Fabric Journal Covers, Postcards and Stitching on Satin

It has been a busy winter so far but I finally finished a few journal covers.  I hope to add some to my Etsy shop and will bring a few to Fibre Fling 5 in April as well.   The way I assemble these is kind of complicated (for me!) but works well.  The only problem is that I need to add the landscape first so very careful measuring needs to happen all the way along.  I always forget to take photos while I am working so each time I need to look at a finished journal and copy the steps:)  They are time consuming but I like to have a few for each show I attend.  The skies are all painted satin and the landscape is made up of fused cottons which I machine stitch.  These are approx. 6 x 8".     I am working on one in fuschia that's not quite finished yet.

While I am painting satin for skies and machine stitching I usually make a few postcards as well because they are made with a similar process.   Here are two that are ready for backing.

When working with these satin skies I kept seeing silhouettes of trees in front of sunset or dawn skies ( I guess I am not quite finished with sunsets - my 2015 theme!).   I decided to try embroidering trees onto the satin.  I had been doing some stitching on felt which I LOVE because it is so easy to stitch and so forgiving.  Not so with satin.   It needs a lot of TLC, sharp needles and gentle stitching.  I am happy with the results though.  It was what I had visualized before beginning.  If you zoom in to the trees in the first one you will see sparkles!   I discovered that sparkle chainette worked very well for the few 'leaves' still remaining on the trees and scattered on the ground.  If you haven't discovered sparkle chainette, go to Lorraine Stobie's online shop   Colour Complements where you will find a wonderful selection of her dyed threads.  They are my favourite threads to work with (she has perle cottons, rayon, silk, chainette and more) and they come in a wide range of yummy colours!

I am so thrilled with felt these days so I am needle felting on pieces of ready made felt and adding hand stitching.   Unfortunately I framed this next one before photographing so this photo is not very accurate but you can get an idea of it.    So  relaxing to spend the evening stitching circles on felt!   I even did a tiny daisy piece on felt for the spring show.  I am developing an idea for our coming exhibition at the Textile Museum that involves needle felting and hand stitching on felt.  Our theme will be Colour Unboxed (Out of the Box Fibre Artists).

'Circling'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this one is 3 x 3' approx

I attended a workshop on Monday where we did some Gelli Plate printing on papers and fabric.  It was my first time using a Gelli plate and it was a lot of fun!   It worked especially well on smooth card and rough watercolour paper.  I used both acrylic paints which gave vibrant colours, and fabric paints - mostly translucent - which worked better over opaque base layers.  I think I need more practice but I have several new ideas of things to use to make marks and interesting designs.  I haven't taken photos of my results but I have begun hand stitching a couple of printed fabrics.

We had a mostly mild winter with little snow on the ground until last week when we got a dump of 51 cm in less than a day.   Since then the weather has turned nasty with more to come tomorrow.   And we thought winter was over.......

 Bring on Spring!!

Here Comes Fibre Fling 5

Out of the Box Fibre Artists are getting ready for our fifth annual Fibre Fling Show and Sale  in Ottawa on April 8 and 9.   And if last night's meeting is any indication, it promises to be the best ever!!     Lots of wonderful Show and Tell at the meeting which will hopefully find its way to our show!   Last year 44 artists exhibited 253 pieces including art quilts, embroidery, mixed media, rug hooking,  dolls, felting, wearables, framed art and much more.   Besides our exhibition, we will have a sales area of smaller items like cards, jewelry, small felted pieces, framed stitchery, journals, scarves and other wearables, bowls, etc etc etc.      I will post more info on my Exhibition page.  You can also visit us at out-of-the-box.org  or look for us on Facebook - Out of the Box Fibre Artists.

January Always Brings Renewed Inspiration

I find that my creativity takes a nose dive around holiday time with so many other things crowding my mind so I confess that I love to see January and February arrive - bad weather and all!


After my shows were finished for the year, I finished working on an art quilt I had started in the summer.  It has been a long time since I made an actual quilt.  I entered it in the SAQA show - My Corner of the World Canada.  It didn't make it into the exhibition but I still have plans for it.  It was mostly machine stitched with photo transfers of a caribou and park sign and is approx 21" x 26".  It was a good exercise for me and there were a few technical issues along the way which always add to the challenge.

Protect Our Parks

Photo transfer of Caribou  taken in Gros Morne Area

The sign says "Your fees at work.  Thank you" with a Parks Canada logo.  It was placed at the entrance of one of the trails.  When I saw the sign I knew it needed to find its way into a quilt.

Before Christmas I took out some tissue that I had glued and layered,and I painted and hand stitched them.  They became my Christmas cards.  The cards themselves were pretty odd colours I admit but they worked well with the colours of the tissue.

