Extending Reach

Just a wave today from this hand I've added to the bottom of Palace of the Soul. There will be another one at the top of the cloth. I've woven largely lower contrast fabrics into the dark base because the reaching hand speaks to form rising out of formlessness, images out of the unconscious and the mystery of making. I have also added shelves to the new studio area - and moved more fabrics into it, as well as my threads - and the design walls are up and covered with flannel. I'm so pleased to have Palace of the Soul out on my big table to work on, now.

Rebirth

This egg shaped embroidered flower linen has undergone some changes. I wove into it, removed the hem and frayed its edges, backed it with two pieces of linen, washed and quilted it.I like how it's come together. An altered embroidery - a rebirth.

Rabbit Home

These two bunnies have been patiently waiting on a Japanese handkerchief I found at a garage sale, for me to give them a home. I was inspired to use the silks I dyed yesterday, as well as a previously dyed cotton and some silk gauze and a silk carrier rod I dyed today in a matter of minutes, thanks to the leftover Colourhue dye.

And when I was digging into the cupboard where I keep my dyes, I found a sealed set of Jaquard silk dyes that I had once found at a garage sale and forgotten about! So now I have blue and yellow, too.

This one is not shibori, but covered the bright pink solid one I dyed yesterday:

A few days ago I decided to combine weaving fabrics with holes and machine stitch to see what that is like. The back ground ribbed fabric is a kind of thick cotton and the rest is silk dupioni and cotton velvet. I used triple, free motion, and satin stitches and the overall result is thick and soft but I don't particularly like it - especially not the area around the focal point where the free motion stitch hardens the fabric. And when I went to clean my cutting board, I remembered a technique my CWB classmate, Helen, taught us and gathered up all the thread and fabric lint bits and sewed them together into a thread bead. Fast, fun and waste free!

I've also begun adding stitch to this one and did some decluttering and organizing in the studio. Alot of little piles of fabrics having conversations are piling up!

And I basted more of this and have another block for it in the design stage.

One block at a time...

The snow and flowers are reflecting movement towards spring, with it's unpredictable changes in weather.I made some colourful holes of my own as part of the Mark Making With Machine class - something I've wanted to try for a long time and hadn't gotten to until now.

This palette of pieced silks with some of my snow dyed linen also seems to reflect the changing season.

And I made a few more woven blocks. Contemporary Woven Boro will be over in a few days and I still have much I would like to do.

Turning a New Page

I have wanted to make a fabric book for a long time... This is silk, linen and silk velvet combined with lace edged cotton for a reversible cover that I will add pages to.

Here is the full front and back before and after tea dyeing:

I knew the fabrics would absorb the colour differently, adding contrast and pattern - the silks are darker than the cotton, linen and lace.

Scrap Happy

A night sky in progress: And imagine my joy when I found that this old Hungarian cotton tablecloth I bought for a dollar at a garage sale has mended patches and holes! Signs of being loved and valued.

I notice how I'm drawn to the smallest scraps that seem to magnetically pair together, becoming more beautiful - the simple beauty of fabric itself.

This one reminds me of a feather.

And I have been developing a focal point with machine stitch in this piece - but still have further emphasis to add. I am understanding what it's saying to me now.

Altered Weaving

Weaving a weaving of woven fabrics into a weaving - if you can get your head around that! And I am now wearing my heart on my sleeve.

Heart Wear

I finished stitching this today and suddenly had an idea... What if I put it onto the sweatshirt I was wearing?

I am so pleased with this - as it feels really 'me'. I also made a patch for one of the sleeves -

to cover a bit of existing design - so I will be wearing my heart on my sleeve!

Home is Where the Heart is

Some of us in Contemporary Woven Boro are making hearts to hang outside in February - scraps of colour to beckon spring. Mine is a soft flowering heart with roots - like a prayer flag for growth. And this is all made from used clothing or garage sale scraps. I dreamed of making a weaving that had these half circles as part of the design. I'm not sure it's quite how I want it, but this is where it's at so far.

I am so enjoying myself and have a deepening sense of home.

Something Old, Something Blue

Roses in Winter

Roses aren't blooming outside, but inside is a different story... I used my stamp on these fabrics in the Mark Making course, yesterday.

We are also doing a variety of free motion sewing exercises and delved briefly into differences between patterns.

Mini Mandala

Circles are so encompassing, gathering everything in their embrace.

A symbol of wholeness, for me.

Colour Change

Here is the silk and cotton base that I made today. The weaving began with different fabrics then those pictured here, which I gradually removed and exchanged until I felt satisfied, for now. It reminds me of looking up at a tree changing colours in autumn, with bits of blue sky showing through here and there.

Weaving the World

A new day brings the open promise of anything being possible and I've made this new piece with a special intention in mind. I'm calling it 'Weaving the World. So many symbolic threads woven in here - how, like each strip, each choice we make creates both our personal weaving and also ties in with the weavings of others, creating an overall pattern that becomes our world as a whole. The moon as symbol of the divine feminine, bringing the healing that is needed for our planet one stitch or strip at a time and we can all do our part. Lots of stitching ahead...

The Wonderful World of Weaving

Out walking last night I went past an opening in the trees and my attention was grabbed by the pattern of white and red 'strips' on the door and I was thinking weaving and fibre, not wood. I am also dreaming about weaving, so you can tell what's on my mind! The block in the second photo has another type of weaving within some weaving, so now I have tried the 3 methods Jude has given us in the online class - and - I have so many more ideas. I just had to try weaving some felted wool and ribbon...

Weaving a Base

I've woven silk strips - some of it my natural dyed silk - as well as a textured cotton and a batik together as part of the learning I'm doing in the online class Cloth to Cloth. And I spent most of the day at the Victoria Quilt Guild Show, working a shift there and finishing seeing all the fine work. I notice that I am most drawn to hand quilting and texture.