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Well, I’m back and usually about now I’m publishing my goals for the year. So far I haven’t had much luck accomplishing my annual goals and I think doing it again this year would just be setting myself up for failure. So I think this year I’ll leave it at one . My goal this year is to keep this blog going.
A couple of weeks ago we had a fun little mini-workshop taught by one of the members of the Tavern Spinners and Weavers Guild. Most of the participants were from the felting study group but not all. It only took about three hours including the instruction and it was great fun making these bizarre little caricatures.
Most of that time was spent working on the eyes since the eyes really make the face. Each eye component was needle felted separately, then felted together and then held in place by felted upper and lower lids.
I was the only one in the group who worked with commercially prepared roving because I liked the blended colors and I discovered that it gives the face a very different look. I think the next one I try will be with my home carded fleece.
Aren’t they great?? Scary but great. END OF POST
I‘ve been so hung up on fiber, I’ve almost forgotten to talk about the quilting. Among my many guild memberships now that I’m in Virginia, I am a member of the Cutting Edge Quilt Guild. The guild focuses on art quilts and the members are an amazingly talented group of women. Each year the group does a group quilt and the quilt for 2009 - 2010 was a paper doll challenge. The product of that challenge is the huge work of art you see before you - Madeleine.
Madeleine is a “paper” doll in the true sense. The clothes you see are attached to the background quilt with velcro dots. They can be removed from the quilt and attached to Madeleine with the same dots. How did this unbelievable quilt come about? Let’s take a look at the work in progress . . .
All of the guild members interested in working on the quilt were divided into four groups of 4-5 quilters. Each group was responsible for the design and construction of a different outfit - leisure outfit, sportswear, casual outfit, formal wear. There was also a group responsible for the construction of the background quilt and Madeleine. In our group we met, decided on the pieces of the outfit and each member chose they element on which they wished to work. The following pictures were taken during a “fitting” before the quilt was completed.
Leisure wear:
Madeleine relaxes in luxurious, silky, oriental lounge pajamas while reading a book. She clutches the mask she’ll use to cover her eyes for her afternoon nap. This group also chose to created new hair and created a hand to allow it to show in front of the pajamas with the book.
Casual wear:
This was my group. For a casual afternoon shopping, Madeleine wears a denim skirt, turtleneck sweater, needle punch vest and boots. The sweater and vest can be switched out for the leather jacket and shirt you see attached to the side. My part was knitting the sweater. Since Madeleine is posed and not symmetric, it was really free-form knitting I’d knit a few rows then fit it to the form to see where I needed to increase or decrease stitches to get the shape right. I won’t bore you with the details of getting the arm right where her elbow is bent but it took a bit of thought.
Sports wear:
Here Madeleine is ready for a trip to a dude ranch complete with fringed western jacket and cowboy boots. She’s even taken time to visit with a calf which was made using needle felting.
Formal wear:
Madeleine is dressed for a Masqued Ball in an elegant strapless dress with matching mask. On the completed quilt you will see that a scarf and red feathers for her hair were added.
Tabs on the clothes are actually part of the background quilt so they remain when the clothes are moved to dress the doll. The quilt was submitted for the Houston quilt show but, alas, was not accepted. It was, however, exhibited at the MidAtlantic Quilt Festival and will be traveling for exhibition to a show in Vermont. The unfortunate part of seeing the quilt exhibited is that the viewer does get the full benefit of interacting with it. Don’t ask us where it will ultimately end up. We don’t know yet but I’m extremely proud of the work the guild did.
This year I was responsible for setting up the programs for the Fiver River Guild. As part of that I decide to try setting up study groups that met outside of the guild meetings and studied a particular subject in as much detail as they chose. This year we have four groups meeting - basketry, knitting with color, felting, and lace-making. So far, it seems to be working out really well. Although there’s been no word yet from the knitting group, the basketry group is like the energizer bunny and has gone crazy since they started in September and the felting and lace groups (scheduled to start in January) have begun their meetings.
I’m part of the felting group. We’re meeting once a month for at least five months and dealing with a different form of felting at each meeting. At our first meeting in February, we decided to start with recycling wool sweaters by felting them in the washing machine. I have a bunch of felted sweaters and a few projects completed and underway to be made from those sweaters.
Project #1:
The first product from this adventure is this cover for my appointment book. This started as a small vest and by the time it felted it was miniscule. I barely had enough to do this book. It's not quite as clean and crisp as I would like but even though the sweaters are felted, they are still quite stretchy. The next time I want crisp edges I'll probably use some fusible interfacing to stabilize the fabric before cutting and sewing.
I had cut off the ribbing and added it to the flap inside so the cover can be removed and a new book can be inserted each year. Remember the book covers we used to make from brown paper bags? It’s something like that. The leather binding has a leather strip attached to act as a bookmark since I always seem to be rifling through the pages looking for the current week. Next . .
Project #2:
The second project is a work in progress made from this striped sweater. I was looking at it one day and saw the stripes in a basketweave pattern in my head. So I cut the stripes apart and in half and created a woven pattern with the strips for the front of a bag. More pictures to come when it’s completed.
I have learned a few things from this experience:
1. If you don’t want to wreck your washing machine, enclose your sweater in a totally sealed package. I started with two sweaters - each in a zippered lingerie bag. Unfortunately, sweater fibers escaped quite easily through the holes in the bag. Next I tried two sweaters - each in an old pillow case folded over and pinned close. Unfortunately, the machine agitation was able to work the cases open and release the sweater fibers into the machine. I have now bitten the bullet and bought zippered pillow covers. Hopefully, now I won’t have to scoop up floating wool fibers before emptying the machine.
2. All wool sweaters are not created equal. Different sweaters felt differently and at different rates. If you have more than one sweater in the machine, check them each periodically. While one may felt in 10 minutes, another may take 15 or 20. I even had one sweater - labeled 100% virgin wool - which didn’t felt at all after 30 minutes in the washer and an equal amount of time in the dryer. I’m assuming it was washable wool although it didn’t say so.
3. Don’t fall in love with the knitting pattern (e.g., cables). They may be lost when the sweater felts. Patterns in color (fair isle, intarsia) look great.
There are more sweaters felted with projects in mind so I’ll keep you updated. The technique for the second meeting was needle felting which takes a lot more patience than throwing a sweater in the washing machine. I already have a first design in mind. And don't bother to remind me that felting was NOT listed among my goals for 2011.
Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.
The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents, beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.
The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.
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