Saturday Share: Thread Painted Bear Grass

 I'm teaching two online classes today! So this will be a shorter post this morning.

As green continues to return to the valley (even with the odd snow fall here and there still) I'm cheering on the plants as they peek their tips out of the chilly ground and prepare to bloom once more. Soon, I'll look out my window or in my garden and hardly be able to recognize the landscape from what it is today. I don't remember the count (years) from the last massive bear grass bloom but I think we're getting close to another good one. With bloom cycles of 5-7 years there are some years where the entire hill sides turn bright white...such a wonderful thing to witness. 

This is a thread art piece that I made of this unique plant, sketched out on a sunprinted batik to add to the depth and layers of the forest floor. It's amazing how many colors of 'white' are needed to recreate this fun plant...but I do love how it came out....might be time to make another one. :) 

Saturday Share: Lily

 

While not a traditional Easter lily, I decided to share a flower that I did some thread painting on a while ago. This started as a gorgeous panel designed by Stephanie Brandenburg who started Frond Fabrics. With the desire to add art into fabric her designs are a wonder canvas to play on and with. 

After doing some extensive thread work on the flower I appliqued it on to a sun printed batik. 

As I observe Easter, and many of my friends observe Passover 

I hope that we all feel the new hope of spring

and celebrate love and being loved. 

Saturday Share: Forms in Fiber Exhibit

 Today's Saturday share is a collage of the work I have currently showing at the Forms in Fiber exhibit at the Bigfork Arts and Cultural Center. 

I've also put together a virtual tour of the show for those not near enough to come and visit it in person. (or even if you have seen it, but want to take another look at that piece that just won't let you stop thinking about it!) I hope you enjoy it!

If you want more information about the show you can visit the BACC's website:

https://baccbigfork.org/

Saturday Share: Woven together

 I have the pleasure of teaching another online class today with the great folks at The Original Sewing Expo. We are doing weaving of fabrics again, this time in a half circle pattern to create a fun sky and landscape project.  As I'm getting ready to show some work at an exhibit in Polson at the Sandpiper Art Gallery this March, I had an idea of a piece I wanted to create a new circle weave to home a little 3D dragonfly that I've been playing with. I'm happy that it came together before class today as now I can share it with my students who (if they are like me and have fun with this technique) can see different directions it can lead. 

But even if you're not in class today you can still enjoying seeing the piece! Or if you happen to be in Polson during the months of March-May you can see it in person!

Ripples

Textile Art by Monique Kleinhans

Saturday Share: All Who Wander...

 For this week's Saturday share I'm posting a new piece...it's a small work only 6 x 8" and was created to support an auction for the Studio Art Quilters Association. In it I played with soft body acrylics, hand painted and distressed lutradur and free-motion embroidery. 

All Who Wander...
Textile Art by Monique Kleinhans

Part of the fun of working on a small piece is the ability to play with an idea that you've not tried before, or in this case to start with a work that was begun a long time ago but hadn't yet found it's voice. 

I titled this All Who Wander (are not lost) because I believe that we have to do a bit of meandering in our art as well as out lives. Not just to get to the next destination, but learn and explore along the way. If we start every project with such a firm idea of what it needs to become we'll miss out on the sometimes messy, but often rewarding paths unseen. 

While it's much to cold for the owner of this nose to be wandering in the woods currently, I'm happily wandering in my creative landscapes and can't wait to see what might be around the next corner on after the next hill. 

Play on!

Saturday Share: Adding that little something extra...

 It had been a pretty mild winter here in Montana...that is until today when we got over 8 inches of snow and are forecast for another round the next few days. I don't mind the snow actually as we are also scheduled to see temps dipping down into the negative numbers so my plants are much happier having a snow blanket on them, plus it's just such a beautiful landscape with the snow draped on the trees and the crisp white covering all the browned grass and bare branches. 

As winter has finally arrived, I DO think it's ironic that tomorrow I'm teaching an embellishments class called Ba Da BLING for Spring! In this class we play with some of my favorite ways to enhance and embellish quilts and other creative projects...adding shine and 3D elements. 

I love sharing the products that work for me as I'm creating and always look forward to new ways that my students come up with as well!

So, regardless if your feeling the lean toward spring, or like us...feeling all the shoveling we did this morning...I hope your creativity is engaged and ready to play no matter what the season may be outside!

Saturday Share: Woven Backgrounds

 I'm teaching again today! (online class hosted by the lovely folks at The Original Sewing Expo!) So I'll make this a short post.

Summer Solstice

Textile Art by Monique Kleinhans 

Today we are exploring creating woven backgrounds to make two fabrics (or more!) into beautiful and creative backgrounds for focus pieces. It's a technique that I was first introduced to by my Mom who had just purchased Anna Faustino's book Simply Stunning Woven Quilts prior to a quilting retreat. As soon as my Mom started playing, almost everyone else at the retreat ran to the store to get the supplies needed to play along and my Mom ended up teaching an impromptu class herself! Since then, I've enjoyed using the different styles of weaving fabrics together to add lots of movement and color into projects. 

