The "Do Over" Factor

We are back from a great road trip to Seattle, and while I had every intention of working on some quilts today, well, that just did not happen. I woke up today, and realized that in just a few days, we will be celebrating the 90th birthday of my bf's granny. Knowing better than to try and whip up a quilt, I decided that an encaustic collage was in order. Yes, it is true that I have fallen in love with encaustic mixed media, but my love of quilting is still going strong. I have a photo to show you of the encaustic piece I made for Granny, and some photos from Seattle that I think would make wonderful art pieces, be they in encaustic medium or art quilts. Before I show you though, I have to explain the title of my post, the "do over" factor.

What I love most about encaustics, is that you can go back to your work endlessly, adding or subtracting elements. And, unlike textile work (for the most part, anyway), when you make a mistake, or just don't like what you've got, you can simply remove all the wax in an encaustic piece, and start over. And, that is exactly what I did today; as I was working this piece up for Granny, I thought that I wanted a glassy smooth surface, so I decided to use my loop and do some scraping. Well, I learned that this is not a good idea when the wax is too warm, as I ended up scraping off way too much. So, all the wax was removed, and I took advantage of my "do over." The idea of a glassy smooth surface was abandonded in favour of subtle texture, and voila - my piece was done! Here, then, is the photo of Granny's gift:

A vintage inspired piece, incorporating buttons from one of Granddad's shirts

 (who passed away last February) - I hope she likes it!!

And, for your inspiration, here are a few photos from Seattle:



Isn't the texture in this leaf amazing?

I think that this is called wormwood; again, I love the texture!

A macro shot of a tulip, taken from directly above

A macro shot of an orchid; I love the colour variations here!

I have no idea what this is, but it lives in our oceans!

We really had a great time, and the break was very much needed. I am working my way back into my routine; this weekend will be full with work, celebrations, and a meeting of what I like to call the encaustichicks - a group of women that I had the pleasure of meeting in the workshop I attended earlier this month. Then, it will be time to focus on some textile work, as I have a mile long list of projects to make this year!

I hope these photos inspire you to create something unique; if they do, I would love to know what you come up with. In the meantime, happy creating!!



More on Improv Piecing

The February challenge for the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild was to make an improv pieced mini quilt, or mug rug. Of course, being in love with improv piecing, I was right on top of this! I chose two colours inspired by the quilters of Gee's Bend, and added black into the mix. My goal was to make a mosaic inspired looking mug rug, and here's what I got:

This is the front ;-)

And here is the back. To me, it looks like a plant cell!

I didn't exactly document the process of making this little mini quilt/mug rug, but if you would like to make one yourself, it is not very difficult. Here is what I did:

First, I cut a piece of fabric in each colour 9" by WOF. Usually when you are improv piecing, it is best to either make your fabric larger than your finished piece, so that you can cut it down; or, you can have one piece longer than the other. This is because a lot of fabric gets eaten up in seams, and when you are piecing improv curves, you will likely never end up with a perfectly matched seam (if you do, let me know how, please!!)

Next, I cut a piece of either blue or red fabric (I honestly can't remember which, but it doesn't matter). Using my rotary cutter, and no ruler, I placed my fabric on my cutting board, so that it was 9" tall, and cut gentle curves into the fabric. **Note: it is always best to start and end your cuts mostly straight, so that your piecing is easier**

After cutting the gentle curve into the fabric, I cut it off my long piece with a wide border, and mostly straight. Next, I placed my fabric onto my black fabric, right sides facing up, and traced my cut (it doesn't matter if you cut a bit of coloured fabric off here, so long as your pieces can be put together like a puzzle). Then, I cut off a slightly wide border of black fabric, matched up my seams, and began piecing. If you would like a visual on this, just check out an earlier post here, which shows more improv piecing, and has a link to a great video by Alicia Merrett.

My next move was to cut curves into the black fabric, line it up with my second colour, trace the curves using my rotary cutter, and piece. I continued this until I had about a 9" X 14" block of stripes, using black in between my two colours, and ending my block on the opposite colour than what I started with. With improv piecing, it's best to iron your seams in one direction, rather than pressing them open - the fabric follows the curves much easier.

