What to do?

I made this soulcollage a couple of months ago when I was going through a hard time and wasn't sure what I wanted to do. The statue of a woman pondering somethings so deeply inspired me to express my own indecision and ambivalence. All the images are taken from magazines (mostly advertisements or National Geographic). Working on this helped me get through a difficult time in my life by focusing painful feelings on a creative process.

Tractor Collage

This was a birthday "card" for my brother-in-law. Recently when I saw him on his little tractor, it reminded me of the big tractors I loved in my childhood. So I constructed him one by using some of my large stash of magazine pages cut into appropriate tractor parts. I expecially liked the tire made from chainlink fence and a mudhole. The background is a photo/acrylic paint transfer. I mounted the tractor on top and coated the whole thing with several layers of gel medium. The border is cardstock with holes punched out.

Crossword Puzzle Pieced Wallhanging

I made this small (33x33) wallhanging for Alan for his birthday, partly because he loves crosswords but also because I have been collecting way too many black and white fabrics and needed to use them. Piecing went easier than I thought it would and it actually turned out looking like the puzzle I modeled it on (called BTW New York, New York). My friend quilted it for me because I don't have a walking foot for my machine.

Book - Nudes in a Plain Brown Wrapper

I started making pages for this book nearly a year ago. I stopped for several months while I worked on some other projects. I was stymied by how I would construct the book so I decided it would be the project I would take to Ohio to get some help figuring it out with my sister. After finishing all the pages of nudes, I decided to sew all the pages to a large piece of heavy pellon and fold it into eight pages. Before sewing onto the pellon, I painted it with various mottled colors of acrylic paints. The pages were made using various multi-media techniques - computer graphics, transparencies, collage, transfers, stamping, etc. Most pages were a mixture of paper or tyvek and fabric or lutradur. The cover was fabric-covered book boards. The pellon pages were sewn onto the covers' end-page fabric which was then glued on.

Terri's Echo Quilt

This is a small (17x17) wallhanging I made for my friend Terri. I used five pictures that I had taken near our cabin at Echo Lake. I printed them onto fabric and pieced them with other fabric scraps that I already had.

Diane's Birthday Purse

I made my friend Diane a purse for her birthday out of the sunflower fabric that I bought while we were shopping together. I didn't have plans for the fabric so after she admired it, I decided that I would make something for her. I added other fabrics from my extensive collection of scraps. The purse is a simple rectangular lined bag, but it does have some good pockets, including the cell phone pocket you can see in the picture. (The brown rectangle with a circle on it.) I think I like the piecing I did on the other side even better, but the pictures of that side are too blurry.

Drum set for Bruce

I made this drum collage for Bruce's birthday. (Bruce is the mover and shaker of my husband's band - Odd Man Out.) Inspired to try making "paper fabric" (a technique where layers of paper are glued to a fabric substrate), I used that for the background. It wasn't entirely successful; I believe I may have used too much water mixed with the glue and the fabric really puckered on the back. Then I sewed the fabric drum set on and stitched the supports. On the back, I photoshopped a message onto cardstock and attached it by zigzagging around the edge.