Fiber Art and Craft

Stitched and Drawn

2012-01-17T11:10:00.000-05:00

transition

2012-01-13T10:39:00.000-05:00

Winter and Whatever

2012-01-12T23:01:00.000-05:00

I am so glad the snow is back. Fifty degrees and sunny is nice too - but it is winter after all.

This quilt has been folded away for a few months short of one year.

One year can seem like no time at all - but January, February and March always seem to last forever. Last year I thought starting something big sounded like a great idea with those three wintery months stretched out in front of me. Spring hit and all things wintery were fast forgotten - but here I am again, at the start of the long haul indoors.

This stitched pattern is always in my head - a layer hovering above the pieced fabrics. The stitches unify what lies beneath them.

Old and new, winter and whatever are all running into each other.

Construction

2012-01-10T14:48:00.001-05:00

I have been thinking a lot about the ways I build a quilt in order to make covering a cloth in hand stitches from edge to edge manageable. Working on a small scale has been helpful and I love the look of the all over stitches. I love the meditative process of sewing the stitches and the feel of the finished cloth.

These last few weeks I have been working and daydreaming of ways to include areas of dense stitching as a design element and strengthening element but changing the construction a bit to allow a cloth to grow into something that can keep my children and my family warm and cozy. So I am going to try working towards building bigger - one block at a time.

This red and yellow shoofly block given to me by my grandma. It was likely given to her by her mother or maybe a friend.

List

2011-12-30T23:38:00.000-05:00

The short list of plans for my needle and thread in the new year:

- start and complete a collection of small quilts that have been developing in my sketchbook

- make and mend the things that are needed and wanted for my boys, my family, my home and my friends

- document the way the fibers of a quilt and the threads of my days are all a part of the same patchwork

My long list is much more adventurous - but I am hopeful these few things may lead to all the others.

Happy New Year!!

hold

2011-12-28T21:57:00.000-05:00

snow

2011-12-27T11:05:00.000-05:00

To You...

2011-12-19T12:08:00.000-05:00

Thank you to all who take the time to visit me here.

I have some (grand!?) plans for January (aren't there always!) and the year ahead. Right now I am wrapped up in enjoying this time of year with my boys. Health and happiness to you all and warm wishes for 2012!

Last Weekend...

2011-12-02T11:33:00.004-05:00

between visiting with family and friends, walks in the woods and helping Brett with the wood pile...

I had many little moments to stitch. I have left these threads top and bottom. I plan to use the loose ends on top to hang it - thoughts on just how still in progress.

Brett does most of the work with the wood - the boys like to help for awhile. I think the way he has stacked it is beautiful.

New blue details.

These always amaze me.

The tangle.

A tiny forest in bloom.

Radiant

2011-11-29T16:00:00.004-05:00

My first quilt block with curves - started here. I think it has a nice glow. I am also seeing it as a compass.

Golden

2011-11-08T07:31:00.003-05:00

Our sweet Beandog passed away 5 days ago. She was 14 years old - lived a long and happy life. That first day without her was hard for us. So difficult to keep my mind from wandering towards the saddest departing details, so I searched out fabric in her colors - traced, cut and started stitching. Keeping hands and brain busy and bringing back the good memories - which are so good and so many. She was the sweetest girl.

Loving and caring for her was our way of life for over 14 years. Her fur is woven into our carpets and our clothes. We patted her sweet head when we walked into the room and again when we walked out. We walked outside with her many times every day. We anticipate the sound of her toenails on the wood floors and her rustling shuffle in the fall leaves. There was much worrying in the last weeks - thoughts of her were hovering in front of all else - and near impossible to concentrate fully on anything. It has been hard to let go of that quiet urgency of wanting her to feel better and also knowing it was just time.

This was her season of camouflage, sitting in the dry grass and golden leaves and and looking lovely - this taken just 2 weeks ago.

It is becoming a little bit easier to just be sad - smile through the tears and not fall apart. There really are so many wonderful memories of her - we are so fortunate to have known and loved her.

So I will be stitching on this little golden sunburst for awhile...

Strings and Lines

2011-10-17T09:47:00.004-04:00

One thing leads to another.

Particles of Prehistory

2011-10-12T13:49:00.005-04:00

I released this one out into the world today, leaving me daydreaming of mark-making on fabric. Drawings. Something different growing from what was always there.

Foundation

2011-09-26T21:39:00.007-04:00

A week ago I took the boys to my parents' place. We spent some time in the creek there, the same creek I played in when I was little. My parents, my boys, my sister and her girls - all of us looking at the rocks. The creek bed was completely dry.

My sister found this fossil coral radiating out from its' base - still hidden in the limestone.

This one a gathering of broken bits of shells. I like the texture - and the mystery - trying to tell what each bit may have been.

This coral - the texture on this one preserved so well...

and this type of shell I have never found before, that day I saw 4 of them all in the same area. I believe it is a Loxoplocus gastropod.

All of these we believe are from the Ordovician Period. This period spanned approximately 505-438 million years ago.

Leaves :: Feathers

2011-09-15T11:25:00.003-04:00

I sun printed these tiny compound leaves - they reminded me of feathers - added some drawing and got to know them a little better...

A bit of patchwork with fabric like watercolor - I am back to this simple diamond and all its centered possibilities.

... a few of the feathers I've been finding on walks to and from school with my boys. One feather is blushing?

This raven one for Grace - I love the wisps and waves.

Something...

2011-09-01T23:45:00.006-04:00

Something about lots of things all together - and finding balance.

