working in a series

Hi everyone, Karen here.


I am one of those quilters who is ready to try anything-at least once. Keeping on track and following a plan is the hardest thing for me to do.


One of my fabrigo friends is really good at staying focused-I won't name her but just know that she is the minutes keeper and the one who sends the reminders and the one who likes order and planning. I do admire the way she works.


So in the spirit of getting myself pulled together and focused, I have dedicated this year of quilting to making a series of log cabin quilts. I love the log cabin. It's simple but elegant. It can be a little bit country or a little bit Rock and Roll. It can be very traditional or easily non traditional.

I made this log cabin quilt many years ago. It's not large. I use it as a little table topper sometimes-when I'm a little bit country.

And I made this one a few years ago. I used hand dyed fabrics and a random choice of logs. I do like the border fabric that I chose-and the binding.

I used log cabin blocks for a border. The blocks are hand dyed fabrics with black. This Quilt is called Coffee Time. It's in a private collection. (It's at my Daughter's house)

And now I am working on some new ones.

This one is going to be called--30 days of snow and more to come--or --weather prediction calling for snow  --or something like that.  It's all hand dyed fabric.

And this one is called Spring in the Forest.

Now I need to go back to my studio (the Basement) and do some more log cabin blocks. I have a few ideas !!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

karenwhoalwayshasanotheridea

Fibre Content 2016 A Biennial Fibre Art Show In Burlington Ontario.

Fibre Content 2016  is gearing up for an exciting show.

The conception of Dwayne Wanner Fibre Artist and our own Robynne Cole as able administrator mounted this show in 2012 and 2014.

For the second time the show will be hosted at The Art Gallery of Burlington a wonderful venue of art and gallery space.

The show will be held from September 8th to September 18th. What a great opportunity to see such a great juried collection of Fibre Art from 8 different guilds and groups.

First comes the call to entry which opens on April 1, 2016.

Then comes all the preparation to make from the organizers to make the show a viewing pleasure! 

For more information go to the : 

Fibrations our webpage for Fibre Content 2016

or our 

Fibre Content 2016 Facebook Page

Jo

personal stories

We have talked before about how personal my work is. I seem to just feel the need to tell stories about myself with my work. Often times people will ask me if I sell my work and I say no--that most of my work is too personal for me to sell--or for anyone to want to buy. And then there are the big discussions with my cousins about what will happen to all of the stuff when I die. My daughters don't really want all of it-will it just go to the dumpster? Do I care?


This is a detail shot from a quilt that I had recently finished and submitted to a show. I got the rejection letter today.

 It is a work about my parents. The writing is from a love letter that my father sent to my mother when he was in Europe during the war. It is on one of my mothers slips. The shiny part is her glove.


Obviously, its a very personal story for me.


So I am still reading--randomly picking pages from Nick Bantock's book, The Trickster's Hat. I showed it to my Fabrigos friend last time we were together.


Well--on page 82 of the book Mr. Bantock suggest going through my house with a shoebox and filling it with a collection of things that have a lot of meaning for me. Then he says to put the shoebox away and not to use it in my work--that it's too personal and my work will not reach the people that I want to reach. They are too precious and hold too much power for me. It will only inhibit me with trying to do art. That its only me who feels it.


Instead, he says to go to my local haunts and find or buy a few (5 or 6) things that interest me. Put these things on a sheet of white paper, arrange them in a pleasing manner, take some photos of them , analyse what I like about them. Find the connections that are there and use this connection in my work. Is it the colours, the shapes --find what it is and use that.




WOW WOW WOW
Mr. Nick Bantock knows who I am.


By the way, Mr. Bantock, there is way too much stuff in my house to fit into a shoebox. My house is the shoebox.  hmmmm Maybe that means something, too.
Oh that's enough thinking for one day. I'll think about it tomorrow!
karenwhofeelslikeshehasfoundanewbestfriendnick

one more pear

I have always loved pears. I have painted many pictures of pears, made a couple of quilts with pears and now I have covered up one of my plastic pears from the dollar store with sari silk.
Here's a picture of my pears quilt.

 And here's a detail. I used several techniques in this quilt. The life sized pears are stencils from real pears. I just bought several pears, cut them in half and covered them with black paint and stencilled away. Just like what we did in grade school. The larger ones were painted onto glass and the fabric was printed from the glass plate.

and here's a picture of a deer quilt that has pears in it

and I put pears in my Laura Secord quilt. right at the top right hand corner.

and here is a picture of the plastic pear wrapped with sari silk.

I ran out of green when I was almost finished--didn't like the coloured wrap, unwrapped it and started with the bright and then covered it with the green.

Little bits of bright peek through. I like it.

Two down --15 ways to use sari silk to go.

karenwholovespears

When We Met... March 2016

March 2016
As Fabrigos we try to meet each month at least once. Sometimes it is a road trip, sometimes a collaboration is in progress, sometimes a technique, sometimes a catch up and share.

