Virtual Threads On-line Course

Tomorrow, February 1st, is the start of my Garden Sewing Box Workshop. at Virtual Threads, a subgroup of the Embroiderers' Association of Canada. This is my first time giving an on-line course. At the moment, a video presentation, was not possible. However, I have lots of photos on completing the project. 

Closeup of part of a panel.

• Free Motion Embroidery on Water Soluble Fabric    
• Tutorial: How to Embroider your own Freehand Landscape   
• Landscape Embroidery Ideas       
• Best of 2020: The Most Imaginative Embroidery Art of the Year 
• Embroidery Landscape Ideas    
• Hand Stitched Landscapes in a Hoop (I could not find artist name. If anyone knows it, please let me know, so that I can include it here) thanks
  

 Enjoy!

Christmas at the Forum

Thanksgiving has come and gone! Next weekend the clocks fall back an hour. Are you ready for that?

Jill and I will be in Halifax for the weekend attending (for the first time), Christmas at the Forum. This is the longest running Christmas Craft Fair in Atlantic Canada. Last year they had over 25,000 visitors.

We will be at booth # 495, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It will be a very long three days but looking forward to meeting lots of people and showing them our creations.

I'm in the process of framing some of my art pieces. This one will have a white (looks gray in the photo) double mat and a 8" x 8" black metal frame.

I also  have several landscapes (8" x 8") that have my dyed skies and water as well as computer printed rocks on silk and hand appliqued to the background. Here's a larger sample from a previous post as I haven't photographed the new ones yet. I love the sky in this piece!  I copied it from my blog post and will not center on this page! Oh well, not much I can do about that at the moment.



Hopefully, I'll have photos to share from the show this weekend!
Thanks for stopping by.
Enjoy

Art and a Sunset

I haven't been blogging very much this summer. For one thing, it has been way too hot. However, a heat pump was installed about three weeks ago so it is now lovely and cool inside. We have had friends from Newfoundland visit as well as family from Tennessee and Ottawa so I've been busy with them.

This mini garden was completed last week. It is matted 5" x 5". The background is cotton with free-motion stitching. The old basket was stitched on a tan coloured fabric and appliqued by machine. The foliage is a combination of hand embroidery and machine stitching. The tiny French knots represent dandelion flowers. When I was a child I would often pick them in the back yard and bring them into my mother. Most of my landscapes have a dandelion or two embroidered on them.

 

Under the Sea was finished a few days ago. This one is matted 5" x 7". It is also a combination of machine and hand stitching. 

I had to add this sunset. I took this from the car as we were driving home from Halifax this evening. Love those colours!!

Sunset along the 103, on the way home from Halifax

• You can see a few previous Under the Sea pieces HERE
• Another mini garden is HERE  
• Find Textile Art Inspiration HERE on Pinterest. Lots for everyone!  
• Check out my blogging friend's blog at Magpie's Mumblings. You will be entertained for sure.

Enjoy!
I'll try to be a bit more regular with posts this fall.

From 2008: In All Its Glory

Easter has silently crept upon me! Yesterday, I realized that it's next weekend. Where does the time fly. I wonder how many of you have all your Easter Projects finished and in use? Me, I don't have anything to put out at the moment. With no studio yet and most things still in boxes, I'm managing to keeping up with production orders and not much else. I am chief gopher for studio renovations which is important.

I posted this textile seascape, In All Its Glory, on Instagram and FaceBook today:

Now check out a few links:

• For all the scrappy quilters out there, check out SCRAPtistic on Persimon Dreams
• How to make a Craft Bag 
• Free Easter Patterns at the Quilt Gallery   
• Easter Baskets and Eggs Tutorials 

Enjoy!!

Puzzles & More

Do you like puzzles? Jig Saw, that is. I've loved them since I was a kid. However, I haven't done one in several years. Just too many other things taking up my time. I did spy this one by Gunnel Hag  (click start a new game).

For those of you who aren't familiar with this fibre artist, go HERE and HERE. She is the artist who introduced me to the fabric dyeing method of the Colour Vie Pigment System. All the skies and water, that are in my landscapes, were dyed using this system. It is a fabulous environmentally friendly fabric dyeing method.

I used this method for the sky and water, in the piece below. The hills in the distance were printed onto silk from my computer and then appliqued to the background. The foreground is pieced and appliqued in place. This one was on exhibit at the Waterloo & Area Quilt Festival quite a few years ago.

In All It's Glory

For a few puzzles check HERE!

Enjoy!

Winter

Today was another storm! What a pile of snow.

View from patio door

My poor Holly bushes!

View from studio. I opened the window to get this shot.

when we moved in about 25 years ago, this tree was about 4 feet tall.

Winter inspiration:

• Winter embroidery etc. on Pinterest HERE, HERE & HERE 
• Winter themed quilts on Pinterest HERE,
• Winter landscape quilts 
• Mug Rug Winter 
• Bird Patterns 

Enjoy!!           

