Orchid #1, continued

I made a lot of progress today on my first orchid piece for the Fiber Art Options’ project we are hoping to turn into a traveling exhibition. After heat setting the paint with an iron, I trimmed out the painted orchid and hand appliqued it to a black background. I then layered it with batting (wool/poly) and an upholstery-weight backing, and pin basted it. You can see all the layers here:


Then I started machine quilting it, using 50 weight Aurifil Cotton Mako thread, which I love for this kind of work.

I added a slight suggestion of leaves in the background, but left it pretty much alone. I’m trying to decide if this is enough detail in the background. If I get up tomorrow morning and it still looks okay to me, I’ll finish it up and face it.

Here’s how it looks now:


This last photo was taken outside, so the colors are pretty true.

My first orchid piece for FAO

This is the start of a new piece I am working on for a group exhibition with Fiber Art Options, a group of fiber artists from the Charlotte, NC, area. All the pieces will feature orchids. We are hoping to turn this into a travelling exhibition when we finish early next year.

Several of us in the group took hundreds of orchid photos at several locations, and shared them with the group. Together, we picked this photo to use as inspiration or a jumping-off point for each of us to create one 12x18" piece:



I chose to zoom in tight on the amazing color and pattern on the orchid’s petals. I started by cropping a photo that showed the petals from a more straight-on angle on my computer, then sizing it to the required 12x18", printing it out on paper, and putting it on my light board. A piece of white Kona Cotton fabric went on top, and then I lightly traced the lines (using very soft lead in a mechanical pencil) from the photo onto the fabric.

Next, I taped it to my kitchen countertop (which is ancient laminate and can be easily scrubbed clean) and painted with Jacquard Textile Color, brushing the lines in with thick paint, and then with a brush loaded with lots of water to create the bleeding out and blotchiness. I used the same hot pink color on everything, but watered down in some spots, except for the tiniest bit of yellow on the edge of the lip.

The open areas will be another color, something dark. I’m very eager to get this under my sewing machine needle and thread paint it!

I have always loved orchids for their exotic looks. They seema curious mix of exquisite beauty and delicacy and something darker, more dangerous. Don’t the mouth parts look like they could open up and chomp you? (Well, maybe I watched “Little Shop of Horrors” too many times!) But I stopped having them in my house after a beloved cat ate some of the bark chips that they grow in, and developed Histoplasmosis, an infection caused by the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum that can live in decaying plant matter. By the time we discovered what was wrong, it was too late, and I had to have him put down.

When I work on a piece based on something in the natural world, I usually do some research on it, so I can understand it better. It makes the whole creative process more meaningful. According to a great website called Beautiful Orchids, the orchid family has 35,000 species and 60,000 registered hybrids, and has “far more diversity and specialized pollination methods than any other flowering plant.” Vanilla is made from the seed pods of one variety.

Quilting Arts TV!

I’ve been invited to tape a short segment for an episode of the Quilting Arts TV show! Pokey Bolton, editor of Quilting Arts magazine, is the host. I’ll be going to Cleveland, Ohio, to tape my segment in early September; it will air in late 2009 or early 2010. Should be really fun!

Citrus wedge

My instructions for creating these cute citrus wedges is featured in today’s Embellishments e-mail from Quilting Arts Magazine! They are made from fabric and Angelina fibers, and are similar to the ones I used in the piece that was selected to go on the cover of the 2010 Quilting Arts Calendar.

Here is a detail shot:


To receive Embellishments e-mails, which contain great art quilt tips and projects, go to the Quilting Arts website. The calendar is available on the website’s online store.

Almost done

I think I am almost done with the embroidery on this piece. I have really enjoyed working on it, and it was the perfect thing for me to take to the beach; very portable and small. I have decided to call it “Petri Dish Promenade,” because the circles are starting to look more and more like the circular petri dishes used to cultivate bacteria in the lab.


The photo above shows one of the spots where I added silk fibers instead of the cotton used everywhere else. The silk is the medium blue fuzzy stuff stitched down in the lower right corner.


Stitches include French knots, short and long running stitches, and “chicken scratches” and Xs. It’s not at all planned, and very random.


I’m stitching around some of the dots and blots left by stray drips of the soy wax used to create the batik fabric.



In some spots, I’m not going to stitch on the white circles at all. I’m almost ready to take the next step and decide how I’m going to use this. I’m considering using other hand-dyed fabrics in some sort of pieced frame, and then quilting the whole thing. Perhaps extending the embroidery out into the frame in a few places. I have not entirely abandoned the idea of cutting it up into chunks and using them in a larger pieced work. Ideas, anyone?

