July Haiku Art

Balance - what comes into your mind when hearing this prompt word?  I thought of my 10 year old granddaughter Abigail balancing on her unicycle and of the determined look on her face as she struggles to maintain her balance on the low wire.  I thought of commonly used expressions such as "balance your checkbook" or "eat a balanced diet".

Ultimately - what balance means to me these days is the attempt to put the mind and body into a balanced or integrated state as we do through Yoga practice.

This is the 2nd of a series about Yoga practice.  It incorporates the words: "Shanti" which means peace and "so hum" .  This is a mantra that we use for focus while doing deep breathing.

The Haiku

close your eyes breathe in

jasmine scented air swirling

find your center - stay

Shanti 2

Drowning

dreaming of drowning

battling the undertow

sink to the bottom

June Haiku Art: Waterfalls

My theme for this month seems to be "change" - new directions, new resolve, fresh ideas.

I first thought that I would have to take a pass on the June Haiku project - so much else going on this month. But when presented with the prompt word:  Waterways - I knew that I'd have to do something.  The Haiku came pretty easily.  Having grown up on the Great Lakes and steeped in the history and lore of the St. Lawrence Seaway I immediately thought of Niagara Falls.  And a more recent Falls discovery - Minnehaha Falls.

I am currently working on a couple of water related quilt art projects and did not want to start another one right now.  So I turned to another art form and designed and made Waterfall earrings.  Our Haiku Art project can be in whatever form we wish.  

Waterfalls    the Haiku

cascading splendor

mists rising torrents swirling

mighty falls thunder

and the Art

Waterfalls

 

 

 

 

 

Swarovski Crystals and Sterling Silver

Haiku Art for May 2011

The prompt word this month is "soft".  Now this will be interesting to see - how many directions will the artists go with this word.  The possibilities are endless.

This one didn't require too much deliberation on my part.  During a trip to Ireland a few years back I latched on to the phrase "soft Irish day".  It really captured my imagination.

It rains a lot in Ireland.  Sometimes it rains hard; sometimes the rain settles over the earth like a misty blanket. They call this a "soft day".

steady gentle rain

Irish hills shrouded in mist

another soft day

I used fairly vivid commercial quilt cottons for the stylized hills then couched the edges with decorative fibers.  Then I quilted the whole thing with 40 wt. variegated cotton in shades of green.

I arranged a piece of tulle over the quilt and tacked it down with vintage buttons. Finally I topped it with a piece of lace (Irish lace?) .

another fun Haiku Art challenge

Haiku Art for April 2011

The word prompt for April is "procrastination".   Good one.
Process: first thought of "why" we procrastinate - in general.  Could be some underlying fear of failure or for some - fear of success.  Maybe we don't think that we have the specific skill required or talent needed to complete the task and that we will face ridicule.  Maybe we're in conflict about the task at hand and aren't even sure it's something that we want to do. Maybe we're overwhelmed by other demands in our lives and can't give adequate attention to this newer demand. Maybe we don't have a clear enough image of exactly what it is we want to accomplish.  Maybe the task is boring compared to some other activity that could substitute.
I considered these ideas and wrote the following Haiku:

      Demands, wants, needs, musts
      I want to..........I don't want to
      Relentless tick - tock

I decided that I would set specific goals for the art work:
1. to complete the work in a set amount of time - time that I alternatively would have spent that evening playing a game online .   I thought that it was not unreasonable to have the main designing and rough assembly done in 45 minutes.  I would do the quilting and finishing the following day.
2.  I have a plastic storage box full of previously fused cotton scraps - some of which are remnants from previous projects.  My challenge was to use ONLY fabrics from that particular box.  Believe me there were plenty to choose from.

Done!   The completed piece is approximately 12 inches by 12 inches.  It is entitled Fragments of Time.  It demonstrates how focus, definition and time limits overcame procrastination in one dedicated to that art.

Fragments of Time

 Demands, wants, needs, musts
I want to I don't want to
Relentless tick - tock

The March word is.....................Sunshine!

I am fascinated by the patterns made by sunshine as it is filtered through dense foliage.

                Forest Canopy

                Clefts in rain soaked branches         

                Sunbeams bursting through                         

                                         

Armstrong Redwoods State Park

On My Design Wall

Just took a fresh look at my "design wall" and decided what to finish up this weekend. I'll have the house to myself  - no excuses not to finish at least one of these projects.

This is Beach Buddies.

Almost finished the quilting - just the sky and details of the clothing.  Then I will bind it and attach a hanging sleeve.

