Archive | July, 2022

Composing with an Eye Toward Value

By Ellen Lindner on July 26, 2022 in Uncategorized

These were the fabrics I selected as I started on an abstract quilt with NO plan.

Although I didn’t have a plan, I did have a goal. I wanted to use the last of my favorite fabric, the navy and yellow grid, and to let it be the star of the show.

BTW, can you see how the scale of that one print greatly affects the scale of the overall piece? I wouldn’t want to cut it into tiny pieces, for instance.

I had two lengths of the favorite fabric and I wanted to cut it as little as possible. I cut one piece into about a 1/3 – 2/3 split, so I had 3 pieces.. Since this fabric has the highest value contrast (light vs. dark) of all the other fabrics, I knew it would attract a lot of attention. Which was good.

Therefore, I moved everything else out of the way and created the first part of the composition with just these 3 pieces of fabric.

Because this fabric had a diagonal aspect to its design, it created a lot of energy. Plus, as you can see, I made sure to offset the pieces. I really liked this starting point! I knew I’d have to pay attention to the value contrasts that developed throughout the rest of the design, making sure that none of them drew attention away from it.

In the photo above you can probably tell that the left fabric is folded under at the bottom. I cut that off and added it to my starting composition, (see below.) I wanted to break up the large expanse of grid on the left piece and inserted a skinny orange strip (shown in the next photo.) I liked it a lot.

I let the fabric lead my next few decisions: adding more yellow and orange in their respective areas.

As you can see in the photo above, I didn’t have large pieces of orange, so I knew I’d have to piece those together. I thought I’d probably repeat the orange in the lower right, as well. Adding navy would be tricky. It would automatically create a very high value contrast, attracting attention. I’d have to consider it very carefully.

And what about that white in the top center of the photo above? Although I liked the fabric in the mix, it was right next to the navy grid, creating exactly the problem I was hoping to avoid. I did add some navy just right of center and I thought it worked there.

Next round. Navy top left: too strong!
Navy at the bottom: maybe.
White at the bottom right: maybe

Next round. Replaced top left navy with yellow-orange: MUCH better! (Low contrast, right?)
More navy at the bottom: probably. The navy is visually weighty which gives the piece some stability.

This hodge podge of scraps pinned to the design wall evolved only slightly as I began to figure out how to piece all of this. See the finished quilt in my next post.

Do you think about value this much? I find it very helpful, although sometimes I get seduced by a color or some such and forget to pay attention to the contrast.

Ellen Lindner

Working with Dwindling Fabrics

By Ellen Lindner on July 22, 2022 in Uncategorized

I was running low on a favorite hand dyed fabric when I decided to make a quilt with it. It’s the navy and yellow grid shown below, indicated by the largest arrow.

I pulled every other hand dyed fabric that would go with it and this is the selection, shown above. Smaller arrows indicated two more fabrics that were down to fairly small pieces. I was loving the energy of these bright fabrics and excited to get started.

I pinned everything up on the design wall and began to edit. Now you get a better idea about the sizes of the pieces. Some of the fabrics had too much pattern and would draw attention away from my feature fabric.

Some fabrics removed, I continued to study the combination. Still some competing fabrics.

After deleting the “show stoppers” I thought this combination would be workable.

I’d still need to edit and carefully consider as I proceeded. What about that near-solid navy? Will it be too strong? And the brighter blue grid on the left: too bright?

This was my starting point. These fabrics went on my work table, and all the others were moved out of sight. I didn’t have a design plan. My only plan was to feature that navy/yellow gridded fabric. All my decisions would be in support of it. I knew this would be challenging, but also invigorating.

In my next post, I’ll show you how I began to compose the design. It was fun!

Ellen Lindner
P.S. Do you ever work without a plan?

“Toast and Jam”

By Ellen Lindner on July 20, 2022 in Uncategorized

Remember that ugly exercise that I’ve been considering? This is the portion of my ugly painted which I selected as my inspiration for a small quilt.

I played around with the individual elements in the computer and, at one point, accidentally colored the background red. Which I liked!

So, I started pulling fabrics and got to work. Actually, I got to work in a hotel room. This was my set up. Construction on the coffee table and Netflix on my laptop. With the iron at the perfect height, of course.

Once home, I stitched the background and fused up a bunch of fabrics for the background squares. (I fuse very seldom.)

I noticed that some of my lovely squares were attracting a lot of attention. I knew that wouldn’t work in the end, so I had to swap them out.

