...lie the seeds

Under the Surface has been a great theme to work with, there were many different options and ideas swirling around in my mind and it was only when the Honesty, Lunaria annua began to set it's seed that the complete idea arrived. 
We have been hearing about a decline in birds and insects for the last while, partially due to the loss of habitats and the neatness of gardens in the suburbs. Our council has allowed the grass in the public spaces to grow long before cutting and with it we have seen numerous plant varieties that were not in evidence before. Those seeds must have been there, hidden away in the soil somehow surviving until they could once again grow into mature plants and set new seed. The benefits have been richer more varied habitats for wildlife with a greater choice of food. 
Honesty is the perfect plant for depicting hidden seeds, the seed-heads were full of colour at the time the grasses were turning gold and yellow and the seeds forming were visible only when the sun caught them at the right angle. Now they are beginning to bleach and turn white and those seeds are no lunger hidden under the surface. 
Techniques used: 
Flour paste screen for the grasses with thickened  Procion dye over bucket dyed fabric
Free machine embroidery on snipped layers of Voile through Romeo water-soluble film. Once the seed heads were stitched the Romeo was dissolved and the edges burned away
Machine wrapped braids 
Free motion and hand quilting using a variety of cotton, rayon and polyester threads
And finally textile paint to add colour to the leaves

Hugs and Kisses

Love encompasses so much of life and motivates us in many ways. Everyday we use symbols to tell people we love them in texts, letters and notes. For this challenge the plan was to use the symbols and colours of love to create fabric that would convey the same message.  

The traditional colour of love is red, this together with it's complementary colour set the colour scheme and then stylised imagery was added.

These presented challenges, as a way of creating a stencil with small crosses and circles, various stamps for trialling and making a grid for the stamping had to be devised. Who said love was easy?

It all went well until the heart motif turned out to be upside down once the excess fabric was cut away. The choice was then leave the quilt in this state or cut it away and redesign with the left over bits of fabric. The perfect grid was a thing of the past,  but it has character and imperfection, just like love.

Rocky Crossing

I found the sound of silence during a busy walk a few weeks ago.   Friends invited me to the World Heritage listed Barrington Ranges to discover their favourite getaway,  Rocky Crossing.   It offered me the perfect image to present for our current theme, Sounds of Silence.

From my vast collection of photo's taken that day, I selected this one to profile my piece.    It was printed at home on prepared fabric for printing.

I wanted to bring you, the viewer, a sense of encountering the sound of silence.   So I framed it with my self-dyed cotton & silk fabrics, organza, and some needle-punched fabrics to bring in soft texture of a forest.   The printed image was enhanced by hand sketching with ink pens, just a little.  Leaves were machine stitched by using water soluble fabric and wool/silks, then raw edge applique stitched to the background.  Colours selected aimed to reflect the richness of the forest atmosphere.

Time was of the essence due to my other priorities - this piece was completed from start to finish within 2 days - the fastest piece I have made yet!   I hope it brings you a sense of peace and reflections of your  own forest-walk experiences.

The "X" Factor

The theme "Leave Your Mark" presented me with a struggle, so I left this idea alone so that my subconscious could come up with a suitable response.   And... I recalled how a couple of artist friends had made past comments about my abstract work often included an X.   So my quilt is called the "X" Factor.

My art-quilt is made using hand-dyed cotton fabric, dyed silk for the X, and dyed threads for the embellishment.   The line work represents growth with its upward movement, and my choice of red is due to its dramatic and passionate essence.

The background was cotton cloth that I dyed with thickened Procion dyes.   I kept the design simplistic to feature the rhythm of life.  Choice of fabric for the binding compliments the rest of the piece.   

This piece was large a result of intuitive spontaneous choices rather than a planned organised approach.    This is the way I like to work and it reflects the way I now like to leave my marks in daily life.