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.

The challenge for this month was Cookie(s).

Melanie: The first thing that popped into my head for this challenge was Oreo cookies. I love them. I had also been wanting to make something with lips covered with Angelina fibers so this project was perfect. The cookie is raw edge appliqued from dark brown fabric. Black marker and black thread quilting was used for the cookie details. The fingernails were painted on with pink and pearl fabric paint. The teeth are made from white satin. The lips are made from some of my hand dyed fabric, overlayed with pink Angelina. I used quilting to enhance the face and fingers. The piece is 9" by 13.5"

Marcia: This is a cookie bouquet. I cut the cookie flower shapes using my Go Baby cutter.  I used beads and buttons from my collection/stash to create several embellished layers to each cookie. I tried to attached wooden skewers for the stems - much like what you would see if you ordered a cookie bouquet but I could not quite get them attached the way I envisioned. I need to give more thought about how to do the stems. The piece is tied rather than quilted.

Hope: I did not do the project for this month but I did make a commissioned piece for a friend. She wanted something to hang on her office door. I used several types if fabric and couched yarns. I think it really has a lot of texture. I am debating about embellishing with beads. The group thinks I should add beads to the teardrop satin shapes.

Joan: The idea that immediately came to my mind was fortune cookies. I created a Chinese food take-out box using fabric and timtex.The cookies are made from upholstery samples, fusible interfacing and wire embedded to help them bend and hold shape. At a yard sale I found a pair of decorative chop sticks. Each cookie will have a fortune. These pieces will be assembled on to a backround.
(picture to follow when project is completed)

Fruity

For August, our inspiration was fruit.

Melanie 

Watermelon. The background and center of this piece is hand dyed fabric. I overlayed fused watermelon colored Angelina fiber to give the wet watermelon texture. For the white inner rind, I used white ultrasuede and couched light green yarn and bright green silk ribbon around the edges. I was lucky enough to find the perfect glass beads just the right size and shape for the seeds.

Juicy Orange Slices
Fir this piece, I use a bright orange synthetic for the background, a nappy orange corduroy for the rind, white ultrasued for the inner rind and hand dyed orange fabric painted with translucent pearl fabric paint for the orange sections.

Cathey
Pink Grapefruit

For this piece, I used white silk fir the inner rind, and some of my ice dyed fabric for the sections and blue background. For the outer rind, I used modgepodge to glue many opalescent seed beads for glimmer and texture. I highlighted color within the piece with a dry paintbrush and acrylic paint. There is also colored pencil work. The blue background is spritzed with pearlized spray

Marcia

Summer Raspberries

For this piece, I used colored pencil to for the foliage and stems. I found perfect raspberry beads for the ripe fruit. To represent the core left on the stem after a berry is picked, I used spiral silver beads and for the unripe berries, I used small green beads. In the upper right, I quilted in a raspberry flower and used a variety of beads to represent stamens and other parts of the raspberry flower.

Joan

Looking at Fruit Fiber in a New Way

I am a Registered Dietician. The America Dietetic Association (ADA) is having a member photo contest. The challenge is to submit a photo that shows food in a different way. Since I am a fiber artist more than a photographer, I made an art quilt piece and submitted a photo of it. 

I had a greeting card with fruit images drawn by a local artist. I received permission from the artist to interpret her artwork in fabric. The piece shows a new way to look at fiber. These fruits are among those containing the highest fiber and, of course, here they are created with fiber. The bright colors in these fruits indicate that they are also a good source of phytochemicals.

The piece is made from silk, hand dyed fabrics, embellished with beads. A bit of fraying upholstery fabric creates the brown rind of the kiwi.

Unrelated to fruit, I recently finished a stacked rock landscape piece.

Rock and Shadow

The background of this piece is hand dyed. The pink and light horizontal color represents light source. I created the rocks by felting wool roving around actual rocks and then cutting away the felted shapes once they were dry. I stacked the rock halves on the background. I collect rocks and geodes and plan to do more pieces with them as a focus.

July 2012
The challenge for July was to use at least 1 piece of the non-traditional fabric samples Pat Ferguson brought back from a re-cycling place in California.

Pat: I used several of the sample pieces and used the designs in the fabric to inspire the quilting.

Melanie: I used some of the samples to create a collage that I then quilted in circles with couched yarn - Carol Taylor style. I then made a second piece from a whole cloth, soy wax dyed fabric I created a while back.

 

Joan:
This piece was created from a photo I took of a clematis in my yard. I printed it on fabric and used that as the center. I extended the flower petals using silky fabric from the pieces I received from Pat. Some hand and ice dyed fabrics were also used. Thread sketching enhances the flower, leaves and tendrils.

 


Linda: I used an open fabric sample and created a woven piece for the center and used another sample for the sides. I like how the red knotted cord stands out and creates a focus.  I also made a "spring" piece created with embroidery.

Cathey: It was great fun using these funky fabrics in a collage.

 Hope: I used my samples in this piece inspired by a class I took with Judith Larzelere.

Marcia: I made a collage from some of the samples and some other interesting fabrics I had on hand and, of course, embellished it with beads.

Coventry, RI Library Exhibit

Joan Blade Johnson and Melanie Johnston of the Quiet Corner Art Quilt Group have a few items on display at the Coventry, RI Public Library, 1672 Flat River Road  Coventry, RI 02816,

(401) 822-9100. The display will be up through the month of June 2012.

May!

This month's challenge was to be inspired by the word "may."


Marcia: This is my impression of May.

 
Cathey: May is when the dogwood blooms. In this piece I used one of my ice dyed fabrics for the background. I used Joan Shay's petal play process to make the dogwood blossoms. They are double sided white silk fused together with Heat 'n Bond and left dimensional on the piece.

Melanie: I think of spring as the time when the birds lay their eggs. I used Jane Dunnewold's dye and soy wax techniques on silk to create the background. I added satin eggs to the nest. A tree branch is quilted in and the background densely quilted with 3 filler stitches.

Hope: In this piece I  brought together several several elements that evoke May and spring to me. The background was created from various commercial and hand dyed fabric strips. The dragonfly wings are made from an iridescent film.

Pat:  May is when the ferns push up out of the ground and unfurl all their beauty. I added a touch of colored pencil to this zen mandala drawing and plan to turn it into a small quilt.

DOT Show

Come see our show at the DOT Corporate Offices 2800 Berlin Parkway, Newington, CT.
May 7 - June 25, 2012