Nebula Wall Hanging

I loved that arc too much not to rework this wall hanging:

Much better!!  The arc is now defined and this piece is telling me it's a slice of night sky, a nebula.  I haven't decided the next step - add embroidery?  beading?  just quilt it?  And what kind of borders?

A few months ago I wouldn't have pulled out all that stitching and started over but I've learned to trust my instincts.

Work In Progress Wednesday and Some UFO's

I found two very old UFO's in my stash.  

This small wall hanging isn't the greatest composition but I have a soft spot for it because I adore the hand dyed fabrics as well as the arc created by the light areas.  I decided to be 'spontaneous' and play with running stitch using #8 perle cotton:

  

Lesson learned:  'spontaneous' does not jive with my style of working, nor does it produce results I like.  The wonkiness of the stitch lines is driving me nuts! 

I also dislike the red stitches in the upper right - they will come out.  I'll extend the yellow stitching right across then decide where to go next with this piece. I'd like to emphasize that 'arc' somehow.........

I also found this little beauty hiding in my stash.  I don't remember what I had planned to do with it but I do remember how much I loved these hand dyed fabrics.  I'll use this for some TAST stitches. 

Pinterest Revisited

Recently my stance against Pinterest has changed.  Their Terms of Use has significantly improved, as has their enforcement of removing pins if the copyright holder requests removal.

Mary Corbett of Needle 'N Thread has written an excellent overview here.  I'm linking to her post because her sentiments echo my own and  her writing is far more eloquent than mine.

Seasons in Ontario Crazy Quilt

These blocks will form part of a 'Seasons in Ontario' themed crazy quilt.  Not liking the placement of the central embroidery on the autumn block, nor am I keen on the seam treatments I started adding. I think I'll re-stitch this block.

Autumn block with embroidered dry thistles:

Summer block with appliqued trilliums:

 Where does the time go???  I've hardly stitched for months and I miss it.

Oh Canada - Contemporary Canadian Art at MASS MoCA

There's a fabulous exhibit at MASS MoCA called Oh Canada that I wish I could see in person!  120 art works by 62 Canadian artists are featured. 

The Globe and Mail has a great article here.  I find this quote by Denise Markonish, one of the curators, particularly poignant:

"To the surprise of many, it did not include some of Canada’s art stars – Jeff Wall, Rodney Graham, Stan Douglas and Janet Cardiff. Such omissions, Markonish says, were entirely intentional but not meant as a slight. “[They’re] already what the art world expects when they hear ‘Canadian art,’ ” she says. “Canada’s a big country, and there’s a lot going on, and I wanted to give voice to a lot of artists who aren’t known here; or if they’re known, to present other facets of their practice.”


You can read more info about the show and the artists here, at MASS MoCA's website.

Ann Brauer visited the show and has blogged about it here.  She has posted some terrific photos.

Silk Wallhanging - Auditioning Fabrics

I'm auditioning fabrics to frame this gorgeous piece of eco dyed silk by Arlee Barr.  I want to embroider / quilt through all the layers.  (Click the pictures to enlarge and see the beautiful details)

I really like the bronze silk dupioni, but I'm not sure about the maroon:

Does black look better than maroon?

I'd love to find a rich chocolate silk, I think that would bring out the greens and orange in the eco dyed piece.  Perhaps even a deep burgundy.

I used knit fusible interfacing on the back of the eco dyed silk - it's perfect.  It's so light and diaphanous so the silk retains it's suppleness, yet it adds significant stability.  A shout-out to Allie Aller for the knit fusible idea - here's how she uses it for crazy quilting.

Work In Progress Wednesday

Sharon Boggon at Pintangle has started up a Work In Progress Wednesday Sewing Bee on  her blog - see details here.

Here's my string quilt so far:

Please excuse the crappy way the blocks are displayed - I'm currently reorganizing my tiny apartment so that my living/dining room will be a studio (goodbye kitchen table, but hello fabrics being more accessible!)  I'm still trying to figure out a cheap yet effective design wall.  Fleece and batting both suck - I need something pinnable. 

And here's what I'm calling my Synthetic Folly:

 I fell in love with these fabrics years ago at a local quilt guild's rummage sale (the colours in real life are a glorious chartreuse and navy floral print).  I knew the synthetics would be difficult to work with, but this is ridiculous.  They have fought me every step of the way - the seams pucker, creases can't be pressed out, and even fusbible knit interfacing on the back can't make these fabrics behave.  UGH.  

To be fair, it didn't look this bad yesterday when the interfacing was newly applied, but rolling it up made all the freaking bubbles and creases re-appear. 

As much as I love these fabrics, I'm on the fence about this thing.  I originally wanted to add lots of hand embroidery, sort of like a hybrid crazy-sane quilt.  Now I'm not sure all that effort will be worth it.  At first I thought the embroidery and quilting would flatten it out and disguise the puckering, but now I suspect all that handling will just make it worse.  And having to press the darn thing every single time I want to stitch on it to get the bubbles and ripples out - hmmmmm, not happening.

