Wooooo Hoooo!

My "quilts" were accepted into the Salvaged Threads Exhibition! They will be in the Big Sky Quilt Retreat Show in Billings March 12-14 and then in Toucan Gallery (also in Billings) from March 25-April 25. The quilts will then be offered for sale on the Salvaged Threads blog until July. I still haven't put a label on the back of these, so I've got to do that and then send them off.



I've been experimenting with acid dyes, wool and deconstructive screen printing. This screen (which I forgot to take a photo of) was made by using cut pieces of pomegranates. But I think the thickened dye was too thin. Instead of getting the pomegranate impressions, I just got dots of dye puddling on the screen. But it still turned out very cool. This is the wool before I steamed it.


Here's a close up of the dots.



Here is it after steaming and the one on top is the one I showed you before with the pomegranates printed on. At least that piece looks like pomegranates. I'm still deciding about over dyeing these two.




Here's a close up of the steamed piece.





I did more dyeing of wool including rainbow for my cat toys, used up the rest of the thickened dye on some merino that I might make into a bowl similar to my silk bowl of the last post. And these are some Wensleydale locks dyed with the exhaust from some nylon netting I dyed purple. These are nice and variegated and kind of remind me of wisteria. We'll see what happens with these. I have lots of ideas for further vessels and bowls. Next weekend I am off to my Experimental Machine Embroidery class at the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center. I am really looking forward to that. So I probably won't post until after I get back.

Sinful Sunday

Why Sinful? Well... This is kind of like Wordless Wednesday or Thoughts for Thursday. I got to stay home alone as I sent hubby off skiing again (I went yesterday) and I spent the whole day playing with fiber so it felt kind of sinful to be able to have 2 days this week to work on my projects. This lovely postcard came from Ilse yesterday. It fits in with the blue theme and looks like the snow we have outside. Thanks Ilse!


And this is my green postcard from Wendy, a bit late but nevertheless finally made it. Thanks Wendy!



I've started playing with printing and silk screening with thickened acid dyes on wool. These are pomegranates printed on to a wool blanket. I like how these turned out. Now to decide if I want to over dye, put more layers or use as is.




Here's a close up. I also used these same pomegranates to start a deconstructed silk screen. I think my dye was a bit runny because it doesn't seem to have worked like the book explained. The screen is drying now so I'll have more experiments next week.





This is one of the silk fabric bowls I am making. The other is a surprise for later. This one I am going to donate to a local organization I am a part of for a silent auction. I am still deciding if it is finished or if I want to enhance the stitched lines more.






I didn't do a tight satin stitch on the seams. And they therefore don't stand out as much as on previous bowls that I made. But I kind of like the feel - it seems more organic this way.







And as it is supposed to suggest a flower. It is sitting on a circle of cardboard. Otherwise it tips over too easily. I am planning on embellishing the cardboard to match. I left all the endings of threads to hang loose from the edge. You can just see them here. Where oh where is my light box? I've got to make one soon.

Blue Friday

This is my blue postcard. It really doesn't look very blue here but the camera seemed to turn it very purple. Read purple as navy blue. I stenciled the nautilus on painted fusible interfacing and then stitched. I added the sea weed with the needle felting machine. The nautilus looked kind of lonely by itself. I don't usually use a lot of blue but that was the theme.


Here's a closer look.

Blue again?? This is my first ATC I've ever made. It's based on frost on a window.

Here is my leaf for the Fiber Collaborative Tree Project.
They are making a full size fiber tree in Alabama and would like to have fiber leaves from throughout the world. If you're interested, take a look at the link. Mine is off in the mail on Monday.

I finally started working on my silk screen that I got last fall. I am going to do some deconstructive screen printing. I am experimenting with acid dyes with this and I'm going to try and print on my felt. We'll see how that goes. The only directions I've seen are done with cotton and fiber reactive dyes. But I think it will work and the unevenness of the felt should just add another variable to the unpredictability of this type of screen printing. More on this later.

I also made some silk fused paper to make some bowls. You'll have to wait to see these as one is for a gift for someone who reads this blog so it will be a secret until they receive it. But I've been busy today playing with fiber.

Blue Moon

This is my piece for the Felting Forum January challenge "blue". It is called blue moon. I had a bit of a problem because the paint that I used for the moon wouldn't dry. It has been on there for more than 24 hours and it still isn't dry. I tried a hairdryer and I even blotted some off. Hopefully, it will get all the way dry soon. I started this on the felting machine, made black pre-felt on the machine, embellished them together and then wet felted the whole thing.

Here's another shot.

A close up of the moon.

And here's the inspiration photo that I took behind our house a couple of summers ago.

December TIF Complete

Here is my completed final Take It Further project. I sewed the pomegranates on to the wool that I had dyed last week. That was after a bit of free motion work on the wool. It's now a notebook cover for my upcoming Experimental Free Motion Embroidery class.


Here's another angle. As you can see, I decided not to add any words and just let the pomegranates speak for themselves. The pomegranate is a symbol of abundance and generosity. The theme for December was generosity.



Here's a few details.




Another...





And the last one. In this one, you can see that I did get quite a range of colors with the dyeing process and that the cover is not solid black with a few white bits.

I also started work on felted project that was supposed to work for the Felting Forum challenge for January and also be an exchange postcard. The piece turned out to big for a postcard and I can't bear to cut it down in size. So I guess I'll have to make a separate postcard. The piece called "Blue Moon" is drying and then I have to add some paint. So more later this weekend hopefully.

In the new year...

Although I haven't had much time to blog or do any fiber work, I did get a few things done. Here is a needle felted pumpkin pin cushion that I made over the Christmas holiday. I also showed the grandchildren how to needle felt and they both made dogs. Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of their creations. They had a great time though. After we got home, we have been dealing with tons of snow. It seems like we are shoveling and plowing every spare minute of the day. The snow even crushed one of our "garage tents" where we store the boat. Quite the disaster. I am trying to get organized for my machine embroidery course at the end of the month. I got some of the supplies but I'm having trouble finding 30 weight rayon machine embroidery thread and 100% cotton. I guess I'll have to check out the quilt shops and see what they have. I did get a little further with my December TIF project.


My sister Margaret sent me a whole load of paint and ink supplies that she is no longer using. She included an old wool white blanket. So I used it to begin making a cover for my notebook for my class. I dyed it with jet black acid dye in a low immersion technique. It needs to be cut down now so it fits. I wanted to give myself room in case it shrank but it didn't. Then I'll sew on the pomegranates and sew the edges.



Here's a close up of the dyeing process. You can't really see all the color changes in the photos as it was getting dark here. Note to self - get it together and make a light box for taking photos some time in the near future (as in now!)


I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. It's quite inspiring to read every one's goals and words that they have chosen for 2009. I don't usually do resolutions or the such but I'm going to be trying to enter more of my work into competitions etc. Also, to concentrate on developing my own style and completing more projects. In this light, I will be doing less challenges and exchanges. I really enjoyed doing TIF but it seemed to take a lot of my time which is limited. So that's the plan for 2009.