Mini Masterpieces

This was an initiative of the Hampton Festival Committee.
Artists could collect up to two A5 canvasses. There was no charge, no entry charge either. They would be offered for sale for $30, $5 commission.
After asking around, we entered eleven pieces by 6 artists. Two were sold, including one of mine, which was amazing.

I had neither the time nor the motivation to create something totally new.
I found a glasses case I had made from a piece of textile art done at a workshop by Gabriella Verstraeten, many years ago. BTW: a wonderful tutor!
I covered the canvas with some fabric and simply glued the piece on and titled it 'Gabriella'.

For 'Pansies' I covered the canvas with a pink

velvet. Next I found some yoyos I had made years earlier and glued them on. Initially I was going to leave it at that, but then decided to use acrylic paint to give it some extra effect. Inspired by Somerset Art Society president, Jan Godfrey, who, in turn, learned it in Morocco. That was really fun...I should use that technique again,


'Pansies' was sold! The whole exhibition of about 100 of these Mini Masterpieces looked fantastic and we will file the idea away to use sometime in the future.

Where are my Spectrum Spiral Quilts?

Thanks to Kerrie Hay at Bernina Sewing Machines, seven of my Spectrum Spirals are now on their way to Jenny's Sewing Centre in Angaston, in time for the Barossa Valley Vintage Festival.
Three others are hanging at the office of Jim Madden MP, Brassall.
Thank you Jim, Kerrie and Jenny, I so enjoy having my quilts on display!
All Spectrum Spirals and their story is on my website
Here is one of my favourites.

Progress?

What did I do since my last post?
I tidied up the cupboards in my sewing room, re-organising the fabrics so I at least knew what I had and knew where to find it.
I expect my power bill to be way up, as stood there for days on end ironing each piece of fabric.

It not only looks good, I enjoyed meeting up with these fabrics again, some that have been in my stash for a long time.
I also sorted beads and anything else that comes into making textile art.

I visited family in PNG and taught a patchwork class there for the local ladies. I'll do a separate post on that.

Next I wanted a new design wall. What I had was a sheet of Masonite, covered with a padded and gridded piece of calico.
I wanted something larger and lighter and covered a 5 x 190 x 120cm piece of polystyrene first with bleached calico, then pinned a gridded flannel sheet on that.
I wish the sheet was white instead of medium grey, as the colour shows somewhat behind thin fabrics and make them look a bit darker.  Apart from that, it works well. The patches adhere to it and if necessary, I can push pins right through. The whole design wall is light enough to move it around and will fit behind the sofa bed in my sewing room when not in use.

What you see here is 2" squares and on the right is the border fabric.
It is more a colour wash than a Trip Around the world, I don't mind it, but once I stitch this together I don't have enough light coloured background for the actual design.
So I'll sew these up, but it won't go into the ACE quilt and I will buy a single background fabric on Wednesday at the Craft Show in Brisbane. I have some gorgeous cream background fabrics, but not enough of any of them.
I may even get another border fabric, if I can find something with apple green in it.

And this, dear reader, is how my design process goes: two steps forward, one step back. I am grateful for having been given carte blanche and not have to submit a final design for approval.

Paper-cloth

I went to the Craft Show in Brisbane yesterday which was terrific and very inspiring.
Of course, had to buy some beads, some  packets of luscious fabrics, threads, book.
One book Stitch Alchemy shows a technique to create sheets of paper-cloth.
Basically, you put a piece of fabric on some freezer paper, slap some diluted white glue on it and cover it with strips of paper. The resulting sheet can be used to paint, stitch, embellish, cut..whatever.
I did 3 today.
#1: gold tissue paper and the handmade paper our washing came back in when we were in Bali many years ago plus some junk mail.
#2: a no longer required dressmaking pattern
#3: I used pastels to colour ordinary printing paper and added a paper serviette and some coffee crystals.
The sheets are about A3, but I could only scan part of them.





#3

 


#1







#2



Unfortunately, I cannot seem to control where this pictures go.

What can I do with these sheets?

If I want to add stitching, these are nice and firm and need no further stabilizing.

Maybe I'll make some bookmarks? Some ATCs? acrylic paint? 

Down to Earth

Whenever I am "told" I have to make something for an exhibition, I usually start by feeling annoyed and like " I don't want to do that". But often, those events were the start of work I was very happy with.
And this is what happened this time.
The outdoor exhibition is called "Down to Earth" and you have seen the tree art that I made.
But slowly another idea started to take shape and this time I just went with it without too much pre-planning or even drawing.

I had some hand woven wool that I frayed and layered. There was going to be a line that indicated the division between under and over the soil and from there I let myself be inspired by my "stuff".

I rolled some paint on the wool before I attached anything and even did some monoprinting, where I created grass on allfoil with acrylic paint, then turned it over onto the wool and rubbed the paint down.
You really need to see the closeups of the "digs" the right one has small piece of bones and even some teeth.
Well may you ask: teeth of what?
I don't know: we found a little skull, maybe it was a wallaby or maybe a hare. I took some of the teeth out and sewed them on.
On the left hand side are pieces of shell.
The stitching I did was very free,  after my spell trying to learn painting, it turned out to be like painting with thread: stitching some grass for example, then adding shadows and highlights.
This is the most fun I have had for years with a project.

