I had no idea

I did not know that I was mentioned on Warm Company’s instagram for my recycle pieces.

Here’s the link. https://www.instagram.com/p/DXXXN3QARg0/  If you click on the arrow to the right of the face piece you can also see the raven piece.

The page looks like this.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

I won again!!!

I won the popular vote for my Raven piece at the recycle show. So I won first place and popular vote. All this winning is going to go to my head!

Upon a Midnight Dreary 14in by 14 in

Thanks for reading.

Chris

My artist talk went pretty well

 It was not perfect, but was pretty good. I’m out of practice with teaching and my mouth kept getting dry. The people that came to the talk were really nice and asked really great questions. So I think it was a success. Some photos were taken I am shocked how old I look. I’m going to be 74 this week so I guess I should look old! 

Here’s a photo. The cone flower on the board behind me is what I used to demonstrate how I create my plastic art pieces. 

Here’s an outline of my talk.

Why do I do this? How did I get here? How do I actually do it?

• Why do I choose to make art from plastic bags? Plastic quilts.
• I love participating in the recycle show and doing word challenges
• I enjoy the challenge of working with plastic bags
• Using plastic bags also speaks to my concerns about the climate and the environment.

• My background—or how one thing leads to another
• Art since a kid
• Painting, sketching, stained glass, baskets, metal punch, printing, sewing, eventually found quilting in 1986
• That eventually led to making original art quilts 2004 (2 quilts)
• That led to blogging in 2008 
• That led to making quilts from plastic bags in 2014
• Found an inspiring teacher online that got me started
• My education and teaching career were in physics, math, meteorology, and astronomy which definitely influences my art
• Determines what I choose to work on and how I work…
• My recycle pieces (some progress photos in binder and on blog)
• Cement works done in her class in time for recycle show in 2021
• Drafting Vellum 2023 and house portraits
• Denim piece with used dryer sheets 2024
• Outer Limits (wasn’t sure if I could pull this one off) 2025
• Raven 2026
• How I make my plastic quilts
• 2 different approaches to appliqué 
• Materials needed for my current method
• Inspiration photo, how I come up with ideas
• Pattern
• Plastic bags….discuss bags
• They are usually one solid color, but sometimes are multi color
• Outer limits piece
• Some are 2 for 1
• Semi transparent vs opaque
• The colors are limited 
• Sometimes won’t lay flat, ripples
• Stitching plastic is challenging…holes
• Do you have to stitch? (Sample)
• Stabilizer
• Fusible web
• Good scissors, tweezers
• Thread, needles, sewing machine
• Light table
• Patience 
• Demo
• What’s coming up for me
• Small exhibit of about 5 quilts at the Bellefonte Art Museum in July. 
• Other projects 

So today I need to pack away my plastic stuff and get back to quilting my Halloween quilt. 

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Forgot to post the judge’s comments about my winning piece

 

I won first place!

Tonight was the opening for the recycle show. I won first place for my Raven piece. It is made from plastic bags. Basically it’s a plastic quilt because it’s quilted and hand stitched. It received a lot of attention. 

“Once upon a midnight dreary”

Thanks for reading.

Chris

News!!!

I’m going to be giving a talk about how I create my recycle pieces during the recycle show. 

Here’s the information about it.

Spend a fascinating hour with Christine, last year’s 1st Place Recycled Show winner, as she demystifies turning plastic bags into art using her stitching skills.

Join us for light refreshments and a chance to ask questions or share your thoughts, surrounded by the works in this year’s exhibit.

Free and open to the public at the Art Alliance gallery at 818 Pike Street, Lemont, PA 16851. Free curbside and nearby parking.

Date: Sunday, April 12

Door opens: Noon

Program: 1:00-2:00 pm

Photo from last year’s show

So now I have to determine how to do my presentation. I’m looking forward to it and expect to have a lot of fun.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Upon a Midnight Dreary is done

I’ve concluded that the recycle piece is done. I’ve decided not to stitch the raven’s head. 

So here’s the final photo.

