Christmas Cards

It's time to start thinking about Christmas cards and I have created these cards for the Shuswap Artisan Market in Sorrento, BC.

The cards have been made with fabric that I "made" by layering bits of glitz and glitter under green silk organza and then free motion quilting it.  The trees were cut out and then stitched to hand-dyed watercolour paper ... with the addition of a big silver star on top and a few clear beads on the tree.

 The blank cards come with a matching deckle-edge envelope in a clear poly sleeve.

Remembering

This week we will mark the end of the First World War 100 years ago. Poppies have long been a symbol of the armistice and I have created this small art quilt in remembrance of my father, who lied about his age in order to enlist in the Great War at the age of sixteen. Two of his brothers didn't return from that war, uncles I never had the chance to meet.

Needle felted wool stitched to a background of black linen and wrapped onto a thick painters canvas. Hand embroidery has embellished some of the poppies and the field and have spilled some poppies onto the black background.

A smaller version of this piece has been mounted in a white shadowbox frame.  Both pieces are available at the Shuswap Artisan Market in Sorrento, BC this week.

Comfrey for natural dyeing

Comfrey is a plant that I have tried to eradicate from one of my garden areas but it came back this year . . . it must have been "meant to be" because a few days ago I found myself looking for a plant that would give me green dye and, behold, comfrey seemed to fit the bill.

I used Jenny Dean's Botanical Colours as my reference and proceeded to cut up the leaves before pouring boiling water over them. After leaving the leaves overnight and then simmering the dye pot the next morning I removed the leaves (and later put them on my garden as green mulch) and put shibori raw silk into the pot.  The dye became a dark olive green very quickly but I decided to let it sit for eight hours before removing it and rinsing as I knew it would lighten up considerably.

I am delighted with the result after washing, which is a beautiful yellow-green ... just what I was hoping for!

Eco print, Indigo and Rust

What a combination of natural processes have gone into this new art quilt.  The cotton fabric was eco printed with leaves from my garden ... then the long edges of the fabric were dipped into the indigo vat to give just a hint of pale blue ... then I rusted it on an old iron trellis found in my yard.

I wanted to have a take-long piece to work on when travelling.  I find that hand stitching passes the time when flying (and eases my anxiety as well!) so I chose a piece that will have LOTS of handwork on it.  I sandwiched this piece of fabric with cotton batting and backing and then machine free-motion quilted around the rusty elements and down the indigo-dipped edges before applying an invisible binding. The result is pretty wonderful already, but I have lots of hand stitching to do on this piece as well as some applique, so check back to see how it progresses . . . and to see a full view.

The finished size is approximately 14" x 52"

It's Finished - Hoodoos!

I just couldn't stop!  This art quilt consumed me so much that I just HAD to keep going on it and it is now finished.


All hand dyed and hand painted fabrics. The sky fabric is shibori indigo dyed and has been written on in block and script lettering "hoodoos".


Size 13" x 23"











 The sky is quilted on the diagonal with the word "hoodoos" in variegated blue thread.

Hand stitching accentuates the texture of the hills.


There are more photos in the listing of this piece in my Etsy shop (kathykinsella.etsy.com)

Hiking in the Hoodoos

My hairdresser's hike in the hoodoos, just west of Kamloops last weekend inspired this art quilt that is just in its infancy.  All hand dyed or hand painted fabrics with the sky fabric also being formed from a patchwork of fabrics on which I wrote the word HOODOOS in block and script styles.

Thanks to Rebecca for permission to use her awesome photograph as a starting point for this piece.

I will post more about it as it continues . . .

A look at autumn "where the hills uplift"

This is the second in the series and features some beautiful copper-orange hand dyed fabric and coordinating perle cotton thread.  The patchwork background was, once again, written on with India ink and markers with the words "where the hills uplift".

National Juried Show 2018

Where the Hills Uplift

Wow ... long time, no blog post.  Sorry 'bout that!

Today I have a new art quilt to show you that has been an absolute delight to work on.  The background patchwork was made in the fall during a workshop where I assisted Catherine Nicholls at Sorrento Centre.  I had enough time between my duties to do quite a bit of work myself and writing the words on fabric was such fun.  The pieces of fabric were then all cut up and pieced back together into this lovely background.

The green fabric is from my current winter project of hand dyeing fabric with Procion MX dyes to achieve a textured effect.  The threads were dyed in the same batch so work wonderfully with the fabric.

The brown wool of the tree trunks was a gift from my friend and fellow fibre artist, Anne Long. She hand spun the wool and dyed it with walnut for the rich brown colour.