New Juried Work

I've been working hard all month to get enough hand stitched art ready for another jurying session at the Saskatchewan Craft Council.  My session was set for first thing Sunday morning.  Now that it's all said and done now and I FEEL AWESOME!  What a relief.  It's been such an intensely focused month.  I feel like I'm free now; free to create anything my little heart desires.  (And my little heart desires to create many, many things!)

I had my hand stitching juried.  I brought along a half dozen pieces of work including the three sage & grass embroideries.  They have textured linen mats.  I was happy with the frames I found locally as they were perfect color matches for the art.  Unfortunately, I found out too late that my framer is on vacation so these are not my typical custom ordered frames.  The jurors noticed.  : )  I think the grooves gave it away.

Both these are potentially sold already (YAY!!), so we shall see what the buyers prefer.  I have one more in the honey color.  I couldn't do them all the same as a set because the one below really looked wrong in the blonde wood.  This was my choice and it works so well I think.

This next image is loaded sideways on purpose.  It's SO big and the horizontal version can only go so wide on my blog.  I have to say though, I like it vertical as much as I like it horizontal.  It has a very bold feel, doesn't it?  We tried different frame styles and matting colors.  This one did it for me.  It feels so contemporary, so fresh, and strong.  It was great to see that the two jurors had different takes on this.  One did not like the presentation - she preferred the earthy, subdued pieces.  They other juror LOVED it. 

boldly going where I've never gone before

I got the snowglobes juried for future markets which is awesome.  Both jurors were bubbling over with giggles as they talked to me about them.  : )  Below is a photo of the teenie art I put in the snowglobes.  I sell the globes every December.

Finally, I had my little prairie rugs juried.  They are all postcard sizes or thereabouts.  They are mounted in wood frames that I thought looked like floorboards.  I have made nearly 20 of these over the past couple years.  I'm not a rug hooker, but I do enjoy this craft and want to continue making more prairie art in this form.

It's done!  It's all good.  I enjoyed the discussion so very much.  I am certainly not afraid of this process anymore.  I have an art quilter friend who told me that she gets juried over and over just for the learning experience and feedback.  I think that's smart.  Plus, the deadline got my but in gear to create and complete a lot of great new work.

Thank you to J & G for the jurying session and great feedback.  ; )  If you want to see the SCC page, you can find my profile here.

Now - off to stitch up some work lovelies for Gardenscape!  See you then,

Finished It Friday. : )

Introducing Prairie Rug #13!  How fitting considering the date today.  I love these little rugs (or ruglets as my friend Molly calls them).   Please accept this as a late 'Things I Love Thursdays' post.

Happy Friday the Thirteenth everyone!  I hope to be heading off to The Mendel tonight with Michael to see the art on display for the show & sale there.  Have a great day!

Mixing My Media

You've been wondering what I've been up to?  I just finished a little hooked scene.  It's made with the wool strips from the Manitoba Craft Museum & Library's garage sale, quilting scraps from the Periwinkle cutting table, and hand dyed silk ribbon.  HUH!?  Yup.  I did.  No kidding.  I was working on a hooked prairie rug and decided to 'stick a tree in it' as my mom would suggest.  I included three.  Now that Autumn is upon us, I included a sprinkling of leaves done with silk ribbon embroidery.  It just seemed like the right thing to do.

The variegated ribbons are so enticing.  Some were from Ribbonsmyth, including dyed and overdyed lengths that Patti and did last month at her farm.  Some were gifted to me as well.  I just want to stitch leaves on everything!  I'm making a few of these for an upcoming show in November.  What do you think?  The commercial black and white quilting scraps were fun to pop in there for the tree bark.  Here is the finished scene now...

Prairie Rug, 'Falling'  2013

At least I think it's finished.  I may define the trunks a bit more.  Maybe.  Maybe not.

Rug hooking is fun.  If you change your mind about a color, you just pull it out and pop a new one in.  It's way easier than changing the color on a threadpainting.  I've been doing so much hand stitching.  The next challenge is to decide on how to present/display the work. 

And now:  I'm going to head out for some more Postcard supplies by myself & take a break from stitching before the kids come home.  SCHOOL!  Yes - today is the first full day of school.  Lucky me!  The schedule has changed.  I get an extra half hour to work each afternoon.  Woohoo!  I will never be late for 1 o'clock meetings again.  : )  See you soon...

