Where the Twig People Dwell

I recently finished a piece that's been sitting on my design wall for quite some time....

It uses a lot of different surface design techniques. I often create fabric and then stash it away and forget about it....

and then while thinking of a new piece, I usually find one piece that strikes me more than others and work around that, pulling from my stash...my design wall is covered with bits and pieces of everything until I start eliminating. The piece of fabric above is a brick wall with color changes and printed in Photoshop E. The printing is a silkscreen of a recipe from my grandmothers "home made" cookbook. Adding her writing keeps a little of my past in the present. Below left is an eco print of leaves done on silk and on the right is a silkscreen of trees from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

An organza overlay of a page from my mother's autograph book from the 1930s...

and my "twig people" - little people made out of twigs and made into a silkscreen. 

The twigs are one of my favorite silkscreens....

Time for quilting using a very thin batting.

And the finished piece...I could not for the life of me come up with a name...forests, trees, writing and twigs ....nothing worked and then the Aha moment...probably in the middle of the night...but it came to me none the less and I think it fits..."Where the Twig People Dwell".  I do think Twig people would most likely be found amongst the trees and leaves....Take a look and see if you can find them...next time you're on a hike in the woods...

Til next time..Stay safe and happy!

Into the Woods

I started this piece a while ago. I found some fabrics I had created using deconstructive screen printing and other techniques. I really like working in a block formation which allows me to highlight some of the surface design techniques.

This piece also has some commercial fabric such as batiks. I find it hard to mix the 2 sometimes (commercial and deconstructive) as both have so much energy and tend to compete with each other but this time, I was able to get a good mix.

I laid it out to see where tweaking was needed. I laid paper patterns on top but think it's too much.

  The little strip of fabric (above, bottom) needed a little something so I added some stamping.....very subtle.

  The mushrooms on the fabric above were created with the process of deconstructive screen printing. Mushrooms can be hard to find and only certain times of the year. When I do see them, I pick as many as I can and get to work. They do make for such an interesting print.

Some printing with dyes and sponges on the small strip. Many of these fabrics I've had; It's a nice surprise when I come upon some that work so well together...especially a commercial with a hand dye.

I love to do hand stitching using 2 strands of DMC embroidery floss and you can always find a color that works from their large selection of colors. The ferns - another piece of deconstructive fabric has free motion machine quilting around the edges.

And what to name it....sometimes a name will just hit you and sometimes you have to think and think on it....I looked at this and thought of the days when I was a young child and living with my Aunt Cathy in upstate NY....She had 173 acres and lots of woods...My cousin and I would love to go into the woods and explore. We loved the stream that ran through it and the squishy ferns and moss under our feet....Think I just found a name...."Into the Woods".

Branches

I've been wanting to create a wall piece using fall foliage for my space at Woolworth Art Gallery in downtown Asheville. Years ago, I developed a technique using image transfer paper and beautiful fall leaves. Long story short, I finally realized if you could transfer a flat photo using this paper, why not the vibrant fall (and flat) leaves. I was off and running and have done many fun things with this technique.

I put as many leaves as I can on a sheet of paper, photocopy them so I have a permanent file of and also make a copy of the leaves onto the transfer paper. The transfer paper with leaves is then ironed onto fabric and honestly....you can not tell the difference between the real leaf and the fabric. 

For this piece, I decided to use the leaf as fabric and cut out the same very simple shape (you will see it below).

I wanted an interesting background so I used artist's canvas (7oz. single weave) which is a little bit heavier than muslin and did a quick (4 mins) microwave dye with a very diluted dye solution. The fabric is scrunched up so it gets very mottled. Some mx dyes will split as this one did giving a beige and greenish color.

It needed something else so I cut out fern shapes, lay them on top of the fabric and sprayed with a diluted bleach solution. I have since created these fern shapes in plastic so they don't fall apart when wet.

Here is the finished piece for the background...I'm now ready to play with leaves....which reminds me of a wonderful memory of jumping in piles of leaves. I come from the north and always had glorious autumns and lots of falling leaves.

This is the second background piece all ready to go.

And here is the finished piece.....appropriately named Branches....already brought to Woolworth and already sold within a week...Now I'm back to a blank spot on the wall again....not complaining...just got to get busy again.
 Hope you're enjoying this glorious time of year...

Feathered Path

I spent this morning doing a little housekeeping in my gallery space in the Woolworth building turned art gallery. It's a great place to visit if you're in Asheville, NC. It's right on the main street which is Haywood Street - easy to find. My buddie Mary Stori and I share a space and there's lots to see in our booth as well as 100 other booths...something for everyone. Mary and I are on the lower level in #235.