Workshop Weekend!

Here's a quick look at my progress at the textile landscape workshop that the Eastern Edge Quilt Guild held this weekend. It was a welcome diversion from the flurry of getting ready for the Christmas Craft Fair and the actual fair last week. Thanks to local textile artist, Karen Martin, for a great workshop!

The sky in this background is my own dyed fabric. I used batiks for the hills and water. However, the building fabric is cotton which can be used on both sides. The right side is dark, while the back is slightly lighter. This kind of fabric is good for shading. At the moment, this piece won't be completed due to Christmas projects! I will post more on my progress next year (which isn't far off!!).

Strips for clapboard

The two strips on the left are the 'right' side while the three on the right are the 'wrong' side

One side of the shed. The darker strips are used here.

A Small Landscape

Here's a piece I was working on today. Not sure if I'll stitch in some dried grasses or not. I'm not looking forward to winter but this piece was started last year and put away unfinished.  Once framed, it should be a good one for the Christmas Craft Fair in November.

I used some of my hand dyed satin for the sky. Satin dyes well and gives a shimmer to my skies. The snow is a heavy organza and hand stitched to the base. It is easy to manipulate with needle and thread. The tree, which is made from burlap, is also hand stitched to the background. I used Sulky Opalescent Sliver thread to tack down the branches. The tiny stitches sparkle like bits of ice on them.

The mat (just laid in place) is suppose to be a bright white. I usually use a black metal frame that is custom made to fit my pieces.

Matted 5 x 7

Day 2, Art Challenge

Today is day 2 of the Art Challenge on Facebook. Here are three of my textile landscapes (earlier work). The rocks are printed from my computer on silk, cut up and hand appliqued to the background. The skies and water are hand dyed. At first glance, they look like paintings but as you get closer, you can see the dimension. The first one is called 'In All Its Glory' and was on exhibit at the Grand National Quilt Show, Waterloo, Ontario, 2002. I kept that one but the others have been sold.
Now it's my turn to challenge another fibre artist, Anne Lucas, of Foggy Rock Fibres, to show her work over the next 5 days.

The Valley

I can't believe it's been over a week since I last blogged! It has been a busy time here in Nova Scotia. We are about a 30 minute drive from Lower Sackville and another 20 minutes to downtown Halifax and in another direction, 30 minutes to Avonport for a fabulous quilt shop (more on that later).

 

Our motor home is looking down into the valley. From here, I can see horses across the way, green fields, tall trees and farm houses. Everything was so green and peaceful that Sunday, I decided to take some photos. I walked through the garden and along a small path. Much to my regret, I got eaten alive by black flies. I got quite a reaction to the bites and today is the first time that they don't itch! However, I did get a few photos! In fact, I can see some potential stitching and maybe a landscape. Enjoy.



Felted Landscape

I just found an eleven inch strip of unfinished needle felted landscape in a bag of wool roving. It will probably be hand embroidered with flowers, cut into two inch strips and used on five art cards. Maybe they will be ready for the February 8th Some Good Market here in St. John's. Valentine's Day is just a few days after that event!

Woodlands for the Landscape Quilter

Last week, the Cabot Quilt Guild had a two day 'Woodlands for the Landscape Quilter' workshop with Nancy Bergman. This is a new class for Nancy. Twenty students were challenged to create their own woodland scene by playing with scraps of fabric and exploring the tricks of creating an illusion of visual depth resulting in a small art quilt. The background fabrics were provided as well as a selection of other fabrics to create tree trunks, ground cover and shrubs. As you will see in the samples below, each one was different. It was interesting to see the background fabrics quilters selected.

 

Nancy Bergman

Nancy Bergman Workshop

This Saturday, Sunday and Monday I will be attending two workshops given by Nancy Bergman, quilt artist, from Ontario, Canada. I was first introduced to Nancy's beautiful work when I attended the Kitchener Waterloo and Area Quilt festival in 2004. I had a small piece entered into the exhibit called Constructions of Canada, and was attending the show. Nancy also had a piece there called Kenora Boatyards - 1906. Needless to say, I was smitten by that piece and kept going back to view it. This piece caught everyone's attention as it won the 2004 Grand Prize, Constructions of Canada. Take a few minutes to view more of Nancy's work.

The Cabot Quilt Guild and the Eastern Edge Quilt Guild are hosting two of Nancy's workshops

• Woodlands for the Landscape Quilter
• Sky, Water, Islands, Shorelines, Icebergs and Thread Painting Pine Trees for the Landscape Quilter

Hopefully I'll get some photos to share with you. According to the course descriptions, it should be three interesting days!

New Fabrics Arrived!

A few post ago I mentioned winning some fabrics and a pattern on several blog hops. I received the Liquorice Hoffman Bali Pops from Linda's Quiltmania on Monday. Thanks, Linda, they are just perfect and will be used in future landscapes.

