Time Challenge "One Tiny Speck"

Late again, apologies, but yee should be used to me by now.

I was pondering this one for several weeks playing with ideas while doing all the other stuff that occupies my time.

I feel really small and humble when I think of the age of this large rock we call home.

And I'm beginning to feel time slipping away so fast.

I'm still waiting to grow up and become one of those adults and I was most upset last week to find out I was still at college when one of my students was born!!

I thought I cann't be that old, then did the math, and realised yes you are.

So here it is, been playing in Photoshop again.

Used the last piece of the A3 transfer paper I found and transfered onto white cotton.

Made my sandwich and started quilting.

Here's the original image:

The quilting didn't go very well as the transfer paper started disintregrating. I put it onto fine cotton this time, bad mistake !!

Here's a close up you can just about see some of the background layers peeping through.

Final closeup and time to move on to the next challenge.

It's about time!

Well, better late than never, I hope.  Oh my, but I struggled with time with this challenge.  The idea developed quite organically but the realisation of my idea presented me with a lot of technical challenges to solve, and it's quite a relief to have completed it, albeit tardily.

So, my time piece is - a time piece!

It is a quilt (or two) and it works!  For more about the inspiration, the process and the problems, please follow this link.  Now to get thinking about Felicity's challenge, Land/marks....  Hopefully my time prompt will help me with this.

next challenge - landmarks

the next challenge theme is landmarks or land/marks or land marks or land(marks) - however you want to characterise it.

due on 15 july...

my time piece

here is my piece for the latest international quilt challenge.

 i wanted to demonstrate a process rather than explore an idea or a feeling so it is about the effects of time and weathering cloth and stitch.

i machine stitched strips of vintage linen, silk and cotton; then hand stitched lines of running stitch in silk and cotton thread. there are also a few loose clusters of french knots as a vague reference to the pleiades - my favourite constellation.

 i then stitched a labyrinth of copper wire which i hoped would weather and verdigris and colour then colour but quite early in the weathering process it became clear that this wasn't going to happened so i intervened with a stout piece of rusty iron. once the piece was rinsed of potential nasties and left to dry in the sun for a day or two i outlined the rust marks with red thread and burnished the centre with some copper and pale gold paintstick.


this piece took much longer than i anticipated:  it needed much more macerating in the garden that i thought and we have had remarkably fine weather for most of the time it was out under the feijoa tree.... here it is before rinsing and gussying up....

Timelapse

Well, here is my piece, 2 weeks late, but better late than never!

As I said on my blog, I was thinking of the passing of time and the different seasons that I had been observing in some reedbeds each month throughout the year.  I related it to the timelapse video function on some cameras and on programmes like Springwatch, where the camera takes photos of a slowly moving or growing thing at regular intervals; the resulting photos are then made into a video.

I thought about the different colours of the reeds throughout the year; I first considered making it circular like a clock but decided that that wouldn't fit the subject... so I made it long and thin.  Mostly I used a base layer of cotton fabrics and then layered it with sheer fabrics, some of which were leftovers from my Reeds series.  It is bonded and stitched on to a foundation of lutradur and the raw edges left intact.

Here is a detail of the lower right hand corner:

Survival

How appropriate this theme has turned out to be for me, because time has been even more of an issue for me this past month than usual.  And that means I am late with this challenge, and it is not even finished yet!  But this afternoon I am leaving for Singapore for a few days work, and so no further quilting will be done, at least until my return, so I thought I should at least post a progress picture:

I have actually been having a wonderfully creative time since my last post, so I am really not complaining!  I attended the 4 days of the Australasian Quilt Convention here in Melbourne, and did a fabulous 4 day course with Kay Haerland on "Realistic Landscapes". http://kayhaerland.com/  Such a talented quilt artist and generous teacher!  AQC is without a doubt the highlight of my year!

The following week I was very fortunate to do a 3 day "Abstracting from Nature" workshop with Jane Sassaman www.janesassaman.com/ at Kraft Koulour kraftkolour.com.au/  So from realism to abstraction in the space of a week.  I reckon the creative part of my brain was glowing when I went to bed at night!  However, I am not sure that I really made the leap into abstraction....

