Blog – Page 6 of 60 – Adventure Quilter

“Waiting for the Lightnin’ Bugs” Complete

By Ellen Lindner on April 27, 2023 in Uncategorized

My latest quilt is complete! As you can see, I decided to square off the edges.
These colors are true. My earlier ones were shot in the studio. This one got proper lighting.

Waiting for the Lightnin’ Bugs

The dark colors of the quilt, combined with yellow streaks, reminded me of a cool evening, in VA, watching the lightnin’ bugs as they came out. (Yes, I pronounce it like that. I’m from the south!)

Here’s a detail shot

And another. All fabrics were dyed by me.

I’m kinda loving this.

Check out the web page for a larger image, another detail shot, and purchase information.

Ellen Lindner

Final FINAL Tweaking

By Ellen Lindner on April 23, 2023 in Uncategorized

I quilted my latest quilt and was pretty happy with it.

My Version of Muted. Art quilt in progress. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

Waiting for the Lightnin' Bugs - detail. An art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com

But, as I studied it, one spot bugged me. I thought this spot was too busy and that a solid piece of fabric would look better. Should I applique a different fabric over the current one? Maybe something brown or purple?

Final FINAL Tweaking. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

As I auditioned that idea another spot began to bother me. That orange triangle just seemed too big.

Final FINAL Tweaking. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I auditioned new fabrics in both spots. Note that one of them was pieced. I liked that design, but it was problematic when stitching, due to the additional bulk. Tricky.

Final FINAL Tweaking. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

But, I persevered and thought the changes improved it a lot.

Final FINAL Tweaking. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I wasn’t sure about the undulating edges, so I used strips of toilet paper to cover the curves and show me what straight edges would look like. I liked it better.

Time for facing and photographing. And naming!

Ellen Lindner

Whole Lotta Tweaking

By Ellen Lindner on April 21, 2023 in Uncategorized

As I continued working on my muted piece, it was time to do a whole lot of tweaking! First, I made more units so I’d have enough to make it more square, rather than horizontal, as it stood when initially auditioned.

Squares from earlier units gave me a good starting point.

Getting close.

As I made more units I also paid attention to where things were landing and how I might tweak the composition. For instance, do you see the two bright orange pieces below? They definitely attract attention, and – with their current locations – I like that. Compare this to the first photo above where the small orange piece is in the top left corner. That’s not a good location for something so eye catching, so I moved it. (Of course, it was already pieced into a larger unit, so the whole unit had to move.)

Almost finished with piecing.

Piecing complete, with undulating edges. I’ll have to decide whether or not to keep those.

I was pretty happy with it at this point. I began to get a nostalgic feeling from it, because it reminded me of lightnin’ bugs coming out at dusk. (Yes, that’s how this southerner says it: lightnin’) Growing up on a farm I can remember playing outside at this time of day, right before it was too dark to see. I was thinking about all of this as I was considering titles.

Finishing tweaks coming soon.

Ellen Lindner

My Version of Muted

By Ellen Lindner on April 13, 2023 in Uncategorized

Possible duplicate post

When putting away hand dyed fabrics, I noticed that my least favorites, the dark muted pieces, actually looked pretty good together. I decided to make a quilt with them, and to include a few accents of lighter colors. I was headed for a quilting retreat, so I packed up my potential fabrics to see what I could come up with.

First, I wanted to get the color palette right. I threw all possibilities up on my portable design wall and easel combo.

Not bad, but I could see that some of these colors would need to be used in smaller amounts. See the next photo for modifications. Note that I scaled back a few of the brightest colors. (Ignore the blue tape.)

I spent quite a bit of time getting happy with the palette. Then, I started joining fabrics in pairs. Next, I altered each pair in some way. Maybe I added a skinny line, a skewed alignment, or a curved seam. I call this process”slicing and dicing.”

I continued adding alterations, trying to make each unit interesting. Other than making sure I mixed up the colors well, I didn’t think about composition, shapes, or joining. Once I was home, I assembled units into larger sections.

