Showing posts with label Sashiko. Show all posts

Saturday, February 19, 2022

Please let me play

I've been very busy quilting during the last few weeks. It's been such fun! However, I realised that with all of these busy projects, I'm missing the meditative calmness that slow stitching brings. So today I spent some time finishing up my "Please let me play" piece.

Adjusting the composition

In the Out of the Box Textile Artists Group, we've been learning about composition. I've read a lot about it, but it always feels more intuitive than just following rigid (or black and white) rules. I get the feeling that there's a lot of gray area in there to play with. Sometimes you know why a piece isn't working but at other times, it's not as clear.

That's why I turned to my artist friend, Elaine Quehl for help on this piece. Here is my final piece.

"Please let me play" - embroidery on a clean-up rag

When I asked Elaine for help, the image below is what the piece looked like. The colour on this photo is not very good, but you get the idea. I knew that I would add things at the bottom but wasn't sure if the composition was the best that it could be. Elaine agreed with adding pieces at the bottom and suggested that the bright fuchsia piece on the left was distracting. Although it was my favourite fabric, I had to agree with her.

Composition on the design wall, before getting advice

I then played with fabrics and came up with this. I replaced the bright pink piece with a lighter one, but after I had stitched it, I ended up removing it - it wasn't the colour so much as the extra piece.

Playing with possibilities

I added pieces at the bottom as a type of echo of the top strip but kept the colours lighter. You can also see that I played a lot with embroidery stitches on both the fabric pieces and the original rag. I have been following Mirjam Gielen of Mirjam Textiles on Instagram (see Related links below). She has a very organic way of stitching that I find fascinating, so I bought her Basic Stitches e-book and used a few of her stitching variations on this piece. To keep it subtle, I used regular sewing thread.

Trying fun stitch variations

Keeping the added stitches subtle

As I was wondering how to hang this piece - it because obvious - on a clothe line! I covered a 14" x 14" canvas with very light sky fabric. I then attached a piece of clothe line with tacks at the sides of the canvas and used wooden clothes pins to hang the piece.

Creating my own clothe line to hang the piece

"Please let me play" and Chevy - pride of place on the art wall

To find out how this piece came to be, check out my original post and see Venessa Marr's work in Related links below.

#100dayschallenge2021 on Instagram

Today "Please let me play" is my last post of the 100 days challenge on Instagram. I started the challenge on August 6, 2021. I did the math and I'm very impressed! It took me 197 days to do the 100 day challenge - that's an average of a post every second day! Wow!

I started the challenge with slow stitching. I created a piece, "Mixing it Up" that incorporated both free motion quilting and embroidery. I then worked on stitching some eco printed fabric and also finished my first concertina book "Best and Worst of Times".

Mixing it Up with FMQ and embroidery

Slow stitching on
eco-printed fabric

Finished my Best and Worst of Times concertina book

Recently I also posted more traditional quilting projects since I was doing less slow stitching. You can see my projects by going through my blog or my Instagram. The one piece that I'm still working on is the Traveller's Blanket. I hope to finish it before the end of the #100dayschallenge2022.

Slowly stitching the background of the Traveller's Blanket

I hope that you'll continue joining me on my stitching journey, either through my blog and/or Instagram. I really appreciate all of your encouragement. If I keep posting at the same rate as the last challenge, I should be finishing up just before my retirement in October 2022 😊😎

What I learned

I have really enjoyed stitching on a piece of cloth that symbolizes my artistic journey. The message is very apt because frankly all I want to do is Play!!! (as opposed to work)
There is so much to learn about composition and I hope that it gets easier with experience. Thanks so much Elaine for your advice!
I've also learned a lot on my #100dayschallenge2021. It gave me the incentive to play with slow stitching and finish/advance some of my UFOs or WIPs.
I'm going to try to re-incorporate slow stitching into my daily routine. I feel like I need the calmness.

