I'm back

I had a lovely time in Athabasca aside from the fact that I came down with a miserable
case of Bronchitis, cold, the day I left. The girls were very supportive and I really hope they enjoyed the class. It was great to spend some time with my dear friend. We took some pictures of the ice breaking on the Athabasca river - it was really something to see the huge chunks of ice and the river moving so swiftly. It was very interesting. Click on the pictures to see the closeups.

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I took pictures of the students and their work in progress. They did very well. We had students from Edmonton, Athabasca and Ft. MacMurray and I was pleased with their results. I do hope at least some of them carry on with the landscapes.

On my way tomorrow

I am leaving for Athabasca in Northern Alberta, to teach a landscape class over two days, and to spend some time with my dear friend Debbie. I am really looking forward to this trip. I will post again next week. Take care everyone. Shirley

Finished!!!!

I finished a few more little bits and pieces. I really am enjoying doing these small wall hangings which are backed by timtex- I will put a fabric backing and sleeve when I get back from Athabasca. I am going to do another one when I get back too. S

Challenge finished!

I just put my finished 4 season challenge as a header for my blog. I am going to show you the back of this challenge so you can see the thread painting that I did. I enjoyed doing this little challenge. I changed the picture quite a bit but am happy with it.

I am also showing you a couple of pictures of l2" x 12" challenges that I entered for the Quilting Arts Calendar 2110. I can show them now as the calendar pictures have been chosen.

The first is: "I picked a bright red poppy on a lovely sunny day"

the second one is a winter hand painted, not thread painted scene. "Deck the halls"

Tutorial #2 - 4 Season Challenge

I have been working all morning on the challenge and it seems to be coming along okay.

I have changed it a bit , (I don't like it to be like a photo imiage) - and have added more interest to the side with the snow. I rather enjoyed doing this scene on the timtex as it means no puckering! grin.

I plan to do more with the snow side and improve on the foreground bushes . I will put a backing on it and finish with a zig zag around the edge. I still plan on doing some crayon shading on the logs. This has been an interesting piece for me. Let me know what you think about it. Click on the picture to see the close up. I will put the finished piece on tomorrow once I have it finished. Shirley

Tutorial #1-My 4 season Challenge

I have mentioned the four season challenge here and finally have started mine.

We had to choose one of 11 black and white photos and make a small wall hanging using colors from one of the four seasons. The challenge was to do all four seasons, Or do four different pictures of the seasons.

Here is a picture of the black and white scene.
I decided to do winter. I cut a piece of 'timtex' which is a heavy web 12" x 12" and laid a pale blue strip across the top and white over the rest of the scene. I then cut out the mountain in a pale grey as I want it to seem to be far away. ---------

I had some wonderful very dark grey with a brown tinge which faintly showed fir trees. I cut the points of the trees out and laid it in front of the mountain. I have a dark blue grey batik which I used for the trees on the right which made them appear to be closer.
As you can see, I have thread painted part of the first set of trees. I used a variegated dark brown and cream for the trees. The light shade makes it look like the sun is shining on the tree tops. For the third set of trees I will change into very dark green for further away and come forward with a light shade for the rest of the fir trees. I found some wonderful
fabric yesterday for the fallen trees and logs on the right so I am looking forward to getting at them as well.
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I then pieced some blue, turquoise and purple batiks to make the stream and laid it on the white. I cut another piece of white and made the snow on the left. I then put in some shadows with a fabric pen. (I will do more thread painting once the scene is together). I placed some rocks in the stream and thread painted some white water around it. (I will do more of this but want to get the scene together before I finish the thread painting) I am now in the process of working on the trees and the mountain in the distance - (I will use some white thread to paint some snow on the peak. I am enjoying doing this small
piece and am seriously thinking of doing more of the small scenes on timtex. I will follow up with more pictures as I go along. Shirley

Thread painted moose

This is the first animal I have done on my new machine and it is so much easier. It took about half the time. I am going to use the moose for the wall hanging I am giving to
Wellspring for their new Wellspring house and I think it will be okay. I kept the one that is on the header here as both Pat (dh) and I liked it and decided to keep it on my wall. I have had a southwestern theme there and we have decided to change it so that some of my
Rocky mountain wall hangings are put up instead.

It is a lovely day here We saw the hawk at her nest today so spring is awakening.

Our robins are busy pulling out worms and building their nests. It is a sunny day and all is well with the world.

I hope you like my moose! Shirley

This and That -

I mentioned that the robins are home -- it is so nice to see them. I always feel so good when they arrive in our tree! I took some pictures from our patio and thought you might like to see them. They have started gathering twigs to make their nests. Usually only one pair stays here, but these 3 pairs seem to be settling in so it might be that they are going to stay here! Click on the pictures to get a closeup.

As you can see, we have a lovely sunny day and thankfully the forecast is good for a change. One thing with the
robins here, we know spring will follow!!

