Step Into the Textile Cocoon...

 

What to do with vintage textiles that are tucked away in closets and drawers? Bring them together in what is known as installation art. That's what artist Susan Lenz did in a recent exhibit at the Webber Gallery in Ocala, Florida. Installation art is defined as "large-scale mixed-media constructions designed for a specific space or temporary period of time." This display actually featured three installations by Susan. This one, titled "The Cocoon", was the largest and it was one viewers could walk through. Isn't this entrance a most inviting sight for textile lovers?

Susan stitched old quilt tops, tablecloths, doilies, quilt blocks, christening gowns, gloves, crochet pieces and more into panels and joined them all to form the cozy surround of vintage textiles. You can see a glimpse of a second installation, The Clothesline, suspended above Cocoon. She appliqued hands on the old dish towels and linens for this installation and used wooden pegs to hang them. 

A Carolina Lily quilt block became the seat for this folding chair placed invitingly in the exhibit. And we saw the many of the old calendar dish towels included. Remember those? At one time it was the go-to gift for children who saved their money to buy their moms a Christmas present every year. It was fun to see so many of them incorporated here.

Even Grandma's apron became part of the installation, displayed on a special tablecloth.

This stunning old wedding gown was gifted to Susan to add to her collection of vintage pieces and makes a wonderful focal point in Cocoon.

The variety of vintage pieces was impressive in the two-sided, surrounding Cocoon. I count at least a dozen different textiles just in this corner view. More if you count every yo-yo! Viewers could easily get lost in time as they became absorbed by the needlework on the individual pieces as well as in the body of the work. So much to see.

This poignant display may have been my favorite- The Loss. It's the third of Susan's installations in the gallery and it speaks to all losses in families from stillbirths and crib deaths to age-related deaths. Each garment is hand embroidered with redwork and the empty cradles are filled with bundles she fashioned from the scraps cut while making the many textile art pieces.

You can see how the light coming through the walls of Cocoon adds to the nostalgic feel of the installation. Susan added applique hands to the already intricately embroidered dresser scarf. The grand scale of installation art for textiles was truly impressive.

I got to meet Susan Lenz, right, when she presented an artist's talk at the college. Plenty of quilters along with art students from the college were in attendance while she told about her background and growth as a studio artist and answered questions about her installations. You can see a short video on The Cocoon on YouTube when it was presented in another, smaller venue. It's a treat. The beauty of the Webber Gallery is the space her work was given to be seen and appreciated.

Eye of the Beholder...

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I'm told. So that's what I'm calling this quilt. It may not be every beholder's cup of tea, but I'm loving it. We had a tutorial at our Quilter's Day Camp sessions earlier this year and learned to make these blocks. They are so fast and so much fun to make that I had a hard time stopping to assemble them into a quilt!

The arcs are free-cut from a stack of four 10" squares, then the pieces are swapped around and sewn back together. You can see in the photo that each block winds up with one piece from each fabric, but in a different position within the block. It's so random that pretty much any fabric works in these. All you need is a sharp new blade in the rotary cutter. And one of these turn-table cutting mats is also useful when it comes time to trim the pieced blocks to 7 1/2" square.

Merri, our instructor is on the left, and group member Joyce is holding the pillow I also made on the right. We're having show-and-tell at our Fiber Art Bee meeting. Merri is also holding Sal the Southern Sass doll I showed here on the blog previously. I made a tote bag, too. AND I have lots more blocks made, plus squares cut for more. I thoroughly enjoyed making this quilt.

A Star is Born...

 

 Maybe that should be "several stars are born." A quilting friend gifted me with a fat quarter of Tilda Studios fabric featuring these pretty girls. She wasn't sure how she'd use the fabric and thought something might come to me for using it. Almost immediately the wheels started turning. And it seemed as if the girls were watching me every time I walked by them on my work table. I decided to back the fabric with Heat 'n Bond iron-on adhesive and then cut them apart to use them in collage-style greeting cards. A little corrugated cardboard, paint, lace, and ribbon... and Voila! Stars are born. 

For this pretty blonde I used painted kraft cardstock for the background along with some linen and lace. I love how the designer used very few features and yet made these girls so expressive.

One row of girls had heads but no bodies. No problem. I gave this one a polka dot dress and added arms, legs, and hot pink shoes. She's ready to dance.

