WIPs and More

First, a big "thank you!" to new followers of my blog (you know who you are).  Sometimes I'm notified, and sometimes you just pop up, like crocuses in the spring.  I appreciate each and every one of you, old and new.  :-)  My next blog-aversary is coming up soon; I think I'll have a wee give-away of some lovely, gently-used publications of the magazine persuasion, so stay tuned!

Now...what have I been up to?  I have several projects going at once, with classes, samples, kits and such...

Today marks two months of work on "Mark on the Body".  You can read the update (with photos) HERE.

Today is also the start of Week 3 of Pamela Allen's class, "About Contrast" -- and we've switched from contrast involving colour to contrast involving shape and size.  Stay tuned for a post about that later this week.

On the weekend, I felt like piecing, so I put together some more units in the medallion-style sample top I'm making from that kit I won as a door prize a few years back. (scroll down)  I've sewn together three rows of blocks, and have assembled blocks for the fourth row, thus:

Guess what?  It's another study in CONTRAST!  There's both colour contrast and value contrast in this piece; which colours you use where are determined by your selections, as each colour is numbered (one through eight) and paired according to the layout in the instructions.  Each block is 6" finished, and each row is eight blocks across, or 48" finished.  The medallion will have another four rows -- and then several borders to flesh it out into a 70" square piece.  It's going to be quite something, eh?

Yesterday was all about hand work.  First, I finished embroidering the letters of "Attention", the first panel in "Deteriorating Civility" (scroll down).  Then I began the seed stitch to accent the lettering.  I've had to be very careful with this, as the rusted and distressed fabric is, indeed, deteriorating!

"Attention" embroidered

"Attention" affixed to the background

The "Attention" panel is sandwiched to the worn and painted quilt background with a thin layer of batting, and some more distressing with the needle-felting machine (embellisher), and then with a narrow band of machine stitching on each side.  The number 12 Finca perle cotton is being used for the seed stitch around the lettering, which adds dimension (a bit of a trapunto effect) and texture.

Next I worked on my knitting -- finishing the gusset of the first of my daughter's birthday socks.  Then I worked some more on B's "Little Sheep Virtues" pin cushion.  I need to get a move on both of these projects as my DD's birthday has passed, and B's is on Saturday!!

Today, I wanted to get going on one of two pieces inspired by photos taken by cyber-friends.  I've obtained their permission to reproduce them in fabric.  The first is "Beach at Noyac", based on a photo by Jane, a knitter I "met" on Ravelry or Facebook or Knitter's Review or...maybe all three!

Here's her beautiful photo:

"Beach at Noyac" - photo credit: Jane Cochran

Before making a full-sized piece (8" square, which I want to mount on stretched canvas), I decided to try it out in 'miniature' -- for a variety of reasons.  I was sure I'd found the perfect fabrics, but wondered how to replicate the pebbles, the foam of the waves, and the shiny surface of the rock.

Here's the results thus far:

It's not attached to the mat -- that's just there for cosmetic purposes for now.  I'm thinking about painting a few of the quilted pebbles to brighten up the beach as in the original photo.  I used damp cheesecloth for the foam -- dampened because right out of the package it was too stiff to create the right look.  And yes, while damp, I stitched it lightly to the background using clear "invisible" thread, my latest purchase from Superior: Mono-Poly Reduced Sheen.  With dark brown Bottom Line in the bobbin, it worked like a charm!  (No; they don't pay me to say that.  I just really love this brand of thread!)

And there's one more detail I'm not sure you can see in the photo: the water's shine on the rock, which I created with a very light use of two colours of hot-fix Angelina fibre -- "Enchanted Forest Flash" and "Blaze Crystallina".  It gives just the right glint, without being over the top.  The key was to use it ver-r-r-r-ry sparingly!  A little Angelina goes a lo-o-ong way!

Once I've finished with the painting, I'll post an up-dated photo and then go on to the "actual" piece, which I'm hoping to enter into the "Gallery" at the Annual Lacombe Art Show and Sale in April.  The deadline for entries is February 28, so I have to get a move on, as I want to finish a piece from the second inspirational photo at which I hinted above:

"Velma's Evergreens"
photo credit: Velma Bolyard

I envision some hand work in this one, perhaps beads, and more cheesecloth....Stay tuned!