I might just tie this instead of quilting it and use it as a cuddle blanket - it's a nice size, about 50" x 60".  And not investing any more time means I'll actually enjoy it as a blanket, and I'll be able to throw it in the washer without worry.

At what point do you decide a project isn't worth it?

I Won a Giveaway!

I was one of the very lucky winners of Alex Hall's giveaway over at Under A Topaz Sky.  Her embroidered ribbon roses are exquisite in person, the photo doesn't show the beautiful sheen:

 

And it came wrapped in this gorgeous piece of Japanese fabric:

Thank you Alex!  The embroidery deserves a nice frame, I'll have to keep an eye out for one.

Using Interfacing for String Piecing

I've been doing some string piecing using my favourite colours - turquoise and purple!  This is a stash buster so I'm only using what I've got.  Here are some blocks so far:

My favourite foundation is sew-in interfacing (non-woven, non-fusible) - the stuff used in dressmaking.  Interfacing, how do I love thee, let me count the ways:

• It doesn't shift, distort, shrink or otherwise behave badly (unlike muslin!)  
• It's dirt cheap
• It can remain in the quilt - no spending hours and hours ripping out paper and distorting the seam stitches in the process
• It withstands tons of handling, including lots of pressing

Interfacing is also my preferred foundation for crazy quilt blocks and paper piecing.  Haven't tried running it through the printer but transferring a pattern using a light table is a breeze. 

Springtime in Ontario

There's a wooded park in my neighbourhood with lovely trilliums currently in bloom - aren't they gorgeous? The trillium is Ontario's provincial flower:

Cool looking fallen tree trunks, with some roots barely hanging on:

 

Mossy tree  roots:

 

 This isn't a great shot but you can see the ravine.  Not much rain this spring, so this creek is almost dry:

 

I know most people hate dandelions because they're weeds, but I love them.  I think they're beautiful and they remind me of playing in the grass as a kid:

This park is in the middle of an urban sprawl so many people walk through to just take a walk, or to walk their dogs.  There are two high schools down the road so lot of kids hang out here.  I adore that it's a well-used and well-loved park - but I really abhor all the litter.  I tried hard to keep litter out of these shots.

Book Review - The Art of Embroidery by Françoise Tellier-Loumagne

The most recent addition to my book collection is The Art of Embroidery by Françoise Tellier-Loumagne.  

This 304-page book has over 500 colour photographs.  It's not a technique book, but rather a visual feast.  Flowers, rocks, leaves, railway tracks, cauliflower and farm fences are just some of the items beautifully photographed to show all the glorious texture that exists out there.  Françoise then interprets those photos into textile pieces using various techniques (embroidery, quilting, adding found objects, etc.).  The way she uses embroidery is quite stunning.

There's very little text.  It's really about showing us that textures exist everywhere, and how to let our imaginations run wild when recreating that texture using cloth and stitch. 

Below is a selection of  some of my favourite page layouts.

 

Visit Françoise's website here.

TAST 2012 - French Knots

TAST 2012 - Week #16 - French Knots

Two VERY quick-and-dirty samples of french knots - not much time for stitching this week. 

• Milliner needles are a must (the eye and shaft are the same diameter, so the knots slide off easily)
• Keeping tension on the thread is essential.  I HIGHLY recommend Mary Corbet's french knot video tutorial. 

I tried for some realistic looking lily-of-the-valley. The knots are doubled #8 perle cotton, 6 wraps each knot.  They're still out of proportion: 

 

These french knots are a single strand of cotton floss.  I used pink tulle for the 'champagne':

And here's my embroidered lichen.  I've posted these before but I love this project so far.  I need to carve out a chunk of time next week to finish this:

TAST 2012 Catch-Up Week

TAST 2012 Catch-Up Week

I missed a few TAST stitches so I combined several into one piece:

Stiches used:  Detached Chain Stitch, Whipped Wheel, Barred and Alternating Barred Chain,  French Knots and Chain stitch.  The quilting will be Running Stitch.

I will finish this quilted fan because it's almost done anyway, but I'm not as pleased with it as I anticipated. 

What I learned from this project:

1. A full size and full colour cartoon is worth the time.  Quick sketches do not show potential design problems.  This piece needs more negative space, it's too crowded.  I didn't realize how much negative space would be taken up by the small flowers because I didn't include them on my sketch - I only sketched in the branches.
2. I have a bad habit of leaving only a small amount of extra fabric around a design area.  Had I left about 4 inches of extra fabric rather than only 1 inch, the negative space issue wouldn't have been as big a problem.
3. Whipped Wheels use up tons of thread and take A LOT more time than I expected.  But they do look amazing, once you get the hang of wrapping them evenly.  Next time I'll work the wheel on a slip before stitching it to the project; it will lay flatter and neater that way.
4. I need a larger stock of perle cotton colours, in various weights.  I used stranded cotton for the tree branches but it doesn't give the look I prefer.  Stranded cotton has none of the elegance of perle cotton.

I like this design enough that I'll make a larger version.  I'm treating this small piece as my mock-up or cartoon for the larger one.  This was an excellent exercise.

