I love long weekends!!

I've had five days to play in the studio- doing both fiber and soap- oh, and a new addiction that goes hand in glove with the soaping.  But first to fiber.

I got Reclamation (or whatever it ends up being named, I'm not sure yet) faced.  I still have a sleeve and label to add, but those are no-brainer tasks I can do during the week after work.  I am happy with it- but it is still talking, and telling me it needs more!  I keep seeing metal on it, so I think I will have to walk the aisles at Home Depot to see if any inspiration strikes.  Do they make copper washers?  I doubt it, but what I keep seeing are copper circles.

I loved doing the hand embroidery.  I have a smaller piece of this fabric left that has more gray in it- I'm thinking of doing something similar, but doing the quilting in gray instead of the gold, and seeing what it does.  I think I have some gray fabric I auditioned for a border, also.  Something to play with this winter.

I also worked on my Tangled Textiles piece- but if you want to see that, you'll need to head over to the TT blog.

I got the last of my Christmas soaping done this weekend.  The Christmas colored soaps turned out well, just need a little cleaning up after they've cured a month or so.  I am getting better at this swirling business!!

 The Christmas soaps are scented with a blend of Champagne and pomegranate fragrance oils, and the bottom one with Champagne and ginger fragrance oils.  They smell heavenly!
 

The lavender swirl soap is scented with lavender, coriander and eucalyptus essential oils.  I'd used the coriander blended with other essential oils before, and not been happy with the result.  With the lavender, it is fantastic.

And, I felted some of my older soaps that were still perfectly usable but had lost most of their scent.  I finally got the hang of using the really nice Merino wool to felt after a couple of failures.  The trick is to lay down lots of very thin layers of fiber- I think I did about six.  With a coarser wool, I was only doing three layers, and it worked. With the Merino wool, not so much. The top one is done with a variegated roving I got in Grand Junction this summer- it made some lovely soaps, all very different!

And, this weekend I used my tall and skinny mold I made last weekend for the first time.  I made another rendition of my Rose Clay and Charcoal soap, this time with a dandelion zebra swirl.  I will be trying this again!

The soap at the top of the picture is upside-down- but I like the way the swirl looks from that perspective.  It reminds me of a mountain with the moon rising behind it.  I think I'm going to play with that technique again, and see what I can do with that image.  And, I am very happy with my tall and skinny mold!
 
I worked on my labels and packaging- I do have some orders for soap for Christmas!  If you can't tell, I really am enjoying this.

Saturday Marly and I tried something new- we made lotion.  I only needed to get a couple of ingredients, since I already had the oils from soaping.  It was so easy- it took longer to measure and heat the ingredients than it did to make.  And the lotion is fantastic!  We scented it with lavender and coriander, like the soap.  I will be doing more of this, and never buying commercial lotion again!

But tomorrow it's back to work, at least for a couple of days. Then I'll be back in the studio, quilting my TT piece.  Hopefully I can get that done next weekend!

Tangled Textiles- 'Digital'

We had our reveal for our latest Tangled Textiles challenge last week- Music.  Here's what I came up with:

I thought a lot about this challenge before I started looking at fabric.  I considered the visual aspects of music- the staffs, the lines that denote the notes- all of which are straight.  I thought about the feel of music, which to me seemed to be best represented by curved, flowing lines.  How to combine the two?

I started searching through my stash, and came across this piece that I did last summer on my week-long dye fest.  I liked the straight lines on it, and the 'exclamations' provided by the Rorschach-like images at points along the lines.  Honestly, it reminded me of an echocardiogram readout- but that has a beat, just like music!

I quilted it in flowing, curved lines.  That showed me how rusty my free motion skills have gotten.  After the quilting, I hand embroidered the 'notes.'

 

After I'd completed it, I asked my son if it 'said' anything to him,  He immediately responded that it looked like a readout of digitally recorded music.  That made this whole creation complete, and also gave it a name- 'Digital'.

We had lots of fun pieces for this challenge.  Hop on over to the TT blog and see what the others have done!

 

Back to Work

I took vacation time from Christmas until January 6- I've spent the last couple of days trying to get back into the work mode.  I certainly had plenty to keep me busy!