For the IQC theme of Time, I had planned a long banner of the different life cycle stages of a dandelion (snap, Angela!), and have completed the design on paper, but have yet to do anything about transferring the idea into fabric.

But...as I was working on this quilt, "Survival", I realised that it is really about time, so I hope it is not cheating to adopt this as my challenge quilt.  Not just because of the lack of time I have had to make the dandelion quilt, but because this quilt is about the really difficult journey towards survival (of individuals, families and communities) after a disaster.  It is inspired by the devastating "Black Saturday" bushfires, here in Victoria, just over 3 years ago.  I don't really feel comfortable providing an "artist statement" about the different elements, and hope that it is sufficient that the quilt speaks for itself.

Surprisingly, this is actually the result of the Jane Sassaman workshop.  I know, hardly abstract, but this is actually a very meaningful quilt for me, and I am pleased with it so far.  I will post another photo when it is completed.

TIME FOR CHANGE

I have been thrown a bit by the new layout but I shall do my best.  The work is a diptych inspired by the need for change.  I have used a decontructed Union Jack for the background, reflecting the chaotic state of the nation.  The figures were made in fabric from my own sketches & then scanned onto the background.
The captions on the placards refers to the so-called 'pasty tax' & arose from an article in the paper when a lady from Helston stated that she was thinking of putting these words in her pasty shop window.  (For non-UK members the 'pasty tax' was the name given to our government's decision to put VAT on hot pasties which had been exempt previously.  This appears to have hit the renowned Cornish pasty particularly hard).

The 2 pieces together are A3, printed onto computer transfer paper & quilted.

My progress so far...

I have just written a blog post which includes my thinking so far on the Time challenge... basically I have just changed tack completely but hopefully I know where I'm going now....

It is at the end of a post about my latest artwork which is why it is on my own blog rather than here ... Watch this space!

"Time" - Tempus fugit

When I learnt about the challenge theme "time", thoughts about how we all have a certain amount of time in our life, in our days. I found this beautiful fabric with the clocks on it - and I knew I wanted to use it. Next came the idea of certain incidents in our lifes - happy ones, not so happy ones. Big ones, smaller ones - and the clock fabric was cut, another fabric was inserted. Nice! Next thing that came to my mind was - a river. So I added some "river fabric" - Yes, I liked it! but still - it needed a bit more of that "time" - thing. How about an hourglass? - yes. But I wanted to give the impression of looking through glass ? - so let's use a very thin sheer fabric! for the sand, I used beads. Some of them are sewn onto the piece, but most of them are just "filled in", so they can move around. The edges were treated with my favourite method - zigzag with decorative yarns.

A detail shot - shows off the stamped letters "TEMPUS FUGIT"

Working on this challenge piece was exactly what I had hoped for ;-)) I had a lot of fun, I got a lot to think about, and I like the result. Besides that, I'm not absolutely happy with it. Maybe that's the reason why I already ordered another piece of the fabric with the clocks on it? I have a bigger version of it in mind ... And I can hardly wait to start with it! Now I'm off to look at the other challenge pieces ;-))

Time - Andromeda

I'm sorry to be a day late posting for the Reveal but time did get away from me a little with this challenge.  The main reason for this was my initial difficulty in settling on an interpretation and then my choice of hand stitching for the bulk of my project.  As it is I am cheating a little as I havn't actually finished the edge of my piece but I will get that done in the next day or three.

When I started to think about 'Time' my brainstorming produced a long list of possibilities.  The words of a Simon & Garfunkel song came to mind, 'Time, time, time  See what's become of me.......' and a hymn I think , ' Time like an ever rolling stream bears all our fears away.  They die, forgotten as a dream dies at the break of day'.

I thought of passing time, time past, holiday time, a stitch in time, old time, part time, daytime, night time, dreamtime, time travel, lost in time...... The list went on and on.  Then, on a visit to Greenwich Royal Observatory I was reminded that there are much larger measurements of time than seconds, minutes and hours.  I was particularly struck by an audio visual installation that stated that the light from the Andromeda Galaxy takes so much time to reach the Earth that's it's journey is measured in light years.  The view that we see of the Andromeda Galaxy is brought to us by light that left it approximately 2.6 million light years ago. 