Finally, it was time to think about composition, size, and shape. I spread out units to see what I had. I was happy with the level of energy and interest, but I didn’t want a horizontal quilt. I knew I’d need to make additional units for the top and bottom, and to fill in some other places. No more random “slicing and dicing.” I was now designing “with intent.”

Watch for my progress in the next post.

Ellen Lindner

“Petal Drop” Complete

By Ellen Lindner on April 10, 2023 in Uncategorized

Here it is, Petal Drop. If you’ve been following along, you know it started as part of a quilted (but not faced) quilt.

After lots of slicing rearranging and stitching, this is what I ended up with.

I stitched the sections back together with a loose zigzag.

And used the same stitching on the edge.

The statement:
My neighbor’s tulip magnolia blooms profusely every spring. But, after a few weeks the petals begin to fall. Very soon, the ground is just as pink as the tree. It’s a lovely transition.

This piece is for sale. See more info.

Ellen Lindner

Cutting Up Again

By Ellen Lindner on March 29, 2023 in Uncategorized

Once again, I decided to cut something up. This is where I started, with an already quilted quilt.

I liked it, but realized I liked the left side better than the right.

So, after some folding and auditioning, I cut this quilt into two pieces. I set the left portion aside.

And started work on the right portion.

My plan was to slice into it diagonally and then join the two portions back together, using a loose satin stitch. I was surprised by how easily this technique worked. Even on curved shapes! I added some skinny stripes and continued slicing and reassembling until I got something along these lines.

It definitely had more energy! I sliced into it some more.

It was obvious that the overall shape would not be rectangular. I began to think about what those edges should look like. Should I make them even more irregular? To audition this idea I used pieces of muslin to obscure and reshape the edges in places.

Yes! I was liking the spiky nature of these edges. I decided to pick out some stitching and cut new nooks and crannies.

I had to use my sharpest tools to slice away the loose zigzag without cutting the fabric.

I wasn’t sure how to finish the edges, but I decided to try the same loose zigzag I’d been using for joining, and I liked it.

In the next post I’ll show you the finished quilt. I like it.

Ellen Lindner

I Ruined It

By Ellen Lindner on March 28, 2023 in Uncategorized

If you’ve been following me for a while you know that I’ve occasionally cut up quilts and rearranged them. So, when I decided this quilt needed some revision, I decided to give it a go.

The starting quilt, Beet Salad. Certainly not terrible, but it wasn’t exciting me either.

Beet Salad

Usually, when I cut something up I do it with great intention. I aim for diagonal cuts that will show off the best parts of the quilt. This time, however, I cut it up into approximately 5″ squares. That’s probably where I went wrong.

This photo shows an early rearrangement. It doesn’t look that different, right?

Soon, I decided to use only the pieces that had two colors. This is what I came up as my piecing plan.

I wasn’t sure that it was better, but it did have more energy and I planned to add applique here and there. But then I got confused as I was piecing and created something different.

It was really too hideous for me to even take a photo. But, above you can probably tell that I added a border using those singe color pieces. And I stitched over it with a lot of black thread. It was all UGLY!

I briefly entertained the idea of trying to improve it. Which is the only reason I took the photo above. In it I was auditioning some lighter versions of pink and purple. Ugh! By now I had lost my interest in this experiment and was a little bit mad at the result. I didn’t want it hanging around any more and decided to toss it. (Actually, I saved it just for free motion quilting practice.)

Oh well, on to the next project.

Have you ever cut anything up?

Actually, I did it again, recently. I’ll show you that soon.

Ellen Lindner

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival

By Ellen Lindner on March 13, 2023 in Uncategorized

I really enjoyed my visit to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival 2023, held in Hampton, VA. The winning quilts were, of course, wonderful. You can see them all here.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

Toroweap Overlook, by Sandra L Mollon. This won Best Wall Quilt. It’s amazing!

