Esparta Fiber Arts Blog

I had good intentions of keeping a separate blog for our adventures in Kiwi-land, however, it just isn’t happening so I am going to combine some of our adventures here as they will eventually wind up being put into my art… so vaguely art related.

We have now been living in New Zealand for a year. It has gone by really quickly and we have had some great adventures. We have had a lot of fun exploring Northland, which is the area we live in as well as our first vacation in 7 years to the South Island’s Westland… I will attempt to post some of our cooler pictures and videos as we go. And, I guess I will have to play catch up a bit with the stories…

more soon…

mathea

I have finally managed to finish off my turquoise atc’s for Arts In The Cards and did a quick post about them on the group blog. They were really fun to do and I even did a quick stamp carve… I haven’t done that in years. Lots of fun, pics are at the end of the post.

I have also been steadily working along on the Coastal Quilters challenge piece. It is slow going as most of it is hand work and I am not particularly quick at anything. I have really been enjoying the way this has gone together. My machine quilting is still a bit rusty and needs to be finessed, but that is just practice and I will need the time to do that. But here are photos of the progress…

Have fun,

mathea

I am lucky that the Coastal Quilter’s have included me in this challenge… I was more than a little unsure as to what to do with this fragile little block. The challenge is based on Mary Kerr’s Vintage Revisited.
As most anyone who skims this site or blog knows, I am not much of a traditional quilter and this was a good thing for me to expand my horizons with. I am pretty awful at sewing the scant quarter inch seams, even with the quarter inch seam foot on the sewing machine! I am not totally hardwired for this stuff. I tried to sew some matching type blocks and they were pretty tragic. The ones in the pics are better, still not perfect. I will have to learn more of these skills. Finally, there were enough of the blocks to make something.

So far, the background is yellow and quilted… I am not sure how everything will lay out. the blocks are embellished with shisha mirrors, sadi thread, gold cord and beads… I ahve managed to find the time to create some stumpwork leaves and think I may add some petals as well…

Here are some photos of the quilt in progress…

Right now it is pouring buckets outside. Whangarei is living up to its nickname “Whangarain” without a doubt! The theme for this month’s trade with the Art’s In the Cards group is “Rain”. How do we interpret that as a colour etc…

I really enjoyed working on this one. Especially as I have unpacked a lot of our stuff from the container and now have some art materials to play with. However, I am on a streak of sewn background with embellishment. I had found some vintage beads and some not so vintage beads that reflected what I thought about rain perfectly, so onto the cards they went.

Here is a link to Arts In the Cards so you can see my cohort’s works of art as well as my own. Arts In The Cards

have fun,

mathea

The Coastal Quilters in Maine are having a challenge that incorporates the old into the new… So we have been given vintage quilt blocks and need to turn them into 20.5″ X 20.5″ quilts. So we get to inflict our personal style on these blocks;-)

My block is a red and green Ohio Star and I have some ideas as to what to do with it. It will take some more thought. It is really pretty and perky colour-wise. So when I actually get some work done on this I will update again…

Here is a photo of the original block. No, there is not a hole in it… The light is in a funny spot and this was possibly the dumbest way to take a photo… Better ones will follow.

have fun,

mathea

I finally have a sewing machine and some art materials! So I was able to create one small piece for a challenge here in Whangarei.
I painted white fabric with Tsukineko Inks and some of the Pebeo SetaColours and did my usual quilt to death process. I admit, I am out of practice not having had a machine for 7 or so months and not really being able to sew before I left for New Zealand. But it does come back and practicing is the key. and patience, lots and lots of patience.
Have fun here is a quick peek at my little quilt “Kiwi Friends & Neighbours”
mathea

We are starting to settle in, but I have not had a lot of creative time. I know it will happen! Patience is a virtue and I will need to really work on being patient.
We have not yet had our stuff arrive from the United States and that is where all of my art and quilting gear is located. So soon… I need to make some covers for the iPhones so they do not get trashed in our bags. I will be hand stitching everything right now, so it will take time! New directions to explore.
Have fun, and thank you for your patience!
Mathea

Part of the reason, other than I am lazy and forget to update, that I haven’t written is that we have been in the process of relocating to New Zealand. Well, we have finally arrived and have an internet connection. So this post is not particularly art related, but it will ultimately affect the art I do.

We will be writing a blog about our adventures here:

http://www.espartafiberarts.com/kiwiblog

have fun, we sure will,

mathea

So I had seen these cool little pieces of art… ATC or Artist Trading Cards and they were pretty neat. I had contemplated trying to make some and never sort of found the energy to actually make any and really wasn’t sure how to go about doing it… Well, now I have more of a clue.

I joined an ATC group called Arts In The Cards and I am having a great time. The group is small, and one of the group hosts the challenge… I joined in for the “Typography” and “Trash Talkin’ the Mailman” challenges and am now addicted to these fun little art pieces. Our newest is “Creative Combos”… hmmm, I have to work on it a bit, but I have some ideas.

I have some random atc’s that I made as well… I figured I would upload some of the pictures as they are colorful and fun. Please check out the blog for Arts In The Cards as there are some truly talented and adventurous women in the group!

have fun, I usually do!

mathea

Happy New Year! Hopefully, I will be a better blogger this year. We will see.

It has been busy and not as much has been happening on the art front, so there has been a dearth of material and time to write about it. I am still working on my sketchbook project which needs to be submitted in a couple of weeks, no 10 days to the Brooklyn Art Library so it can go on tour with the rest of the sketchbooks.

My book is pretty random and goes by the title of “It will be fun, I swear.” I used pencil, crayons, colored pencils and mixed media to fill the pages… I will try to get photos of it soon.

I have also been working on a more traditional quilt project. My mother in law’s Christmas gift. It is almost there, so photos will be forthcoming.

I have some photos of my Quilt National quilt. This did not get accepted into the show, which is ok by me… because I am changing it a bit. But here are some of the process photos…

have fun,

mathea