I didn't get to spend anywhere near the time in the studio I'd hoped for.  I did get a little bit of dyeing done.  I tried some more snow dyeing- after my last success overdyeing dogs, I got more dogs with my subsequent tries.  I just don't know if it is worth the hassle!

I did some scarves.  

I was really happy with the one on the right.  The one on the left, I ended up overdyeing with some blue.  It's not as gray as it looks in this photo, it really is a pretty shade of blue.

I did a knit infinity scarf that turned out to be boring orange red.  I went at with Shiva paint stiks and a rubbing plate, and it is much better!

Another infinity scarf was printed first with white paint, then dyed black- I thought.  I did everything right, and ended up with this insipid green.

Apparently the black dye I used was too old- it's the only explanation I can come up with.  So I overdyed it with a black dye I knew I'd gotten within the past year.  I also upped the amount of salt in the dye bath, and dumped in dye concentrate above and beyond a 10% DOS.

It's not quite black, but it is a nice neutral dark charcoal gray.  And my printing held up over two dye baths and washing, so I will be doing that again.

I spent most of January 2 helping to install a show at the Woodbury Art Museum in Orem.  My art quilt group will have a show there from January 14 to March 4, and it looks like it will be really nice.  It not only features quilts, but hand dyed fabric and other fiber.  Here's a sneak peek at one part-

All of us made fabric leaves, then we hung them on this tree.  It looks very cool!

I also got my Tangled Textiles piece finished- but that reveal will happen this weekend.  One thing I did learn with this one- my free motion quilting skills are rusty.  I need to get some practice in before I quilt Michelle's pink quilt.

That's what I've been up to- hopefully I'll have more to report in the coming weeks.  Stay warm!

Absemt Blogger

is what I feel like I've been.  Either I haven't been doing anything worth posting about, or life has just been too hectic.  And, now that I have an iPad, I've found I get out my laptop much less.  If they'd make the Blogger app more user friendly, I might use that to post more regularly- but it is a PITA.

I have gotten some stuff done in the studio this weekend- having four days really helps!  After seeing what some other dyers were doing with Dye Magnet, I decided I had to try it again.  I bought it last year, and wasn't overly impressed with my initial results.  This time I had a little better luck.  My favorite piece of the ones I did . . . 

I wanted a mottled background, and was happy with what I achieved here.  I used a couple of my Thermofax screens.

I also used one of my Thermofax screens to do this rayon scarf.  I used mostly Cerulean blue, with some splashes of navy, turquoise, and sky.  Again, I wanted a mottled background against the darker image.

It's now sitting in my closet, waiting for an opportunity to be worn! 

This is the last of the pieces I did with a Thermofax screen.  I wanted to see what would happen with a mixed color rather than a pure, so I used a light value of charcoal gray.  Interesting what the component colors did. . . 

I also tried using a stencil I bought last spring at HMQS, using a silk screen to apply the product.  I can definitely see cutting this into pieces to use in a quilt- but it's interesting what the colors did.  I think I used light red and grape on this one.

On the last one, I tried using a few of my stamps- some I'd cut, others are the big foam stamps you can find at any craft store.  I don't think the product works as well with stamps as with screens.  I will probably overdye this one.  I wanted to see what would happen if I folded the pieced, since I knew I'd get interesting dye effects with that.  It ended up with lots of white.

I think I used lemon yellow and light red on this one.  I was surprised by the color that showed up where I'd used Color Magnet.  I was expecting red, since it is the quickest color to strike.  Instead, I got a kind of taupy-gray.  With a nice apricot overdye, I think this one will be fine.

And just to show how behind I am, here's my completed quilt for our last Tangled Textiles reveal that happened in mid-September.  I was trying for a modern design that combined my hand dyed fabric with a solid color.  I was pretty pleased with how this turned out.

I wanted the quilting to give the sense of the wind blowing- I really like how that turned out.  And, the gray background does highlight the hand dyed fabric.

We are off next Thursday for Breckinridge, Colorado, for my second son's wedding.  It will be a relatively small affair, but it will be good to see Ian and Corey again, even if only for a couple of days.  So I probably won't be blogging next weekend, either!!

Michael Berry G!allery Show Opening

Friday night our Utah Surface Design biannual gallery show opened at the Michael Berry Gallery in downtown Salt Lake.  I helped to start hanging the show last weekend, and came up to Salt Lake Friday afternoon to photograph the gallery and every piece for the group.  I'll have those to show later- I haven't even had a chance to get them off my camera!

