Adventure Quilter
Ellen Lindner uses fabric the way a painter uses paint, with extraordinary results
I’m FINALLY winding down on the quilt featuring my brothers. It’s not ready for a full photograph yet, but here are the two faces. I spent A LOT of time on these and I’m happy with them.
My brother Todd
My brother Ricky
I plan to show the quilt to some of my family members this week. I know they’ll love it.
Ellen Lindner
Woohoo, the background of my current quilt is finally complete! Composed and glued and ready for stitching, (but without the green hexie in the center of the photo.)
In the photo above, I was considering adding some hexies to the background. Just because I’ve been making a lot of them and to give a nod to traditional quilts. Here’s a better look at them in the sky.
They were kinda interesting, but I eventually decided that they drew attention to the background, making it look overly chunky. I didn’t think either aspect would help the quilt, so I left them out.
On to making guns. Here’s Ricky’s finished.
Actually, I had to tweak it a little. The grey on the barrel was too high contrast, so I went over it with a little light grey pastel. Also, I decided that the barrel was not properly aligned with the stock, so I straightened that out. (See the improvements below.)
On to Todd’s gun. Due to the angle at which they’re holding their guns, the barrel of his appears longer than Ricky’s.
I composed the guns onto muslin, with glue. I think I should have fused them, since some of the pieces are pretty small and could ravel. Next time.
Don’t they look handsome? Just like themselves, I think: relaxed and at ease. Next, I’ll get to place them on the background. I think their orientation is about right above, but I know I’ll need to do some tweaking.
I’m getting excited with these results!
Ellen Lindner
Like very accurate portraits.
March Journal: Ellen, by Ellen Lindner
The portrait above was the FIRST thing I ever did with this technique! That’s how easy it is.
Now, I have an eBook about this technique, which uses this awesome apple to teach you the concepts.
My students and readers have had really good results with this technique. See what I mean:
Baxter, by Diane Hamburg
by Marge Lehrer
by Barbara Bilbo
The download is only $9.95. Find full details here.
Enjoy,
Ellen Lindner
I own 750 pins: 3 boxes of 250 each. But, that wasn’t enough to compose my current quilt!
I use A LOT of smallish pieces of fabrics, so that’s why I use so many pins.
See what I mean?
Still, I’m very happy with the barns and trees I recently created.
I’m especially pleased with the two trees on the left. A clean up cloth provided lots of little smudged lines that I was able to manipulate. I think it works.
How will I complete my composition without more pins? Well, I’ll eventually buy more. But in the meantime, I started gluing things in place in order to free up pins. I still need to create the grass that’s needed in the foreground.
It seems like this quilt is taking longer than usual, but I should be stitching on it soon.
Ellen Lindner
P.S. This page lists some of my favorite products, including my favorite pins.
After separately creating the two men for my “brothers quilt,” it was time to work on the background.
I finished up the rough draft of the sky and added the far tree line, (with a piece of blue fabric marking a future silo.).
Next it was on to the corn field in the foreground. Since the reference photo was taken in November, the corn had already been harvested and the short golden stalks were all that was left.
I wanted to create the texture of the messy corn stalks, but not too exactly. So, I used lots of print fabrics to convey the vegetation. My plan was to use large scale prints in the foreground, like those shown below, and smaller scaled ones in the background. I hoped this would add a sense of depth.
It worked, but required a good bit of tweaking. (And a lot of pins!) Here is what I think will be the final corn field, below.
Distant fields had much more subtle texture, so I auditioned near-solid fabrics for them.
Here they are, complete. I’m happy with the sense of depth. That will be enhanced when I add the small buildings in the distance.
Next it was time to start adding the green fields and grasses. Here it is, in-progress.
I’m getting close to completing the design of this background. I still need to add the foreground grass and the buildings. Then, I’ll have to glue it all in place.
FYI, here’s another quilt where I used the scale of fabrics to add to the sense of depth.
Ellen Lindner
I’m happy with the way the quilt featuring my two brothers is developing. Here’s my brother Ricky almost complete.
After making the face of my other brother, Todd, it was time to work on his jacket. First, auditioning fabric.
Here it is, in-progress.
All these little pieces were eventually glued to the muslin base and to each other.
Selecting fabrics for Todd’s pants was more challenging. They were sort of Army green; not a color I tend to stock. My first attempt:
No. I decided the color was too bright. This was my solution. Much better, I think.
Now that I’ve completed the two men I’m just getting started on the background. I’ll make it much looser, which I’m looking forward to.
So far, I’ve just worked on the sky. Some of it looks a little strong to me, but I’ve learned not to cast judgement until I can see everything together.
As you can see in the photo above, I’ve drawn the background fields and barns onto the muslin base. I’ll reference these as I continue.
Ellen Lindner