It’s already clear that I’m not going to be able to just add strips every day all year to this block. I’ll soon run out of pieces from which to cut such long strips among the fabrics I have earmarked for this. So far it’s all been scraps from the dresses I made during my thesis work, The Wardrobe Project. I’ll switch to some other block printed fabrics when the strips get too long, but adding a strip every day will also make this thing far too big, too unweildy. A year of stitching every day is a lot of stitching so it makes sense that the finished piece be somewhat monumental, but it also has to be manageable.
I’m considering a few different options: making a separate block for each month and assembling them at the end; starting a new centre somewhere else on the backing sheet and then gradually filling in the gaps (tempting but would lessen the impact of the one big log cabin), or having some of the longer strips be made up of smaller sections, thus allowing myself to spend a week or more building up a single strip. None of these is 100% appealing but right now I’m leaning towards the last option. I’ll give myself until the end of January to decide, after I’ve seen the final size of a month of strips.
The back is looking pretty fun, too:
I’m stitching this with two colours of variegated crochet cotton I picked up in a thrift store. It’s partially a test to see if crochet cotton is strong enough to quilt with (so far I’m leaning towards NO). The twist feels quite different from the sashiko thread I’m more accustomed to using, and I don’t expect it to behave the same way so I’m tying knots rather than relying on the thread to swell and grab itself like sashiko thread does. I sure do love those colour changes though, especially in the orange.
We’ve scheduled a small series of workshops to help you get through these last few winter months and shake off those hibernation vibes that always threaten to overtake us when the snow sets in. For me these cozy, dark days are the perfect time to work on a new hobby.
All of our classes now take place at the asil studio, just a few short blocks away from where our old shop used to be. The studio is small and space in the classes is limited, so you will need to follow the class links to the asil website to sign up and secure your spot!
PRINT AND STITCH
Thursdays January 23 and 30, 2025, 6:30pm until 8:30pm (2 x 2 hours)
$50 plus $10 materials fee
This two-week class will teach you how to print and embellish your own custom fabric. In Week 1 you will learn how to make richly coloured block prints on fabric using our collection of pre-carved blocks and design elements you can layer in different ways. In Week 2 you will add depth and detail to your piece with some simple embroidery stitches.
All materials are provided and you will leave class with a beautiful piece of embellished fabric (you may not finish your stitching during class but we will get you well on your way!). No printmaking or embroidery experience is necessary, although a basic knowledge of hand sewing will help you get started.
Saturday, February 22, 2025 from 1 until 4pm (3 hrs)
$50 + $10 materials fee
We will explore the fundamentals of quilt making and discuss what makes a quilt a quilt. You will learn basic hand piecing, hand quilting, and hand binding and leave with the knowledge to complete your very own tiny quilt. A selection of fabrics as well as batting, needles, and thread will be provided for class work. No previous quilting experience is necessary although a basic knowledge of hand sewing will help you get started.
In this easy yet elegant binding, folded sections of paper are sewn through a stiffened paper cover with a decorative beaded stitch that beautifully frames an open slot in the book’s spine, offering a glimpse of the pages within. Stitching wrapped around the head and foot of the reinforced paper spine gives the look of a thread headband at the edges of the spine. The product is a sturdy and solid book that you’ll love to use for writing or drawing.
All materials are provided. No previous bookbinding experience is necessary and you will leave the class with a completed pocket sized book.
Monday, January 20, 2025 from 7 until 8pm (1 hour)
This is a free Workshop
A pair of sticks and a length of yarn: simple tools which can create an endless combination of stitches . In this workshop we will introduce you to the knit stitch and the purl stitch as well as casting on and off. You are welcome to bring along your own needles and yarn or we will have some in the studio for you to borrow.
Although we’re offering this workshop for free, we still request that you register. Ready to join? Click this link to go to the asil page –> asil.ca learn to knit
This is the beginning of my 2025 daily stitch project.
In January 2024 I embarked on a daily stitch project along with my collaborator Lisa (link: asil.ca). We envisioned the project as a way to slow down and engage in a bit of quiet, contemplative work each day, slowly building something large out of small daily acts. Here’s Lisa’s daily stitch in progress, an ever growing spiral of stitched marks responding to the events of each day:
And here’s mine, a tumbling pile of pebbles, cut from the scraps left behind from my thesis work, the days blending together into a pattern that obscures the qualities of remembered days, marking the passing of time into the blur of fading memory:
I’ll admit it: I haven’t finished my 2024 daily stitch. I struggled with doing it every day, fell behind at several times during the year and at the end of the year, despite having many days off and very few plans, I did other things instead. I’m very close to completing it, though, and am on track to be ready to baste it up for quilting by next week, if I can settle on a fabric for the back.