Oak and Pond I :: Float

2011-08-23T10:18:00.006-04:00

I squealed a little when I unwrapped this one. Two oak leaves wrapped in cotton and left in the pond for about 7 weeks. It is my most successful act of patience and fabric to date. The darkest areas are the marks of sediment settled directly onto the fabric. The oak leaves rolled around themselves and the fabric made a repeat of vertebrae - a spine stretched out. The pond as dye pot made this - all the little life that lives there making an impression, with the help of a couple of oak leaves. There is nothing I can stitch on this to make me like it more.

A favorite thing of summer for my family has been floating on the pond. When I float I am looking up at the sky, my back and spine long and straight, my arms are stretched out and in the water. I move arms over my head and then back down to my sides to propel, slowly. I am symmetry and balance - centered. There is a raft under me - arms and hands in the water - dragonflies land on my knees and toes. The fish, insects, animals, the water and life within it are supporting me, holding me up and I wonder what it all looks like from below - the concentric circle ripples where I touch the surface of the water. The music - along with the birds singing and hot buzz of insects - is this...

All of these together are this summer to me - the floating, the pond, the music and the oak and pond print - are forever related in my mind. They are this amazing summer we have had - that is not over yet. This pond has swept us off our feet. From my 7-year-old son, "I wish we could take our pond wherever we go."

A Feather Story

2011-08-15T12:04:00.011-04:00

I wanted to say something about Jude's Feather Project. I haven't made my feathers to send to her yet - but I am working on it. Please go on over to Spirit Cloth and have a look and read about what she has planned for the feathers.

and... the front porch basket of our pond place has a little bird nest inside. Brett found the nest and gave it to me in March? and we have also been sticking feathers into the nest as we find them on walks - there were maybe three small feathers and one big turkey feather in there so far.

Recently I heard and then saw a wren singing on the porch rail - then saw him flying off a few times. The small feathers from the basket went missing. Birds are collectors too - it's fine if he needed them - I was so curious why he would take them. One evening right before we all went to bed it started raining. Rain has been a rare occurrence so we all went out to feel the rain cooling the air and there he was. Snuggled right into the nest - head tucked under his body out of sight but his little wren tail was sticking straight out. He slept through all the gasping, photo flashing, boys being lifted to see and all the excitement. He was gone in the morning, but I like to think he? will be the nighttime guardian of our doorway for awhile...

Still Looking For It

2011-08-11T11:38:00.005-04:00

I cannot find my photo card reader - and so I created this image with photos already on my computer. I have had an extension of ideas and a combination of images simmering. I have taken photos of inspiration and of things I/we have made to move things forward - and the things that got things started - but can't get to the photos right now. Grrrr. It is not unusual for me to misplace my card reader often - but it usually shows up in a few days. May just have to get another one this time...

Realizing how much I depend on the photos and look forward to "showing" what has been done. Interesting.

Line Growing

2011-08-08T00:41:00.004-04:00

There is something growing from this - or through it.

Lavender :: Line

2011-07-15T11:05:00.006-04:00

Starting something new is exciting. I am using the iris squares/circles.

They belong together. The gray base fabric is lightly painted - going along with the watercolor effect of the dyed squares.

I am experimenting with a solid hand-stitched line. I like that it looks like drawing - drawing with thread.

Looking for ways to hold everything together.

Oak

2011-07-13T09:34:00.003-04:00

Results of the cotton with oak leaves inside wrapped around a bottle. Deepest result where front side of leaf was in contact with the fabric, but also interesting that the other side acted as a resist. I really like the browns created.

Paint vs. Patience

2011-06-30T00:30:00.011-04:00

Summer sunshine eventually calls for the sun sensitive fabric paints. My boys love to do this too. We brought the paints along to a recent trip to "the pond" place. I made a curtain/valance with oak leaves and the boys made a print each of their own design.

Youngest contemplating composition, leaves to be used in hands - oldest applying paint with my help.

The boys' designs - youngest on the left, I love the circles all lined up on the same side - oldest on the right, note the pirate jolly roger, crossed swords and all. These are done as soon as the paint is dry and the printing process is complete - the mark has been made. As they dry it is still so hard not to peek.

I started a couple of natural dye projects too. One with white cotton - oak leaves wrapped inside - tied to a bottle and sitting in a dye bath of oak leaves and acorns/caps. I took a peek after one week and not much happening - wrapped it back up and left it as it was for another week. Will see what happens when we return - the raccoons may knock it over - but then something more may happen as it dries?

We also placed a roll of cloth into the pond/giant oak leaf dye pot. My husband first gave me the idea as we discussed the pond's coloring - brown and full of tannin from all of the leaves over time. The pond is surrounded by trees - many of them oak.

We placed the bundle in shallow water with a few inky black leaves and mud from the bottom gently laid over it. We will check on it now and then.

It has been fun to hear both boys mention coloring things with water and whatever might make a color - to have planted a curiosity there. Also sort of sad listening to the youngest try to work out the words dye and die.

Blue and maybe one day bolder...

2011-06-28T00:06:00.008-04:00

This little blue quilted runner traveled with me to Canada and back. I found out I CAN stitch in the car a bit - we rarely drive so far - but still good to know. Most stitching was done lakeside.

A bit of mending was done as well - utilizing Jude's woven boro techniques.

I had a few daydreams of being bolder...

then we came home, traveled again (not as far) and we are home again for the time being. I could wait no longer to bind the little blue one - so now that is done. Still a few diamonds to stitch and then little blue will go to live with my sister and her family.

