Tag Archives: “fiber arts”

chugging along

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blue-hut-startVacations (not mine), house cleaning, appointments, arranging college tours, two birthdays, SAT prep classes, allergic reactions (also not mine), snow, snow and more snow (and possibly MORE snow starting at midnight tonight).  Through it all, virtually no blogging, but a fair amount of stitching.

This b-day card for my younger son started with the central rectangle, which had been zig-zagged together at some much earlier moment.  The upholstery sample seemed a good base, picking up the check pattern of the ‘windowed’ linen.  For the roof and background, I used cloth that had been immersed in the indigo tub last summer.  Pairing almost anything with indigo-dyed cloth makes me happy these days, I don’t know why.   blue-hut-pinsSince D. is a Pisces, a bit of batiked fish seemed appropriate, and the cotton lawn in my scrap basket formed lovely, wrinkly moon and butterfly shapes when cut.  The pink linen backing is from a tunic that I used to wear.  This ‘card’ needed to carry a bit of me.

blue-hut-butterfly

I was determined to keep the butterfly simple.
blue-hut-moon

But, I could not resist adding ANOTHER backing cloth which adds a fair amount of additional graphic interest.
blue-hut-quilting

It is very nearly done – as are ‘cards’ for my older son (they were born two years, three days, and 15 minutes apart!) and for my husband (his is a Valentine).  More on those soon!!

pins in my mouth and on my lap

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Pinned this little piece up yesterday.

Took it to the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center and quilted a little during the four hour wait for C’s 4×400 relay.

It may be an exercise in frustration.  No glue, no tulle, no basting —  just me and my lazy girl pin job.

My strategy is to work the places that can easily be worked first, always making sure that where pieces meet, the fabric will lie down properly.  Pretty much means working edges inward.  It helps to have two needles going, sometimes.

I am doing a combination of folded-under applique and raw-edged.  Probably, with the possible exception of that red velvet, this quilt will be entirely hand-quilted.

You may remember this bleached red plaid from the Happy Hut Quilt that I made for D. (that red plaid flannel was used, one December not long ago, to make his pj bottoms – a traditional Christmas Eve gift in this house (though I will admit to buying the pants in the last couple of years)).

I finished that quilt, by the way (above).  The Ghost House version is in a lull.  Down in the cold, cold basement on a pinboard.  It will wait.

 

late in the year

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Caught what C & D had.  So has Ken.  Laying low.  Reading. Walking the dog.  Watching movies.

Slowly putting things away.  It is satisfying to put the decorations out, and satisfying to put them away.  I generally begin putting things away before everyone else is ready to see it all go.

We would love some snow.

Amazing how soft seven horns can sound.

K. finally made me my bottle tree.

Thankfully the ‘Cookie Angel’ has flitted elsewhere.

All the ‘making’ has been meals, gatherings, gifts, returns, and running around.  Looking forward to getting back to a few pieces:

Collage to quilt

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playing with paper

You can click on pictures for larger versions.

("doesn't SMELL like fish!")

stitching paper to paper

letting images direct where piece is going

making marks on back with oil pastels while wondering, what is left of an experience years later and how do we mark it in consciousness?

More marks.

 

Color copy of new version - with B&W figure in lower left. Abandoned brick/grape leaf background.

Using inkjet printer and prepared, commercially available fabrics - I print one copy on cotton; one on polyester organza.

love this

Placed sheer version on top of partially quilted opaque version

This corner is too dark - so paint and ink to the rescue

Made 'suckers' from erasers out of the junk drawer

Scary to mess about with this much time in, but stamped with copper ink and white paint

Finished piece is edged with striped linen and stapled to wooden frame - you can't really see the quilting or the layering effect in this light

Octopus on the wall.

saved backing sheet to use under fabric as stitching guide

Backer sheet is below the green wool. I stitched from back, following lines. Very messy because toner is not set on page. To be continued.

P.S.  Hope to fix picture resolution issues ASAP.  I have been wondering why my pictures are defaulting to a 72 pixel resolution and looked and looked at my Photoshop settings, but it now dawns on me that perhaps it is a setting on my CAMERA that I changed (the file size while noodling with something else – will check and hopefully fix.