Canoe Art Quilt and Using my New Machine

The Canoe Art Quilt top is pieced together! My Office Time App tells me I've worked 71 hours on it so far.

Finished quilt top with very rough edges.

The light green and light blue section across the quilt are where the organza will be placed to create the mist rising from the water. Today, I placed several layers of organza on the quilt top to see how it would look and noticed that the section of land in the middle of the composition is supposed to look like it is far in the distance and it wasn't reading that way. In order to fix that I also placed a larger piece of organza (just one layer) over top of that section and it does a nice job of pushing it back into the distance and making the two land forms on either side of the quilt come forward into the middle ground.

In the photo above, I have one layer of organza over the mist area of the water. In the next photo there are about 6 layers of organza laid in that area.

I haven't sewn the organza down yet because I am not sure it reads as mist yet. Maybe you could let me know what you think.

Over the summer I had the opportunity to buy a sit-down quilting machine at a discounted price because it was a demo and was a bit damaged. I had to wait a long time for all the parts to be sent to me and I also had to spend some time putting it together and figuring out how it worked. It is a Janome Artistic Quilter and it has a large table and a larger space under the machine than my domestic sewing machine which will make quilting much easier and quicker.

I did some practicing on scrap fabric and adjusted the stitch tensions before I used it to sew down some of the organza on my quilt top. I still have a lot to learn about this machine but I'm sure it will make my job a little easier.

Eco-Dying Experiment

This week I took some time to experiment with eco-dying. This is dying with natural substances like plants and bugs. I didn't use bugs but I did gather some plants from my garden to use.

I took out some of my white cotton fabric and first boiled it in vinegar and water for an hour to make the fabric ready to take the plant dyes and make them fairly colour fast so they wouldn't wash out of the fabric.

Apparently silk takes the dyes better than cotton but this time I just used the cotton.

I laid out the fabric on my deck and placed the plants on top of it.

This one has goldenrod, chestnut leaves and mountain ash leaves and some pink mandevilla blossoms on it.

I then rolled and bundled the fabric with the plants inside into small tight packages and kept them together with elastics. Then they were placed in a colander above a pot of water in order to steam them for 1 hour.

After the hour I placed each bundle in a ziploc bag and put them outside in the sun and left them out there all night to continue steeping.

In the morning I unwrapped the bundles.

The dying is very subtle as you can see but the different plants gave me different results. The bundle with the chestnut, mountain ash, golden rod and mandeville was a very light result.

Bundle#2 had goldenrod, mountain ash leaves, petunia blossoms, verbena blossoms and geranium blossoms. This one turned out the best with some nice pinks and purples in it.

You can see the pattern of the mountain ash leaves in the section above. 

The third bundle was just brown leaves that had already fallen from some of the trees in the yard. These also gave more colour than in the first bundle.

I was hoping I would get some distinct leaf prints and blossom prints but I am happy I got some colour on the fabric. I will have to do some more experimenting and perhaps studying on this technique.

I am not certain what I'll use these little samples for but I am sure something will come to me.

It's Getting Close!

I have been steadily working on my art quilt and it's getting close to a completed top. The piecing is almost done. I placed a small amount of organza on top of a small area that I want to have the mist coming up on just to see if it will work and I think it will.

At the Fibre Content Show that is also exhibiting one of my art quilts, I saw several pieces which used silk organza and I really liked the look. I took special note of how these artists used the organza and how they applied it. The organza is transparent so the background is still visible behind one layer of it. If you want to see less background you just place a couple of layers over each other. The organza also gives the piece a bit of a shimmer which might be a plus on my quilt.

Watercolour Flowers

Each art day I go out into my garden and do a few watercolour paintings of the flowers in my garden. These little paintings become cards that I send to various people. Here are a few of the recent creations.

Art Quilt Update

I have been trying to work on my art quilt every chance I can and I am making headway. Lots of my other projects have been put on the back burner until I get this quilt done. Today I worked for 2 hours and completed only a small section. The reason it takes me so long is that with this quilt I designed more detail and the pieces are tiny.