With all these WIPs, I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at The Needle and Thread Network.  Let's see what other Canadian stitchers are up to, eh?

Quietly Busy

I am posting less often these days...in part because I am working and sampling and in part because I'd rather be out-of-doors, and the Outdoor Studio is not conducive to computer work.

However, there have been photos...and knitting, too!

I finished the hoodie for my husband's cousin's first grandchild, a boy -- a couple of weeks old now, Baby C:

I've almost finished Niven, a capelet, from the Berroco book of Nora Gaughan patterns, #13 -- knit in Lustra.  Once it's finished I'll post a photo -- I promise!  This one is in a discontinued colour (a hot pink) and will be a store sample at The Crafty Lady -- my first store sample!

It's a pretty little thing and once I have it back from the store, I think I'll enjoy it 'round my shoulders of a cool evening.

On the quilting front, I continue to sample techniques.

The current project?  A 10" x 10" that must be mounted on stretched canvas for a silent auction donation to the Lacombe Arts Foundation -- due at the end of August.  The tree theme continues, and this week I have been playing with acrylic felt, the embellisher machine, and the heat gun.

I've been trying to recreate the fungus on the mountain ash (aka Rowan) in my back yard:

I thought acrylic felt might work...embellished with yarn and then burned away with the heat gun.  I tried a couple of colourways in my samples:

Yarn felted to acrylic felt, burned away

Here it is from the 'back' side, which I liked better...

And here it is in a different colourway:

But it didn't matter...In the end, I knew I needed something 'lacy' but with a softer hand, less 'plastic'.  I can use these samples, cut into pieces, for another project.

I turned to water-soluble fabric, and a combination of hand and machine stitching, and have begun my next sample:

I free-motion machined a pattern drawn from samples of the fungus, outlined and enlarged, and have now begun to embroider over the machine stitching using DMC floss, 2 strands, in different greens.  Beads will be added to achieve a 'dewy' effect...and then the water-soluble fabric will be dissolved to leave (it's hoped!) a lacy, beaded fabric that can be overlaid on the background -- a nubby olive green silk.

Stay tuned...

This will be linked to The Needle and Thread Network's WIP Wedneday.  I'm off to the shop tomorrow...
Ta-ta for now!

Auditions...

Yesterday I was auditioning....fabric and placement!

First, materials for a 12" square for an upcoming regional show -- SAQA Western Canada's "Best of the West", opening sometime in June.  As I played with the materials and their placement, I was thinking about the stitching and embellishment I wanted to use.






And second, with pieces for "The Picnic Quilt", made from the 2 1/2" and 4 1/2" squares I created when I recently sorted my scraps.  I still have a stack of 4 1/2" squares to use up, so it's going to be larger than what's on my design wall -- and undoubtedly what you see below will be re-arranged before the top is assembled, but I'd done enough pieces that I wanted to see what sort of combination(s) I could get if I put 'em up there.  I was concerned I had so many 'darks' and 'brights' and not that many 'lights' and 'neutrals', but once I stepped back for a good look, I was pretty happy with how the top was playing out.

I'm thinking ahead to the quilting, too.  If I decide not to tie it, but to quilt it by machine, I'm betting an over-all design would work best -- and I'm going to check out what Ann Petersen, instructor of "Quilting Big Projects on a Small Machine" over at Craftsy.com, would suggest.  :-)

And Samples...

More and more I'm requiring myself to take those thoughts and put them into samples, rather than going directly to the block itself.  I used to think that the 'direct hit' was a better use of my supply of funky donated fabrics (which cannot be replicated and therefore tend to be thought of as "precious").  However, my recent experience with that three-dimensional windmill has once again reinforced the value of sampling.  In the end, I'll use less fabric making a sample or two than I would if I went barrelling ahead, making the whole piece, only to find it didn't 'work'.

RE: the Windmill -- here are two more samples I made on Friday -- both of which I like better than the first one, and from both of which I learned something about the mathematics in block design and the materials used:

Felt 'sails' with lightweight fabric background

Playing with sheers