March TIF Completed!!!

After a lot of dithering, thinking, and just plain agonizing, I decided that this project is my March TIF. It's a small book, covered with fabric that I created and embellished. The challenge was about the details of life- what could be more emblematic of a busy life than a book to keep track of all the details??



And the back of the book--



The fabric is one of the pieces I painted with Setacolors and bleeding tissue paper last summer- see my blogpost from July 16, 2007. Then I used several different colors of Shiva paintstiks over a rubbing plate which I overlapped quite a bit. The shapes are hand-dyed silk organza (fused with MistyFuse) that I machine quilted. Lastly, I embroidered some seed stitching, using a hand-dyed floss that was a gift from Ferret in the UK. The colors are probably indicative of how color-starved we are in the desert southwest by March, and hungry for spring.

The crochet cotton I used to bind the book is also hand-dyed- I did four different values in the blue dye-pots from this weekend, and used the one that coordinated the best.

Not only is this my March TIF, it also will be part of the Pay It Forward package I will be sending to Kimmi. I hope you like it, Kimmi!

Now I can focus on getting the studio cleaned up before we leave for the weekend!

A little something quilty-- and more

It was a busy week at work, some late nights- so I never got anywhere near the studio. Then a lot of this weekend was spent cleaning, budget planning for the month and menu planning for the week- so I only got a little time to play today. And most of that was de-stress time from a scare this morning.

I'd planned to stop and drop off my HOA payment on the way home from church. After church, I realized I'd forgotten to bring an envelope. No big deal, I'm running low, so I'll just stop at Shopko on the way and grab a box. Got up to the checkout, it came to a whole $1.48. I ran my debit card, and to my amazement it came up denied. I tried again, and still no luck- so I left the store without my envelopes. Then I figured I'd go to a nearby branch of my credit union, get some cash at the ATM, and get the envelopes. The same thing happened there. Now I am scared- I KNOW I have plenty to cover either of the withdrawals, I was just checking my accounts online on Saturday!! All I could think of was identity theft, or someone hacking their way into my account. By the time I got home, I was just a step this side of panic. I got online- to find out that my accounts were intact, just where they should be. So what the heck happened?? I will be visiting the credit union tomorrow morning to find out. My son Sean called to let me know that he also had trouble with his debit card, it would only work as a credit card- so maybe it was something nationwide. I just know I was scared.

So I went into the studio to de-stress. I'd been thinking about making a covered book for a friend who just got through some very difficult times with her family. Shannon decided she wanted to make one for herself,so we pulled out my hand dyes and painted fabrics, and anything else I had in terms of embellishments. And here is what we got done today, we are letting the glue set until tomorrow to finish.

Mine--



And Shannon's--



We both used Angelina fibers and hand-dyed silk organza. I added some hand-dyed cheesecloth and some beading. They are glued onto the front covers, tomorrow hopefully we'll finish them. Unless we actually make it to the free yoga class at our Hari Krishna temple, then maybe on Tuesday!

I set the snowy mountain piece aside all week. I looked at it again, and I'm torn. I still like the idea of trying to capture this image in my head, but I've been thinking a lot about Nellie's suggestion to cut it up. Maybe I won't cut this one up, but maybe I'll try doing something like her ortwork technique. She has done such a wonderful job of capturing the many moods of Lake Michigan (or is it Superior, I can't remember!) with lots of small pieces of fabric. I have a sizeable stash of bitty pieces, so that would be very doable. I've got that idea in the back of my head. In the meantime, I'm posting a picture of the piece as it looks today, after lots of machine embroidery and some hand stitching.



I know I need to add some shadows in the snow area, it is just flat. I'd probably use a fabric pen, that would be the easiest to control. But I would love to know what you think of the piece so far. It is so frustrating when you can see something in your mind, and the efforts to bring it to life just aren't working. Ah well- it will either be successfully brought to completion, or I will have one more to add to my crap quota!!

I don't know if I will be able to stand another eight months of electioneering. I am amazed at the narrow minded stupidity that permeates some layers of our country. I am both pulled in and repulsed!!

Thanks!!

I appreciate the comments on what you do with pieces that don't seem to be going where you want. Interestingly, two artists talked about adding more layers or cutting it up. I am absolutely not opposed to cutting up unsuccessful work- I just wonder if more abstract pieces would work better at that. Or, I could end up with a very abstract landscape! I may play around with my inks, see if some pale gray shadows could add some dimension. And I like the idea of just letting it sit for awhile, maybe later it will speak to me and tell me what it needs. Probably in mid-July when it is 90 degrees outside!!