For this year’s edition, I’m again focusing on applied fabric pieces, as my studio is overflowing with these fabrics I block printed for my masters thesis and other projects. I’ll start in the centre and spiral outward in a log cabin pattern. I’m aware that I’m setting myself up for larger and larger pieces each day, the daily time spent growing relentlessly over the year EVEN THOUGH I failed to keep up with just the same small amount of daily stitching last year. But this is Day One so I’m brimming with optimism. It’s going to be a year of COMMIT or DIE TRYING.
On Monday afternoon I took an online workshop on the Quilty Nook (link: The Quilty Nook) with the amazing quilting teacher Heidi Parkes (link: Heidi Parkes) focused on adding texture to your quilts using pintucks and pleats. It turned out to be immensely fun and also maybe has helped me get unblocked on a new line of work I’ve been struggling to find focus with. I immediately realised the potential of this technique for drawing, and Wednesday evening I took a stack of fabric to life drawing club and made some loose contour portraits to try combining my drawing with stitching.
Here’s my first test piece, worked in red sashiko thread on a piece of thrifted cotton bedsheet dyed with tea and iron. This is the pintuck side:
And here’s the pleat side, with its wonderful clots of pooling red in all the tight little corners and cluster points:
Exciting, right? I’ve got around ten more sketches of faces on fabric to work with, plus a few hands and feet. I’m looking forward to seeing where this new method takes me, and of course am already bursting with too many ideas.
Yesterday morning Lisa and I got together in the chilly Levigator Press basement studio and made some trace monotypes in preparation for the class we’re running this Saturday.
Trace monotype is an easy introduction to making beautiful prints even if you have never tried printmaking or can’t draw. Your Japanese paper is laid face down over a slab of specially prepared ink, and lines are traced on a reference image taped to the back to pick up ink. It’s a direct transfer method that yields a single, precious print, loaded with rich linework and moody, atmospheric shadows.
Here you can see my print in progress, next to the slab from which the ink was picked up.
And here are our completed prints! Lisa juxtaposed a dreamy photo of one of her children with an image of a beloved artwork in her collection, while I made a portrait of a handsome sheep named Limerick who was raised by a friend, and whose wool I used for my warm winter gloves.
There are still some spaces available in the class, happening this Saturday, 26 January, in the asil studio here in Walkerville. If you’d like more information or to sign up, visit this link: asil trace monotype class.
We’ve got a fresh lineup of classes happening at asil studio in the new year, taught by yours truly in tandem with Lisa Sylvestre of asil. We’d love for you to join us to learn something new and hone your sewing, knitting, and bookbinding skills with us! You can see all the details below, with handy links to take you over to the asil website if you’d like to sign up.
Introduction to hand sewing, a flexible six-part series.
Thursdays February 8 and 22, March 7 and 21, and April 4 and 18, 2024, 6:30 until 8 pm (6 x 1.5 hrs)
$35 individual session, $30/session for 3-5 sessions, $25/session ($150) for entire series
This six-week series is designed to cover the basics of hand stitching. Each class can be taken as a free standing class but the techniques will build from week to week.
Week 1: The basics of the basics. Learn to thread a needle and to tie a beautiful knot. You will learn the simple and versatile running and back stitches. These stitches are used as utility seam stitches, for raw edge applique, and as a decorative top stitch.
Week 2: Whip stitch. We will introduce the whip, or overcast, stitch which will expand your range both for stitching seams and finer-finish applique.
Week 3: Blanket stitch. The blanket stitch is a versatile and decorative embroidery stitch used for edging and finishing, for mending, and as another method of adding applique.
Week 4: Hemming. You will learn tips and tricks for pressing both straight and curved hems. We will introduce our favourite hand hemming techniques.
Week 5: Fasteners. In this session you will learn how to hand stitch a button hole and a button loop as well as the tailoring method of attaching a button.
Week 6: Mending. We will delve into different methods of repair using simple stitches and patches.
Saturday, January 27, 2024, 1 pm until 3 pm (2 hrs)
$40 plus $5 materials fee
Trace monotype is an easy and beautiful method for creating a mix of bold and delicate lines in your one-of-a-kind prints. It’s very responsive to the artist’s hand, giving a rich atmospheric quality to the image. In this class you will learn how to specially prepare oil based ink for trace monotype, and will create at least one beautiful print on Japanese paper. Depending on the complexity of your image, you may have time to make more than one print.
Trace monotype, as its name suggests, uses tracing, so you don’t have to be able to draw! Please bring printouts or photocopies of source material; such as a specific photo or image you wish to work from (NOT originals; these will be ruined in the monotype process!). Your finished image will be the reverse of your source image so please consider that when making your copy. We will also have plenty of source material available for you to choose from.
In this three hour class, you will learn to cast-on stitches, how to work a basic garter stitch, how to increase and decrease stitches, and how to cast off and finish. You will leave with a sturdy cotton dishcloth, a set of knitting needles and enough cotton to make a second cloth.
