Done (well, almost)

All the stitching is done on the birch/aspen quilt now. And I have judged it finished. Except for the binding, of course, which I need to address soon. It’s really hard to show what this thing actually looks like in pictures. It never looks like it does in real life.

So in the final analysis, the way I made it is supposed to divide the piece’s aspects in two.  The applique and piecing depicts the objects within the scene (hills, the patches of flowers, sky, lake, 2 kinds of trees) and the embroidery depicts the movement of the scene – the breeze, the leaves twirling down, the motion of waves on the shore.

The problem with the last part, the binding, is that I don’t know what fabric to use. The front and back pieces were sample pieces, I don’t have any more. I’m pretty sure that using fabric from the trees is a bad idea, and even the other solid cottons probably won’t work well because the backing fabric is a looser and thicker weave than the cotton. I think it would come out all wrong.  This is one of those times where I wonder where my forethought was, but that’s kind of the problem with this work.  It’s intended to be spontaneous, to foster that sort of creativity, and indeed if it weren’t I wouldn’t bother.  But then I run into a problem like this binding thing.

That’s the sky embroidery, it’s supposed to be a lazy breeze.

Anyway, if any of you have ideas about what will look appropriate, tell me!  I’m up for all sorts of suggestions.  I will make some sort of decision within the week. All that’s left really is to iron it, and bind it off, and add a hanging strip. And that will be that!  Seems funny the end is so near, after working on it off an on over these last months.

The final look of the waves on the shore of the lake. You did know that was a lake below the hill of trees?

I have two more quilting projects in the works when this is done. One is a jacket and the other one is based on a fairy tale.  The former is pretty planned out, the second is in its initial sketch details.  Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with a couple of photos of the crochet jewelry piece I’m experimenting on. It’s made of three colors of thread and the base is sport-weight yarn. It makes nifty shapes. It also takes forever to do this and is fairly hard on the fingers.  But no matter.  It’s definitely interesting.

Flowers for my Mom

This past weekend Jeff and I made a trip to Houston to visit our respective mothers. Since I work on Mother’s Day, we were a week late, but the love is still there, right?

So for this past Mother’s Day I decided to make my mother a gift of one of her favorite things, violets. I wouldn’t have thought of it except one of my favorite crochet designers – June Gilbank – provided a lovely pattern for a cute little pot of violets just in time to make them for the day.  It didn’t take too long to make it, it was fun, and it turned out so, so well!  June is one of my favorite designers because her patterns are deceptively simple, but just exactly right.

As you maybe can see from the picture, my mother loves violets, and as long as I can remember has grown lovely examples on her kitchen windowsill. So the idea was to make her a special, permanently flowering version of them.  I took June’s pattern and altered it just a wee bit, and it became not just a pot of violets, but a basket for jewelry.

I made sure to use fuzzy green yarn (Jiffy yarn in Avocado) for the leaves, because I always loved the soft velvet of violet leaves. Apart from that, the main difference from the pattern was that I split it in half to make a basket.  The original design is all one piece and stuffed with fiberfill.  In order to change it, I judiciously applied plastic cross stitch canvas, some matching stash fabric and a bit of fiberfill.

The first step was to cut out circles of plastic canvas to stiffen the flower top “lid” and the bottom of the pot.  Then I sewed a rectangle of the canvas into a circle shape to stiffen the pot sides.  I also sewed the circle for the pot bottom to the sides. I used plastic canvas because (1) I could sew it and (2) plastic doesn’t disintegrate over time like cardboard does and (3) it’s waterproof.

Next I got a large circle of coordinating fabric from my stash and stuffed it into the little basket made from plastic canvas.  I stitched the fabric to the canvas with yarn around the top, and then I tacked the fabric to the bottom of the pot with four tiny stitches, also using yarn.  That leaves you with a basket lined with fabric.  Then I trimmed some of the major excess off the outside, still leaving a considerable amount so it’s fabric-lined inside and out.  Here’s the lining basket after sewing (and a lovely picture of the Men’s Health magazine I was using as a table).

The final step was to stuff the fabric basket into the yarn basket and smooth the fabric down, and tack them together with matching yarn. Voila!  fabric lining inside and out. Creating a lovely, structured, lined basket capable of holding the most lovely of jewelry, if I do say so myself.

