12X12 challenge | Crazy for Fiber

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Archive for the ‘12X12 challenge’ Category

My Exciting Life

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

I am feeling so much better that I have been spending the last two days doing some much needed cleaning. As many of you know, Mr C prefers to do our cleaning rather than have someone come in to do it. I hate regular housekeeping — dusting, vacuuming, etc. However, I can really get into scrubbing and purging various locations in the house. In the last two days, I have done the kitchen cabinets, the master bathroom cabinets, the pantry and the fridge. I also helped Mr C do some purging of the garage and it got power washed.

So, I have not done much studio work. I have done lots of hand stitching on the gray piece. I have to say that I love the piece so much. I am not sure if the value is working, but I don’t care because I love exploring the elements that I have included. I am looking forward to sharing it on July 12th.

I have enjoyed taking Scooter to the Rhodie Garden in the afternoons.

Today, Scooter went to visit the groomer and got his summer do.

A couple of days ago, he looked much chunkier!!

Tonight, we attended a dinner and lecture by Bishop Gene Robinson. He was the first openly gay priest to be elected a Bishop in the Episcopal Church. He is an incredibly gifted speaker and a man full of grace who is not afraid to speak the truth. Tonight he said he was going to do something his mother told him not to do — mix religion and politics. He spoke about his growing concern about the political climate in this country and how he wants the church to step up and speak out about the inequality — the concern that the poor are bearing the biggest burden of the downturn of our economy. I had just told Mr C this morning that I was so depressed with the crap that is happening in the Supreme Court and in Congress that I felt I was almost ready to pack up and leave for another country. Of course, I won’t. I will stick it out and hope the pendulum starts to swing back.

Sorry for the downer. Here is the gorgeous peony that was the centerpiece for our table tonight.

And, here are Jayme and Mark, kayaking in the San Juan Islands. Love this!!

Posted in 12X12 challenge, House and home stuff, Spiritual Life, This and that | 4 Comments »

Every Day

Friday, June 24th, 2011

I am committed to spending some time in my studio every day. Today, I made two more flat felts using the water soluble stabilizer. I need to get out to Fabric Depot to pick up some chiffon to use on these.

I also diluted some black fabric pain with water and painted a lighter shade of gray silk organza. I am very happy with this one which is on the left, original in the center and the darker one on the right.

I am getting my energy back! I went to Pilates this morning and took Scooter for a nice walk before lunch.

I am taking Mucinex, per my Dr’s office instructions, but have to dring a glass of water every hour that I am awake. So, you know where I am spending a lot of time! The good thing is, it is working. Along with the saline rinses, I am feeling much less congested.

The huge all neighborhood Eastmoreland Yard/Garage sale is tomorrow and Sunday. Steph and family will be here early to hit the sales. We always enjoy this and have found some great bargains. The weather promises to be perfect.

Have a great week-end!

Posted in 12X12 challenge, Felting, painting fabric | 4 Comments »

Eureka!

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

For my past machine needle felting forays, I have been using prefelt for the base. It is quite thick and it gets expensive to get all the colors you want. I read someplace on the web about using water soluble stabilizer as a base for creating flat felt.

Instead of running out and buying some, I decided to look in my drawer of stabilizers. And low and behold, there was a huge sheet of Superior Water Soluble Stabilizer.

I cut a piece and laid out some fibers horizontally and vertically and started needle felting. It worked like a charm. The first photo is the front side and here is the back.

Nice! Here it is after soaking in water to remove the stabilizer.

I want to do a large piece, similar to the Twelve x Twelve piece that I did, for the special exhibit that our guild is doing at the APWQ show in Tacoma in August.

My other activity this afternoon was to try painting the gray shibori with some watered down black paint to see if I could make it grayer. It worked.

Maybe it is too gray. I might have to try again with more water.

The old deck is gone!

I have to remember that I can’t walk out of the dining room to the deck!! I think I need some of that yellow do not enter tape.

Mark and Jayme arrived at lunch time yesterday. We had a fun family dinner at a local pizza restaurant.

Miles loves rhubarb crisp, which was the dessert on the menu last night.

He was not happy about sharing it with the rest of us! Actually, we had two for the table.

Today, M and J packed up their backpacks and headed for Seattle and then they are going on to the San Juan Islands to go camping and kayaking. The will come back here next week to spend 4th of July week-end with us. Then, Jayme is going back to work on her summer research project while Mark builds our new deck.

Posted in 12X12 challenge, Family, Felting, painting fabric | 3 Comments »

Some Color

Monday, June 20th, 2011

I received a package of glorious color today from The Wool Peddler. These are wooly cupcakes in delicious color ways.

This is silk Sari Ribbon which I will use in felting.

A gorgeous pound of hand-dyed high quality roving that are ends and leftovers at a great price.

I love these silk fibers – can’t wait to use them in felting.

This is pulled silk fiber, made by pulling the fibers from remnants.

I knew I could not survive the virus unscathed. I now have sinusitis which is causing severe vertigo when I awaken in the morning. After a saline rinse and sitting quietly for a couple of hours, I can sort of resume normal activity. My Dr. is out of town until Wednesday, so I am biding my time trying to cope with another setback.

We had a nice family meal last evening for Father’s Day. It was fun to see M & M and get caught up on their plans for the summer. I gave some books and sketch books to use this summer.

I got down to the studio this afternoon and actually made a thermofax screen and printed some images. I had fun last Friday with Photoshop and a couple of photos I took 3 years ago. I turned them into black and white sketches.

That is Mark and Jayme in the photo above. I did a test print on muslin and then printed on two different organzas.

This is a white organza with a woven leaf print.

This is a dark gray organza. The print on muslin was much clearer.

I received a lovely message from Jane Dunnewold this afternoon, telling me how much she liked my piece that I did for the SDA Member’s show at the conference. She thought it was one of the top ten pieces. I really needed that boost. In case you have forgotten, you can see it here.

Mr C came down with the crappy virus this week-end, but today, he was back at work, dismantling our old deck.

Posted in 12X12 challenge, House and home stuff, screenprinting, Surface Design Association, Surface Design Techniques, thermofax | 7 Comments »

Pondering Gray on a Sunny Day

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

The next Twelve by Twelve color challenge, chosen by Kirsty, is gray. All winter, I see gray. Now, we are having sunny and beautiful weather and I am looking for gray fabrics!! Above are a couple of silk organza possibilities. That dark gray has been used in a few art quilts I have made, I really like it.

These are the only hand-dyed cottons in my stash with gray tones. Rather wrinkled and uninspiring.