Mirjam Textiles

Sunday, January 09, 2022

Wishes for 2022

After the holidays, it was good to start 2022 calmly and quietly. I did a little bit of free motion quilting (FMQ) which I will show you at the end of this post. Today I want to share with you a very fun project - another squirrel!

Stitching on a clean-up cloth

The first workshop of the year at TextileArtists.org was presented by Vanessa Marr. It's called Domestic Story Cloths. Vanessa stitches stories of women and domestic work on dusters. I was intrigued by the workshop and took a couple of days to think about the possibilities.

please let me play - a work in progress

I knew that I didn't want to stitch on a duster since I really, really dislike housework. Finally in the laundry room where I also do my dyeing, I found a cloth that was perfect. It was a rag that had been used to clean but it was so much more! It had splashes of dye and also needed mending. It was perfect! 😊

I started by taking a picture of my hand holding a needle. I put the image on my laptop screen and then drew it out on tracing paper. Finally I used my light box to transfer the image onto the cloth.

Picture of my hand stitching used in the piece

I used a wonderful shade of fuchsia perle cotton to embroider the hand with a stem stitch. At this point I wasn't sure what else would be on there except for some boro and sashiko. I learned two kinds of sashiko - the hitomezashi and the moyouzashi and used one of each on this piece.

Ready to add the sashiko

Using a hitomezashi stitch - Offset crosses

Here is the second sashiko, which actually is a moyouzashi stitch. It's a diamond variation. The blue blends into the fabric but it's very pretty. You can see the back of the piece from which I stitched.

The back where you see the stitching grids

This is a moyouzashi stitch -
diamond variation

Adding lovely colour

Of course I had to add a few other fun stitches and techniques on here 😊.

The first thing I did was add a pretty piece of hand-dyed linen and stitched on it.

In the image below, I cut out two circles and embroidered the inside one. To show that a rag can be precious too, I added a circle of gold thread that I had purchased for Hannah Newton's goldwork workshop.

Adding gold thread

Adding words to tell the story

It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to say on the cloth...and then it hit me.... a plea to just let me play, which is really what I've been wanting to do since I was a kid. As you know, there is a count down....it's now at less than 10 months!😎

I practiced writing the words a few times and then very carefully used a frixion pen to write it on the cloth. I used my favourite hand-dyed thread to stitch it.

Adding the words

To emphasize the word, I drew the letters, cut out the templates, added Heat and Bond to the back of the fabric, cut them out and then ironed the letters on. I've only gotten the "L" stitched so far.

Stitching the word - not quite finished.

I'm really looking forward to finishing this piece. Since I'm still doing the #100dayschallenge on Instagram, I figure that I can get it finished by the end of the month.

Update on Glimpses of Joy

Since my machine is back, I did a little bit of FMQ on my Glimpses of Joy piece. I love the extra FMQ that I did. As you can see, I'll be adding the word JOY (not sure with what fabric yet). I also finally know what to do with the rest of the piece. Again, because of my posting on #100daychallenge on Instagram, I hope to have this one done within the next few weeks.

Glimpses of Joy - almost there!

What I learned

As you may have figured out in my post, my wishes for 2022 are calm, joy and play!
It was different stitching right onto the fabric of the rag. It's sort of flimsy yet it bounces back.
I was looking for the link to the post on the goldwork workshop that I did with Hannah Newton but it seems that I never wrote it, so I'll try to add that soon.
I'm sure that I'll be adding more stitches on the "please let me play" piece, so I'll post it when it's done. I'm thinking of attaching it to a canvas frame - we'll see how that goes.
I'm really liking the Glimpses of Joy piece. Funny how I like it, then don't (usually because I don't know what to add to it) and then I like it again once I have a vision. It's a good thing that there is no deadline for any of these.
I'm still posting on Instagram - if you're curious you can see the images on the left side of my blog.

