'Three Squared' is Finished...

Yesterday I shared with you the wonderful weekend workshop I participated in with Alice Vander Vennen (see it here). So I'm just quickly popping in to show you this piece, which I've called 'Three Squared', finished and framed.

The first shot shows it with the mat, and the second after it's signed and framed (but sadly with terrible reflections...how do you photograph art behind glass?).

Weekend Workshop with Alice Vander Vennen...

I just spent the most wonderful weekend with my Group of Eight friends and the incredibly talented Alice Vander Vennen. It was a fun filled workshop and the work that was produced was fabulous. Here are the pieces I have come away with...

We started with a couple of small exercises to get us warmed up. These were intended to be used for cards so we mounted them on card blanks.

The next exercise was a little larger, but we were still working quickly and loosely. I love the juxtaposition of the various fibres and textures combined with the minimal hand stitch.

This small square piece, framed in a 10" square frame, started out as a card, but I worked back into it a bit and decided to frame it.

These two photos are close ups of individual components of a larger piece. 

There is still a little more work that will go into this piece before it's ready to be framed.

This piece is the start of a work in progress. I honestly don't know where this will take me, but I love the relatively fast, intuitive manner in which it's coming together. Time will tell where it goes and what it becomes ;)

Wafer was a most wonderful companion during the weekend. Although she loves little silk scraps and thinks of them a bit like chewing gum, for a six month old (today's her half birthday) she did very well during the two day workshop. I'm proud of my silly girl!

Oh, Look...a distraction...

I haven't been working on much lately in my studio...I think between the winter blahs, the Olympics, and other distractions I just haven't been very motivated.  I am still working on this hand stitching piece that I've given you a couple of peeks at previously (here and here) but it will be a while before I finish that.  I'll need to listen to a lot more TV to get that piece done!

As if I didn't have enough distractions, last week I finally gave in to myself and bought an iPad.  I've been resisting for a long time, but I finally decided to use a little of my retirement gratuity to treat myself!  Talk about distractions!  I'm reading more, playing around with new apps (Have you seen Paper by 53?) and just learning all the wonderful things I can do with this great new toy.

I did think I should make a little protective sleeve for it for when I'm out and about with it, so I pulled some commercial fabric from my stash (I've just about completely stopped using it for my fibre art) and set to work making a very simple 'case'.  The idea is that I can just easily pull it out when I want it, so there are no closures.





Okay, I changed my mind...I've added a simply button and elastic loop closure just so I don't have it fall out because I'm caring it upside down.

If you have any favourite apps, I'd love to hear about them!

See you Friday...

Beginning a New Piece With Silks...

I've been wanting to get my embellisher out for a while, and I finally found some time. I'm starting a new piece in which I'm using dupioni silk and I have plans for lots of fun hand stitch.  I just love that richness of the silk, and these colours are really speaking to me right now!

 I'm using my embellisher (I have a 12 needle Babylock).  One of the things I love about the 12 needle is that even if I break a needle, I can keep working without having to replace it for a while because I still have lots of needles working for me.  Yes, this has happened a few times. LOL






I'm also thinking about couching down some twisted strands of silk to add more dimension and interest.  So far, those pieces are just lying on top, being auditioned, but I'm liking how they look.  I'm excited about having a new 'hand project' on the go so I have something to do while listening to TV!

Thanks for dropping by today!

Thou shalt not covet...unless...

My friend Heather gave me a wonderful piece of silk that she had used to soak up some bits of left over dye.  Truth be told, I coveted it when she was showing me a bunch of fabric she had dyed.  It has beautiful colours and shapes that just spoke to me!  I've decided to start by outlining the shapes I see with pearl cotton and embroidery floss. When I finish doing that, I'll have to decide what to do next.  Suggestions are welcome!

Evening Bag

It seems I'm into making bags right now!  I began this bag by sewing silk circles on a wool backing, free motion stitching many times around the circle to allow the circle to bubble up off the surface.  I then added the painted, heat distressed Lutradur circles for some extra interest.  Finally, I made it into a fully lined evening bag.