Making Gaïa's Garden

After a bit of productive procrastination, I'm back to working on my art quilt.

Gaïa's Garden

It's always a long process, so I thought that I would share some of it with you. Here's a recap (see Related links below).

My model for Gaïa

Choosing a colour palette

My model for Gaïa is this picture of a reproduction statuette of a beautiful Pre-Columbian female figure from Colombia, South America.

I used photo transfer medium to make the fabric image.

Gradients Multi
33366 11D Moda

It took me a long time to start because I was looking for the right fabric, which I found in the Gradients by Moda line.

Fussy cutting and trying out possibilities

Next I went through my stash and fussy cut fabric, including the background. I just placed them on the design board to get the general effect and to ensure that I had enough fabric.

That's where I was in my last post, with lots of work left and many possibilities.

The next part is the one I find most intimidating - taking everything off the design board and creating the background.

I attached the sky (including my hand-dyed yellow and pink cotton), the green background and the river. Then it was time to play with the colours. I took out my box of gauze, tulle, and silk.

It's difficult to see in the photo but the sky and river really shimmer. I separated the river into 3 sections - the reflection of the sky, a more turbulent riven and then a calmer lake.

Knowing what to keep

Creating the background and adding shimmer

From the many versions on my design board, there were a few things that I knew that I would keep.

These were the leaves beside Gaïa and the large plant, flowers and bird in this photo.








It took several tries to get the other side of Gaïa finished. My original thought was to use the light leaves. I also tried out some yellow/orange leaves but they just blended into the reflecting water. Finally I choose the darker blue leaves to create more contrast. Since the image of Gaïa is light, she needs a little help to stand out.

Should I use the light coloured leaves?

What about the yellow/orange leaves?

Finally choosing the darker blue leaves

Below you can see that I added a couple of leaves on top to create a curve.

My next two challenges can be seen in this image. The first one is by the river where I want to create a quiet space with a bit of a swamp or pond. The second one is the lotus flower at the foot of Gaïa. This is where I'm at, although I can still change my mind since the challenging pieces haven't been attached yet.

What it looks like so far

I'm working mostly from my design board which is on my ironing board. When I like something, I just pin them into place and go to the sewing machine next to it. I've been using Superior Threads' Kimono Silk thread to attach all of these pieces. I'm trying not to add too much detail at this point since once everything is attached, I'll be free motion quilting the piece. At that point, I may use heavier thread, depending on the effect that I want.

Working on my design board

Using Kimono Silk thread

What I learned

• Deadlines have their usefulness (I guess) but since I got a bit of a reprieve, it's taking that much longer to make. Turns out that the description was due in mid-May but the final product is only due in mid-June. I'm afraid that I'll be using every last minute of that extra time - to make it and to productively procrastinate 😉 
• There is still a ways to go, although it usually goes a little faster once things fall into place.
• As I've been writing this post, I realise that I'll be placing the swamp in the lake part of the piece. It make more sense, although reality is not especially important here! 
• As for the lotus flower, I think that if I add more fabric around it, I'll get a better sense of how it will look.
• My background has a few puckers in it. Since I'm making this up as I go along, I'll probably cut around the river and adjust the fabric.

Related links

• Free Motion Quilting and Planning, April 20, 2019
• Free Motion Mavericks and an art quilt in the making, April 25, 2019
• Gradients Multi 33366 11D Moda
• Superior Threads Kimono Silk Thread
• This is the exhibit that I'm getting ready for: Summer Fibrations at the Mississippi Mills Textile Museum in Almonte, Ontario

Linking parties

Although I haven't started quilting yet, I've sure been using my FMQ skills to stitch all of this fabric down. I'll be joining Muv at last week's Free Motion Mavericks, as well as many other great link-ups. Let's see what's going on this lovely Victoria Day weekend. Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward, Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Midweek Makers, Finished or Not Friday and Friday Foto Fun, Off the Wall Friday, Favorite Finish Monthly Linkup, 

Remember to link up any quilting projects on Thursday when I'll be hosting Free Motion Mavericks! See you then 😊

FMQ practice and planning

Practicing FMQ

I was in the mood to do some free motion quilting but nothing serious, so I doodled for a while and then took out a practice sandwich. Last week I received a book from a fellow quilter who is cleaning her bookshelf. Isn't that the greatest thing?

