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Archive for the ‘Felting’ Category

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A Tisket A Tasket, A Felted Basket

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

Tomorrow is Columbia Fiberarts Guild annual luncheon. We were told to bring something for the table that we had made. I wanted to take my felted eggs so I made a quick felted container tonight. I took a square of blue prefelt and needle felted it. Here is the bottom –

Here is  one side.

Here is today’s yellow 3 X 3:

I had a busy day. I did a couple of Constant Contact e-mails for SDA. One was to the entire membership to announce Diane Sandlin, a friend, as the new executive director. I am so excited for her. I know she will do a fantastic job. I had a Trinity Arts meeting tonight. This afternoon, I did some work on my next quilt. I am going to interpret this photo of a charming little village of Tobermary in Scotland,  on the Isle of Mull.

There is actually a whole row of colorful buildings, but I like these three, with the one up on the hill.

Posted in 3 x 3, Felting, My creations | 3 Comments »

Plans Change

Saturday, March 10th, 2012

I finished this piece and photographed it for submission to an invitational show on rituals. I was going to clean up my two spaces and get started on my next project.

I did get my studio in better shape. But, I really need to clean up my office and computer desk. It is a gigantic mess. Instead, I felted Easter eggs today.

Well, they sort of look like eggs. First, I shaped aluminum foil into an egg shape.

This was probably the beginning of my problem – not very eggy! Then you wrap it in roving and stuff it in a stocking and tie it tightly.

This is then thrown in the washing machine with a load of  stuff that is washed at a high temp and then it goes in the dryer. There are other ways to get the egg shape. Wind wool yarn into an oval shape. I had trouble doing that. I think you can use one of those plastic eggs, too. I think I will just call these colorful rocks and try again for the egg shape.

I have two more yellow 3 x 3’s.

Here is my yellow stuff, waiting to inspire me.

Posted in 3 x 3, Felting, Juried Shows, My creations | 6 Comments »

Thursday This and That

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

This is yesterday’s 3 X 3. I enjoyed doing another machine felted piece. I find it very relaxing as long as the needles don’t break.

Here is today’s which was completed in less than half an hour this afternoon. It is a collage of some little squares of fabric with that black doodle.

I then did some free motion doodling. I have a very difficult time doing the free motion quilting on such a small piece. I need to remember to make something larger and then cut it down to size. It seems a bit wasteful, however.

Today was STASH day at Reva’s. Just sitting and chatting and sharing work. Reva prepared a delicious lunch. It was very therapeutic for me. I need the stimulation of friends for my well-being.

Here is another project I am working on.

This house used to be a 12 inch square, but I wanted to turn it into a 12 x 16 inch quilt for The House Quilt Project. So I cut it out around the house and I am going to mount it on a 12 x 16 inch background. This is made from indigo fabric scraps.  It has to have an American Flag so I need to get some flag fabric so I can fussy cut one.

I have also been working on inspiration photos for the Quilt University class with Elizabeth Barton — Inspired to Design. I am a bit behind, but I will catch up. I need to select a photo for a quilt and then reduce it to simpler lines and shapes for making a quilt. I found some great photos in my archives tonight.

Busy, busy!! My studio is still a mess. Life is good.

Posted in 3 x 3, Felting, indigo, Inspiration | 2 Comments »

And It Isn’t Even Spring

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

We are having a very tolerable winter, I must say. Today the temps were in the 50s and there were clear enough skies to see Mt. Hood, hardly every happens in the winter. I accompanied Mr C to Trinity this morning. He was working the pantry food handouts. I had some arts stuff to take care of. We took Scooter with us and I walked him around NW Portland. There is a part of me that would love to live down there and walk to everything and be part of the hustle and bustle of the downtown.

Scooter was such a good boy and got lots of loving from the folks coming and going from Trinity. I also enjoyed listening to the conversation between the homeless and Mr C and Lydia. It was a complete departure from what I would normally do and I enjoyed it. It is part of my plan for the new year — get out of my rut.

This afternoon, I finished yesterdays 3 x3 by sandwiching it and doing some simple stitching.

I also did some felting for today’s 3 X3. It is up at the top of the post. I used red prefelt for the background. I have to admit to a love affair with felting fibers together. My friend Terry thinks they look like something the cat threw up!! LOL But, I love the melding of fibers and colors and then adding simple embellishments. So, I am very happy with this little piece.

This is what I did tonight:

These are the pages of my Sketchbook Project for this year. The deadline to send these in must be coming up. The watercolors that I have done are just backgrounds for stitching that I want to do on each page. Some of the stitching will be done by hand, but most will be free motion machine stitching. I hope it works!!

Tomorrow, I hope to finish cleaning my studio. I want to pull off the felt from my main design wall and redo it. It is kinda grungy looking after five and a half years.

 

Posted in 3 x 3, Felting, Scooter, Sketchbook Project | 3 Comments »

Heidi Leugers – Zero-Waste Artist

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

Heidi Leugers is an artist who was way ahead of the times. She decided to have a zero waste business in 1998. But perhaps, once you have taken the leap from finance to graduate school in Renaissance portraiture, recycling wool is not so extraordinary!

Heidi moved from the northeast to the northwest around the time that I was president of Columbia Fiberarts Guild. I remember her first visit when she stood and told us about her zero waste work. I did not realize how devoted she was to this ethos until I saw her work on display and she had visuals to show what she does. You can see the felted ball with the opening in the photo above. It is filled with the scraps from that result when she is cutting up the felt to make her designs.

Here is her manifesto:

Here is some more of her work. She recycles hundreds of pounds of post-consumer goods every year. She also works with virgin wool.

Pin cushions:

 

A kit for making a floppy trivet.

Tree garland made from recycled waste.

Heidi’s sheep are breed specific – not sure which one this is.

Yesterday, she was member in the spotlight and then taught a class after the meeting.

You can see more about Heidi on her website. This link will take you to a video that was done about her reclaimed wool work when she lived in the Northeast.      Reclaimed Wool

I hope you enjoyed the photos of Heidi and hearing about one of the pioneers of reclaimed wool art. She plans to open an online shop soon.

Posted in Artist Profile, Columbia FiberArts Guild, Felting, My neighborhood | 4 Comments »

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