Lichen Embroidery - French Knots

One of my favourite fabrics in my stash screamed out for some embroidered lichen, so I'm playing around with french knots.  They're tricky to keep uniform but for a nature inspired piece I'm liking the unevenness of the stitches:

Embroidered Silk Scarf with Leaves - Finished

Here's the finished the silk scarf.  It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it overall: 

I have a new rule - ALWAYS stabilize silk with fusible interfacing first.  The edges raveled so much that I had to make the final size narrower than planned.  

The lining is the same silk I used for the leaves.  

The running stitches are more subtle than I expected.  I tried for a sashiko style stitch but my hands automatically go back to tiny quilting stitches.

Embroidered Silk Scarf - Leaves

I'm currently stitching my mother's birthday gift:

Both fabrics are silk dupioni, with the leaves fused using Pellon's Wonder Under (I had some in my stash).  I worried about hand stitching through the fused fabric but it's surprisingly easy. 

The thread is a Japanese silk thread that's approximately the thickness of #12 perle cotton.  It's beautiful to stitch with.  I use shorter lengths than I'm used to with perle cotton, otherwise the silk thread gets a bit gnarled / frayed.   Not sure if it's because I'm pulling it through the fusible or if this always happens with silk thread.

I love this piece so far!  I'd be tempted to keep it for myself but these colours are definitely better suited for my mom's complexion.  

Are you a 'No-Reply' blogger?

Blog comments are always appreciated and it's good etiquette to reply to someone's comment, or to visit and leave a comment on their blog in return.

Have you ever tried to respond to a comment but the return address is 'no-reply@blogger.com'?  That happens when a blogger hasn't changed the privacy settings.  It's very easy to do:

1.  Log in to Blogger and click 'Dashboard' on your screen's upper right
2.  Click 'Edit Profile' (left side of screen, under your name/photo)
3.  Under Privacy, check mark 'Show my email address'.  Further down under Identity, type in the email address you want comments to go to (can be different from your log in email).

That's it.  Doing this will ensure that when you leave a comment for someone and they hit 'Reply', your email address will show up.  Hope this is helpful :)

To Pin or Not To Pin, That Is the Question

Pinterest is getting LOTS of attention.  It's basically a virtual cork board - you can 'pin' images onto boards from many online sources.

There are two schools of thought.  1)  Pinterest is another way to attract attention to one's blog / website / artwork.  2)  Pinterest's Terms of Use leave much to be desired and there's a huge copyright infringement issue. 

I feel these two articles provide the most information.  The first is an article by a photographer who is also a lawyer - Why I Tearfully Deleted My Pinterest Inspiration Boards by Kirsten Kowalski.  The second is How Artists Can Harness the Power of Pinterest by Beth J. Hayden - however it's the 'Comments' section of this second article that's key.

In short, here are the red flags contained in Pinterest's Terms of Use:

• No self-promotion (so pinning your own stuff is discouraged)
• Pinning automatically means Pinterest OWNS those images and can sell them (yes, they use that terminology!!)
• You need permission from the copyright owner for every single image you pin.  And if the copyright owner sues?  Then you are also responsible for Pinterest's legal fees (and don't say getting sued will never happen - remember Napster and those teenagers who were successfully sued?) 
• ALL metadata gets removed.  So if you have an affiliate link and make money from it, guess what?  Pinterest is now the one making money from that link. 

For now, I've chosen to close my Pinterest account and to disable pinning on my blog.  I'd like to eventually sell my artwork and I want to retain control of how my art is distributed / presented.  If Pinterest's ToU change in future, then I'll reconsider it.  Copyright in the digital age is still a murky mess.

If you'd like to disable pinning on your own blog, here's a very easy set of instructions. 

Thoughts?

TAST 2012 - Chain Stitch

TAST 2012 - Week #8 - Chain Stitch

I used another sketch for this week's TAST exercise.  The hair is Chain Stitch.  Her lips look weird, I'll restitch them tomorrow:

I don't draw well freehand, so I use a trick that most painters and illustrators are familiar with - use a model or photo as a drawing guide.  Life models, still life set ups, magazine photos, etc. all help to get the proportions right.  

I have dozens of glue books in which I keep magazine photos that I like.  Clothes, hairstyles, home decor, etc. all get pasted in.  I started keeping these glue books over 25 years ago and now they're really coming in handy for embroidery!  :) 

Here's the original magazine clipping:

And here's the tracing I created from it - I just traced the major outlines and added extra flounces to the hair:

No doubt there are many of you that, like me, have no formal art training and can't draw freehand.  I encourage you to give this method a try.  It's easy and produces great results.

Cascade - embroidered quilt

My chevron stitch sample took on a life of it's own and expanded into this:

I'm calling it Cascade.  I just kept layering fabrics and adding stitches.  Stitches used:  chevron, running stitch, herringbone, beading. 

I'm starting to get the hang of free form stitching as detailed in Stitch Magic and Exploring Colour with Julia Caprara.  This piece is so beautifully textured and ripply!  I love it.  My work used to always be very neat, tidy, geometric, minimalist.  And I do still love that look but I'm having fun trying new techniques and branching out.

This lacks 'something', not sure what. I'll keep playing with it.