve enough pink amid the scarlet and golden yellow.

The neat thing about dyeing, for me, is that I do it in very small batches, and even if I use a recipe, it's rare to get pieces that turn out the same way twice.  That bit of mystery keeps me coming back to it.

I think my next experiment is going to be with a natural dye -- for the first time.  Christmas Day an anonymous giver left a package of goodies on my back stoop -- including two packets of black Ceylon tea.  Now, I'm not much of a tea-drinker; I've tried it, and it's OK.  But two large packets!  Then I read arlee's blog, with a link to Wendy's blog  with a link to a list of plants for eco-printing.  If you scroll down far enough you'll find this entry:  "Black tea, dried leaves".  Well, duh!  Now to do some reading on the how-to (as in, how to get the best results, how to prep the fabric etc.)...and go for it.  Yes, I know it'll give me blacks, browns, and perhaps greys -- and these will be perfect for skies, gravel roads and bush...I see more landscapes in my future!

SAQA Santa Fe Spotlight

On the Friday evening of the up-coming SAQA Conference in Santa Fe, there's to be a silent auction fund-raiser for the organization -- an opportunity to share work with one's peers and perhaps take home something special created by someone you admire and have come to know across time and cyber-space, if not in person.

I frequently joke that I have 'more stash than cash', so I'm always happy to step up to the plate when called upon to make something for a SAQA benefit.  Last evening. inspired by a walk late one afternoon recently, I put together 'Prairie Twilight' -- a 6" x 8" wee landscape based on a view at the end of a street near my house.  I was captivated by the sliver of sunset between the snow-full clouds and the snowy horizon, by the narrow band of trees in the distance, and the top of a hay-bale just peeking over the rim of a furrow in the field beyond the road.

Prairie Twilight (C) - 2013

Here it is, trimmed to size.  It's pretty well quilted from edge to edge, so I'll leave the rest raw.All the fabrics are commercial cottons and batiks, except for the slivers of peach and dark peach silk for which, again, I thank my friend arlee and her shop, FyberSpace.  When these pieces get to the curator of the auction/show, Deb Cashatt, she and her team will have them matted with a 4.5" x 6.5" opening, so it'll look sort of like this...but nicer, because what you see here are my worn and weary-looking home-made "L" frames! LOL!

And yes, I got rather hooked on the process of making these little pieces -- perfect for the Lacombe Show! -- so went to Andrea, my framer, today, and arranged for her to cut a dozen matts (I chose the colours --mainly white and black, but one very dark navy, and some deep rusty-brown and butterscotch ones for autumnal pieces) -- 8" x 10" with 5' x 7" openings.  I'll pick 'em up in a few weeks, by which time I should have several pieces finished to show her, and she can make sure I afix them to their respective matts properly.  (Yes, I ordered a roll of special 'stitcher tape' for the purpose, too.)

I love the thought of treating myself with some time to make a miniature or two, in between the larger pieces I'm also doing for the show, and I'm hopeful that these matted pieces will be priced just right for those who attend and buy purely on impulse as a special gift for someone or a treat for themselves.

If you're going to the Conference, perhaps you'll put in a bid?

I Couldn't Resist

After several Serious Posts, it's definitely time to lighten up a bit -- and having read arlee's post this morning (she wrote it late last night), I simply had to check it out and tag along.  "It" is the TUSAL  (Totally Useless Stitch ALong) going on over on Mary Ann's blog.

The TUSAL consists of collecting one's ORTs (Old Ratty Threads) in some sort of container and then sharing one's collected amount every New Moon (the next of which. apparently, is January 11, 2013).  It's a bit of a giggle, considering I used ORTs to create the very first piece I ever had juried into an exhibit.

Snippets: An Art Quilter's Learning Curve - 16" x 16"  (2008)
Photo credit: Gina Blank 

This is the current state of my ORT jar -- in reality a huge goblet I was given at a Credit Women's conference in another lifetime:

I used to use a recycled paper bag for my ORTs, but was inspired to use the jar by a fellow-quilter (I want to say Monika K-W, but I'm not entirely certain of that) to recycle something more attractive.  :-)  Post-"Snippets", I've generally thrown out my ORTs when the jar gets full, but perhaps in light of the TUSAL I'll save them through 2013 and see what I can make of them next year around this time.  I've promised to start fresh for the TUSAL by tossing the last of my 2012 ORTs and beginning the new year with an empty jar!

So...a bit o' tongue-in-cheek humour, a new community to explore, some astrophysical education, some recycling and the promise of a potential project at the end -- what's not to like?

FAP Photos

I finished my Final Assessment Piece for my C&G Level 2 Certificate in Creative Techniques: Quilting just before Christmas, and e-mailed the Evaluation and photos to my tutor Linda over the course of a couple of days.  As she is taking some well-deserved time off -- this is her grand-baby's first Christmas -- I know I won't hear from her for a bit, and that's okay with me.  I'm taking this time to wind down a bit from the push to finish it (self-administered, I grant you that).