I'm linking to WIP Wednesday at The Needle & Thread Network.

Friday Finish

It's so odd to be once again at the point where I'm panicking that I won't have enough art for the next show, and then I line everything up to discover I have indeed made a LOT of pieces!  It will be a small space at the Spring Art Show & Sale as it's a group exhibit, and my table should be full.  I'll have machine & hand embroidered landscapes like this one...

Canola Summer, 2012

 You can read more about the event at the top of the blog.  Here's a close up...

I know... seriously?  There are thousands of French Knots in the whole piece...  That last photo was in-progress.  If you look at the first, you can see that I have a thin pale metallic thread couched down into the horizon.  You can click in the first photo to see it bigger if you like.

I will also have a little selection of art-to-mail from my Prairie Postcard series.

Wish You Were Here #30

side note - have you noticed that my photos look clearer since the new laptop?  My old one was failing and the yellow screen was causing me to edit my photos into strange & muddy colors.  Expect MUCH better photos from here on in!  ; )  There's something to celebrate!

I will also have a few little rug scenes!  So there you go.  More variety.

Prairie Rug #11

Now I'm off to hunt for the right blue embroidery floss.  I have one more flax field to finish and I've ran out!  OH, I do NOT want to go shopping AGAIN.  I want to stay home & sew!  Maybe I'll grab a bundle of the right color instead of one skein. 

Today I'm linking to a new party called Handmade Parade.  Isn't that a sweet title!?  You can check it out HERE.  Thank you Katey for the invite!  :)

The Frame Game

I'm experimenting with different presentation options for my art.  The next show & sale is less than 2 weeks away!  Lately, more and more artists and jurors have encouraged me to 'get it out from under the glass'.  With certain work like hooked rugs or quilts, of course I don't put those under glass.  With my fine thread embroideries though, I have put them under glass.  I use a gallery matting or double matting to keep the glass off the work.  Typically, other traditional embroiderers and nearly all buyers of my art want the glass.  "OMG HOW do you keep it clean!?" I get that a lot when I suggest removing the glass.  Maybe it's a matter of not knowing how to clean fibre art?  On the other hand, people from down south cringe and say, "do you know we have spiders and other insects that would eat that or make a nest in it?"  lol  I'd never considered that!  Still, after much thought, I think I will continue to put my thread paintings under glass for the next show.  It can be removed at the point of sale by me, or later by the new owner.  It does protect the fine work from the many, many hands that rub across those tiny little french knots.

And no - grown ups at art shows tend not to know better than to keep their hands off the work.  ; )

So, here is what I've been doing the last couple of days - working on presentation.  So far, I love the results.  First, I machine stitched some linen onto a fitted piece of tough watercolor paper by zigzagging around the edges.  The little Prairie Rugs had the excess canvass hot-steam pressed to the back.  I like it like this with no visible border.

preparing a linen backing

Then I stitched the rug right onto this new backing I created. 

mounting the fibre art

Check this out.  I love this tool.  I can pick any frame I want, remove or add glass, double the matting, change from a tabletop frame to a wall frame... and this inexpensive tool from Lee Valley allows me to make everything fit every time.  See?  I added new tabs because the ones that were made with the frame didn't work once I changed how much I was putting into the frame itself.

best present ever : )

I removed the glass and inserted the linen & matted art, put on the backing board, and held it all in place by inserting the new tabs.

neat as a pin

Tada!  I love this.  No glass.  All fabric.  My small art pieces are just too small to stick on the wall as is.   

Here it is, ready to go.  My label is on the back for identification.

Prairie Rug #11

Sunday Snapshots

Happy Mother's Day!  : )

Eleven

Prairie Rug #11.  : )  My friend Molly called them 'ruglets'.  Hehe, I love that!

Prairie Rug #11

Number nine (below) was bothering me.  The horizon was not defined.  So I pulled out one line of fabric strips and re-hooked a deeper color in.  Much better!

Prairie Rug #9 (after) click to view larger...

Prairie Rug #9 (before)

I know it's a prairie landscape.  I think It's really cool that someone on facebook looked at the last photo there and saw a pebbled beach with waves washing into the shore.  Do you see it?  I do now!  Isn't that neat!?  Oh I have so many show photos.  What a terrific project that would be!  Maybe that's what I can do this summer while I'm out at the lake with the kids 'unplugged' from my sewing machine.

