BEFORE THE MIGRATION

It's time to leave again...my gypsy life is now highlighted with lists and boxes and piles and last minute projects. We're soon to leave and wind our way down I-5 toward our Oregon home.

Above is my summer challenge entry for the Quadra guild...the components were pieces I stamped and dyed at our summer retreat. I hand-quilted the flower while my bobbin case was being repaired in Comox, and once it arrived, I machine quilted the dragonflies.

This pillow was a surprise gift for Diana, one of our Refuge Cove residents. This is her cabin, tucked back in the notch at the head of the creek leading to the lake.

Here's a surprise gift for Bonnie, from her husband. I know she likes neutral, earthy colors, so I put together this raven scene.

And this surprise was a must-do, as I am soon to visit cousin Kristine who LOVES birds and blue and all things happy. I'll be staying at her house in Seattle for a few days enroute to Oregon. I hope she likes this!

SPECTACULAR SEPTEMBER

 

On a crystal clear September evening, my husband and I were sitting at our favorite perch on our front deck, overlooking the peace and beauty of Refuge Cove. It had been a stunning day, clear and sunny, and the twilight hours were just as lovely. The sky had a particular brightness against the horizon and the simple silhouette of the trees added to the scene. I looked up to the night sky and noticed the Big Dipper located perfectly in the notch created by the trees. It was a quilt journal moment! (The theme I was pairing it with in mind was "All That Sparkles".)

I knew that my black dye would leave a cast of color as it climbed up a piece of fabric, so I set to doing that. I half-filled a cylinder with black dye and soda ash, then set a loosely rolled piece of fabric into it and watched the color climb up and eventually leave a margin of light turquoise. From there it was working with blacks: creating the horizon, using “Steam a Seam Light” as a fusible for the trees, adding the binding. A wiggly, feathery stitch along the branches added texture to the trees. For the stars, I disassembled an old, never-worn piece of jewelry which happened to have the perfect blue crystal beads.

I love the stark simplicity of this piece. It will forever remind me of the many lovely nights, sitting on the deck with Tom, appreciating life.

MANIC SCREENING

After our retreat, I was on a roll: my studio was all set up, the dyes were made, and I was excited to try my hand at more screening. PLUS, the days were beautiful and warm, perfect for drying the screens (like the one above), and for hanging the fabric on the line.

Cathy was keenly interested too. She joined me for two or three days, as we eached produced a meter a day. In the piece above, she tried to create a mountain scene, and I think she succeeded.

After the initial screening dried, a top color was added. In our case we just smeared a thickened dye on with a credit card.

My favorite objects for creating the screen design were heavy cotton string, coins, and poker chips. Cedar boughs, lace, fishnet, and plastic mesh also created interesting textures.
Now I am the owner of eleven beautiful meters of screened fabric, with a winter of time to use it!

SUPER RETREAT!

What a weekend! Dawn, Terry, Ellen and I had three FULL days of fabric dyeing and creating. It was amazing!

My three friends (connected through Quadra's Quilt Guild and Cyber Fibre's quilt journal group) boated over to Refuge on Saturday morning, hauled their gear up the hill and got right to work. Each found their spot in my makeshift studio (once woodshed) and began producing amazing pieces of dyed and designed fabrics.

Here's a list of what we did:
deconstructive screening

stamp making and stamping

flag fold dyeing
monets
moon dyes
snowflake/star folds

shibori/bottle wraps

starbursts
cheese cloth prints
fish net prints
found object prints
wheat paste prints
crossover dyeing

stitched shibori prints
overdyeing
filter wraps

discharging with decolorant and bleach product
thickened dye painting
credit card smears
Shiva paint stick rubbings

PLUS, we shared great meals, stories and ideas. What a great weekend! AND I have over 5 meters of beautiful fabric to create with! Thanks friends for such a good time together. Can't wait until next year!

MAKING STAMPS

Earlier this month we had visitors Christine, Rick, Kathe and Mike come to Refuge Cove to enjoy some time with us. What a treat!

And, we gals made some time for some creative fun. The remnants of our pond liner (thick, heavy duty rubber) became the medium for creating stamps. Add cedar blocks, scissors and waterproof glue, along with some imagination, and we were good to go.

These are wonderful little stamps. The rubber lays down well and the glue secures all edges. Get them wet with thickened dye, then wash them, and they are good as new.

Last week I made up some print paste with some OLD purple dye and proceeded to fill up some fabric. Yesterday I added some background color.

This stamp is made from a styrofoam meat tray that was just waiting for a design. I used a pen to scratch it out.

Thanks Christine and Kathe for a great time together! I'll be making some more of these stamps soon!

SHADOW AND LIGHT

Fellow Cyber Fibre member, Barb, provided us with the theme of "shadow and light" to represent in one or more of our 2012 journal quilts.
I cringed when I heard the theme, as I instantly felt pressure to be artistic.But I figured out how to get out of this one easy.

Many hand-dyes appear to have shadow and light elements going on in them, particularly when using the "parfait" method (color #1 then soda ash, color#2 then soda ash, etc.) In this case, I froze my dyes and soda ash into ice cubes and let them melt together, producing some interesting effects.
I picked out 2 of the 12+ that I produced last month (see earlier blogpost). I liked the light elements going through them, along with the darkened areas as contrast. I prepared them into  a quilted sandwich and told myself I would get back to them after my summer company left.

First stage of summer company left Sunday and I couldn't wait to sit down and sew. This was especially so because I ran into Terry on Sunday on Quadra then later that night received her journal quilt :Finding Perfection in the Imperdection"...I was super inspired and excited to sit down Monday for 2-3 hours and just play with free motion on these. I started with the brighter one first, then proceeded to the muted one. There's so much to consider...not just the pattern, but the thread color and its contrast or blending with the background. I tried not to overhink this, but rather I just had fun with it.
Shown here are befores and afters.

NEW MEMBERS TO THE FLOCK

It continues to be a summer of birds for me. Here are some new additions to my flock. All hand-dyed, hand-pieced, free-motion quilted...lovely, yes?