I learned a lot from this one - still thinking about pattern overlaying pattern. Subtle is sensitive and I think also a little mysterious but I am wondering if I can hang on to that while also trying something more striking next time around - grow this idea a bit more...

Pattern

2011-06-02T09:36:00.006-04:00

Still thinking about and working with that quilted pattern over simple piecing. I see the stitches as a layer floating over the pieced cloth. Wanting and needing to cover the whole cloth with stitches - stitching the grid then going back to fill the spaces within. I pieced the cloth in a symmetrical pattern - but I like it that the pattern becomes lost in some areas due to choice of fabrics. This is a small cloth - about 11" X 22" - portable for warm weather adventure...

Flower Power

2011-05-13T21:43:00.008-04:00

I've been spending some time here and there enjoying experiments in dyeing fabric using plants. I have been reading Eco Colour: Botanical Dyes for Beautiful Textiles by India Flint. My experimenting has been based on techniques in her book and the possibilities are endless.

I am inspired to find out so many plants in our own yard (and the neighbors' yards!) have the ability to yield color to cloth. Looking forward to the discoveries. Needing to work on my patience in this process, still daydreaming of what might happen if I can bear to let something soak more than a few days...

Front + Back

2011-05-10T16:10:00.006-04:00

Was just thinking - what if next time I stitched on the white side as the front - colors as the back...

open :: part two

2011-05-09T15:11:00.003-04:00

I am managing to get some sewing time in - but mostly just in awe of all the inspiration of spring...

open :: part one

2011-04-25T13:05:00.000-04:00

Into Spring...

2011-04-04T14:36:00.015-04:00

We have found a wide open space we love to wander around in and that has kept us busy. We have followed winter into spring - staying outside whenever we can and as long as we can. My boys are suddenly wild and loving it - jumping, leaping and running again - getting dirty. Such a relief to get our hands in the dirt again, working and playing outside.

I was needing to get the colors noted here to remember for the quilt. The deepest brown wet soil, every shade of green and then yellows and purples. My favorite right now are the bluebell blossoms emerging as pinks and then transforming through lavenders to blue. The green mist of leaves unfolding in the tree tops and the sky so so blue days in a row. A little boy so excited about bright yellow dandelions and purple violets and so happy we have so many in his own yard!

Starting the spring panel for the Sleep Pattern quilt, thinking of adding in some nine patch squares. Maybe the colors are too shocking next to the winter panel - but that's what I feel - the color surprises, so different from winter. Spring has so much momentum, it just takes off from barely anything.

Thinking I will will just follow this quilt around through the seasons adding layers of detail as I go. Leaving winter behind now and adding spring and working on that until it's time to move on again. By the time I get back around to winter it will be one big square, but I am so ready to just think about spring now. Watch everything uncurl and open up. stitching as I go...

Sleep Pattern Pup

2011-02-11T23:22:00.002-05:00

Winter Blocks

2011-01-27T15:10:00.007-05:00

These all part of the imagery I am working towards on the winter panel of the sleep pattern quilt. Posting them here to remember. First photo - my husband called me out at dusk last weekend when he saw this - imprint in the snow of a bird's landing.

Season by Season

2011-01-22T00:41:00.010-05:00

The sleep pattern is still bouncing around in my head. Thinking I can make a quilt panel by panel season by season and put them all together after a year or two or three and have something BIG. I started a "Sleep Pattern Quilt" category in the sidebar. Thanks for the comments on that first post on this. I liked Catherine's comment about a net/dream catcher and am thinking this all over stitch pattern would unite panels of the different seasons/colors/cloth in the end - hold it all together - like a net. I am taking Jude's contemporary woven boro workshop over the next few weeks and hope to create some panels for this utilizing her techniques. Really excited about that.

Today my oldest biggest boy will be 7. So today is all about a party. He is growing up and sweeter than ever. He is amazing. It's going to be a great year.

Snow

2011-01-12T14:22:00.008-05:00

Lots of snow here, on the ground and in the air. Ideas stirring up from these shapes.
I like the way you can recognize the shapes even in the fragments and incomplete ones...

the differences from one day to the next.
on blue taken today and on black taken yesterday.

Sleep Pattern

2010-12-30T20:25:00.007-05:00

I have had no time to start anything new to stitch on but have been sewing this pattern of red stitching over squares in my dreams for weeks now. It has been on my mind each night as I drift off to sleep and the rhythms of it have been comforting to me - as the real act of stitching is. I felt a need to get this pattern out of my head and onto paper tonight as the boys were drawing and coloring. I opened a yet unused little notebook of graph paper - I like the preprinted structure of the little squares for thinking in quilt. As for the red stitches and solid squares pattern - I have to wonder if I have seen it somewhere and it has just moved into my mind for now. I will start something once I complete a happy new year de-cluttering of my sewing room which I absolutely must do. The start of a new year always has me daydreaming and drifting towards simplifying. A new year - and endless possibilities in a simple beginning.

On Holiday

2010-12-24T23:07:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas and happiest holidays to everyone. Stitching here and there but for the most part it has been gingerbread boys, girls, dogs and houses. Lots of playing in the snow. Going here and there. Enjoying time with my boys. Wishing you all peace, love and happiness. Catch you in the new year!

Grow

2010-11-16T14:23:00.007-05:00

I am working a few projects towards completed. This one I began back in May and it has settled into a fuzzy edges finish.

My parents will bring branches from their place (the backyard of my childhood) when they visit us this weekend. I will choose a fitting branch to hang this little quilt from.

