Adventure Quilter
Ellen Lindner uses fabric the way a painter uses paint, with extraordinary results
My latest quilt, Miscommunication, is now complete.
I especially love the dynamic line in this piece! And it think the design matches the concept and title very well. Hooray!
See full details and learn how to audition this piece in your home.
Ellen Lindner
It turns out I’ve made quite a few quilts featuring farms and rural scenes. I guess that’s not surprising since I grew up on a dairy farm. And, because my parents still live on that farm, I get to visit it frequently. I always love seeing the rolling fields, the way the sun hits the barn roofs, and the dappled shade of deciduous trees.
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Click any image for a much larger view.
Here’s a stylized view of the farm.
Oak Green Farm
The same barns can be seen in the background of this piece, which shows my two brothers target shooting on a Thanksgiving afternoon.
Since many family gatherings have been held on this farm it’s no surprise that some great family moments have also been captured in fabric. This one shows my son and two of his cousins skipping down the farm road shown in the first piece. Don’t they look happy?
What’s funny is when I showed this quilt to my farming dad and brother they didn’t comment on the people, but instead began to discuss which crops were planted in which fields.
This little silk quilt shows the farm view once again, but this time with the buildings and nearby trees removed. Can you pick out the tasseling corn?
A companion quilt shows corn stalk stubs sticking up through snow. I’m always a little mesmerized by the way these parallel rows converge as you drive by.
Narrow little country roads have no center lines and no shoulders. Which means the trees grow right up next to the road. All of which inspired a haiku quilt.
When my uncle commissioned me to make a quilt for my mom, his sister, of course it had to be of a rural scene. She always commented on a favorite barn in the area, so it became the subject for her quilt.
Who knew I had all these farm quilts floating around in my head?
Have you had any “accidental” series like this?
Ellen Lindner
P.S. Here’s another one: a simple maple branch, but the tree was on my parents’ farm.
P.P.S. Related links about the creation of the first quilt, above. (From my old blog.)
Designing a Farm Quilt
Starting the Farm Quilt
Farm: Creating Fields
Adding Barns and Making MORE Changes
Farm Quilt: Home Stretch
After becoming familiar with the work of Jane Davies, I’ve been enamored with what she calls scribbling. Exactly as it sounds, she LITERALLY scribbles directly onto her painting. Although it seems random, it almost always enhances her work. I had tried it with some paper exercises and have been looking for an opportunity to use it with fabric. This quilt gave me that chance.
Here it is before scribbling. It definitely needs something, right? And since I wanted to play up the idea of conflict or misunderstanding, a wild squiggly line seemed to fit.
First, I loosely auditioned the concept with photo editing software.
It clearly needed some refining, but I liked the general effect.
Next, I put tracing paper on my quilted quilt and sketched a design in pencil.
After some modifications I was happy with it and went over my pencil lines with a black Sharpie. As you can see, I intended to make the line thicker in the largest open area.
But, I wasn’t careful enough and I got Sharpie on my orange fabric! Well, I immediately knew one spot where the squiggle would travel. 🙂
After adding fusible web to a solid black fabric I slowly began to cut and place the scribble.
I hoped to use my scraps to create unexpected twists and turns in the line. However, I found that, more often than not, I ended up cutting things specifically to shape.
And here’s the quilt with the scribble completely pinned in place.
Doesn’t it add a lot of energy? I love it!
I should have it finished soon.
Ellen Lindner
Most of my designs start with something visual. I’m inspired by a combination of colors, a particular photo, or the pattern of some fabric. I’m not particularly good at (or comfortable with) designing for a particular theme or idea. Yet that is exactly where I found myself a short time ago.
I wanted to create a piece for a regional exhibit called “Perspectives.” My idea was to do something that played up the idea of conflicting points of view. This came to me as I was creating my latest quilt and working with this fabric.
Don’t you think it could represent crossed lines of communication? That was my idea, so I started sketching.
Hmm. It turns out that crossed lines aren’t that great a composition.
What about lines that cross wildly?
Yes, that’s much more interesting. And those squiggly lines reminded me of some of the exercises I had done while reading Jane Davies’ book. Some included large bulky shapes overlaid with interesting scribbled lines.
I sketched several ideas.
And decided on this one.
Yes, that had promise. And since it was basically just 3 large elements, I had it composed in no time (without the scribble.)
Next, I quilted it. I knew that would make adding the black squiggle much easier.
I was off and running and enjoying the Adrenalin ride!
Ellen Lindner
P.S. The orange fabric I used is the one I “ruined” with too much bright orange. I toned it down with an overdye and I love it here. Most other fabrics are also my hand dyes.
I recently taught “Floral Improv” in Bradenton, FL. With only five students in the class, everyone got lots of attention and made good progress.
Mary was able to complete all of her quilting in class.
Check out her fabulous results, in-progress below.
See how much the quilting adds to it, below?
Carol used her own hand dyed fabrics for the flowers and they were so lovely together.
Darlene was all smiles after fusing her piece. She’ll finish up with some more stitching later.
KK was inspired by some baby zinnias and even brought them to class as her models. Because they have more petals than the daisies we were making she had a LOT more cutting to do! But, she worked hard and had all her flowers in place by the end of class. They look great, don’t they?
Ellen was even more adventurous. She brought photos of Japanese Ti Plants as her inspiration.
Here, the building cat came to “help”her, while Mary took photos in the background. It didn’t take us long to decide that we didn’t actually need feline assistance.
And here’s Ellen’s work part-way through class. Very dramatic, right? The colors really pop against the black.
As always, it was a fun class. Everyone enjoyed it, including me!
I’d love to come teach it for your group.
Ellen Lindner
My latest quilt, Rhythm of the City, is now complete. It’s made almost entirely with fabrics I dyed myself. I’m very happy with both the fabrics and the composition.
I added additional pattern and interest with couched heavy black thread. I think it adds a lot.
More information about this quilt
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I’m looking forward to working with these fabrics again, and I have something totally different in mind.
Ellen Lindner
P.S. My Facebook followers were a big help with naming this quilt. Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!
Still testing one of my blog features. Here’s a little eye candy in appreciation for putting up with this.
This is Carefree, on of my favorite pieces. It features my son and two of his cousins skipping down my parents’ farm road.
Click for a larger image
Ellen Lindner