After several interruptions, I was finally able to finish my quilt, Tall Grasses.
Tall Grasses
It was inspired by some of the landscape grasses growing in my neighborhood. When the setting sun hits them, the cream colored heads glow an almost pink. As you can see, I ran with that idea, adding my favorite bright colors, and using an abstracted representation of grass.
This is the first quilt I’ve made using almost exclusively my own hand dyed fabrics. Very fun!
I wanted to play up the curves in the background so I drew it in with a fine permanent marker. It’s very subtle and I like it. As a matter of fact, I’m happy with the quilt in every way.
It was made as a companion to this quilt, Palm Fronds.
Palm Fronds
Don’t you think they’d make a good pair? Maybe I’ll make one more in the series.
But, she still had to think about how to best depict the background and about the best proportions. This is what she came up with.
Oops, I see she had moved a couple of blossoms as I took this photo. They were actually all joined to the stem at the end. I think the slimmer proportions really play up the vertical nature of this hanging plant.
And then Meg started another composition!
Sarah had an excellent starting photo of flowering cacti.
She wisely decided to include only the main elements, and to zoom in on them. Just look at her results.
She’ll add some hand stitched needles as a finishing touch.
And then she also started on a second piece. This is her photo, a close up view of the edge of a succulent.
She made good progress in the remaining class time.
If I remember correctly, Elizabeth was one of the students who had never made an art quilt. This was her photo.
She didn’t own a stash of fabric and brought a limited selection. But that didn’t slow her down much, as you can see from her quilt. Later, she completely quilted it during class.
Martha worked diligently on her quilt, “drawing” with her scissors as I had shown her.
And here’s her quilt, almost complete.
Kathy’s photo had lots of strong lines from the leaves and delicate shapes and colors from the flowers.
She wanted to play up the flowers but keep the strong leaves. She was willing to edit and resize to achieve that. And just look at her final quilt.
She improved on the colors and sizes of the flowers and represented the leaves in an interesting way. Kathy definitely achieved what she wanted.
I’m SO proud of all these women! They were willing to experiment and to work in completely new ways. As a result, they learned A LOT and they each made a striking quilt. Way to go, ladies!
The students in this class, “Design Your Own Nature Quilt,” always get great results. I’d love to come teach for your group, as well. (But DO plan on the 2 day version of this class!)
As “Design Your Own Nature Quilt” continued in Houston, the creativity was flowing and the fabric was flying. This is the view from Susan’s table. I think she may have won for the most fabric brought to class, but the competition was strong all around the room.
This is Nasreen. At first, she seemed none too sure about my methods, but she persevered and was on a roll by the end of class.
Her image included a MASS of poinsettias as the primary subject. She wisely focused on three and ended up with an excellent representation of these colorful flowers.
Darshana had a wonderful inspiration photo.
She translated it to fabric very well. I love those vibrant colors! She’s got a little more tweaking to do, but her composition is basically complete.
Louise spent a good bit of time getting her piece exactly to her liking.
It was time well spent. This is her final piece, with little purple squiggles marking locations for future beading or embroidery.
Judy’s photo showed a plethora of poppies. Like Nasreen, she chose to focus on only a few. Her use of striped fabric added a lot of interest. In the photo below she was beginning to work on buds. Stems and leaves will be last.
Caroline had never made an art quilt before class. However, she came armed with a fabulous photo and a courageous spirit. Here’s her photo. Great, right?
She jumped right in and her piece developed quickly.
She was excited with her progress. And here it is almost complete.
All of these women worked in ways completely new to them and every one of them had such fantastic results. They were excited and so was I!
Still more to come about this class in the next post.
Not only were the women of the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston friendly and welcoming, but the students in my “Design Your Own Nature Quilt” class were fierce! They courageously tackled work that was outside their comfort zones and they achieved marvelous results.
My hosts were FABULOUS! This is Susan, who chauffeured me around, took me out to dinner and made sure I got the rest I needed.
She made a wonderful poppy quilt, working almost independently. Don’t you love the way those colors POP?
Also going above and beyond in taking care of me was Marcia. She also ran me around, took me out to eat, and provided me with lunch and water. These two women spent A LOT of time catering to me! I really appreciated it and I enjoyed their company, too.
Here’s her background, almost complete. She’s used a lot of different fabrics, just like I enjoy. The center area will be covered by flowers, but it’s still best to fill it in to avoid edges shadowing through her light fabrics.
