My Journey into the World of Textile / Fibre Art

Last Monday afternoon, I did a power point presentation as well as a Show & Tell of my art work at the Mahone Bay Quilt Guild. I focused on my journey of creating art from textiles and fibres. 

Below are a few of pieces that I had at the guild. To see some more, please check out the Mahone Bay Quilt Guild March meeting blog post HERE and some photos from my presentation on flickr HERE. 

I've been blogging since 2019 so most of my art pieces have been posted during this time.
Thanks for reading my posts. 

12 Days of Christmas

Hand stitching samplers

Sample Fibre Lace Scarve

Folded flowers with Sashiko stitching

Voyage of Discovery (50th anniversary for parents around 1997)

Evening Purse with removable brooch

3-D, A Look Back

I was going through my mom's things this weekend (she just moved to a new nursing home) and came across this quilted wall hanging of The Matthew. I designed and created this one for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary in 1997. It is a much smaller version of the one I made to commemorate the 500th. anniversary of John Cabot's Discovery of Newfoundland, 1497 -1997.

Read more about The Matthew HERE.

The ship is in 3-D. I found a good photo to use from off one of our local brewery boxes. I traced it onto fabric and went from there. The sails are made from a silky fabric. Fabric stiffener was used on the edges to make them billow out.

Click on the photo to get a closer view.


Enjoy these few links:

• Sailing Ship quilt block  
• Free Pattern of Sail Boat Quilt 
• Sail Boats & Nautical on Pinterest     
• The Mayflower  
• Applique Sailing Ship

 

Day 1, Art Challenge on FaceBook

I was asked to participate in the 5 day Art Challenge on Face Book. So for those of you who aren't on Face Book, here's what I posted yesterday:

My friend, Rhonda, has challenged me to participate in the Art Challenge on Facebook. I'll start day 1 with 3 early pieces.

Voyage of Discovery was designed and created to celebrate the 500 years of John Cabot's discovery of Newfoundland. I made two of these. One is hanging in Bristol, England and was delivered on the day The Matthew set sail for NL. The 2nd one hangs in my dining room.

Cod Fish (3-D fish) wall hanging was made for an exhibit and is in a private collection.

Field of Daisies has 115 tiny hand embroidered daisies, done in a hoop, stiffened and then added, one at a time, to the landscape (private collection). This piece was inspired from a workshop I took with Valerie Hearder early 2000 when Val lived here in NL. Thanks, Val!

Bolgathon, Canada - Maritimes

Welcome to the second day of Blogathon Canada! Thanks to Sew Sisters Quilt Shop for sponsoring this event and to Linda at Scrapmaster, and Linda at Stitch Lines, for co-hosting the Maritimes and Newfoundland Labrador.

A little about myself:  I live in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. I've been retired from teaching 17 years (I can't believe it) and having a great time creating with all kinds of fabric, threads, and yarns. To find out how I started creating textile art, please go to a previous post from 2010, Voyage of Discovery.

Since 1999, I have created many textile pieces portraying Newfoundland landscapes and seascapes. I have won several awards for my work, have been published, and had a gallery opening in Chicago, IL. Several pieces of my art have been purchased by the Government of Newfoundland Labrador and by the City of St. John's as part of the art procurement program.

I wasn't satisfied with the commercial fabrics printed with rocks (we have a very rocky terrain) so I researched how to print on fabric from my computer. The discovery of Bubble Jet Set 2000, saved the day, and I have been using it until pretreated fabric became available. I was printing on fabric long before it became popular with many textile artists. The rock fabrics I use are printed from my own photos. I usually cut up a printed sheet and applique the rocks to the background.

In All It's Glory is an example using 'rocks' printed from my computer. This piece was on exhibit at the Grand National Quilt Show, Ontario in 2002. The sky and ocean are hand dyed. The rocks and beach are printed on silk, cut out and each piece appliqued to the surface. The foliage and flowers are stitched onto organza using free motion stitching, cut out and stitched in place.

 

The other photos are samples of the textile art I have created. I thoroughly enjoy what I do. 

Check out my other photos and please visit my Website and things I have saved to Pinterest.

 

At the moment, I am getting ready to participate in the annual Christmas Craft Fair sponsored by the Craft Council of NL. This is the first time in four years that I will have a booth at the fair so needless to say, it's been a busy fall. Since my previous display was dismantled, my husband has been working overtime to get another one ready for set up Wednesday afternoon. The fair opens at noon, Thursday, Nov 20th and runs until Sunday, Nov 23. Maybe I'll see some of my local visitors to my blog there. Please drop by and say hello!

 

Thanks for visiting!

Click on the Blogathon Canada logo to the right of my post for the lists of hosts for the week. Lots to see and lots of quilters to meet.

There will also be some great giveaways!

 

Enjoy 

In All It's Glory

Treasures of the Sea, Award for Innovation and Design

Calm (private collection, California, USA) 

View From The Rooms

The Deep

Quilt for granddaughter

Western Brook Gorge (commissioned piece)
The mountain is dyed cheese cloth.

Gower Street, St. John's (commissioned piece)



Fishermen's Museum, English Harbour West
 (Part of the City of St. John's art collection)

Fishing Stage, Quidi Vidi, St. John's (commissioned piece)

Tea Cosy (private collection)

Pisces Fantastica

Garden Sewing Box (published in magazine, A Needle Pulling Thread;

also won award for Technical Mastery, NL; and Original Design, EAC)

Back Garden (commissioned piece)

 

 

Guild Presentation - Voyage of Discovery

The Cabot Quilt Guild has a committee of talented ladies who look after the guild program for the year. They may introduce a new technique, have a slide show, a book talk, a guest presenter . . . the list goes on. This month, I was the 'program'! The committee felt it was time for me to do my 'stuff'. Since we have had quite a few new members over the last several years, it was decided that I should give a general talk about my art work.

I had no difficulty with a title as my first piece of original art was called "Voyage of Discovery" - very fitting, as it was completed the year I retired from teaching. Since then, I have been on my own voyage of discovery into all things related to textile art and embroidery. I love to experiment / play with new materials. However these days, I find it difficult to get much time to do that and I miss it. Note to self: make time!

I am not a quilter of quilts like most of the guild members. However, here's a couple I have done: Sheep at Stonehenge, and Quiltennium Dreams. Photos of some more of my work can be viewed HERE.

I decided to do a power point presentation of my art as well as have some actual pieces on hand. One thing I did discover while searching through my photographs to prepare for this presentation, was the importance of taking good photos! In the beginning, I was learning (still am really) and the images were not always taken in good light or were a bit fuzzy. I was told over and over to use the RAW mode on my camera as the images can sometimes be 'fixed'. You can't do much fixing if they are jpgs. I am now using the raw mode on my camera - live and learn. There are a few pieces of art that are sold and I wish I had better photos of them! Oh, well . . .

I do have to 'tag' all of my photos as it makes it easier to find certain ones. Some of them are done but not all.

The presentation went well and I was asked to do a workshop on some of the techniques I use. I am teaching Fantastic Fabrics (surface embellishment on fabric) next month. I have taught that one before and it tends to be lots of fun for participants as it is completely stress free! I also have to prepare a project for another workshop in the works, on making fabric clapboard. That was the topic for a presentation I did a few months ago for the Eastern Edge Quilt Guild ! Now, to get back to work!



Cod Fish - the fish are in 3-D. This is in a private collection.