I was reading today’s post over at Havi’s blog when she mentioned eating imaginary pie. Which reminded me of the pie art I’ve made over the past year or so.
It started so innocently, as an illustration to a grocery list.
Then progressed to a collaged homage to my Mom Mom’s kitchen and her mad cooking skilz.
Then who wouldn’t like a little pie from the sky?
And finally, even the cake is starting to look like the pie :)
Where’s my imaginary fork?
Last week, we actually had half a day to take a ride out to Marietta and follow the Ohio River back down into Parkersburg. When I was a kid, we used to come down to Athens to visit my grandparents, and each trip included a ride in the country. I didn’t get it at the time, and spent most of those rides with my nose buried in a book. But time (and glasses!) happened, and now I love to go out and see the verdant hillsides when they are in full summer bloom.
Here’s Izzy, balancing on a piece of driftwood at the banks of the Ohio.
We took some bread for the geese. Here they are figuring out what’s going on.
The white geese were really persistent.
Marty was watching the boats on the river. We also saw several fish leaping out of the river. I have never seen that before, and found it really cool.
Sometimes when we are riding out in the country, I imagine what the insides of the old farmhouses are like. (Pilot Precise pen and Inktense pencil in Moleskine sketchbook).
And what the wildlife thinks.
And then I design pieces incorporating the colors, textures and feelings of those trips.
And finally, I go into the studio and create my own “ride in the country”:
“Safe Harbor” 15.5” x 15.5” Reverse applique, fusible bias tape, hand beaded, machine quilted.
“Midnight Snack” 16” x 18” (measurements approximate) Reverse applique, machine embroidery, machine quilted, fusible bias tape, hand beading.
“Summer Joy” 20” x 16” Reverse applique, fusible bias tape, fusing (in black circles), machine quilting, hand beading.
The progression of inspiration isn’t always this obvious to me, but each piece holds something of a place I have experienced, even if it is just a color that reminds me of the sky over Mound Road by my grandparents’ homes, or an object, such as a colander or water tower, that I remember loving since I was a small child. It’s always a surprise to have these flashes of memory in the middle of the long production process.
What shows up in your work without you realizing it?
Yesterday was a studio day. Lots and lots of sewing ensued. Even a little wackiness (Lilo and Stitch on the DVD player, earlier McCartney on the turntable, some Shiva Nata in between to loosen up and calm down).
Butter and Egg Road, still in process, the photo print and the fence sewn in place.
A view of the printed out journal page, embellished with machine embroidery.
Detail of the stitching on the image. I outline stitched the main images once the piece was sewn to the quilt base with satin stitch.
The apron sewn down and the piece is complete with the exception of the sleeve and label. I really like how it turned out. When I was in college, my watercolor instructor told me “you really like to work high key”. I am embarrassed to admit, I didn’t know what she meant at the time, but I can see that in this piece. It’s very pale, with just the hints of reds in the apron and hollyhocks to make it pop. No embellishment needed.
And now on to the next piece:
“Day of the Cichlid”, machine embroidery with bobbin drawing, and reverse applique. The piece at the bottom is auditioning. When it is complete, it will also have cutouts like the top sections.
Detail of the bobbin drawing. I used crochet thread for those passages. Looks like this will be another high key piece.
Back to work, I have circles to cut out!
Floral Medley is complete, including sleeve and label (usually the very last thing that gets done, ok well it is always the very last thing but sometimes it is months after the rest of the piece is finished).
Final measurements, 26.5” x 35” (67cm x 89cm)
Now it is on to the next piece
Butter and Egg Road, inspired by the colors at my Mamaw’s house. The apron was a thrift store treasure, and the hollyhocks are from a journal page that I scanned and printed onto fabric.
I am machine embroidering in the image to add a bit more color and texture. When that is complete I will either satin stitch it in place or use the black bias tape that I used earlier this year on a different piece.
The Pellon interfacing fence that I’m going to applique onto a piece of off white batik fabric. This will sit in the lower right of the piece and behind the apron. I may also apply the apron to a backing piece of fabric, using the same method I did for the doilies on Floral Medley. This makes it much easier to apply the threadwork to the quilt sandwich, and I’m really happy I stumbled upon this method while working on this set of work.
Back to the studio. Have a great weekend, y’all!
Last week I shared the embroideries for my new series “Alice and Friends”, including The Queen of Hearts and The Frog Prince, both of which were in progress.
I like to end the year on a high note, and try to wrap up at least one piece, and have another piece in process so that I can carry the energy into the new year. With that in mind, I present the last completed artwork of 2009:
The Queen of Hearts 14 3/4” x 14 1/2” hand embroidery on hand knitted felt, backed and bordered with hand-dyed twill. Commercial polyester felt and Crafty Chica embellishing glue from Duncan Enterprises.
And the pieces which carried over into the new year:
The Frog Prince
Alice
I am actively working on completing The Frog Prince first. As you can see, all that is left of the embroidery is half of the lily pad. Then it will be up to the studio, where I will find some backing and bordering fabric.
I learned a lot between making the two pieces. The first piece was made on a background which was a knit checkerboard. I had left the floats between each color change, since there were only five stitches for each block. I assumed that I wouldn’t need to wrap the yarn in between, and so made sure the floats were a little longer than normal, to account for the shrinkage which occurs when the knitted fabric shrinks in the felting process.
Overall, that idea worked, but as you can see here, there was a bit of puckering. The hand-stitching really helped to push down the ridges, but it involved stitching a lot in some areas because the initial stitches would get lost in the gaps.
For The Frog Prince and Alice, I wrapped the floats every three stitches, regardless of where they fell in the color change pattern. When I felted these pieces, both came out a lot flatter and a lot more even.
There is still the rough surface that comes with the hand-felted surface, but the ridges from the first piece are practically non-existent. I am fairly confident that this is due to wrapping the floats rather than the choice of yarn. I chose to use Lana Loft for the first piece, while the second piece is made with Ella Rae Classic, and the third piece is knit in Cascade 220.
The next piece will be a mermaid, inspired by some floss I found while searching for colors for the last three pieces, and the background of it will probably be a beautiful gray and blue colorway I found in Plymouths’ Boku yarn. The colorwork in that base will be provided by knitting it in the entrelac technique. I am excited to see how that turns out.
But first I’m going to finish The Frog Prince and make some more progress on Alice.
In the words of Willy Wonka “The suspense is killing me. I hope it doesn’t end.”