Okay, so I have a big piece of striped fabric; how in the heck to I turn it into what you just saw, you ask? Easy! I just turned my fabric so that the colours were stacked top to bottom, and cut a chunk off, again using gentle curves. Then, again with right sides up, I cut into black fabric, tracing my curves, and pieced those two together. Next, I cut curves into the other side of the black, flipped my stripes upside down, and repeated. One more stripe of black, one more flip, and the center was done! To finish, I simply used the same improv piecing techniques to add a strip of black around the center, and voila - my top was done!! Quilt as desired, add binding, and you too will have a nifty little mini quilt to hang, or mug rug to use. To be truthful, I really liked how this turned out, and will likely make another when I find a bit of spare time.

The fam and I are taking a road trip to Seattle this week; I hope to have lots of cool pics to inspire you!! And please, if you do make a little mini quilt/mug rug, let me know - I would love to see it, and maybe have a virtual "show and tell".. Happy crafting!!



Waxing Poetic

This week, I learned just how lost I feel when I can't find the cord that connects my camera to my computer. Without said cord, I am powerless to share with you, dear readers. Enter a cool new gadget that reads my SD card, and voila - I'm back!!

As promised, I have pics to share, detailing my progress at the encaustic workshop that I attended in early March, taught by the most amazing and talented Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch. This workshop was a whole new experience for me; I started off feeling excited, hit the middle feeling overwhelmed, and found my groove on the last day, when I made a few pieces that I love. Here is the whimsy that has me waxing poetic:

Encaustic, fabric, oil pigment stick - this will be a gift for my dad on Father's day

I call this one "lemonade," since I didn't like it at first :-)

Encaustic rainbow, aka "rainbow barf" - this was the one I really didn't like on the second day - nothing about it went right, to be honest. But, my daughter loves it, so it's hers. Done with wood icing, encaustic wax, shellac, and torched. Yes, I did say torched!!

Indigo dreams - still a work in progress :-)

As I found my groove, and left all cares behind, I created the two following pieces, each of which I love love LOVE!!

Encaustic Bubbles - torch work on wood panel, plaster, tar paint

Barriers #1 - tar, encaustic, mixed ephemera, shellac and torch work

I have to say that I truly love the organic and tactile nature of encaustic work, and I fully intend to do more. Like fabric that is pieced improvisationally, encaustic work holds a surprise with each piece created. During this weekend, I created about 16 pieces of work, and learned so much about myself as an artist. As you may know, this year is my year to inspire, and to be inspired. I am exploring both textile art and encaustic art in a carefree manner - this week, I hope to share a piece that I will finish for the March 15th meeting of Vancouver Modern Quilting Guild; I'm participating in my first challenge for the Guild, and will leave my piece as part of a swap.

In the meantime, I'm curious to know how you are coming along in your crafting/art work - I am so far behind in my blog roll, I would love it if you would catch me up on what's going on with YOU!





Tutorial: Fabric Fortune Cookies

Another tutorial by reader request - fabric fortune cookies. As some of you may know, I made these little goodies as part of the loot bag for my daughter's birthday party last month. We slipped little "thank you" notes into them, and put them in mini chinese food take out containers that I bought at the local dollar store, along with a few candies for the kids. They were very well received, and in fact, I have been thinking about making more - they can be filled with inspirational quotes, as a daily inspiration, or they can be used as a "reward" for the kids when they do a great job on something. In fact, there are lots of ways these little goodies can be used, and they are oh-so-easy to make. Ready to get started? Here we go!

Materials Needed:

- fabric scraps, 5 inches wide
- craft fleece
- fusible web
- pinking shears
- circle rotary cutter (or a circle template, 4.5 to 4.75 inches in diameter)

Instructions:

Fuse the webbing to the back of your fabric. Cut your craft fleece into 5 inch squares, and fuse them to the back of your fabric. Using your circle rotary cutter or your template, cut out your circles.

