Month: January 2024

Circles: Kathy

I am not sure when I became fascinated with circles. I remember having a polka dotted jacket in eighth grade. I once was dressed at Halloween as “Dot Polka” wearing a read and black polka dotted dress and painted the continuation of the dots on my arms, legs and face. No photo,before cell phones. In college as an art student I loved the colors and shapes of Kandinsky. I still do. My Pinterest account will attest to that! Small circles or dots have found their way, as a design on many of the folk art items my husband and I create. So, it is not really a surprise that I like circles in my retirement as I create fabric art.

Below are two circle inspired designs showing the beginning and completed mate. I started out with wool, cotton, yarn, wool roving and of course fused them together with Corrinne’s fabulous felting machine. Then I added hand worked material such as embroidery, buttons and extra fabric.

Collection of Shells: Kathy

I come from a family of collectors! My father’s shop was filled with many tools and materials to make boats but also contained anything that was free and might be useful. I say might with a grain of salt. There were buckets of hinges, nails, bolts and many glass jars full of odds and ends. Most of this collecting was based on cost and resulted in them actually being abandoned and FREE! I hate to say it but I still slow when I see a free sign on the side of the road. Your roots never abandon you!

Now in my retirement, I am working on handwork and mostly use recycled, donated items and of course found items which are the most exciting. In January I started walking my regular two mile walk on the rural road in Brooklin, Maine. We had had some large rain amounts and the brooks and road had been affected but this. As I was walking I noticed some large shells in the small brook by the side of the road. Curious, I looked to see what was there. They were huge hen clam shells. Many of them! The first day I just marvelled but by the next morning I was ready to touch. I brought home six after straddling the brook and pulling them out of the sand. The next day I walked by again. Then with a shopping carry bag in hand I filled the bag. They were free, beautiful, and good for something!

My friend Corinne of course got some of the shells and made something of them.

Quick and Easy Folio

Kathy gave me a giant vintage LIFE book. After removing the pages I wanted to keep as is, I decided to make it a collage book. Every page can be a master board base for other projects. Here’s a two page spread:

It’s a great way to use scraps.

Yesterday I made a folio using one of the pages and scraps of dye project fabric. For the focal points I used book page images. The papers for the one signature (sewn in with pamphlet stitch) are ones that I coffee dyed or avocado dyed. A fun and easy Sunday afternoon project, using things from my scrap stash.

What We’re Working On Today

Truthfully, today our primary focus is working on our blog, but we have other things we are doing this morning (or planned on doing). Here they are: (Kathy’s in photo1, Corinne’s in photo 2)

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