Author Archive | Ellen Lindner

Orlando Quilt Show: Grab and Draw

By Ellen Lindner on January 26, 2017 in Uncategorized

“Grab and Draw.” That’s my new term for the kind of quilts I like: those that draw you closer from across the room and then reward you with wonderful details. Here are more great examples from World Quilt – FL, Orlando.

Check this out, by Kathryn Harmer Fox, from South Africa.

Very interesting from afar, but look at this detail shot.

Can you believe that stitching?!? Some of the stitches are quite long, at least 1/2″. The wildness really adds a lot to the imagery. What I’m not sure you can see in this photo is that there are layers and layers of stitching. The top of the dog’s head is stitched with tons of white and cream before the contrasting stitching was added. Wow!

And here’s another one by the same artist.

This piece by Linden Lancaster also passed the Grab and Draw test.

Mostly because of the way she depicted the delicate blossoms with overlaid sheers.

I decided there was also some green paint on the background, as well as green and purple sheers. Lovely.

Ellen Lindner

Orlando Quilt Show: Awesome Details

By Ellen Lindner on January 24, 2017 in Uncategorized

There were some really great quilts at the World Quilt – FL show last week. My favorite kind of quilts are those that grab your attention from across the room and draw you closer, and then when you get up close you’re amazed by the details of the piece. For me, there were several in this show that met this two-pronged criteria.

Here’s my favorite, “Pele.” It was made by Jenny Hearn, from South Africa.

Did it “grab you from across the room?” Great. Now, look at these awesome details.

That’s right: it’s got needlepoint in the center! Along with heavy stitching, including what appears to be some washers wrapped with stitch.

More of the same at the bottom. The pointy part actually protrudes as a separate piece in front of the grayer background below.

When my eyes finally strayed away from this fabulous stitching I noticed lots of little 3D elements elsewhere. I love this quilt!

I have more photos to show you from this show, but honestly, the other photos pale in comparison to this quilt. They’re still great, of course, and I’ll show you in the next post.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. This quilt is part of the traveling World Quilt show exhibit. Unfortunately, it has suffered from being folded a lot. Too bad Mancuso (show management) can’t figure out a way to roll or pad them better.

Join Me for “Stitched,” in Stuart, FL

By Ellen Lindner on January 19, 2017 in Uncategorized

There’s a wonderful art quilt exhibit opening in Stuart, FL this week. It’s called Stitched: Embracing the Quilt as Fine Art and I have two pieces in it.

Vine Ripened

Second Thoughts

Actually, I’ve seen images of all the exhibit pieces (45 of them,) so I know how great it will be.

The exhibit opens on the 20th, with a reception on the 27th. I’ll be at the opening and I hope to see you there! Full details below.

Ellen Lindner

Dirty Dozen Challenges

By Ellen Lindner on January 16, 2017 in Uncategorized

As I mentioned in the last post, my art quilt group, Dirty Dozen Fiber Artists, often has group challenges based on drawing inspiration from a particular photo. This was the photo we selected for our 2009 challenge.

Photo credit: Martha Wolfe

We decided on a vertical orientation, with measurements of 18″ x 12″. Here’s the group display. Very different, right?

This was my piece, Northern Light.I never really cared for this quilt, I think maybe because of the color combination. Whenever I’m disappointed with a quilt I like to examine it and think about what worked and what didn’t. These are some things I think I did well:
– Used the soft peach glow of the candles as the predominant color.
– Mimiced the grid lines of the windows as design elements.
– Created interesting leaves, inspired by the foliage in the windows.

Here are those leaves up close. Some are stitched sheers. Others are painted and melted plastics. I like the way they curl and buckle, lifting away from the quilt surface. That might be something to try again on a future quilt.

However, I think the combination of peach and yellow-green just doesn’t work. And maybe the whole foliage thing is a little heavy handed. To test that theory, check out the in-progress background, below. I think it was better before I added the leaves.

If I were doing this quilt again, I think I’d keep the background about the same. Then, I’d add a FEW leaves in maybe a rust color. NOT green, something sorta monochromatic.

So, remembering to be inspired by the photo and not controlled by it, I’ve started on a new challenge. This is the inspiration photo. Photo credit Kathryn Robinson

This photo was taken in southern France. We selected it because it has a lot of different components, which gives us many options for working with it.

What would you want to mimic from this photo? Colors, shapes, foliage, flowers, steps, the door, the bench? Oh yeah, we’re using a vertical orientation: 36 x 24. Would that influence your decision?

I can guarantee all the resulting quilts will be very different! Mine is nearly complete, but I’m not allowed to show it until the March unveiling. (That’s hard for me!) Of course, you’ll be the first to see it, after the DDFA gals, that is.

Ellen Lindner

Group Challenges

By Ellen Lindner on January 11, 2017 in Uncategorized

I belong to a wonderful group of art quilters, called Dirty Dozen Fiber Artists. We try to have some sort of exhibit every year and we often have a group challenge as the “entry fee” for participation. On several occasions we’ve used a photo as our inspiration, with all of us using the same image. We’ve had some very interesting results with this approach.

Here’s one from around 2007, I think. We purposely chose a rather busy photo, knowing that different people would be intrigued by different things. We wanted lots of options and this photo from Maui did the trick. Photo credit Ruth Anne Parker

The resulting quilts from this challenge were pretty amazing.