In a FMQ book, there were a couple of designs that I hadn't seen before, so I practiced these, put them in my FMQ journal and now I'm ready to pass the book along. Here is the result of that practice sandwich.

Practicing the main design, essentially a series of curves

Also practicing those cursive "l" and "e" shapes

Auditioning fabric for my next art quilt

I have a final quilt to make for this summer's fibre art exhibition at the Mississippi Mills Textile Museum. I have till May 20th, so it's really time to get to it!

For this piece, I am using the same image that I used a couple of years ago for my Art With Fabric piece, Gaïa, Mother Earth. The image is of a reproduction statuette of a beautiful Pre-Columbian female figure from Colombia, South America. 

Reproduction statuette from the Tamaco culture

This is the image that I originally created with the help of photo transfer medium.

Image made with photo transfer medium

This time, the Goddess will be located in a lush garden. I found some amazing fabric that is all soft colours. I'm going to fussy cut it as well as tons of other fabrics to create a colourful Earth for Gaïa.

Auditioning fabrics for my Goddess piece

I would like it to have the same feeling as my Morning Has Broken piece.

Morning Has Broken

What I learned

• For the free motion quilting, I really need to keep practicing those cursive "l" and "e" shapes. I really like the look of them as they go from small to large and then back again.
• For my piece, I don't want to reproduce Morning Has Broken, but I really love the look and feeling of it. I hope that I'll be able to translate that into something new.
• Looking at the picture of Gaïa with the auditioned fabrics, I realise that I will have to make sure that she is not lost among all that colour.
• I will be on holidays next week - so my goal is to fussy cut the fabrics and finish the design.

Related links

• Art with Fabric Blog Hop - Gaïa, Mother Earth, October 11, 2017
• Labels, Image Transfers and Slow Stitching, October 15, 2017
• Morning has broken - Art with Fabric Spring 2018, May 21, 2018

Linking parties

I will be linking up to Free Motion Mavericks as well several other parties. Off The Wall Friday, Finished or Not Friday, Friday Foto Fun, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?,

Have a great long weekend and Happy Easter!

A White History of Art - Art with Fabric Blog Hop

Welcome to the fall 2018 edition of the Art with Fabric blog hop. I'm thrilled to be participating again and would like to thank Alida for all of her hard work :-)

A White History of Art

A White History of Art

When Alida said that the theme would be colour, I'm not sure that I saw the "favourite" in front of it. For me colour is everything! I had a few ideas and when I mentioned them to my daughter, she suggested that I watch the BBC documentaries, History of Art in Three Colours. It was a great series that examined the role of gold, blue and white in art. I made notes on each documentary but the third one had me sketching - a very good sign!

I knew that I wanted images representing the shift in how we see art that was partially caused by the role of the colour white in art history.

The premise of the White documentary is that during the Renaissance, white art, particularly the sculptures of the Greek and Roman times, were seen as representing purity, simplicity, and elegance. White slowly evolved to represent the elite art of the establishment and eventually the superior white of conquerors.

The White of the Renaissance

The top corner images represent the Greek and Roman marble sculptures that were so admired from the Renaissance to the early 19th century.

Marble bust of a Goddess

In the top space are free motion quilted or embroidered words: purity, elegance, virtues, and simplicity. 

Marble torso of a man

In the top centre is a piece representing a white honey dish, made by the potter Josiah Wedgwood. Wedgwood experimented for years before coming up with the perfect white glaze for pottery.

White honey dish in a style made by Josiah Wedgwood.