So now I am reconsidering what to do for my PIF piece. I have a few ideas incubating- I just know I want it to be quality work. And the landscape I think will spend some time in the closet, until I'm ready to give it another chance at completion.

Updates. . .

I don't have pictures yet, but I have made progress on the landscape for PIF. I have the mountains fused to the sky, did machine embroidery until my bobbin ran out, and then did some hand embroidery over that so I could see if it would give me the effect I want. So far, I am happy. And, I am happy to finally have a use for my Tsukineko inks and fabric markers, they were part of the process too! So maybe later tonight I will have enough done for a picture.

Sharon B. has posted the concept and colors for the March TIF challenge. I like the concept, paying attention to the details. The color palette I'm not so sure about, it looks pretty dark to me. So the jury is out as to whether I'll use it or not. It looks like a fall palette to me, wonder if that is because Sharon is in Australia, where fall is on its way? Me, I am ready for spring greens and yellows!

As for the concept, initially my mind went right to the many closeup photos I've taken since I got my Canon digital. I love the macro feature! I like nature images, and have plenty of my own to choose from. Then I cruised around the webring, reading some other posts on the March challenge. One got me thinking in another direction. Details, when I worked as a mental health therapist, it was all about the details. The unspoken information, eye contact (or lack thereof), body language- all that played into how I viewed the client and our work. How I would translate that into a visual image, I have no idea at this point- but it is something to ponder while I'm stitching on the PIF piece.

And, Karey Bresenhan announced on the Quiltart list that there will be a journal quilt exhibit this year. It will have a theme (Elements- Fire, Air, Water, Earth), and will be juried so they can control the size of the exhibit. So I googled elements, and came up with some interesting sites and information. I also found several quizzes to help you determine which element you are. Mostly, I come up as Earth. Interestingly, I also learned that Jung's personality theories are based on the early philosophers' ideas about the elements, which in turn influenced other theories of personality- like the Meyers-Briggs. I have plenty of time for this one, but it would be fun to come up an image that integrated both my love of nature, and something related to my 'other' profession.

Off to church, and then to stitch!

Painted Skies and PIF

I wanted to work on my Pay It Forward piece this weekend, before I'm preoccupied with other projects. I've had an idea percolating, even did a quick colored pencil sketch--



I want to capture a somewhat abstracted image of snow covered mountains against a gray or stormy sky, and use both machine and hand embroidery in the process. I'm not crazy about cold weather, but I love the look of snowy mountains with the evergreen trees. At the base of the mountains we have brown gray beigy sage and weeds, but there is another plant that turns bright red and orange in the cold weather- I think maybe it is called barmbrack, but I'm not absolutely positive. Anyway, for someone who feels color starved in the winter, they are a welcome relief from gray and brown.

So after getting the laundry started, I went down and tried painting a stormy, gray sky, maybe at either first or last light of the day. I've never felt as good about my results with fabric paint as with dyes, even trying to follow the suggestions in Mickey Lawler's book Skydyes.

Here's what I got, not completely dry yet. It may work for what I have in mind, I may try painting another one. The white blobs on it are rock salt, and I made folds in the fabric as it tried to try to create movement.



Hopefully, I'll get more done this weekend. We have the grandson Saturday afternoon to Sunday night, so that remains to be seen!!

P I F

Meaning, Pay It Forward! If you haven't seen this in blogland before now, it's simple. The first three people to leave a comment on my blog, stating their intention to join the fun, will get a handmade gift from me. In return, you agree to post the "Pay It Forward" message on your blog, and do the same for the first three people who comment on yours. I'm carrying on the "random acts of kindness" from Linda T. Minton of Fiber Reflections.

My gift could be a small journal size quilt, could be a fat quarter of art cloth-- I haven't decided yet, and probably won't be able to work on it until closer to the holidays. But I do promise you will have it within six months. And, if you have a preference, I'd be happy to do what I can to please. I truly enjoy bringing pleasure to others with my work. So, leave a comment and join the fun!!

I got together with a group of friends on Friday, and had fun learning how to make a book cover. Jalaine found some books we could take apart at the dollar store, and we used scraps of fabric and any embellishments we could think of to recover them. I also found out that washers make cool embellishments, especially after you paint them, hit them with embossing powder, and then the heat gun!

Here's mine, the left one already glued to the cover. It will go on the front of the book.



The other one is waiting to be glued to the cover, with no bumpy embellishments since it will be on the back. The background is fabric I painted awhile back, the rest is from my stash of small scraps. This was fun enough I'll do it again, as long as I can find more books that are easily taken apart.

I also got a Christmas present done- but no posts of that one!

Looking forward to hearing from others who want to play and pay it forward!