Ba Da BLING (for Spring) class coming in February!

Have some fun with Embellishments on your quilted projects and more!

Saturday Share: Out on a Limb

Out On a Limb

Textile Art by Monique Kleinhans

Our chickadees are some of our constant companions here at 'the cabin'. They follow us around when we walk outside, with their curious chirps and their songs change when spring arrives filling the hill side with calls to each other. Some mornings when we don't get the feeder put out soon enough you'll find yourself surrounded by this cute little feathered balls as they flock to grab seeds before you're even able to hang the feeder up! I never get tired of taking photos of these sweet little birds and I also love creating them in fibers and threads. 

In this piece I started with watercolor pencils on light batik fabric and then added layers of thread to create texture and extra shading in a process that I call 'twice painted quilts'. 
 

Saturday Share: My Heart Has Wings

 

My Heart Has Wings

Wall Quilt by Monique Klienhans

Lyrics for My Heart Has Wings by Aengus Finnan

My heart has wings, love,

Wings to carry me home.

And my heart it sings, love,

Your name is its song.

I created this piece for an exhibit at the Sandpiper Gallery a number of years ago. The background is pieced with a pattern called Hugs and Kisses (as it makes up Xs and Os.) The butterflies are thread embellished and appliquéd. There are three butterflies flying above the canvas of the quilt which were made using a special batting that allows you to mold and sculpt the item by heating it before it becomes permanent. 

I'm working on some new pieces for another Sandpiper Gallery show coming this spring. I'll be sure to keep you posted! 

Saturday Share: Frog

 

Frog

Thread painted wall quilt 

I love learning about Native Americans' beliefs of what animals have to teach us and that when you attention is caught by different animals the myths and stories of their nature can be used as a meditation for your own life. 

The frog is the totem of metamorphosis. It symbolizes coming into your personal power and it reminds us not to become bogged down in our day to day living. People with frog medicine give support and energy where it is needed.  They can cleanse the negativity from an environment.

This little frog came into being when my Mom signed us both up for my first ever thread art class with the lovely Ellen Anne Eddy back in 2007. Those two days were pure magic as I was introduced to the joys of thread painting and a whole new world of creating art with fiber. My Mother actually started this little guy in class and then gave him to me to finish (as I'm sure she could see that my creative fire had been lit and thread painting had become such a joy for me to do.) 

Between the wonderful support of my Mother's and Ellen's guidance, I certainly feel that this piece was the start of much personal growth both in my art and in seeing myself as an artist.  And now I get to enjoy passing along as much frog energy as I can while teaching others the joys of fiber art and seeing them begin to realize their own potential and power in their work. 

Saturday Share: Sunrise Over Montana

 

Sunrise Over Montana

Textile Art by Monique Kleinhans

This piece began with a quilt challenge. The goal was to include at least three different techniques to create stars. I created pieced stars, paper pieced sun, applique and quilted starts as well. I then decided to add some of the striking peaks and an impressionistic waterfall and trees.  Finally a flock of geese decided to fly through the big sky toward the dawn. 

Saturday Share: Walking in My Garden of Color

Thread Art Quilt by Monique Kleinhans

celebrating the beautiful fabrics of Stephanie Brandenburg

 Today's Saturday share might seem 'out of season' but it's appropriate as I'm teaching a Intro to Thread Art Class today online with The Original Sewing Expo folks.  

This quilt was made using some of Frond Design Studio's gorgeous flower panels designed by Stephanie Brandenburg. I thread painted/embellished each flower individually and then appliqued them onto the background design. It was a project that took me almost a year to complete but it was so much fun dreaming and scheming about what the end result would look like. And it was the first large scale art quilt that I made (Queen sized) 

It found it's new home at an art festival in Kalispell...a wonderful customer who wandered by and said that it was going to be her anniversary present from her husband. Apparently, he had been worried that he hadn't yet gotten her anything and she sweetly told him (before going to the art festival) to not worry about it,...she'd take care of it. :) It sounds like their marriage is as colorful as this quilt is! 

Saturday Share: Winter Moon

 

Winter Moon

Textile Art by Monique Kleinhans

Driving home one night I had to quickly pull over to the side of the road.  Before me the mountains were being lit by the last of the evening light and behind them a beautiful almost full moon rose larger than life.  Thankfully I had my camera with me and I spent some time taking photos and just taking in the beauty of the moment.  After looking at my photos I knew I wanted to translate the experience into thread and fabric.  Every time I look at this piece I immediately return to that moment on the road home, and the sense of wonder that this area offers us every day.

This piece was created using traditional appliqué techniques and extensive thread painting to create depth and the visual layers of the mountainside forest.  The piece was then quilted and stretched on canvas for easy hanging.

I'm excited to get to introduce some students to the joy of thread painting in my online class through Sewing Expo next week, and so grateful for the means of staying connected via technology! 