White as elitist

The purity of white that was so revered from Renaissance, slowly changed from elegant and virtuous to represent an elitist, cold and sterile perfection in the modern era. As described in the documentary, one of the artists who started art's journey toward this exclusive and elitist path was James Abbott McNeill Whistler, an American who lived mostly in England. 

Representation of a Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl by Whistler

Through his paintings and the manner in which he displayed his art, Whistler represented a world where art was less approachable and more exclusive. He was one of the first artists to present his paintings on white walls with large spaces between each painting. Before this time, paintings were usually hung on walls with very little space between them, almost from floor to ceiling. 

This change, which was eventually called the white cube, resulted in art galleries, and the art within, to be seen as special spaces that were less accessible to the general public. The image below is the White Cube.

White cube - a huge shift in how we view art

During the years that followed, many modern artists started rebelling from this view of art. One of these is my daughter's favourite artist, Marcel Duchamp. In 1917 he created Fountain. My image isn't that obvious but it's a very white porcelain urinal. This was part of Duchamp's use of "ready-mades", everyday objects seen as art.  

Fountain - questioning what we see as art

From Duchamp, the documentary takes a journey to the fascist environment in Europe around the Second World War. It would seem that Hitler, Franco and Mussolini were huge fans of the purity of white marble. They had buildings, sculptures and monuments built to represent the new era. At this time, white is seen as austere and superior - the blanc moral. It is the colour of conquerors. 

The fascist view of white art

The White documentary approached the history of art from a different point of view. I found it all very fascinating. My hope for the future is that art starts being more accessible as it is shared and seen across the world through the internet. I also believe that the definition of art is also changing as people who would never have considered themselves artists a couple of decades ago are now seeing themselves and are being accepted as such. I suspect that the white history of art is far from finished!

What I learned

• The background is an improvisation of white and off-white batiks that I used to make the background diamonds of the Kingfisher Stitch-Along blocks. 
• I used many techniques to create this piece. I started with the centre panel of the White Girl. I wanted to make her three dimensional since there is no reason for a dress to be flat! I even pleated the top of her dress. It took a lot of experimenting but eventually I managed to get it all together.
• Next came the marble torso and bust. For the torso, I was able to use an image, freezer paper, a light box and free motion quilting (FMQ) to get a fair semblance of a ripped torso. I didn't have any luck with that technique for the bust of the Goddess. I ended up using some photo transfer medium to create it. Unfortunately it turned out more grey than white. I covered it in white gauze to get a paler colour.
• The white honey pot was a lot of fun to make. I used a shimmering tulle for the background and then used some shiny sheer fabric for the pot. I even added some metallic thread through the bobbin in the FMQ. Finally I found some perfect lace to go around the tulle to give it the look of a table cloth.
• The fountain was next. In hindsight, I wish that I had chosen an image that showed it from a different angle so that it looked more like a urinal. I used a rougher, looser woven fabric for the background, with the look of burlap - to contrast with the shininess of the satin of the Fountain.
• The last two images were commissioned by Mussolini. There is the marble obelisk which has Mussolini's name engraved upon it and the marble statue of a boxer at the Stadio dei Marmi in Rome. 
• I added words that were used in the different eras to talk about white. Some are embroidered while others are FMQ. The latter are much more legible but the embroidery adds texture.

Related links

• Art with Fabric Blog Hop, Fall 2018
• BBC History of Art in Three Colours, 3of 3 - WHITE

Linking parties

I will be linking this post to many linky parties. Why not check out what everyone else is doing? Below you will find the links to the other participants in the blog hop. Check out the great art with fabric😊  Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Linky Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Off The Wall Friday, TGIFF, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Friday Foto Finish, Finished or Not Friday, Needle & Thread Thursday, Finish It Up Friday, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward, What I Made Monday, Wondering Camera, 

Project details

A White History of Art, based on the History of Art in Three Colours, WHITE
17½" x 17¾"
Materials: batik, cotton, satin, tulle, gauze, lace, burlap-type fabric, stabilizer, embroidery floss, beads, felt, metallic thread, Kimono silk thread
Techniques: photo transfer medium, improv piecing, markers, beading, embroidery, appliqué, FMQ, thread colouring.

