Couple of Cards

Posted on May 13, 2013 by ruthlane under fabrics, free motion machine stitching

I finished a few more of the greeting cards that I posted about previously. I get them set up ahead of time but when I start stitching the plan sometimes changes.

I had planned on doing automatic stitching on this card but then I thought that it looked like a tree trunk on the right. So instead, I did some free motion stitching and removed the blue-green silk pieces.

This is the result. I might need to add a bit more dark thread but held up close, as you would a card, it looks fine.

Next I worked on the one on the right. It had some felt but those spare pieces of blue-green silk went so well…

Here’s the end result. I don’t usually baste or fuse down my fabrics on these cards, I just stitch over them. Sometimes things get a bit wonky but that’s OK. I’m working on not having to have everything “perfect”.

Learning to Felt Classes at Flathead Valley Community College

Posted on May 10, 2013 by ruthlane under fibers

My friend Paula and I will be teaching two classes at the beginning of June on learning to wet felt. It’s going to be loads of fun and I hope you’ll be able to join us. The classes are at the local community college here in Kalispell, Montana.

We’re going to make a flat piece of felt first that could be used as a trivet or a mouse pad and then we’ll make felt covered soap and a felted rock. You can sign up here.

Here’s a press release about the class:

MAGIC OF FELTING CLASS AT FLATHEAD VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Kalispell, May 9, 2013, Discover the magic of traditional wet felting! Ruth Lane and Paula Rindal will be teaching two sessions of The Magic of Felting course at FVCC on Saturday, June 1st and Friday June 7th from 9am to 4pm. Begin to understand the basics of the ancient technique of wet felting. Learn about wool properties, basic felting techniques and make two to three projects to take home. You will learn how to do wool layout, wet down with soapy water, and rolling and fulling techniques of felting. You will also learn about shrinkage and how to size felt pieces. Projects will include a mouse pad/trivet, felted soap and a felted rock or paperweight. Once you know the basics of wet felting you will be able to move on to making scarves, hats, bags and much more.

Ruth Lane, a fiber artist, is the author of The Complete Photo Guide to Felting and co-owner of The Purple Pomegranate, a fine craft gallery. Paula Rindal has taught numerous felting classes through Camas Creek Yarn including wet felting, nuno felting and needle felting. For more information, please contact FVCC Continuing Education Department at 756-3822, info@fvcc.edu or register online http://www.fvcc.edu/continuing-education.html.

Little Snippets of Work

Posted on May 8, 2013 by ruthlane under fabrics, free motion machine stitching

I’ve been trying to get back on track since I’ve gotten home. I am still trying to do at least 5 minutes of creative work every day but I’m having a hard time somehow. I have lots of things I want to get done but sometimes the list feels a bit overwhelming. So I’m just doing a little bit at a time and hopefully, I’ll get back into the groove soon.

I finished one of the greeting cards that I laid out last Friday with my art group. I decided to add a background fabric and then just used one of the programmed stitches on my machine to stitch it down. I used fusible to attach the words and to attach the fabric to the card.

Here’s the card ready to be written in and sent off to someone. I really like using hand-made greeting cards. They don’t take very long and people are always impressed. It’s nice to give a little bit of your time and thought to a card instead of just buying it from one of the box stores.

Here are the ingredients for the next one. The white piece to the right is stitch and tear interfacing. It gives enough of a backing to prevent the stitching from buckling the fabric. If you do a lot of free motion stitching, you might need two layers of interfacing. I’m thinking about doing free motion stitching on this card. Perhaps following some of the organic lines.

Then I just choose which color thread I want to use and it’s time for stitching. I usually keep these cards fairly simple and practice a bit on making a balanced composition.

More Fiber Art Cards and Hoover Dam

Posted on May 4, 2013 by ruthlane under fabrics

Last week, went to Las Vegas to go to a wholesale buyers show for the store. It was a pretty small show so we had time for a little site seeing.

Here’s a bad photo out of our hotel room. I know it’s desert in Las Vegas, but the dryness of the landscape is such a change from north west Montana.

We decided to go to Hoover Dam and it has really changed since the last time we were there. They have built a very tall bridge over the Colorado River which is the dividing line between Nevada and Arizona. The bridge is built to accommodate pedestrians so we walked across it. I don’t like heights much but survived.

This is a photo of Hoover Dam looking down from the bridge. It is a massive structure. It was built in the 1930’s.

This is the bridge that we walked over. It is a good thing I didn’t see it from this perspective before I walked across it. It’s another impressive feat of engineering.

Here I am in the bowels of the dam in front of the generators.

This photo is taken looking down towards the river. I liked the juxtaposition of the different textures, natural and man made.

After I got home, we had our monthly surface design meeting. We did some ice dyeing and made fiber art cards. The photo above shows two different cards. They need some stitching. I am trying to decide between machine and hand stitching.

Two more designs.

And the last two. I will show these again once they are stitched. Please go over to the Felting and Fiber Studio to see my post about ice dyeing.

Missing in Action

Posted on April 27, 2013 by ruthlane under fibers

Sorry I wasn’t able to post for the last couple of weeks. I had a family emergency and had to go to Florida. I did get to finish up my book cover that I was working on but didn’t get much other fiber art done.

Here is the front of the book cover. I haven’t found a book to fit it yet but I will add some sort of button or other attachment once I know what exact size it needs to be.

Here’s the back side. I just used chain stitch with #5 perle cotton. It was simple and went quickly. I finished most of this on the plane ride from Montana to Florida.

This little bit is on the back portion of the front cover. You will be able to see it when you open the book cover. Next week I will be traveling to Las Vegas to go to another buying show for the store. Luckily it is only a three-day trip and I won’t be gone as long as I was before. Hopefully, I will get back on my regular schedule and start working on some projects I have planned.

Ruth Lane Art

Experimenting with Arts Endless Possibilities

Category Archives: fibers