“Upon a Midnight Dreary” made from plastic bags and thread

As always I’ve learned a lot while working on this piece. The main one is to get the plastics to behave better. Most of them in this piece are from shipments that I have received. They were pretty thick plastics with creases in them. It was hard to get them to lay flat. I suppose that just may be the nature of the beast. 

Next year the theme is Once Upon a Time. I have to start thinking about what to do for that. Any ideas? All I know is that it will be done in color instead of grayscale.

Linking to Nina Marie. https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading.

Chris

The end is near

 I did some hand stitching on the breast of the raven. I’m debating about whether to do the head. I’m leaning toward not doing any stitching on the head.  I used a really dark DMC embroidery floss for the hand stitching. It’s weird how it photographs. Some places you can’t see it at all and other places it looks lighter than it really is. It’s hard to photograph plastic due to reflections. I have not put the piece of glass in yet. That make it even harder to photograph. 

My daughter wants the title, “Upon a Midnight Dreary.” It’s 14 by 14 inches.

“Upon a Midnight Dreary”

Thanks for reading.

Chris

I hope it’s dark enough now!

I ripped out and replaced the stitches on the tail and the wing directly above the tail. I used a light gray micron pen to darken the mid level wing threads. I have a dark gray micron pen, but wasn’t sure if I should go that dark. 

I think I will do some hand stitching on the head and breast as in the sketch below. I will use a darker thread than the light gray in the sketch. I want the thread to add texture and not be super obvious . I have to pick up the embroidery thread from Michael’s on Friday. 

So are the machine stitches dark enough now? I sure hope so!

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Maybe I’m not done

I am stressing and over analyzing as usual. Ever since I put the machine stitches in the Raven I have debated about whether they are too light in value and stick out too much. I have thought about a few things to try….

First, use a fabric marker to darken the threads. 

Second, hand stitch over the machine stitches with hand stitching. That would give the raven more dimension.

Third, rip out the stitches and stitch them again with a darker thread.

Any thoughts?

Here’s the photo again.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Am I done?

I’m leaning toward not doing any hand stitching. I will think on that for several days, but I think I’ve decided against it.  Even though I was able to mark some of the quilting lines for the Raven it was still difficult to do and certainly did not come out perfect. 

Our daughter wants the piece so I don’t have to think about how much to sell it for at the recycle show. Now we have to decide on a title. I asked AI for some help. Plus my husband and daughter gave some ideas.

• What the Raven Knows
• Nevermore
• Nevermore Beneath the Silent Moon
• Moonlight Vigil
• Waiting for Poe
• The Raven and the Silent Moon
• Midnight Verses
• Moonlit Tales of Poe
• Poe’s Night watch
• Upon a Midnight Dreary
• The Raven Remembers

So that’s where I am. I have to decide if I’m going to do any hand stitching. I have to decide if I’m happy with the piece. I have to order a frame for it. 

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Nearing the end…

It’s hard to believe that I’m nearly done with the machine stitching on the recycle piece. I just have to quilt the raven. The quilting has been stressful because you really can’t mark the quilting lines on plastic. Plus you can’t rip it out. Plastic is not as forgiving as fabric. So I’ve had to just wing it for the stitching that I have already done. 

This morning I discovered that I can mark the quilting lines for the raven with a white gel pen, stitch and then remove the lines with a damp cloth. That will make doing the raven a bit less stressful.

Here’s the current state of the piece. It’s 14 inches by 14 inches. I think I’ll be doing some hand stitching as well.

Here’s roughly how I plan on quilting the raven. 

Thanks for reading. Now all I need is a good title!

Chris

I think I’m ready to stitch

I’m anxious to get stitching on the recycle piece. I think I’m done with the design stage. Today I will clean up my sewing room from the “plastic tornado” that has taken place in it. I will also pull out the gray and black threads I will use for the machine stitching. This plastic piece will be backed by a Pellon stabilizer.

Here’s the piece. The only color is the eye. It will have a small French knot in the center of it.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Starting to work on the Raven

I glued the Moon in place and removed the paper from the back of the Raven. I’ve started to add highlights to the bird. Still more to do on this piece, but I’m definitely getting there. I’ve really enjoyed working on this. I can’t wait to do the stitching to bring out all of the details. 