Age is Relative, by Sandy Curran, which won Viewers’ Choice. This is a fabulous depiction of Golda Meir, former prime minister of Israel. I love the title and message, too.

Speaking of winners, MAQF doesn’t inform the winners about their prizes, so it was a big, DELIGHTFUL, surprise when I rounded a corner and realized that my quilt, Fragrant Canopy, had won a Judge’s Choice Award. Yippee!!!

Here are a few more of my favorite non-winning quilts.

As much as I like art quilts, I also greatly admire and appreciate traditional quilts. Especially ones with wonderful color palettes and extraordinary workmanship. Like this one made by Kathleen Roundtree.

She calls is Bodega Bay, and here’s a detail shot.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival 2023. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

On the other end of the spectrum, I really liked the abstraction of this piece. It’s called 3 Friends, by Cindy Grisdela.

And this simple piece, featuring stubble from corn rows. Well, maybe it wasn’t featuring the corn rows, but that’s the thing that caught my attention. I guess that’s a throwback to being raised on a farm. I always notice the repetition of planted rows. This piece is called Quiet: A Winter Sunset, by Anne Panella. The field is made of what appears to be silk on top, but it’s been cut through to show a darker fabric below. The cut edges are sort of ragged and it’s very effective.

And check out this quilt, by Margaret James, called Phoebe. When I first saw it I was very close to it and it just looked like an abstract. When I read the title, I knew it depicted a person, so I backed up to see the entire thing. And there she was! This is very well done.

In my next post I’ll show you some more quilts from this show. Amazing landscapes!

Ellen Lindner

P.S. Yes, of course I visited the vendors. (But we’re not going to mention that, okay?)

MAQF: Landscapes and Such

By Ellen Lindner on March 11, 2023 in Uncategorized

There were many wonderful landscape quilts at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival.

This is Quiet: Little Stony Creek, by Tina Freudenberger

Check out her amazing waterfall detail.

Hope Wilmarth made this next quilt, called Shoreline Serenade.

This one gave me a joyous response, because about a year ago my husband and I visited the Grand Tetons National Park AND took a balloon ride there. It was the highlight of our trip! Although this quilt depicts a different area of the US Southwest, it really reminded me of our wonderful adventure.

It’s made by Carol Monti and called Quiet Side.

Here’s a detail shot. At first I thought the dark animals were bison, in line with my memory. But, as you can see, they’re cows.

Not actually landscape, but depicting natural vegetation, this quilt by Marianne Williamson, is called Summer Heat #2.

And, I guess my own quilt Florida Native #2 also falls into this nature category. It was there as part of the “Let the Sun Shine In” traveling exhibit.

I really enjoyed the show and hope to go again, sometime.

Did you have a favorite quilt from the show?

Ellen Lindner

Floral Improv in Portland

By Ellen Lindner on March 7, 2023 in Uncategorized

The ladies of the Columbia River Gorge Quilters, in Portland, OR, really excelled at creating Floral Improv pieces. These are just a few of the results.

Tomme Fent used a vibrant palette that really made her flowers POP!

Ginger Hartnett’s poppies were really enhanced by her contour stitching. Don’t they look 3D?

Ronda Griffin’s piece has a lively, happy vibe. Nice!

Beth Harkenrider’s poppies were so dark that we decided to highlight them with white stitching, rather than black. I think it worked well and her piece has a wonderful sense of mystery.

Daera Dobbs’ flowers have a lot of energy!

She liked the process so much that she made a second piece later. I take that as a compliment!

I had a fantastic time with these ladies!

Can you believe we accomplished all of this via Zoom? It worked great. Maybe your guild would like to give it a try. See more info.

Ellen Lindner

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Navigation

Adventure Quilter

“Waiting for the Lightnin’ Bugs” Complete

Final FINAL Tweaking

Whole Lotta Tweaking

My Version of Muted

“Petal Drop” Complete

Cutting Up Again

I Ruined It

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival

MAQF: Landscapes and Such

Floral Improv in Portland

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