My First Solo Show

Do you all feel abandoned ??  Well it is my fault if you do, as I have been very absent from Blogland, all summer.  I have been working at a frenzied pace to create a body of work for my first solo show.  The show opened last Friday night at Artful Dimensions Gallery in Fredericksburg, VA.I am going to post a bunch of pictures of the pieces in my show and try to keep the words to a minimum.  Of course if you have any questions please do let me know!! I hope that everyone has had a wonderful summer! I for one am really looking forward to our wonderful Virginia fall season!

 So now On With The Show!!

I made little scrap quilt legend surrounds for each of the large wall pieces and the  collage necklaces.  I wanted the titles to stand out and be something very different from the usual gallery tagging system. Here you can see Hydrangea- done with my sun prints and hand dyed fabrics.  Free motion machine embroidery followed by some subtle beading finished off this piece.

The piece on the left is titled Purple Ferns and is also done with my own sun prints and hand dyes.

The top piece in this picture is titled Cape Sunset and it was done using my embellishing machine and then wet felted.  I used merino roving and silk waste and then added 5 tiny little shells and some free motion embroidery to bump up the texture and add a bit more interest.  I backed the piece with a glorious bit of deep purple silk velvet.

The piece at the bottom is titled Tide Pool I and is a quilted piece that was mounted on wood bricks and embellished with beads stones , lace, embroidery and found objects.  This piece can be wall mounted or sit on a table top as I affixed chunky rubber feet to the bottom of the wood tray.  When siting horizontally one gets a completely different view of the details that are not visible when it hangs on a wall.  Kind of like two pieces of quilt sculpture in one!

The top piece is titled Poppy Fields (SOLD) and was needle felted with many different fibers and textiles, then free motion embroidered and beaded.  All along the bottom of the piece I added drizzle stitch grass to add a very realistic look to the piece. I mounted (stitched) the piece on a lovely soft green linen fabric. ( This was the first piece to sell on Friday night!! :)
The lower piece is called Energy.  I created it using my Embellisher and then did some wet felting as well, combining wool roving, silk fabrics and silk roving.  I further embellished the piece with hand stitching and bead work.  This piece is put together in the same fashion as Tide Pool I, each mini quilt mounted on wood blocks of different sizes and thicknesses.  It can also sit horizontally on a table top or shelf .

Tide Pool II was supposed to be part of Tide Pool I but as a result of all of the beading ,found objects and stitching, it crowded the other pieces too much . It became a piece all on it's own.  A friend at the gallery titled it the "Butter Dish" as it reminded her of her mother's fifties style butter dish.  I had to admit that the shape was similar and in my mind it will always have a nickname of the Butter Dish.!  I mounted it on a smooth piece of found driftwood and affixed the same rubber feet to the bottom.

Detail shot of "the butter dish"

 I created some of the sea life for my Tide Pool pieces using recycled glass beads from Africa that my brother sent to me , and some seed beads.  I stitched the seed beads thru the large holes in the glass beads and into a very small square of ultra suede.  then I was able to stitch the ultra suede wherever I needed to put it on the quilted sculpture.

more detail shots of portions of the Tide Pool sculptures

I created two purses for the show in very different styles and using very different methods but always using very Happy colors! the shoulder bag above is fully lined with two pockets, hand made cording that was braided and then stitched to some hand dyed cotton.  the straps are held on with covered buttons that have felted and beaded tops. The collage felting was done with silk fabrics, wool roving , silk waste and vintage hand dyed doilies that i dyed myself.  It is embellished with hand stitch and beading.

This purse is call the Colors of Happy Purse(SOLD)and is a stitched collage of my sun prints and hand dyes.  I added hand made fabric paper beads that are resin coated and hand made cording that was then braided.  Again the strap is attached to the purse with covered buttons.  It is lined with several sun prints and has two pockets inside.

This collage necklace is titled Jubilation. The chain is various styles of copper links and the majority of the beads are fabric embellished with seed beads as well as fabric paper with resin coating.  The heart at the bottom is a resin  collage piece with a rhinestone and the leaf shaped piece is a resin coated piece of my sun printed fabric.

These are my Sun Print Spinner quilts. Each segment is double sided, hand stitched with metallic thread or beaded with glittery beads.  The intent is for the thread and beads to sparkle as they catch the light as the quilts spin.

Smiling Faces is a woven quilt that is heavily embellished with hand stitch and beads.  I painted the focal image of the pansies using water color pencils.

Solar Flair is a mixed media quilt combining my sun prints , fabric paper including a lace layer , lots of hand stitch and beading.  I also added free motion stitching and machine quilting to various parts of the piece.

Felt Collage Pillows 

Beaded Tapestry Earrings

Meadow Lace(SOLD) is the last art quilt that I created for this show. I combined a rust dyed and screen printed vintage doily with a lace sun print and lots of hand stitched Queen Anne's Lace covered with literally 100's of french knots.

Well that's a wrap for this show, at least 75% of it.  Remember if you want to see close ups click on each picture for a larger view.