This section measures almost 4 inches by 5 inches and it has 45 different pieces and almost as many different fabrics in it.

You have to look carefully and use some imagination to see the canoe and the surrounding water. The water sections are done and I'm now working on the trees in the background. The sections have not been sewn together yet and still have some freezer paper on them so the whole design is not visible yet. I am getting excited to put it all together.

On Tuesday, I will be delivering another art quilt to the Fiber Content Show 2018 at the Art Gallery of Burlington. The show starts September 6 and goes until September 16. Below are some details of the show.





Fibre Content: a community event that features the best of contemporary Canadian Fibre Art.

Showcasing works in fabric, paper, yarn, thread and mixed media materials, the goal is to raise the profile, awareness and acceptance of Fibre Art as an art form.
Location: Lee-Chin Family Gallery
Public reception: Sunday September 9, 1pm-3pm

The Art Gallery of Burlington is pleased to host Fibre Content: a community event that features the best of contemporary Canadian Fibre Art. Showcasing works in fabric, paper, yarn, thread and mixed media materials, the goal is to raise the profile, awareness and acceptance of Fibre Art as an art form.

This juried exhibition will display 90 fibre art quilts and mixed media works by 60 artists from across Ontario from the following groups:

Studio Art Quilts Associates (SAQA)
Grand Guild of Fibre Artists
Burlington Fibre Arts Guild
Oakville Fibre Artists
Connections Fibre Artists
Group of Eight Fibre Artists
Burlington Handweavers & Spinners Guild
Burlington Hooking Craft Guild

As well, another of my art quilts that has been travelling the world, is on display at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte, Ontario.

Urban Adventures - Ward Island, Toronto, Ontario

I'm a day late with my blog due to the fact that I went on an urban adventure. This is not my first one this year but these adventures are a new phenomenon for me this year. The reason for this is that I now have someone around who loves exploring as much as I do. My daughter gets me out on these adventures frequently and I thoroughly enjoy them. I am always armed with my camera and recording inspiration left, right and center.

Yesterday we loaded up the kayaks and drove to Cherry Beach on the Toronto lakefront. I had heard of this place but had never been here. We found a parking lot where we could park for free, a rarity in Downtown Toronto, unloaded the kayaks and put them in the water. Across the bay from us was Tommy Thompson Park which is completely man-made and was formerly called the Leslie Street Spit. This park has nothing to do with the artist Tom Thomson but was named after a former Parks Commissioner.

Cherry Beach Life Guard Station

A couple of guys learning to sail with Tommy Thompson Park in the background

Tommy Thompson Park shelters the bay at Cherry Beach and you can find sail boarders, kite surfers, and large sailboats all in this small bay. We had only to paddle 200 meters to get to Ward Island Beach. The beach is on the Lake Ontario side of the islands as opposed to the Toronto side of the islands. The water was surprisingly clear and signs on the beach told that it was safe to swim with low ecolli bacteria readings.

I found it very strange to have the Toronto skyline in view because I felt like I was vacationing

Young kids just arriving on shore at Ward Island were also learning to sail

After landing, I immediately went for a walk. On this section of the Toronto Islands, there are 260 houses with about 750 people residing there. Cars and trucks are not allowed in the community so everyone gets around by bike or by walking and most people have a boat of some sort. These houses and their properties are so cozy and eclectic. There are many artists living here and you can tell by the properties that everyone is creative.

Some of the cottages/homes were so cute

A really unique planter in one yard

This canoe was half buried in the ground and made to look like it
had been left in the woods up north somewhere.

These are pedal motored buggies that can be rented on the
island and pedaled by two or four people.

The gardens were beautiful and attracted lots of butterflies.

This was a little cabinet set up along the path and filled with
books welcoming people to take a book and leave a book.

The Toronto Skyline is beautiful and more-so with the sailboats
floating in front of it.

This small yard had two large boats sitting in it and by the
condition of them, I don't think they've moved in a while.

Small stone sculptures I made at the beach.

One home had set up a reading nook for little ones that Jacob
enjoyed.

It is a hidden gem right in the heart of Toronto that is well worth taking a walk through.