Saturdays, February 24, March 9 and March 23, 2024, 1 pm until 2:30 pm (3 x 1.5 hrs)
$90 plus $10 materials fee
In this three week series, we will cover the basics of hand quilting. The course is designed with ample time between sessions for you to practice and work on your hand quilted pieces. You will choose the size of your piece ranging from tea mat to place mat size.
During Week 1 we will discuss some quilting history and what makes a quilt a quilt. We will consider quilt design, material choices and cover basic hand piecing techniques.
In Week 2 you will learn basic quilting techniques including methods of basting.
Week 3 will introduce you to different methods of finishing your quilted piece.
Thursdays, May 2 and 9, 2024, 6:30 until 8:30 pm (2 x 2 hours)
$50 plus $10 materials fee
This two-week class will teach you how to print and embellish your own custom fabric. In Week 1 you will learn how to make richly coloured block prints on fabric using our collection of pre-carved blocks and design elements you can layer in different ways. In Week 2 you will add depth and detail to your piece with some simple embroidery stitches.
All materials are provided and you will leave class with a beautiful piece of embellished fabric (you may not finish your stitching during class but we will get you well on your way!). No printmaking or embroidery experience is necessary, although a basic knowledge of hand sewing will help you get started.
Retchoso bookbinding is a unique style of Japanese binding that joins folded sections of paper with a complex yet elegant stitch using one or two needles to create a slender notebook that opens perfectly flat. Sturdy multi-layer paper covers are built onto the book’s sections before binding. It’s a perfect binding for a portable notebook or sketchbook, or for chapbook publishing. All materials will be provided and you will leave with a finished book.
I’m excited to announce a few new fall workshops I’ll be teaching under the new umbrella of dandelion school house, a collaboration between asil (link: asil) and Levigator Press. We felt it was time to separate our classes from the asil gallery name, and will announce more later when we’re ready to launch properly with a full lineup of classes and a beautiful logo (I’m working on a very nice drawing but my Procreate skills are quite primitive and it’s taking me forever). For now, we’re soft launching the school with a short roster of classes. For now you can see what’s on offer at this link: dandelion school house.
On Saturday, October 28 I’ll be teaching an old favourite, Coptic bookbinding. We’ll be using fun covers cut down from old books and you’ll have your choice of a few different papers for your pages. Registration is required, and can be done on the asil website via this link: Coptic bookbinding at dandelion school house.
On two consecutive Thursday evenings, November 9 and 16, I’ll be teaching an introductory linoleum printing workshop. This is one of the most popular workshops I used to offer at the Levigator Press studio and we’re pretty excited to finally be running it again. Here’s the link to register at the asil website: Lino block printing at dandelion school house.
asil and Levigator Press have collaborated to present
paper and cloth: a pop-up studio
a series of workshops at Art Council Windsor and Region’s Artspeak Gallery between September 17 and September 23, 2023
Workshop Schedule
Sunday, September 17 10:00 am until 2:00 pm: Flower Pounding demonstration during Windsor’s Open Streets Monday, September 18 1:30 until 3:30 pm: Botanical Contact Printing (Eco-Printing) 6:00 until 8:00 pm: Indigo Vat Tuesday, September 19 1:30 unti 3:30 pm: Monoprinting with plants 6:00 until 8:00 pm: Flower Pounding Wednesday, September 20 1:30 until 3:30 pm: Mending 6:00 until 8:00 pm: Concertina Collage Book Making Thursday, September 21 1:30 until 3:30 pm: Hand Quilting 6:00 until 9:00 pm: Reception Friday, September 22 noon until 2:00pm: Weed Walk 3:00 until 4:00 pm: Cordage Saturday, September 23 1:00 until 4:00 pm: Mordant Painting and Plant Based Dye Dip
Please visit the Classes page for detailed workshop, price and registration information. Please note that while you can view the details for each workshop here, if you wish to register you will follow a link from each class page to asil.ca, where you will complete your registration.
paper and cloth: a pop-up studio evolved through a shared interest in natural and sustainable practices in the art studio and in daily life and has developed a seasonal relationship with the flora and found materials of our immediate surroundings: a response to the general disconnect between daily human life and the natural world. Gathering and harvesting local plant materials in season for use in the art studio celebrates the bounty of our rich and diverse region.
All paper and cloth:a pop-up studio workshops will take place at Artspeak Gallery, 1942 Wyandotte St E, in Windsor, ON.
Here are a few of our student prints from our class at Meta Makers Cooperative. We had some challenges printing for the first time with minimal equipment in a new space, but the makerspace is coming along nicely and is already developing into a great, inspiring place to work and teach.
Our students played a bit with selective inking in multiple colours (skull circuit board print) and blending colour right on the block (after Mucha print).
Here are my sample socks at the end of our sock knitting class tonight, in which I showed our students how to finish off the toe of their socks with Kitchener stitch. If you want to learn how to make socks and missed out this time around, keep your eye on Fusion Fiber Arts (Facebook page link) for the next session!
All yarns in the pictured socks from The Green Button Jar (Etsy store link).