monkey hands

Two faces traveling

These wool faces are tucked into my bag, along with other bits of felted wool, linen, old shirt cotton, and thread galore. I left NYC this morning, and now I'm in Chicago waiting for the flight to Delhi. I'm seeing so many faces as I travel--perhaps that's why faces are finding their way into my stitching. They're in my dreams as well as my waking world.

Making Faces, continued

Felted wool. About 10" square. 

Yokohama Quilt Show: Art Quilts!

Small art quilts were a significant portion of the 2011 show.  This is a small sampling, with photos snapped when the crowds were sparse enough to attempt taking pictures.

I'm not sure about the wisdom of using a bright yellow background, but I liked the detail in this crazy quilt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seeing Faces

I started stitching a sashiko-type square pattern on washed wool and old cotton shirting, using the check pattern in the cotton for grid lines. Somewhere along the way--after reading the latest offerings from Jude's Spirit Cloth or Grace's Wind Thread or Melanie Testa's blog, perhaps (all linked in the side bar)--I let go of the grid and meandered away from straight(ish) lines into soft lines and a spiral. A face (two eyes, a nose?) appeared as I started to circle the area.

Stitching can really be a magical, intuitive process if I let go.

Seeing this image posted here, I notice I've placed two of the moon and star pins (from the 100 yen shop in Tokyo, a sweet gift from my sister) in mouth like fashion.  Maybe Jude's monsters are seeping into my consciousness as I engage with her Sun Moon Stars online class. 

Wool Face, continued; Upcoming Travels

Making feathers for Jude Hill's "Magic Feather Project" was so inspiring that I signed up for her "Sun, Moon, and Stars" tutorial series as soon as the feathers were sent off.  It's been wonderfully motivating! I started making my first moon, which some how became this face.  I've been working on it today, adding sashiko-style stitches.  I'm not sure where this is going, but that's part of the process for me right now.

As of tomorrow, I'll be traveling again for several weeks--first back  to my permanent home in New Hampshire  for a few days, then on to NYC for a week, then to Delhi for two weeks and back to Beijing in mid-January.  

I'm feeling a bit rootless these days with so much traveling. Hand stitching has become a daily meditation of sorts, so I'll take take a small collection of wool and a little pack of boro (picked up in Japan last month) along with me. I'll be able to  keep working on small, portable  projects as I move around. I'll post here and there along the way, and I also plan share more from the Japanese fiber arts tour last month.

Wool Portrait

I've been slowing washing wool yardage for my yet-to-be-started, still-in-the-planning-stage wool quilt. Along the way, I've made a new felted wool bird, started another bird, and begun a small wool face that may (or may not) become an art quilt. 

Felted wool bird flying over southern China (map). About 4" long. 

This in-process face was started on a whim from totally random wool scraps, and includes a bit of Kaffe Fassett fabric for the eyes (left over from a bird I made earlier this year). I'm not sure where this is going, but it's been fun to just let it happen.   

Wool Quilt

I've been collecting half and quarter meters of colored wool/cashmere blends from a local Beijing tailor's shop for a new quilt. (The red wool background was a poor choice for this photo, but I'm traveling now, so it will have to do.) Colors I've gathered so far:
This is a 4 x 6 inch fabric postcard (unfinished). Those little one inch squares were a bit challenging to assemble! I'm a visual, hands-on try-it-out kind of designer, so I'll be playing with the colors on a small scale before committing to what I think will be a throw sized (60" x 70" or so) quilt.