We keep toying with why we have a blog. I think the best reasons to keep a blog is to document our journey as a group and to spread the love of fibre art to others.
In order to be more relevant to us as a group and to potential readers (because it is fun to share) I am going to take on the admin task of writing what we did and or talked about at our gathering.

Robynne is usually the person that keeps us on task. She is the person with the best attention to detail and administration skills. But Robynne is using her talents in so many ways to be kind I thought I would do it.

Each person brings so many gifts to the group!

So this is what we talked about yesterday...

Fibre Content: 2016

The Third Biennial Fibre Content Exhibition

We are happy to continue our collaboration with the Art Gallery of Burlington. The 2016 Fibre Content Exhibition will be running for 11 viewing days — from September 8 to September 18, 2016!

As in 2014, the show is a collaborative effort of artists from Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) Central Canada Division, Burlington Fibre Arts Guild, Burlington Handweavers and Spinners Guild, Burlington Hooking Craft Guild, Connections Fibre Artists, Grand Guild of Fibre Artists, Group of Eight Fibre Artists, and Oakville Fibre Arts Guild.

Entries

Entries are open to members of participating guilds, as well as others who – if their work is accepted – are willing to become members of SAQA. Original artwork must have been completed within the last five years and must be the result of independent effort.

Click here to view/download our official Call for Entry (PDF). Online Entry Form will be available here starting April 1, 2016. The deadline for entries is May 31, 2016.

Jury

The 2016 Fibre Content will be juried by William Hodge, Virginia Eichhorn and Rachel Miller. William Hodge retired after over 40 years as Professor at OCAD University; he currently works out of Armure Studios, Stoney Creek. Virginia Eichhorn – returning as the juror – is the Director and Chief Curator at Tom Thomson Art Gallery. Rachel Miller is the Textile Studio Head and Professor at Craft & Design Program, Sheridan College.

This is a show that has great meaning to us as a group. 

Robynne plays an integeral role in organizing this event. It is a huge undertaking and this is the third time it will be making its appearance. We try to help out in ways that we can. Robynne has a great team along with Dwayne Wanner co rep of SAQA Central Canada to mount this show in conjuction of the Art Gallery of Burlington

We talked about our potential individual submissions and helping promote the show. (So like us on Facebook and tell all your friends!)

We talked about up coming opportunity dates

March 23 to see Marlo Panko present to the Burlington Fibre Arts Group

SAQA Central Canada Burlington, Ontario meeting April 10, 2016

Quilt Canada at the International Centre in Toronto Ontario June 15 to 18 and volunteering.

Sewing and Needlework Creativ Festival at the International Centre in Toronto April 22/23

Show on at the Grimbsy Gallery in Grimbsy, Ontario viewing Michelle Karch-Ackerman's work - Karen has been and recommends it.

All Guilds Show at the Art Gallery of Burlington

Ailsa Craig Quilt Festival  May 23 to 28th, 2016 Road Trip on the 24th!

SAQA My Corner of the World and My Corner of Canada Stratford Perth Museum May 21-August 14, 2016 - Al has a piece in this show and will be there for the opening on May 21, 2016

Robynne's visit to the http://www.orilliamuseum.org/events/578-20th-annual-international-womens-day-art-show-stories on until the 10th of April. Wonderful work! 

Al talked about his upcoming teaching engagements and retreats!

Robynne shared the book Manage-Your-Day-Day-Creative

Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind (The 99U Book Series) Paperback – May 21, 2013 by Jocelyn K. Glei 

Karen shared the book The Trickster's Hat

The Trickster's Hat: A Mischievous Apprenticeship in Creativity Hardcover – January 7, 2014 by Nick Bantock  (Author)

We did show and tell of what we were working on... sorry no pictures this time


And I brought my sari silk, and finds.

And I proposed a challenge -17 ways to use sari silk.

We all love sari silk but sometimes are not sure how to use it.

Why 17 ways? Because it was a random number and sounded good when said with the words sari silk
We all got the same goodies.
Rules:
Use sari silk and silk hankies
Make as many different items as you can think of....
Send me pictures or post on the blog
Size of item: no smaller than an inch, no bigger than a 12 inch piece.

Other than that it is free game!

And you don't have to do the challenge if it is stressing or you really don't have time.

So the challenge is on. And Karen is first in!

So stay tuned over the next month to see what we come up with.

And let us know how you use sari silk. 'Cause we all love it!

Jo

A New Challenge

Our Vivian Maier Challenge has come to an end. We all enjoyed it very much. I think I can say that we all have come away from this challenge with a new outlook on our photography. We are open to new interpretations and ideas for  good photo opportunities.


Jo has issued a new challenge for us for this month. We have all been given a quantity of sari silk and challenged to come up with 17 different ways to use it. Here's my first. it's a paperweight--just in case you couldn't figure it out.

I wrapped a stone with silk, and then copper wire with some little twists and turns.
You never know when you might need one--right?
16 more to come.


karenwhoisalwaysmakingsillystuff

Vivian Challenge comes to an End

On our recent road trip, we found a few great windows that lent themselves for our Vivian challenge.