red and pink

red and pink, originally uploaded by westcoastcreative.

a lazy sunday spent sitting on the back patio, soaking up some sun. playing around with some fabric weaving, and then many many stitches to hold it all together. i am embracing jude's arguments for handstitching more and more - being "unplugged" and portability. this is so much better than sitting by my sewing machine all day, isn't it?

this project is coming along quickly, actually. i can definitely see my stitching skills getting more efficient. but i haven't worked out the details yet, so i'll keep you posted. this is one of a couple pieces in the works

i liked the way my project coordinates with the roses. you can also see them in the background in the left side shot (ha, along with the petals and grass clippings that need to be swept up).

approaching fog, 15" x 30"

it's funny, how these things go. i have been contemplating, percolating, if you will, on the idea of art/landscape quilts for several years now. i'd seen ones my mom had done, or admired the one on the wall at the medical clinic, and so on, and thought, "someday i should try that". but it was really just in the back of my mind, my head already full of knitting plans, and sewing, and all the other crafty things that i probably spend too much time thinking about. i would try it eventually, when i got around to it.

well, apparently, i've gotten around to it (i'm using a lot of commas today, aren't i?), and i may have been completely taken over by it. the first one very quickly led to the second one, which has even more quickly led to a third, but more on that soon. let's focus on the second one, shall we?



after trying out techniques on "point holmes", i was feeling more confident and ready to experiment even further. "approaching fog" was entirely hand stitched. fabric was warped and twisted, textures and fibres layered on each other, many many stitches holding everything in place, adding further layers and elements. i could have stitched indefinitely, probably. i loved playing with yarn as well as regular thread, and adding the bits of raw fleece to add further dimension. i think that's why i'm enjoying these so much - i love all the incarnations of fibre and fabric, and this is allowing me to play with them all at once, incorporating many techniques. i'm scheming how to add more too - perhaps some weaving or knitting? i'm also a sucker for texture, so all the layering and building is really fun.

i'm noticing a bit of a sea change lately. in the past few years most of my crafting has been focused on "useful" items - clothing, quilts and other items that are physically used, or serve some "purpose". i've had little use for something that would just hang on the wall, for unknown reason. recently though i seem to be embracing art for its own sake. i've been doing a lot more drawing, and these art quilts have been a great exploration without thinking what will happen with the final piece. i've also been exploring a lot of other great artists out there. it's hard to put into words, as it's not so much that i didn't recognize the value of art for art's sake before. but my priorities are changing. maybe it's as simple as going from a product to a process knitter (extrapolated to other things than just knitting). or maybe i'm just redefining my definition of useful...

i'll have to think on this a bit more.

escape

a quick trip to the middle of nowhere, even if only for one quick night, helps refresh my troubled self. a few shots from our two days at san josef bay, near the northern tip of vancouver island.



morning visitors near our campsite.



sea stacks.

more photos here.