Now I think I have a good variety and amount of work ready for the group Spring Art Show & Sale.  It's only 2 weeks away and I have a lot of handstitching to finish on my threadpaintings.  Off to tie a few thousand french knots!  Have a love day, and I hope you get in some gardening and garage saling!  ('Tis the season.)

Friday Finishes 8, 9, & 10

See what happens  when I skip 2 days of blogging?  I get LOTS done.  I have three more Prairie Rugs completed.  I started by reinforcing some burlap weave with a zigzag stitch all around it twice.

Then I basted it onto a long narrow scroll frame.  I know... that's not how you rug hook.  AFTER I got this done, the marvelous Molly left some hoops and a table top rug hooking frame on my doorstep!  : )  Thank you!  (Let me repeat: MARVELOUS!)

too long for a good photo

Next, I mapped out some rectangles onto the burlap with a big jiffy marker.  I have these great old floor-board style box frames (no glass) to mount them into.  They are going to look SWEET!  Away I went!  Here's the first (#8).

Prairie Rug #8

I think it has a nice glow.  I kept working into the wee hours last night, by the light of the Ott lamp : ).

I was using all those delicious scraps from Perwinkle's... and I made a few more of my own to add to the bags.  Yeah - I color sorted them all.  It sure is helpful to have bags of color!

Prairie Rug #9

I love the sky!  The horizon is a bit washed, but the cotton scraps really blended well with the chucky yarn I hooked into the lower part.  WHAT a cool effect!  I did that this morning and decided I couldn't stop there.  So one more...  I had the composition of 'Bloom' in mind here.  # 8 and #9 are about 5x7".  #10 here is smaller at 4x6".

Prairie Rug #10

I'm just so extremely loving this texture!  I'll post some 'glam shots' on Sunday for you.  Now I'm off to the Mother's Day Spa at the elementary school to get my toe nails painted.  ; )

linking to TGIFF!  Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday  hosted by M-R.  : )

To Vancouver and Back Again

It's funny how things work.  I happened to splurge and buy myself something very special for my birthday.  I bought my first fibre art ever!  No regrets!  : )  I chose fabric art by Kirsten Chursinoff, a wonderful fabric & thread artist in Vancouver.  She's been in Quilting Arts magazine more than once over the years.  She's the one I model my framing after.  I've been watching her blog and waiting... waiting.  When I saw this little gem, I could wait no longer.  I bought it, and it arrived just in time for my big day.  (Please click on her blog link to see a better photo of this piece.)

Elderberries & Ladybugs by Kirsten Chursinff

The SAME DAY that I took the leap to spend $ on fibre art just for me, I got an email from Krista Hennebury in Vancouver, requesting to purchase one of my Prairie Rugs.  You know Krista - she's the Poppyprint blogger.  She is the proud new owner of Prairie Rug #5.

Today Krista wrote all about it here.  Wow - what she wrote.  You should go read it.  She sounds pretty happy too.  Isn't that funny how things work sometimes?

WIP Wednesday at TN&TN

I'm really enjoying The Needle & Thread Network!  We have Canadian quilters, fibre artists, knitters, embroiderers, rug hookers, felters.  Weavers are welcome too!  We do "WIP Wednesday" to link up work in progress.  We have "Feature Fridays" if you want to have your moment of fame showing off your blog.  And now we have a "Canadian Call for Entries" page as well.  I love the way it's growing!

I'm linking up my work in progress.  I have seven little Prairie Rugs done and the edges steam-pressed back.  Now I need to stitch the back edges down and figure out how the heck to present these.  Mount them?  Wood... fabric... What color?  Hmmm... I'll have to think about this.  These are all very precious to me so I want them to be displayed well.

Prairie Rug #1

Prairie Rug #2

Prairie Rug #3

Prairie Rug #4

Prairie Rug #5  (my favorite fall colors)

Prairie Rug # 6 (my other favorite)

Prairie Rug #7

Do recognize that last one?  It's inspired by the photo I took on Christmas Morning.  I did it from memory - but I got it pretty good hey?  lol  I've stared at that sky photo for HOURS.  I had better remember it!  : )

Christmas Morning 2011 photo by Monika Kinner-Whalen

See you!