Tuesday, January 15, 2013


Our theme for this month was "FRAMED.

Marcia: My granddaughter, Kailyn, made a pencil sketch of an idea for a quilt and asked me to create it. This is the result.  She even selected the colors. This is a very true representation of her drawing.
 

This next piece is one that I started in a class with Esterita Austin. It is a study in depth, shadow etc .  I started with a piece of commercial fabric for the large background and a piece of my ice dyed fabric for the rocks & branch. I then used fabric paint & stitching to add shadow and light. Unusual for me, I machine quilted this piece fairly heavily.  I did some beading in the sky to represent stars and there are some star reflections in the water that play off the beads.
 
I was the one who selected the theme, “framed” for this month. Originally I was thinking of various ways to interpret that theme and did not want to use an actual frame but in the end, I did end up framing 2 pieces.  The first piece is “Mars.” It is made from a piece of the marbled fabric we created a couple of months ago. I added beading and metallic embroidery floss embellishments.



This second piece is “Sand and Water.”  It is a landscape stratification made from silk, sari silk waste,  and  upholstery fabric. Of course, beads and metallic thread were added.

 

Joan: This theme was a natural for me because I often frame my work. This piece is a small seascape. The top section is made from sky-like fabric. The lower section is a photo printed on fabric. I then added sari silk waste with a frayed edge. I love how that edge perfectly represents sea grass.

 

Pat: I have been designing pantographs for Willow Leaf Studios. They are based on my Zentangle quilting and should be ready for April shows. (Pat brought some samples for us to see but they are top secret til the big release. Look for them at Willow Leaf Studios and at quilt shows in the spring).

For the theme this month, I decided to try several methods of framing some of my Zentangle pieces.  I think framing the small ones gives them more importance. For the music piece, I covered a canvas with red fabric, then added the quilt. The inner red is piping. The next black layer is the binding. Then the red fabric covered canvas.  I then edged the canvas in black cord and added the tassels at the join of the trim. You can not see it in the picture, but there is an additional round of trim on the folded over edge of the canvas. This process was very labor intensive and time consuming. I am not sure how often I would use it. I then used a variety of frames to show off some of my tiles.
 

 

Cathey:  As I thought about the theme, I decided that “we are framed by time.”  For the project I photocopied a piece of calendar and printed it on fabric, I used TAP to transfer the pocketwatch image. I wanted the watch image to look distressed so I scraped and roughed it up a bit after transferring. In contrast to my usual style, I  quilted it very simply. I was considering overlaying it with organza printed with a Ben Franklin quote about tie but did not have any organza on hand. Everyone seemed to like it as is.

 

Sheila Rae: Sheila is once again visiting our group. She brought pieces based on a couple of our past themes. 
My first  piece is made from sari silk waste. It started as a wide piece of the silk with open threads in one section. I wove ribbon and thread though the open area. I then added beads and buttons. Several of the buttons are antique, dyed mother-of-pearl. The silk piece is sewn on to felt and enhanced with hand stitching. I really enjoy hand stitching my pieces.

 

The second piece is from the “stamped” theme. I stamped the buttons with tiny dots, then sewed them to the piece with multi-colored threads in a spider-web style. The piece was then hand-stitched with variegated thread.

 

For the month’s theme, I used found metal objects.  “Whatever Happened to Mary?” is made from a vintage metal medal of the Virgin Mary and I framed her with a metal frame. Both metal pieces were found in a junk shop. Star sequins and vintage buttons were added.  The text is hand-stitched. I print out text using my computer & printer and use it as a guide for stitching. The hanger is another piece of “junk” I found. I think it is some sort of lab mixing stick.  As always, it is hand stitched.  I am very interested in religious memorabilia and symbols so this piece was enjoyable to create. The background fabric is printed with stars that glow in the dark. We all went into the windowless bathroom to see the effect. J