Stitchy Stuff Part 1

Kate G.: Cover for stitch portfolio. (Spring Hand Stitching class)

 I've been so caught up in putting together my new Power Point program on hand stitching (that I gave last Thursday night) that I haven't had time to post all the stitchy stuff! I hope that you saw yesterday's post about the hand stitching workshop. Here I'll post highlights from the final Hand Stitching (spring) class. Tomorrow I'll focus on pieces I borrowed for the program (new pieces since the winter class).

First up....Spring Hand Stitching...

Peggy G.: Clouds using cheese cloth.

Peggy G.: Clouds using dryer sheets.

Christina H.: Line sampler.

Susan P.: Inside cover design (Spring Hand Stitching class).

Susan P.: Layers for outside front cover design.

Claudia E.

Claudia E.

Claudia E.

Some great work, class!

Stitching with PM Fiber Arts Guild

Maria S.: Stitch sampler.

I had the pleasure of teaching a hand stitching workshop yesterday to members of the PM Fiber Arts Guild. The evening before I gave a presentation about the Good Stitch...stitching with intention. The talk focused primarily on my Hand Stitching class with a couple of "healing" cloth stories at the end. I was also so privileged to have a large number of samples from my Hand Stitching and Story Cloth students...so that members of the guild could see the stitching first hand.

Bekki S.: Stitch sampler.

Dayle G.: Stitch sampler.

Helen B.: Stitch sampler.

Karen F.: Stitch sampler.

Eight members spent the day with me in Linda Syverson Guild's gorgeous studio. The studio is on the top floor of her home...large and airy with skylights and windows...it felt like we were up in the trees! Linda was the most gracious host and had arranged all the tables to get the best light (until it poured in the afternoon!).

Karen S.: Stitch sampler

Laurie T.: Stitch sampler

Linda S-G: Stitch sampler

I taught a number of basic stitches, emphasizing how they could be manipulated. I wanted students to have a playful approach and to see what these stitches could do! After completing a sampler, students went on to start work on Challenge pieces.

Dayle G.: Stitch challenge.

Karen F.: Stitch challenge.

Helen B.: Stitch challenge.

Linda S-G: Stitch challenge.

I'm excited to see where these go and hope that students will send photos when they are finished that I can share here.

Laurie T.: Working on her challenge.

Bekki S.: Stitch challenge.

Karen S.: Stitch challenge.

Maria S.: Stitch challenge.

Thank you students...it was a relaxing, enjoyable day of stitching.

P.S.: Hope you will look past the quality of some of these shots...took many as the light disappeared and a storm blew in. Very exciting with the rain pounding on the skylights!

Story Cloth Endings

Lee W.

This past Wednesday was the final class of To Tell a Story with Cloth. I'm always sad to see a class end...particularly one in which the students gel as a group...like this one.

Lots of different stories are coming together. Some will take a bit more time than others. I hope to see them all as they progress (maybe at some Stitch-Ins!).

Lee W. finished the four parts to her story about protection and being a parent. She told us more about why the cut paper exercise really resonated with her. I love how she carried the symbolism of the shapes into each finished piece. In the first class session, Lee created the background fabric by writing a poem by David Whyte (using a liquid soap resist) about loss. Some of the words are visible in the final pieces and really add meaning to her story.

Lee W.: She plans to mount these all on one background fabric.

Lee W.

Lee W.: This piece is directly based on her cut paper design.

Lee W.

Hattie B. brought in some of her stitched "flock". She made stencils of bird silhouettes and transformed them with stitching. I can't wait to see more (she also made some larger bird silhouettes) and also to hear what her grandson has to say about her project (these are birds they've seen at her bird feeder).

Hattie B.: Mourning doves

Hattie B.: Chickadee

Hattie B.: Grackle

Hattie B.: House finch

Hattie B.: Robin

Kathy B. continued to have fun with carved and printed blocks and also "finding" images in her painted fabric. I want to thank Kathy for her humor and contributing to the fun atmosphere each week!

Kathy B.

Kathy B.: Using vintage handkerchiefs for backgrounds.

Kathy B.: One-eyed cat.

Kathy F. temporarily misplaced her piece and started working on a second one. She was inspired by a gelatin print that reminded her of a pond. So she added this wonderful frog! When the class looked at the piece, we kept discovering imagery in the background (which is one of the reasons I find gelatin printing so inspiring!).

Kathy F.

Kathy F. Detail.

After finding her original piece (also a gelatin print), Kathy started stitching in some details in the owl. Looking forward to seeing both these pieces in the future.

Kathy F.

Jan B. completed two pieces and started to add borders and backings (which I covered in this last class). In addition to her piece about life's journey, she finished a piece of a beautiful sunset over water (don't you just want to be there!). Jan used a curved piecing technique that she learned in a class taught by Karen M. Karen was so sweet to give us an explanation and hopes to offer a mini-class in it for those of us who are interested.

Jan B.: Starting to add borders.

Jan B.

Karen M. continued to work on two pieces about spring. She put the finishing touches on her cherry blossom piece and had to include some rain (since we've had the rainiest spring on record!). She is adding some stitched details to her second piece which has many printed layers...including gelatin prints.

Karen M: Some subtle running stitch rain and hand appliqued blossoms.

Karen M. Adding Feather stitch details.

Amy P. started stitching and couching fabric strips to her story cloth. She knows that she has a long way to go on this piece but is looking forward to some quiet hours of stitching. This piece is about Trachimbrod, the shtetl (village) where one of Amy's ancestors lived and is also the setting for the book, Everything is Illuminated. Amy would like to continue the focus on family stories with future pieces.

Amy P.

Amy P.: Some stitched details.

Amy P.: Couching down fabric strips.

Marine L. unfortunately missed the last class due to illness. But she took great leaps with her piece using hand painted fabrics and her sewing machine. She jumped off from the famous Japanese print, The Great Wave Off Kanagawa.

Marine L.

Thank you students...it was a pleasure to facilitate your stories!
To see past blog posts about this class:
Starting Stories....
A Full Wednesday Part I
Story Cloth: Introducing Some Characters 
Story Cloth: Slowly Stepping into Stitch

A number of my students are artists in their own right. Below are some links to see more of their work:
Amy P.
Hattie B.
Kathy B.
Karen M.

Hand Stitching: A Bit of This and That!

Susan P.: Texture Challenge

The week has flown by! Mom was visiting and my son, Aaron, graduated with his Masters in Psychology! Much celebrating! So... I'm finally posting about last Wednesday's Hand Stitching class...just in time.

Susan P. completed her Texture Sampler and also a Challenge piece. Spirals are a definite theme (see last week's piece too).

Susan P.: Texture Sampler

Susan P.: Texture Challenge detail. I love the overlaying of these single threads and the different sizes of Seeding Stitch.

Claudia E. stitched another figure. Her stitched lines are very expressive! And...I think this class is her first experience hand stitching!

Claudia E.

Kate G. continued work on her Pattern Challenge using a piece of black and white commercial fabric. A great example for this challenge!

Kate G.: Pattern challenge using commercial fabric.

Kate also had fun in class playing with Layers.

Kate G.: Reverse applique and couching.

Peggy G. continued to work on her cloud series. She started playing around with adding metallic and shiny threads to pieces (not shown here). I love her use of the cheesecloth layers and also the example where the stitched background "reveals" the cloud shape.

Peggy G.

Peggy G.

Looking forward to seeing what students have been stitching this week!