Art with Fabric Blog Hop Schedule

Monday, November 5, 2018 - Day 1

• Heather at Heather Quilts 
• Tami at Thrift Shop Commando
• Moira at The Quilted Snail
• Marian at Seams T Be Sew

Tuesday, November 6, 2018 - Day 2

• Susan at DesertSky Quilting
• Terry at Terry Aske Art Quilt Studio
• Lee Anna at Not Afraid of Color

Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - Day 3

• Janeen at Quilt Art Designs
• Carol at Quilted Fabric Art
• Andrée at Quilting & Learning: What a Combo!       You're here!

Thursday, November 8, 2018 - Day 4

• Bea at Beaquilter
• Wendy at Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life

Friday, November 9, 2018 - Day 5

• Melva at Melva Loves Scraps
• Barb at Bejeweled Quilts
• Anita at Domestic Felicity
• Alida at Tweety Loves Quilting

A great show

Fibre Fling 7, the Out of the Box Artist Group's annual show was a success! There was actually a line-up on Friday morning to go in :-) How impressive is that? I worked at the show on Friday afternoon and it was quite busy.

In this post, I thought that I would show you a couple of my friends' pieces as well as my own. There weren't as many pieces on display this year but the quality and variety was wonderful. It was also nice that the art work was less crowded.

Gaia, Mother Earth

My two destination art pieces looked good together.

Reason & Passion really looked great against the black background.

Here are two pieces by my friend and past-colleague, Kathy Lajeunesse. She has been working with felting and is doing some great work. I love her piece "Just before the storm". Doesn't that sky look like a storm is brewing? The embroidered flowers in the foreground are really effective.

"Just before the storm" by Kathy Lajeunesse

Her other piece was "Connected Trees" which was inspired by the book "The Hidden Life of Trees" by Peter Wohlleben. 

"Connected Trees" by Kathy Lajeunesse

One of the pieces that really stood out for me was this collection of embroidered pieces by MaryAnne Toonders. It's called "Fifty two" and features, in theory, 52 weeks of embroidered pieces. I really love the movement and colours of her piece. I'm very happy to have met her during the show.

"Fifty two"  by MaryAnne Toonders

Here is a close-up of her stitching and fabric. Aren't those fabrics just yummy?

Close up of "Fifty two" by MaryAnne Toonders

Labels

I'm not very consistent with making labels for my quilts, but I usually get around to it, either before I give it away, or before a show. 

I love trying out new ways of making interesting labels. My go-to are 4" foundation pieced blocks from Quilting on the Square (see Related links). This is what I used for the Gaia, Mother Earth piece.

Foundation paper pieced label for Gaia, Mother Earth

For the Islas Canarias piece, I found some of the original backing fabric which just happens to have lines to keep my writing straight.

Label for Islas Canarias art quilt

For the Reason & Passion quilt, I wanted to incorporate a copy of Joyce Wieland's original quilt in the label. I didn't find the photo transfers that I originally did for this label. Thank goodness I had printed up an extra sheet of the picture (mirror image) so that I was able to make a couple of photo transfers for the label. There really is nothing to it except that it takes about 24 hours to dry. After that it was just a matter of framing it.

Photo transfer image of the original quilt by Joyce Wieland

Road sign for the show

What I learned

• I really enjoyed participating in the Fibre Fling show.
• Next year I'm going to have to volunteer early to help set up the show. It just wasn't the same this year since I wasn't able to help set up.
• It looks like we may have another show coming up. They will be discussing this at next week's meeting. Looking forward to that. It's so rewarding to actually have pieces in a live show. Let's face it, pictures, no matter how good, never quite do a fibre piece justice.
• I'm always inspired by looking at fibre art by other artists.

