Detail from "Rain Dance," an original quilt by Sherrie Spangler

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Bowls of color


The last few days
I've been on a bowl binge.

When I'm in between major art projects and need something mindless but fun to do in the studio, I make these fabric bowls. My Twisted Nut Stitcher friend Linda J. taught our group how to make them last year, and it's become sort of an addiction. You just wind strips of fabric around cording, then coil the cording into basket shapes and zig-zag the coils together on the sewing machine as you coil.

The endless possibilities for color combos are what make it fun, and goddess knows there's no shortage of fabric colors in the stash. Orange and blue, with some yellow and green thrown in for a summer bowl ... red, green and white for winter ... fuschia and periwinkle ... black, gold and a zip of red ... pumpkin, gold and frosty white ... chocolate and cherry ... turquoise, coral and hot pink ... apple green and white. 

The photo above shows the process, starting with two pieces of blue-and-white batiks (left) from the stash, which are torn into long strips (center front), and then wrapped around clothesline and coiled into the basket under the sewing machine needle.




I've made all of these in the past week, and am on my way now to make some more. Guess what my family and friends are getting for Christmas this year?





Have a colorful day!

2 comments:

The Idaho Beauty said...

Oh stop! I've purchased the second book and still haven't made a single bowl! A friend back in WI got the book from the library and has been playing with these - will you guys stop making me feel bad??? And then she sent me one for my birthday. Oh, that might actually help, having one on hand to study and remind me I want to try this out.

These are just fabulous! Am I on your Christmas list??? ;-)

Sherrie Spangler said...

Just sit down at your machine with a pile of strips and cheap clothesline from the dollar store and you'll have a nice bowl before bedtime!