Felting an eclipse

The finished piece!

Tomorrow (August 21, 2017) is the much anticipated total eclipse of the sun.  In my neck of the woods about 80% of the eclipse should be visible.  Today I decided that I would create a felted art quilt to commemorate this day . . .

I first selected some of the many beautiful pieces of wool roving that I have in my stash to create a background of dark blue with highlights of paler blue along with some gorgeous turquoise and orange.  This has been needle felted to a backing of cotton quilt batting.  I have just lightly covered the backing so that tomorrow...during the eclipse...I can spend the time adding the specialty fibres to represent the actual solar eclipse.

Selecting fibres

Initial layout of the background

The background has been lightly felted

I will be working at the Shuswap Artisan Market in Sorrento tomorrow (10am-4:30pm) and you can drop by and watch me add the details to create this piece.

Canada 150 (#2) art quilt

Since the larger version of this art quilt is on display at the Salmon Arm Art Gallery this month I decided to make another to list in my Etsy shop.  This art quilt measures approximately 10" x 20" and is made using the same techniques as posted a few couple of ago ... painted leaves, machine and hand stitching and organza leaves.

You can see it in my Etsy shop

What are you creating to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday?

Canada 150: Red and White

2017 is Canada's 150th Birthday and this art quilt celebrates the occasion in red and white!  The red maple leaves were painted using hand-cut stencils that I made from locally gathered leaves. The background has been free motion machine quilted and hand stitched and then organza maple leaves were stitched along some of the leaf veins so that they add more movement and texture.

This piece is headed to the Salmon Arm Art Gallery for their Red and White exhibit that opened last night.