So in my mind all these things spin - my parents and grandparents, my childhood, a root system. Grown to where I am now and then beyond that - the offshoots - the little people who will be bigger and just keep growing - on and on. There is spin and motion to all of this - day to day. Dizzy. I have the little urge to want to stop it.

Our littlest boy is 4 years old this week. Lots of growing into someone so special.

Timelines, Blues and Golds

2010-10-28T11:24:00.008-04:00

We camped under the full moon in my parent's backyard last weekend. Spent the next beautiful day with my whole family wandering around - walking in the creek looking for treasures and found so many. My son walking in the trees - this very spot was an open field when I was his age - full of daisies in the summer - now it is a young forest.

The sun printed "seedling" in blue made a week (or two!?) ago in the warm sunshine. Now the weather has turned - cold, overcast and windy - halloweeny. Our dog is sleeping in the bed instead of at her post in the open window. All the windows are closed all the time.

I have been mostly daydreaming of stitching - been so busy with a bit of freelance work and volunteer projects, keeping the boys busy and happy for fall break. Am working my way back around to fabric and thread. I am missing it - a lot.

Thank you for thoughtful comments on the beetles. I am thinking of more of them - insects. Maybe a big one - with more detail. Kind of funny to be daydreaming of them when there are hardly any left outside - my way of keeping them around a bit longer?

Insects Interwoven

2010-10-16T12:20:00.003-04:00

The beetles are finished and will hang from a branch we found on a walk in the woods. I stitched on them a few days last weekend at the park with the boys - sitting in the sun. Every few minutes a ladybug beetle would land in my hair.

Light

2010-10-07T12:28:00.003-04:00

Grace has a beautiful post about light this morning. Similar thoughts on my mind today as I set up camp for some computer work - I moved everything to sit in the sun. We are sneaking out now to squeeze in some play time with friends - in the sunshine. More soon...

Great Days

2010-10-03T22:09:00.006-04:00

Friday was my birthday. It was a great day and it has been a great weekend. Fun with friends and family and spent a lot of time relaxing with my boys. Henry (6 years old) gave me a card he drew himself in secret - with little swirls and spirals that he knows I love. Calvin (3 years old) gave me a big hug - extra squeezie. My sweet husband surprised me with a new lens for the camera - so I can take close-ups of bugs, leaves and the like. It is suddenly chilly here - so I hope to see at least a few more bugs - but they are quick becoming scarce. I have had fun playing around with it - much more to come - I am just figuring it out. That is my Henry's eye - I have always told him his eyes look like kaleidoscopes.

And I have been stitching a lot on the beetles - more about them soon...

Beetles

2010-09-29T15:18:00.001-04:00

The beetles are growing legs and the quilting is about to begin...

Psst... the spiny oak slug

2010-09-28T22:47:00.003-04:00

Another caterpillar... posted here - our gardening blog.

Intertwined

2010-09-22T13:40:00.004-04:00

I had to just combine photos into one because that's how things are going right now - always I suppose. One thing leading to another all woven together. I am really enjoying Jude's Cloth to Cloth workshop - fabric strips all over the house. Getting used to a new schedule - littlest boy now in preschool for the first time ever. Keeping both boys busy in the time between everything else - have made two trips to this wonderful place and more to come. Playing in the creek. Beetles born of the symmetry on the moth. Things I am learning from Jude's class weaving their way into many things here and there - a new fabric checkerboard for my boys - in fall colors of course.

Camouflage Finds a Home

2010-09-08T09:38:00.003-04:00

I found a home for my moth from the "camouflage" post - a gray/black white-striped cotton fabric. I think the stripes used vertically mimic the grooves of tree bark in a simple way - although I may add in some details with stitch. I laid out the other elements on a base fabric this morning - now to pin them down and start the "glue" stitches. Jude's techniques from the Spirit Cloth Workshop have set me free in getting things started each time. I am enjoying it all so much - thanks, Jude.

Now if I can just finish some of them - the new beginnings are always so much fun.

Late Summer Circles

2010-09-08T09:32:00.002-04:00

Strange Bird

2010-08-29T21:34:00.004-04:00

I spent a few moments looking through a pile of fabric scraps last night and this was the result. Stayed up late working on it and then a bit this morning and afternoon. I seem to always start something new when I am having trouble finding time to work on things I have already started.

Art Nouveau in the Garden

2010-08-24T22:11:00.004-04:00

There has not been much stitching going on here - but we have been watching things grow all around us - plant and animal. My biggest boy has smoothly made the move into first grade and is loving it. A few last plants of the season are showing off their blooms - these anemones have the loveliest art nouveau curves and symmetry. I wanted to post them here for future inspiration...

Ripple Effect

2010-08-14T08:40:00.004-04:00

This bloom is making waves. I am stitching patterns to hold the layers together as one - emphasizing the original elements. I had thought I would stitch to the edge of the brown base but am thinking now of letting the stitched circle shapes be the edge of the stitching.

Pssst....

2010-08-12T09:27:00.004-04:00

I added a subscribe tool to the right-hand sidebar - all the way down. I hope to post in the next few days - we are squeezing in every last fun thing before back to school. I'll be back soon...

Camouflage

2010-07-28T10:10:00.011-04:00

At home last Monday morning - when I was really missing the wild surroundings we had enjoyed on our trip - I discovered this lovely creature on our stone patio. I like it that this moth found it suitable to rest there. Our chair is not a tree - but he was shaded enough to rest there all day - and the grays of his surroundings suited him perfectly. My sons and I checked on him often throughout the day and even played near him and he stayed. He was gone the next morning.