Now I am working on my next show which is due to be hung in mid October at a local branch of the area library.  The England Run Library is brand new and is a glorious ,certified Green building. It is  a real treat to be invited to show my work there.  I have several more large wall pieces to create between now and then to fill the space.   So back to the sun prints and hand dyes with a few beads thrown in, of course!!!!  

My First Series!

I am almost done with my first series, art work series to be precise.  This is something that I have been trying to get myself to do for a long time.  This series began as a long single wall piece and I decided to make it into three separate, though very related single pieces.

The title of the series is Love It Forward.  I have used many of my own hand dyed fabrics and sun printed fabrics and stitched the majority of the pieces by hand.  all of the embellishing has been done by hand.

(click on each photo for close up shots!!)

This is Love It Forward I and it is currently hanging on my studio door at Artful Dimensions Gallery in Fredericksburg.

In the pictures that follow you can see some detail shots of the hand stitch work on the various pieces.

When I stitched on the backing I also added a few bits of Free motion Embroidery work on the machine.  You can also see the beading that i added to the sun prints.  these sun prints were done with a wonderful old plastic place mat.

Here are Love It Forward II and III.  They need to be backed and have a hanging sleeve added and then they will also go to the Gallery. 

    

I really had a a great deal of fun stitching and adding beaded details to these pieces and hopefully someone who visits the gallery will want to take one or all of them home!  Why not think big!! As the first Love It Forward was hanging during our March First Friday event , i have gotten  a lot of very positive feed back about the piece and folks are anxiously awaiting the second and third installments!! Off to stitch!

Sun Prints, Resin and Fabric/Paper

Here are a few shots of some jewelry that i created in time for this weeks First Friday Opening at Artful Dimensions Gallery.  I have been thinking about this piece for a long time.  I love the shape of hearts, the symbol, what it represents and the universality of that symbol.  I created these hearts with fabric/paper collage and then rimmed each heart with a golden edge, backed each with my own sun printed red fabric and encased each one in Ice Resin.  I added some of my fabric/paper rolled beads that were also dipped in Ice Resin and combined them with glass beads and bits of vintage copper chains.

The second piece that is ready for display is called Blue Bee.  This wonderful brass bee is mounted in a square black bezel that contains a piece of my gold/green/blue fabric paper all held in place by Ice Resin  .  Hanging from the Bee's antenna are a collection of tiny gold chains, a tiny vintage glass prism and some glue and green glass beads.

I am having some wonderful success with experiments using my sun printed linen textiles in combination with the Ice Resin.  They are not quite ready for prime time, but I will share them with you very soon!

Busy and Hot!!!

Life has been a whirlwind lately!! I have been teaching and creating and planning for more teaching!!  recently I have finished this White Free Form bracelet that I am calling "Something New".  It has such a strong Bridal look , the title seemed to be a perfect fit!!

This piece is loaded with pearls and vintage crystals, Opalite stones and Czech floral beads. I am hoping that a customer at Artful Dimensions Gallery will love it as much as I !

Working with summer colors and ocean colors in mind, I have also created these three new Sea Glass Pendants.  I collected these pieces of sea glass last summer on Cape Cod and now each is cradled in a unique strapping of beads, pearls and hand cut vintage crystals!

I just noticed that the temp in DC today has hit 102 degrees!!  After gardening this morning in the relative cool, I set up some sun prints.  One of the few things that a hot sunny oppressive day is good for is Sun Printing!!!  I am working on a very large collage quilt piece that will be comprised of layers of these sun prints.  I have to get three pieces ready to go to the Fredericksburg Museum for a Textile Arts Exhibit that will open in September!!

I hope that all can keep cool !! I am off to set up some more Sun Prints!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2012 Creativity Kick Off Winners!!!

So sorry to be so tardy with the results of the Give Away. I have barely had time to sit at the computer over the past several days!!
I have just plugged the numbers assigned to each comment-or into the Random Numbers Generator and ............................. Drumroll, PLEASE

The winner of the BEADS is Wendy with #7!! Congrats to Wendy of Quilts by the Sea and it is delightful to meet you!!!

The winner of the Fabric is Penny of Back Valley Seasons with #4. And you said that you never win anything- can't make that claim any more!!!

Both of these creative ladies have wonderful blogs that I am just now discovering so be sure to stop by and pay them a visit. And if you would be so kind,leave them a quick comment , I am sure that they enjoy comments as much as I do!!!
So ladies, I need to get your snail mail addresses so I can get these little tokens on their way to you!!!
Thank you all for sharing your words for 2012 and your many comments and all of the support that you give me throughout the year!! Getting comments from my readers really means a lot to me.
Let the awesome creativeness that we all possess begin !!!! May your Muse feed you well all year through!!!

Welcome 2012 Give Away!!

I have been wanting to have a Give Away for a long time. I am so very grateful for all of you who visit my blog and extra thank full to those of you who leave comments and tell me that you have stopped by. It really means a lot to me that you take some of your time to say hello!!!!
Now that Christmas is over I am again rearranging things in my studio, in my never ending search fro efficient storage solutions for my methods of creating. Today the stamp wall is coming down with the narrow little stamp holding shelves being replaced by big functional hand me down wooden shelves from Tom's mother's kitchen reno. I have boxed and categorized the stamps that I wish to keep, in clear plastic bins. now all we have to do is locate the brackets that hold up the shelves. Then we will get to installation of the "new" old shelves and much more storage space!!!