2010 N.C. Quilt Symposium in Charlotte

The Charlotte Quilters Guild will host the 2010 North Carolina Quilt Symposium at Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte June 4-6, 2010. I designed the raffle quilt shown above; the proceeds benefit the symposium, helping to pay for the venues, teachers, and other associated costs. The pattern and fabric kits will also be available for sale at symposium, with all profits going to the symposium fund. The pattern includes this 82x84" quilt, and a smaller wallhanging (I’m working on finishing it now).

North Carolina Quilt Symposium is a 3-day quilt conference that includes lectures and classes taught by nationally-known teachers, a participants’ quilt show and fashion show, special exhibits and vendors.

I’m really excited that it is in my backyard next year!

“The Art of Cloth” opens in Lincolnton

Five fiber artists I know celebrated the opening of their group exhibition, “The Art of Cloth,” in Lincolnton, N.C., tonight. The show includes work by Jean H. Funderburk, K. Grace Howes, DeLane Rosenau, Christine Scholtz and Judy Whitehead, who all live in the Lake Norman area north of Charlotte. Together, they call themselves the FABs. The gallery at the Lincoln Cultural Center is very nice (especially for a small town), beautifully lit and was a great setting for this exhibition.


Grace Howes was colorfully attired and in high spirits. That’s some of her work behind her.


“Summer Daze” by K. Grace Howes


The show included two-dimensional work hung on the gallery walls, as well as three-dimenstional notebooks, wearables, fabric boxes and dolls, such as this piece, “Water Fairy,” by K. Grace Howes.


A beautiful beaded button embellishes a felted wool clutch handbag by DeLane Rosenau.


“Self Portrait” by DeLane Rosenau


“Birds of a Feather” jacket by DeLane Rosenau. DeLane received the bird-themed panels made by all the members of the FABs in a challenge. She was challenged, since all of them had fairly different color schemes. Instead of putting them into a two-dimensional piece, she incorporated the pieces into this jacket, using other fabrics to integrate them into this fabulous wearable.


DeLane Rosenau with “Cold Foot Contest”


The FABs started this large piece by hand dyeing 40 yards of fabric, splitting it up between them, and creating separate panels that were then arranged and stitched together. It is a lot of fun to look at this piece and try to figure out who did what, if you know the signature styles of each of the FAB artists. There are a ton of techniques in this piece.


Judy Whitehead is a fiber artist and a fabulous machine quilter.


“Sunflower” by Judy Whitehead has very intricate textural machine quilting.


Jean H. Funderburk in front of “Seahorse Tank”


“Octagon Soap” by Jean H. Funderburk


“Wild Flower Path” by Jean H. Funderburk


“Floise” includes images of Jean’s grandmother at Myrtle Beach, decades ago. Jean said she thinks her grandmother would be none too pleased to see this piece if she were alive today … but then probably not too many of us want to be remembered in our bathing suits!


Christine Scholtz is another wonderful machine quilter and quilt artist.


“Weasel on My Mind” celebrates Christine Scholtz’s “very special cat.”


“Above the Ocean and Below” (detail) by Christine Scholtz

The Art of Cloth
runs through July 4 at the Lincoln Cultural Center
403 E. Main Street, Lincolnton, NC

Artists:
Jean H. Funderburk, Lincolnton, NC
K. Grace Howes, Huntersville NC
DeLane Rosenau, Denver, NC
Christine Scholz, Stanley, NC
Judy Whitehead, Cleveland, NC

What I’m working on today

I started working on this yesterday, and I’m completely hooked. I think it is because I’ve been doing way too much computer work, and I needed to do something by hand, something tactile and fluid. Something where my brain could mellow and the work would take me where it wanted to go.

This started out as white fabric that was partially transformed in a soy wax batik class with Janet Lasher (see previous post). Here’s what it looked like after that class, but before the wax was removed and before it was washed:

Here are some more shots of what it looks like now. I’m embroidering it with lots of different kinds of floss and thread, and couching down bits of thready fluff that came off fabric yardage after I washed it.

ooooh, this is highly addictive.

Charm swap

I participated in a charm swap sponsored by Cloth Paper Scissors magazine. In March, I made a bunch of charms with several friends (you can read about it in my blog post by clicking here) using an article in the January/February 2009 issue of the magazine by Elin Waterston. I sent a few of mine in to the magazine for the swap. Today, I got these charms back! Aren’t they wonderful? The creators are Sue Clark (domino with flowers), Sharoon Lidz (bottlecap), Margaret Applin (pink “joy” square), Marlene Lucero (green circle with copper bell), and Christine Hansen (purple wool felt ball). If this is any indication of the magazine’s readership, there are some mighty creative people out there!

