Spinning Delights

 I might as well change this quilting section to just knitting and spinning. I am unable to quit playing with fiber, I confess I am just addicted to spinning and knitting up the hand spun yarn.  I know knitters will understand how much fun it is to knit with special yarns and hand spun yarns.

This fiber blend is a polworth and silk blend dyed up by CorgiHillFarm over on Etsy.  I love their fibers and colorways.  This is called Tidal Froth.  I spun it up lightly, and gave it a two ply in about a fingering /dk weight and sat on it till I found a

 pattern that spoke to me.

The pattern here is a little cowl that only took about 180 yards is called Pei and you can find it on Ravelry.  It was so easy to knit up and was done in two days.  I blocked it and its so light and like a feather weight it will be an amazing little accessory for spring going into summer.  

I am spinning on a Sonata Kromski wheel.  Its great to have my wheel close at hand because when I have knit my hands into arthritic revolt, I can go spin which leads to more ideas for knitting...and the cycle continues!

Seed Packets in Quilting

 To start off the new year I have decided to tackle one of my favorite vintage seed packets as an art quilt.   This idea has played in my head for months and finally I think I might have figured out some ways to bring it to life.

There is some fabric called Stonehedge that will be perfect for the background and the little torn paper look and the writing might be worked out with some printed silk fabric.  I will have to just play with this and hope that it doesn't get frogged to the pond.

I will try and update this as I go along, I have so many other works on the table all of a sudden that when no creativity happens I get overwhelmed with all the things waiting in que,.  I think that is a good thing?

I have some fabric postcards in que, I have blocks from the Naturalist Notebook in que and some beast blocks that are almost ready for quilting . Well lets not forget spinning and knitting!

Hope to show off some fun progress here in the next months.

Happy Holidays!

On the Fence Post

Sitting on the fence post is my last big peice this year and it was a real challenge.  I wanted to add the little barb wire and feeling of an old weathered post in the woods or pasture.   The fines and leaves were the most fun, which is unusual for me, but they were actually the most interesting as they climb their way up the wood.

Its a larger size 21x37 inches so it needs a big space to really show off.  I used quite a few cotton fabrics on this and some batiks fused and quilted in raw edge applique.  Thread painted some light areas on the wood and leaves.  I love this woodsy feel.  Find it over on Etsy!

We made it to The Quilt Show Quilt of the Day

Really fun to see my work featured on Ricky Tim's and Alex Anderson's Quilting blog.
The Clemantis who's work I have written about in an earlier post has now been seen my thousands of people.  How special that makes me feel!  Thanks TQS!

http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/quilt_featured.php

Chickadee on Fence Post

 I call this Twilight Chickadee.  It was finished in October but never made it to the blog.  I truly am lazy when it comes to updating my blog.

This very cool and last bit of my graduated blue fabric became the background for the little chickadee on the fence post with the climbing flowers and vine.

The wood was a bit challenging and now I need to be watchful for fabric that can minic wood because I have ideas for more using fence posts and birds.  I can't get away from the bird thing, bu they are so happy, cheerful and very fun to play with in my quilting,.

 I used lots of rayon and interesting threads to give a light thread painting effect to the flower centers and leaves.  It was a nice touch to give the fabic extra detail in such a busy arrangement.

Currently this is offered on Etsy at my studio.

The Open Field

 The Open Field, 18x30 inches.  Quail and Poppies

Once again this piece has a whole cloth background but with a little print this time.  I added 3 squares of color for some bokeh.  The little quail is in the field and watches over his shoulder in the stand of poppys.

The technique I use is raw edge applique.  The images are fused in place and machine stitched with decorative threads.  The background is randomly quilted and this particular work has a heavy layer of batting to give extra depth and weight to the hanging.  I used an interesting fabric to frame it with a border that is about 2 inches wide in a range of shadowy earth tones.

My fabrics of choice are batik's.  This is currently available on Etsy at the Timeless Dog Studio.

Celmatis Wall Hanging

 Leaves, vines, stems and trellis.  Its a real hectic layout with all the intertwined stems.  I have had this great piece of fabric with music sheets printed on it and thought it might work as a nice backdrop for the Clematis flowers.  The light gold print and the plan soft field act as a bit of sunlight that might filter through and be seen almost as backlit.  That's the plan of course, but we will see how it progresses.   I love raw edge applique, its a freedom to go beyond and experiment, no rules, and no boundary.

 My Baby Lock is getting a workout sewing down all these fused stems and leaves.  I have some super great Sulky threads that come in variegated colors and they really help to add depth and texture to the batik and other fabrics I use here.

 I didn't do a color correction on this shot, it looks very dull and lifeless.  Right now I have finally finished with stitching the vines and leaves, and have fused on the flowers and given them decorative stitching too with more of that great Sulky thread.

 Now that its quilted it really took on some life, it just sings SUMMER and life in the garden.  The flowers have an extra layer of fabric under them which gives them more puffiness making for a 3D type effect.  I use this process quite a bit on my main focus flowers.  I call my effect a faux trapunto. 

I used  meandering quilting  for the wall hanging and took this side shot to try and let you see the dimension of this piece.  It measures 21x27 inches and its a great size for a wall, almost like a window you are looking through to the outside flowers on a trellis.   Its available on Etsy. too!  Etsy:  TimelessDog  

Hope you enjoyed the walk through the process.