Phoenix Feathers are finished

Let's go back to the beginning.  This was very finely quilted on my Gammill.  I am quite chuffed with the way it turned out.  I think I practically had my nose beside the needle trying to see what I was doing!  It was done on white PFD with white cotton (Alex Anderson) and then it was dyed.  The first dyeing was a little too blotchy so I bleached it, then over dyed it.  Which is the result below.   It looked good up close but didn't really draw attention.

So I started to paint.  I put gold paint mixed with red and yellow on all the circles and flames.  Then put yellow on the suns.   Still not happy,  so out came the paint stix (markels) and the yellow showed up really well.  I then used a dark red on the feathers.  I feel that it has a little pizzaz now, but I sure would do things differently next time!

Working on my connection....

I have actually put a needle and thread to cloth - literally. You will have to see my piece to understand what I am talking about. After a few false starts, I have been exploring my connection with my quilting past and my first quilting inspiration.

Ideas

I've been thinking a lot about connections in the last couple of weeks. I've had an idea of the connection I want to use right from the start - but how to show this has changed several times. Soon it will be time to get out the pen and pencil, or perhaps cut straight into the fabric, I'm still pondering the best method. Time is passing, and deadlines are looming. Time to leave the computer and start sewing!

Olympic connection

The past few days has had me fairly glued to the TV watching the Olympics, and of course, thinking about how connected we all are as a result.  There have been some great photos of groups of competitors whizzing about the ice or down the slopes.  Not sure what I'd do with this idea, but there must be something there.

Has anyone actually put pen to paper, stitch to fabric yet?

Making headway

Ideas are flowing.....

I feel particularly well 'connected' to be invited into this 12bythedozen group. My guild connections are showing me fun new techniques to explore.

After visiting my home province of British Columbia this month there were many deeply routed connection of friends, relatives, sports, activities and places calling my name.

My Mexican vacation has been shortened as my husband was too ill to travel on our scheduled departure day (today). We weren't able to find a flight for Saturday or Sunday because of snowstorms and President's Day. All connections were very poor! So we opted to leave on Monday.

The postitive outcome of our delayed trip is that I am playing with my new 'Fantastix' paints and foiling pen. Expect to see at least one of these being used on my 'Connections' piece. The other bonus of being home tonight is I'm about to watch the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Colleen

Another blog to have a look at

Here's another amazing blog of small art works.

http://fastfridayquilts.blogspot.com/



Hilary

Links to other groups doing similar things

Here are a few leads to other groups from the Twelve by Twelve group blog:

The 12 by 12 Project are now up to their sixth theme - 'Chaos'.
12 Connected are a new group of fibre artists that have banded together to create a series of twelve 11" x 17" art quilts over a two year period.  The first theme is 'Sanctuary' and they are due to shre their complated quilts any day now.
Art for 12 revealed their fur-themed quilts at the end of 2009 and are now exploring the theme 'Connected'.  Their blog is in Dutch but there's a translation widget in the side bar.
There are all sorts of wonderful mandala quilts over at Art Quilts Around the World, maybe they were channelling Terry's Twelth of Twelve work.
Digital to Textile: 8 Views is a new challenge that Karen belongs to. Every two months, after a sumptuous pot luck supper, one of the group members disseminates a black and white photo to the group.  Each artist using textiles as the primary medium, will create a work using that photo as inspiration.  The maximum perimeter is 122 inches.  At the dinner held in the month following receipt of the photo, they share their project-in-progress and critique each other's work.
Terri has also joined a new theme challenge group - Fiberactions.  They are working in a 16" x 20 " format.  their first theme was 'Initiative' and now they are exploring 'Communication'.


Hilary