Several Projects Progressing

I've been doing a bit of stitching on several projects this week, trying to get a couple of them done.

The cyanotype leaf quilt has finally spent some time with the sewing machine, I've got 3 of the 5 blocks done. Lots of circles in the blue background, probably hard to see but they are there.

I would like to get this done before next week and will probably enter it in the county fair.

Also have been doing hand stitching on the piece dyed with avocado pits.

SAQA 100 days of Creativity days 12-18

2019 Daily Stitching #3
A few more rounds of stitching added and I wrapped the outer line of stitching so that it didn't look so wimpy. Looks like this one is going to be concentric circles.

2019 Weekly Leaf , week 29
Solarfast on silk

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

A couple more wet cyan pieces

I've had one of those weeks where I've been busy but not very much to show. Every year my dear husband celebrates his birthday by having a barbecue , this year it was a pig out. He smoked pork for pulled pork, smoked several racks of ribs and cooked up some sausage, a whole lot of pork. He then invites lots of friends over to eat, they all bring side dishes so there is a whole lot of food. Everyone then gets a bag of pork to take home, needless to say, his pig out was a success and we were both very tired when it was over and cleaned up.

The day before I had friends over for our monthly lunch and we played with the indigo vat. The only piece I did was of some ripped and woven fabric that had been rusted, now it's also blue and rust.

Monday night I got to go over to the hospital and do a sleep study. I did one about 6 years ago and have been using an oral appliance to curtail my snoring, unfortunately it is no longer working. I'm now waiting for the results to see what's next.

Then yesterday I helped a friend sew 8 dog beds, she layered and cut out and I sewed.

We have had some absolutely beautiful weather, so I did do a few wet cyanotype pieces.

These two will probably end up in a composition with the previous ones, they are hanging out on my design wall.

I also did one that combined cyanotype with solar fast.

2018 Weekly leaf Week #39

2018 Daily stitching #3 days 2-8

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

Indigo, Cyanotype, and Botanical prints

I've had a fun week of printing leaves for my weekly leaf series. First I did several botanical prints dipping the leaves in a copper solution before steaming. These are all on silk broadcloth and the copper gives a much more delicate look than my usual iron dip. This group is ready for the next five weeks of stitching.

I also did several cyanotypes using green fabric treated with the chemicals.

This group and the next will be used later in the year for the weekly leaves. The next group was an experiment with soy wax, stencils and indigo.

I had made up an indigo pot because I wanted a piece of indigo blue about 24" square, after I got that done I decided it was play time. I let some local friends know that I had a pot ready and they were welcome to come play and this morning that's what we did.

We played early because the temperature this afternoon are supposed to be 108 degrees, way too hot to play. The square piece I did is below, underneath the rusted piece I'll be stitching to it.

Last week I promised to show the quilts that were at the Fair.

2018 Weekly Leaf #32

2018 Daily Stitching #2, days 71-77

More background done and a french knot spiral, it's over half way done!

I'll be linking up to "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"