Cemetery rubbing

Missouri Fiber Artists is are sponsoring a Pairings event.  Two or three members are getting together to create one collaborative piece, and one each piece by the pair.  Sue Penrod and I are paired.  I traveled to their farm west of Hermann Missouri. First we went to some country cemeteries, and did rubbings on the gravestones.  We selected the one we wanted to work on together.  I used some black string and sewed around the decorations and text, making them more visible.  Sue will work on the piece next.  I am going to work on the round piece done on a tea dried doilie.
Later we eco died some fabric.   The long piece was done on a piece of raw silk that my father brought back from Japan in the 1950s.  We had a great time.

Off the Wall Fridays

The Vikings are coming

I have completed another piece in my English history series.  I call it the Vikings are coming.  I pictured 3 Viking ships approaching the British shore, with a ruined building on the top of the bluff.  I used raw edge big stitch applique for the piece. I'm not sure what comes next in the series, maybe the Norman conquest.

Rosie's Monkey Quilt

My 9 year old granddaughter drew a picture of a monkey in a tree.  I made a small quilted piece based on her design. I used some handdyed material from Kathy Loomis and from Wendy Richardson.  The piece is a raw edge applique.  I used embroidery floss to attach and to quilt the pieces.

Off the Wall Friday

Maeve Warrior Queen of Connaught

I took a workshop on calligraphic printing.  I wasn't pleased with what I made.  We used Gina's printing lab, and she challenged us to make something with the fabric we had made.  I cut mine up, and made a Celtic queen.  I called the piece Maeve: Warrior Queen of Connaught. Rosemary Hopkins
Off the Wall Fridays

Cubist adventures

The third lesson in Pamela Allen's class was on cubism.  I made a piece, called Lemonade.  Then I made another piece, using the same colors and placements and cut it apart.  Cubism is hard to do in fabric--I suppose it is hared to do in paint as well.  You can see the first piece, Lemonade that I will probably finish

later, and the cubist attempt.

Some new art quilts

I am taking an online class with Pamela Allen, About Style.  I have learned a lot, both from Pamela and from the other students.  Our first exercise was to choose a work of art, and reinterpret it in fabric, not slavishly copying it, but using the same color palette.  I chose Aaron Bohrod's Venus.  I couldn't figure out why

he named the piece Venus, until Pamela pointed out the tiny white circle in the sky.  I am going to Missouri Fiber Artist Conference this weekend.  We were to bring something for the silent auction, so I finished the piece and will bring it.  The above piece About Style art quilts was Bohrod's, of course.Next we had to use the same palette and create something different.  My second effort isn't finished yet, so it is unnamed.

The last thing we had to do in lesson 1 was to make our own piece. I am very interested in historical themes.  I had done a piece on Beowulf in the last class.  It's kind of strange--I called it the ghost of Beowulf. Along the same lines, I decided to do a piece based on a dolmen, or platform tomb.  I added a figure to it, and named it Watcher at the Portal Tomb.  I'll post pictures about our cubist adventure in the next blog entry.

Gabaldon covers

I have finished making the individual pieces inspired by Diana Gabaldon's books.  I haven't yet decided how to put them on a background.  Since I am a fiber person, I don't want to frame them, instead I am thinking of mounting them on a piece of dark distressed wool.
I used dupioni silk for the background.  I backed the silk pieces with some iron on interfacing, then batting, and finally backing.  I stitched the silk to these layers using gold thread that is usually used for machine quilting. Most of the work is also appliqued in silk, with the exception of A Breath of Snow and Ashes, in which I used a crocheted doilie that I painted white.
I am excited to have the individual 8 blocks done.
The pictures don't show the colors as vibrantly as they are.