The Evaluation process requires I document materials, their cost (or estimated cost, if from stash or thrift finds), hours spent on the piece, and my assessment of the process.  What were the high points?  The lows?  What problems had to be worked out?  That sort of thing...

Truthfully, all the sampling leading up to the final creation served well to minimize any complications during the production of this piece.  I faced only a couple of small challenges:

• I underestimated the amount of over-dyed floss it would take to do the handwork I wanted on the grassy areas.  Blessedly, Janice at Traditional Stitches had both colours in stock and quickly filled my order for 2 more skeins of each.  I've one skein of the 'Wood Rose' (pinky-brown) left -- but used every scrap of the 'Celadon' (green)!
• I know full well that quilting pulls in the fabric of a piece -- but forgot that embroidery does the same -- especially when done on top of quilting!  The result was a pulling in of the bottom half of the piece, necessitating trimming to square it up before binding.  I'd allowed for some 'ease' when I began, but in the end it is a touch narrower than originally planned.

The toughest part for me turned out to be the hand-stitching -- quantity, not quality.  It seemed to take forever to make progress on the seemingly-vast expanse of surface!  Like knitting a long stockinette project, though, "suddenly" there was a break-through and the end was once again clearly in sight.

These are just a few of the photos I sent to Linda for her assessment:

Sky quilting detail

Grass - detail of quilting & embroidery

Grass stitching & bark embellishment 

Back...

And Front

Final Dimensions: 17" W x 24" L

Materials: hand-dyed, eco-dyed, rusted and commercial cotton fabrics; recycled synthetic machine-knit sweater fabric; muslin foundation fabric; hand-dyed cotton floss, cotton sewing thread; painted and distressed paper napkin; fusible web.  Estimated cost of materials: $46.70 CAD.

Techniques: fused and machine-stitched applique, machine quilting, hand embroidery; enveloped binding.

Estimated Time taken: 28 hours.

Thanks again to the talented arlee barr for her fabulous tree trunk fabric!

First Snow (Dye) of the Year

was nothing to write home about.

I decided to focus on blues (sky) and greens (grass, leaves) as I have several 'tree' pieces to do in the coming months.  I mixed my dyes -- Dharma Trading's "Sky Blue", "Golden Yellow" and "Lemon Yellow" -- and then combined the three for an olive green per my wee book of dye recipes.

I put the prepped fabric in the bottom of each of two large plastic tubs, piled on fresh, clean snow, and poured on the dye -- blue on one; olive green on the other.

Then I went off to Red Deer for lunch with friends, a series of errands (including picking up the Winter Issue of Stampington's Art Quilting Studio featuring articles by my dear friends Kathie Briggs and arlee barr)...a visit to a new LQS in Blackfalds (Peaceful Patch Quilt Shoppe -- all of 3 weeks old!), grocery shopping, music practice...and got home 10 hours later.  By that time all the snow had melted and I had 'water dyeing'...and colourful but very ordinary fabric.

Sky Blue on Snow

So.  "Always we begin again," as St. Benedict would say.  Today, I did just that.  Mixed up more 'Sky Blue'.  Put more prepped fabric into the two tubs.  Topped it with fresh, clean snow.  However, this time I decided not to mix up the green in advance.  Instead I put blue in the snow of each tub.  I left one as blue alone -- and added both yellows to the second tub.  (Notice how the "Golden Yellow" looks orange next to the "Lemon Yellow"? It's not really, though, in the end.)

Sky Blue with Golden Yellow & Lemon Yellow

I left to help my friend C finish the decorations at the Community Centre for tomorrow's 'Santa Days'.  We followed our hard work with a sumptuous lunch at the Mirror Hotel's cafe and then virtuously walked it off by trekking across town to Messinger's, where I got my monthly chicken breasts, pork loin and lean ground beef -- and special bacon and a plump roaster chicken for Christmas.

By the time I got home and got the meats in the freezer, four hours had passed.  No problem! The snow had melted, but not completely.  I dumped each tub into the sink in turn, rinsed the respective fabrics, washed same in Synthrapol and dried 'em in the dryer.

Et voila!

Blue skies smilin' at me...in muslin

in crinkle cotton

and in cotton velveteen

Ditto for the grasses/ leaves -- first, muslin:

then crinkle cotton:

and finally, cotton velveteen:

As my friend arlee would say, "Yumpth!" -- or words to that effect!

Now for the evening's entertainment -- Quilt Cam and more hand stitching on my Final Assessment Piece (yes, the embroidery floss I ordered Monday arrived today!)  The perfect ending to a perfect day.  Now, where did I put my coffee?

P.S. Only 13 hours left till 8 a.m. Mountain Standard Time December 8th...when I draw for that book on fabric books.  If you want to enter, hop to THIS POST and follow directions!  :-)