I had wanted to see what the lower wings would look like if opened - but I hadn't had the heart to disturb him.

Return to Real Life

2010-07-26T10:05:00.004-04:00

We were gone and now we are back. These are just a few photos - for a sense of the place. It is strange to be back to cars driving by outside our house and the heat and humidity. We are slowly adjusting.

The story cloth went with me and I worked on it here and there quite a bit - although the things I added seem as if they have always been there.

Offline

2010-07-15T18:03:00.001-04:00

I will be offline for a week or so - but I expect to have much to post about when I am back! Happy Summer!

Avocado Impatience

2010-07-08T21:33:00.004-04:00

Although I made the previous post about the avocado dyeing today I actually took that first piece of fabric out yesterday. So technically I waited one more day after I first saw what the fabrics were beginning to look like. This afternoon it (finally) rained and the hot sun went away for awhile so I just decided the fabrics had been in the jar long enough and took them all out. Total time in the jar - about 5 days. I used the skins from 4 avocados and one pit.

I had placed colored fabrics in the mix as well as some creamy colored cotton. None of them were white to begin with because I don't use pinks very often and that is often what is achieved from using avocado. I had hoped using some colors would give me something different and I am happy with how they turned out. The lightest cream dyed a beautiful shade - the photo does not represent the lighter colors very well - but it is not what I would call pink - it is much warmer than that - I really like it. I like the dark shapes that happened - maybe where the color migrated to the high spots that were sticking out of the liquid? The blue print in the center was very bright and the print on the right was bright yellow - so it toned them down quite a bit - in a nice way I think.

I am encouraged. It was lots of fun. Its' a good thing my six year old likes avocados so much.

Avocado Skins and Pits

2010-07-08T14:33:00.010-04:00

This is my first result - dyeing fabric with dried avocado skins and pits. The darker colored areas have just begun to show up so I am trying to be patient and leave the rest of the fabrics in the jar.

I started with everything - pits cut into pieces, skins and fabrics in a big pot - simmered everything for at least an hour. I tossed in blue, yellow and gold fabric to see what the results might be - we will see.

I put everything into a big glass jar and sat it on the counter for a few days. Then yesterday I put it out in the sun all day and that is when the darker spots (which I like) started appearing. I peak a lot - probably too often - but excited to see things are happening. I have left everything outside in the jar - still in the sun. If I can be patient until then I will take everything out on Saturday - which will have been one week.

Threads

2010-07-07T23:15:00.003-04:00

What if I just discovered I love variegated thread? I used it here - it is a subtle change from color to color, all browns - but a different more living/natural? look than a solid color. I like it.

Gaining Ground

2010-07-06T16:29:00.006-04:00

I have made some progress on this the last few days. The elements have grown connected and I have added a few things here and there. The stitches are growing and changing the fabrics.

I had started to stitch on the top portion but am thinking the growth and stitch upward might be the best. I have the thought that it should just keep growing - how far could it go - upwards and outwards?

Under Construction...

2010-06-29T17:14:00.001-04:00

I am working on moving things around a bit here - but all will settle soon.

Setting Roots

2010-06-29T08:44:00.005-04:00

Spent some time working on this Sunday night and here and there yesterday - while sitting on the front porch.

I think I will work on areas from bottom to top - as it grows - root to stem to leaves to eventually bloom.

Fragments Find a Home

2010-06-24T08:26:00.003-04:00

This is the current state of the cloth I am working on for Jude's online workshop. I am enjoying the experience very much - it has all the wheels turning in my head. I expect to be working on the ideas discussed for quite awhile. A few of my favorite little fabric experiments have found a home on this cloth.

A Base to Begin

2010-06-16T23:15:00.004-04:00

Jude's Spiritcloth Workshop began on Tuesday. This is my base and beginning for a story cloth quilt.

Tomorrow

2010-06-14T09:34:00.003-04:00

This is coming along - I ordered some new supplies - nice markers - waiting on those to draw a bit more on this and keep the stitching going.

Also - Jude's workshop starts tomorrow and I am going to try to post what I am working on for that on this site too. I can't wait to get started. More soon...

Looking Forward

2010-06-09T08:55:00.005-04:00

I am very much looking forward to being a part of Jude's Spirit Cloth Workshop next week. We will be talking about creating personal story cloth. It has me doodling on fabric and thinking about telling a story. I am also just so excited to be in a learning opportunity like this - to be in a continuing education situation again - in conversation with people excited about similar things - in creating.

Something About Connectedness

2010-06-03T09:45:00.007-04:00

Today is my biggest boy's last day of kindergarten. He made two drawings on cards to give to his teachers. I love the way his drawings resemble patchwork. He made the "center of the earth" drawing for his reading teacher - she encouraged his love of science and art in the projects she chose while teaching him to read.

This piece is still moving along - but I see the connectedness it has - to everything.

A Face

2010-06-02T14:19:00.005-04:00

In college I loved my drawing classes, especially figure drawing. I have become so rusty at it - but thinking about it again.

Sometimes I draw faces in my sketchbooks - but they never make it onto fabric.

I stayed up stitching last night and this happened. It's just a start of something...

The Sun

2010-05-29T10:06:00.008-04:00

I was out stitching this morning before anyone else in our house was awake (except the dog) - enjoying some outside time before it gets hot. I added a yellow sun to my three-square piece. The expected high temp for today and
tomorrow is 88˚.

I am thinking of stitching these loose threads down as a breeze.

