September: Nine Squares

Most of us are still working away on our Nine Squares projects, although Helen has finished hers. She chose to work with 4.5cm squares - a shape that is the nine, 1.5cm squares in a 3 x 3 layout. She incorporated her squares into the front cover of a book.

Here's the back cover.

Inside the book are pages in colours suiting the theme, which is on the front page, Tropical Sunset. 

Nola has almost finished her project. She also used 4.5cm squares, making six pages for a tiny book on her theme, Sydney Spring. Each page was painted and embroidered to represent spring flowers. She also made covers with the name of the book, a hand-made tassel and a plait and bead fastening on the front:

and, on the back, her name and the date. She's sure she'll have it finished before our next meeting.

Maz hasn't decided whether her earlier piece is finished, but she started another one. This time, she is using a different layout of the nine squares....

And more from August..

We kept working on our Nine Squares pieces when we met again, even though we were a small group. They are quite addictive!

Here are Helen's 4 1/2cm squares laid out on a piece of cloth she was considering.

She's very fond of the kimono shape in her work.

Yvonne was painting backgrounds on card stock.

Nola was working on more of her Sydney Spring squares.

We also swapped postcards as usual. Here's Yvonne's first one:

She layered strips of mulberry paper. It really has the sense of a landscape, doesn't it?

Jan used tea-dyed fabric laid over a printed background.

Helen used some fabric she'd created a long time ago in a workshop. It was so long ago, she can't remember just what she did! We think it might be bobbin work on a bonded web.

She laid it over a painted background, which you can see as tantalising glimpses through the web.

It's interesting that both girls used a simple, turned under edge on their  fabric postcards. It suits the style of both, although they look quite different. 

See you in September, when we'll have our idiotic flowers to show you!

A new project!

Everyone loves starting something new and we're no different. Here at Fibrecircle, we've started a new project, which will run until we get sick of it. It's called Nine Squares (thanks, Claire Brach, for the idea!).

Each person (except new member, Yvonne) was given a snaplock bag to fill with materials for this project. To help them choose a collection of colours to work together, they each drew out a simple theme. They could use this theme for their works or just as a guide for selecting a colour scheme. Once the bag is filled, everyone is limited to the materials in the bag, so the contents took some thinking about. The aim is to make as many Nine Square pieces as possible from their bag of materials. Members can use any tools of their choice, so needles, scissors, (sewing machine?) and so on don't need to be fitted into their bag.

Each person brought along her bag of materials when we met together last week. From their bag, they were instructed to make as many finished Nine Squares as they liked. Nine Squares refers to the footprint of each piece, which must consist of nine, 1.5cm squares in any arrangement. Some examples of possible arrangements of squares were provided:

Carol decided to work with 4.5cm squares (nine squares in a three by three layout) and her original theme of Sky and Sand. Here’s her first one:

 

She included paints in her bag, so she painted some fabric and then added the corrugated card and shell on a card background.

Her second square used net beads and sequins on a fabric square, mounted on card.

 

Her third square is a night beach scene, made from stitched felt, net and sequins.

 

Maz also worked with 4.5cm squares. She constructed a series of squares, joined by fabric strips, which folded into a 4.5cm concertina book.



(Truly, it does fold into a 4cm square!)

Nola also included paints in her bag, as well as fabric strips and embroidery threads. She chose to work with her theme, Sydney Spring.

She painted some plain dyed fabric as the background and added stitch. This square is slightly oversize, and will be trimmed back to size when it has its backing added.

Tricia decided to work with a more complex shape, like a fish. She mounted fabric onto stiffened cut to shape and added beads.

 It's actually quite challenging to work as small as this, as anyone making Inchies will tell you. You have to think in very simple terms to create your image or mood. Unlike Inchies or ATCs, we're working on each piece individually, so they are quite small to handle.

 

There will be more to come!