Related links

• Getting ready for Fibre Fling 7, March 28, 2018
• Out of the Box Fibre Artists
• Sign up for Quilting on the Square's newsletter and get some great 4" foundation paper piecing patterns.

Linking parties

I will be linking up to a few linky parties. Why not check out what others are doing? Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Moving it Forward, Linky Tuesday, Oh Scrap!, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday, Finished or Not Friday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?,

Getting ready for Fibre Fling 7

Fibre Fling 7 (April 6 & 7)






















Fibre Fling is an annual show and sale for the Out of the Box Fibre Artists. This year, I will have 4 entries in the show.

It's great that I have a venue to show my Art with Fabric pieces. Last spring and fall pieces will be there, as well as my two art quilts - the one I created for Canada's 150th and the other based on my trip earlier this year.

All four pieces have a sleeve to hang them, but two don't have labels yet. I also have to buy wire for the rods this weekend. There is very little left to do to get ready :-)

Reason & Passion made for Art with Fabric, Spring 2017 

Canada 150 Art Quilt

Gaia, Mother Earth made for Art with Fibre, Fall 2017

Isles Canarias

If you're in the area, I hope that you'll drop by to Fibre Fling 7. All of the art pieces are wonderful. They are such a talented group! On Saturday the ladies from the Church where we hold the show will be serving High Tea. It's always great and well worth it.

Missing labels....

What I learned

• Getting ready for Fibre Fling 7 is much easier now since it`s my third show. I know what to expect, and because of Art with Fibre, I always have at least 2 pieces to put into the show.
• I am getting better at making sleeves as part of finishing my art quilts. I often don`t think about the labels until I either give it away or I have to get it ready for a show.
• I've done it again :-( I prepared a label for my Reason & Passion quilt while I was doing the photo transfer technique for Gaia, Mother Earth. I have the pictures as proof that I did it, but haven't found it yet. There's only a couple of places left to look. If I don't find it in the next couple of days, I'll have to make another one.

Related Links

• Out of the Box Fibre Artists
• Reason & Passion: Joyce Wieland and Art with Fabric, May 14, 2017
• Gaia, Mother Earth: Art with Fabric Blog Hop - Gaïa, Mother Earth, October 11, 2017
• Canada 150 Art Quilt: Today We Celebrate - Fêtons 150, July 1, 2017
• Isles Canarias: Islas Canarias finished, January 28, 2018
• Labels, Image Transfers and Slow Stitching, October 15, 2017

Linking Parties
I will be linking up to a few linky parties. Join me to see what's happening! Main Crush Monday, Moving Forward, Linky Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Finished or Not Friday, Design Wall Mondays, Monday Making,

Labels, Image Transfers and Slow Stitching

Last week in my Art with Fabric Blog Hop - Fall 2017 post, I mentioned that I would write about the use of a photo transfer medium to put the image of the statuette on fabric. So here it is, with a few other things thrown in!

Image Transfers

Mod Podge
Photo Transfer Medium

I've wanted to place images on fabric for a long time but the one attempt by my son to do this didn't end well for either the image or the printer! I'm not bad with technology and will eventually have to buy a new printer - and then I'll do the research required to get the proper printer and transfer paper. However, I'm just not there yet.

So when I heard about a photo transfer medium, I got pretty excited! I did a little bit of research, mostly to see where I might buy this type of product in Canada. Turns out that Micheal's sells a product made by Mod Podge.

I originally wanted to use the photo transfer medium to make a label for my art quilt, Reason & Passion, created for the Art with Fabric Blog Hop - Spring 2017. The idea was to place the image of the original quilt by Joyce Wieland on the label as a tribute to her and her work.

Photo Transfer Medium applied to two images

For this particular image, since it had writing on it, I had to "flip" the image before printing it. Turns out that you can do this in Paint (click the Rotate button and choose flip).

