Felting at the Folkschool

Last week of February Geri Forkner was teaching a Nuno felting class at JC Campell Folkschool (Brasstown NC), and I was lucky enough to help as an assistant teacher. So much fun, and so much cold. This picture is taken from inside my car one morning going to breakfast. This is the week when I have biscuits, bacon and eggs every day, plus some oatmeal just to keep it healthy. The food is wonderful..

Geri to the left and Pat Thomas to the right. Pat is another instructor at the Folkschool, teaching marbling  on fabric and paper. Hope I can take that class soon. This week she joined us for nuno felting.

 Carol has her beautiful bright colors laid out with geometric shapes. A full table will felt/shrink down about 30-40%. The finished piece on the right. Still bright but now with lots of texture.

Christine made a series of veggies. This is the "Beet". Great to have a young person in a class, lots of energy and creativity!

Kay made several collage style pieces, this one incorporates yarns, silks, and dark and bright colors.

Jan created these beautiful flowers, which will become a bag.

Laura's very colorful collage has an abundance of colors,  shapes and textures. it is quite large too, so many possibilities for what she can use it for.

Just a few projects from this class. Beautiful colors and creativity. Lots of textures and shapes. Some of these will be used in larger projects, and some will be kept as samples.  Color and texture  are for sure the most interesting elements in nuno felting.

My big project that week.  A very long piece of hand dyed silk chiffon, cut into a cone shape.

 Laying out a very this layer of merino, about 4 oz.

 Everything is covered. Wet it down, cover in plastic, roll in bubble wrap, and roll for a couple of hours. It is physical but in a good way.

 It is sticking together enough to come out of the plastic and be worked on the table.

 Felted and full to finished size, shrinking about 35%. Next steaming and working on the edges.

Eda is being the model. This is going to the Fashion show at "The Museum at 5Points" in Cleveland TN, March 29.

John C Campbell Folkschool Quilting class

Just back form John C Campbell Folkschool in Brasstown, NC.  A very cold week, with snow flurries, so staying in the studio was a good idea. The class was "Free Form Machine applique".  All 7 ladies brought pictures, from trips, scenery and personal memories. I love it when there is such a diverse group of ideas.
The first day we spent going over technical things ,and materials to use. Then making patters for each one of the designs. Will not give away all that info, you should come to a class!

From the show and tell exhibit at the end of the week.

Here are the wonderful ladies and their quilts on the last day of the class. I am very impressed when I see what they created, everyone came with a very open mind and willing to use whatever technique and materials needed to get the job done.


Joanne(Avink) from Michigan .

This is the light house "Big Red" at Holland, MI

Wouldn't you want to visit this place? I just think that the big blue sky behind the light house gives it such great perspective. The wooden light house is now in fabric. A beautiful job with the free motion stitching




Lynda (Doll) from Georgia

This is from a photo taken in Africa of a "Grey crowned Crane".  With the fussy or feathery crown on his head  he looks kind of regal.  Lots of detail work with the fabrics and the stitching on top. Lynda added inks, angelina fibers and tulle to give this large bird a very lifelike appearance. Very nice free motion quilting.


Nancy (Sievert) from Georgia.

Nancy combines two photos she had taken in Denmark, Western Australia. One was the stunning bright yellow/orange mushrooms and the other of a little "Splendid Blue Wren". They belong together on the two tree trunks, and Lynda truly made that work. The mushrooms are 3D and very lifelike.  She added yarn, tulle, inks, angelina fibers and lots of stitching to make this scenic quilt. What a memory from the time spent in Australia.

Adele (Steele) from Georgia

 Adele was very prolific, and may I add a workhorse (this is meant in the nice-est way possible!) The first piece she did was with a beautiful William Morris collection in pinks, reds, greens and blacks. The "Lotus" flower has come to life. She appliqued, free from stitched and quilted  (and finished the binding!) this quilt,

 as well as got a lot of the work done on this Art Nouveau inspired piece. Batiks, and metallic lame joins together in this flowing design. It will have stitching and  quilting, and I cannot wait till it is done.

                                                            Jane (Threlkeld) from Georgia

 Jane called this "The Perky Parrot from Porto Rico",  and that is a good working title. He for sure looks like he owns the flowers in the jungle! Most of the fabrics Jane used she had dyed herself, and was very willing to cut them into swiss cheese to find the perfect color for her flower design. Excellent free form stitching on the flowers and the parrot.

Christine (Tucker) from Ohio

 Chris's photos really brought back many good memories from my own trips to Greece. This is a long time ago, but the streets of Athens looks the same. The brightness of the buildings and the impressive greenery and flowers are so perfect for this street scene.

 The right fabric choices gives this quilt a great perspective. The flowers and leaves were made using Solvy to create a open natural feel.

