Tag Archives | Abstract

Red and Yellow Abstract

Historically, I haven’t been a fan of red and yellow combinations, but for some reason, I now find myself drawn to them. I still think they’re a little jarring, but it seems that I now like that. As evidence, I recently dyed fabrics with these colors.

I created a variety, hoping I could use them together. As you an see, I repeated a bean shape in several colors. I was happy with how they worked together and was anxious to get started.

Red and Yellow Abstract. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I realized some of the lightest fabrics wouldn’t fit well into the mix. But, I had some other fabrics I thought I could use. I pinned everything together on the design wall. And I loosely arranged them: a good starting point.

Knowing the contrast of red and yellow, as well as the contrast of different values, would attract attention, I placed them (above) in approximately “sweet spots.” These are considered ideal locations for focal points. They’re easy to identify: picture a tic-tac-toe game overlaying the overall shape. Where the lines cross are sweet spots.

I immediately thought the red fabric with yellow beans was a little too “regular.” (See above) That is, the beans were spaced too evenly. I thought the composition would be stronger if they were “messed up” a little bit. So, in the photo below, you can see that I sliced right through the red bean fabric, and scooted things out of alignment.  Better, I thought.

Next, came A LOT of auditioning as I folded, rearranged, cut (only once I was sure,) and pieced.

Red and Yellow Abstract. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

It was like a giant game of Tetris. Eventually, I had the left portion pieced and began to work on the yellow fabrics on the right.

Red and Yellow Abstract. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

It all went more slowly that I would have liked, but I was definitely having fun!

More next time.

Ellen Lindner

 

 

 

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“Seeking the Horizon” Complete

I finished up my little (18 x 18) scrap quilt and I’m pretty happy with it. I’m calling it Seeking the Horizon.

Seeking the Horizon, art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com

Detail shot.

Seeking the Horizon, art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com

All the fabrics are dyed and printed by me. I think they have a lot of impact together!

Ellen Lindner
P.S. If you read about my quilting problems in the previous post, you can see that I improved upon it.
P.P.S. I made this for an exhibit called “Reflections.” It sorta has that quality, doesn’t it?

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Working with Scraps

I had some interesting scraps left over from Waiting for the Lightnin’ Bugs. 

Working with Scraps. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

As you can see, they included many skinny triangles, so I knew that would drive my design. And, because they were so skinny, I knew I’d use a collage technique, rather than piecing them.

After creating a background, I started with the brightest shapes, placing them off-center.

Working with Scraps. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

More trial and error.

Working with Scraps. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

It was taking shape. But, when I started quilting it I had a terrible time with the concentric circles I wanted to use. I’m just not good with parallel curves!

Working with Scraps. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Deep breaths.

Much of the above was picked out. After drawing the desired lines I redid a lot of it and it looked much better. Thank goodness!

Ellen Lindner

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“Waiting for the Lightnin’ Bugs” Complete

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. An art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com

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

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

And another. All fabrics were dyed by me.

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

I’m kinda loving this.

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

Ellen Lindner

 

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My Version of Muted

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.

My Version of Muted. An art quilt in-progess. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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.)

My Version of Muted. An art quilt in-progess. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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.”

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

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.”

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

Watch for my progress in the next post.

Ellen Lindner

 

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“Petal Drop” Complete

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

Cutting Up Again. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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

"Petal Play" Complete. Ellen Lindner's art quilt. AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I stitched the sections back together with a loose zigzag.

"Petal Drop" Complete. Ellen Lindner's art quilt. AdventureQuilter.com/blog

And used the same stitching on the edge.

"Petal Play" Complete. Ellen Lindner's art quilt. AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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

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Cutting Up Again

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.

Cutting Up Again. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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

Cutting Up Again. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

And started work on the right portion.

Cutting Up Again. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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.

Cutting Up Again. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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.

Cutting Up Again. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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.

Cutting Up Again. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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

Ellen Lindner

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I Ruined It

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, an art quilt by Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

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.

Cutting up and rearranging "Beet Salad." Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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.

Cutting up and rearranging "Beet Salad." Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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.

Cutting up and rearranging "Beet Salad." Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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

 

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Trying a New Scale

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.

Trying a Different Scale. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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?

Trying a Different Scale. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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?

Trying a Different Scale. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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.)

Trying a Different Scale. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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.

Trying a Different Scale. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Finally, my little composition was ready for quilting.

Trying a Different Scale. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

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

Good Possibilities - detail, an art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com

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

 

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“Twigs” Complete

For the first time I worked on two quilts at the same time, finishing them up very close together. Here’s the latest, Twigs.

Twigs, an art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com

Twigs

I’m very happy with it. And here’s a detail shot.

Twigs - detail, an art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com

The dark twigs were done in the dyeing stage. The white ones were added after piecing, with acrylic paint. As you can see, I used the same stencil for both.

See more details, including purchase information.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. After neglecting it for quite some time, I’m finally hemming and altering clothes. At only 5′ tall, I do a lot of that!

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