I bought a picture in a frame on the market and I will use that to frame it, but it needs some work to make it look "earthy" enough. I probably will use impasto gel medium, find sand and maybe some other stuff and I will be a good girl and test the process first on a board I have.

Finished Leaf ATCs

Unfortunately, the pictures don't do them justice. The satiny black background caught the light of the scanner and the glitter is no where as interesting as in real life.
I tried to photograph them and that was even worse than the scan!
I hope the recipients are happy with them and I hope I get some nice ones back.

Next projects

I was gently pushed into making an entry for the Glen Rock Quilters' Challenge: Wine, Roses and All That Jazz.
I agreed, because I happen to have something already half made!
This
This is a quilt made with gold fabric, music fabric for the binding and for a previous exhibition, I temporarily attached some postcards. They were a gift and I had to give them back, but I still have this quilt.
Unfortunately the gold organza I used cannot stand the heat of the iron necessary to have something fused to it.
But I can make some elements and just hand stitch them on.

The deadline after that is "Down to Earth" I don't want to make anything that takes too long. Painters are lucky in that respect, they seem to be able to do a painting in a week with lots of time to spare.

At the moment, my thoughts are going to a snake. This is an outside exhibition, could I make a fabric snake that curls and that can be hung from a tree?
What if: I cut a wide spiral out of fabric, wide enough to stitch the edges together, stuff it to make it into a kind of spirally sausage??

I can then decorate it with stitching, beads and whatever.

Hands and Gloves is finished!

Here it is! It is 26" square, mounted over stretcher bars.
I am very happy with it.

Stitching the gloves on

This is a bit of a boring job, but it does look nice. Better than if I had been able to use a machine stitch, which was my original intention. I couldn't do that, because the foot doesn't move freely over the kid leather. I believe it needs a roller foot, which I don't have and don't want to buy.

What I do like is whipping another yarn through the stitches so, even before I finished the stitching, I am experimenting.

This is a relative fine thread that can be used with an embroidery needle.

This yarn is much thicker and I had to use a big needle with a very big eye.
It hides the original red stitching a bit more, it is marginally harder to use.
What does show well on these photos is that the kid leather is very fine and I am conscious that it really IS skin as I push the needle through.
I think I will be going with the finer thread.
I bought the yarns, threads and some fascinating fabrics at the Textile Art Festival in Brisbane last Friday.
Threads and yarns from The Thread Studio and fabric from  Beautiful Silks.

Also bought a "Studios" Magazine.  Our house is for sale which means that, eventually, we will move into another house and I have an opportunity to redesign my sewing studio. I like the one I have, because although it is only small, we had the house built to our specs, so I have been very happy with my sewing studio, which, in fact, I have always called my sewing "room". As we very likely will move into an existing home, I will have to work with what I get!

Creating background

The quilt sandwich is made and is approx. 32" square.
Layers: Iron on interfacing on the bottom fused to bamboo wadding fused with paper backed fusible to the Dupion Silk.
I made templates of the outline of my hand in 3 sizes. (resized in CorelDraw).
25 Hand outlines are drawn on the back of the quilt sandwich, which is the interfacing.

I went through my threads and yarns and selected 2: an orangy hand spun silk thread, given to me many years ago by an 80 year old lady called Norma, a variegated jeans topstitching thread.
I made a test quilt the same as the main quilt and tried them out.

I liked the orange thread the best, with it slightly lumpy texture.

Deconstruction 1 and 2

What if....
I opened up one glove, so I could applique it and see both sides at once?

This is what it looks like. Because you can't see the thumb, you can't appreciate how unpleasantly organic this object looks!


Next: just cut each glove in half, so I have 2 outside and 2 inside pieces.

OK, this was an experiment and I was very much prepared to sacrifice this pair.
I don't have to sacrifice the 4 pieces, but I learned NOT TO USE STEAM ON KID LEATHER!
It makes it shrink like plastic would.

Next step:
I have a piece of gorgeous magenta Dupion Silk for the background. Thought I could tuck it, but tucking needs more fabric than I have.

Gloves, gloves....

I bid on 13 pairs of ladies gloves on ebay and I got them today. They are just gorgeous: most are soft, kid leather, short ones, long ones, some are fabric, most are cream, one black, one brown, one midnight blue...or is that black?
Now I have to decide what to do with them. Of course, they don't all have to go into the next artwork...


Initially, my plan was to stitch some gloves onto a background quilt and then embellish them. I don't want a big quilt....

I am stuck at the moment....

Don't know about this one....

This actually looks better on the photo than it does in real life.
I used some paints and some crayons.

If I analyse this, I like the design, I don't like the execution, it is a bit too sloppy for me....

Round...like a circle in a spiral

These are the first words of the song.

 

Here the music score with lyrics has been scanned in, twisted in Corel PhotoPaint. That design has been printed on cotton. It will be attached to the background with free motion stitching, keeping to the spiral design. 

Until I am ready to do that, I will put it on Vliesofix but I won't take off the paper backing till I am sure of where I want to put it.