This is an original design based on some photography that I did a few years ago.

I've got mostly handwork left on this watery, fishy piece so it'll be a good one to work on too.

And if I need a break from the stitching I'll pull out my paints and get back to work on KR.  He really needs to be finished.

Faultlines of the Heart

When presented with the February word: "love" I thought of many ways to go with it - parental, romantic, physical, familial - even love of music, nature and so on.  But what I really wanted to deal with was loss of love - specifically loss of loved ones.  When my Mom passed away last year I had to deal with the sadness of her loss plus the fact that she was the last one. Her passing followed my Dad's (by many years) and my brother and sister's deaths more recently.  I reflected on how we all suffer loss of love - or loved ones - then have to face our publics as though everything was completely right in our world.
Here you have a heart that has been fractured into many pieces along the faultlines that were there all along.  And floating over the pieces of the heart are a tangle of ribbons attempting to hide the tears underneath.

Letting go of love

Hot salty tears flow freely

Bruised battered heart cracks.

All the red "shards" combine to form one complete heart. The pieces have been attached to the background with a lot of heavy quilting. I used heavy cotton plus metallic. The ribbons are hand tacked. Under the ribbons are tear-shaped beads peeking out. I purposefully left the thread tails and frayed edges alone as they are part of the over all feeling that I wanted to generate.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams_0002.wmv

Received New Word in Haiku-Art

As promised we received our inspiration word for February late yesterday.  The word is "love".  What else for the month of February?  I have some ideas spinning around in my head already.  They aren't of the lacy heart variety.  Stay tuned.

January Haiku-Art Fiber Piece

My goal was to illustrate nature's propensity to new beginnings in the face of adversity.

A secondary goal was to try some new creative techniques or materials.


Lutradur - burned edges, stamped and painted with pearl-ex
Angelina fibers - stamped
 Rosebud photos printed on cotton, appliqued and thread painted.
Purchased leafy vine appliqued
Haiku printed on Extravorganza - edges fringed and painted
Scattered beads
Sheer tulle layered over the piece
Layered and quilted
Edges finished with  zigzag stitch

January Word

Here is my Haiku for our January word:  Beginnings....

Treacherous frost lurks

Tender shoots defy the chill

Hardy rosebuds thrive.

PhotoArt by Guila Greer

Come take a look at all the beautiful art work on our blog: http://haikuart.blogspot.com

I'm working on the fiber art that will accompany this Haiku and will post it within the week.

Goals and Gotta-Dos

One of the shows that I wanted to submit to has a deadline only 4 days from now.  There's no way I'll finish the quilting on the piece that I wanted to submit.  Darn.  Time just slipped by.  And I've been caught up in doing some very mundane quilting.  As in items that I promised to people and must get done. 

However, all that said, I'm looking forward to receiving the first "challenge word" this week from our Haiku-Art group.  It'll be "ready, set, go" with only a week to create and finish the Haiku and the art piece.

So far as my "mundane" work - actually they are 2 quilts that I'll enjoy doing.  One is the softy sea for my younger granddaughter and I've got all the elements ready now to put together.  It's been a fun designing process. The other is a lap quilt (a wedding gift) and I just finished cutting out the first round of strips. 

Some "Green" Holiday Projects

Our kids in Minneapolis use only cloth napkins and I sewed a set of 6 colorful patchwork napkins for them. I lined them and used a pillowcase finish.  I didn't think the fabric had enough body to just give them a rolled hem.

 Aren't they pretty?

I love the look of beautifully wrapped gifts but it always gives me a twinge when I see those gorgeous wrappings ripped off and thrown in the garbage.  So I decided to make some reusable gift bags.  I made a few little triangular shaped pouches and several larger drawstring bags.  I expect that the bags will be put to good use - even if it's just to pass along with a gift to someone else.  I did some with holiday themed fabric and some that weren't.  Then they can be used year round.

I saw the pattern for this online a few months back and haven't been able to find it again. If I do I'll be sure to give proper attribution.

I hope that my little great niece will like this bag as much as the gift inside

I have no particular pattern for these - pretty much custom made them to size considering the gift that was to go inside.

What's Been Keeping Me Busy

Happy Holidays everybody!  I hope you all are having a good relaxing day - We've been on the go most of the month and it's great to be able to kick back today.
We spent some time visiting our son and his family in Minneapolis.  As usual it was wonderful - especially getting to spend some time with our granddaughters.  We even had a couple of bonus days because of the BIG SNOW!  It was such a heavy snow that they even closed the Mall of America - on a Saturday afternoon 2 weeks before Christmas!  And they closed the Minneapolis public schools for a couple of days - unheard of!

