Still Life

I am still working on the projects in Pamela Allan's online Class. This still life is from Lesson 2. It is now completed, with all the stitching in place. Many of the fabrics in this piece are recycled clothing.
The raven is there, you might have to enlarge the picture to see it well :)
Cold and stormy up north today. I yearn for spring, and color. Have you ever noticed the varying colors of green in the spring, it's a feast for the eyes.
I look forward to your feedback.
Have a great day.

Black and White Still Life

I am taking an online class with Pamela Allan. This is the first finshed piece. The class is called Still Life is Boring Not. And what fun we are all having.
I've got several more in the works, lot's of hand stitching to do. I took a lot of pictures of ravens, and have decided to do a series, so you will note ravens in many of the upcoming pieces.
It's still cold up north. I am having carpal tunnel surgery on the left hand soon, so am very busy trying to catch up on things.
Enjoy.

Trend Tex Challenge for Canadian Quilt Show

This is my piece for the Trend Tex Challenge. The Show is being held in Saskatchewan this year and the theme is Roots.
My grandparents and their children left Sask in the '30s for the Peace River area of BC. My grandmother, known to us as Nan, always yearned for her home in Sask and her family. As a child I heard a lot of stories about the area, I also learned to embroidery while this special woman told me those stories.
When this challenge arrived I immediately thought of Nan, so here she is heading home with cherished memories. I have included the Sask flower, the lily, the wheat, grain elevators, house on the hill with few trees in view, a bleak landscape. I have worked for two weeks on this piece, lot's of hand stitching to represent her era and modern machine stitches to represent part of my era. I had a difficult time working with the fabrics provided so threw in a few duller fabrics. I am pleased with it and know she would be proud.
Now I can get it off in the mail and catch up with other WIP.

Second Spring

This is the latest for the FFFC challenge. My theme is woman, the challenge was to use analogous colors and movement. I hope I have achieved that.
In the Chinese culture, phases of a woman's life are celebrated. Menopause is referred to as 'second spring', so my choice for this challenge. I chose the analogous colors of blue/blue violet. As I was working on the piece it was mentioned on the list that we could go further than just two colors beside each other, therefore I added some hues from violet,red/violet and red. The chinese lettering on the right is 'second spring'.
I choose the cool colors to suggest a calming period in a woman's life, the years of child bearing are over, chaos turns to calm. Less clutter, note her room is free of clutter, just a pot of lovely flowers :) And she now has time to tend to the flower box out the windor. Perhaps we need to give in to this time of our lives and enjoy it more. You can tell her age by the sagging breasts :0
The right side wall is a deep purple, however in the picture it almost looks black. I tried adjusting the color and got orange for the pinks...so finally left it as it is.
I definitely did this piece in Pamela Allen's style, with lot's of hand stitching.
I look forward to your critique.
Thanks for the challenge Ren, it was fun for me.

Midnight Poppies

Here is another piece done with my hand dyed fabrics. The background is a purchased piece of cotton, such gorgeous colors, it really reminds me of midnight. I did some embroidery to the poppy center which added more life to the, I believe.
This is raw edge applique with lot's of thread painting. Such fun.

FFFC #28 Blissful Betty

Our challenge this month was to portray an emotion and to uses zingers.
My theme was 'Women at Work', I Believe I'll change that to 'Women'.

Blissfull Betty is in heaven, licking the the cupcakes delectable icing from her finger. Amongst the chaos and pandemonium she is blissfully happy, enjoying her scrumptious treat.
This was a lot of fun to make, and I have two emotions going on. At first Betty was going to be frustrated by knitting, then I decided I just needed to add some happiness to the chaos I had created. The pink flower and ear rings are the zingers in this piece.
Lot's of bling on the flower, ear rings and her ring.

-42 in my world today, and I have to say it has been tooo cold for tooo long, it can warm up anytime. One thing about it, it makes more time for creating :)

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Poppies In The Garden

I have had some fun playing with my painted fabrics. This piece brings some joy into the home, with this bitter cold we've been dealing with. It is raw edge applique with some beads in the one poppy. Now it's time to move on to this months FFFC.
I look forward to your comments.
I hope you have all had a Happy Holiday!

New piece

I finished this piece last week. The flowers are all made from the handpainted fabric that I did over the summer. I like the movement in the piece. And sunflowers are one of my favorites.
I've included a close up so you can see the thread work. Many colors of thread in this work.

Fast Friday Fabric Challenge #27

I finally have my right hand free of cast and brace, and have started physio. I'm thinking that sewing is great physio, although the hand tires fast.
Here is the latest challenge piece, I've really enjoyed constructing it.
Our challenge was to do a close up or a far away scene. The second part of the challenge was value.
The Basket Weaver
Continuing with my Women at Work series I've chosen to do a close up. The close up is of a basket weaver. I found it difficult to portray the subject at such close range, it was a great exercise for me.
I worked hard with the value part of this challenge but am not sure that I totally achieved it, it seems that I don't have enough really light spots?
The piece is 13x16". After some great critique from the FFFC group, I realize laying the plaid fabric down was a mistake, so I've reworked it with some paint.

FFFC #24 How Does Your Garden Grow?

The hand has healed enough that I dived headlong into this months challenge. Our challenge was to do an abstract of our garden.
My deck is abloom with burgundies and pinks. I dug out my old Quilt Art books and re read the articles by Liz Berg. Very good information. Using this information I did an abstract out of my head of my garden. I used the split compliment of red-violet and yellow green. The background is hand dyed fabric, chopped up and pieced back together. I enjoyed this challenge very much. I feel I did get rhythm and motion in the piece by placing the elements close and than further apart as they progressed and also varying sizes.
I'm booked for my big surgery on the right hand on Sept 10th, so likely will only be creating in my head for sometime :(
I will be so glad when the healing is done and I'm back to normal.
Lovely weather up here, Fall is definitely in the air and our summers are just waayyy too short.