Cigar Band Abstracts

My cousin Marius likes to smoke cigars.  As soon as I discovered how colourful and textured and neatly-designed cigar labels are (they're actually called cigar 'bands'), my cousin and his friends started saving them for me.  I finally incorporated them into some abstract work.  It's mixed-media, including tissue paper, mulberry papers, scrapbooking papers and some upcycled papers, and acrylic paint.  I used a satin varnish to finish them, so they're glossy and so don't photograph as well as I'd like because of the glare.

Mayfly raggy quilt

I don't make bed quilts very often (one every 3-4 years, it seems!).  I made one last week, though, as a retirement gift for my dear friend and former professor and mentor, Lynda Corkum.  Lynda initiated me into the world of bugs (when I'm not quilting, I work as a biologist, and study aquatic insects and other invertebrates).  The project I worked on, under Lynda's supervision many years ago, involved mayflies (or what are commonly known around Southern Ontario as Fish flies, or June bugs).  So my quilt for her had to have some on it.  I thread sketched them on, using the bobbin thread on the right side of the fabric, following paper sketches in free-motion quilting (I'm not sure what the name of this particular technique is).  Here are the results:

 

This mayfly raggy quilt was my second large bed quilt (I've made a number of baby quilts over the years, though).  My first ever, back in 2006, was made out of scraps of silk and satin, pieced and without any frills (this was before I knew how to free-motion quilt).

PhotoScapes Class

I taught a class last weekend, on my Photo Scapes technique, at a local quilt shop, Quilting Confections. 

For this class, students provide a digital photo of their own, and I enhance and print it on fabric (treated and backed with paper for feeding through an inkjet printer) to use with this technique.

It's always interesting to see what other people do with the instructions I provide, how they see their photos developing, what background fabrics they choose, what other bits of fabric and fiber they add to it.  Here are some of the results from this last class, with kind permission from their creators:

 

One of my students entered her finished piece in the local Harrow Fair this summer.  It won 2nd prize and has been tagged to go to the Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies Convention in Toronto in February.  Way to go, Sue!

Kindle cover

I think I may start making e-reader (tablet, etc) covers.  Here's one I made for my own Kindle.  I've been sitting on this beautiful piece of marbled fabric for years, just staring at it hanging on the wall, not wanting to cut into it, not knowing what would be the perfect use for it.  The time has come to put it to good use - and with the Kindle cover, I find I stare at it even more.

Paper Collage

My latest obsession, paper collage.  I've been using paper bits in my work for a few years now, but only gluing them in place and then stitching on top to keep everything together, and finishing by stitching (to a card,  bookmark, etc).  What I'm doing now is actually gluing the paper (and fabric bits too, still) straight to canvas, including around the edges, and then varnishing to seal the whole thing in.  I love the look!

Photo Landscape Quilts

Over the last 4-5 years of  experimenting with various art quilting methods and techniques, I've developed a technique of my own that has proven to be quite popular (if sales in shops and galleries are anything to go by). 

Briefly described, my photo landscapes start out as digital photos printed onto inkjet printing fabric.  I center (fuse) the photo onto a fabric background, and extend elements from the photo onto the background fabric, then stitch the whole thing to make it all blend in.  This technques lends itself well to most landscape photos, so I've done a fair bit of custom orders using other people's photos as well.

A lot of my work sells in pictoresque and touristy areas of the East Coast of Canada.  While living in the area a few years ago, I gathered a collection of photos of local scenery, which I've worked into my East Coast series of photo landscapes.  Here's just a few:

 

Here in Windsor, where I now live, I became inspired by a series of trees (mostly maples) one spring day walking around my neighbourhood.  This resulted in my Olde Riverside tree series:

And, on a trip to Bayfield, Ontario, I was inspired by a mulberry tree, which made it's way into another series of tree quilts:

A tour of my studio

A visit from my friend Nicole last weekend inspired me to post photos of my studio/work space.  So here's a short tour of where my artwork gets made (excluding the mosaics, which are stored in the basement, and noone will want to see the mess down there!). 

The design table is where I spend most of my time .  This is my favourite part of the whole process, partly too because it's the quietest part (my sewing machines make quite a bit of noise), and I get to listen to audio books or the radio while I'm working.





Below is some work in progress (3 buggy thread sketches, after the initial thread sketch).

Here's part of my fabric collection.  I used to have the baskets alot more organized (i.e. colour coordinated) than they are now. These days I prefer to work from just a few stacks of variously coloured batiks.

And below is my stash of thread.  It makes me so happy to look at all those colours!

The past year or so I've been  using alot of paper in my work.  These hand-dyed Thai papers are just gorgeous.  I've been buying them at Hollanders, in Ann Arbor.

I use two sewing machines for my work.  Neither is very fancy (one is pretty old), but they get the job done.

My Sears Kenmore (grey, on the left) is fitted with a darning foot, so I use it for all my free-motion quilting.  The Brother (white, on the right) I use for straight-stitching and zig-zagging.








I've been adding paint to my quilts the last little while, so here's my collection of paint brushes and watercolour and acrylic paints.  I've been known to use oil paint sticks as well (but don't like them very much;  they smell!).  And I guess I lied about not showing pics of mosaics - the grey tote under the paints is where I keep most of my bits of broken tiles, glass, rocks, and mosaic-making tools.

My design wall doesn't get used very much, or at least not for the purpose it's meant to be used for.  A lot of quilters tend to work vertically on a design wall like this, but I prefer to strain my back and neck and bend over a table!  My design wall ends up being a resting place for unfinished pieces that I'm not happy with, or of fabrics I like too much to cut into.

And, to finish off the tour, here's where I display my finished work.

Prior to shipping to various galleries, most pieces hang on my dining room walls.