Lace plus bows plus pom-poms plus cardboard plus.... it's pretty endless what I'll throw into one of these cards. But they are so much fun to assemble.

This sweet girl is set on a painted background with a touch of lace. 

There are a lot of girls in a fat quarter of fabric, so there are several more cards and maybe other projects in the offing. These girls are quite the fun distraction and I find myself drawn into making one when I planned to other things (like dust).

A Little Southern Sass...

 

Meet Sal. Granted, she's not your standard cuddly soft doll, but she has her own special style. And she did enjoy sitting on several people's laps when she made the rounds at show-and-tell at our Fiber Art Bee meeting recently. So she is kind of cuddly. Or at least huggable for sure. Sal is my project made in Kecia Deveney's online class called Southern Sass. Kecia teaches her students how to design a pattern and pull together the elements and mixed media techniques to come up with a one-of-a-kind fabric art doll. I've been working on Sal for many weeks. Half the fun is searching through my stash to find the bits and pieces I thought belonged to create Sal's personality.

Sal looks good both coming and going. Even her backside got plenty of attention with fabric and embroidery accents. The fabric base is one I learned to make in Liz Constable's tutorial as part of Fodder School, a year-long online class featuring a different teacher each month. The fabric involved scorching and painting which was quite fun. Online classes have pretty much replaced tv for me. I find so little I want to watch on television, but never tire of learning new art methods and techniques via these classes. I'm sure I won't be able to stop at making just one, so Sal will have at least one sister soon.

Down By The Seaside...

 

So many things about the ocean seem to draw us. For me it's the freshness of the air, the sound of waves, and the fascination of the far horizons. We flew from Florida to Maine- "down east"- for several days in June. This photo was taken from the rocky coast of Southern Maine.

The Marginal Way in Ogunquit offers a walk along the coast with many beautiful views. It was cool and overcast some of the days, but we had a couple of sunshiny ones, too.

In a happy coincidence, mixed media artist Lenna Andrews offered her By the Sea Swap of Artist Trading Cards right about the same time as our travels. ATCs are small works of art about the size of a baseball trading card- 2/12" x 3".  Nearly two dozen participants took part. We each made three ATCs to trade and sent them to Lenna, who sorted and returned three cards made by others. I received this happy shark on a printed fabric background made by Pam Gonzalez from Illinois.

Sabine Schneider from Germany stitched this little storm-tossed sailboat. She incorporated a lot of fabrics and stitching in such a small space.

Catherine Mommsen Scott who has a fine art shop on Etsy called Imajica Amadoro, used the photographic process of cyanotype to create her card and added inked details.

 

Some participants made more than one set of ATCs in the theme. And Lenna also recieved many extras of the cards sent in. She generously included a fourth card along with some collage materials in the return envelope. I found this ocean blue, hand-stitched beauty made by Siri Hauge Opdal from Norway in mine. These swaps are fun to participate in, and of course the happy mail you get in return really brightens up the day.

As I thought about the swap theme, "almost monochromatic" kept coming to mind. When I found this evocative vintage image of a woman reading her book beside the ocean, it seemed made for a "by the sea" challenge. I used watercolor background paper along with bits cut from security envelopes to frame the image, and then sewed on the tiny flower sequins for a touch of color.

 

I think she's reading and dreaming of travel to those far horizons. The only things that changed in the three ATCs I made were the background papers and the colors and position of the sequin flowers. This was great fun and I look forward to another swap with Lenna in the fall. She made a YouTube video showing all of the work of the participants. It's less than three minutes, so take a look if you get a chance.

When you're by the sea, there are so many charming buildings and scenes inviting photography. Don't you love the Harbormaster's cottage at Perkins Cove?

We've visited Maine many times over the years with our children, and I think I take this shot every year. All these boats at anchor in the cover are like a postcard.  By the sea is a refreshing place to be.

Look- It's Twins....

I often say I'm not a doll maker. And yet, when I look around my sewing room- well- I seem to be a doll maker. This tall girl is my version of "Coralie", an Art Foamies Doll made in an online class with Kecia Deveney. I bought a foam stamp of the doll's face, and then  used paints to color her face and features. Her dress is sewn from hand-dyed fabric stamped with decolorant to remove color in the mandala flower shapes. Even her necklace with the scissors charm was crafted from bits and pieces I've collected and kept just for her. She's quite charming, don't you think?

