Quilt from a Sketch

Our Monday night art quilt group is now meeting on Thursday night at the neighborhood library since the fabric store has closed. We are hoping that the store will be bought soon , and will reopen; we are also hoping that the new owner will welcome our group to have our meetings there again.

There is certainly benefit for everyone... the shop provides good display space for our work, as well as a comfortable and attractive place to meet. And the people who attend the meetings inevitable buy fabric and books, so it is a win-win situation for everyone... The former owner of the shop is a member of our group, and now she will have the time and energy to join our challenges and activities...

This month, our challenge is based on the challenge in the current issue of the Quilting Arts magazine. We brought sketches in, and people drew a sketch at random. each person participating in the challenge will make a small quilt (around 8" x 10" ) based on the sketch.

the sketch I ended up with is a simple sketch of a tree, with circles, which could be fruit or flowers. I actually made three little quilts.

The first two were done with scraps of lime green and black fabric.

I love making things from scraps. I have a whole bag full of leftover fabric that hash been fused, and I used some of those scraps for the circles...

For the third one, I pulled some of my favorite fabrics from my drawer of polka-dot fabric, and had fun with the contrast in the background and design.

This was a lot of fun. From a simple drawing, I got a lot of entertainment, and the opportunity to complete some quick little projects.

Show and Tell is always fun when we have a challenge. The challenge here was working from a drawing by someone else. It will also be fun to see the pieces done from the sketches I took.

About Face

I haven't posted anything for two months. This time, I have been working, but can't post pictures yet. I am working on a quilt for the "Ultimate Guild Challenge", with the possibility that it could get accepted to the AQS show in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

"Challenge" is the right word for it! Against my better judgement, the group chose to have the finished quilts measure 36" x 48"

For a novice machine quilter without a longarm machine, that has turned out to be a real task for me to get quilted. I loved the design work, and loved choosing the fabrics, but now I am starting to quilt it, and that is when it stopped being fun!

Nevertheless, I did get an invitation a while back to submit a piece for the Kentucky Artisan Center's annual show. Each year, they announce a theme, and the show is open to all artists living in Kentucky. It is my favorite kind of show to be in - all media are invited, so the show is an interesting mix of pieces based on a theme.

Two years ago, the theme was "Black and White" and I had a piece in that - Japanese Snow Cranes in black and white silk. Last year, the theme was horses, in honor of the International Equestrian Games being held in Kentucky.

This year the theme is 'Faces" ; art based on the human face.

That is something I have avoided until now. In my house, I have a room with many images of faces - masks, woodcuts, prints, and photographs. In it, I have a print of one of my favorite paintings - "Senecio" by Paul Klee.

That is what I chose to base my quilt on.

It is an interpretation, does not violate any copyright laws...

First, here is a copy of the print. ("Senecio" means "old man")

Next, here is my quilt "Young Man." It is about 16" x 16", and is commercial cottons and batiks, and hand-dyed cottons. The background is pieced, and the head and face are fused...

The show starts in early March, and continues until August. The Artisan Center is just off of I-75, south of Richmond Kentucky at the first Berea exit. It is definitely worth a trip! I am looking forward to the show...

Ultrasuede bag

For a change of pace, I got some of my ultrasuede out, and made a little tote bag.

It is about the right size for carrying an iPad, or just a convenient size for everyday use.

The ultrasuede is a challenge to sew, but it went pretty well. The cream-color on the flap is a lighter weight ultrasuede, very soft and flexible, and easier to work with.

I got it when Baer's was still here, and they had a wonderful selection to choose from. it was a splurge, but hard to resist...

I found this wonderful lining fabric in my black-and-white collection. It is designer fabric that I got years ago in New York. Glad I splurged on it, too. The black with white polka dots is a lined pocket.

I love making bags.

Oh, to be in England

Although I haven't posted much lately, I have been busy.

I have been working on an English cottage and garden. It is for a gift from a friend to her granddaughter-in-law, who has moved to the United States from England. My friend asked me to do a quilt that would be reminiscent of a cottage in an English village.

I have traveled to and bicycled in many charming English villages, so it seemed like a pleasant assignment.

I have enjoyed it, but it took on a life of its own, and was much more "labor-intensive" than I expected...

I did a composite of several photos, and combined a "typical" half-timbered cottage with "typical" English garden.

I am pleased with the way it turned out, and I think it will make the recipient happy, too.

It was another opportunity for me to practice free-motion embroidery, and I am especially happy with the way the sky turned out, and the stucco on the cottage

I just learned yesterday that my neighborhood fabric store will be closing in a few weeks. In addition to it being so conveniently located, it has been the meeting place for our Monday night meetings.. So I don't know if our group will find another place to meet. It was quite a shock to hear the news. One thing that could happen would be for someone to buy the shop and continue it in the same location... Time will tell.

Finally finished some pieces!

I always welcome the opportunity to make a rooster quilt. A musician friend asked me to make a "mariachi Rooster" playing a guitar. What a fun challenge! I happened to have some perfect fabrics in my stash, and I bought a couple of fabrics with stripes, too.

The biggest challenge was getting the "arms" and "fingers" right on the guitar...

I think they will like it...

I have often described myself as a "bargello addict." There are certainly worse things to be.

For a long time I have wanted to make a bargello in lime green and black fabrics. When I was in Asheville this summer, I bought some wonderful Japanese fabric with the perfect lime green color, plus some great purples, oranges and blues. I added that to my color mix, and made two similar bargellos. I call this one "Tutti Frutti."

A year ago, I purchased some lovely Christmas fabrics in a little shop in North Carolina. I have never been one to make holiday quilts, and when I bought the fabric, I thought to myself, "I'll never use these!"

But recently, I came across them, and decided to make a little Christmas bargello.

As I cut my strips, it occurred to me that a Christmas tree would be fun. So here it is.

I quilted the tree with metallic thread, using a metallic needle that helped avoid the breakage that I have experienced with metallic threads in the past.

I also sewed on some holographic stars and beads, and I am very happy with the results.

If I have time before Christmas, I may make another...

Fifth in a series...

This bargello (and a detail shown) is the fifth and final in a series of five bargellos made with 18 of my favorite fabrics.

As I remarked in an earlier post about two years ago, using 18 fabrics changes the way one can design a bargello, and can result in a long skinny piece...

With just a few remaining strips I found in my UFO pile, I designed this one with only one repeat, but with the design symmetrical from top to bottom...

I put a fused applique of two Japanese ladies, and it fit well in the central "frame"

I never get tired of designing and making bargellos.

I am finishing another one now, with lime and black fabrics. Searching for and choosing the fabrics is a fun part of the process, and I have been collecting the lime green and black fabrics for over a year.

I will post pictures soon...

Monarchs in Profusion

Although it has been an unusually hot summer, my sewing room is comfortable, and I have had a wonderful show , provided by the visitors to my butterfly bush, right outside the window by my sewing machine,

In addition to the beautiful monarch butterflies, there have been frequent visits from hummingbirds. I don't have any photos yet, and I don't know when they will leave, on their way to Costa Rica, or wherever they go when they leave here...

I do have three quilt projects almost finished, and will be posting photos soon...

I have enjoyed both my Monday night "Art Quilt" group, and the more traditional guild I joined last winter. I learn so much at both, and in addition, I have wonderful friends, with whom I have a lot in common...

The challenges at my Monday night group have pushed me to try new techniques, and have been an impetus to finish pieces, instead of adding them to my UFO pile.

That pile is dwindling, and the piece I am working on now is the last of a series of five bargellos made with 18 of my most favorite fabrics. Picture coming soon!