Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Natural World

The challenge for October 2012 was "the natural world."

Joan: This sunprint was made using grasses and setacolor transparent paint on cotton. I used blue for the binding and the inner flange to pick up the blue thread used to quilt. I used several other thread colors as well. The main border is natural linen.

This hosta is based on plants in my garden - complete with slug holes. The background and the outer part of the large leaf are hand dyed and fabric. The inner section of the large leaf is silk. The 2 smaller leaves were printed from a photo I took. I used some variegated and some solid thread for the quilting.



This landscape was created from silk, batik and linen then quilted with a variety of thread including metallic and variegated.


Cathey: I recently returned from Maui and had a lot of pictures of the amazing flora. This piece is a representation of a monstera plant. The leaves are huge! The leaf is made from painted Lutradur. I used several colors to get the depth and variation present in the actual plant. The veins are stitched with yellow pearl cotton.


I finally finished my piece for the "cookie" theme. I made 3 chocolate chip cookies on a plate. The cookies are made from hand dyed fabric and 2 layers of batting. The "chips" were added with puff paint, then painted chocolate.

I also made this jazzy box. I started with an altoid tin and covered it with scrapbook paper and modpodge.


Marcia: I used a variety of silks for the background, then appliqued a tree cut from a man made leathery type of fabric. It is based on a picture I took.


I was also inspired by all the rain, fog and drizzle of the last couple of weeks and made this piece using tulle to represent the weather. The mushrooms and other plants were painted with fabric paint.


I finally finished my "seed packet" piece from last year. Actual wildflower seeds are trapped behind organza.


Melanie: This is a sunprinted piece. I used a variety of leaves and 2 or 3 layers to achieve the depth. It is bordered in hand dyed fabric.


This small piece is made with transperse dyes on white satin with a paper tree mask. The borders are hand dyed fabric.


For better or worse, the snow will be here soon. In anticipation, I made these snowflakes by creating a freezer paper mask, brushing over the mask with blue fabric paint, then removing the mask and painting the flakes with pearlescent fabric paint. The background is hand dyed fabric. One flake is made from white Angelina finer. It is more ethereal in feeling.


Hope: I again used the Judith Larzelere strip piecing method to create this gray palette piece. I used paint, paintsticks and stamps to embellish it. It is not yet finished. One idea I have is to add preserved leaves to it. I preserved some using a glycerin soak. They are supple but not as colorful as I'd hoped. Stay tuned for the final result.


Sheila Rae: Sheila was a guest at this meeting. She brought some samples of her work for us to see. She uses a lot of  buttons, beads and found objects in her pieces. She has jars and boxes full of things people have given her or left on her doorstep hoping to see them in one of her fiber art works. Sheila Rae does not use a sewing machine for her work, it is all done by hand.

This first piece is titled" The Original Woman."It is based on African esthetics and incorporates many images and objects reminiscent of African life.




This piece is called "Pond Scum." It is made from felted curly wool and water themed embellishments. She said that when it was finished it reminded her of pond scum.

This last piece is "Nyquil" made after using too much of the stuff. It is made from an old crewel pillow top and assorted other objects.