Jacksonville Class: Design Your Own Nature Quilt
I had fun this week teaching Design Your Own Nature Quilt in Jacksonville, FL, with the All Star Quilters. This class can be a little challenging, so “artistic courage” is included on the supply list. The ladies did a good job of calling upon that courage and got a lot accomplished in our short time together.
As usual, I was too caught up in the workshop to remember to take pictures until it was almost too late! Thankfully, I got a few for you to enjoy.
Vicki tackled a prickly pear composition and made great progress with it.
Click any image for a larger view
This is her inspiration photo (with a bad reflection.) She’ll add the round “mouths” of the fruit, which will give them a lot of depth. Big French knots and other hand embroidery will finish things off. It will be great!
Mary Anne selected a challenging photo. Because it has very little variation color, she knew she’d have to play up the value contrasts.
By taking some artistic license (which I always encourage,) she was able to exaggerate the contrasts within the piece. Notice how much better her “place holder” flower shows up. (Later, she’ll fuse individual petals.)
Mary Anne’s twisted weed/vines help contribute to an organic feel.
Ruthy selected a serene beach scene for her quilt. First, she cropped it to improve the composition.
She had a lot of fun considering options and playing with different ways to depict sea grass. (I’m thinking she might have some fusing in her future!)
Linda cut loose (quite literally) as she cut the jagged trees needed for her piece. (Click on this photo, so you can see her inspiration in the corner.)
She’ll add tulle to darken the left side of the sky, which will give better contrast behind the tallest tree. Tulle will also be used to creat a mist. The foreground trees will add more contrast and this piece will be very successful.
Margaret likes to depict things very accurately and she brought with her the fabrics needed to do the job. (Click on this photo to see her inspiration photo in the corner.)
Her piece will be very beautiful and serene.
It was a fun and productive day for all of us. I hope I get to see some finished quilts before too long!
Ellen Lindner
P.S. I’ll be teaching the online version of this class starting September 21st. Details here.