Most of my family made it up for the opening, so I got Sean to take a picture of me with my piece, using my iPhone.  So here you have it- after all that work, my baby is out in the world!

John Hess had two beautiful dimensional and holographic weavings in the show, one hanging below Autumn Splendor.  Marilyn Fashbaugh's quilt is hanging to the right of mine, and two fantastic hand dyed silk scarves are below.  (If my memory is any good, Judy Elsley did the one on the left, and Sally Wilkinson the one on the right.)  I can't remember who did the weaving on the left side of my quilt- it was also at the Weaver's Guild show earlier in the year, and caught my eye there.

The show is beautiful, it came together really well.  Lisa Chin, another USDG member, has lots of pictures posted on her blog here.   Enjoy them, because I have no idea how long it will take me to get all the pictures I took off my camera and edited!

I am now frantically working on my next Tangled Textiles piece, due the 30th.  I was going to piece it, but decided that I just didn't have the time, and my idea would lend itself equally well to fusing.  So it is all ready to be machine quilted.  Now to just to find the time and energy to get that done!  (I'm sensing another mental health day home from work on the horizon!!)

Hope your week is a creative one!

The blur that was March. . .

I haven't vanished from the planet, or given up my art- life just managed to take over this past month.  I'm still getting used to having a three year old in my home again.  She is a delight, but has more energy that all four of the adults in the home.  Calling her the Energizer Bunny would be an understatement.

I have been steadily plugging away on the second piece in the Walk in the Woods series- all I have left is a label and sleeve, and that has to be done by Saturday when it is delivered to a gallery in Salt Lake to be part of the Surface Design show.  I am happy with how it has developed.

I finished the edge with zigzag and rat tail cord- kind of like with yarn, but I like the smooth finish the rat tail cord has.  I don't think I've ever gone through so much thread with a quilt, but it was worth it.

So now I have two weeks to complete the next piece for my Tangled Textiles group- Remnants.  I think I am going to use the remnants from some previous quilts.  The color palette certainly appeals, it is so evocative of spring.  

I'm thinking this quilt is going to have lots of negative space.  I really like the clean look of the modern quilts with that design esthetic.  We'll see what I can come up with.

Tangled Textiles Challenge: Beginnings

Multiple Beginnings, 2012

16 X 16

Hand dyed and commercial cottons, machine pieced and quilted

This is my latest challenge piece with the Tangled Textiles online group.  The theme was Beginnings.  This one has two meanings for me: my love of beginning the day with a walk outside among the trees and farmlands in my area, and walking through the woods in Michigan on a camping trip with my son Ian and his fiance.  My inspiration came from these photos that I took on that camping trip.

I wanted to capture the myriad of greens, the sense of light and shadow coming through the trees, and the vertical lines of the tree trunks. The trees were just starting to show signs of fall color, and I wanted to capture that also. I think I did.

I fell victim, however, to what Jane Sassaman calls the 'tragedy of the literal', mainly in my quilting choices.  I'm just not happy with the quilting in the upper and very lower sections of the quilt- too literal.  And, I've about decided that the more modern quilts that use strip piecing and odd geometrics don't always lend themselves to the hyper-quilting that is so prevalent today.  I think I'd be happier with simple vertical and horizontal lines.  That would also have lent itself to some hand embroidery, which I'd wanted to do but decided against once the quilting was done.  In the detail shots, you can see how closely the top portion is quilted.

 I used a variegated thread in this, and I was surprised at how light it looks compared to when I puddled it on the quilt.  It's all shades of green, but a lot of it reads almost like white.  It tends to minimize the piecing lines much more than I was anticipating.

I'm determined to make this freeform piecing my own, which I figure is going to take some doing since so many artists have utilized this way of working.  Right now I'm thinking the biggest struggle I'll have is finding a quilting style that complements the simplicity of the piecing.  The literal-ness of this quilting just isn't working for me, so my next iteration of this will try something different.  I am certainly open to suggestions and input!
  
I am linking this post to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday group.  There are plenty of other artists with interesting posts over there!