Final two images of the original
Reason Over Passion Quilt by Joyce Wieland

Once I had figured out how to use the photo transfer medium (see "What I learned" below), I was ready to try the product on the image of my Gaïa statuette. I chose to use the black and white image since the original statuette is made of a grayish clay. 

Gently rubbing off the dried photo transfer medium

Final photo transfer image of Gaïa on Kona fabric

It came out great, except for a white spot (see "What I learned"). I would probably have redone the image except that I was able to use a pencil to cover and shade the finished image. If you can draw, I think that it would be easy to draw over and/ or add colour to the image using colouring pencils.

Gaïa image on the finished piece

Attaching the image was simple. I very carefully cut around the fabric, placed her on the quilt and using the silver silk thread that I was using to quilt the piece, sewed around the image. I then FMQ around a few features to better attach it and to give it depth.

The finished image on the fabric is a little rubbery, sort of like the way t-shirts were years ago. Depending on the look you want and the use of the piece (you wouldn't want to use this for items that you would wash a lot), the Mod Podge photo transfer medium works fine.

Quilt Labels

If I have time, I like to be inventive with my quilt labels. At the very least, I try to use fabric from the quilt. For Anna's Black & White wall hanging, I actually cut away a piece just for the label, while I was doing the improvisational piecing. I'm really happy that I was able to find it when it came time to sew on the label! (I think that I've learned a valuable lesson from the still missing Growing Up QAL blocks!)

Improvisational piecing

Label made from the
improvisational piecing of the quilt

For the Neutral lap quilt, I wanted to make a smaller version of the original block used in the quilt.

Label based on block

Original block

 

Growing Up QAL

I have finished block 10 of the Growing Up QAL. I enjoyed making this one, probably because it used one of my favourite techniques, foundation paper piecing. I just love the accuracy of the technique. With minimal effort, I can make pretty accurate blocks - gotta love it!

Block 10 of the Growing Up QAL

Slow Stitching 

With company around and just being tired after finishing the Art with Fabric QAL, I've been spending my evenings embroidering or doing English Paper Piecing (EPP). I do this while being read to since I've downloaded a whole bunch of audio books from our local library.

I started another embroidery piece with the same type of pattern as my previous (unfinished) piece. I've brought it to work a few times to stitch a little during lunch time. This one is also mostly practicing the stem stitch.

Embroidering FMQ motifs

Here is my EPP to date - seven large flowers completed, with 3 or 4 in the works.

Seven large hexie flowers so far

What I learned

• When you buy photo transfer medium, check out the product's instructions for how to use it! Each product is different. It took me many tries to get it right, and it was only after checking out the instructions for using the brand I had bought that I got it right!
• It's important to very gently rub off the dried photo transfer medium. The "Reason Over Passion" image on the left is a little less crisp because I rubbed a little to hard. It's best to remove the medium in several stages than to get it all off at once.
• Turns out it's VERY IMPORTANT to keep your fingers off of the photo transfer medium once it's on the image. The white spot that you seen on the Gaïa statuette (where her heart would be!) is from my finger when I was placing her onto the fabric! I added extra medium but it didn't really help.
• My stem stitch is getting better, but still needs work in tight curves. That's mostly my lack of patience since you need to use very small stitches in tight curves 

Related Links

• Mod Podge Photo Transfer Medium tutorial and YouTube links
• Joyce Wieland and Art with Fabric, May 14, 2017
• Anna's Black & White wall hanging, Learning QAL - October Goal Setting Link-up, October 1, 2017
• Neutral Lap Quilt Finished, September 29, 2017
• Embroidery, Progress, June 30, 2017
• English Paper Piecing, Lots of Projects, September 12, 2017

Linking Parties: I will be linking to a number of great linking parties. Check out what others are doing! Growing up QAL - linky month 10, Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scrap!, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? Finished or Not Friday, MOP Monday, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Off the Wall Fridays,