Cilantro - Si!

I made it back home from San Francisco late last night and finished up my 5 x7 "Cilantro" piece today.  

"Cilantro" by Christina Fairley Erickson
Freehand machine embroidery, decorative stitching and freemotion quilted

Since I already had the machine embroidered cilantro done, all I had to finish up was the background.  For this, I started with stitching the name "Cilantro" as I had with my other Salsa pieces.  To do this, I printed the word on a piece of paper-piecing paper in a funky font and then just stitched the letters out and tore away to paper.  Then I chose a few different decorative stitches to start with.

Cilantro freemotion quilting design

Next, I wanted to fill the middle space with freemotion quilting.  I drew out this design which I based on cilantro leaves.  I like how it looks and was ready to try it out.

However, I then lay my machine embroidered Cilantro on top of the drawn design.  I don't think it was complementary at all!  I'd like to try the leaf pattern somewhere, but this wasn't the right place.

Cilantro freemotion quilting design with cilantro machine
embroidery on top

Background getting filled in with cubing

So, I decided to check my favorite resource, Leah Day's FreeMotion Quilting Project, and thought that I could slightly modify her "Cubing" design.  I worked the design at an angle or on-point, as well as putting in a lot of rectangular shapes, rather than mostly all squares.

After that, I only had to applique down my machine embroidery.  Due to the thin stalks and ruffled edges of the cilantro, I decided to cut the embroidery along the edge, color in the edges and machine applique it (rather than hand-applique as I did on the others.)  I did put a minimal amount of trapunto batting under a few leaves and left some of the edges loose, so it has a more 3-D effect.

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Recognizing our limits and not giving up

There are times for each of us when we need to just need to assess what's realistic.  It's been that kind of week.  As I mentioned a few days ago, I have a Valentines special trip to visit my girlfriend and her husband for their twenty-fifth anniversary.  It turns out that Valentine's and President's day coincide with my sons' mid-winter break, so my family and mother and I are taking a long weekend trip down to the San Francisco Bay area.  But, as most of us know, things start to get complex as soon as you plan to get out of town.

My cilantro machine embroidery on the background fabric
I've chosen (still to be completed.)

Therefore, I haven't finished my 5 x 7 art piece for the last week.  I'm not sure whether I'll get one done in the coming week, since I'm out of town.  However, I did bring my sketchbook along, so perhaps I can finish something that way.  My current 5 x 7, my cilantro piece, is well on it's way.  So, I might get it finished when I get back next Tuesday.

Regardless, I want to be honest with you... I think it's important to recognize that we can't always reach our goals.  I've had a few people feel like they couldn't continue with the 5 x 7 challenge, because things came up and they weren't able to do their artwork a week or two.  Sometimes the most important thing is to accept our failures and then get back to work.  Perseverance pays.  So even though I know last week and this coming one might not be as productive as I had hoped, I will not give up.

Here are a few more wonderful pieces from the Bellevue Art Museum "High Fiber Diet" exhibit:

"The Contact: Climax Forest"
by Ann Johnston

These three pieces by Ann Johnston were hung together and all feature Ann's hand-dyed fabrics.  Climax Forest is hand dyed cotton that has been hand & machine stitched.  I love the complementary color scheme with the golden yellow-orange and blue.

"The Contact: Nevadan Orogeny"
by Ann Johnston

Her piece Nevadan Orogeny is also hand dyed cotton with machine stitching.  It represents the era where massive plumes of molten magma intruded into the earth's crust, lifting and creating the western part of the North American continent.

The final piece,Vigil is also hand dyed cotton with hand & machine stitching.  I love the cracked look of the mountain peaks.  I've climbed glaciers in Alaska and while the beauty of the great blue ice is incredible, something that many people don't know is that the ices has cracks and lines of dirt, from the rocks that have been crushed through the force and power of the glacier.

"The Contact: Vigil"
by Ann Johnston

The next piece, "Studio" was constructed with Felt, Polyfiber, wire, and PVC.  Tamara Wilson of Fairbanks AK recreates her surroundings with felt and thread.  She feel that comfort and warmth, safety and security are conveyed both through the topic of her familiar surroundings as well as the usage of felt.

Each part of the scene below is made out of the felt and supporting pieces... and I mean every part of the scene... the bike on the wall, the light bulb and wire it hangs from, the table & chair, the sewing machine, reading glasses, cup of noodles, trashcan, etc.  All of it!

"Studio" by Tamara Wilson

"Studio" detail view

I hope this gives you a little inspiration and helps you remember that it's ok when you don't always meet your goals.  Goals are there to help you... to light your way.  When you have other things in your life, it's o.k.  Learning balance is such a critical part of all of our lives.

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For great ideas on freemotion quilting, check out Leah Day's FreeMotion Quilting Project

A Sprig Away

Today's project has been working on a sprig of Cilantro for my Salsa quilt.  This has been a little more challenging, as the uneven ruffled edges of the cilantro and the thin, fine stalks are going to make it pretty impossible to turn under the edges to applique.  Unless you know a technique that I don't!

"Cilantro" freehand machine embroidery by Christina Fairley Erickson

"Cilantro" back

So, I did this one a little differently, in that I decided to put a green, leafy background on the back, below the layers of stabilizer.  This way, I can carefully cut around my machine embroidery and fasten it to the background, but allow some of the leaves to not be completely secured, and the backing fabric will show.  I expect I'll have to color along the edges where I cut, however.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with the background this time around, though I'm considering putting it on either a red or yellow-orange piece.  While I'm working on this little sprig, here's something to think about on a much grander scale!

Sea Nettle" by Dina Barzel in foreground
"Bridging Shine" by Jo Hamilton in background

Yesterday, I started talking about the Bellevue Art Museum's (BAM) current exhibit "High Fiber Diet."  One of the artists and a friend of mine, Dina Barzel, is an incredible woman in the fiber arts.  Dina has been working as a full-time artist since 1970 and makes fiber sculptures.  I met Dina through the Surface Design Association and am happy to have her join our monthly meetings here in Bellevue.  Dina was born and grew up in the Western Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania.  The traditional uses of fibers were an essential part of everyday life, and made quite an impression on her.

Dina's sculpture for this show, "Sea Nettle" is made of silk fibers, shaped around molds.  Some of the molds are large and light enough to even hold the artist!  The silken globe rise up to the twenty foot ceiling, some partially open, as though they are allowing others to escape from within.

In the background, you'll see an oversized male portrait called "Bridging Shine" by Jo Hamilton. This piece is made completely of mixed crocheted yarn and is about twice the size of life.

"Sea Nettle" by Dina Brazel (detail)

"Sea Nettle" by Dina Brazel (detail)

You might also be interested in:

BAM High Fiber Diet

La Cebolla (Onion)

Developing the 
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For wonderful Tutorials on FreeMotion Quilting and more, go to Leah Day's FreeMotion Quilting Project