my new sewn pieces

i made these pieces last summer at the society for contemporary craft while i was teaching a workshop called alternative embellishment. the students taking this workshop were particularly enthusiastic, so the facility gave us an extra hour or so each day to work in the studio after class. during this down time, i sewed these pieces using materials on my table and around the studio as well as started and finished them during that extra hour. it was fun and freeing to work with limited materials and to make something within a limited amount of time. those limitations curbed my inclination to think too much and just enabled me to do and make. these may not be masterpieces by any stretch, but they've informed my encaustic work immensely as well as sparked a renewed interest for me to begin making quilt or quilt-like pieces again. i'm also proud to announce that the second piece shown here was accepted into the juried show 'collective thread' to be held at the university of central missouri gallery of art & design in may and june. the acceptance into this show has encouraged me to move on with this work, so i've created three more of these pieces within the past week. stay tuned for some images coming soon....