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 . . .

Painting Fabric - Purses on a Theme

 The painting bug bit me on the weekend and I found myself exploring grapes leaves and the image of grapes.

The grape leaves came to life when I used moss green and copper textile paint in a stencil that I had cut (using a neighbour's grape leaves as a pattern). I kept the paint brush fairly dry and did not try to completely blend the green and copper paints.

The grapes were stamped with the same paints using a piece of rubber glued to the end of an old thread spool ... once again, I took care to be sure that both colours of paint showed.

The top purse has been painted on a piece of natural colour linen-cotton blend fabric and the strap is the same fabric.

The second purse has been painted onto a piece of cotton fabric that I had previously painted with this beautiful lime green and metallic copper. I love the way the fabric has light areas and some that are more intense colour.  The strap on this purse has been created by stitching together a twist of several yarns and ribbon.

These are both cross body purses but could also be worn from the shoulder.

I painted on the back of each of these purses, too. It was just too much fun to stop at the front side!

Here is the back side of each of them.  There are more photos of each of the purses in the listing of them in my Etsy shop (kathykinsella.etsy.com).

Prayer Flags ... Hope

I am working on prayer flags in preparation for the workshop I will be teaching next month but I seem to be getting hung up on all the people for whom I would like to make a prayer flag. I have several people in my circle who might be uplifted by a handmade prayer flag and they were in my thoughts as I created these two "hope" flags yesterday.

I started off with end pieces of some hand painted cotton and I used the irregular shapes as part of the shape of the flag. The fabric looks very much like a landscape so I used a thermofax screen to add a tree (tree of hope) to which I later added some hand embroidery stitches. At the moment I am making samples using a variety of techniques to add text to the flags, so one of these flags uses stamped letters and the other uses hand-printed letters.

These flags are one layer of cotton (the stitching is visible on the back) and I have left the edges all unfinished and I even started to unravel some of the threads so they would look a bit ragged. If left out in the weather, they will slowly fade and unravel.

I hope to create several more prayer flags or inspiration flags in the next few weeks. If you would like to know more about my upcoming workshop, it is at Sorrento Centre from April 25-30 and there is more information by clicking on the link or by phoning Sorrento Centre at 250-675-2421.

New Purses for January 2014

I have had a wonderful week creating a purse each day and posting them in my Etsy shop 
All of these purses are cross-body style and are approximately 7" - 8" square.
 

 I absolutely love this piece of fabric that was given to me by my friend, Angela.  It has an incredibly wonderful design and I love Queen Anne's Lace so much that I couldn't resist free motion stitching an extra one to the back of the purse (sorry, you'll have to check the listing in my Etsy shop to see the additional photos).

 This one was created from a gorgeous piece of hand-dyed fabric and the rusty colour has been carried into the free motion quilting and the funky embroidery stitches that drift from back to front.

The beads that are part of the blanket stitch on the lower edge of the flap are a favourite of mine.

Such beautiful simplicity with neutral shades of beige, grey, taupe and a touch of black and white.

I really do love working with circles, so here is another one. The background of this purse was part of a quilt started by my friend, Denise, but I cut it up and pieced it again and then used the circles for the quilting.

Gorgeous purples in this purse include the new Radiant Orchid, colour of the year for 2014 ... I just like the way it all fits together in an asymmetrical way.  I created some yo-yos for the front flap for an added bit of whimsy.

I could not resist this batik butterfly on a black background. The purse has been densely quilted in an echo design. The lining is a Laurel Burch design of colourful butterflies on a black background, so it is very coordinated :)

This is one of my screen-printed trees on a piece of hand-dyed fabric.  The lining is commercial cotton that has trees on it so ... once again, it is nicely coordinated without being matchy-matchy.



This last purse has just been finished tonight ... you can see that it has the same tree screen-printed on it (the same tree that you saw on my last posting with the prayer/inspiration flags).  This one is printed on a piece of my hand dyed fabric that has swaths of copper metallic paint on it ... there is hand seed stitching as well as some delightful beads on the flap.

Prayer Flags ... Inspiration Flags

I have been having such fun creating a small set of prayer flags as a class sample for my upcoming workshop at Sorrento Centre!  I just know that it will be an enjoyable class for the participants as they work on a theme that suits them using techniques that I will teach during the workshop.

