Tag Archives | Experimenting/Arting

Quilt Design: Playing with Those Fabrics

By Ellen Lindner on June 27, 2021 in Uncategorized

Earlier I showed you the fabrics I dyed in anticipation of making a beet colored quilt. Next, it was time to start the quilt design. I knew I wanted the berry-colored fabrics to be the stars, with the yellows as accents. My first thought was to piece little sharp bits of yellow, but I wasn’t sure that played well with the idea of curvy beets. So, I decided to play with wonky, improvisational circles.

Maybe something like this.

I liked it!

I’ve been traveling and I took my fabrics with me. I made a few more units while away and tried them all laid on my hotel bed.

Definite potential for a quilt design!

And then, I played some more on the flight home. It’s amazing how sharp those little kiddie scissors are.

My plan is to make a lot more units and then to start arranging them on my design wall. Stay tuned!

Ellen Lindner
P.S. I’m just gluing these circles together. Fast and easy!

“Party Chatter” Complete

By Ellen Lindner on May 30, 2021 in Uncategorized

I’ve been having fun working on my “sour dough” quilt.

First, I decided on the placement of the leftover blocks. I cut a few of them into smaller units.

I’m a believer in this quote from Sally Sellers, “It only takes a little ugly; just enough to make the other colors sing.” So, should I add a little ugly? I decided a small amount of yellow would do the trick.

A nice start. Then, I added even more.

I like it. What do you think?

Finally, I added the skinny dark teal strips. Because they’re so high contrast, they add a lot of drama, and really make the composition.

In the photo above, I started quilting it. I had lots of good suggestions about a title. But, to me, it seemed to represent some sort of social interaction. A lively, happy one. So, the name “Party Chatter” seemed to fit. Here’s the finished piece.

Check out my website for a detail shot and other information.

What do you think about adding a little bit of ugly?

Ellen Lindner

Using Large Scale Fabrics

By Ellen Lindner on April 3, 2021 in Uncategorized

I’ve finally done it: I’ve cut into some of my favorite fabrics.

This is where it all started. I wondered if I could successfully use some/all of these hand-dyed fabrics together.

The one with the large orange circles is my favorites. Because of it’s scale I knew it would have to be used very purposefully. I looked for other fabrics with the same colors and threw them up on the design wall. I could see that the top fabrics provided nice “clean” lines and could probably add the needed contrast. I was less sure about the busy ones a the bottom.

(These fabrics are mostly 44″ long, larger than I’m used to working with. As you can see, they pretty well took over my 5′ x 4′ design wall.)

At any rate, I was confident enough to make the first few cuts, and to begin arranging things on the design wall.

Ooh, I was immediately loving it! The central fabric with the navy (by Pat Pauly) added needed value contrast. I knew I’d need more of that, but I didn’t have any other dyed navy. No worries: I own A LOT of commercial fabric!

Gee, I’ve been having fun with this. Stumped on what the name might be, though. Any ideas?

Ellen Lindner

Playing with Colored Pieces of Paper

By Ellen Lindner on March 21, 2021 in Uncategorized

You can’t work with a bunch of pieces of colored paper without seeing some design possibilities!

As part of my online class with Jane Davies, I was arranging, and rearranging, and rearranging again a wide array of colors and shapes.

Our first assignment was to make a largish collage with multiple pieces. Mine missed the mark (although I had fun doing it.)

Along the way, I was seduced by all the colors and I just HAD to play with them outside the scope of the class exercises. I played with monochromatic greys. Look how nicely they set off soft colors. Could I use enough restraint to create with these colors in fabric? I’m not sure.

Then, I saw a photo of a red beet and a gold beet. So, I had to play with those colors a little. A little sharp, perhaps, but still something I may want to explore in the future.

Eventually, we got to make collages with just three pieces and I was swimming back in more comfortable waters. Quite a few of these were successful, but I know Jane will have us alter them in the next step. I’m very interested to see what we’ll do with them.

When was the last time you took a class that didn’t involve fabric? I think it’s a really good way to explore new ideas and I feel confident some of these will find their way into my fabric collages.

Ellen Lindner

All Those Swatches!

By Ellen Lindner on December 30, 2020 in Uncategorized

I stopped counting when I got to 250. TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY unique color swatches! More than, actually. These are the swatches showing what each of 7 different basic colors looks like when mixed with the remaining color, Turquoise.

Each color combination has been mixed in 3 different proportions, and 3 different strengths. Here’s Lemon Yellow. The black I’m using has a blue cast to it. Can you see how greenish they look? (Just right of the 9 yellow squares.) A good thing to know.

Intense Blue:

Golden Yellow:

Fuchsia:

Black: Some of these are lovely, aren’t they?

Basic Red:

There was also a combo made with Basic Brown, but I forgot to photograph it.

Can you see how useful these will be? I’m going to sort them by color and glue them to card stock, with notes about the color combination and proportion. Oh, I’ll be so organized!

Of course, I also dyed some yardage. I’ll show you that soon.

Ellen Lindner

I Almost Forgot

By Ellen Lindner on November 28, 2020 in Uncategorized

My raw edge collage techniques involves lots of layering. Sometimes perfectly wonderful fabrics get covered by something else later. However, I don’t typically rescue those underneath fabrics. Instead, I tell myself that I bought the fabric to use and if it’s function is to support later fabrics, and to give me flexibility then it has served me in a useful way.

But, on my current quilt, there’s a large shape that landed on top of the background. See what I mean?

So, I decided to rescue the red section underneath the largest turquoise shape. Both the red and turquoise sections were built on – and glued to – muslin, so I knew I could easily separate them.

But then I forgot.

