A Little Handwork

Before I left for Florida, I searched among my many UFOs (UnFinished Objects) for a project needing handwork to keep me busy.  I came across a notebook with a number of flower/nature studies that I began in an online workshop with Pamela Allen in 2010.

I remembered that these were in my project bag a few days ago, but alas, I had not packed a needle.  A trip to Target produced a tapestry needle that will do, so I have been doing some stitching.

This one is supposed to be morning glories climbing on fence posts.  I have stitched down all but the leaves and flower at the bottom center and right, using embroidery floss.

I think I must have made those fence posts when I first got my needle-felting machine.  I detect some wool roving and strips of fabric felted onto a cotton base.  The wool makes it look a little hairy, I now think!

When it is all stitched down, I will machine-quilt the piece, adding more wood grain and some veins in the leaves.  Looks like it could use some wire between the fence posts, as well.

Here are the other pieces I brought from this series.  They all were missing bits here and there.  I compared them to the photos in the original post and tried to fix them up.  I may have to add some more fabric when I get home to Raleigh.

Poppies

 Perhaps a hydrangea?  It is missing about a hundred of those x-shaped petals!

Some tall blue flowers on stems.  Looks like I need a bigger piece of background fabric!

 I think this one is an abstract  version of aspen trees.  The purpose of the exercise was to observe shapes in nature, and not always make the stereotypical daisy shaped flower or symmetrical pointed leaf.

A tree...Not sure what's going on here, except maybe I was trying to utilize the botanical patterns on some commercial fabrics to make the leaves and branches.

I sat outside on Jeff and Anna's deck to work on my stitching today.  While I was stitching, there were three iguanas criss-crossing the lake.  I think the big brown one is getting amorous, and the two smaller green ones are trying to swim away from him.  Here is one of the green ones climbing out of the lake onto the grass.

We did visit a fabulous place on the way home this morning.  It is right here in Fort Myers, and my sister-in-law told us about it yesterday.

Norman Love's Chocolate Salon...oh, my goodness, Heaven on Earth!

The pastries and candies look like jewels or pieces of art.

Here is a chocolate cake with several tiers.

 We each had a pastry and coffee, and then we brought home a box of assorted truffles for our hosts, a dark chocolate bar for a fellow patient we have befriended at the Dattoli Center, and a sugar-free chocolate bar for us.  I predict more trips to visit Norman Love before we leave!

Work-in-Progress: Looks Like Ashe County

I was going through some bins in the sewing room last week, and came across a project from a Pamela Allen online class some years ago.  Pamela is always trying to stretch her students and impart some instruction on different types of art, and art history.  This particular piece began as an attempt to do an "abstract" piece.   I think it was from the Four Quilts class, where we interpreted our theme four different ways.

My theme was "Mountains."

Looks Like Ashe County, Jeanne McBrayer, 2014

As I recall, this did not win the teacher's approval as a good example of an abstract composition.  However, I liked the fabrics and colors, and the symbolic representation of the mountains, Christmas trees, rivers, fields, and trails.  It reminds me very much of Laurel Springs in Ashe County, North Carolina, where we have a cabin.  The fabrics include hand-dyes, hand-painted, sun printed, stamped, and commercial fabrics.

Typically, the pieces from Pamela's classes are cut freehand with scissors, applied with glue stick to a fabric backing, and then embroidered around the edge to secure the pieces to both background and a piece of batting.

This project had been in the bin with pins and glue-stick holding the appliques together.  In the interest of getting it done,  I used a zigzag stitch and a turquoise poly thread to get all the parts sewn on.

Now, I need to decide what to do.  I am thinking of making this into a tote bag, in which case it will not need additional quilting, or have a traditional binding.  If it becomes a wall-hanging, I will add a backing fabric and do some more machine quilting.

Now to some other photos of our Anything Art bee meeting last week.  The day's topic was hand-stitching.  We called on our member Peg Henderson of Raleigh to show some of her work and demo a few stitches that she likes.

Here is an undersea piece with hand-dyed fabric, cheesecloth, and various embellishments.

This unusual piece features some of Peg's unique fiber stitching.

She did some samples for us, showing how you can change the appearance of stitches like French knots, lazy daisy, and Y-stitch for different effects.

Here is another sample with running stitch used to make a basket-like effect.

Since we are featuring hand stitching, here is another piece of mine that I have never shown on the blog since it was finished.

It is a small piece mounted on black gallery-mounted canvas.  The photo is crooked but the quilt is not.

I started the background in a class with Larkin Van Horn at the Capital Quilters Guild in Raleigh.  She provided the words printed on Extravorganza, a sheer fabric you can run through your printer.

I decided mine looked like an undersea scene, so after quilting, I added some fiber seaweed, beads, and some real shells from my collection.  I think I also did some painting on the background with Lumiere paints, which gives it a little bit of a gleam.

And to wrap up today's post, here is a beautiful dish of treasures from Roberta's house.

She has made bangles, hearts, and hand-painted buttons.  That heart with the royal blue center now belongs to me!  A nice gift to remember a special day.