But why stop at one? So Coralie got a twin. Again, stamping and painting; stitching and stuffing with fiberfill and doll beads; and hand-embroidering  on her fancy print dress gave this version of the doll her own look. She, too, is wearing a handmade necklace under her lacy collar. These dolls were so much fun to make.

 So when our fiber arts group had a challenge to place 10 items in a brown bag and then each draw a bag to see what we'd work with, I made a third doll using all 10 items in the bag. She's the even-taller girl on the right in the photo. I don't think I've shown her on the blog before. And you can see what I mean about maybe being a doll maker! I have a few more than the just five shown here. I've always heard that any more than two of anything is a collection. Would it surprise you to know that yet another doll is underway? This one is also from a class with Kecia titled Southern Sass, so stay tuned.

Bark Fest, The Sequel...

 

Say hello to Emmitt. He stopped by the Carolina Real Food for Dogs booth at Bark Fest for a sample, even though he eats this food daily. I get a kick out of Emmitt- a small dog with big personality. He's often at the center of every activity. I think I referred to him as The Rabble Rouser in last year's post.

This year is the second Bark Fest event held in the Charlotte, NC, area and organized by our son Lee, who founded Carolina Real. This is Bender, another happy customer, posing in front of the pop-up sign featuring Winston, the "spokesdog" of Carolina Real. Winston was quite a sick boy as a puppy and wound up with digestive problems that were a problem for the whole family. Lee began to research and came up with a home-made food recipe that resolved the problems and helped Winston to thrive. When some friends asked if he'd make food for their dogs, the idea for his new company was born. More education and working with food scientists allowed him to formulate and refine his recipes further to meet government standards so he could sell the food. Last year's Bark Fest was the launch of the company and he gave out samples. This year his larger kitchen facility is up and running. We were offering samples and selling the food, which is fresh-made and then frozen so he can ship it to customers in the Carolinas. The feeding amounts and recommendations for transitioning to human-grade food are on the website.

It was a beautiful day and there were lots of meet-and-greets happening on the grounds. Vendors included a dog photography tent (proceeds going to Carolina Boxer Rescue organization), Muddy Dog mobile tread mill, a mobile groomer, a poop-scooper lawn service, a dog treat baker, a veterinary clinic, dog walking service, dog-themed gifts and t-shirts, a food truck, a brew truck, and more. Our daughter-in-law Carin had her own booth, too. As a nutritional consultant and coach, she offered a line of dog support supplements for sale. Just as last year, there were no incidents of doggy "turf wars" and the whole day was uplifting and fun. In the words of one attendee, "I wish Bark Fest could happen every weekend!" Good vibes.

The opportunity for me to travel and be part of Bark Fest is truly a highlight of the year. I just loved meeting all the dogs and seeing how much their families love and enjoy them and provide good care for them.

This is Riley, a German Shorthaired Pointer. He's getting ready for a sample of Carolina Real. Most dogs readily chow down on it, but some were too stimulated by the goings on to focus on food, while a few hesitate because they aren't just sure what to do with real food. They figure it out quickly though.

This beautiful standard Poodle was so well behaved and her coloring is quite unusual. Her ears were a dark chocolate brown contrasting with the rest of her lighter coat. 

This pair of Mastiffs were in attendance. They were not as large as the pair in last year's post (if you want more dog photos, click this link- the larger Mastiffs are pictured there along with a cute Pomeranian in a Caribbean hat!). But I think these two are young with some growing to do. Imagine the food bill for these two! Some people with  large dogs or multiple dogs add Carolina Real as a topper  or mix it in with the less expensive dry kibble they feed to add nutrition and appeal to the meals. You can see the mobile dog spa van in the background.

And this one!! We got to meet 12-week-old Ruby, a dappled Miniature Dachshund. Her owner carried her through the grounds because she has not completed her course of innoculations yet. She's a candidate for Carolina Real when she gets to about 6 months of age and she lives in the same apartment complex as Lee, so delivery will be an easy thing. I'm sorry granddaughter Brooke was traveling and unable to attend with her miniature Dachsund Gisele to meet Ruby. All in all, it was another wonderful festival of dogs and I loved every minute!

An in other animal news, on Mother's Day our daughter Joanna and I attended The Gala of the Royal Horses, a performance showcasing Friesian horses, Andalusians, Arabs, and Lippizaners. Majestic indeed.