Author Archive | Ellen Lindner

Now Teaching Online!

By Ellen Lindner on June 28, 2020 in Uncategorized

Whew, I’ve been working hard to get my class, Double Reverse Appliqué online. And I’m SO proud of it! It features a ton of short videos. They make it easy to understand and also easy to work in steps.

And check out the killer class project.

In this class you not only learn the Double Reverse Appliqué technique, but also how to make your own patterns. As an online class, you have immediate access to ALL the class content – for as long as you like! And you have access to me, too!

I think it’s going to be an awesome way to learn. I’ve made a preview video. I hope you’ll check it out, along with the other class details.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Ellen Lindner

Cuttin’ Up

By Ellen Lindner on June 5, 2020 in Uncategorized

I’ve you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I’m not shy about cutting up a quilt. Sometimes I rearrange the pieces and create a new, more exciting composition. Other times, I use the new smaller pieces as the start of new little works of art. Such was the case with this COMPLETELY FINISHED quilt, Autumn Skyline.

There’s a lot that I like about this quilt: the colors, the fabrics, and parts of the design. But, it ultimately wasn’t exciting me. Therefore, I cut it into six different pieces.

I’m really liking this one. I think it’s begging for some hand stitching.

What if I turned it upside down?

I like all the grids in this one.
Here it is upside down.

Hmm, I’ll have to study these. They’re each about the size of a large place mat or small poster. Easily portable. So, maybe that hand stitching would be a good way to go. I seldom have a hand project at the ready, so these could be a nice change.

Here are some other examples of me cutting things up. Urban Sprawl.

Jubilation

Jubilation

Ellen Lindner

GEARING Up for Online Teaching

By Ellen Lindner on May 31, 2020 in Uncategorized

I’m really excited to be gearing up for online teaching! And when I say “gearing up” there’s emphasis on the gear itself.

The lights, which my husband had to repair.

The camera, which I had to learn to use properly. (Thank goodness for YouTube!)

And the set ups. This one for standing was pretty straight forward. (Although I had to move some furniture.) Of course, I’ll add a back drop.

Figuring out the table shots took quite a bit more finagling. It’s like a Tetris game in that corner!

It’s a little tricky dodging stands, etc. to get into my chair.

I’m jumping through all these hoops in order to prepare high quality videos for my classes. The first one will be Double Reverse Applique and I can’t wait!

Ellen Lindner
P.S. I didn’t mention audio. It has been problematic, but the new microphone arrives soon and I plan to record right away!

Tour My Studio

By Ellen Lindner on May 30, 2020 in Uncategorized

My studio isn’t that big, but I make it work hard. I made a short video about it. (I even had to climb on the table at one point to get the proper view.)

Check out all my videos here.

What studio tricks and tips do you have?

Ellen Lindner

I’ve Been Sewing

By Ellen Lindner on May 24, 2020 in Uncategorized

I haven’t done any garment sewing in ages, but all my luscious hand-dyed fabrics have had me thinking about using some in this way. This is the fabric that started it all. Isn’t it gorgeous?

Although I’ve been dying to use it, I wasn’t sure how to use it in combination with other large scale fabrics. But, I had smaller pieces that I thought I could use with it if the project was smaller in scale. Thus, the idea of a simple shirt came to mind. SIMPLE because I wanted to preserve the pattern of the fabric without a lot of seams or darts.

For the pattern I decided to mimic a ready-made shirt that fits me well (and is past its prime.) How’s this for simple? Only 4 pieces total: a simple T shape with a horizontal seam front and back. I thought it could work.

I used the shirt to create muslin patterns. (I didn’t take the shirt apart.)

Here’s the pattern for the front. I made the bottom portion bigger, just as it is in the inspiration shirt. The extra fullness is eased in when the two parts are sewn together. (Yes, I’m short and wide, as the pattern shows.)

And here’s the back.

I basted the muslin pattern together and was happy with the fit. On to fabric selection!

My plan was to use the prettiest part of the fabric as the top of the front. After that, I knew I’d need to patch other pieces together.

