Rainbow Parting Gift

Paul retired from Hancock Church in January of 2021....right in the middle of the Covid shutdown. Not being able to gather with his parishioners was a strange way to close this chapter of his career. On his last Sunday....there were only nine of us in the sanctuary. The rest of the congregation was watching from home.

I made many so friends during my time at Hancock Church...and loved our time living in Lexington. I was active in a project group creating liturgical arts and helping with gardens.  

As a parting gift to the church I made this JOY banner for a niche at the top of the open stairwell....it was the perfect project for me at the time. 

I fused a full spectrum of batik fabrics and topstitched the piece with colorful threads. Joan and I made the tree quilt that hangs in the lower niche....and I'm guessing that by now it has totally faded from the sun. It was one of the first times I did a free motion stitching project.  

I think the JOY banner is out of reach of the sun...or at least I hope so. 

I've had a bluebird house for 3 or 4 years now. I've moved it around trying to find a spot that would attract these precious birds. They still come every day for their serving of dried mealworms. 

I've had chickadees nest in the house...and even a mouse....but not bluebirds until THIS YEAR! All day long I watched mom taking in nesting supplies while dad mostly perched on top. I couldn't be more excited! 

You have to look closely....I can't really get close enough to get a good photo. The mom is just coming out...and there's dad....keeping watch.

This seems like a good moment to share that just a few days after the house finches down at Patty's were hatched....a predator got to them. Patty found the empty nest on her sidewalk early one morning...and no sign of those precious little babies. We were both heartbroken. 

The circle of life. 

Paul and I are heading out on a road trip and an overnight tomorrow so my post will likely be a little late tomorrow.

Pride Project

Subtitle: Over the Top

And all of  sudden it's summer! HHH....as Roseanne calls it: Hazy....Hot...and Humid! I had an early morning swim....then I was grateful to be inside with the air conditioning. 

I don't know what I love more...the burst of purple catmint...or the subtle shadows on the pavement at the pool.

Sometimes Often times I make things that are a little over the top....not knowing when to stop. But if there's an occasion that over the top is perfectly acceptable it's Pride Day!

Pride Day is wonderful and glorious explosion of color and joy. 

I started this rainbow pride project yesterday morning before the parade and finished it last evening. I fused the fabric on first and edged the rainbow shapes with decorative machine stitches. Then...using the cable stitch I talked about a few days ago....stitched the rest from the back with thicker threads and yarns in the bobbin. I'm obsessed with this stitching technique and you never know what you're going to get until you turn it over.

It's a little wonky and wild...but I think it's a joyful over the top Pride Project!  

This is how it started....all fused fabrics...even the words. 

Fusing With a Friend

Paul and I had a couple of special guests today. Barbara and Eliza stopped by for a few hours on their way to a Maine overnight camp drop-off.  

For those of you who don't know...Eliza is the daughter of Paul's former church colleague Barbara who is now the Senior Minister at Hancock Church in Lexington. Eliza and I have become art buddies and we've traded several things over the years.....and whenever we get together we do a little project.

Today we played with fused fabrics and markers.

I helped Eliza fuse fabric circles onto cardstock and she turned them into flowers.

 

I had pre-cut some parts for rainbows...

and Eliza constructed some wonderful abstract rainbow art! She made at least five cards.

Eliza and I had a lot of fun while her mom and Paul talked shop.

I got in the action too...and fused a funky rainbow for my ICAD #19 .

It was fun fusing with a friend! 

Until next time Eliza!  Have fun at camp!

Woodland Magic

I look forward to the spring woodland flowers every year. I know I'm a broken record on this....but I can't help but celebrate the woodland magic!

All of the woodland flowers are white...but I am interested in getting some pink shooting stars from a gardener friend when they're ready.

I have a few trillium plants that are thriving....and hundreds of starflowers are sprinkled here and there.

And the sasparilla, my favorite, will be blooming soon into little white firecracker balls!

And the Canada mayflowers are just starting to poke through too.

I just learned that this is azure bluet. It's a teeny white flower and there are tufts of it scattered around the yard and a few in the woods.  I think it's absolutely charming!

This starflower and foam flower from my garden ended up on my window sill.

I made progress on the scrappy trees today...the blue sides are done. The other side will be bright Christmas colors along with the black and white.

I've posted the process before...but I'm going to briefly share it again. I trace the tree with a pencil on release paper then overlap and iron on the prefused strips to cover the outline.

The pencil line is easily visible from the back so using my quilting ruler and rotary cutter I cut out the tree just a bit inside the line.

Then all I have to do it peel off the paper and fuse it onto the foam core.     

