Right the drawing done in the workshop, botton left photo of the carding strip, upper left fabric sample, various techniques inclde stenciling, fusing and machine applique.

Edges+holes mean lace or a lace effect, often. Lace effects have always interested me.

But here I’m thinking of edges that are a bit ambiguous – altered, perhaps mangled, or not well defined.

Border crossings are so interesting, being as they are the ‘edges’ of a country. Last week I read that Chile and Peru are at loggerheads over a piece of land approximately 10 hectares in area !   Talking to a Uruguayan customs officer at a crossing check point while waiting for Mike to get a replacement key for the rental we were driving – long story and it was years ago –  I was struck by a phrase he used –  ‘our porous borders’ in reference to smuggling activity at all levels from the petty to the serious, and impossible to really control.  Certainly, you can stand with one foot either side of the border out in a field or on a back country road; and trade goes whichever way the currency conversions favour at the time.  Border places are so interesting, being as they are the ‘edges’ of a country.

Today’s samples –  each about 10cm square.

A small collage piece, sample really, approx 10cm sq employing some of the things on my mind just now….

.. stencilling, freehand machine piecing, machine and hand stitch, hand drawn elements …

Where are the stencils available?  I cut them myself from template plastic using an art knife and my own pencil line drawings.  The two I actually used above are from a group  of variations of the traditional one I always think of as the rising sun –

-not sure what its name is but I always think of it as that… or sunset I guess, depending which way you’re looking at the time.  

I’m a keen hand stitcher/embroiderer from way back, love combining paint with stitch and over the past few years have enjoyed its renaissance in textile art.  Mixed media is the term you hear a lot these days.  Perfect.

“Who knows what happens if…?”

This question, about technique,  materials or equipment often comes up on the several fibre or art quilt chat lists I subscribe to.  It’s asked by people who consider themselves to be creative or even innovative. The obvious  answer is “Why not just make a sample and see for yourself?”  In the time it takes to post the question and wait for any replies, often the matter could easily be settled to the questioner’s satisfaction. Learning by doing is one of my mantras. (Sometimes someone wants an answer to a question before they invest in some expensive art supplies, equipment or sewing materials, and I do get that)

I wanted to know the potential of some things I’m thinking about at the moment, so here are a couple of samples from this morning.  First, a scrap of bronze leather on a piece of scrap fabric told me what I wanted to know about sewing into it (must look for that leather needle)  and attaching the leather onto scrap fabric with the threads I had in mind.  Hmmm…. that leather is nice, and there’s a lot of potential there for I have in mind.

This next one came to me in the wee small hours of the night, and I was not sure I’d remember it the next day, so put my watch onto the other arm to remind me 🙂    The scrap of tan was cut to no particular shape before hand, but before gathering around the edge, it was sewn to the background cream. Satisfying, a lot of potential there, too suggested by the jottings I typically put on a sample.