A look back at the work of 2015

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and days of Auld Lang Syne? For Auld Lang Syne, ma dears, for Auld Lang Syne, we'll drink a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne"

These words give me shivers, for they speak of the great flowing river of humanity of which I am a part. The turn of the year approaches, and a glance at the past twelve months is appropriate.

In chronological order:

A handquilted patchwork that just got finished and is a gift:

Another patchwork that is in process:

A strippy for handquilting, which is now in the hoop:

"Ladybug Invasion!" :

I revisited a decade old design:

"Golden Memories" in process:

I began 'Memories of Roses' in mid summer when the wild roses are in bloom up and down the lane. I carved stamps, bought used black styled cotton shirts, use bleach discharge and then fabric markers or paint to create each tile:

A quilt for my girl Gretchen, who had twins in October:

This is the last quilt I will finish in 2015, so I believe. It is for my beautiful grandaughter Jasmine:

I made this fabric twine yesterday:

I stumbled over this and wondered how I'd missed it so long. Perfect for long strips of fabric about an inch wide, its a 'twist-twist-twist' away from you, then wrap it over the 2nd strand, towards you. Opposing tension, its like hand plying. Three S wraps one way and a Z wrap the other way. I found it here:

http://mypoppet.com.au/makes/2014/04/scrapbusting-handmade-scrap-fabric-twine.html

Brilliant!

I'm going to hook up with Nina Maries Off the Wall Fridays:

http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Happy, Merry Everything to you as the new year turns and the sunlight returns once again

Love, Sue

Mid-December procrastination

So, if you are like me, you have a few gifts left to make for Christmas. I've been taking my sweet time, rolling the dice that nothing will come between me and the quilting I have to do to accomplish my holiday goals. In the meantime I haven't been idle. Here is an update on a previous piece. It is made from strips of cotton that I wove together and hand dyed, then mixed it with a gorgeous aqua blue, gold and olive African hand woven and dyed piece I'd been cherishing. Nothing else would do. It started with the search for the complementary fabric(s):

Making fabric choices, I created a landscape background, but had no focal point for so much abstraction. It needed to be something more, or else why? Boring.

So I removed the landscape background and decided on the one fabric I described above. I cut it into matching strips, alternated them, then removed one row of two alternating stripes, cut them into squares (7) and placed them about. I also had extra of my own hand dyed strips so I pared them down and made a geometric foundation and floated the squares across it, some up, some down:

It's all just fused now, hanging on the wall for scrutiny. I've used brown marker to shadow certain repeating areas, and would free motion brown in those same area to more well define the edges of the shadows. I'm satisfied.

What do you think?

Hooking up with Nina Marie and Off the Wall Friday

http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Have a great weekend! I'm up to 2.4 miles per walk with my husband and have lost 2 lbs. My camera program, which had mysteriously stopped functioning properly, began to function properly, so now I will be taking nature photos again. I have albums on my Facebook page that you are welcome to browse, as well as loads more fiber art pictures from over the years:

https://www.facebook.com/suzkpa

I'd love to be friends with you there as well.

Sue

For further information regarding any quilt of mine that may catch your eye, please email me at suzkpa@yahoo.com

Happy December everyone, where busy hands are warm hands. It has been a crazy 6 months, and I have lagged on blogging, but first I was sick and then sick again, then vacation, next a set of twins came into the world and then it was Thanksgiving, and birthdays. So far 2015 is the best holiday season in a decade or more. I am busy now with sewing a few gifts, but if you know me at all, you know I have 5 projects and 5 books going on so here are a few less traditional, more art informed pieces Ive been doing:

My response to the Paris attacks:

I used a hand dyed piece of sugar sacking, 15"x15", drew the Eiffel Tower with a permanent fabric marker and added the poppies with raw edge applique. I also wrote #Paris with the marker. Then black free motion for the Tower and the word and the centers of the poppies, and red for the poppies. There is no background quilting yet, but I bound it anyway with a red and black zigzag.


And this is a combo of two different pieces of fabric: a lovely piece of aqua blue, gold and olive fabric hand made in Africa, and my own hand dyed strips. I used an unusual procedure to do my hand dyeing: I wove together all eight strips, worked the weave down to 3 strips like a woven triangle, then applied dyes as though it were autumn Indian corn. It came out a wonderful jumble of colors. Ive been fusing and slicing and dicing and it is almost ready to be all fastened down to the batting:

This is my first look from above, so I will have to climb onto my step stool and make the changes that I believe are necessary.  The design will be complete when I use a brown marker to create a shadowy floating effect to increase value and perspective, after fusing, basteing and spraying the whole thing to the batting. I will free motion quilt it, without a backing, because my old Bernina has a small space for bulk on the inner side, and I'd read that quilting without the backing lessened the bulk. That offers different options for binding, facing or finishing the edges too.

This is my world today...I hope yours is happily productive. The sun is out and we're going for a walk later, down the Rails to Trails, converted coal train beds that now are home to walkers, joggers and official races. It goes through the western Poconos, near the Lehigh Valley and is all woods. My husband had a stomach sleeve operation and has lost 70 lbs and is walking up to 3 miles a day (I said he, I usually go 2 miles). So, we go. It's been very good.

I'll be hooking up with Nina Marie and off The Wall Friday:
http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/#


Love, Sue