I did something similar to structure the “flower lid” by adding a circle of plastic canvas to the bottom of the lid. I also obviously added the brown lid bottom to suggest the dirt the flowers are growing in.  In the original there is no need for this bottom.  Apart from the canvas, the lid is mostly stuffed with fiberfill.  The crocheted bottom structured with plastic canvas is the lovely structural finishing touch that makes the lid match the bottom in shape and style. I don’t want to say more beyond that, because I don’t want to give away June’s clever pattern.

I also added a “lip” to the top and bottom of the crocheted pieces in white by adding two rows – I crocheted around twice in both the back loop and front loop of the last row of the top and bottom.  The point of the lip is to create a way to fit the basket together in a neat way. (sorry for the fuzzy picture below)  I did this before attaching the fabric.  You can see the bottom of the lid including the “dirt” bottom and lip in the picture of the two halves also.

So that was my Mother’s Day gift to my mom!  She loves jewelry and violets and purple, what better way to tell her her crafty daughter loves her than to make something out of the things she loves?

Textile Art: Jewelry Finds 1

Numero 1: Whew. The big fundraising event I’m part of organizing each year (we have 550 people for lunch) was yesterday, and I am done in, as the saying goes.  My part is to arrange the guest list and the tables and the nametags – and then of course organize and count all the money.  It seems like a lot to do – and it is, but there’s so much involved in putting on these events that my part is probably just a third of it. Now, though, even though I’m already tired, I feel very little relief that the event itself is over – the biggest part of my participation is now, after, when I tally up the funds. I’ll be chasing this thing like a dog with his tail for two months. Great, eh?

Numero 2: Outside this, one of my current /simultaneous projects has been to figure out options for fabric-based jewelry. I am still very much in the experimentation phase. There has been glue, thread, fabric stiffener, wood, lacquer, crochet, ribbon … just trying different stuff out. I like some of what I have, and don’t like other bits, and think some things could use refining. I really love fabric and am intrigued by the possibilities here.

I was curious as I began this to see what else people have done.  I spent some time on Etsy looking around at people who make fabric jewelry – not just one-off pieces by jewelry artists who otherwise deal in beads, but people who are really doing interesting things with fabric.  I found some really interesting stuff, so I’m going to split it into two showcases.  One (today) is for designs that showcase woven fabric, and another that relies on yarn as the textile.  Since fabric and yarn are not typical jewelry media, I found things that are unique.  Enjoy!

Fabric Jewelry: Textile Art

Top to bottom, left to right

1.  Repurposed fabric, olive jade and lucite necklace and earring set by Christine Kangas. Chosen because of those beads. Because I don’t know how she did that, but I’ve been trying, and I cannot. Yet.  Ms. Kangas makes many lovely combination bead-and-fabric jewelry pieces along with fabric loop earrings.

2. The Bloomin’ Oomph fabric statement necklace by Believe in Happy is quite a nice piece of a type I’ve heard described lately as sculptural jewelry. It is quite lovely. Most jewelry complements what you wear, this demand other things to complement it.

3.  The Autumn Dahlia from begurple designs is a beautiful adornment: a brooch, or it can be attached to a necklace, wrist band or headband. I just want to know how you make silk fabric do that exactly. Trust me when I say it doesn’t particularly like to hold a shape. This does. And somewhat resembles stained glass while it’s doing it.

4.  This interesting necklace of multicolored fabric loops brings to mind a fabric version of long pearl ropes, but I’ve never liked those, and I like this.  Other pieces from maker Etnyk are more dense, like scarves, others with embellishments.  I haven’t seen anything else like this exactly, though some designs remind me of layered beaded Masai necklaces, which I’ve always loved.

5. I had a hard time deciding, but I chose the pleated fabric choker from Boqinana. But the crescent fabric necklace is just as cool. Both sewn fabric jewelry in interesting shapes, and I haven’t seen anything else like these, esp the pleated fabric choker. (Though I confess I have not looked at all 316 pages or so of fabric jewelry on Etsy.)

6.  Miniature Quilt Block brooch! Hand dyed fabric and muslin under glass!  Just 1.5″ square! Wow!  (ok, i’ll stop.) These tiny gems are available as a brooch, here, but also in earrings. You should see the Flying Geese block earrings. I love this.  Really love this. Made by the talented Shady Grove Studio.

So there you have it. 5 interesting and unique and beautiful fabric jewelry designs using all sorts of techniques, some more traditional, some not. I’m still looking, and have found some really interesting thread-and-yarn ones for next time. There will be crochet, oh yes. And lace. And wrapping. And things.