Eventually, I was happy with the background and started with the part I DID want to attract attention: the wonky open squares. This is a detail shot.

I added a little hand stitching, but that was difficult through the fused fabrics.

Here’s the full quilt, Toast and Jam, 24″ x 24″.

This was fun to work on, but I think I’m ready for something other than red!

This piece is available for $195 US. Contact me if you’re interested.

Ellen Lindner

Taking Chances, Learning New Things

By Ellen Lindner on July 1, 2022 in Uncategorized

I love to teach about art quilting and I consider my niche market to be traditional quilters who want some guidance as they move into art quilting. When I mentioned this on The Quilt Show, Alex Anderson was intrigued and we talked more about it on an episode of her podcast.

Video link. (A thirty minute video with me at about 6:30)

And since then, I’ve continued to think about it.

First, why learn new things?
– Humans are designed to learn. We enjoy learning. It’s exhilirating!
– New skills are useful, of course. But, the very act of learning enhances our creativity. We benefit from this activity even if we never actively use the new information!

(What I learned from this ugly painting)

But, what about wasting fabric, time, and money?
– It’s not a waste. You bought that fabric to enhance your quilting journey. If it ends up teaching you something, but it doesn’t end up in a masterpiece, it was still useful to you! Just in a different way than you may have imagined.
– And the same goes for your time. You’re not taking time away from making “good” quilts, just because you spend time learning something new. In fact, you will gain skill, efficiency, and confidence due to that investment of time.
– And the money? Of course, you want to invest your quilting dollars wisely. Thankfully, there are many good and inexpensive classes available online and elsewhere. (#See resources)

Individual Retreat Projects. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

My scraps at a retreat. You gotta make scraps to make a quilt! It’s not wasteful.

How do I select an appropriate class? And a skilled teacher? (#See resources)
– What is it you want to learn? Look for a teacher who’s routinely doing that.
– Ask your friends for suggestions on that topic and do some online searching. Read everything about the class, including the supply list, and the suggested skill level, if mentioned. Look for a gallery of student results.
– Email the teacher if you have any questions!
– Look for a teacher with expertise. (And if learning via Zoom, check on the teacher’s experience with this, as well.) Has she been on a prominant quilting show? These shows do their homework and will likely choose the best teachers. Is his schedule pretty full, so you know he’s in demand? Can you find the teacher on one of the group teaching sites? (#See resources?)
– What can you learn from the teacher’s website? Are there student testimonials or student galleries? Are there social media posts about teaching?
– Again, email the teacher if you have any questions.

I love Pat Pauly’s work, so jumped at the chance to take a 5 day class with her. This was my favorite fabric from the class, still wet.

Finally, EMBRACE this new experience!
– Do all the class prep required. But, don’t save it all till the last minute. Consider adding extra fabric.
– Go to class with an open mind. Remind yourself that the experience is worthwhile, not just the project you make.
– Trust the teacher. Follow her directions, even if you usually do things differently.
– Recognize that you’ll feel a little out of your comfort zone. That’s always true when learning isn’t it? It’s normal.
– Chances are good that you’ll be really happy with your class project. But if not, you’ll know that it taught you something, nevertheless. My favorite quote relates to this: “If you never fail you’re not experimenting enough.”

A recent “failure.” I didn’t waste my time or fabric. They both helped me answer my question.

I LOVE to learn! (And to teach.) I hope you’ll take an exhilirating class and enjoy it immensely. And if you do, I’d love to hear about it.

Resources:
Global Quilt Connection: This directory is geared toward guilds, but you’ll find LOTS of capable teachers, all with listings of their offerings.
Craftsy on-demand quilt classes
My own on-demand classes

Enjoy your learning adventure!
Ellen Lindner
P.S. See me on The Quilt Show, episode 3007. (You have to be a member, but there’s a free 7 day trial)
P.P.S. If you can afford a multi-day class I highly recommend it. Check out Quilt Surface Design Symposium (OH,) Quilting by the Lake (NY,) and Empty Spools Seminars (CA.)

Turning Leftovers Into a Meal

By Ellen Lindner on July 1, 2022 in Uncategorized

After making Potager Garden, I had quite a few scraps left over, so I decided to use them to make a small quilt. This is what I had to work with.

I began to move them around to see how they might fit together. I didn’t like this first version, though. I thought it needed more yellow, if I could find some in my stash.

Plus, the colors in the first version (above) were pretty evenly scattered about. That works for wallpaper, but not always for art. I remembered what I had recently learned about massing a color and switched things to this.