Fluttering by with a Work in Progress

One of my art quilts has been "stalled" for a couple of years . . . I started out with wonderful ideas of doing a flight of stylized butterflies across a background of hand dyed fabric (the first piece I ever dyed, that I had been saving for years!) . . . but as I approached the critical time of adding those butterflies, I found that they had lost some of their allure.  I couldn't figure out the problem so I finally rolled up the quilt and it sat on a shelf for a year or more.

At some point last year I hauled it out again and pinned it to my design wall so that it would not be too far from my thoughts . . . but, still I did nothing with it.

Yesterday, however, I re-discovered one of my favourite books and the wonderful natural life created in fibre by Annemeike Mein, and I decided to play a little bit with a different style of butterfly.    I don't know exactly how she makes her butterflies but I made up my own version using her photos as inspiration.

Here are the wings I made, created as two units of upper and lower wings, free motion stitched in a variety of threads. They have been created on green silk organza with heavy duty Solvy used as a backing.


I still have to create the body of the butterfly, but I am pleased with this first attempt.

Northern Lights Art Quilt

Sometimes an image lodges in my mind and I can't let go of it . . . that is the way it has been with the thoughts of this art quilt depicting the Northern Lights.  Since "the kids" moved to the Yukon a couple of years ago I have become enraptured by the history and the landscape of that beautiful part of the world.

The northern lights can be many colours and shapes . . . they might greens and yellows that swirl and dance, or pinks and purples that envelop the sky, or any combination. I wanted to portray their ethereal quality using soft wisps of wool roving needle felted into a dark sky . . . and so this art quilt was born.

The sky was needle felted onto a base of two layers of black quilt batting that were first felted with midnight blue roving with a touch of violet added to it and then the northern lights were added with wisps of light greens, yellow and a touch of blue, some of which have a bit of gloss to the wool.

The tree line and lower section of the quilt were created using hand dyed fabric that I over-painted with a wash of black and green textile paint to further subdue it. That fabric was backed with fusible web and then I freehand cut the tree line.

The northern lights were free motion stitched in sweeping curves, using invisible thread and the lower section was quilted in a free motion design somewhat representative of a forest.

This art quilt measures 13" x 22.5" (33 x 57 cm) and is backed with black cotton with a hanging sleeve.

I can see that this will be only the first of a series of quilts with a northern lights theme ... in fact, I might have to go and start the next one right now . . .

Rhapsody in Blue

 The silk fibres in this silk fusion were hand dyed using kool-aid . . . the blue and purple took beautifully and have resulted in a smooth harmony.  The silk fusion was stitched to a background of black dupioni silk and backed with black quilt batting.  I used free motion machine stitching, hand embroidery, and beading to accentuate portions of the silk fusion and then hand-couched some rich turquoise hand spun yarn to the surface.  The piece was then mounted on a stretched artist's canvas.

On the long dangling ends of the yarn I have added some fibre art beads that I created by hand painting tyvek from some old envelopes and then heat distressing it along with some synthetic organza and tulle in the same turquoise and purple colours.  Additional seed beads and larger beads have been added for more interest. The bead dangles are asymmetrical ... and hang several inches below the bottom of the canvas.

This piece has a picture hanging wire on the back so it hangs from a nail on your wall just like any painting. This piece measures 20" x 16".  It is currently entered in the Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts and will later be available for sale in my Etsy shop.

PS - On opening night at the Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts, I found that this piece had received a Juror's Choice Award.