Well I got SOME of my special projects finished in time for the holidays-

 A while back I may have mentioned that I was knitting fingerless gloves for my daughter-in-law.  Well, I've been knitting for many years and have done some complicated patterns but have never done gloves before .  All those fingers!   She wanted them to come up to her elbows - (remember - they live in Minnesota)


Well, they're not works of art but they're snugly and they're DONE! 

Busy Week -

I didn't make much progress with my Art Quilting projects this week but nevertheless it was a good week. 

• I did make progress on a quilt that I'm making for my youngest granddaughter. Kind of a cute story - we were talking on the phone a few weeks ago and I was trying to explain the project that I was working on for a class.  It is a seascape and has all kinds of embellishments including cellophane. (It was an online class with Linda Schmidt - "creating the elements". Great class!)  Granddaughter first asked me who the quilt is for - then commented that it wouldn't be a very "softy" quilt. She proceeded to give me a detailed explanation as to how I could get all the special ocean effects that I wanted just by using fabric and thread. Thus ending up with a quilt that would still be "softy."  So I'm making her a special "softy sea" quilt as a special surprise.
• My "day job" is real estate and it's getting more important than ever to get a special designation to list and sell so-called "distressed" properties - such as foreclosures and short sales.  So I've been busy taking a class that will culminate with the CDPE designation: Certified Distressed Property Expert. It's actually quite interesting and I will be finishing up this weekend.
• I am participating in an online group that was formed to bring Haiku and Fiber Art together.  The group was established this past week by A. Carole Grant, a Canadian Mixed Media/Fiber Artist that I "met" on the Quilt Art list.  I am very excited to be a part of this and am looking forward to some "stretching" and growth as an artist.
• We had our Book Club meeting this week and a good discussion on "The House at Riverton".  This was a very good read!  Kind of Upstairs Downstairs meets The Thirteenth Tale - with a little Remains of the Day thrown in for good measure!

It's supposed to rain here all day tomorrow and I plan to sew, sew, sew!!!

Spring Has Sprung

Spring Has Sprung?

I know – Thanksgiving is in 2 weeks – so why I am titling this entry Spring Has Sprung?  

A little while back I made a little quilt with that title.  Do you remember the little ditty….

Spring has sprung,

The grass has riz.

I wonder where the birdies is…?

So, naturally I had to make a “The Grass Has Riz” piece.  I just finished the beading  last week and got it done!

Spring Has Sprung

The center background is randomly pieced and the design elements are fused.  The technique is very improvisational and FUN! I was first introduced to it a couple of years ago at a class taught by Deana Hartman.  (http://chameleonquilts.com)   One of the best classes I've taken.

I hurried through all the basic construction so that I
could get to the BEADING!
The writing on the quilt is done with a free motion
zigzag stitch.

All Things Fiber

In homage to the title of this blog I'm posting a picture of one of my favorite things -
Aren't these luscious???  A couple of years ago I bought this hank of fibers at a quilt show.  I've used a few of them along the way but mostly I use them as decoration and inspiration..... YUM!

Along the way all knitters collect oddballs.  Now that I'm involved in making Art Quilts I have another way to use them.  THAT was very exciting to realize.

Do you love coffee?  I do - especially that first sip in the morning.  So what did I do?  I made a little art quilt in honour of that    AHHHHsome moment:  the first sip.

I pieced the background to loosely approximate my kitchen - yellow tile counters  - got the grid effect with a paintstick rubbed over a plastic utensil that I found in the kitchen drawer.

When I posted here several months ago I mentioned that I was working on a piece that needed some hand embroidery to be added.  This was a fun project - something different and incorporating several different techniques.

Here is a photo of  my Fish Out Of Water

I collaged several fabrics onto a mottled yellow background.  I made a stencil from a fish drawing and when I cut it out I was careful to keep the remaining stencil material intact so that I could use it too.
Then I painted the fish image onto the quilt using the stencil and acrylic paint.  When it was dry I thought that more contrast was needed around the fish so I used the "fish" part of the stencil and painted around the outline.

I outlined the collage pieces with perle cotton and added embroidery to the fish.  Then I added some beads and a button eye to accent the fish.

      

Finally I stitched and beaded a spray of coral.

                                                                                                  
I used a pillowcase type of backing and accented the edges with a perle cotton running stitch.