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Archive for the ‘handstitching’ Category

SAQA Donation Quilt

Thursday, May 29th, 2014

skybluepink

I finished this piece, Sky Blue Pink, just in time to get it shipped to SAQA by the deadline and then, boom, today, they extended the deadline to June 15th. Well, it is done and it gave me something to do while I have been nursing a crappy, achy virus. I did copious handstitching on this. I only used my sewing machine to do the edges.

I used some of the fabric that I snow dyed last winter — cheesecloth and cotton.

skybluepinkfabrics

First I did random seed stitching on the cheesecloth.

sbpcheeseclothstitching

Then I used a running stitch to finish the other sections, following the undulations of the cheesecloth section.

skybluepinkstitching

I was hoping to get to my studio today to do some printing for the Printed Fabric Bee, but instead, I have stayed in my jammies and watched tv and dozed away the day. Hope I will be better tomorrow. That is the good thing about a virus, you usually wake up and feel fine after a day or two.

Coping

Monday, January 27th, 2014

tranquilitySAQAtrunkshow

I finished the hand stitching on this piece for the SAQA 2014 trunk show. The edges needed to be finished so I fused it to a piece of black felt and did a simple hand stitched edge with the same perle cotton. I have named it Tranquility because it has given me some peace to work on  it during a turbulent time.

Here is a detail.

tranquilitypeek

Most days, we have someone here poking around the house as the buyers decide what to ask for as a result of the inspection. It is mostly minor stuff. And we are happy to have the radon test come back negative.

We did not get the townhouse we made an offer on. It sat on the market for a couple of months. I think the price was dropped a couple of times. We thought we were golden. The great thing was, there was a large space at the end of the garage that we could turn into a studio for me with heat and plumbing. I was so excited. We were blindsided as two other offers came in when we made ours. So, I have been pretty unhappy for several days, now. Not sure what we are going to do as there is nothing, NOTHING, out there that fits our needs, physically and economically. Guess I just have to be patient.

I have decided that I need a mindless project – therapy sewing.  There are yards of each of these fabrics that Lisa designed for Cloud 9. She gave me the whole lot when I was in CA in November.

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I washed the whole pile and now I have to iron them. I think I will make a couple of kid quilts for Paige and my great niece, Abigail.

basketlisafabrics

I also washed the Jay McCarroll fat quarters that she gave me last year. I love the colors and patterns in these. I will make a small quilt for someone special. Jay was the first Project Runway winner who is also a quilter.

JayMcfabrics

This should help me take my mind off the stalled house hunting.

Stitching Again

Thursday, January 23rd, 2014

saqatrunkshow

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed and exhausted from our selling and buying ordeal. The good news is that we are under contract. We met the buyers when they came to see the house because they came before it went on the market. They absolutely love our house and I am thrilled for them to be the new owners. Tomorrow, we have to leave the house for most of the day for all the inspections to take place. It means taking Scooter and finding something to do with him. For the open house, we took him with us to do errands and then to the dog park, but it was not as long. Stephane and family are in LA for a photo shoot that she is doing and we do not have the key to their house so we can’t go there.

Processed with VSCOcam

The deadline for the SAQA trunk show is coming up and I didn’t think I would have time to do anything. Then, I remembered that I had a remnant of one of my discharged and shrunk pieces. It has to be 7 X 10, finished which I was able to find. It helped to sit and do some slow stitching to take my mind off things. Here is a detail.

saqatrunkdetail

So, now we have to find a place. We hope we have, but it is complicated. More about that later.

I have to be up early to neaten the house for the new owners to come again for the inspection.

 

New Work Finished

Monday, September 30th, 2013

indigomoonweb

This is the third in my moon series. I have named it Indigo Moon. I did a little bit of hand stitching on this every day for the last two weeks and finally called it done. Here is a detail:

indigomoondetailweb

I ran out to Mill Ends to find a backing fabric that was sturdy and found this bark cloth. The combo of the organza and prefelt makes this very light and soft so I needed a backing that would give it some body.

1375217_10200981835527298_1488370398_n

I also finished this piece which is titled, Graffiti. I accomplished my goal of creating something a little more interesting with an edge. I feel I took it from a pretty collage to something that would invite the viewer in to see what is happening.

 

graffitiweb

Here is a detail shot:

graffitidetailweb

We have had incessant rain and wind and gloomy weather. It was nice to have my daughter, Lisa, here for a week to bring us some sunshine! She left today. The girl has so much illustration work that she had to keep working while she was here. We had the whole family here for dinner last night. Did some talking about passing on some of our stuff to them when we move. It is good to know what they are interested in and what they don’t give a darn about!

So, I think life is returning to normal, at least for a week or so. I have a big birthday coming up this month. I am ready for it!

Blue Moon # 1

Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013

BlueMoon1

Here is my wonky and fun Blue Moon 1. It has been a bit tortured — felted more than I anticipated, combed and brushed to remove extra fuzz, beaded and then unbeaded. It is not a quilt, it is fiber art and I am happy with it. We have spent days on end together and I have grown quite fond of this piece.

Here is a detail of the moon and stitching. (Click on photo for larger view.)

bluemoon1detail1

And here is a detail of the other stitching.

bluemoon1detail2

Now, I will move on to Blue Moon 2 and see what kind of torture it will encounter!!