 I had some lovely self-made kits ready to be made into something. The small wallhanging -top (and top of wall) is a recent addition.

I have many hand dyed silk scarves which make great gifts and another new wall hanging (bottom photo and bottom of wall) made from the leftovers of first quilt. The scraps were just too pretty to toss.

And here is quilt #2 below

It is heavily quilted with a feathered pattern. I do love to do feather quilting but I have a tremor in my hand and it gets harder and harder to do......some of the loops get wonky sometimes. But you can't keep a good arm down and I will continue to make feathers until the resemblance to a feather is so far from the real thing, I'll have to quit....but in the meantime....I'm loving the process.

The name of the quilt is "Feathered Path" It measures 22.5"W x 32"H...so small enough to work in many spaces.

I also used the same writing fabric (not a thread left of that wonderful fabric) which is delightful and illustrates that the visual texture of the writing is what's important, not necessarily the words. The words here are "The Night Before Christmas"...Come visit us both when you're in Asheville.

Writings on the Wall

I've been making a few new things for my gallery space at Woolworth in downtown, Asheville, N.C. Business has been pretty good....not as slow as anticipated and here's hoping it continues.

I try and do simple pieces for my space in Woolworth.  Many who shop there are from out of town and want something smaller to bring home. I'm also trying to use up fabric kits I have made over the years and stored for future use.  I love the quilt above - right and thought of making it again...but realized ...not too simple soooo.....

I think this might work better. I do a lot of auditioning before making a decision...Here, I like the idea of different colored blocks in the corners but after living with it for a while.... no...too many colors and fabrics. I did however find this "words" fabric as a sashing ...oh how I wished I had purchased more.

I wanted to keep the words running horizontally throughout which meant longer strips in some areas. I realized I didn't have enough long pieces and the seaming (above) really is an "eye-sore"...so what to do?

I did have some of the printed fabric left and a lightbulb went on...I backed some of the leaves with a fusible, then onto some fussy cutting and fusing them down over areas that were joined together. The wonderful Roberta Horten always said...."if you make a mistake, repeat it two more times and it will look intentional". Well I did just that and I can't tell you how often I've used that advice.

I also thought to bring a little more pink into the quilt as a "pop" color...not too much but just a wee pop!

And the finished piece which is named "Writings on the Wall" will be at Woolworth very soon. If you're in Asheville, NC and want to do some wandering around, Haywood Street is a good place to start...AND if you should come into Woolworth, walk on downstairs and to the right to #235. I share space with Mary Stori.
PS...If you're wondering what this glorious piece of writing fabric says....it's the words to "Twas the Night Before Christmas".

Forest Relfection

Here is a piece I recently made...shortly before the pandemic and motivation was still a part of my life. I've heard from many friends that having extra and isolated time has not made them more productive...as is the case with me. I've tried to figure it out...it seems it should be the opposite ...but in the meantime, I struggle along trying to find that spark of enthusiasm within myself to create.

I'ld been thinking about working  in a new shape...one that might be more conducive to sales.  I thought a long narrow piece would fit in many decors. I also like working in block format; this one has 4, stacked on top of each other. I started with a deconstructive fabric (light area) that had a leaf.......it needed something more. I thought another printed image on top would work if I fiddled with the print setting. I put the branch image in Photoshop, reduced the opacity and printed on top of the leaf....I think the effect turned out subtle and effective.

On to block #2 which used a commercial print - pretty but needed a little something also....hmmmmm....silk screen or tulle. I often use tulle as an overlay to tone or soften fabrics underneath. Tulle comes in all colors, runs very wide and is inexpensive. Look for it in sewing stores...not a quilt shop.

When I decide to use a silk screen, I like to do a preview first as the paint sets up quickly and pretty hard to remove once it's on there. When I make a screen, I also screen the image on clear plastic (upper left) so I can lay it over the area to see how it will work....a really good tool in designing. I use Speedball screening ink for fabric which is very thick, great pigment and comes in lots of colors.

Here is the second block in the sequence....

The third block brings in the theme of trees again but also needed something more and different on the block....when in doubt, add some writing is my motto. My go-to are screens I made years ago of my grandmother's writing from one of her hand-written cookbooks. It adds a personal touch and the haphazard structure of writing lends an artistic quality to the look. It really doesn't matter if the words are "1/4 cup sugar or mix together" such as on this one...it's the visual texture you're after.

Moving on down to the 4th block....I wanted something dark and heavier for the bottom block to "ground" the piece. I did have another piece of deconstructive screen printed fabric that worked well.

So here's the piece before sewing and waiting to be tweeked...I did edge the left side and top with dark fabric to finish it off and contain it....

And DONE!