Loose Threads

2010-05-26T13:46:00.006-04:00

Last week, I spent two or three days on my computer working on a freelance graphic design project - making many words fit on a certain number of pages, etc. When I got back to stitching - it was so much easier for me to loosen up a bit and do things a little bit differently than I normally would - already having spent a few days having to do things just so. I came up with an alternative to my usual "just so machine sewn then hand stitched to finish binding" - just letting all those lovely loose threads remain...

This little piece is slowly growing upward.

This little drawing...

2010-05-19T13:36:00.001-04:00

that I made awhile ago
has finally found a home

Grow and Stitch

2010-05-12T09:14:00.011-04:00

I was pleasantly lost in this last night - stitching the circles round and round over the squares. A few hours before that I had admired the seedlings - always so exciting to watch them emerge and grow. A seemingly simple little thing - but really just amazing that it all works out.

A nine-patch - made me think of Jude.

In the garden I liked this too...

Bug graffiti.

and this one - every year we wonder if it will be back, it makes us wait - and then there it is...

Squares, Triangles and Circles

2010-05-06T09:54:00.002-04:00

All I Need

2010-05-01T22:23:00.009-04:00

Ever since I placed most of my in-progress quilts on "the display wall" I have realized that circles, squares and triangles are all I need when it comes to piecing fabric. I am constantly amazed at what can be accomplished visually by these oh so familiar shapes. I have the time to daydream of what I will make - and not so much time to act on it. Stealing a few minutes to sew on a few triangles and squares can make a gentle ripple really spin. Simple shapes make such an impression and can change everything immediately - I am drawn to that.

I see circles, squares and triangles when I close my eyes to sleep. One of these days I will have the time to sew them all together as I see them.

For now - two little boys are first on the list. So, posts of my quilting progress over the next few months may be few and far between - or mostly photos and not so many words. Please bear with me - I have two so sweet boys to tend to.

The Pink Pillow

2010-04-28T08:22:00.007-04:00

The hand-quilted cushion I have been working on for my mom is done. I always look forward to seeing how the fabric will pucker after a washing. I like the texture created on the cream cotton with all the lines of stitches.

My youngest son showing me his favorite part.

He said, "Let me put my head on it." and then he told me it works just right. We will give it to my mom tomorrow.

"Display"

2010-04-26T09:16:00.010-04:00

I borrowed an idea from Jude, Judy and Jeanna and set-up a fabric wall to have a better look at some of my quilts and squares in progress. It's a little busy to see them all at once. But, I noticed right away how most of them relate to each other, even though I always feel like I am jumping all over the place as I start new things. I now have new ideas of combining some of these quilts. It's pretty clear I have a circle, triangle and square thing going on. They are hanging at the top of the stairs and am reminded of them each time I pass. I put them up on Friday and so many new thoughts have come from this already. It helps in the moments I cannot work on them to think of where they are going - in different directions than I may have originally thought.

My sons love to make displays of their own with their figurines and Legos. They are constantly working on their displays and talking about them - changing them, asking me to photograph them as they have seen me take photos of the things I have created. I put up the fabric wall and quilts while my 6-year-old was at school on Friday. He noticed it right away when he came home and said, "I really like your quilt display." He said this with the confidence of an experienced display creator to me - the beginner. We have worked on his displays together a lot, but he was clearly pleased I decided to try this on my own. I just have to include one of his displays too.

Fossil Pinwheel

2010-04-21T22:33:00.006-04:00

Fossilized

2010-04-14T10:21:00.011-04:00

Thinking about my childhood always brings me back around to thinking about fossils. When I was little, taking walks with my parents and grandparents always involved looking for fossils. I was fortunate to grow up right next to a creek that was (still is) full of fossils. Everywhere you step - there they are. The gravel in the creek bed is made of broken fossilized shells and plant stems and ancient ocean animals. I like being part of a timeline that is so impossible to comprehend.

I have been playing with my new free-motion foot. Not as much as I hope to - too beautiful outside to sit at the sewing machine.

These ones found several weekends ago - hunting fossils with my boys in the same creek I played in when I was little - at my parents' house.

While I am walking in the creek, I like to think about the fossils embedded underground that I can't see - and how many there must be - so many. Some of them look like this - complete with roots...

My boys and I admired this and many more amazing Indiana fossils at the State Museum one afternoon several weeks ago. My boys like fossils too.

Spring Pinwheel

2010-04-09T10:21:00.001-04:00

Blue skies, fern fiddle heads, grape hyacinths and bubbles = Spring.

Front Porch Piecing

2010-04-07T17:07:00.010-04:00

I carried my sewing supplies out to the front porch one evening last week and hand-pieced blue and green triangles. I think I am hooked on hand-piecing for now. I love that I can take it all outside. It is also so much easier for me to get the center points to line up.

I am working on an idea for a larger quilt. Seasonal colors, small doodles and drawings on fabric using a combination of the pinwheel block and card trick layout. I am trying to use some of my painted fabrics - I have a habit of hanging on to them rather than using them.

* Jeana's comment below reminded me I that I forgot to include this photo of what the boys were up to at my feet while I stitched. *

The Spin Again

2010-04-01T08:06:00.002-04:00

I spotted this while walking the yard last night - looking at the emerging plants - hours after I had made my previous post. Sweet woodruff whirls - they have the most lovely spin when you look closely.

Happy Easter and Happy Spring!

The Spin

2010-03-31T08:58:00.006-04:00

The pink is a quilted pillow cover for my mom. I couldn't resist quilting the whirl in the center.

