New Daily stitching

2020 Weekly Leaf, week 23, Burr Oak Leaf Series
Eco/botanical print on vintage silk

Daily Collage days 25-29
I've switched it up and am using 5 inch square pieces of recycled cardboard for the base and gel medium to apply papers.

I've gone 21 days without doing a daily stitching project and I missed having it to start my studio time. The daily collages are enjoyable but I missed the stitching. Doing the collages has made me very aware of how much stuff I have tucked away to use someday, so much that it gets overwhelming. While putting away the fabrics I'd been using for the collages I came across a pile of silk noil scraps that I've had for a very long time. They were very odd shaped but out of six of these scraps I was able to get 30 squares in three different sized, 6", 4" and 2". Another box had scraps of pole wrapped shibori fabric with fusible web on the back,  in odd shapes and sizes. The six and four inch squares each got a scrap fused to them and they will get added stitching, the 2 inch ones will just get stitching. Here is the basket ready to go.

Here are the first four days of the month.

At the end of the month all thirty pieces will be stitched together.

I'll be linking up with "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday Stitching"

Am I the only one that struggles with a title for each blog post? I find it hard enough to write a post let alone title it, so no title this week.

Last week I had a plan to do a quilt out of some of my hand dyed shibori fabrics, I even drew out a pattern for it, but it was just not coming together. Over the weekend I decided to scrap the whole thing and while I was cleaning up my mess came up with another idea. This one came together in about an hour.

I just have to sew on the facings, add a sleeve, title it and take a decent photo so that it looks as square as it is. I plan on entering it into a call from SAQA with the theme Metamorphosis.

Weekly Leaf #8
Since I ran out of eco prints last week I had to come up with something else for my leaf. I still have a very large bag of dyed paper towels left over form my dying days. I used them a few years ago in one of my daily stitching projects, you can see it here. I pulled out some fairly muted colors.

Decided on the green, ironed it and put misty fuse on the back.

Before stitching

After stitching

I can do several leaves out of this on piece of paper towel so you will probably see it for at least the next three weeks.

2018 Daily Stitching days 47-53
         More background stitching and another spiral.

71 Days of Mark Making days 46-52

Only 19 more days to go!

I'll be linking up with "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday Stitching"

The good and the underwhelming

Last week I was reprimanded for only showing the good stuff and not showing what I was underwhelmed about. I thought about it and realized the comment was right, I should show the good and the bad. I've done enough daily projects over the years to  know that when I start something new I'm frequently disappointed with my early attempts. Yet if I can push through the early fumbling there's always the possibility to learn something. Not only learn a new technique or process and with continued practice master it, but also learn something about myself in the process.

My first daily project was a daily photo blog, omg! The first few weeks were extremely difficult but slowly it became more and more comfortable and after six years of daily photos I lost my interest.

In 2010 I did a mono print a day for the month of March. The first thirty days I did a circle in black on a twenty inch square of white linen. As I did them I learned how much paint, the best way to apply the paint, and how to get the fabric down without extra smudges and fingerprints. I ran out of linen and I wanted the last one to be big! So it was printed on a 52" square of cotton. If I had not done the first thirty prints I would never have known how to do the big one. The blog post with a picture of all thirty prints is here. This is the big one.

Monoprint #31

52"x52"

I've done daily stitching for over seven years, along with weekly stitching projects. They have all come with their own learning curve.

This brings me to my current 71 days of Mark Making. 71 days to commemorate my 71st birthday the day after I finish. I'm doing it because I have been enamored with some of the mark making posts I've seen on blogs and Pinterest. The ones that interest me the most are black on white and frequently a free form squiggle or shape. I have never been able to stick with any sketchbook or journaling for more than a few days, so my goal is to do 71, I'm on 24 which for me is a record. I've grouped the pictures so you don't have to scroll through 24 of them.

Done with India ink and a scruffy brush.

More India ink with a different brush.

The two on the left  with a brush, bottom right a straw, top right a charcoal pencil.

Pitt pen

A Pitt pen.

They look better in groups.

I've learned that doing what looks like an effortless squiggle is not easy. I've also realized that the people that are doing these have made more than one and for many of them it's a part of their everyday artwork. Instead of struggling and trying to do someone else's marks I've decided to make marks that I'm comfortable with and will work on loosening up.

I finished the Indigo Shibori quilt.

I've started playing with some of the wet cyan prints I did last fall.

Weekly Leaf #4

Before stitching

After Stitching

2018 daily Stitching

More french knots. 

I'll be linking up to "Off the Wall Friday"and "Slow Sunday Stitching"

Lots of New Starts

I've been busy starting new things!

Weekly Leaf #1

2018 daily Stitching
days 1-4

I also have a birthday coming up in March so I'm doing a very simple daily for 71 days, since I'll be 71. I have never been able to stick with a sketchbook or drawing routine but I love to make marks, so I'm doing 71 days of mark making. I've started with an old sketchbook, a bottle of India ink that has been around for several years and a scruffy old paintbrush.

Day #1

#2

#3

I like the first two, not thrilled with todays, but the whole idea is to just make some marks on a page everyday.

Over New Years weekend I pieced together a quilt just for myself because I love the colors. I had a pack of 10" squares and on of 5" squares from two Moda fabric collections, Shibori and Shibori II.

The back is leftovers and a couple pieces of my hand dyed fabric.

 

There is flannel in between and I'm stitching it with a long running stitch in pearl cotton, because I love the soft texture.

That's it for the start of the New Year, I'll be linking up to "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday Stitching".

More small pieces

I'm in the process of making more small pieces, both leaves and yoga inspired. The yoga inspired ones were printed a few years ago and were languishing in my pile of possibilities. They are cyanotype on magenta fabric, using some shapes cut out of heavy dark paper.

I've got three canvases painted a dark navy waiting for me to attach them.

I've also started the piecing process with a couple of the wet cyanotypes on turquoise fabric. This is how they look this morning on my work table.

The fabric that was used for both of these is from here.

I did  bit of experimenting with one of my other wet cyanotypes, I dipped it in a soda ash solution to remove some color. This is before.

And this is after.

Weekly Stitching

Signs of Life: The five universal shapes week #41

This group of five will have much less intense stitching than the last one! Since I had an active indigo pot and had taught a class on shibori, I decided to do some stitched shibori dipped in indigo. Each shape is on a piece of silk noil and I'm stitching them to a linen background that was also dipped in indigo, but for a very short time so that it is lighter.

The square  stitched before the threads were gathered.

After the threads were gathered.

After the indigo bath, drying, rinsing and threads removed, but before ironing.

Week#41

I love the texture that I get using a running stitch. It's very similar to Kantha stitching. I also dyed the #5 pearl cotton in indigo.

2017 Daily Stitching days#122-128

The hexagon is filled in and some french knot shapes have been started.

I'll be linking up to "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday Stitching".