                                                          Janice (Hammond) from New York

 This quilt truly warms my heart, and everyone else in the class as well. Janice recently lost her husband and the photo she had of Marv fishing on the Hudson River Upstate New York inspired her to create this wonderful and personal piece.Janice was open to every suggestion thrown her way (and that was quite a few!) and added tulle and free form stitching to make a memorable wall quilt. I was amazed to see how  her free motion quilting was improving in just two days. Hope you continue the good work!

Maryville College show

Church Columns. Inspiration is Fantoft Stave Church outside Bergen, Norway.

Here are some pictures from my exhibition at Marvyille College in 2011, at the Denso Gallery. It is a beautiful space, with great lighting. It was my first one woman show, and it had quilts from 2000 to 2011. All my favorite techniques were there - plus some. This really marked the transition from hand quilting to machine quilting. There is a lot of curved piecing, pictorial quilts and architectural inspiration here. Everything is original designs. Several quilts are from my Easy Arch technique which is my favorite for quick piecing blocks.

Jelly beans.

                         Hand-dyed scrim with seed stitching. Buttons collected from good friends.

Every Woman is a Queen.

I made a pattern from a woven tapestry (from the middle ages) depicting 7 princesses. Love the stylized images, and the modern fabrics gave it an updated look. Machine quilted.

Afloat

 One of my favorite pictorial quilts, using my Free form machine applique technique. The photo is of mom's neighbor's rowing boat in Norway. Machine applique and machine quilted.(Photo by Erin Cogburn)

Sea Side Snapshots.

Combination of Easy Arch blocks, in different settings and photo transfer.  Erin took more photos of the neighbor's old boats and rusty oil drums. The photo transfers are assembled in a collage style. Machine quilted. (Photo by Erin Cogburn)

Lunch on Yellow River. (private collection)

One of my absolute favorite quilts. The photo was taken by a very good friend on a trip to China. One of their stops was a monastery  along the Yellow River. The setting there just had to be a quilt, which I did with her permission. Machine quilted. (Photo by Linda Claussen)

Winter crocus

A simple quilt from Easy Arch blocks, using black, white and purple. Machine quilted.

Crossroads

Crossroads 2

Both Crossroads and Crossroads 2 are from Easy Arch blocks. The crosses are added to give them a 3D  effect. Love working with black and whites. My stash is getting out of hand, so I better use more of it! It is a little hard to see, but these two pieces has a lot of seed stitching on them, that has become my substitute for hand quilting. It adds both color and texture. And it is an excuse for dying pearl cotton.














From one of my trip to London, which I wish was more often, I took lots of photos of grand old buildings and city architecture. The one that screamed the loudest to become a quilt was of the toss-aside marble birdbath behind St.Paul,s Cathedral. This was so much fun to assemble, it is all pieced and machine quilted. The leaves are copied onto fabric and cut out.

Birdbath at St.Paul,s (detail)

Birdbath at St.Paul,s (London, UK. Private collection)

The Church of the Cross (Bergen, Norway)

Another architectural one. This is from a photo of one of the oldest churches in Bergen. This is were I went to University, and the city is full of buildings and middle age history. A very old and beautiful town with a harbor. This is a side door of a church in the middle of town, Korskirken, very simple stone walls and  very ornate wrought iron door hinges. Free form machine applique and machine quilted.


A very small snapshot of my father, taken when he was 5 years old, was a very inspiring starting point for this piece. My father was not one to hog the spotlight in a picture or otherwise, and might now have liked being portrayed on a quilt. But he was always supportive of my doings, so I think he doesn't mind. Now this quilt is permanently hanging next to my sewing machine, and is still inspiring every day that I work. (Free form machine applique, and machine quilted, using fabrics from my father shirts, which mom sent me after he passed away in 1993) His face was enlarged and printed onto fabric on my home printer.

Treasured Memories.

Felting: Nuno felted collage

Have been working on nuno felted collages last year. It is quite interesting how colors and textures change when silk fabrics and wool fuse together. Most of the silks are my own hand-dyed, but I throw in a few commercial prints too. The first one is a big piece with red wool on the back, which gives it a reddish overall look as the wool comes through to the front. The second piece is smaller, with blue and orange wool on the back. You can see where the orange show through. The silks I used are hand-dyed silk organza. The organza is a little stiff before it gets felted, but gets softer after the felting process. It takes the dye beautifully, and I love to work with this fabric.

Red collage 

Northern lights

Tippen

The material used in this piece came from a hand embroidered tablecloth from the 1930's, salvaged by a friend of mine and then quilted on a piece of black felt. 

 

Dye Na Flow  paints were used to create this color effect.  Here's a close up look at the dispersed color.  This piece is now in a private collection abroad.