Working on a Series

Working in a series is a really fun process. I took a size, 12 in.x 12 in. and designed four pieces, the four seasons. Choosing fabrics and embellishments was the fun part, choices were made to represent the time of year and the temperature. When finished all were framed on the wooden frames and I took the pics. Now they are ready to go places.

Winter

Spring

Summer

Fall

Try it , you will like it.

More sheep stuff

I continue to work on the sheep piece. Now you see all of the pieces ironed together onto a heavy weight pellon ready for thread play. Threads , here I come. The stitching is my favourite part.This is the colour palette for the back ground, aren't they luscious? All fabrics that were hand dyed by Elaine Quehl.

Work on a Sunday

I have made some new goals for myself and one has been to get more work out there so I have entered an online challenge organized by Three Creative Studios. Once every two months we have a theme to develop. The theme for the end of February is "PUZZLE". It gives me a chance to move in another directions and play with some new ideas.

This is how far I have gotten. Can't show you the whole thing until the end of Feb. Stay tuned.

Now for the second piece. Quite some time ago I interpreted this picture taken by Peggy Dewitt a photographer for her Tampered With Show. Other artists were invited to interpret her work, which I did. Much to my surprise this piece sold so it didn't live in my house for long. It was the first time that I made an animal from a photo. Now a friend, Janie Hickman of Janey's Knits has asked me to make one for her seeing that she has a massive sheep collection.
I painted the fabric yesterday, so now I am putting her together. I am also planning to paint on some more detail for the curly hair.
The starting point and more to come. Wish me luck.

Another one Bites the dust!

Sometimes when you make a piece, it does not sit with you well. Although my friends told me that they liked this, it always bothered me, it just didn't seem to belong with the rest of my work. It was a response to a challenge and I left it way to late to do the original picture justice.

Mike's Flower

Detail

When I am not happy with something I am working on , I used to throw it in a box and forget about it. Now I turn it into book covers and it's amazing how great it looks when finished. These books go on blank, acid free books from Wallack's and the cover can be used over and over again. Who doesn't like a pretty book to write in?

This is the back. I take a chance and cut the whole piece to get the most number of books out of it and they always look great.

I managed to get four out of this piece. Look for a tutorial on how to make the covers. Next time I make a batch, I will take pics and show you how to make them. They are great gifts as well.

Photographing Fibre Art

When it comes time to gather a submission for a show or competition I always agonize over the pics and putting them on a CD. I'm never quite sure how to do it and usually some time has elapsed since the last time , that it's like starting all over again. Heaven forbid that I bought a new camera and the software is now unfamiliar.

My good friend Helga has a husband/photographer, lucky her. She lent him to me to see if I could learn how to take great pics in my house. He came over, we found a good spot and he patiently took me through the steps. Usually the techies ( my brothers) lose me after the first few sentences.

1. First , I have a Canon EOS Rebel Xsi.

2. You need a tripod.

3. Then we have to find the best possible setting on my camera.

4. We set it to AV and David told me to leave it there all of the time.

5. The F setting is F8.0. This is the sweet spot for my camera.

6. Leave the camera at WB ( cloudy) all the time.

7.Check these settings before each shoot.

8.Make sure that your battery is charged. have a second one ready to go.

9. Put your camera on the tripod and center it onto your piece so that that the center of the camera is looking at the dead center of your piece, horizontally and vertically.

10. Use your timer and let it go. Don't touch anything and don't move.

The next day I got some pieces ready using these instructions and it all worked out very well.

Thanks to David.

You can check out his work which is fabulous at

www.davidzimmery.com

Options revisited

In the last while I have been playing with the whole idea of options again. This started a few years ago in a class by Marilyn Stewart-Stothers at a C.Q.A. Conference out west. She mounted her work on wooden frames and made several pieces that worked together as a unit. Taking it a step farther, I wanted to be able to change the pieces around ,thus the name "Options". I am such a fickle girl and do get tired of the" same old same old".

Here are the four pieces arranged in one way. I have called it OPTIONS:SKY

Another way.
Another way.

I love this one.

The original design.
Some details.

Now to make this work you have to repeat some of the elements in the pieces. You need one fabric or colour that has a presence in each piece. For me this time it was the cloud fabric.

Then other shapes or colours had to be repeated in at least two other pieces . The black really grounds it and you can play off that. If you have any questions, please ask. I am happy to share what I learn.

Studio Time in January

My studio has been really busy with me since the first of January and it reminds me of a song.

When the weather outside is frightful and my dear(my sewing machine) is so delightful.

As long as I can sew.

Let it snow,let it snow,let it snow.

So here is a little tour of where I sew.

Ironing station with art bought from one of my favourite little artists, the Xman.

Even though I have 600 square feet, I still run out of room.

New work getting finished and my very lovely Janome 66oo.

This morning's efforts, taking pics of the work and staying by a warm cozy fire.

This is a new project that I will be developing this month and it should be ready for the next round of classes in my studio.You will be able to make the cat in any colour and use any pieced top pattern to make the background.

BARGOON!!!

new fee schedule

Because of the economic times and the fact that my students have to drive here ,there is a new fee schedule in place for a one day class.

1.one person-$50

2. two people-$45 each

3.three people-$40

4.four people-$35

5.five people-$30

6.six people-$25

This applies to booking and payment in advance and patterns and worksheets are included.

You are welcome to book a private appointment for you and your friends to see what I have to offer. I will give you a tour of my studio and I do make pretty great tea. No goodies right now as it is too soon after Christmas.

I am now taking bookings from April to November, 2010, and I will be teaching one day per week. Hope you can come.

Playing with sheers and a present for you.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

This time of year always starts for me not with resolutions but plans to try something new. I vow to set up a mailing list and keep everyone in the loop.

1.There will be some new projects and classes will start again here in my studio starting in April. 2.Also there will be a sliding scale for classes. The larger the group,the cheaper the price for the individual. More to come.

3.The little bear pattern below will be sent to anyone who wants to be on my mailing list. Send me a quick email and it will be done. No charge.

catelaw@ripnet.com

Little Bear Pattern

Above is a new quilt which is now hanging in my bedroom. I used some of Elaine Quehl's hand dyed silks as appliques and then had lots of fun playing with different techniques. There have been some requests to run this as a class and if there is enough interest we could certainly set that up.

Resolution( I wasn't going to do this) to post more often.