I'll work on the Christmas side later this evening or tomorrow.

Then I'll finish the stems and bases and I can get these two special orders in the mail! 

I think these trees are a little woodland magic too! 

Half Full

There was an amazing strip of delicate ice lace by our front door.  I tried to photograph it in place....but couldn't get the right angle.  When I tried to pick it up....it broke in half.  

But I'm thinking of this as a glass half full moment rather than half empty....and marveling at how beautiful this tiny chunk of ice was with the morning sun as the backdrop.

Fusing 101 lesson #6: Motifs...finally!  

You can construct motifs on release paper from small pieces of pre-fused fabric  overlapping and fusing the pieces and parts.  Once you're done...you can peel off the motif as one unit and fuse it to something else.

Here I fused two strips together....

peeled it off the paper and cut it into a leaf. 

I keep referring back to my year of Folt Bolt projects....because every single project was mostly fused.

The September seed pod inspired piece had several  motifs....and it started with a pile of pre-fused fabrics.    

The plant pot is made from individual strips of hand dyed fabric assembled on release paper.  And the snake plant leaves and lotus pod motifs were preassembled with a combination of hand dyed and batik fabrics.  

 

There weren't a lot of process photos for that project...so I decided to construct a quick fused motif this afternoon...and make a tag.  It's been a while since I've made a tag....and I do love this little ringed gallery of quick little art pieces using whatever I have on hand at the moment.

With the latest tag beside me for color inspiration and flow....I created a fused fabric motif of a pinwheel design.  

I was determined to just pull from my vast supply of small scraps...and started with one triangle.  I didn't want to overthink it....I just added one triangle at a time using a variety of colors and fabrics.

I kept adding.....

....and adding.... 

...until I worked my way around the circle.

Once it was cool....I could peel it off the release paper and as one whole unit/motif. Rather than cutting it round...I left the uneven ends.

Although I auditioned a couple of centers....I ended up not loving my choice.  

In hindsight I should have paid more attention to how the the center came together so I wouldn't have needed one at all.

I was able to peel the purple off....but then I really had to cover up the mess I made. 

I'm not sure I love it...but I'm going with the glass half full again...and celebrating finally getting a lesson in on motifs!  Cheers!

All my tags can be seen here: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/search/label/tag%20project

Words!

"Do not wait until you have skill to start your project. Your project will teach you the skill." Jen Herchenroeder (as seen on Jane Monteith's Instagram page)

As I was heading in to visit Margie this morning something caught my eye in the big pine tree.  I saw it from a long way off....and I was intrigued. The closer I got I was sure it was some kind of necklace....but an odd linked necklace. And how in the world did it get up there?

But when I finally got close enough...I realized it was breakfast for the birds....Cheerios strung onto pipe cleaners!  Clever!

  

This was the first morning in a while I walked outside with Paul.  It's just been too darn cold.  

But it felt good to be out...and we visited the hackmatack tree....and those sweet little pine cones are still hanging on.

I love this tree....and can't wait to watch the needles appear in the spring.

I had a little lightbulb moment with on of my circle paintings. I knew it needed something...but was a little baffled. But there was some nearby collage ephemera that included book pages that gave me an idea.  Words!  That's what it needed.  

I happen to have some pre-fused text fabric...so I cut a few more circles and ironed them on here and there.  Game changer! It seemed to unify the piece without being overbearing.  I think this one is done. And now I'll think of some way to improve the other one.  

Fusing 101 lesson #4: Fusing Words and Images 

I'm going to save motifs lesson until tomorrow....because today it's all about words!

There are all kinds of ways to print on fabric....but if you use fusible webbing you end up with fabric that works like an iron on patch. And that can come in handy. 

This afternoon I added fusible webbing to some bleached muslin.  I trimmed up three sides leaving the bottom edge making it easier to peel the paper off later.  

The release paper gave the fabric enough stability to glide right through my printer.  

WITH THE PAPER STILL ON......I placed the fabric in my paper tray with the fabric side down...and it printed like a dream!  

I pressed it with a hot iron (with a pressing cloth) to set the ink.  Now I have a whole sheet of JOY tags....and a few labels to iron on the back of projects.

I have ironed one of these little joy tags on several projects...including every one of my 12 Folt Bolt projects.  This December piece has not only a little printed joy....

but also a printed image of a bottle.  Nearly the whole piece is fused.

 

Here's the page I printed onto fabric.  I found an image of an old bottle...and printed it in a couple sizes.

You can print anything on fabric! And sometimes WORDS are a game changer.  Especially the word JOY!