This is a set of three contemporary prayer flags that are double sided, but have no batting between the layers. Some of the stitching has gone through both layers, but each side is unique.  I will show you the second side of this set next week, but for now I'd like to share side one of the three flags. They are approximately seven inches square.

These flags have been created on a piece of my hand-painted fabric that has been awaiting inspiration for a couple of years.  I wish I had taken a photo of the piece of fabric before I tore it up, but you will notice the variations in colour throughout the flags, including little bits of white showing where I had not painted the entire piece of fabric. 

The hues of watermelon and chartreuse have been continued in the threads I chose for the stitching as I really wanted these to be peaceful and harmonious flags.

I chose "hope" for the first flag and the images of hearts.

The next flag will hang as the centre of the three and I chose "peace" for the theme and included a peace symbol that I created in pointillist style.

The tiny buttons (about 1/4" in size)  that cascade down the flag are symbols of something that holds us all together.

The third flag is "believe" and it is represented by a screen-printed tree that is anchored in the earthy part of the flag.

A sprinkling of seed stitches in a variegated thread drift across the flag and in the lower left corner there are three little patches with beads and hand embroidery.

Here is the link to the workshop where I will be teaching inspirational flags and buntings at Sorrento Centre

Two new silk bags and a special sunflower purse

I have been replenishing my stock of fibre art purses this week as I sold a good number of them over the past month or two. Two of the purses that I am showing today are constructed of silk and each has an area with free-motion quilting. The first purse is made of dupioni silk that is chartreuse in colour with just a little hint of magenta. The area that was quilted in black thread was then lightly brushed with charcoal textile paint to highlight the stitching. They are delightfully simple and elegant and will be appealing to someone who is going on a cruise or needs a bag to accent a special outfit.

I think that one of the delightful features of the yellow silk noile bag is that it could also be worn with casual attire as the soft nubbly silk will lend itself to being paired with denims as well. The stitching on this bag has been done in a beautiful variegated thread and the beads weigh the deep flaps closed for security.



The third purse is constructed of linen blend fabric that is a light putty colour. The big sunflower gives it a playful feel but it is still a purse that could be used in dressy situations as well. The lining fabric matches the sunflower on the flap.

There are further photos of these purses in my Etsy shop ... kathykinsella.etsy.com.

Horse Chestnut Leaf Art Quilt

This art quilt is made with hand painted fabric that I sun-printed with leaves and blossoms from my garden. I later used that fabric to produce a rubbing of a horse chestnut leaf from the beautiful tree outside my studio. If you are not familiar with horse chestnut trees, perhaps I should explain that their leaves are HUGE and the chestnuts that are produced must number in the tens of thousands on this one tree. So, you see, I have lots of reason to love and loathe the horse chestnuts :)

This art quilt showcases the rubbing of the horse chestnut leaf with machine quilting and hand stitching. The four small squares that hang below the leaf each have a chestnut stitched to them . . . from the prickly, spiny horse chestnut that is just opening to the remnant of the outer shell and the shiny chestnut within . . . the chestnuts at the upper loops have been drilled in order to hang like beads.

The edges of the quilt are finished with a handmade cord that I created and then couched to the outer edges. The same cord suspends the quilt from the wooden hanger which was purchased from Ten Thousand Villages.

This photo isn't the greatest (what else is new) but if you click on it, you can see the details more clearly.

Thanks for checking in to see my latest work.

Dragonfly Dreams

This art quilt is featured in a Treasury on Etsy until February 6/10 http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=111189.

This piece started off as an experiment in techniques and ended up being a wonderful, fanciful exploration of colour and texture. I hand-painted the background fabric in soft blues with a touch of violet and I hand-dyed the border fabric, cheesecloth, and pearl cotton used for some of the bobbin stitching. Commercial sheers create soft swirls that encase iridescent and silver particles and are further embellished with free-motion stitching and hand beading. The yarns used to create the grasses were cast-offs obtained from a spinner in Vancouver. The trails of beads are also stitched by hand.

The wings of the large dragonfly are created with cheesecloth and the smaller dragonflies clinging to the grasses are free-motion embroidered. . . Click on the image to see more detail.  SOLD