Down the Garden Path: Friendship is a Garden - Artwork Framed

I have been really busy working and have had little time to post but I wanted to share a photo of my latest piece after framing.   After mounting the' Garden Path' on a stretched canvas last week, I found it looked very busy and really needed framing.  After much searching,  I was lucky to find a lovely frame for it at a framing store.  It was assembled on the spot and is ready to hang.  It is not how I pictured it (I was looking for a natural colour narrow frame) but I think this frame really does justice to the work and brings out the colours.  It's all ready to be wrapped in bubble wrap and I didn't want to remove the corner protectors but here it is.  It will be part of my PATHWAYS exhibit which is rapidly approaching.  

My Final Wallhanging for June Exhibition

I am working long hours these days and have finished stitching my final piece for the exhibition (see under exhibitions page).    But I still need to decide whether to wrap it over a stretched canvas, frame it or bind it.  It has so much applique and  hand stitching that I don't want to quilt it but when I wrapped it over the canvas I felt it needed something to rein it in - like a frame or binding.  I am having difficulty finding a float frame large enough.  I had thought of doing it as a diptych but didn't think it would work.   Anyway here are some closeup photos of the hand stitching on this piece, which is a collage of florals called Down the Garden Path: Friendship is a Garden.   I used some fabulous floral fabrics with dyed cheesecloth for the pathway and sun prints for the background (see March 2012 post for Sunprints) then I wrote all sorts of comments on it with permanent pens.

And we're having a heat wave........

Fibre Fling and Tea

We had a good turnout at our Fibre Fling and Tea at the end of April.   Twenty-four artists from out fibre arts group Out of the Box displayed more than a hundred great pieces.  Friends and I attended the lovely dessert tea on the Friday evening and everyone was blown away by the work.   Saturday was a very delicious high tea which was also well attended.    I helped with the set up and take down and got to see the work close up.   What a talented group!   It was also fun to get to know some of my fellow members better.   I took some photos of the work but some members are understandably reluctant to have their work displayed online so I won't be showing them here.   I had eight pieces in the show and one of my pieces was purchased.  It was my Tribute to the Unknown Sailor piece which I had just completed in March.  I struggled with this one, especially the hand painted sky, but did not abandon it since I loved the stitching on the rest of the piece.  I finally resolved the sky colours and I am glad that it has made someone else happy.

Now I am focusing on finishing the last piece for my June exhibition - furiously hand stitching flowers.  Hope to post parts of it soon....

Quilt Retreat at The Barn

I am so behind in my posting.   It's over a week since I spent the weekend with a group of quilters at The Barn near Wakefield QC.   It was a very relaxing weekend.   My work table was set up by a window with a view of fields and trees, just the way I like to work.   I spent the weekend working on a couple of pieces, one of which I'd like to have finished for my show in June (if my arms and fingers don't give out) - hours and hours of stitching involved.   I also made more bookmarks and fibre art cards (it's my break from the intensity of embroidery and applique).  I was there with a group of machine quilters and was amazed how much work they produced over the weekend - and what lovely quilts they were!  I was also interested in the methods used - choosing colour combinations, the laying out of pieces, moving them around for the best combinations, lots of advice from the rest of us.   When we weren't quilting, we ate great food, drank a little wine (I've been warned - what happens at The Barn stays at The Barn), had some interesting discussions, watched quilting videos, and went for walks.  I've taken several photos so you can see the variety of the work.    It was my first time at the retreat which has been going on for many years.  It was great fun and I met lots of interesting folks.

Maggie's baby quilt - great colours

close up - so delicate

Shirley is hard at work

cutting and placing strips

making progress - I love that fabric!!

View from my work table

more bookmarks

Kathryn's very interesting memorabilia piece

Debbie is taking it easy while hand stitching

Ingrid's lovely appliqued block

Linda finished an elegant table runner

We all have some advice for Alison

Alison's beautiful quilt - making progress

Organized chaos

So much fabric - so many machines

Miyo's sampler of embroidery stitches

Ingrid's beautiful batik quilt - delicious colours!

Here's a little corner of my garden piece

Penny's quilt - wow!

close up - can you see pineapples?