Tis the Season!

I went to a Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square near Philadelphia, PA for the Thanksgiving holiday.  It was record cold and we spent much of our time in the conservatory whic was amazingly decorated for the holiday!   But we also did some night time light tours.  Here are some of my favorites.  

In front of one of the beautifully decorated trees in the conservatory.  

This glass tree was so beautiful as was the big main tree in the conservatory.  

And some outsides views!

Dreary Days

It has rained.....a lot....a lot of the time.   And it is not one bit Fall like in temperatures or leaf color....until yesterday.   We got one day of gorgeous beautiful walkable weather in a string of at least 10 rainy days.   I hiked a new park I had not been to before - Black Creek Park.   I took lots of picture....207 to be exactl.  I do tend to overdo, but that way I have many to play with and pick from for my enjoyment,   Here are some of my favorites....so far!

This might be the best color I have seen all season.

I do love a good reflection.    Contemplating a quilt idea here.

The walkway into the woods,   A carpet of leaves and it was so pretty. 

More pretty color.....just because.

Isn’t this the coolest fungus.   I find fungus so interesting and so fun to photograph,   No two ever look the same,   The one below is also another fungus we found,

We Are But a Mere Speck

"We Are But a Mere Speck".....currently showing at Experience Fiber art show in Rochester, NY called "it’s All Relative".   We are here but a small time, our place is small in this vast universe of time and space.   Why are we so intent on hate and destruction of  our planet and each other?   One small bead shows my place in this space.  

Prince....Cherrywood Fabrics Challenge

This year I decided to enter the Cherrywood FabricsAnnual Challenge that travels all over the U.S. and sometimes in Europe,    The theme was Prince.    I’m not a big Prince fan.....but oh those luscious purples.   I couldn’t resist.   We were given a pack of 3 purple fat quarters and a black fat quarter,  


The rules state that these fabrics must cover 70% of your 20 x 20 inch quilt top.   You can add other colors, but these are the basics,    The quilt must read purple.  

This is my entry.   I decided to base it loosely on the theme "Purple Rain..  the umbrella is the 4 purples we were given and the shoes are based on a pair actually worn by Prince.    I embellished with metallic thread and bugle beads to denote the rain and beadwork on the shoes.   I am happy  to report, out of 368 entries,  I was chosen as a finalist and my quilt will travel in the "Prince - Tribute" Tour.   We don’t know yet which venues will be showing this collection but am anxiously awaiting my next trip to. It’s my quilt alongside 74 other winners.

....and more wet cyanotype prints

Truth of an addiction......I can’t stop!   Am really liking the redbud leaves that I tried this year for the first time,    The foam board is sprayed with some pink dye-an-flow from Jacquard and some water,   I’m liking this as spots that might normally bleach out white now have a little color,  it’s still a magical process with little ability to predict what happens.

Fortunately my aneomone bush is quite full as I’m picking those too.   They transfer well,

The last is a Solomon's Seal leaf.    My first time to try this also.  

Then there was the day that nothing seemed to transfer well or with much color.   My dimestore analysis is that I didn’t get it wet enough and it was so hot the fabric dried out before processing. 

More Wet Cyanotype Prints.

I decided to try the idea of diluted dye-na-flow to give some pink color to my prints.  The first two are rhubarb leaves...marginally successful.  I like the pink but the background looks like it is on fire and muddy.  I may have sprayed them too much.  They were outside for about 9 hours.   Maybe I will call them "Fire in the Rhubarb Parch".  LOL

So the next batch I left outside for 24 hours, a very hot and humid day.  The first two are finished prints.  Redbud leaves and Japanese Anemone.

Below are the pre rinsed prints.   It’s amazing how much they change by rinsing. 

We have rain on tap for the next few days...hopefully...then I will be back to making more!

Stripes

This week's Photo Challenge is Stripes.    I have 3 strong candidates....and a couple others I just like.   Still undecided as to which will make the final cut!!

This was a photo of an old culvert I found while hiking through the trail of a local swamp.    It has some color manipulation to bring out the stripes - so perhaps, not the most natural  photo.

Shutter zoom of my sandcherry blossoms.   

I was doing some yardwork and had the rake propped against the garage door.   I was struck with the stripes of the rake and the stripes of the reflection.

Local Sunset - sort of stripes.

Another sunset photo...sort of stripes.

Art Quilts for "Finders Keepers" show.

My Art Quilting group, Rochester Area Fiber Artists (RAFA) is having a show called "Finders Keepers" in June.   The premises was to make a piece featuring something you would not normally find or buy in a quilt store.  My two pieces are called "A Walk Through My Garden" and "Iron Butterfly".   The first features my wet cyanotype prints made from flowers in my garden.   The added feature is crushed seashells on the walkway through my garden.    The second piece features a vintage hankie from an antique shop in Florida and several washers from my husband which I painted and then glued to the hankie forming the butterfly shape.

Information for the Show is as follows:  

 

Fabric Bowl

This is a new fabric bowl I made, using a new process shared by Hilde Morin on her blog.   I have made bowls before, but not the way she does,    She gave us a simple 2 fabric idea, but of course I had to change it up and try to add Circles.   I am pleased with this but learned a few things I would do differently next time...assuming there is a next time. 

Silk Fusion

I have been watching several friends in my art group RAFA (find us on Facebook - rafa-rochester area fiber artists) exploring the process of silk fusion.   Hoping I remembered most of what they said, I decided to try the technique.   I purchased the silk roving fibers, textile medium, screening and set to work.    Of course, my experiment would have to be purple.   

The silk fibers look like this when they arrive....

After spreading and smoothing them across screening, I placed an identical sized screen on top and wet all the fibers with soapy water.    After being sure the fibers are thoroughly wet, I brushed the textile adhesive medium across the screen letting it sink into the fibers.   Flip the screen over and repeat,    Then you let it drive and wait for the magic,    After removing both pieces of screening this is what I got.

    It's a large textured piece of fiber....much like paper.

Now you are only limited by your imagination.   I chose to apply some fusible web and cut shapes to create a couple of pieces.  

  

I purchased my supplies and used the instructions at Treenway Silks.  You can also find YouTube videos showing the process.   I am hooked enough now that I bought some more colors to play with.    Can't wait for the, to arrive.  

Winter Solstice

Created from my wet cyanotypes pieces done last year.   These pieces were really "ice"cyanotype as I tried the process on a 10 degree day.    I brought in ice, which sat and melted into a pool of water, so I was skeptical as to what I would get.   However, once rinsed and dried, the transfer of greenery was there.   

Below are the individual blocks. This first of the blocks used a flower from my amaryllis plant.   When I brought it in, it was very dreamy and muted.    This was my result,   Since it was slightly pink originally, I quilted it with variegated pink thread and added some pink beads,  the next two are houseplant leaves.    All in all, a very fun and interesting process.  I have many more to play with from those I did last summer.