So, with this thought in mind I chose to make my piece about the Andromeda Galaxy.

I have been wanting to explore the colour wash method of construction for sometime and so played with this a little by using a range of my hand dyed fabrics of various textures ( cottons, velvets, bamboo and something unidentifiable that had been tossed in the dye bath) together with a couple of commercial fabrics.  The piece was put together with curved piecing as a reference to the spiral nature of the galaxy but I think I could have been even more adventurous with the curvatures.  I layered the top onto polyester wadding and then hand stitched/quilted in a spiral from the centre outwards.  I felt the spiral stitching would reflect the spiral nature that I think is attached to time and I used hand stitching because it would take physical time to complete.

I used a Madeira Rayon for the quilting and then used a gorgeous metal thread from the Illuminations range at the Thread Studio to make reference to a beautiful infra-red image of the Galaxy that I found here.  Finally, I added some small beads to suggest some of the stars that contribute to the galaxy.

The finished size of Andromeda is just over A3 and I am thinking of facing it instead of binding it and will probably give it a curved edge rather than square.  As with the previous challenges I am left with pages of ideas to take forward from this theme and may develop it further for my Festival of Quilts entry, but maybe I won't use quite so much hand stitching!

Time Waits for No Man

My piece for this month's challenge is "Time Waits for No Man".


For the background fabric I had an image of a clock-tower from Graz, Austria. The piece was an experiment on transferring a photocopy using oil paints and gum arabic which I made about 3-4 years ago, and has been left bundled up in a scrap bin every since. It just shows that you should never throw away any samples or textile experiments, they'll come in handy some day!!

I then tried to find some clock or time-related fabric in my stash. Turned out that I nothing that I could use, so instead I gathered some watches from around the house (had to take some of people's wrists) and then just copied them onto fabric.

I didnt even scan the image into the computer - just copied it straight onto the fabric and paper. As another experiment, I didn't pretreat the fabric, just sellotaped a piece of white fabric onto the copy paper and sent it through the printer. I don't think the image would stand up to washing, but it worked fairly well for this purpose.

 I then bondawebbed this piece of fabric and cut out the watches. These were then appliqued to the quilt top and edge stitched in white thread, to further outline the watch shapes.

Alphabet stamps were then used to add the letter "time" all over the quilt top. The phrase "time waits for no man" was also stamped on to the piece.

After doing this, the piece was looking a bit bare and lacking something, so I decided some painted bondaweb was needed. The bondaweb was painted with acrylic paints using colours used in the quilt top e.g. brown, blue, red etc. 


Strips of the painted bondaweb were then added to the piece.

Pocket watch printed onto Extraorganza

I also collected some images of old pocket watches off the internet and printed them onto a sheet of "Extra-organza". I bought a pack of it at Festival of Quilts a few years ago and finally got around to using it!

The piece was then machine quilted using a variegated brown thread and two fabrics were used to make the binding.

Ticking Clock...

 My piece for this month's challenge is called 'Ticking Clock' and features a dandelion seed head.  As a child we used to 'tell the time' by blowing the seeds off the plant.  Depending on how many blows it took, that was the hour...only it was never correct!!

I used two weights of Lutradur, 8" x 11", one heavy (130) and one medium (70).

On the heavy one which would be underneath, I used a white Inktense block to cover the sheet in white, then when it was dry painted an iridescent sparkly paint over it.

On the medium sheet I used two or three different shades of green Inktense blocks and blended them.

With a fine pencil I drew the outline of the dandelion clock onto the green Lutradur and used a soldering iron to slash & burn on the design.

When laid on top of the heavy Lutradur the white showed through. 

I finished it by stitching the seeds using Madeira Rayon thread in bright white and embellishing the background with a Madeira metallic thread. 

This is the first time I've used Inktense blocks and found the colour amazing.  I don't have the facilities for dying here so this is the next best thing for me!

Architecture Challenge Piece

A week or two later than promised but its done. When the piece was printed I was amazed by how suitable this piece would be for last challenge, just cannot get the Burren images out of my head!

