Neon Cha Cha

This is another piece in my series I've decided to call my Serendipity Series. Each piece in the series is made up, primarily, of pieces leftover from previous quilt projects. This time I gathered up all the really bright colored scraps from cutting my 8" blocks and interspered them with solid black homespun. It hung on the wall for several weeks while I tried to figure out the quilting. Once that was decided the piece flew together.

This detail shot shows the variety of stitches as well as the neon colors used in the stitching. Once again I forgot to photograph the back- argh! It has a wonderful floral design printed using stamps that have been repurposed to make flowers. I love the way the bright colors come forward and the cool colors recede.

Severe Clear

I vividly remember hearing a meteorologist in Austin explain about the intense blue sky we were experiencing following a big storm. It is an indication of low humidity and seldom seen in mid summer in the Ozarks. But THIS July has sported several days like that with temps that invite one outside. Another feature of July are Surprise Lillies that seem to pop up from nowhere following a drenching rain, in almost no time at all. The leaves came up with the daffodils and are long gone. Now, too, I see the Rubekias--Black-eyed Susans and the roadside chickory-- that like the specimens here, almost disappear into the landscape.

This happy little piece is another in my Serendipity series to use up scraps from other projects. I couched down a blue yarn onto each piece before assembling the background. The flowers are all hand-dyed silk.

The approximate dimensions are 28" x 40".

Red Rover, Red Rover!

I started this a few months ago utilizing leftover strips from my block building process. I had the columns built and they hung on the wall for a long time. I knew the concept of what I wanted to create. When I saw the the way the rows seems to be tied together with the couched yarn it reminded me of the school yard game. In planning my write up about this piece I decided to go to wikipedia to try to get more info. It seems that after the 70s the game lost its luster, replaced by more updated pursuits and because of its history of being relatively dangerous-- broken arms and "clotheslining" where your neck gets caught in the arms of the receiving team....for those of you who are very young, a clothesline is that outdoor device for drying ones clothes on a wire or cord stretched between 2 poles-- now often against the rules in deed restricted neighborhoods.

Here's a detail shot showing the couched yarn as well as the outlined figures in the quilting.

This is the back. If did the figures on silk organza. I made a stamp from plexiglas plus drawing using my glue gun. Each was cut out and fused to the foundation. Then I freemotion outline stitched from the back using the thicker metallic thread as bobbin work.

Sprung! finished

This is such a happy piece. It stayed on the design wall without being quilted for several weeks. Although I loved the color movement I couldn't seem to resolve the quilting. Then I realised I wanted a fairly realistic depiction of some flowers. I traced some clipart flowers onto tracing paper in a wreath design. Then laid the tracing paper on the quilt top and stitched through the tracing paper to get the detailed outlines. After doing the two inside wreaths I was again stuck and unable to resolve the outer corners nor the in-between sections. So again it hung on the design wall while I finished Sweeping Changes. Finally I had stared at it long enough that it started talking to me again. Another wreath of detailed flowers, this time apple blossoms, daffodils and daylily. Then I wanted to boost the visibility of the flowers I had made so much effort to create. So I got out my paints.

Here you can see the inner circle of daffodils as well as the in-between stitching and the apple blossoms and daylillies of the second wreath.

In addition to the flower detail, you can see where I switched to a metallic thread for the in-between quilting.

This was a sweet little piece to create. Its size is 35" x 35". I'll have it posted on my website shortly. I have entered it in Fiber Focus along with Slipstream Adventure and Freefall. Fiber Focus is a nine state textile exhibition presented by Art St. Louis. The competition is tough. I have only once been able to get my work in.

I was shooting it in my studio this morning. Completely forgot to shoot the back. I'll try to get at least a preview shot tomorrow so you can see the back. I had such fun creating it. I repurposed all sorts of stamps I had, to use them as elements in a big flower bouquet. You'll see..........

Sweeping changes--DONE!!!!