Spin, turn, twirl, twist and whirl. It is the image and idea I have lately for everything I want to make and quilt. I like the way it can be something flowing inward or outward depending how you look at it - or depending how you think of it. It is everywhere outside now - leaves unfurling and untwisting. Petals opening and reaching for the sky. The season changing, turning and spinning. I am thinking a lot about traditional quilt blocks - simple and graphic.

Watching

2010-03-24T23:48:00.002-04:00

Spring Break is upon us - it begins tomorrow and we are very excited. The weather has been up and down, but the good days are great and I am enjoying watching my sons with the sidewalk chalk, bubbles and trips to the park during the day and then watching them drift off to sleep completely exhausted at night. Being outside again is wonderful and not much sewing has gone on here. I have been walking the yard constantly checking for plants emerging. There has been a bit of fabric sorting with projects in mind. We will see what the next week brings. I am looking forward to some creative time with my Spring Break boy and next week's warm weather while we have him at home.

Time Spent Inside and Outside

2010-03-17T10:41:00.001-04:00

Hand Me Downs

2010-03-10T11:09:00.007-05:00

I have been thinking about quilts so much since I returned from the quilt show. My mom and I were newly excited to look through all of the already pieced blocks that came from my grandma's collection. I found out from my mother that a few of my grandmother's relatives and possibly even her friends had given her quilt blocks and fabric at various times - not actually sure which of the blocks are from where. This makes it all kind of funny - the attachments that can form with things just because of who they may have belonged to - then it turns out maybe they didn't. That it is anyone's guess what life these fabrics have had - but the mystery is just as exciting I think. I pulled out this slightly stained circular star - I love the subtle spin the pattern suggests and the slight staining.

My mom chose this pink pieced star from the stash - I have finished appliqueing it to a larger piece and will quilt it to make a pillow for her.

I was given a table this weekend. I put it in my sewing room and it takes up the last bit of space in the center of the room. We will see how it works out - but I am already excited to have a space to leave my cutting mat out and room to spare for boys, dinosaurs and legos. I put all things in progress out on the new table - oh my.

Indiana Heritage Quilt Show

2010-03-10T11:00:00.001-05:00

On Saturday I went to the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show. It was the first quilt show I have ever been to and I was very pleasantly surprised at the mix of both machine quilted, hand quilted and hand appliqued quilts. I took photos of just a few of my favorites and unfortunately I haven't had much luck finding websites to link for the makers of these quilts - which is how I had hoped to post them. My boys and my mom went with me to the show. My oldest son, Henry (6 years old) did pretty well - he had comments and good observations on a lot of the quilts. He even recognized one that looked like his baby quilt that my mother-in-law made for him - a dresden plate. I took a photo of him standing near the small quilts for scale. : ) My mom kindly strolled my youngest around a bit while we looked.

"Parcheesi" - by Amy Bright

"Thirteen Feathered Stars" - by Susan E. Ziel

"Fan-Tastic Foliage" - by Elizabeth Polenz Haase

"Sanity Color Wheel" - by Cassandra L.M. Toth

Update

2010-03-02T19:48:00.006-05:00

I am making enjoyable progress on this - whatever it may become - learning a bit about how to proceed on the next try. Really enjoying the hand stitching and choosing the thread colors. Round and round and round.

I have decided to post to this blog once a week for awhile and see how that goes. Let's say Wednesdays to start off. I may only check in on other blogs once a week as well - although I will be surprised if I can stay away that long. : )

The spring chatter in my home and in my head is too much. I put pressure on myself to post more often and make progress on projects and I think it can get me a little off track of what I really want to make. I need to slow it down just a touch. This blog helps me so much to keep things moving forward creatively - I just need to work on the balance of it all.

AND Spring is here! Well, almost - the sun was shining today and I love the way 40˙ in March can feel like 60˙. It was lovely.

Happy Spring - I am skipping tomorrow - I'll be back next Wednesday, March 10th. Thanks to all who are checking in on me.

Wandering

2010-03-01T17:49:00.004-05:00

I am SO restless right now - flopping back and forth between projects - blaming it all on spring fever - my thoughts are jumping all over the place. So I decided to try and tidy up my sewing room just a little this afternoon and found these neutral blocks I had pieced awhile back. I had used them here and there and then the rest became lost in my sewing room - and then I found them today. So I started another little project - to test an idea for a yet to be started larger idea. It is not supposed to look like a target - so I have some work to do. Some sunshine would really be nice. Blah.

Frost

2010-02-26T09:50:00.000-05:00

Below the Ice and Snow

2010-02-24T10:45:00.013-05:00

We went on a little trip this past weekend and enjoyed several winter walks with our boys. I had a conversation with my six-year-old about animals that hibernate - animals that don't. So I have been thinking a lot about the warm places under the snow, little animals curled up sleeping - how opposite these two things are in winter - above and below. We are missing our little chipmunk friend who lives under the front steps - so I think I will add him in somehow, curled up sleeping below ground - under the wintery tree.

Icy Tree

2010-02-18T16:00:00.001-05:00

Draw

2010-02-18T10:39:00.006-05:00

I have collected so many art supplies over the years - many I still have from college - people give them to me - I save everything, too much usually. But I really very rarely have to buy anything to use in what I make - which is nice. It makes buying anything art related feel like a splurge! So this morning was a splurge - I have new pigma pens - my others were getting a bit dried out. I tried the new ones out on this old dishtowel I had set aside to use for whatever - it has such nice texture.