Her “Heart’s Desire”

A woman named Charlotte Soutullo (left) came to the Lake Norman Quilters meeting last week with this quilt she just finished … it is my “Heart’s Desire” design! How fun to see it and to meet her. She made it through a block-of-the-month program at Rene’s Quilt Shop in Mooresville NC, using hand-dyed fabrics for all the appliqué. That’s my friend Nancy Taylor, on the right, helping her hold it up.

DeLane wins!

My good friend, DeLane Rosenau, won first place in the small wall hanging category for her quilt “Cold Foot Contest” at the North Carolina Quilt Symposium show last week!

DeLane based this quilt on a photo she took of her husband and children’s bare feet. More than a year ago, the Pandoras (a small group of art quilters from the Lake Norman area) decided to try doing a portrait quilt. (Three of us chose faces, and DeLane chose feet!) I think DeLane is the only one of the four of us to complete our project. This piece has hundreds, if not thousands of tiny pieces of fabric fused down and threadpainted. DeLane persevered, even when she was frustrated and tired of working on this piece, and I am so proud of her!

NCQSI is a state event, including a quilt show and classes, held each spring by a different N.C. guild. This year it was held at Peace College in Raleigh, and hosted by the Capital Quilters Guild. In 2010 it will be in Charlotte.

Needle-felted bag

I just finished the outside of this needle-felted bag. I took a thin layer of a silk hankie, and felted it down before adding swirls of beautiful varigated wool yarn. I bought the bag from the Artgirlz about a year ago, and now I don’t see this particular style still available. Then I stitched it with some spectacular hand-dyed cotton embroidery thread called “Painter’s Threads” by Tentakulum. They are distributed in the U.S. through YLI. This color is called Rousseau.



If you’ve never done needlefelting, here’s a little information about it: You work with a very heavy-duty felting needle, which is extremely sharp and has little barbs on it. You place a piece of heavy foam (like the kind for seat cushions) underneath, and repeatedly stab it until the fibers mesh together. You can use wool roving or yarn, or silk hankies (thin layers of silk roving) to create your designs.

I also stitched and attached some Artgirlz felt balls to the top.



I don’t own an embellishing machine, which allows you to needlefelt much more quickly. (A machine like this has been on my wishlist for more than a year!) I did this project with a single felting needle. It took a long time, but it is very fun and relaxing, as long as you avoid stabbing yourself with the needle.

Next I’m going to make a lining with some interior pockets.

Connecting Threads catalog offering my Tulip Bag pattern

Connecting Threads catalog is selling my pattern “The Tulip Bag” and they made it up in some of their fabulous fabrics. The collection they used in these photos from the catalog is called “Impressions of Kyoto.” Love that chocolate brown and spa blue together!

The Art of Cloth

Some local fiber artists I know in a group called The FAB are having their first exhibition, “The Art of Cloth,” June 4 through July 4. It is sponsored by the Arts Council of Lincoln County. These are wonderfully talented women, and I’m very eager to see their show.

Opening reception
Lincoln Cultural Center
403 E. Main Street, Lincolnton
Friday, June 12
6:30 p.m.

Artists:
Jean H. Funderburk, Lincolnton, NC
K. Grace Howes, Huntersville NC
DeLane Rosenau, Denver, NC
Christine Scholz, Stanley, NC
Judy Whitehead, Cleveland, NC

My big news!

Here it is, my big news … C&T Publishing is releasing my first title in October 2009!

It is called Appliqué Petal Party: A bouquet of 16 blocks & flowering border. It will include full-size patterns for all 16 of the 12-1/2" blocks and the scalloped floral border in the quilt shown below, plus a booklet with my needle turn applique basics and step-by-step instructions for the quilt, which is 73" square. Everything is packaged in an envelope, so the patterns are easy to pull out and use. It will retail for $17.95.







I’m very grateful to some of my appliqué friends who contributed to the book by doing some of the blocks in their own color combinations (as hard as it is for me to believe, some people are not as crazy about pink as I am!). I also offer a big thank-you to all the wonderful people at C&T Publishing who have helped me.

I’ll be posting details about the book as I find out more.

If you want to pre-order an autographed copy, just e-mail me at susan@bluemoonriver.com, and I'll put you on a list to contact in October with more information!