Marcia started out making a quilt with three yellow flowers.
But, she fell in love with one large flower and eventually narrowed it down to just that.
In the photo above she was just beginning to play with scaling up the central portion of the flower. This is often tricky for students and is worth spending a little time on.
Gina and Sharon sat next to each other and both worked on mountain scenes with trees in the foreground. Sharon’s photo was not too colorful when printed, but she had a better version on her phone for reference.
She used a variety of fabrics and made her piece MUCH more interesting than the photo. (Here shown in-progress.)
I didn’t get a picture of Gina’s inspiration photo. Like Sharon’s, it was also pretty colorless. But, she wasn’t afraid to kick up the colors and got great results.
Look at that orange against the blue!
Maryellen had a beautiful photo of hydrangeas in front of a picket fence and window. She jagged cut her fabrics and was able to interpret it very effectively. A little stitching will make these flowers take shape.
Rather than sewing, however, she switched gears and started work on a second piece. Can you see these becoming snap dragons? (Actually, I think her flower was something else, but I don’t know what.)
I can’t wait to show you some of the other awesome work done in this class!
My local art quilt group, Dirty Dozen Fiber Artists, is preparing an exhibit for an upcoming regional show. It has been A LOT of work, but it’s finally coming together. The culmination of our planning and creating was Hangin’ Day, the day we pinned everything to black felt panels to create a cohesive exhibition.
There was a complex master plan and everything had to be measured and pinned.
Jill at work on self-portraits
Gabtriele and me working on some of the largest pieces.
Don’t we have an awesome space to work? One of our members, Ruth Anne Parker, is VERY generous with her “barn.” It’s a fabulous space for projects during the cooler months.
After pinning, we could peel back each quilt to access the hanging sleeves and tack though those with one of those tacking gizmos. It worked beautifully and we finally got to see the rewards of our work. This is one of the sections in the Parisian Flower Market challenge. It looks pretty awesome, right?
One of the Flower Market Sections
Of course, it will hang much higher when on display. We just kept it low to preview with easy access.
Laura (L) and Dij (R) standing next to their Flower Market pieces, bottom and top, respectively.
Kathryn with her Flower Market piece
I’m so proud of us! I think this is going to be an extraordinary display. It will include 29 quilts which make up our Self-Portraits,the Parisian Flower Market Challenge, and ourWelcome to Provence Challenge. The self-portraits are a requirement to be in the group. The other two are challenges we did in which we were all inspired by the same photo. The different interpretations are really interesting!
Where can you see all this creativity? Glad you asked. All six sections of quilts will be at the World Quilt Show Florida, at the Tampa Convention Center, January 31 – February 2. I can’t wait!
My idea for this quilt was to more or less mimic the background of Palm Fronds.
Click any image for a larger view
Palm Fronds
I cut strips of white-with-black fabrics and began laying them in a horizontal arrangement.
As you can see, I also began to play with the idea of adding contrasting strips between some of the leaves. White strips added the definition needed, but they weren’t too exciting.
Back to the background.
I was happy with the background, but thought that it, too, might need some more definition between sections. Should I define the background sections with more skinny strips? To be determined.
Meanwhile, I tried black strips for contrast. I liked this much better.
At one point, I used the computer to loosely audition a black strip between every leaf. And also grey stripes in the background sections.
Hmm, I think the black strips are taking over. But, the grey has potential. More experimenting required.
When I drew the sketch forPalm Fronds, I drew several others in a similar format and size. This is the sketch for Tall Grasses, (working title.)
Click any image for a larger view
I envisioned green for the grasses and fuchsia for the tips. I had several fabrics from my first dyeing session and I dyed several more long, skinny green pieces to round out the selection. First, I drew my design onto muslin, and then I began to audition fabrics.
I liked these fabrics but I could see that I would have to be careful with them. The colors and values are very similar, so I knew I’d have to arrange them in such a way as to play up contrasts.
Here are the first few pieces in place.
And most of the green pieces. Hmm, as suspected they sort of merge together. I’ll have to work on that.
But first, I went ahead with something I was confident about: fuchsia tips. First, audition time.
And here they all are in place.
I’m happy with the colors and the composition, but I think I’ll need to either switch out some green fabrics or add fabric strips for contrast. But, I’ll probably do the background first.
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.
Click any title to see more about that quilt. Click any image for a much larger view.
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.
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.