In my efforts to FOCUS and SHARE ( my two words for 2012) this year, I plan to Focus on my textile collage art and share all that I learned about other media thru teaching classes and tutorials on my blog.

As big THANK YOU'S to all of my wonderful readers I am offering two small tokens of my appreciation.

A collection of my Sun Printed Cotton Fabrics.



#2 A Great Big Handful of my hand crafted Fabric/Paper resin coated beads in a range of sizes.



All that you have to do is leave a comment for me here, telling me which gift you would prefer and then share with me your words for 2012. I am always so interested to hear what everyone has chosen for their words to live by for the coming year. If you post to Facebook with a link to this giveaway, be sure to let me know as I will enter your name into the drawing TWICE.
I will draw a name from each pool (so don't forget to leave me your choice- beads or fabric) at 6pm EST on January 1, 2012!!
I hope that everyone had a very Happy Holiday Season and that 2012 brings Peace Sanity and Compassion back into the world and that you are all able to climb to new creative heights!!!
Happy NEW YEAR!!!

Life is a Button Jar!

Upon returning home for the Montpelier VA Fiber Festival, I stopped at a wonderful sign covered cottage with a yard overflowing with salvaged wooden shutters, jars, planters, cans, iron garden ornaments and wonderful stuff. The outside spoke of wonderful treasure to be explored inside and I was not disappointed!

I found several bits and pieces of lace and some doilies and then this magnificent Blue canning jar stuffed full of buttons and bits. It was not as clean and pristine as you see it now but it was loaded with buttons all strung, by type, on cords to keep them organized. It was such fun to dump it out and go thru the contents and to think about the person who spent so much time and care to keep the buttons all sorted. After a good washing in a bowl of hot water and Dawn dish washing soap, I went thru the contents for a third time. below you can see pictures of some of the best cleaned treasure.

I would love to know what these red hook type things are. Any ideas??? They are made from sturdy red plastic have three holes in the round plate and have the rounded hook that sits on top of a stem. Are they for stockings to attach to girdles??? I am clueless! As you can see, they were all neatly strung together.

This is an enormous string of vintage cut crystal nail head beads. they are flat on one side and rounded and faceted on the other. the hole for attaching runs along the same plane as the flat back. There are so many that I am going to bag them up and offer them in groups of 12 in my Etsy shop.
I found all manner of Mother of Pearl beauties, with shanks and without and in every size from very large to tiniest of tiny!!! LOVE LOVE These!!!
There were also several varieties of vintage plastic buttons that will be added to other collections and may find their way to my Etsy shop as well!

I finished another chain maille piece in a new design. this piece has been sent off to my niece Mali who is now a sophomore at Colgate university. Her 20th (OMG< Cannot believe this) was in September but by now she has learned that Aunt Elizabeth is very rarely on time with Birthday gifts but they are usually worth waiting for !! This pattern is called Vertebrae and was taught to me by the amazing Carol at Beads on Parade in Fredericksburg. Carol's teaching abilities are amazing. She will sit down at the drop of a hat to teach any chain maille pattern that one wishes to learn!! I added the silver Magnatuma beads as I must add more beads to everything. the movement in this pattern is such fun. I hope Mali will enjoy wearing it!

As we finally saw the return of the sun I spent a good deal of time setting up for some new sun prints. This time I kept track of the time that it takes me to prepare my pieces for their sun exposure. In the pictures below you can see 6 panels with floral elements placed on the wet paint covered fabric, just after they were placed in the sun. It took 2 and a half hours to prep, place and arrange these panels for drying!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Each foliage or floral element is gathered, placed and secured either by straight pins or by a firm finger squish, tot he wet fabric. this is not done by simply sprinkling the elements over the fabric. I was very surprised to note the amount of time that this process took! No wonder my back hurt when I have done this standing and hunched over a low bench. In future I must set up a station where I can sit or stand comfortably, for this part of the process.!
These two panels were covered with individual hydrangea bracts and various leaves. the prints turned out very well and I hope to have them available very soon in my Etsy Shop!!

As if this were not enough, daughter dear let me know that she wanted to participate in some high school homecoming activities and she needed a Zelda costume by today. That request came on Friday. So with promises to help in all tasks, we set off for the fabric store with pictures of Princess Zelda- of video game fame, in hand. Becca painted fabric panels and crafted neck plates and jewels from polymer clay while I modified a dress pattern to become a top and skirt, in the EXACT color combo, to complete the ensemble. She has promised to let me take pictures as she heads out the door to Animation Day tomorrow. Her partner will be dressed up as Dark Link and they will join other teams of kids who have paired up for this School Spirit event. I promise to sneak a few pictures onto my next blog post, as long as you all promise not to tell her that I have done so!!!

Today, I hope to rearrange my sewing area and prepare for the next round of projects that have deadlines attached!!

I will try to keep my blogging duties more timely, but if you don't hear form me for a few days you know that I am very busy!!!!