More ticky-tocky

 

It is looking good, isn't it!

I love the way the organza mutes the design of the fabric underneath. 

The stars are now defined.

Being able to design on the computer and print has made this element so much easier. especially the numbers on the clock. 

What I like about blogging this project is that, even though I think I am not getting anywhere, I can see progress.

I've ordered the wrought iron quilt hanger, I am committed to enter a new piece in the Musical Gems exhibition at the end of next month. Thank goodness for deadlines!

I am going to start on another element, while I consider how to design the hands of the clock with a sense of movement.  If I can't think of any way to get that effect well, I'll just put 2 hands in.....

Elements

 

Last year, when I was still thinking of doing this in drawing, I made this quick sketch in ink.

The images come from the text of the "Windmills of your mind" song.

"keys that jingle in your pocket"

"words that jangle in your head"

"like an apple, turning silently in space"

"a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face"

"leave their footprints in the sand"

"or a carnival balloon"

"pictures hanging in the hallway"

http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/thethomascrownaffair/windmillsofyourmind.htm

The additional element is of sheet music, I'll probably do something with the actual sheet music and then manipulate it in Corel PhotoPaint.

  

I played for a few hours with this drawing, trying for an overlapping effect. I am going to print multiple images on organza, then overlap them on the background. Probably.... 

I have done quite a few works based on something musical and find it a never ending source of inspiration..

I've got to decide on the base now

I need a base on which to put a background first, then the triskele.
I've got Peltex, which is really firm, but I only bought enough to make the finished square 30".
Oooohhh....another decision made: it will be a square!
I would prefer a circle, but a circle is too difficult to hang well.
If the base is 30", the triskele has to be about 25" across. I've printed the tiled design out 3 times now!!!
But: if I don't use the Peltex, but a normal quilt sandwich, I have no restriction on the size.

The background

The base is the structure, the background is what you see behind the triskele, it is placed on top of the base.
I want it to look as if I had glued music fabrics on it, put white paint over it, then wiped the paint off, exposing the fabric in messy streaks.

 

These are the music fabrics. I am thinking....bleaching....covering with sheer fabrics.....fraying......

The Dodecahedron

Click on the image to enlarge.
Yesterday I dropped this piece into the Fernvale Futures Centre for their craft show.
It really is a gorgeous piece of work! Even if I do say so myself and the photos don't do it justice.
Next time I need to enter something and need something new, I might do another one. The hardest bit will be to decide on the theme: it has to be something that I can do 11 panels for. (Panel # 12 is the base and is just calico with the details written on.

Tarots...again

I finally put a link to my Tarots on the Tarot website
This is THE international website for people interested in the Tarot and it was started and is maintained by a woman living in Brisbane's Coorparoo. It has grown tremendously and an eye opener for anyone who thinks the Tarot is something that not many people would be interested in.
I am now a paid subscriber so I can advertise on this site.
I posted my link on two on the forums and got some lovely reactions and more lovely reactions
Of course, the ultimate compliment would be if someone would actually want to buy one, but meanwhile I am happy with those compliments!
My username there is Antoinette, which is my middle name.

Textile Art Festival

I went to the Textile Art Festival in Brisbane yesterday and I had the best time!
I have always loved books I can learn something from and I bought this book from The Thread Studio. They were the busiest stall: people waited 4 deep first to get to the merchandise, then to pay.
I also did a "Ratty Tatty Papers" workshop, one of those 1 hour events.
We made a silk sheet with coccoon strippings and silk rods.
We learned coccoon fibres are naturally gummy and the whole lot with embellishments just gets ironed between 2 sheets of baking paper.
I don't know yet what I will do with it.
A bought 6m of the newer fusible that isn't supposed to fall apart: applifix. Hope it works!
There were heaps of exhibitions and they were dispersed among the stall, so exciting.

But what was even more exciting was that Bernina had all their challenges on display, including mine: Bernina Bling.
It looked fantastic: on a black background, but without the hanger.
The story about this:
I am a "Bernina Friend". I am sorry people, not my choice of title. It just means I was a professional quilter who works on a Bernina. We get special days to try new machines etc.
Last year we were all invited to create something for the new machine. Rules were: make whatever you want to make, but it has to feature the logo (the stylized "8") and stick to the colours white, black, silver and red. All entries would stay with Bernina for 12 months (since extended) and be used at shows etc to promote the new machine.
Winner would win a new $10.000 machine. It had to be completed by the beginning of Feb. I was working hard on the quilt for Sjef and Saul, which had to be finished by Christmas. In January I inially thought I wouldn't be able to get it done, then I decided to just do a small one. not agonise about too much about it and I got it completed in time.
Meanwhile: someone is producing a book on these works and their makers and that will be published by October. The cover design was at the show yesterday, very classy.
So that was very exciting. There were some absolutely stunning designs for this challenge, including wearable art. The other great thing about yesterday's show was that I met so many old acquaintances to chat to, I thought I'd lose my voice! Some I hadn't seen for many years.
So a good day all around!
Today I am going to start on the Aussie Quilts for 3 babies in Holland. Test out the new Applifix!