Archive | November, 2015

Coastal Piece Continuing

I’m continuing to enjoy working on my quilt which was inspired by the beautiful scenery of California.

Here it is at 14 blocks (plus one in-progress.)

Ellen Lindner abstracts a coastal view. AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I’m really happy with the way it’s progressing.

Check out how much the in-progress block, above, changed in the photo below.

Ellen Lindner abstracts a coastal view. AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I think I probably sliced and diced that block more than any of the others.  It’s a constant balancing act for me as I make decisions about what to retain (mostly just very general color positions,) and what to abstract.

You may have noticed that many of the blocks have curved edges.  That’s because I’ll probably use curved seams to join them together.  I’m keeping them all a little large and wonky to allow for t hat.

The photo above shows 19 blocks, about half of the number needed.

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot to tell you:  I scorched it!  Controlling all the curved seams requires a good bit of pressing and I apparently over did it.  See how the seam allowances look sorta  yellow?  Yep, I burnt them.  I’m not panicking, though.  Worse case:  I’ll make a new block.  Best case:  I’ll use some of my art products and cover it.  (But, I AM pressing more carefully now!)

How not to press. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Hope you’re enjoying seeing this piece in progress.

Ellen Lindner

See the start of this quilt.

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Coastal Cut Up

Remember the great scenery I saw along the coast of California?  I couldn’t get those strong water colors out of my head and knew I wanted to make a quilt inspired by them.

Ellen Lindner abstracts a coastal view. AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Amazing, right?  And, yes, the water was actually that color.

I wasn’t quite sure how I wanted to represent this idea, but I knew I didn’t want it to be overly exact.  I’d have to do some experimenting. But first, I started by auditioning my fabrics.  (It would need some white and black, don’t you think?)   I had many more fabrics in these colors, so I jumped in.

Ellen Lindner abstracts a coastal view. AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Remembering the fun I had piecing improvisationally, I wondered if that technique would work here.  I knew I’d need to divvy the project up into units, so I drew divisions on my inspiration photo and got to work.  This was my set up.

Ellen Lindner abstracts a coastal view. AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I jumped in and made these six blocks.

Ellen Lindner abstracts a coastal view. AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Hmm.  Yes, the colors were working.  And the white inserts added interest.  But, it didn’t have the excitement of crashing waves and rushing tides.  It would need something.

At about this point I had lunch with a friend and showed her In the Moment.  I excitedly told her about improvisational piecing and she wanted to try it.  She showed me some perfectly lovely abstract blocks later and you know what I wanted to do with them?  Cut them up, insert pieces, and rearrange things!  I told her and she actually liked the idea.  A fun conversation.

I came home and looked at my six blocks and then it hit me:  I needed to take my own advice!  I need to slash, insert, and rearrange!  I tackled this with glee and this photo shows 5 of the 6 altered.

Ellen Lindner abstracts a coastal view. AdventureQuilter.com/blog

MUCH better, don’t you think?  I was very excited!  Now, it had the energy I wanted!

I continued on, very loosely copying the color placement of the photo.  I had to keep telling myself, “not exact, not exact, not exact.”  After a few more days I had this.

Ellen Lindner abstracts a coastal view. AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Yes!  Now I was getting somewhere!  Can you see that rocky outcrop that’s beginning to appear?  Loving it!

I hope you’ll follow along as I continue with this exciting project.

Ellen Lindner

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October Teaching

I had fun teaching last month in both The Villages and Ocala, FL.  Both groups of students were enthusiastic and hard working.  And, of course, we had fun as well!

The Villages’ ladies took the Double Reverse Applique class, which features an apple project.  My set up showed them all the steps, as well as results in several different colors.

Double Reverse Applique class with Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com/blog

They worked hard.

Double Reverse Applique class with Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com/blog

And produced excellent results, like the apple Gail made, below.  (She’s on the left and I’m on the right.)

Double Reverse Applique class with Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com/blog

It was a fun day!

The Ocala ladies selected Grow with the Flow as their class.  Several of them were new to some of the skills used, but they jumped in with both feet.

Pat had hers completely quilted and faced by the end of class!  All it needed was some pressing, a sleeve, and a label.  And doesn’t it look great?

Grow with the Flow class with Ellen Lindner. AdventurQuilter.com

Lulu chose orange as her accents, the complement (opposite) of blue.  It worked really well!

Grow with the Flow class with Ellen Lindner. AdventurQuilter.com

Here’s Annette’s in-progress.  Don’t you love her background colors?

Grow with the Flow class with Ellen Lindner. AdventurQuilter.com

All the quilts were looking fantastic at the end of the day.

I always enjoy teaching these classes and meeting new people!

Ellen Lindner

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“In the Moment” Complete

I finally got around to photographing In the Moment.  It’s the first quilt in which I used improvisational piecing, and it was so much fun!

In the Moment, an art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com

And here’s a detail shot.

In the Moment - detail, an art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com

It was very exhilarating to piece curves, slice them, shift them, insert skinny lines, and then piece all the units together.  I’ll definitely be using this technique again!

Find out how you can audition this quilt in  your home.