Meanwhile, I started quilting the background, even though there were still foreground elements to be added. This was a logistical decision, since it will help me avoid all the starting and stopping that would otherwise be necessary to dodge all the things I intend to add.

About halfway through I remembered my earlier plans. So, I pulled up the batting as best I could on the lower portion. Some of it was already stitched down.

As you can see, I cut away the red portion, where able.

And I found two pins still stuck into that fabric! Good thing I did. I’ve had to cut them out a few times in the past.

But, since I was cutting from the back, I didn’t judge well and I actually cut into the background in the area I wanted to keep. Gulp!

But, since I work in raw edge collage, and quick patch took care of that.

Back to quilting!

Ellen Lindner

Great First Class

By Ellen Lindner on August 8, 2020 in Uncategorized

Whenever I plan a new class I try it out on a group of “guinea pigs.” Such was the case this past Saturday. Twenty students showed up to take my “Love It and Leaf It” class, via Zoom. How exciting! They got the class for free, but in return had to give me feedback on both the class content and the Zoom experience. VERY valuable!

And just look at the great work they did!
This was a 3 hour class. Most of this was accomplished in that time, but the facings and frames were done after class.

"Love It and Leaf It" student work. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Mary Ann Shupe finished her quilt and then later framed it digitally. As you can see, she had fun with patterns.

Deon Donovan sent me an in-progress photo of hers. Isn’t it going to be striking?

Rebecca Chianese framed hers right away. The quilting adds a lot to it!

Jo-Ann Jensen did a great job, (as always.)

Kat Campau did her own thing and it works. (I can tell she likes batiks.)

Polly Dombroski’s quilt is completely finished, just waiting for it’s frame. Nice!

Don’t these little quilts look great when framed? Annette Moore’s is another fabulous example.

Are you wondering what I learned from this experience?
– The Zoom (virtual) platform works really well! We had no technical issues of any sort, and we were able to chat and interact the entire time. It was fun!
– My pattern was too complicated for the time frame. I wanted the students to finish the piece, AND face it, AND frame it in the 3 hours. Since that didn’t happen, I’m working on simplifying the pattern and the process.
– My guinea pigs were super helpful! BTW, one was from France, and one was from Canada. Isn’t that cool?

This short class would be a great one for introducing your guild to the virtual learning world of Zoom. (And, of course, I have other virtual presentations available, too.)

After months of not teaching it is SO exciting to be back at it!!!

Ellen Lindner

Eight Leaves Later

By Ellen Lindner on June 30, 2020 in Uncategorized

Well, I think maybe I’ve finished making croton leaves for a while. This is where it stands now.

Numbers 2-8:

I really like the way they look together, don’t you? I think I’ll submit them as a collection to some exhibits. All the fabrics are my own hand dyes, except for one.

I have one more leaf, number one:

It needs a couple of companions in rust, etc. But, I think I’ll hold off on that for a while.

These are a little tricky to photograph, so I’ll be adding them to my website slowly. See these two: Number One and Number Two.

Several people have asked for a demo on how to make these. My short answer is “Be careful what you wish for, because it’s a little complex.” However, I will share the main idea, in case you want to experiment. I used a wire mesh inside each leaf. This is the kind of pliable mesh a sculptor might use to start a piece. It gives each leaf rigidity, but it’s also malleable enough to allow me to shape the leaves. This is the especially wonderful part of using this mesh: you can quilt right through it! For the first leaf, I quilted the leaf front and again the leaf back before hand sewing the mesh inside. But, for the second one, I just sandwiched the mesh in between TWO layers of batting and went for it. It worked beautifully!

I’m giving myself points for experimenting! What have you been experimenting with lately?

Ellen Lindner

Cuttin’ Up

By Ellen Lindner on June 5, 2020 in Uncategorized

I’ve you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I’m not shy about cutting up a quilt. Sometimes I rearrange the pieces and create a new, more exciting composition. Other times, I use the new smaller pieces as the start of new little works of art. Such was the case with this COMPLETELY FINISHED quilt, Autumn Skyline.

There’s a lot that I like about this quilt: the colors, the fabrics, and parts of the design. But, it ultimately wasn’t exciting me. Therefore, I cut it into six different pieces.

I’m really liking this one. I think it’s begging for some hand stitching.

What if I turned it upside down?

I like all the grids in this one.
Here it is upside down.

Hmm, I’ll have to study these. They’re each about the size of a large place mat or small poster. Easily portable. So, maybe that hand stitching would be a good way to go. I seldom have a hand project at the ready, so these could be a nice change.

Here are some other examples of me cutting things up. Urban Sprawl.

Jubilation

Jubilation

Ellen Lindner

First Croton Leaf Complete

By Ellen Lindner on April 3, 2020 in Uncategorized

Here it is, A Croton Story, Chapter One.

As you can see, the 3D aspect of it really adds a lot. Here’s a detail shot.

Final dimensions 24h x 11w x 1d.
Here are some studio shots.

The stem was stiffened with thick interfacing and heavy stitching. Then, I wet fabric strips with gel medium (collage glue) and wrapped them around it. The result was nice and stiff, just like a stem should be.

I’m super happy with this piece! It required A LOT of experimenting and inventiveness.

Now, I’ve got the techniques down and I’m making a series of these in brighter colors. The fabrics are dyed and I’m making progress. I can’t wait to see them all together.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. These pieces will be available for purchase, at $175 each.

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Tag Archives | Experimenting/Arting

Quilt Design: Playing with Those Fabrics

“Party Chatter” Complete

Using Large Scale Fabrics

Playing with Colored Pieces of Paper

All Those Swatches!

I Almost Forgot

Great First Class

Eight Leaves Later

Cuttin’ Up

First Croton Leaf Complete

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