Group Challenges. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Ruth Anne Parker

Peggy Strauchman

Peg Horsfield

Paula Ferguson

Barbara Bilbo

Marylin Salvador

Mary Dyer

Jill Brown

My piece, Tropical Fruit

Elizabeth King

Diane Smith

Can you believe how different they all are?

The reason I’ve been thinking about challenges is because we have another one going on right now. Watch for my next post, in which I’ll show you the inspiration image, along with additional results from other challenges.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. There’s lots of information about the Dirty Dozen on this blog and my old one. Both have search functions at the top right, so you can easily search for Dirty Dozen.

My Brilliant Wish List

By Ellen Lindner on January 9, 2017 in Uncategorized

It’s not very often that I use the word brilliant when talking about myself. But, in this case, someone else said it first so I’m just agreeing. (Don’t tell my mother.)

Does your family spend lots of time thinking up thoughtful and surprising gifts for one another? My family gave up on that long ago. Of course, we want to give things the recipient would like, so we send our wish lists to one another in the form of links about specific online items. But, at Christmas, my husband said he needed ideas for some small stocking stuffers for me. Coincidentally, I was in the local quilt store, when I noticed all the inexpensive items that would fit the purpose. But, how could I properly describe a particular glue, a particular pen, and specific fabric bundles in a way that my husband could ever find them? And then it hit me: photos!

So, I started taking photos of the things I’d like. First: blue-green fat quarters.

Favorite glues and pens:

Warning: These Frixion pens leave a ghost shadow on dark fabrics. I use them only on light fabrics or where the line will be cut off or covered.

Finally, a fabric bundle. I suggested that each fabric could be an individual gift and I was rewarded with lots of soft squishy packages in my stocking!

I sent these photos to my husband and he took his ipod to the quilt store. He’d show the sales ladies a photo and say “Where’s this?” Then, the next one, with “Where’s this?” and so on. They would excitedly show him – all the while exclaiming “Your wife is brilliant! Your wife is brilliant!”

My mother taught me not to argue.

Especially with logic like that.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. I got lots of wonderful gifts for Christmas, including plenty of fabric!

If You Never Make a Mistake

By Ellen Lindner on January 3, 2017 in Uncategorized

Have you ever been to a class and realized you left the most appropriate fabrics at home? This happened to me when I took a class from Elizabeth Barton. I learned a lot about abstracting and designing and had a great paper “sketch” I wanted to interpret in fabric.

Per Elizabeth’s instructions, I worked up my design in paper with three different value variations. I decided to work with the one on the left, above.

But, I didn’t bring enough of my two colors, blue-green and orange. As a result, I had to fill those areas with lots of different fabrics. I worked hard at getting them to play well together.

I tried ignoring color and working only with value.

I persevered and got this far.

But I just hated it. WAY too splotchy! At this point, I bagged the whole thing.

I still love the design and intend to use it for a quilt, but I’ll have a MUCH better selection of fabrics when I do!

I’m philosophical about this sort of thing. By being open-minded I’ve helped myself be more open-minded next time. And the things I learned will stay with me. I didn’t waste my time or my fabric. It was useful.

I saw a great quote, but I don’t know who said it: If you never make a mistake it’s because you’re not experimenting enough. Yes! I believe that. Here’s to making plenty of mistakes.

Ellen Lindner

“Deliberation” Complete

By Ellen Lindner on December 29, 2016 in Uncategorized

My latest artwork, Deliberation, is complete.

Deliberation

I’m quite happy with it and I really enjoyed creating it.

I did deliberate (get it – deliberate?) quite a bit over the title. It does look like an overhead view of rivers and many people suggested titles with that in mind. That would have been fine, except I wanted to work it into my current series which has titles like Daydream, Brainstorm, etc. So, I eventually decided on Deliberation.

Audition this art in your home

On to my next adventure.
Ellen Lindner

I’m a Cover Girl – Sorta

By Ellen Lindner on December 26, 2016 in Uncategorized

I’m really thrilled to have my quilt, Reconciliation, featured on the cover of Storytelling Magazine’s current cover.

The description inside says:

Ellen Lindner uses fabric the way a painter used paint. Her collages are created with a variety of fabric pieces held together with stitching across the top. Her “Body Language” series strives to tell a story with as little information as possible. Reconciliation depicts that moment of relief when hurts and misunderstandings are forgiven. EllenLindner.com

Nice, right?

Holidays or Holy Days?

By Ellen Lindner on December 24, 2016 in Uncategorized

I’m really enjoying the Christmas season. My family is close at hand and more will be arriving, decorating has been fun and stress free, and even shopping seemed easier this year.

We’ve already attended several fun events and have more scheduled. Maybe even some caroling. In our shorts and sandals.

I hope you’re having a similar experience. But, I hope you’re also celebrating the holy aspect of your holidays. For me, that’s a challenge sometimes. As a Christian, I want to remember and be thankful for God’s gift of his son, Jesus. With that in mind, I’ll be listening to some sacred Christmas music, attending church, and TRYING to stay mindful of the reason for the holy-day.

However you celebrate, I hope your holidays are filled with joy, memory making, and occasional thoughts as to the real meaning behind all of it.

Wishing you holiday blessings.

Ellen Lindner

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Author Archive | Ellen Lindner

Orlando Quilt Show: Grab and Draw

Orlando Quilt Show: Awesome Details

Join Me for “Stitched,” in Stuart, FL

Group Challenges

My Brilliant Wish List

If You Never Make a Mistake

“Deliberation” Complete

I’m a Cover Girl – Sorta

Holidays or Holy Days?

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