Next, stitch around your circle, using a 1/4 inch seam, and trim with your decorative scissors:

Now, you want to fold your circle in half, right sides together. Then, stitch down the center of your half circle, approximately 1/4 inch from the fold to about a half inch from the open edge, like this:

** Note** the left and right sides of the stitched line will become the top and bottom of the fabric fortune cookie, respectively, with the open edge at the front. Now you need to flip one side of the stitched line right side out, followed by the other; continue this until you have your set of beautiful fortune cookies!!

Admire, and hand out with abandon, and completely guilt free, since they have no calories!!

On Finding a Tribe

Lately, I have been of the opinion that both my bf and I need to get out of the house more, and pursue some hobbies. As you know, I am happiest when I am working with fabric, so it only felt natural for me to look for a quilting guild to join.

With that thought in mind, I went to a meeting where, to say the least, I felt as though I was infiltrating a secret society - not exactly a good starting point. However, I persevered, and a couple of nights later, I went to another guild's meeting; happily, I had exactly the opposite experience of my first guild meeting, and I left feeling welcomed, and supercharged to get to my sewing maching and create something! I spoke to people I didn't know with ease (not my strong point), and was exposed to some amazing work by some very talented artists. Needless to say, I felt as though I had found my tribe.

Not wanting to rush into anything, I waited until the February meeting to make a decision on joining this guild. Once I got to the meeting, though, I was again filled with a joyous sensation, and even before the meeting began, I made the move and joined the guild (note that this is the first time that I have joined anything, including a gym, in years)! And, once again, I left the meeting feeling inspired, having laughed, and feeling welcomed into the fold...

Yes, I know that I have yet to name this guild, and no, it's not a secret circle. In fact, I encourage you (if you are local, that is) to attend a meeting, to see if your tribe is here as well... On Thursday, March 15th, if you are in Vancouver, please come and check out the place that all the cool quilters are:



Out of My Element

This weekend, I am attending a three day encaustic workshop with Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch. I am being filled with wonderful information about an artistic medium that I have minimal experience in, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. The workshop, being hosted by The Upstart Crow , is covering new and exciting techniques in encaustic, and I am overflowing with both new techniques, and new ideas.

The truth, though, is that for me, being in this workshop makes me feel like a fish out of water; I am a quilter, and a textile artist. At times, I work in mixed media, which I guess puts me in the field of being a mixed media artist. But here, I know that although I love the organic nature and unexpected results of encaustic work (every piece holds a surprise), I am out of my element right now.

I admit that I fully expected more out of myself here; after reading both of Patricia's books, taking 2 single day workshops, and searching out everything on the internet that I could find out about encaustic art, I thought that I would have a bliss filled weekend of experimentation, making beautiful art. The truth, though, is that today, I made a piece of art that I thoroughly dislike. I have already made a few pieces that I like, and even one that I love, but the feeling of making something I don't like at all is new to me. I guess have been fortunate in my journey as a quilter - I've never made a quilt that I didn't like, and most times what I create, I love.

To me, this feeling of being out of my element means that I am stretching myself as an artist; I willingly stepped out of my comfort zone, expecting only minor discomfort. I'll tell you now, that I am expecting much more than minor discomfort, and truthfully, I am still loving every minute of it. I hope that tomorrow, some of these new to me techniques gel in my mind. I will show some of my work after the workshop all done (including the one that I currently "hate"); we are having a "show and tell" tomorrow, which means that I have no pictures. I can tell you now, I will be humbled during our show and tell - I am a "newbie" in a class of people who, for the most part, appear to feel comfortable in their "artist" skin. As much as I have loved this weekend, I'm looking forward to the end of the workshop, and for the chance to step back into my comfort zone as a textile artist.

But, I am also looking forward to working more with encaustic, and to stretching myself as far as possible as a mixed media artist. I know that I am not the only one stretching these days - my blog friend Penny is also stretching herself as an artist, as is another blog friend Karen. I am lucky to be in the company of these people, watching each other grow in our artistic endeavours, and I would love to hear about how you are growing as an artist as well, so that I don't feel so overwhelmed. Please leave a comment telling me about you in your journey these days; let's support each other as artists and artisans!