Ancient Arch

I love ancient ruins, the skill involved, dreaming of what the structures were like in their heyday, oh the romance of it all !
Played with images in photoshop for a few days, layering, cutting and stretching till I came up with image below which I printed onto A3 transfer paper which is about ten years old (one of the problems of hoarding), wasn't sure if it would work.

Next was what fabric should I use? While looking through my white collection I came across this :

Some textured cotton, so transferred image on it:

As the transfer paper was so old I wasn't sure what would happen, a few pieces lifted but was very happy with transfer as the texture of the fabric came through as a hoped:

Once the quilt sandwich was assembled using polyester wadding, I started machine quilting with some variegated thread and then bound the piece with black to finish.

Close up one

Close up 2



A FRAGMENT

Hurrah! I seem to be in good company in the lateness stakes. After much huffing, puffing & searching, here is my offering. It is based on sketches of parts of my favourite cathedral of all which is Durham. It is also influenced by some work I had been doing on distressed banners & flags.

It has painted & dyed muslin over printed fabrics & the squares are from computer porinted flags of my own design. (There is too much art work to show this). It is bound with twisted 'cords' of muslin overstitched to the edge. Free machining completes the piece.

I have my idea organised for the next round, I think, so there should be a prompter response!

Better late than Never

I'm only about six months late!

Sorry everyone

So here it is my

Through the Window piece

" Window to my heart"

This piece was inspired by pictures I took in the Burren in Co. Clare with Claire as our tour guide as  research for a larger group piece.
For the last couple of years I've been working on an Elemental theme incorporating the seasons as related to life cycles. It's me working out who and where I am
 ( end of summer, moving into autumn!)
I feel a strong bond to ancient rural sites and the power they hold.
As a child I grew up about half an hours drive from Newgrange, one of the most well known ancient sites and had two ruins of castles to play in, just several fields from home.
Here I've tried to blend me into the ancient stone looking through one window into the past.

 I love to play with all types of photo transfer and have used several of them here. I've used bits of images transferred using transfer paper, image maker and bubble jet set. They all react differently with the fabric and create interesting effects when layered.

Detail showing effect achieved by use of walnut ink wash

This image was taken from an ancient grave stone

and this is the back of the piece which I quiet like.

I burnt the edges so that I wouldn't feel obliged to bind them!

I wanted to keep a raw feeling to the piece.



I have an idea, too!  It came to me while I was reading Terry Pratchett this morning and something interfaced with Mothering Sunday and items I had inherited from my Gran and my Nana.  Suddenly, there was the germ of an idea and it took off in my head....

More anon.

This picture may or may not be completely irrelevant - I am happily taking a course (Extending Embellishment) with Karen Ruane, and this is my most recent sample.

time challenge started!

i have started on the new challenge theme: time....

and for once i have an idea that i'm going to stick with, AND i have started - bonus points and elephant stamp please.

 in conversation with Kind Dog on the subject,  i was struck by an idea that is about process rather than form or about trying to capture a feeling or abstract idea. this one is extremely practical.

so far i have machine sewn strips of old cloth - fragments of old linens and clothing (cottons, silks, linens) onto a base ripped from an old cotton sheet. and i am hand stitching now with the most delicious thread that arrived this week from nancy at long ridge farm. 

Admin - posting 5

I've set up a group e-mail address which you'll see in the box on the right - in the New Members box.  It would be very, very helpful if everyone could e-mail that address - please?  Ta muchly.....

4th Challenge: Time

TIME: The Fourth Challenge  

set by Deirdre

The new  challenge is 'Time'.  (Although if you are like most people I bet Time is ALWAYS a challenge!)

Time waits for no one, and of course we never have Time.  

This winter has shown me how fleeting and unpredictable time is. 

So this challenge is to make a quilt which reflects what time means to you.

Deadline for complete of this challenge is Monday 24th April.

Good Luck!