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I bought a new sewing machine yesterday and am I ever having fun 'playing' with it.
It is a Husquvarna Sapphire 870 and I am really enjoying it. I wore my other machine out and so have been fighting with the tension for the past year. I finally decided it was time and just love this one. The best thing about it is that the 870 has an automatic tension setting which is so nice - thread cutter, fonts for writing , automatic threader and lots and lots of new bells and whistles. I bought it from the same dealer I bought my last one which was a husqvarna viking freesia - I literally wore it out - She knows what I need and talked me out of buying a more expensive machine- told me this one would more than do what I needed it to do. I am so tickled. I quilted my large landscape today and am now
putting on the binding . My quilting has not been up to par as I wasn't able to fix the tension and the technician told me my two machines were 'worn out' They did last another year but he was right.

We figured I had put hundreds of miles on my machine doing quilting and thread painting. I haven't branched into thread painting a specific animal or bird but quilted my whole piece today . I can hardly wait until I start designing a new landscape - lots of fun.

I will finish my binding and put a picture on of my new wall hanging. Needless to say I am a happy camper. Shirley

Spring is here!

Every year 5 robins arrive in our yard and we wait for them with baited breath (especially this year as the winter has been dreadful) THEY ARRIVED YESTERDAY.!!! They have come a long way and yet they are quite chubby and busy. It must be difficult for them as they always arrive when there is snow on the ground. A couple of them stay and the others keep on going a few days after they arrive. They come to the same two trees each year. The picture is part of my thread painting class - click on it to see the stitch directions if you are interested in thread painting.

We always have baby robins in the spring and what a joy they are! We are also watch for
an eagle or a very large hawk that arrives about now every year. It has its nest in a tall tree
along the road beside our complex. She has her babies and hunts in a large natural park across the street from our complex. Next we will have the johnie jump ups, (little pansies)crocus and dandelions! It is sunny and nice today, with more snow expected tomorrow. This has been the worst winter I can remember, and I have seen many many of them.

I am concerned about the flooding in North Dakota and the strong possibility of flooding
in the Winnipeg area. For those who are affected by the water, our thoughts are with you.

I am having problems with my sewing machine and I am afraid it is time for me to think about buying another one. My two Vikings have embroidered thousands of miles of thread over the past ten years - I don't use the straight stitch except for the borders, all my other work is embroidery. Both my machines are having tension problems, even though I bought new bobbin holders- which did improve the stitch a bit. It looks loops on the top and the bottom and my tech person said I needed a new machine. I will likely start looking around. I can't complain as my two freesias (Husquvarna's) have done a good job on my wall hangings. I use different layers, different stitching directions and heavily free motion quilt all my wall hangings so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I am going to look around before I decide which machine would do what I need it to do.

Bye for now. (I hope the robins are arriving or have arrived at your house!!)

BOW VALLEY IN AUTUMN- 2009- FINISHED TOP

I have shown you the thread painted tree and bear - and here is the finished top, ready for quilting. I have it already for quilting . The foreground on this one didn't come easily - I haven't worked on a large wall hanging for some time. The quilt will finish at
30.5" wide by 44" tall. It will take me awhile to quilt it as the quilting is very important and I want this one to really really look good. Click on the picture to see the hand dye up close as well as other parts of the quilt.

The sky is one of my hand dyes and works very well.
The mountains are from a grey,purple batik, and the snow on the peaks is thread painted with white thread.

I found the border fabric when we drove up to Canmore last week and I am happy with the way the colors work.

I hope you like it! Shirley

LANDSCAPES BY OUR MEMBERS

As I have posted on this blog - our learningfa group has been doing quite a few different landscapes this past while. We have some challenges and a simple landscape class which was sent out awhile ago. I am really impressed with the lovely landscapes the girls have done. It is amazing as some of them have never done landscapes before and you can see from these, what a great job they have done. These are just a few and I will look for more-
It is very satisfying to have the members
use my classes to try a new type of quilting. It is hard for traditional quilters to change over to landscapes and I am pleased that there is so much interest in trying this new type of quilting. We will be doing an advanced landscape in April and it will be interesting to see how it goes.

I want you to look at this

wonderful landscape by Janet- The landscape was one of the Challenges on our learningfa group and she did a wonderful job. She took a photo and copied it in black and white and then chose the colors for one of the seasons. She had it framed for a gift and I think it is outstanding.
Click on it to enlarge it. Janet does wonderful work and is working on many different
aspects of art quilting. You will enjoy her blog.

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Shirley

Latest work

I am working on a larger wall hanging which will be given for a special occasion in June.

I have the background done and am working on the foreground now. I am putting my thread painted bear and fir tree in this piece and it is finally starting to come together.

I don't have any problems doing the distant mountains but it is more difficult to
come up with something 'different' for the foreground. The piece is called, the
"Bow Valley in Autumn" and after many different layouts I have made the final decision on how I want to finish it. I had planned to put a foreground hill in the piece but with the bear and the tree , I decided to put in some dead logs, and have lots of bushes, but leave
it flat. I still have to decide once I have it quilted, whether I will put tall birch trees in the
border. I won't know that until the very end.

