Fabric journal pages

Drawing or painting with fabric has become a love of mine. Selecting the colors and the fabric and the technique to "draw" the image on the canvas. Creating texture and layers. Appliqueing or reverse appliqueing, chenilling, painting, dying, ripping and layers of color.

In a recent fabric art journal page swap I created two pages to share with friends. Both make use of scraps of fabric to build up the colors and create the feel and mood for the page. Quotes are on the backs.

Art quilt blocks for community quilt

Every year I participate in the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival community quilt. Women from all over the world participate to create a themed quilt that is then raffled off at the final concert. It is always beautiful, inspiring and lots of fun. Women and girls spend the week of the festival embellishing the donated quilt blocks before it is bound and presented for the raffle drawing.

This year's theme was "What do you love about Michfest". Where do I start or end? I love the woods, I love the singing, I love the music, I love the ferns, I love the spirit and the women and the community. I love the drumming and the silence. It is a time of peace and healing and community.

I ended up making four 6" squares, Just because I couldn't stop at one. And they are also fabric journal pages...or prayer flags...or just art.

Another published piece

I got published! Submitted a piece for an art journal book. Just received the book and it's wonderful and inspirational. Page 61!. http://www.northlightshop.com/art-journal-kickstarter-grouped

It was created for a fabric art journal swap. I layered fabrics and stitched my pattern then snipped away layers to reveal  various colors. Birch twigs wrapped in thread frame the window. A scattering of beads adorn the new growth. Every birch grove holds a window into spring. 

Spring Window

Summer bench sitting

I just spent a week and a half on a jury doing my civic duty. Tough case, tough decisions. But the bright part of the day was lunch in beautiful summer weather downtown Hartford, CT. I live about 10-15 minutes from downtown Hartford and in 10 years in Connecticut have not spent much time getting to know the city. Now, a bench in a green space near several courthouses is maybe not a typical city setting, but the mix of people is interesting.
I joined a grandmother and her 4 year old grandson on a bench in the shade. We talked a bit with the little boy as a great conversation opener. He was very interested in my lunch especially the fruit cup of fresh melon. He started angling for some strawberries..there were none, but there was watermelon and that was just as good. I let him work his way around letting me know he would really love to share some of that watermelon. I finally relented, asked his grandmother if it was alright and he got his treat.
How wonderful to be able to talk a bit with strangers, exchange a bit of news, laugh at the antics of a child and then go our separate ways. I did leave an abandoned art piece behind! #abandonedartct or Twitter @abandonedartct
Thank you strangers on a bench for a pleasant lunch break.

Sunny day in Hartford, perfect for abandoned art

Dropped a few more in Hartford last week. I have a few more days of being downtown so I need to find some more drops. It's fun to wander around and scope out drops. It is easy to drop a bird here and there, but photographing them draws attention. Hope they found a good home, there were lots of children on the sidewalks. #abandonedartct. On Twitter @abandonedartct

Abandoned art, the right kind of littering

I involved myself in an abandoned art project. You make a piece of art then leave it for someone to find spreading joy along the way. It is a fun way to pay it forward and bring some fun into someone's life.

I decided on little fabric birds. Easy to make, all from my fabric and felt stash, and bright and colorful. I've made about 18 and abandoned 6 around Connecticut. Check out @abandondedartct, #abandonedartct.

Here are some recent abandonments.

Fabric Art Journal...a different medium

Fabric Art Journal pages are pages with a definite fabric origin. Starting with a fabric base, you can stitch, glue, embroider, decorate in any imaginable medium. Just like a paper page. I have seen prayer flag type pages, quilts, beaded creations, embroidery, added paper, ephemera, charms, natural objects, buttons and more.
It changes the creation process. Rather than starting with a doodle, a word, a stain and adding outlines, colored pencils, markers, paint and ephemera, I need more time to gather fabrics, plan, stitch, actually design the page. The final product changes and grows as the page develops, but it is not as fluid and spontaneous. On the other hand, I can rip out stitches and change easier than ink on paper.
Process decisions are more complicated, how to add words, machine stitch, hand written on fabric, embroidered? How do I attach something that has no loops like sticks and feathers? Will glue hold or ruin the piece?
But the result is amazing. A piece with a tactile presence that paper doesn't have. Give it a try.

• Start with a favorite piece of fabric or muslin. Don't forget old favorite shirts or dresses for backings.
• Gather buttons, ribbon, beads, ephemeral, lace, embellishments from old clothes, old jewelry, fabric scraps.
• Layout items, rearrange, add, subtract. When you are happy with the arrangement. Take a picture.
• Now remove the top layers. Hand or machine stitch the back objects. 
• Using the photo, add another layer and stitch or glue the items. Add another layer. By this stage, you are probably hand stitching. Tuck in ribbons, feathers, add beads to dangling items.
• Stand back. Add something else. Think about it, add more.
• Don't forget pockets (stitch 3 sides of a patch or scrap, leave the fourth open) to tuck in tickets or memorabilia. Buttons off those old clothes add depth. Pressed flowers can be secured under netting or a piece from an old sheer curtain. 
• Write a word with Sharpie on a scrap of fabric and secure. Or stitch a phrase with embroidery floss. 

And then again. Use the same techniques with paper. What have you got to lose? Let yourself go.