up close and personal..

Hand dyed and commercial fabrics. Hand and machine stitched, appliqued, quilted and embroidered. Going 3-d for these latest pieces.

summer trees

I've never been a very good linear worker. I must have several things going on at once. Not in a frenetic, hectic sense, but in an inter-connected, flowing from one movement to another sense. A dance of inspiration..an interweaving of spirit. Knitting with painting, sewing with reading..

This has been a linear summer, however, with one thing following the next, as if on a track going from one stop to the next. Taxi service for the masses..go stop go stop..

This piece is part of the tree theme that never leaves me. I grew up in Southern California, where the palm, olive and orange tree was the trees of choice. Here in Virginia, the oak reins supreme. In all it's acorn, leafy glory. Also, though, there are others, sweet gum, birch, and willow. This is the willow, hand and machine sewn, and using a lot of embellishment to boot. Beads, yarn, applique and hand dyed lace.

And some silk ribbon work to add some dimension. about 18x18"

applique panel

This is a small part of a large whole..One pannel of a large wall hanging I've done. I love the idea of using the sewing machine as a drawing instrument, and plan on doing a lot more of that!

Here I've machine and hand sewn pannels onto a large, long banner-style hanging with much embelishment going on..




applique panel
Originally uploaded by loriemccown

flooring it

Well, it seems I have about a dozen things going at once.. do you do that? Have a bunch of stuff going, and then bam, I get so I have to FINISH something! Don't get me wrong, I love the process, as much as the next, but I do like to have a completion, somewhere. I'm not proud, nor exclusive, either, I like hand sewing, machine sewing, and all the rest in between.

This is a long, shroud-like piece that is done, and is supposed to be a self-portrait of sorts. I got my machine back from the service center, and decided to stitch small, 2" to 3" or so, free-motioning, consisting of ideas of what I like, and what I see in front of me. Much hand stitching and embelishing followed, as well..

I then cut them all apart and appliqued them, grid-like to the banner, which is 7' long! An extremely fun and satisfying project.. more pix soon..

redwork sampler

Here's a redwork sampler I did when we moved into our house, in '03..done on linen, and made into a wall hanging..