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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

Trying a New Scale

By Ellen Lindner on February 23, 2023 in Uncategorized

As I started a new quilt, I looked to my hand dyed fabrics for inspiration. I pulled out a few that I thought might spark some interest.

Uh, no. It all seemed pretty ugly. But, I was intrigued by the large scale black and white piece. Could I work with something like that? It was certainly worth a try.

However, I only had a little of this, so I knew the finished quilt would be small. In fact, this high contrast fabric would comprise the bulk of the piece.

What to put with it? Maybe some red?

But, it needed some additional pattern. On a much smaller scale this time, so as not to compete with the main piece. How ’bout these?

I liked them in the audition (not-yet-pieced) version, but after moving on to piecing I realized that the proportions had changed quite a bit. (Why didn’t I think more about that?) That wide teal line was way too wide. I trimmed it and repieced it. Much better, (below.)

But, that ate into the orange-red print, so I added some more. (This required some fiddly piecing, since I only had scraps of this remaining.) Then, I realized that the solid red was too wide. (Every change affects everything.) I put a tuck in that fabric, (shown pinned for audition below.) That did the trick.

Finally, my little composition was ready for quilting.

I echoed the pattern in the far right fabric and liked the effect.

I’ve named this piece Good Possibilities. You can see the full image here.

I really enjoyed working with this larger scale fabric. I’ll definitely do it again.

Ellen Lindner

“Floral Improv” in Tavares – Part Two

By Ellen Lindner on February 5, 2023 in Uncategorized

More awesome results from my “Floral Improv” students in Tavares, FL. This is what they accomplished in just 5 hours, all with no patterns!

Karen’s dark background made everything pop.

Dawn was getting close to her final composition.

Gail’s was ready for stitching.

Betty was careful about how she used her printed background fabric and it worked out well.

Anita needed a few more stems and leaves, but she was very close.

Alice arranged her flowers first (as directed.) Next she’ll add stems and leaves.

I always tell my students to arrange their flowers first. Afterwards, it’s easy (and forgiving) to add a variety of stems and leaves.

Jeanette will use stitching to enhance and define both her poppies and daisies.

Didn’t they do excellent work? They were all thrilled and I was too. The excitement was contagious!

And here we all are. These members of the Lake County Quilters Guild proved to be both talented and friendly. I hope to visit them again.

Would your guild enjoy this class? It’s available both in-person and via Zoom. Floral Improv info here.

Ellen Lindner

Fun with Floral Improv – LIVE!

By Ellen Lindner on January 30, 2023 in Uncategorized

Oh, I forgot how much fun it is to be IN-PERSON with a group of students. Especially when the class is “Floral Improv.” The students were SO excited with their progress and it was exhilarating! See what I mean.

Nancy’s quilt, ready for outline stitching.