More simply sewn

I've gone the long way around back to the way of making stories I learned with Jude Hill as a teacher. I want to pull out a story here of the wild horses in Nags Head dunes (they are the descendants of Spanish horses from ships wrecked off the islands). For this year I've kind of lost the thread (pardon the pun) of where I was going with needle and thread. Now I seem
to be back where I can tell my stories my own way. I'm thinking about how opening up the borders lets my eye travel round the picture-kind of like I see in several quick glances then store up the picture. (Note* the photo of the sun setting was for me to study color layers-it's not part of the fabric picture)

Janet Bolton's fabric pictures have inspired me for years. I think I saw how she adds planes and opens the borders of her pictures. It's been heaven these past few days to sit and hand sew new story beginnings. I'll post a few photos of them as well as the grand boy's felted mobile I'm making for his first birthday.

Tiny notebooks

What I've been doing between cleaning closets and cabinets. Felted little notebook covers with old buttons and a tiny fabric collage on each.

Also trying to use photo editor, picnic, online. I'll see how well these turn out.

The weather here in Virginia is very cold. New warm socks help!

More color exploration

OK, so my new years resolution is to learn to take better photos. But for now this is one of the new paintings I'm working on. Limited color choices.

New direction in 2012

Today I went through all the fabric pieces I worked on this year. And I found I'm most interested in what I was doing a year ago; working with Jude Hill

' online class,
Contemporary Boro Cloth. I found the cloth pieces I got hung up on, backed up and took a new direction. Seems like I've been jumping around most of the year. Frustrating. I've learned lots of new skills but love the cloth, needle and thread.


So for this coming year I'm using the thread as a line, cloth and applique as form.
I'm not going to worry about finished product yet...just get serious about the process and work. Today I've been pretty honest with with myself looking at what I've done last year. It's boring. Making the collage each day has made me think about design, meaning and when to stop. I did save one fabric collage, sewing it down to harem cloth this afternoon while I thought all these things.

It's soft, has line, meaning and form. I stopped when it was done and am happy with
this quiet new piece of cloth.