Group Of Eight Georgetown Trunk Show

Hi again,

I hope this finds everyone well … although we are still in the grip of winter here in southern Ontario, buried again by a late winter storm!

A few weeks ago, the Burlington Fibre Artists hosted a trunk show from the Group of Eight Fibre Artists based in Georgetown, ON and I took a few pictures that I know you will enjoy.

It was a wonderful evening full of inspiration, artists' talks, discussing of techniques and the sharing of stories - what could be better?

The Group of Eight was founded in 2006 by a few like-minded friends that were looking for a creative outlet for fibre work outside of the traditional quilting guilds. So, eight members were the basis of GOE which now has nine members. Please enjoy these photographs ~ 

The artists' of the GOE can be found at goegeorgetown.blogspot.ca or search the Group of Eight Fibre Artists with you favourite search engine. Please know that some of the photos may be details ~ not the full piece.

Very best wishes and thank you so much to the Group of Eight for joining us,

Barbara

Mystics Dance

detail

I have been fortunate enough over the past few months to have been part of the organizing group for an upcoming show called “Fibre Content” and also lucky enough to have my own piece “Mystics Dance” juried in! I have had the opportunity to work with a wonderful group of artists that are passionate about fibre art.
I have been working on this piece for a while on this (among others) … Mystics Dance is watercolour on muslin with hand-stitch and free-motion, … I was so thrilled to have it accepted.

If you would like to read more about the show please go to the fibrations website and we are on facebook as well thanks to the hard work of one of our committee members.

So, click here to go to the website - fibrations.org - and click here to go to the facebook page for the Fibre Content Show.

This is a two day show at the end of October hanging at the beautiful Burlington Performing Arts Centre!

Have wonderful weekend,

Barbara

Northern Lights over Boreal Forest

Just the first start ~
and detail




Ok, so I have always been fascinated by the Boreal forests ~ like a green scarf around the northen shoulders of the continent. Also, I have memories of seeing the Northern Lights when I was much younger and living further north ~ it is like nothing you have ever seen. The light and colour is so different from the normal evening light with green and purple streaks across the sky.

Colours cover the sky and dance in a captivating show!

I am hoping to finish the piece this week and will post the finish soon.

This is acrylic on wool with free-motion stiching. I have enjoyed painting the fabric as much as designing and stitching

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

this bunny is in stitches

Good evening ... and I hope that a wonderful weekend is in store!

Apparently, this piece turned into a bunny somewhere along the way, it is watercolour on cotton muslin and some acrylic on sheers ~ with hand stitching.

It was only when a family member said ~ "it looks like a bunny", that it took on new life.

Wishing you Happy Easter and Happy Spring!

Unravelled - ready

Hello again, and I hope all is well ... I have been working busily on this piece "unravelled" which will be part of the Brott Music Festival here in Ontario, and one of the featured composers is Ravel.

So, inspired by Bolero ... this is what came about.

It was thought that he suffered from Alzheimer's or some form of frontal dementia and late in his life offered himself for experimental surgery to try to help ~ he died not too long after that.

It seems that things can become unravelled and confused at times ...

This is vintage fabrics and sheers, nylon netting and cotton 12w quilting threads - hand stitched.

Unravelled

hi and hope this finds everyone well ... been offline for a bit!

first, I wanted to pass along an update on my butterfly project ~ it did not get juried in but that is perfectly fine, as I know you just never know what the jurors are looking for ...

this is a newly started piece called "unravelled", it is inspired by Ravel's Bolero and his struggles at the end of his life. it is only just pinned yet but will have stitching started very soon.

this butterfly is finished

I guess really only nature knows how long it truly takes to make a butterfly but this is my version. The final layer has been added to liken an early 19th century corset ~ a couple of my friends have already picked up on that!

I will let you know if it gets juried in to the show I have made entry to ~ for showing in the spring into summer.

Truthfully, that is not the important part ~ I had a great deal of fun, enjoyment and learning from completing this piece and hope that you like it, too!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend ~

A New Layer

A new layer has been designed and applied, although still needing to be stitched. I am hoping you can see more of the form through this sheer ~ I have stitched the sheer as well but I am thinking it is as hard to tell as it was to do.

This has been a lot of fun and a great design experience, and that with the next post it will be finished. So, wish me no stray stitches that I have to take out.

~ have a wonderful weekend ~

the butterfly and my machine

Since I have been working on my hand-stitched version ~ a few have asked for me to post the machine stitched butterfly that came along as a side and experimental piece.
So, this is all the same base fabrics and threads but has been free motioned with out reserve! It was a lot of fun to work on ~ so now more learning in free-motion work is ahead, I am sure.

