Quilt Tops From Nancy Crow Workshop

These are the two quilt tops I made in the Nancy Crow workshop. All the pieces are cut freehand with a rotary cutter. Everyone's work was very different and so interesting. I'm thinking about how I might use what I've learned - where to go next with it - while completing 'Sea Change'.

Nancy Crow Initiation

I arrived at the locale of the Nancy Crow class in torrenting rain, but we had everything from snow, hail, sun and high winds during the course of the week. Not that I was outside much, since I was too busy working! Yes, it was INTENSE. Initially we worked with black and white fabrics and no rulers, cutting lines and shapes, piecing them together in various ways and then designing three small pieces - which I managed to complete just before midnight of the first day. This is the first and best of the three pieces, as I spent the most time on it. We also worked with neutral coloured fabrics and then opened the door to our full range of colour, sewing many combinations and later designing five quick studies to explore what we wanted to do for a large piece. I ended up making two larger pieces and felt very pleased that I kept up with all the exercises we were given. I will post photos of the two quilt tops in another blog entry.

Embroiderer's Guild Show

I went to the Victoria Embroiders' Guild Show yesterday, not knowing what to expect since I've never been to an Embroidery show before. I was surprised and interested to find a few mixed media pieces that included paint, tyvek and other less traditional materials, as well as the fine thread and fabric work. Nice to see the variety. The piece in the photo is a garage sale find from several weeks ago - photos were not allowed to be taken at the show. I've also chosen some quilts to take with me to share at the Nancy Crow workshop and have given some thought to what I want to say about how I work and what my goals are.

The Art of Change

As, you can see in the top photo, I still have more stitching to complete this piece, which is called 'Sea Change'. It speaks to a variety of changes happening in my life and it will certainly be a change to be machine piecing very soon in the Nancy Crow class, instead of all the handstitching I've been doing! I am worried I will be in over my head, but I will do my best and certainly learn a lot. I brought 'Sea Change' to my art quilt group tonight and appreciate having it seen by others who understand the work that goes into it. What a lively group it was tonight - great dialogue about how much time we each work on fibre art and what some of our issues are, as well as seeing the pieces and books the others brought.

Home Stretch

I've couched on some red cord, added a few more circles and some stitch and now I am stitching the final quarter. And I'm adding to my journal - thinking about what I hope to get from the Nancy Crow workshop and also what quilts to take with me and what to say about my work in the presentation we are expected to give.

Filling in the Rainbow

I'm just back from my quilt guild's annual 'garage sale' which was such fun to look at the multitudes of fabrics, books and other quilting related supplies. I found a Nancy Crow book and a few metres of solid coloured fabrics, among other things :) I will add snippets of the new colours to my developing chart which I made in a hurry and discovered just how tricky deciding what colour family fabrics are from, can be. I think I will learn alot just gathering the supplies for the Nancy Crow course!

Show Time Again!

My art quilt group show opened today at Satin Moon Quilt Shop and will continue through November. I enjoyed seeing everyone and their pieces! I've also started buying solid coloured fabrics for the Nancy Crow workshop I will attend next spring - these sample snippets against the folded fabrics remind me of crayons. I have alot more colours to snip and tape so that I can keep the sample on hand if I find more solids to potentially add to the stash, since I don't want to duplicate.

Treat Bag of a Different Sort

When I dropped off 'Both And' to Coast Collective gallery today, I enjoyed the gorgeous fall colours, the pumpkin lined bridge on the grounds and especially the large spheres made from branches. They were having a huge hand crafted gift sale, complete with live music and I was sorry not to have much time to browse, as there was lots to drool over. My handstitched piece is gradually progressing - the fringe on the right is meant to mirror the continuation of the waves and the green fabric the ocean depths. On a different topic, I've found out that I'm in the Nancy Crow workshop 'Strip-Piecing and Restructuring II', which will be next spring http://www.vgfa.org/retreatWorkshops.html and very challenging for me, I imagine. I know from hearing about her workshops that participants need to bring alot of solid colours of cottons, so I will be putting this on my Christmas wish list! A few days ago when I was checking Pam de Groot's blog, I also checked her store and found a gorgeous rainbow spiral felt bag she's made, up for sale - which is on its way to me, now :) You can view it here - scroll down: http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=20900867

Sailing

Here is the handstitching I've been doing while I was away from the island - it's grown further since and I'm eager to keep following it's journey. While in Vancouver, I visited Maiwa, where I was fortunate to receive some free dyeing-related supplies, left by a good samaritan who was no longer using them. I also explored the Rokko fabric shop, with its copious choices of lush fabrics, but only chose three half metre pieces, as I'm waiting to hear if I will get into a Nancy Crow workshop in the spring, and that will require alot of fabric shopping. When I came home, I received notification that 'Both And' has been accepted into Coast Collective Gallery's upcoming Peace and Conflict show that begins November 5th. I've also chosen nine of my art quilts to put in a show I will be part of beginning November 8th at Satin Moon Quilt Shop.