Ellen Lindner
P.S.  I think you’ll enjoy seeing earlier posts about the construction of this piece, (on my old blog.)  Getting Started and Piecing Units Together

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Arting While Flying

From the Ellen Lindner 1st Edition Art Adventure Dictionary:

art-ing, v. the act of experimenting in an artful way

Arting is just what I did on a long cross-country flight.  These were the supplies I took with me:  InkTense blocks, portable water filled brushes, latex gloves, a glue stick, and my sketch book.*

"Arting" in flight. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

First, I tried to get to know my InkTense blocks a little.  I could easily fit my sketch book and the Inktense container on the tray table.  I had prefilled my brushes.  (See the water in the handle?)  I wore the gloves to keep the color off my hands.  (Which I recommend with these blocks.)

First, a little intentional bleeding on wet paper.

"Arting" in flight. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

Next, some further experimentation.

"Arting" in flight. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

Mixed results on that one.

On to collage.  Those airline magazines have got to be good for something, right?

DSCN7601

I wasn’t aiming for anything in particular, just enjoying tearing, gluing, and covering the page.  The strong teal water I had seen in California was on my mind, and that influenced the color selection.

Finally, a little sketching.  Boy was I RUSTY!

"Arting" in flight. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

"Arting" in flight. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

But, it’s good to practice.

"Arting" in flight. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

All of this arting definitely helped pass the time!

Do you have an art travel kit?  If so, what’s in it?  And where have you used it?

*It would have been great if I had taken a book of watercolor paper, rather than just sketch pages.  They would have held up to the wet work better.  But, my approach to my sketch book is to put EVERYTHING in it.  Some items are 3D and have to be folded and glued in, but that’s okay.  I want to have it all contained in the same place.  I record the dates on the front cover, and on the back I list the various projects included.

Ellen Lindner
P.S.  The queen of making art on the go is Elizabeth St. Hilaire.  See her working on a plane.  Her art is amazing (paper collage.)  You’ll definitely want to visit her website.

Related posts:  Inktense blocksCalifornia’s coast

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InkTense Blocks

Have you tried InkTense pencils and blocks yet?  They’re water soluble ink in either pencil or block form and I’ve been seeing them on all sorts of quilts.  I got a chance to play with the blocks recently and they were a ton of fun.

My first experiment was to test their “smear-ability,” or how much they’d bleed.  I sprayed the top 2/3 of my fabric with water and used Aloe Vera gel to moisten the bottom 1/3.  Then I drew over both parts with the end of the blocks, as well as with the blocks laying flat for lots of coverage.

Working with InkTense blocks. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

As you can see, the water areas bled pretty well and the Aloe Vera part did not.  Good to know.  Now, I can select the best one based on the desired results.

Next, I dipped the end of a block into water and drew on dry fabric. The amount of saturated color that comes from these blocks is amazing!  As soon as my mark looked dry, I’d wet the end again and continue.  The end just sort of melted into wonderful ink.  It was very cool, and this was the result.

Working with InkTense blocks. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

Finally, I tried blending colors directly onto wet fabric.  Hmm, that was much less controllable.  It bled more than I wanted, so then I decided to encourage bleeding by adding more water.  Yep, it bled alright.  Finally, I drew a design on, trying to control what I had.  Not too successful, I’m afraid.  But, that’s why I was experimenting.

Working with InkTense blocks. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

When I’m on the ball I remember to write notes about my techniques directly onto my samples.

I’ve heard a lot about the InkTense inks being permanent once dried.  So, I added the step of heat setting these samples and set out to see if all of this was true.  It turns out:  not so much.  Here’s the cotton swab after rubbing it over my dry sample – in the area where water was used.

Working with InkTense blocks. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

It seems like a lot of color, but maybe it wouldn’t be enough to transfer.  So I tried it.  It’s subtle, but it did transfer.  (This actually shows up more in person.)

Working with InkTense blocks. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

 So, what about the area with the aloe vera?  What would that do?

Working with InkTense blocks. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

Same thing.  I think these are still very viable for use on quilts, but it’s good to know what their properties really are.

What have you experimented with lately?

Ellen Lindner

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California Dreaming

We had a wonderful visit to Santa Barbara for my niece’s wedding.

Amy in windowsill

Doesn’t she look great?  She and the groom were very relaxed and happy.  It was a very fun event!

The next day, my sister-in-law and I headed off for a few days of exploring.  Having never been in the area before, we found the scenery mesmerizing!  (I was driving and the views were really distracting.)

We didn’t take that many pictures, but I think we got some of the highlights:

Hearst Castle

Ellen Lindner's blog, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

A beautiful view of the ocean scenery

Great view

Can you believe that water color?  I live on the east coast and our water is NOT that beautiful teal.

Sea Lions in San Francisco

Ellen Lindner's blog, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Redwoods in Muir Woods

Ellen Lindner's blog, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

And, of course, the Golden Gate Bridge (on a cloudy morning.)

Ellen Lindner's blog, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Everyone likes to get their picture taken with the bridge.

Ellen Lindner's blog, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I mean EVERYONE likes to get their picture taken with the bridge.

Ellen Lindner's blog, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

It was a great trip with family fun, extraordinary scenery, and interesting activities.

Ellen Lindner
P.S.  As part of revamping my blog I’ve dramatically increased the size of the images.  What do you think?  Do you like them or do they load too slowly?

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