Have a wonderful weekend and week ahead!

next stage of the butterfly project

This is where this is going ~ I have finished the perimeter in soft cream and white varigated, 12 wt. cotton Sulky, the extremities could suggest paths and wanderings. The next and final stage is a sheer layer but I am still (of course) working on the sketches and on paper cut-outs before I actually use the fabric.

Now that I can see the end stages of this work ~ my mind has been straying to my next piece ~ I am thinking landscape ...

Wishing you all a great and happy week

Butterfly project

Well, it has a temporary name ... and here are some of photos as to how it is going. This batch of photos turned out much better than the last in terms of the light ~ so the colours are so much more acurately depicted. The last detail photo above shows the final point of this piece ~ the female form. This is for a juried show and the ideas are still coming together but it will be a statement and contrast of the female image and self image. I am still avoiding the sewing-machine but I do have a sister piece completed by myself and my daughter with all free-motion, when I take my next batch of photgraphs ... I will include it. ~wishing you well ~

new work ~ progress

Hello ~ on this snowy evening, the winds are up and the snow is blowing, who knows what it will look like in the morning. Beautiful, I am sure ...

I am so excited about where this is going, it is a slow process but I love every twist and turn and stitch. My debate was if I should take it to my machine or keep working by hand ... for now I am keeping my hand to my work. I find I have more control by hand ... so I worked on a similiar piece strictly by machine ... I love it too but they have different personalities.

This piece will have a final sheer vintage fabric over the top that will let the image peek through, it may not be that far away!

New Fibre Work

I am thinking to myself ... what have I been doing, and then I remember that Christmas is almost upon us. The handknits to finish, the packages to post and the unwrapping of those decorations that have been around forever but come back every year as old friends. There are stories to read, cards and cookies to make ... it never all gets done as one might envision but that is perfectly fine by me. I find it is the small things that make it special ~ the walks at night, the music and more time by the fireplace ... I think those are the things I cherish the most.

And of course, starting a new piece (which has no name or final goal yet) but will eventually have layers of sheers, some vintage fabric and perhaps the addition of watercolours. I am looking forward just working on this in which ever direction it might take me.

I wish you time to linger!

where to work on a pretty day

Today is one of those days where my work inside beckons me and the work outside calls ... it is a beautiful fall day, with crisp air and plenty of sunshine. I will head outside shortly to plant a few hydrangeas for next year and move a few things around ...

Lilies 2 is coming to an end very soon, I am finishing up the last few places of thread sketch

I will post them post very soon, to see them together ... then the presentation of the pieces which always leaves me a little wondering ...

A new piece is on the drawing books for a juried show after Christmas which will include some reclaimed and vintage fabrics that I have stumbled upon ... I am still developing the images but it is always exciting to have new thoughts racing around, the fabrics are soft and delicate as well as some of them being a bit more on the sturdy side ~ a great contrast.

The sketches have started and then will come the watercolours ~ lots of options and direction

Have a great week!

best wishes to Island Sweet

Tiny Ballerina, Holly in the Snow, and Pink Sand

Holly in the Snow (detail)

Pink Sand (detail)

I wanted to send out my very best wishes to an artist I have met in person and through her blog ... it is Shawn O'Hagan of Island Sweet, she is an exhibitor at the One of A kind Show here in Toronto and will be here in a couple of weeks. Here are some photograghs of my knitting with her work and I am knitting up my very last skein (Tiny Ballerina) of her handspun wool. So, Shawn I will see you at OoAK ...

Everywhere I go that I am either wearing her work or knitting with her wool ... I get tons of compliments and many inquiries. I have gifted scarves that I see my friends wearing all the time.

So, I wish you all the best at One of A Kind in a few weeks ... you can find Shawn on my blogroll! I love her work and can't wait to see her booth in a few weeks!

to gift

I have been away ~ with friends and family and enjoying myself immensely. I do find this time of year incredibly satisfying as we come together more often ... to make warm meals and sit together talking further into the night.

One of my other passions is knitting ... and again I come to it more often in the fall, with a fireplace and warm light. This past weekend, I had the pleasure of teaching a young person to knit and she took to it famously ... off to knit her first scarf. Truthfully, mostly what I do is scarves ... and then give them away to dear friends or a stranger who might need one.

These are gifts for some very dear people in my life and my introduction to knitting lace ~ very beautiful to knit and I think I may do more ...