“Every Which Way”

I rejoiced this week when I finished binding my seemingly endless needle felted wool hand stitching project, now called “Every Which Way.” My stitching in Florida (I made myself sew down 2 squares a day) brought it to the point I could fuse it to felt and quilt it.

“Every Which Way” 33″ by 33″

Since the wool backing never got felt-like despite several go rounds in the washer and dryer, I used the polyester felt to stabilize the piece. The machine quilting is minimal, just enough to further secure the two layers. That’s right, two layers, so this will never qualify for a traditional quilt show judging.

The project began as a way to use up wool roving leftover from a wet felting class. A friend who took the class with me kindly gave me her leftovers so I had lots to work with. The wool felt squares came from another friend who works with lovely hand dyed wool. The binding has been in my leftovers tub awaiting use.

I ended up with a few “nonconformist” squares that may wind up in another project someday.

The oddballs

Here are some closeups that show off my nine year old level buttonhole stitching.

I am pleased to have my multi-year handwork project completed, and I truly hope I never make the mistake of starting another.

I’m linking to Off The Wall Friday.

Not So Scientific Experiments

As everyone knows, you need a good stockpile of cool bits to create collages. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it as I kluge fiber and paper together to build up my stockpile.

First, I unearthed diluted Setacolor paint left over from last summer’s sun printing, and applied it to canvas and curtain liner scraps that I had painted first with india ink. The curtain liner material is synthetic and doesn’t take paint or ink well. In addition, because the paint was diluted with water, an effect called haloing happened as the more watery part of the paint wicked out.  I know this is considered a defect, but I like it.

Next, I applied gesso (swapped ink for it with an arty friend) over stencils to add another layer to painted curtain liner and colored tissue paper.

Then came experiments with wool felt scraps a quilting friend gave me. I trimmed small scraps into squares and rectangles, sandwiched them between pieces of Solvy, and stitched them heavily. Here’s what was left once I dissolved the Solvy in water. I put a layer of silk organza strips over the felt in my second experiment below.

Because some of the felt scraps were backed with fusible, I created a mixed media piece on canvas using painted tissue paper, strips from a magazine, silk and synthetic fabric, and felt bits. Everything is held down with fusible and machine stitching.

My voracious appetite for craft videos brought me to toilet paper rolls as brushes. Cheap fabric paint and a rough muslin mop up cloth resulted in this. It may be a good candidate for embroidery to make a pillow cover.

I made some complete collages as well. I want to use up a supply of blank cards left from my days of printing off greeting cards. Again, fusible is my glue. I’m still trying to learn how to use glue and not wrinkle the paper.

“COVID19” is my largest collage to date. It evolved from an earlier collage to which I added acrylic paint. I cut that version up and used parts with other papers and cheesecloth. You can see the progression below.

I may still make changes in the last version, especially in the lower right corner.

Other experiments on my let’s try it list include learning to use gouache paints (Dick Blick strikes again,) monoprinting on paper and silk with a gelli plate, and playing with the Posca pens that should arrive soon. If you’ve you been experimenting outside your wheelhouse during our lock down I’d love to hear about it.

I’m linking to Off The Wall Fridays.