Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Mentally Blogging

Or mental blogger?

I've been thinking about starting a blog for quite a while. Hence, I have some pics of "Finished Objects" that I completed in the fall, preblog.

Several years ago I unwittingly began a series of mostly small art quilts. I did not have the time or powers of concentration to do intricate piecing or applique, so I played around with various photos and scanned objects, printed them on fabric, and quilted away. Here are two of the quilts in that series. I made the printouts maybe a year and a half ago or slightly longer, but just finished quilting them in October.
"Bayou Reflections" 16.5" x 18" copyright 2005

This image was a photograph of bald cypress trees behind my MILs house, reflected in the small body of water there. I heavily manipulated the image, and added hand painted and screened borders. Here's a detail of the quilting.




Here's another quilt from this series, also finished about October. I scanned a tempera painting, then heavily manipulated it.


"Aqua Leaves" 16.5" x 18" copyright 2005

And the detail:


Totally changing the subject, how about some knitting content? I mysteriously started knitting about a year ago just after Christmas. Knitting relaxes me in a way that quilting used to (more about that tomorrow). I don't knit all the time, but apparently this is the season that I am most drawn to it. I have mostly knit scarves, but also completed a hat, cowl, purse, sweater, and most of another last year. Here is my current project,

Details: Artful Yarns Portrait (mohair, viscose, polyester), Color 161
Needles: Size 10 Denise Interchangeables
Pattern: One Skein Portrait Scarf (on ball band)

The scarf is lacey, though that is not apparent here. After starting it I realized that, like trapunto or heavy quilting, lacework shows up better in solid colors. It's still pretty, and has gone really fast. I'm about half way through now.

3 comments:

Debra said...

Cool work!! Ya done good with your blogging beginning!!

Anonymous said...

Hey Diane, what a GREAT name for your blog! And very appropriate! The colors ARE pretty! I love your Cypress Tree.

Diane Doran said...

Thanks, guys! I am blushing. I checked out your blogs/sites too, and I'm impressed. Thanks for stopping by!