Today, 4 fat quarters (Batiks) arrived from Flare Fabrics, a Canadian Company, specializing in quality batiks, bold cottons and flannels. The batiks are top quality and the colours I received are just perfect for making my 3-D fish. I won these on face book! Also check out their blog. Thanks bunches for the fabrics!

Daisies and Dandelion

A few posts ago, I wrote about a piece of wall art that I had completed as a donation to the Cabot Quilt Guild for the Mother's Day weekend quilt show. It is part of a silent auction. Well, here is the completed piece. It is framed 8" x 10".

The sky is hand dyed satin (this fabric gives a lovely lustre to the sky). The green hills / grass are strips of commercial fabric that have been stitched with the sewing machine. The tree trunk and branches are thread painted and sewn onto the background. The foliage is stitched on by machine to give a 3-D affect. The daisies were hand stitched and then added to the picture (again, the flowers are in 3-D). The dandelions are French knots. Most of my landscapes have dandelions somewhere in them (unless they are winter scenes). When I was a child, I would pick these flowers as a present for my mother. She would accept them with a smile.

Latest Work

I just finished another piece of wall art. It's a donation for a silent auction later in May. At this time, I'm just showing a small corner of the piece. The 'rock' is silk that was printed from my computer. Refer HERE for information on printing onto fabric. The daisies were embroidered individually and hand stitched in place. The orange flowers are French knots. In the completed landscape there is a hand dyed sky, hills and a large tree with foliage. The skeleton tree was thread painted onto organza. Foliage was added after it was placed on the background.

Printing on Fabric

Years ago (1999), when I first started in the business of creating fabric landscapes, rock fabric was the hardest to find. When I did come across any, it was way off scale. So I decided to search for other methods to get the fabrics I wanted. My search led me to Bubble Jet Set 2000, invented and manufactured by the C. Jenkins Co. This product 'has revolutionized the way we print on fabric!' As they further state, this non-toxic chemical formula is designed to treat fabric so that permanent images could be printed directly on fabric using an Ink Jet Printer. I have been using this product for years. I take lots of photos of rocks and cliffs to be used in fabric printing. However, I will usually manipulate the photo, sometimes stretching it, before printing out a page of 'rocks'. When working on a piece of art, I will cut up the page and make rocks the size needed for it. I prefer to use silk instead of cotton for the 'rocks' as it is so nice to needle turn and applique in place.

I do print my fabric labels onto 200 thread count cotton (see photo below). After I print and heat set the labels, I put 'fast 2 fuse' interfacing on the back before cutting them out. The labels are ironed on to a project as well as stitched in place. I really don't trust the 'glue' for long time use. I have purchased pretreated white cotton from C. Jenkins and this cuts down on production time. The silk, however, still has to be treated with the liquid.

The iceberg, shown on the second photo, was printed onto cotton, cutout and stitched in place. The sandy beach is from recycled silk that was purchased at Value Village (second hand clothing shop). These shops sometimes have clothes that are perfect for a particular project. All the leather and suede used for the backs of my wearable art pins, come from such places. And, it's way cheaper than going to a tannery for scraps.

My Sweet Prairie

I've been corresponding with Monika Kinner-Whalen, a fibre artist from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She does the most wonderful freestyle embroidery by machine as well as by hand. If you have ever travelled across the Canadian prairies by car, you will see that she has captured the beauty of the landscape in marvelous stitch.  Materials used in her art include silk and cottons, sheer ribbon, glass beads, rayon and cotton threads. Please stop by her site, My Sweet Prairie for a visit. I don't think you will be disappointed! Permission was given to use any of her photos from her web site. Check here as well as The Needle and Thread Network.

Monika is also the feature artist in A Needle Pulling Thread / Spring 2012.

Back Garden 05 - Work In Progress

Yesterday was a marathon day for working on this piece. This morning I put some of the last hand embroidery stitches in place. I have to do a bit more machine stitching on some foilage and it will be finished - well, the framing still has to be done!  Here's a bit of yesterdays progress. I wanted to add poppies to the garden. In the summer, it is loaded with them along the fence and over into the corner. They migrated from the garden behind this one. I decided to take a short cut in the top photo by making the poppies from red silk with French knots for the centers. But they did not look right so back to the sewing machine. I experimented with free motion stitching on red organza. I'm pleased with the outcome. I'm not looking for photo realistic flowers but representations of them. The daisies were all hand done on a wash away interfacing and hand stitched in place. I've used daisies like these in a number of my landscapes. The fence is from white cotton that I painted over with white paint. I found that the fabric before painting is transparent and that wouldn't do for a 'wooden' fence.

Show & Tell at the Embroidery Guild

The St. John's Guild of Embroiderers meets the last Tuesday of the month. Here are some of the items shown last month. Firefox is playing games again (at least on my computer) - not all the photos are shown on their screen.

Sewing Box

Cross Stitch Pillow

Needle Point Landscapes

Sashiko Bags