Gigabyte

or, computers from the perspective of a fiber artist!  Our theme was 'Architecture', but I knew from the outset that I wanted to do something other than a building.  When I stumbled on a definition of architecture that included information technology, I knew I had my inspiration.   My son suggested I google 'gaming computers' to find an inspiration photo, and I found several that I thought would lend themselves to interpretation in fabric.  Here's my inspiration. . . 

and here's my finished piece.

I embellished with actual computer parts I got from my brother, who had built computers.  I liked what the text fabric added- to me, that represented communication- and computers have become a huge part of communication just in my lifetime.  I quilted it all over with a straight line kind of stipple, which was a challenge to keep the scale somewhat consistent.  And, I did a skinny (1/8") binding, something I've wanted to try for awhile.  

It was a fun one to do- I think I will mount this one on painted canvas.  Who knows, maybe one of the techies in my family will end up with it.

Off the List!!

I love days when I check lots of stuff off my 'to do' list.  I don't mean laundry and grocery shopping, I mean art stuff.  This weekend I've managed to get several projects that have been on that list done, and on their way to new owners!

I already posted my Green piece, the last challenge for the Tangled Textiles group.  I was happy with it, but wanted to add a little hand embroidery.  And then I decided it would have more presence if it were mounted on a stretched canvas.  The 16 X 16 size fits perfectly on a 20" canvas, so I bought several.  I got acrylic paints, and messed around mixing colors that I thought would compliment the fiberart.  I was really happy with the end result!

I did not want a solid paint color, but something more like my hand dyes.  I did an undercoat of dark green, then painted yellow and brown on top, purposely letting the green color show through in some areas.  I love the effect this gives, and how well it frames the quilt.  It is now on its way to my son in Chicago, a present for his 30th birthday.

The hand embroidery turned out to be pretty subtle.

It follows along the pathway I quilted, kind of like the greenery that borders our walking trails.

I got the ugly green-orange fabric from last week overdyed in turquoise.

They came out fairly different.  The one on the left has much larger patterning, and more turquoise showing.  Both remind me of underwater imagery.  And, I am much happier with them now!

And this quilt is done!  I got it trimmed, bound, sewed on a sleeve, and got it labeled.  I am so happy to have this one completed.

I learned a lot of lessons with this one.  I'm happy with the effects I got with the Shiva paintstiks, that part of the quilt finally has the emphasis I wanted.

I thought about making the outside edge curvy, to mimic the curves of the hand dyed fabric.  Turns out I didn't like it, so the only curves are on the corners.  I did cut back the black a fair amount.  This one will be delivered to its new owner tomorrow!

I think tomorrow will be a day of rest.  After church, we have tickets for a minor league ball game.  I just hope they aren't on the side of the stadium facing west!!

Tangled Textiles Reveal

Yesterday was the reveal for the latest Tangled Textiles challenge.  The theme was Green- so I was a happy camper, since I love the color.  And since it is spring, I chose to celebrate the color in nature.  I originally thought I'd use more limey greens with red violet, but the piece wanted to go a different direction- so here it is.

City Creek Walk, 2012

My processes and thoughts are on the Tangled Textile blog, and you can also look at what others in the group have done.  Here's a closeup look at the quilting and embroidery--

I had fun with this one.  The embroidery is from my own photos.  I'm hoping to come back from my trip to Reno and the Sierras with lots more photographic inspiration, and a much better understanding of my camera and how to use it.

More Moab (and a bit of a teaser!)

One of the side trips we took in Moab was to the Hole in the Rock.  It's a home that a couple literally carved out of a huge rock.  No photos allowed inside, but it was fascinating.  This is the official website for the place, and at least shows a photo of what it looks like from the outside.

What fascinated me was the unique sculptures they had on the grounds.  Most were life size or larger, made of bits of rusty metal.  Like this bull--

Neat, no?

I loved this golfer, who was taller than I am.

And if you can't tell what he's made from, here's a closeup of his hand--

Apropos, no??

This jeep looks like you could drive it away- until you give it a close look.

Those tires would provide a rather rough ride, I think!!

And lest you think that I've been doing nothing in the studio, here's a teaser of my Tangled Textiles piece, which I should have done by the end of the week.  I've got to have it posted before I leave for Reno Saturday!

This one took a different direction from what I'd originally planned, but I'm pleased with the results so far.  Reveal is this weekend!