I splattered paint on some for snow flakes

I added birds and/or squirrels to these later on

After Christmas I gave myself the gift of time.   First I cleaned my work space and once everything was sorted and new discoveries were made, I started playing.  First I took out my felting tools and did a couple of small felted and hand stitched landscapes just for fun!  I had to stop myself from stitching too much and covering all the felted bits and I did feel that they were never quite finished - being so used to major stitching on my pieces.   But I enjoyed the process.

When shopping for gifts I couldn't help but notice the proliferation of colouring pages, colouring  note cards etc for adults.    So I grabbed my 4 x 6" sketch book and started designing my own pages with a pigma pen then colouring them with markers.  Oh my, what fun!!  I spent hours just drawing and colouring.   It really is addictive!

this one might be upside down:)

Woodpecker and Fox

Feathers and foliage

Flowers and more flowers

Rocks and Trees and Water.....

I made copies before I coloured them in and am toying with the idea of printing the uncoloured pages on postcards for sale.   I would need to work on refining some designs first of all.    I made some 8.5 x 11" pages too which I left uncoloured.     Not sure if this will go anywhere or if  I just needed a break from working towards shows and sales, themes and deadlines....

This one is not quite finished

Flowers!

I just ordered a couple of GELLI printing plates because I am taking part in a workshop in February.  I am excited about this new learning experience and how I can incorporate it into my work which is leaning more and more towards painted backgrounds and hand stitching. Nevertheless I did buy some new fabric with Christmas $$.  

I also hope to work on some of my UFOs this year .........and Out of the Box Fibre Artists have an exhibition next December at the Textile Museum with the theme of Colour Unboxed.    Hope I have some inspiration in that direction soon..  I am thinking about entering pieces in Threadworks too because I love the theme -  'Flashback'.   

Sounds like a busy year shaping up -   must remember to maintain some balance.

A Happy and Healthy New Year to all!

$100 and Under Christmas Sale

Stitched Journals

Here are a few examples of items I plan to bring to the $100 and Under Christmas Sale in Carp, Ontario December 4-6.   This is a unique show with all items priced at $100 or less.  See show details below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Unique Fabric Under Glass Jewelry

Fabric Beaded Necklaces

Framed Stitched Art

     

Don't forget this weekend I am at the Shenkman Arts Centre in Orleans for Baz'ART.   Please see my Exhibition page for more details.

Recent Workshop with Mary Pal, Glebe Craft and Artisan Fair and Baz'ART

This weekend I will be selling my textile art and jewelry at the Glebe Community Centre in Ottawa.   This is a great juried show with a variety of quality handmade items - jewelry, art work, wood turning, clothing, glass art, products made from recycled items, paper art - just to name a few.    I will post details of the show in my Exhibition section.

Next weekend - November 28 and 29 - I will be showing my work at the Shenkman Arts Centre in Orleans.     Besides a wonderful variety of hand made items and art works, there will be demonstrations, music and information about local arts organizations, with a variety of theatre performances throughout the weekend.   Their galleries will also be showing various artists' work.
Baz'ART



Here are a few hand embroideries I will be taking with me this weekend - I'll have lots of new jewelry too.   These pieces were stitched using floss as well as my favourite variegated threads from Colour Complements.

Fern

Lavender Fields

Poppy Fields - I cut individual petals for foreground/french knots in background

 I have to show you the results of a wonderful workshop I took part in recently - working with cheesecloth with Mary Pal.  Mary is a great teacher and shared her knowledge freely.   Her work is amazing!!
Mary Pal Designs


I used a photo of my cat to create this piece with painted background. The white part is done with the cheesecloth.

And here is my cat - not the photo that I used though

Hope to see some of you at my shows!!

West Carleton Arts Society Show

It looks like I took the summer off blogging!  It wasn't intentional.  I spent the summer creating new work, went camping in Quebec at Mont Megantic to visit the observatory there, and I just came back from my annual Hike the Highlands festival in Cape Breton.

I am taking part in several shows this fall and the first of these is Expressions of Art with the West Carleton Arts Society.   This show takes place on Thanksgiving weekend at the Carp Fairgrounds (Agricultural Building).   I will post more information on this show on my Exhibitions page.  See more details    here   
 video

 Here are a few of the new pieces I plan to display at this show.

Sunset over Cavendish Beach

Sentinels of the Forest in Spring

Focal Point

Wildflowers II

 Of course I will also have some new fabric pendants, postcards and journals.  

It is my first time at this show and I am having a few challenges with finding ways to display my work on grids especially my smaller pieces which don't fit properly on my grid hooks.  I will need to be innovative.


In mid November I will be at the Glebe Community Centre for the annual Glebe Craft and Artisan Fair, and the following week I will take part in Baz'ART at the Shenkman Centre in Orleans.  I will be posting more information about these shows on my Exhibition page soon.

My new grandson is five months old already and a happy healthy growing boy!  I don't like to post photos of him without permission but take my word for it, he is a cutey!!

I was at my friend's condo on Sunday and we went up to the roof to watch the eclipse......

Juat Beginning

Clouds rolled in so the final photos are not so defined

An added treat to see the city at night