New Work

I have been enjoying making new art in the studio this week.   This 12" x 12" mixed media piece is Floral Study #2.  The blossoms are made from hand-dyed cotton and lots of glass beads.  Squares of metallic sheers add a touch of shimmer to the free-motion-quilted background.  The finished piece is mounted on a stretched canvas panel. 

What a great tribute to a summer day!  How is your summer going??

PolkadotPossum on the Etsy Front Page!

One of my fabric boxes was on the Etsy Front Page on Monday! This beautiful collection was assembled by Mila Storow from Storow.

'it's a beautiful day...' by Storow

Fabric Box Champagne Beige H... PolkadotPossum $25.00	Sale Mother's Day Jewelr... LovesParisStud... $10.00	Spiral Beach Shell Photo, ne... semisweetstudi... $25.00	Sinfocarpos earrings- Vintag... GBILOBA $12.50
Crochet Coasters/Doilies of ... RainbowGerbera $18.00	off-white shell bead wire wr... KimberlyAnnMar... $20.00	Rustic White Lace Wooden Boh... NataliaDecor $20.00	Shawl Wrap Stole White Ivor... Svetusha $89.00
White Freshwater pearl Neckl... JillianDesigns... $42.00	Antique White Ring- Vintage ... CStarStudio $62.00	Handknitted Extra Long Skin... stitchandsmith $21.50	Table top. Crocheted Beach S... CROCHETTT $19.00
Felt Circle Earrings CrochetPocket $7.00	8 Starfish Beach Theme Weddi... unconventional... $12.00	Wall Pocket Basket Woven Nat... midnightcoiler $25.00	Freshwater Pearl Necklace --... HappyFortune $48.00

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©Polkadot Possum (Cindy Harwood)

New Work Wednesday

This week I have some new fabric boxes in holiday colors.

These fabric boxes are great for holding treasures, jewelry, office supplies and other items.









These unique, original design fabric boxes were created from a variety of hand-dyed cottons, silks and synthetics. The exterior of each box is embellished with couched yarns for added texture and the interior is lined with a commercial cotton fabric. The edges of the boxes are finished with stitched yarn and they are held closed by elastic and a brass or vintage button. Heavy interfacing keeps the box sturdy but flexible.

Size:
L: 5 inches / 12.5 cm
W: 4.5 inches / 11.25 cm
H: 2.5 inches / 6.25 cm

These, and other, fabric boxes are available now in my Etsy shop.

©Polkadot Possum (Cindy Harwood)

New Work Wednesday

In anticipation of the holidays, I been working on some new journal covers.

Large Moleskine Journal Covers

These reusable journal covers will fit the Large size (5" x 8.25") Moleskine journals and notebooks.













These reusable Moleskine™ notebook covers are made from a collage of hand-dyed cottons or cottons and silks embellished with yarn to give texture. The covers are constructed on heavy, flexible stabilizer and the inside is lined with coordinating cotton fabric. Inside the front cover is a handy pocket for notes, photos, memorabilia, ephemera and pens. The cover wraps around to completely enclose the edges of the journal and is held securely with a magnetic snap closure.

Journal Cover Dimensions: 5.25" x 8.5" (13.34 cm x 21.6 cm)

These journals/notebook covers are available now in my Etsy shop.

©Polkadot Possum (Cindy Harwood)

New Work Wednesday

Here's some new pieces I've been working on lately

Mixed Media Pumpkin Brooches/Pins




Fabric Boxes



Mixed Media Jewelry



©Polkadot Possum (Cindy Harwood)

New Work Wednesday

In celebration of the autumn season and the beginnings of cool weather, I have created some new items in seasonal motifs and colors.

Girlfriend Brooches/Pins











Greeting Cards









Fabric Box





©Polkadot Possum (Cindy Harwood)

Art Quilt - Deco Study #2

I want to start posting more of my original design contemporary art quilts, like I did last week. I haven't really taken the time to do this in the past and I would really like to share some of my favorite pieces with you.  Today I am focusing on my small art quilt Deco Study #2.

I love the art deco period and wanted to play around with some of the design elements in my art quilts.  I decided to make a few small pieces before tackling a larger wall hanging to get some experience working with the motifs.  One of the results was this 12 inch x 12 inch art quilt.

The materials used in this art quilt include hand-dyed cottons, commercial cottons and silks. I started by collaging the design motifs onto a background of richly-colored hand-dyed cotton. Once I was satisfied with the design, I satin stitched the edges of each piece with rayon thread. The way I built up the circle collages gives the quilt top a slightly three-dimensional effect. The collaged top was layered with Warm and Natural cotton batting and a commercial cotton backing fabric and then free-motion machine quilted with rayon threads. (I don't own or use a "quilting machine".  All my quilting is done with my older Bernina® 1090 machine.)  Since I allowed the design elements to "break out" of the confines of the square quilt, I wanted to retain that organic feel and did a simple zigzag stitch around the edges to finish the piece.

Have you used fiber art in your home decorating?  If not, then you should definitely try it!  Art quilts can be used on the wall, framed or unframed, just like any other artwork. But art quilt have a tactile, textural quality that most other types of wall art don't have.  I use contemporary art quilts (some framed and some unframed) all over my house and they give that extra punch of color that your walls sometimes need. They also look super when grouped with other types of artwork.


One thing to note, however; fiber art should not be hung in direct sunlight unless protected by UV filtering glass.

I will devote a future blog post to different methods of displaying this unique and fun type of art.  Thanks for stopping by and if you have any questions about art quilts or how to display them, please leave me a comment.  I'll be sure to get back with an answer!

©Polkadot Possum (Cindy Harwood)

Ginko

I haven't blogged about any of the wall art I have made recently so I thought it was time to remedy that. The fiber art group I belong to in Lafayette (FibR) decided to do a series of 12" x 12" challenges similar in vein to the Twelve by Twelve International Art Quilt Challenge. We ran three different challenges with the following themes:

• rust and gold
• blue and purple (with Tyvek™)
• neutral with one color plus texture

Other than these restrictions, and the fact that the finished piece should be 12" x 12", we could do anything we wanted in any medium.

This is my piece for the rust and gold challenge.

I started with a piece of canvas that I had gessoed then painted, splattered and stamped with acrylic paints.  Then I cut up the painted canvas and pieced it with  rust-colored hand-dyed cotton and golden-colored silk fabrics.  I embellished the top with hand-dyed cheesecloth for added texture and used some Shiva sticks to add rubbings of ginko leaves.  The rubbings didn't show up as much as I wanted so I cut and appliqued metallic silk organza ginko leaves over the rubbings. 

I layered the quilt with batting and backing fabric and machine quilted it using various motifs.

Then I used Sulky Solvy™ to machine stitch a large yarn and thread ginko leaf and machine stitched it to the center of the quilt top.

I zigzagged chenille yarn to the edges of the quilt to finish it.

This piece was part of FibR's recent show at the Tippecanoe Arts Federation entitled "Botanica".  The show ran from May 13 to June 17 at the Wells Center in Lafayette, IN.  Ginko is now at Gallery 510 in Decatur, Illinois in their consignment shop where I have some of my art pieces.

Until next time, keep on creating in your little corner of the world!

©Polkadot Possum (Cindy Harwood)