   :-D eirdre

Sue: Architexture - Memories of Marrakech

This was a challenging and frustrating challenge for me - not because I was not inspired by it, but because the combination of flu and ME/CFS after Christmas really floored me, and because I was unable to locate either my photographs of a very enjoyable and inspiring visit to Marrakech or the fabrics and threads I have amassed with the intention of making some textile art based upon the trip.  Marrakech is an extreme experience.  We stayed in a riad inside the old Medina, away from the modern   generic European architecture, so it was quite an immersive experience, too, and I loved it.  This is just scratching the surface of my repository of ideas and intentions based on the Cinnamon or Ochre City, but I have enjoyed revisiting in my mind while working it.

There were a number of striking features to buildings in the old cities I saw.  The pine-cone topping of walls fascinated me, and the use of ceramic tiles to introduce geometric pattern and colour to interior -walls.  Buildings tend to have plain exteriors clad in earth-pigmented stone or daub, but through the door one enters another world, peacefully arranged around a courtyard which lets in natural light, being open to the sky.  Walls and floors tend to be colourfully tiled in mosaic patterns, with carved plasterwork and shuttered, grilled windows adding to a richness of pattern and texture.  The best courtyards echo to the sound of running water flowing into a small plunge pool, surrounded by lush plantings of roses, bananas and sweet flowering jasmine.

I used a stencil and Markal sticks to give an impression of tile patterns, and took as my central feature the wonderful Almoravid dome of the Koubba, an ancient wash-house in which the faithful would perform their ablutions prior to prayer in the no-longer-standing mosque.  It is a stunning building, inside and out, which is now well below street level as the city has grown and redeveloped around it.  When we visited, there was a mother cat suckling her kittens in the shade of one of the external walls of its enclosure: the city seems to belong to the feral cats as much as to the people and the mopeds.

I wanted to convey the sense of enclosure within walls and the decorative interiors hidden by the dull exterior walls.  This is a land where the evil eye is feared, and wealth and good fortune traditionally not flaunted in order to avoid attracting it - except, of course, there are always subtle ways of showing off!

Again, I've roughly worked to a squared-off A3/A4 size, and used machine quilting on commercially available cotton fabrics, apart from my hand stencilled tile fabric.

CURRENT CHALLENGE

Thanks for the 'heads up' Sue! I did my Challenge piece ages ago but we have had a large-scale reorganisation & I have only just found it. I thought that it was lost & I certainly cannot find all the artwork. I shall post what I have in the next day or so. (Please note that this is not a 'dog ate my homework' excuse).

I am certainly looking forward to the next Challenge.

Waving

My ME/CFS has been stoked by the fluey bugs I had since Christmas and I'm struggling to get anything done at the moment, although slow progress is being made on my Architextural piece.  I'm loving the pieces posted thus far and will comment on them when my piece is done.

Three questions:

1.  We've not heard from several members this time around - are you battling on like me, or have you dropped out?  Please let us know so we can progress appropriately :)

2.  Are you champing at the bit for the next challenge?  We have been working through our number alphabetically, which means that the next one should be set by Deirdre, I think.  Are you up for this, Deirdre?

3.  Does anyone have the waiting list of those desirous of joining us?

hoping for a very stitchy day tomorrow.

lumen

here is my piece for 'architexture' ....

 lumen is a three dimensional hand stitched textile piece with layers of sari silk, hand dyed machine stitched cotton and sinemay. it was stitched with cotton and silk thread using sorbello stitch, running stitch and french knots. inside the piece are 'sticks' i made of cotton string soaked in black gesso and paverpol.

i had lots of ideas for this challenge mostly to do with cathedrals, skylines and gargoyles. but none of them fired my imagination until last week when i was surfing around the internet and got into a cross referencing spiral around the theme of liminal space and thresholds (which was another image i was toying with). there was a link to the word 'lumen' which of course, Alice-like, I followed and found the anatomical meaning of the word.

A lumen (Lat. lūmen, an opening or light) (pl. lumina) in biology is the inside space of a tubular structure, such as an artery or intestine.
which made me think of Kind Dog's 'heart event' as the hospital people called it, which happened nearly six months ago. of the inside of his arteries and how they were stitched back together lined with mesh. and how this has certainly saved and extended his life.

so while this is not an orthodox interpretation of the architexture theme it is certainly of a structure, a space, a construction.

it is lumen