Friday Morning I had a good start on my layouts. Still an overwhelming amount of fabrics to choose from;
some I like, some not-so-much. I start the tweaking process and doing some adding and subtracting of elements and fabrics or papers.

Today is a short day in that we have to have the room ready for the “all classes walk-through” by 4:30 pm and we are used to working into the wee hours. We also have to get all packed up and be ready for the Small Quilt Auction at 5:30 and the end of session Banquet at 7 pm. Gee, we will have to finish up the week with fun and food - poor us

But, to my everlasting surprise,
I finish all three pieces in time.

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Graduation!

Here are some detail shots (click to super-size). Nothing was safe in this room, here is the morning paper after it had been “transformed” with batik, dye and paint (left), then a detail of panel 1 showing an Angelina bead (right).

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Better shots of the three finished panels.

I feel like I learned a lot this week. I opened my eyes, then opened my eyes again (as Granny Weatherwax would say (from the Wee Free Men books by Terry Pratchett, my hero)). There is more to making fabric than just technique and that is doubly so for making art.

I came home to my vegetable and herb gardens having been overrun with weeds due to our very warm and wet week. Weeding is good right now, I can think and assimilate while I yank the little buggers up!

Deb H

Thursday’s class was a bit more intense, not in the way it had been; making fabrics and using new or improved techniques, but putting it all together in a composition. Looking at all of the fabrics and papers I have been making (with no real thought as to the final goal), I see I have a lot of very busy materials to work with. This will be a challenge!

To start, I cleared a space on my board and started pinning fabrics together to see if they even looked good (click on photos to bigmafy).

There was a lot of this.

And a lot more.

It’s truly amazing how much time you can spend just putting fabrics together.

Then ideas started to come. I decided on a three panel piece to explore the three ideas I had (sort of) forming. Three similar ideas - my first series!

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I got a rough idea of what I wanted for my first panel,
this one is all fabrics.

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Panel B’s first audition, this one is fabrics and paper.

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And the final panel is all paper (except for one tiny square) .

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By this time the day was over and my brain hurt.
But it will be a good start for tomorrow, the final day of class. The pressure is on!

One also needs to reflect on how it would be so great to do this every day, all year. Then I realize how tired I am after four days of this kind of intensity and drag my self upstairs to bed!

Deb H