Linking to Nina-Marie. https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Still moving along

 I’ve continued to make progress on my recycle piece. The book title letters are just sitting there at the moment. They still have to be attached to the piece. Working on the raven details will be next. The show is in April so I’m in good shape.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Progress on recycle piece

 I’ve made quite a bit of progress on the recycle piece. I’ve created the Moon, the background trees, and the books. Although the books definitely need some tweaking. As I look at this I see that it will need both machine and hand stitching for a lot of the details. 

You will see that plastics wrinkle and that cannot be avoided. So you must embrace that fact. 

Here’s a photo of one of the pieces with the steam a seam attached to the back of the plastic. This fusible adds “glue” to the plastic so it can be attached to the piece. Plus it makes it stiffer and easier to cut out the pieces. You can’t use a fusible like wonder under because it does not have the stickiness until it is ironed and you can’t iron plastic. So it has to be a fusible like steam a seam.

Here’s also a photo of my progress. Once I tweak the books I will work on the raven details.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

And we’re off…

I’ve decided to get started on my recycle piece. So far I’ve picked the background piece of plastic and have made the Moon. I put fusible on the back of a piece of white see through plastic and attached that to a scrap of Stonehenge fabric. If you look closely you can see some wrinkles in the white plastic. That’s impossible to avoid. I will eventually glue the Moon onto the sky. I think the Moon looks pretty good. Although now that I look at the inspiration photo I’m not sure. Will have to think on this.

This is what I have. The tree is a trial piece to make sure I have a gray that’s darker than the sky piece.

This is the image I’m using to create the piece.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

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Getting geared up

 I’m getting ready to start working on my recycle piece. The show is not until April, but I want to get started on it. The theme this year is “on the books.” My idea is to make a raven standing on the top of a stack of books. Some of the books have Poe titles on the spines. I have created my sketch/pattern. The piece will be 14 inches by 14 inches and will be framed.

I’ve pulled the plastic bags that I will use from my bag collection. You can see that I have quite a few different values.

I have cut my piece of Pellon 70 stabilizer. I use that instead of batting.

I have a translucent piece of plastic that I think will work for the moon. I’m debating whether using a scrap piece of Stonehenge fabric behind it is appropriate for a recycle challenge. Here’s what that would look like. I will have to think and experiment with that idea. Or just make some gray features behind the translucent piece.

The next steps will be to pick a background plastic and start cutting pieces. The pieces will need to be glued in place. I actually use Steam a Seam fusible for that. It sticks great to plastic. Of course I don’t use an iron on it!

Thanks for reading.

Chris

In a slump

This year was crazy with quilting projects. So now even thought I still have things to do I’ve hit a slump.

These are the projects I’ve completed this year.

I made a king size quilt for our daughter. I did not quilt it, but I did piece and bind it. That’s her cat on the quilt.

I made a gnome for my sister.

I made a gnome for my girlfriend.

I made my recycle piece and won first place. The piece finally made it back home to me. The person that returned it is a portrait artist and she was still raving over my piece. I take that as quite a compliment.

From the Inner Mind to the Outer Limits

I made my piece for the word challenge at a local art museum. My word was wonder and it sold.

I finished my city collage quilt. It’s 45 by 66.

I made a portrait of my sister’s house for her birthday. 

So mentally I’m pretty shot in terms of motivation to work on the Halloween quilt. I know I will get going on it soon, but I needed a break.

I’ve been playing with some AI images. The one with the Raven is for the recycle show next year. The theme is “on the books.” I will put the either Poe titles on the books or scary story titles like Sleepy Hollow or the Shining. I have several variations of this. Here’s two of them.

I’ve also created a few other AI images for quilt ideas. I like the first one because it’s weird and scary. I like the city scene in the rain in the second one.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

I’m on the Centre County recycle Facebook page

 You have to scroll down a bit to find the post about my first place win in the recycle show with my piece “From the Inner Mind to the outer limits.”

Here’s the link.

https://www.facebook.com/CentreCountyRecycling

Here’s a photo of my piece. The piece is 12 inches by 12 inches and made from plastic bags.

Thanks for reading

Chris