Related links

Vanessa Marr - website and Instagram

Vanessa Marr: From conception to creation
Vanessa Marr: The Mighty Duster

Glimpses of Joy post:

Trying for something different and Free Motion Mavericks, October 28, 2021

Sashiko related posts:

Week 5 of #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt (Art), May 03, 2021 see Z is for Zigzag
Catching up on posting projects, February 08, 2021 see Quilted Stitcher's Journal with sashiko samples
Sashiko stitching and visible mending, December 06, 2020

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Let's see what's going on out there in quilting land 😊 I'm linking up with Muv on Free Motion Mavericks. There are still a couple of days left to link up your posts! Patchwork & Appliqué, Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scrap! Design Wall Monday, Monday Making, Midweek Maker, Put your foot down, Off the Wall Friday, Peacock Party, Oh Scrap!,

Monday, May 03, 2021

Week 5 of #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt (Art)

Last week was the end of the #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt (Art). It was a great finish, even if I was less organised as the month went on. I want to thank Frédérique of Quilting Patchwork Appliqué for a wonderful challenge. I really learned a lot and am so happy to have participated. Here's a look at the last week's post.

V is for Village

This project, Amalfi Coast Happy Village was one of my first art quilts, although I didn't realise it at the time. It was made during a workshop with the owner of a local quilt shop and based on Karen Eckmeier's book, Happy Villages. The image is loosely based on a postcard that I bought in the Amalfi Coast in Italy.

Amalfi Coast Happy Village - my first art quilt

Putting Amalfi Coast Happy Village together

Happy Villages by
Karen Eckmeier

W is for Weaving

This piece is called Ciboulette Stitches. It was created based on a workshop with Sue Stone through TextileArtist.org. Weaving was my first passion and it was great to incorporate it into my art. BTW ciboulette is chives in French.

Ciboulette Stitches on a woven background

Lovely ciboulette flowers

The real thing in the garden

X is Xerothermic

Xerothermic is an adjective used to describe dry and hot climates. Isn't Google amazing? I actually learned a new word 😊!

This piece is called South-West art quilt. It was begun at a workshop at my local quilt shop, Quilty Pleasures, in 2010. I had done what I could, but had no idea how to finish all of the grasses in the foreground. Finally it came to me – couching! So the piece was finished in 2015 as part of a UFO challenge.

The quilt hangs in my daughter's room as a reminder of our wonderful vacations in the American South-West.

South-West Art Quilt

Couching was the solution that I
was looking for!

Lighting up the sky

Y is for Yellow

This piece is called “Keep Calm and Stitch”. I stitched and beaded the word “Calm” since it’s my word of the year - I didn't realise until then that my unconscious word of the year for 2020 was Frenzy. That's why I consciously chose Calm.

This piece was made in January for the first challenge of the year of Project Quilting 2021. The theme was to use the Pantone colours of the year – Illuminating and Ultimate Gray. To avoid last year's Frenzy and to remain calm, this is the only one of the Project Quilting challenges that I did this year. I did enjoy it and hopefully it's something that I will continue to participate in, at least occasionally.

“Keep Calm and Stitch” - for the Project Quilting 2021

Details: buttons, couching
and stitching

More slow stitching to remain calm

Beading and various
embroidery stitches

Z is for Zigzag

This practice piece is zigzag crosses. It is a Sashiko stitch that I learned from Shannon & Jason Mullett-Bowlsby of Shibaguyz Designz in a virtual workshop. I also bought their book, Boro & Sashiko to keep on learning. Now that I know how to create the grids to stitch Sashiko, I really love it and hope to keep adding it to my art quilts.

It's too bad that this last post wasn't an example of something in a real art quilt but the only other word that I might have used was zillion, as in a zillion beads in an art quilt. I am working on a project that feels like it has a zillion beads in it but when I looked at it, it didn't look like it even had tons of beads, let alone a zillion 😁.