Lap Quilt

2010-02-17T13:22:00.008-05:00

This quilt began here and I also posted a few photos of it here. I have been working on it now and then over the past year. I backed it with a very soft blue fleece blanket and have hand quilted the top to it. I found this little quilt not long ago - folded up in drawer in my sewing room. I decided to go ahead and put the binding on so that we could use it now. I finished the binding this morning and added the little spiral shell quilting. I washed it with the laundry today because I was excited to see how the quilting would pucker. I am finding that I prefer things heavily quilted - so the hand quilting on this one will continue whenever I get the chance. When I am not working on it - it can be around to keep us cozy.

Patches

2010-02-16T16:54:00.008-05:00

I have been busy just keeping up with the day to day stuff. Daydreaming in bright green with ten inches of snow on the ground. Managing a few clothing repairs - intact knees on pants are rare at our house. My smallest boy barely stood still long enough for the photo.

Right around Valentine's Day there were some very lovely heart-shaped thoughts and photos on mending by Jude Hill and Jeana Marie Blackert.

Pink and Brown

2010-02-10T17:06:00.005-05:00

I will be making another mini-quilt, something like this one - but I wanted to try something different this time. I think this arrangement is a version of the "square deal" block. I am hoping it still has enough contrast that a baby might enjoy gazing at it...

Hands and Feet

2010-02-09T20:38:00.013-05:00

This quilt technically started in July. We went on a weekend trip with my husband's family and one of our projects was printing all of the kids' hands and feet onto fabric. My sister in-laws and I had discussed what would become of these prints, but we kept it a secret from my mother-in-law, Jerry even though she was there and helped us with the kids and the printing. We just said we would be using these for something later on.

Jerry has made beautiful hand-quilted baby quilts for each of her six grandchildren. She has taught me what I know about quilting and I really wanted to make a quilt for her that would be from all of her grandchildren.

I machine quilted everything except around the hands and feet - I carefully quilted around those by hand, right up to the edge of the paint. My favorite was the one(s) done by my nephew, James. He used two pieces of fabric (yellow and blue) and overlapped his hands and foot print.

I machine quilted some circles into the white borders here and there between all the lines.

When I mentioned at Christmas time that I was working on secret projects - this was the one - but I just couldn't get it done in time. Jerry's birthday was last weekend and we gave it to her then. I think we may have surprised her - which is fun.

When I was done with this quilt I was thinking it was the biggest thing I may ever make. But now that I have stepped away from it for only a week or so I am starting to think big again. Two big quilts - very long term - for my boys.

Circles Blue

2010-02-08T13:33:00.002-05:00

It's beginning to look like the blue will be what holds this all together...

Thin Skinned Part II

2010-02-06T18:19:00.015-05:00

It started as three hand appliqued pale yellow circles with a small rose print in each - a twisting strand of embroidery floss stuck to the back as I tried to fit it to a layer of batting and backing. I noticed it stuck there through the white cotton. Then I saw the circles as three egg yolks with this string as veins. As a child I thought the yolk would have become a chick - if I didn't eat it. This isn't exactly scientifically true, I know now how it all works out - but that child thought still flashes through my mind most times I crack open an egg and see the yellow yolk flop out. The veins radiating out are part of that flutter of a child thought.

A circle just seems to want to have something curled up inside of it.

I heavily machine quilted the entire piece. I added just a bit of golden colored acrylic paint to the circles because they just weren't as yellow as they seemed at the start. I am still stitching down some loose ends onto the top layer to echo the veins under the surface...

Thin Skinned

2010-02-06T11:44:00.003-05:00

I find the imagery I am attracted to again and again are tiny things found just below the surface.

I am experimenting with threads quilted in between the batting and the white top layer. I want to work on it just a bit more...

Inside of a Circle

2010-02-05T15:13:00.009-05:00

There are many scraps of fabric that my Grandma gave me that I have never been sure how I would ever use - for whatever reason they just did not appeal to me. I could also never imagine getting rid of them - I keep them because they belonged to her and I can imagine she touched them and looked through them as I do. I have a funny thought about these fabrics - what if my Grandma didn't care for them either and she held on to them for so long because some of them may have belonged to her mother. Of course there is also the fact that when these fabrics belonged to my Great Grandma and even when they belonged to my Grandma - you saved things like used curtains and pillowcases to make something else later on.

I am pretty sure this blue fabric was once a pillowcase - it's one of those pieces I was never sure how to use, maybe a little too feminine. But working on this circle sampler has helped me to see these fabrics in a whole new way. Cropping out one circle at a time - there are all kinds of interesting little areas within the repeating patterns...

I have also added some smaller circles to mix it up a bit - and rotating the stripe patterns where they overlap. I can see this becoming an ongoing long term project and a larger size quilt top than I first had in mind... I am really enjoying working on it.

Winter Walk

2010-02-02T09:25:00.004-05:00

I went for a walk Sunday afternoon - the sun was really shining - which was so nice. I saw some fox? tracks across the frozen pond that reminded me of this. A hawk let me walk oh so close - looked me right in the eye and flew to a higher spot. The patterns in those feathers are just amazing...

Starting a Collection of Circles...

2010-01-31T12:09:00.002-05:00

I am starting a hand appliqued circles quilt top that will be made entirely of fabrics from the quilting and sewing scraps my Grandma gave me. I am going to choose the colors and add on as I go...

Circles With Roots

2010-01-29T09:36:00.004-05:00

I have been working on my hand applique. Just circles - but it's so much fun. It is a slow and quiet process - and portable, which is nice too. I am fond of that curling and wandering strand of spare thread - a tiny seedling root searching for the good soil. Thoughts of starting seedlings for spring and getting my hands in the dirt are what I am thinking of - but the ground outside is covered in snow...