I am putting in the pictures I have taken so far- you can see how it evolved.

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!

I hope you are all 'wearing the green' today. I am thinking of my friends in
the park in Mesa ,Arizona where we spent our winters for 8 years. Every St. Patrick's day we had a party around the pool. We had an Irish band, dancers and green beer! Everyone in the park came and what fun we had. Here is a picture of us at one of the pool parties.
So much fun with so many winter friends. I miss them.

We knew the winter was ending and soon we would be heading north. I have so
many happy memories of St. Patricks day - I wish we could surprise our friends and drop in today! Shirley

AND THE WINNER IS: A R L E N E !!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS ARLENE! Let me know which of the 3 wall hangings
you would like! Please contact me at painterlady2@shaw.ca .

There were 53 finished projects this year not counting the rr's so that is
wonderful.

Thread painting - more animals

Here is another thread painted bear as well as two deer - click on them to see the
stitch direction. I did these when I first started and used a bigger zig zag than I do now.

Both are in landscapes that I did in 2007 -08.

Draw choices

I have been looking over some of the pieces I have on hand, and have decided that the
draw winner will be able to choose from one of these three landscapes. The forest was done in 2008 and is a rough edged applique piece - one of my first forests-at that time I didn't put borders on my landscapes. The eagle and sheep are thread painted. I loved doing this one, but just don't have room to hang it here so decided I would put it in as one of the choices.

The Southwest scene - is from a class I am going to be teaching as a repeat class in the near future on learningfa. It is another one of my favorite subjects.

The third is the 3 sisters which I showed yesterday.

The winner will be able to choose which of the three landscapes she would like to have in her home. I just hope whoever wins will enjoy their prize. Shirley

A lovely folk art landscape

which was just finished by one of our members, Phyllis Duffy - she is a very talented lady, and designed this landscape and will teach it in the spring. I was enchanted by the
whimsical appearance of this piece and she gave me permission to show it here on my blog.

This is such a great way of showing we all can do different things and one perspective is just as good and as interesting as another. I really love it. Congratulations, Phyllis.

LEARNINGFA DRAW TO BE DRAWN NEXT WEEK.

The header picture "Three Sisters" Canadian Rockies, which are near Canmore,Alberta, Canada is the
quilt I am giving away to one of the members of learningfa who finished a project since the first draw.

I am in awe of the beautiful work the girls have done this year so far. I will be holding
another draw in the fall. There are 52 projects eligible for this draw. I wish I could make a
wall hanging for each and every one of the students who have put so much time and effort into these projects. I am also gratified and pleased that a lot of them are landscapes
and thread painting, as well as landscape challenges. There are lots of traditional quilts in the eligible group who are doing art quilts and traditional quilting including paper piecing, mystery, square dance and others. That is what is so great about this wonderful group. I am so pleased that many traditional quilters are willing to teach excellent classes for our group- it is such a help.

We have spaces for a few more people, once the group is full, a waiting list will be set up, so if you are interested in joining - I would suggest you do so now. Shirley

TUTORIAL #2 FIR TREE - POPPY THREAD PAINTING

Here is the finished thread painted fir tree, as well as the finished poppy. I would
suggest you click on the picture so you can see the closeup of the thread painting and the
shading. I am now ready to work on the foreground of the large landscape. I am
debating whether to quilt the scene and THEN place the thread painted subjects (bear and tree) on it. Will decide when I get the rest of the bushes etc. done. I have done it this way in the past, as well as adding it before I quilt it. I am also going to add some Poplars or birches up the border and into the scene, but will definitely do them once the quilting is finished.

It is the first time I have done a tree like this and it was a learning experience. I used 3 different shades of green - very dark for the deepest shadows, medium green for the medium shadows and a pretty rayon thread for the top lightest shades. I am quite happy with the way it turned out.

More mysteries

Here are more wonderful mysteries - aren't they great?

TUTORIAL -#1- THREAD PAINTED FIR TREE

As I am doing a lot of thread painting for the big wall hanging I am doing. I thought I would show you another thread painted subject. I am going to do a fir tree - quite large for the foreground. I lay a medium mottled green on my timtex - 3" wide by 16" high.

I drew a fir tree on the green and stitched around the drawing. I wanted there to be a distinction between some of the branches. Using a very dark green, I went over the portion which will be shadowed.

I then started using a pretty fairly bright rayon green for the branches, after thread painting in the trunk and a bit of the branches. You have to look fairly close to see the thread painting on the top branches around the brown trunk. I will carry on down the tree. Once I have this portion done, I will over stitch with a bit of contrast (likely lighter), to give it more of a 3 d impression. This is my first attempt at thread painting this type of tree for a closeup and I want it to look as natural and real as possible. (I am not sure whether I am going to succeed with this one or not. Usually I can highlight what needs to be highlighted once the whole thing is thread painted, but it is difficult when it is one dark shade - rather than a variety. I will post this now and finish it up tomorrow and post a picture of the finished tree (I hope) grin. Shirley