Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Spicy Nine Patch

This may be the most expensive piece that I have made for our challenges. I kept breaking felting needles, both hand and machine; I bought backing fabric that I never used. I bought lots of fabrics for the collage and used only bits and pieces. I also got a little spendy with the beads!!

I finished this late and I am not happy with the photo so will probably redo that. I felted two 12 inch squares, one with a saffron yellow prefelt base and one with a paprika base. When I had done some felting of large pieces of chiffon and roving, I cut each of them into 4 1/2 inch squares and then felted additional design elements on each square.

I then added perle cotton stitching and beads and trimmed them to under 4 inches. As many of my pieces for previous challenges show, I have a fascination with the grid. I love each of these little squares as little piece of art. My first thought was to attach them to a canvas background, but it looked heavy. I had a piece of reddish organza which I doubled and used it as the base. I was rushed tonight and I think I may not have done the best placement on the grid.

I loved working with these colors - in fact, I wear a lot of these colors. I had to throw in some chartreuse for a little pop. There are more process photos on my blog.

13 comments:

Cate Rose said...

Sweet, Gerrie!

Diane Perin said...

What fun this piece is! I wish I could see it (and touch it!) in person because obviously texture is such an important aspect of this. It looks like you had fun and there's a great sense of contained chaos here. Mounting the squares on organza was a great idea.

JB said...

Texture, color, embellishment!! What a delightful piece!

Deborah Boschert said...

I really like this very very much, Gerrie! Great job. The grid is perfect... so much more dynamic than simply a 12x12 felted solid piece. I love that you repeated the circle motif in several different variations. I also love the stitching!

Kristin L said...

Each one of your little squares is like a little treasure. I bet they look even better in person. The combination of felting, stitching, and beads gives so much to look at. I wouldn't call what you didn't use spendy leftovers, I'd call it fodder for new work!

Karen said...

You are right about these all being little pieces of art, and they go together so beautifully. I think the detail is wonderful, and repeating the circles really ties it together.

Elizabeth said...

Love, love, love it Gerrie!!!

Terry Grant said...

Can't wait to see this in person. I think it is beautiful and you know how I normally feel about felted and beaded stuff!

kirsten said...

I'm with Deborah - brealing the 12" expanse into smaller pieces has worked very well indeed. I'm sure that's NOT a little bird nest at the bottom, but in my heart it is. A lovely little nest with amazing chartreuse eggs laid by an exquisite bird with sparkly feathers.

Terri Stegmiller said...

I always seem to be attracted to grid-like designs too and I love the wonky-ness of your grid. I am having fun looking at all the different squares and the designs on each. Oh, and I love your addition of chartreuse in there too.

Brenda Gael Smith said...

I'm so glad that you persevered with this piece Gerrie. When I saw your felting in progress, I was curious where you would take things and this embellished 9 nine patch is a glorious resolution.

Connie Akers said...

Beautiful. I love the colors, beads, and grid.

Renate said...

OO..oo! I love this one! I can feel the heat of the spice from here! And the embellishment adds to the flavour of the piece.