The photo above shows my auditioning of fabrics. The top piece is cut to size, but the others are folded as I pondered the best puzzle of pieces. (This ended up being the winner.)

On the back, I had to fiddle, rotate, and speculate before finding the best way to use my remaining fabric to its fullest. I was pretty happy with this layout.

And here it is finished! I love it!

And the back.

This was a fun project and I’m very happy with the results. I think there will be more pieced tops in my future!

Ellen Lindner

More “Croton Story” Leaves

By Ellen Lindner on May 22, 2020 in Uncategorized

I’m apparently quite enamored with these 3D Croton Leaves. They’re all part of a larger series (or installation?) called A Croton Story. Here’s Chapter 3.

And a detail shot.

I hope you can tell that the two halves of the leaf sort of fold up around the central vein, but with quite a bit of downward curl on each side. These have wire inside to achieve that and are pretty rigid. The one above is about 24″ long.

Here’s Chapter 4.

It’s only about 20″ long.

I’m getting to be pretty speedy at making these. That’s a good thing, because I want to make several more. I have visions of them all being seen together as an installation so I MUST add the needed colors! I’m having fun!

These are quick studio shots. The official ones will take quite a bit of editing to get that shadow right. (Very tricky.) I’ll add them to my website soon.

I hope you’re finding entertainment for yourself during this very unusual time.

Ellen Lindner

“She Looked for Blessings and Found Them” Complete

By Ellen Lindner on May 7, 2020 in Uncategorized

She Looked for Blessings and Found Them is the tile of my just completed self-portrait. Here’s a photo of the full quilt. It’s height matches my own, at 60″. And it’s 12″ wide.

She Looked for Blessings and Found Them
(A self-portrait)

What makes this piece special are the statements I’ve stitched in telling things I’ve done over the years. Some are cute and others are not so complimentary, but the combination gives a good insight into who I am.

I hope you’ll check out all the detail shots which show these statements and really tell the story.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. See this quilt in-progress.

A Self-Portrait in Red

By Ellen Lindner on May 2, 2020 in Uncategorized

My art quilt group, the Dirty Dozen Fiber Artists, have a really interesting challenge going on. We’re all making self-portraits, each the height of the maker. Isn’t that a cool idea? They also have to be skinny: no more than 12″ wide.

I wanted to include a lot of text in mine, stating my characteristics or attributes. I decided a composition with horizontal lines would lend itself to this. But, I also wanted to add my own head. That was surprisingly difficult, but I finally got it.

Working on my design wall, the horizontal RED stripes became my body. I used my hand dyed fabrics, paying attention to scattering in a variety of patterns and scales. But, I also aimed for a lot of quiet (near solid) areas that would show off text.

My primary design wall is only 4′ tall, so I had to work on my alternate one, above. It’s 7′ tall and I’m only 5′ so it provided plenty of room. (BTW, the bump on the top of my head will be lost in the trimming and seam allowance. I always want the design to extend into the seam allowance, so the bump acheives that.)

I initially planned to use orange in the background around my head. But, I worried that it didn’t provide enough contrast. A quick audition confirmed the problem.

I tried again with blue-green. Much better.

The height of this piece meant that I was frequently working above my head. S-T-R-E-T-C-H.

This is what it looked like with the composition complete. No stitching or text yet. I was very happy with it!

When selecting the text for my self-portrait I switched from attributes to actions. I selected some cute and complimentary things, but also some not-so-flattering confessions. I printed out everything in a variety of fonts and began to audition placement.

I transferred the text to the unquilted quilt. Then, I quilted it with horizontal lines. And finally, I started hand stitching the text.

Oh my, that took a LONG time!!! (I think I’ll use marker next time.)

Now it’s almost complete and you’ll find it on my website soon.

Ellen Lindner

How I Store My Stuff

By Ellen Lindner on April 25, 2020 in Uncategorized

From fat quarters to large quilts we all have the need to store our quilting possessions in an organized way. I’ve created a video that shows how I do this. Join me in the closet and we’ll explore together.