Hand stitching

Over in California without  machine - so I am catching up with some hand stitching I am doing with a local stitch group for an exhibition. I am using some small pieces of rust dye fabrics that I produced years ago when 'rusting' was all the rage - never used them for anything so I am now using small pieces as backgrounds. 

Different activators were used to produce the rust from lemon juice to green tea! The unpredictable effects make the pieces ideal for hand stitching

Just started stitching on a couple of the pieces below - ideal little project to have with me whilst we are travelling around, tacked them loosely to a muslin backing first before deciding how to stitch.

Jean

Hope

Hope

Based on a dry river bed... They say  the first living thing to grown is often a fern... Hence the fern leaf for hope. Hope that the rains will come and soon. The quilting is almost like a soft mist floating over the river bed in the early mornings... Hopeful that rain might come.

Arum

Arum

Took a photo of a single arum Lilly and surrounding leaves, pasted it into Coral Draw and wrapped it. Hand dyed fabric . Machine quilted.

Deconstructed flowers

Deconstructed flowers. Inspired by an article on deconstructing an apple pie and some flowers caught my eye in the background.... So thought I would deconstruct some daisies. !!! Used handled fabric through out, and raw edged appliqué by machine. Quilted and embroidered by machine.

Ripples

Ripples

Inspired by the ripples on the water. Reverse appliqué by hand using commercial cotton. Machine quilted.

Nature Abstracted

Talk about cutting it close!!
Only a few hours to go but I did it, finally got my last three pieces finished and ready to post.
Don't know where the year has gone!

Number two is "Cloud Monsters".
The central image was played with in Photoshop and transferred to fabric using a medium called "Image Maker". The border is hand marbled fabric, an ancient craft that I love to use on fabric.

The theme "Abstracted Nature" is wonderful, I adore the patterns found in nature. I think we have probably all watched clouds passing and seen all sorts of crazy animals and images flow across the sky!

And here's a detail:

Number three is "Momento Mori 1"

Here I'm back to the use of skulls, this one is created using images from nature, combined to make the skull shape. The images are again a photo transfer technique, a new one that I've been playing with quiet a lot lately. The quilting was done onto white fabric and then painted with intense blocks to add the colour.

and here's a detail:

"Momento Mori is latin for "remember we all must die", and was a medieval theory and practice of reflecting on mortality, especially as a means of considering the vanity of earthy life and the transient nature of all earthy goods and pursuits".

Skull imagery fascinates me and reminds me to appreciate what I have and make the most of my time.

And the final piece is "Momento Mori 2"

and the close up

Now that these are done I can get working on next years, one of which is started! 

Naissance

This is the fourth in my series for "Nature Abstracted", butterfly eggs.  "Naissance" is defined as "a birth, an origination, or a growth, as that of a person, an organization, an idea, or a movement".  The butterfly eggs seem to be about ready to hatch.  Through their fragile outer shell we can see the bright colors of the soon-to-emerge caterpillars. The butterfly lays her eggs on the surfaces of leaves.  All beings in this world are at their most fragile as they await their birth, and the eggs seem fragile and unprotected as they wait for their destiny--much like a new idea or inspiration.  As we draw to the end of 2015 and toward the "birth" of 2016, the world seems to be fragile as well.  Could all species on this planet be on the verge of extinction like the fragile butterflies?  We must wait to find out.
 

I constructed this quilt using fusible applique for each of the fabric pieces in the leaf and stem and then machine stitched each pieces into place and free motion quilted.  The eggs are constructed using fabric scraps from the three previous quilts of the butterfly, the chrysalis and the caterpillar, covered with a translucent white organza, and then fused and appliqued to the stem.  The eggs are nestled between two lengths of fuzzy silk yarn.

Frances

Midnight Forest

I seem to be a last minute kind of person (though usually not) as I have just finished my forth piece for this year.
Some time ago I accidently developed an interesting screenprinting method that, if all goes well, produces nice fabrics in one go. After soaking the fabric in soda I lay it crumpled on a piece of plastic, making sure that there are nice folds, and then simply use the screen with one or two colours.
I had one quite large piece of turquoise and fuchsia, which really looked like a forest to me. I juggled around to find the necessary size, without being too symmetrical or too direct.
I then used all sorts of metallic threads that I had at home to quilt it to death. Metallics are generally difficult to photograph, and this piece is no exception. But I hope that you will like it more when seeing it live.

For reasons that I do not understand the photos though portrait orientation on my computer appear as landscape. Sorry I cannot solive this problem.

Sabra

 

"Opuntia ficus-indica" is a species of cactus that has long been a domesticated crop plant important in agricultural economies, but for me it has a link to Israel in a special way.

In Hebrew, the plant is referred to as sabra. This led to the popular use of the term Sabra to refer to an Israel-born person, alluding to the fruit and the people alike being tenacious and thorny ("rough and masculine") on the outside but sweet and soft (delicate and sensitive) on the inside.

I choose to conclude my year's series with this plant.

Shoshi

 

Abstracted Nature - Norfolk landscapes

For my series on this year's theme  I eventually settled on abstracts of Norfolk Landscapes - this is an area that until recently I did not know well but the huge open skies and diversity of landscapes were the trigger and starting point for this years series. The designs developed from the colors abstracted from photographs of each  landscape.

The pieces all start as white cloth and were then dyed and screen printed in block shapes using thickened transparent dyes.

Heather and Gorse at Grimstone Warren.

Opaque screen printing inks were used to create the strong colour of heather on top of the screen printed backgrounds.

Oilseed Rape fields outside Burnham Market

The vibrant yellows and lime green colour ranges of the rape seed fields were the the backdrop for the piece. Overprinting with opaque fabric paint was used to add some depth to the piece before quilting the final piece.

The Salt Marshes at Blakeney

This has become a favourite place - the desolate salt marshes which surround the small fishing village of Blakeney, so often emerging from the mists.

After creating the backgrounds as before, I used discharge paste to  lighten some areas to create wave forms. The marsh reeds and darker waves were done by overlaying dyed silk organza, stitching and then cutting back to the shape.

Lavender at Caley's Mill

The fields surrounding the Mill are planted for miles with different varieties of lavender, and in June the sight and smells are a joy. 

The lavender flowers were again produced using dyed organza, stitched and cut back.

Jean

December 2015