Saturday Share: Montana Barn

Montana Barn 

Textile Art by Monique Kleinhans 

Wooden barns are part of the makeup of the landscape all across Montana.  We see them in various stages of decay, but they never lose their beauty and even the ones that stand on their last legs still hold their original sense of purpose and use.  I loved spending time in my father’s barn when I was growing up…feeding the livestock or finding treasures of old metal long since discarded from their original purpose and watching the sunlight play through the cracks of the aged shelter.  My Montana Barn series captures a few of these majestic wonders sometimes named simply by the closest mile marker I could find.

I composed the background with applique, the trees using layers of thread and the barn with fabric and thread embellishment. Each layer was then appliquéd to the background and thread added to combine all the pieces into one.

Saturday Share: Eyes of the Great Herd

 

Eyes of the Great Herd

Textile Art by Monique Kleinhans

If you ever have had the opportunity to stand near one of these grand creatures you will begin to understand reason that they have such power in myth and legends.  Their size alone is enough to make you stand in awe. (but please...don't stand TOO near them--we've seen enough crazy videos of people approaching them in Yellowstone National Park.)

This piece was created using traditional appliqué, and then thread-painted to add texture and depth.  I then couched different styles of yarn

I'm also so grateful that this piece was purchased by a friend and relative...so I still have the opportunity to visit it from time to time! 

Saturday Share: Choir of Poppies

 I'm sharing one of my designs that I turned into an applique pattern for today's Saturday Share. 

Choir of Poppies

It's not only timely due to our celebration of Veteran's Day this past week, but also because I have the pleasure of teaching this project today via an online class out in my studio today! 

While the world has thrown us more than enough challenges this year, there is always a silver lining to every struggle. And this year more of us have learned how to stay connected using a technology that is often blamed for making us more isolated. While it will never compare to being in the room with my students, what I love about teaching online is it allows me the ability to connect with students that I would most likely never have had the opportunity to share a classroom with before. 

So while outside my window the snow is blowing and landscape is covered in white, there will be a garden of flowers blooming across the country...in one small sewing room after another. 

Sew on! 

Saturday Share: Edgar

 

Today's Saturday share was created using a fun combination of techniques. The star of the piece (Edgar, named in reference to Mr. Poe) is thread painted using a variety of different colors and layers of threads. His background is two different fabrics woven together in a circle weave and then covered with a metallic netting. Leaves are appliqued at the base, both standard and some 3D. 

Ravens and crows have a special place in Native American folk-lore. The Blackfeet Nation believed that the Raven has the power of giving people far sight or messages from far away.  I’ve always been impressed by the sure mass of these birds and love watching them play in the thermals above our cabin.    

I wonder what messages the Ravens have for us right now as we head into a very uncertain moment in our country's journey?

Saturday Share: Many Winters

 

                                                            Many Winters

Some of the best memories I have with my Mom (and I have a LOT) are the two of us playing and experimenting together. This piece was created during one such playdate where we decided to experiment with four paste resists. 

You get to make up a big messy batch of flour and water and finger paint it all over your fabric. Then, you have to entertain yourself for a long enough time to let it dry completely---not a hard task when the two of us get together. 

Once the flour paste dries, it cracks and you can then paint over the top of the flour with ink (and where the cracks in the flour paste exist, the ink will reach the fabric. It reveals a fun and unique texture using this method and it reminded me of lots of bare tree branches crossing one another. 

I used this method to create Many Winters, creating a mask to maintain the outline of my tree and then did some texture quilting once the flour paste was washed away. 

We are having an early re-entry into winter this week with the snow falling again today covering the landscape in a blanket of white (which is good...as temps are forecasted to dip into possible single digits, the plants and trees will need any blanket they can get!)

I celebrate the explosion of color of the other seasons, but there is also a beautiful magic in the simplified palette of winter. It invites you look deeper than just the surface and see what might be revealed beneath the layers that are cracked and worn. It is a time to dive deep and nourish our own root systems---what are we taking in and up from our surroundings--is it feeding us well for growth come spring? And if not, what can do to change that in our lives. 

Winter has much to teach us. 

Saturday Share: My Heart Has Wings

The past couple of days I've had the privilege of attending the Studio Art Quilters Association's Regional Conference. (via zoom as this is a no-contact year). My head is full of ideas as I've been watching and listening to other artists share their work and talk about their process. It is such an amazing experience to be part of such an active group. I wish I could share a fraction of what is percolating in my brain right now, but I suppose since no one has yet invented a window for creative brains you'll just have to wait along side me to see what comes of the seeds that have been planted. But I can imagine my ideas flying around in my mind, much like these butterflies...

If you ever want to talk about SAQA with me, I'll be happy to share my thoughts with you...and if you're looking for a community that will offer you a treasure-chest of resources, consider joining in. 

My Heart Has Wings was a wall quilt created using traditional piecing with applique butterflies, some found fabrics, some painted fabrics, and some three-dimensional butterflies flying up and off the quilt that were quilted with heat moldable batting (which allows me to sculpt them using heat and then they keep their shape once cool).