I am delighted to have finished this new piece. It is the first "social conscience" piece I have done in quite a while. My last one was "Oh Martha! How can this be a good thing?". I realised going into the project that it would be unlikely to be easily marketable. So this is done purely from the heart without an eye toward what might be publicly popular. The "Sweeping Changes" are those policy changes that have gone into effect or are being addressed since President Obama took office. The bright copper is what is revealed when all the old policies are swept away. The dust stirred up are the old policies and ways of operating.

The stitching is quite tight in the "dust" as elaborate feathers. I have also stitched around all of the text. The bright metallic is copper leaf. I used most of 2 packs of 25 sheets of copper leaf.
The lower portion has all the text outlined-stitched in metallic thread.

Here's a close-up of a dust swirl with its text and stitching. You can see parts of 2 different text messages-- NAFTA & Religion = politics--- BTW these are outgoing attitudes.

Here's a close-up of the lower copper- clad portion. The x's are in copper leaf. The text is in copper acrylic pigment. The stitching around the text and x's is metallic thread. At the top you can see a portion of the broom.

The overall size is 70" x 70" in 2 panels.

I just submitted it to the show I had planned on entering it in along with Live Water.

My fingers are crossed. I'll know in about 2 weeks whether my work made it. Don't worry-- I'll let you know.

In the mean time it is now "crank it out" time to get ready for my brother and SIL to arrive for my Mom's 80th birthday. Yikes! Time to do all those little things that kept being put off until I had a moment. That moment has arrived!

Sweeping changes--progess

Ok. I lied. I had planned on showing you the back but I got more interested in the front first. This is where I left the piece today. I have cut apart the silk with the copper leaf, applied black misty fuse and attached. Then I stamped phrases that are timely with current events.

Here you can see the individual "islands" of copper leaf before I printed the phrases.

This is a detail shot showing a few of the phrases. Included in this shot are: corporate responsibility, home gardens, eco-friendly, stimulus, consensus building. There are about 15 in all. The paint used is a copper metallic acrylic. The copper leaf is real.

New work--at last!!!

This is my latest piece. Entitled "Sweeping Changes". You are seeing it after "magic time" when it has been pieced together but not yet layered or quilted. I have had a game going on this year and recent work-- not yet posted--has all been created using leftovers from previous projects. This one has 400 quadrants all made with leftover pieces... and I didn't even use half of them!
The concept here is the major changes we are currently experiencing in our government and economy-- much of it based on the new policies in place from the election of Barack Obama.
There is a vague black line of demarcation running northeast to southwest. Below that line will be what has been the result of sweeping. Above the line will be what has been swept away.

The area below the black has been swept and what is left are positive (+ signs) in real copper leaf. Here you can see the copper leaf in the process of being cleaned up. The sheets of copper leaf are being brushed to remove the unattached leaf from the silk organza. The color of the silk is too vibrant, I think, so I am over-dyeing using color-hue dyes to deepen it.

The area above the black line is the area that has what has been swept. The first indication is the spirals of "dust". These were created using freezer paper and paint sticks with a stencil brush.

What's next? Well you haven't seen the back yet. It has been dyed and I'll post that progress tomorrow. I have already done it.

The next new step for me will be attaching the silk organza with the copper leaf. I screwed up and applied the copper to the wrong side of the left piece. So I have to work out a solution-- that doesn't involve starting over. The copper leaf had to be ordered online from an art supply and I DON'T have that kind of time-- so time to improvise. I think I'll probbly cut the silk into smaller pieces and attach via black misty fuse in small groupings. There will be much writing/ text on the piece. The bottom will contain things that have changed in a positive way since Obama's election. Above the line will be things that have been or are in the process of being modified or eradiciated. DEEP!!!! Well for me, anyway.

I am finally highly motivated. There is a particular exhibition I am creating this for. I have a July 1 deadline to get images in. Pedal to the metal!!!!!!!!