Sashiko stitching zigzag crosses

What I learned

Although it required a lot of preparation, this was a great challenge.
I think what I underestimated the most was the time to prepare the posts since I didn't want to just put in what I had said on Instagram.
It was a great experience to see most of the art quilts that I have done over the years. Many of them have been created since belonging to the TextileArtist.org's Stitch Club, for which I am very thankful.
I know that I've learned so much as an artist about colour, composition and techniques, but I'm pretty impressed with some of my earlier works. Most are pretty good!
Now that this rush is over, I'm looking forward to reading some of the other participants' posts 😊

Related links

Amalfi Coast Happy Village, May 26, 2014
Ciboulette Stitches finished, July 20, 2020

Slow stitching with new projects, July 12, 2020

South-West art quilt

April Challenge Completed, April 25, 2015

Project Quilting 2021 - Grey and Yellow, January 10, 2021
Sashiko samples

Catching up on posting projects, February 8, 2021
Sashiko stitching and visible mending, December 06, 2020

Linking parties

I will be linking up to many fun linking parties this week. You can still link up to Free Motion Mavericks until Tuesday evening. After that, make sure to visit Muv and link up there! Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Oh Scrap!, Patchwork & Quilts,

Monday, February 08, 2021

Catching up on posting projects

Hi, I hope that February finds you well. I thought that I would take the time to write about projects that were completed recently but not posted.

Finishing a Journal Cover

In the last few months I finished a special journal cover for a dear friend.

Finished Japanese Journal Cover - Front

Here is a view of the back.

Finished Japanese Journal Cover - Back

You may remember the original fabric that I free motion quilted (FMQ) last March (see Related links below).

The piece was meant for a larger journal but when I came to make it, I did measure three times, only it was the wrong measurement! 😒 A few weeks later I found a smaller journal that it would fit - actually I think that this new journal is even better 😊. So the journal is made and will go to my friend when we are able to see each other again.

FMQ beautiful Japanese fabric

Making More Stitchers' Journals

In November, in the TextileArtist.org's Stitch Club, Ali Ferguson taught us how to make a stitcher's sketchbook or journal with paper, and then to cover and embellish it with fabrics. This has been one of my favourite projects since it's easy to make, practical and so very beautiful.

The first one

This is the first one that I made, with fabric made during a mark-making workshop with Gregory T. Wilkins. I wrote a post on this journal (see Related links).

My first Stitcher's Journal
using painted and stenciled fabric

Pages within my first journal

As you can glimpse from the inside of the journals, I used a wide assortment of paper. There is some garden printed paper, as well as coloured and white printed paper. I also used different sizes of fun scrap-booking paper.

Gratitude Journal

For the Gratitude Journal, I used two of the cutest fabrics I have. My daughter loved it.

Pages inside of the
Gratitude Journal

Gratitude Journal - front

Open Gratitude Journal

Back of the Gratitude Journal

Quilted Stitcher's Journal

Front of the Quilted Stitcher's Journal

I made this journal from quilted fabric that I used a very long time ago to make a quilted jacket. I thought that this would be a perfect way to use up some of the scraps. I love it!

Open Quilted Stitcher's Journal

I use this journal to keep my Sashiko stitching samples.

Samples: Rice Stitch and
Rice Stitch Variation 2

Samples: Stacked Running Stitches and
Persimmon Flower

Samples: Zigzag Crosses and
Offset Crosses

What I learned

As I mentioned, this is my favourite project in the TextileArtist.org's Stitch Club. Ali Ferguson showed us many ways of making journals. Her journals were a little more organic than mine, but really there is no limit to what you can do.
I always have one or two in the process of being made. They are low effort and fun to make.
I'm having problems with the thread that I've used to make these. It needs to be strong enough to pull tightly - something that I tend to over do (I'm always breaking my poor silk thread as I stitch hexies together!) It also needs to be thin enough to pull through a needle. I used a quilting thread for my first one and I think that I'll have to go back to it. It's the best thing that I've found so far.