Tag Archives | People

My Brothers: Clothing

By Ellen Lindner on October 6, 2017 in Uncategorized

I’m happy with the way the quilt featuring my two brothers is developing. Here’s my brother Ricky almost complete.

After making the face of my other brother, Todd, it was time to work on his jacket. First, auditioning fabric.

Here it is, in-progress.

All these little pieces were eventually glued to the muslin base and to each other.

Selecting fabrics for Todd’s pants was more challenging. They were sort of Army green; not a color I tend to stock. My first attempt:

No. I decided the color was too bright. This was my solution. Much better, I think.

Now that I’ve completed the two men I’m just getting started on the background. I’ll make it much looser, which I’m looking forward to.

So far, I’ve just worked on the sky. Some of it looks a little strong to me, but I’ve learned not to cast judgement until I can see everything together.

As you can see in the photo above, I’ve drawn the background fields and barns onto the muslin base. I’ll reference these as I continue.

Ellen Lindner

My Brothers

By Ellen Lindner on September 21, 2017 in Uncategorized

I’ve been thinking about making a quilt inspired by this photo (composite) of my two brothers.

I took quite a few photos that day and loosely merged 3 to get this composite. In the quilt I’ll leave out the extra arm and the clay pigeon thrower.

This will be a special quilt for several reasons.
– My brother Ricky, on the left, is no longer alive.
– It depicts a family tradition: target shooting on the farm after Thanksgiving dinner.
– In shows both brothers relaxed, and in their element. They are/were both excellent marksmen.
– It will complement an earlier family quilt I made. I’ve sized it accordingly.
– It relates well to a current call for art titled “Guns: Loaded Conversations.”

For this project I knew I’d need something I seldom use: a pattern. At least for the two men. I created it with a combination of computer editing and good old tracing.

Next came fabric selection for the faces. Maybe something like this. (Or do I need a darker one?)

I used the “cutout” filter in Photoshop Elements to help me finalize the pattern for Ricky’s face.

My process was to fuse fabrics for the features, cut out pattern shapes, and fuse/assemble them on parchment paper. That latter part was new for me and more than once I fused fabric to my pattern instead!

Here’s his finished face and I’m extremely happy with it.

This looks just like him. So much so that both my sister and mother were startled when they stumbled upon it on Facebook. Yay! I think I’m on track. What do you think?

Ellen Lindner

Listening to Fabrics and Other Odd Behavior

By Ellen Lindner on September 5, 2017 in Uncategorized

Update: the title of this lecture was later changed to “Confessions of a Fabric Whisperer.”

That’s the title of my newest lecture and I’m very excited about it! If you’ve been reading my blog for a awhile, you know that I DO exhibit some odd behaviors.

Things like cutting up quilts and putting them back together,

Using unusual materials,

And changing the shape of the quilt.

It’s kinda funny, because when I started searching my quilts for signs of odd behavior there were lots of them! (Of course, I’ve been quilting a long time, so there’s plenty of “normal” stuff too.)

I’ll be presenting this lecture for the first time next week. If you live in western Florida, maybe you’d like to come. I’ll be speaking at The Piecemakers Quilt Guild of Brandon, FL on Monday evening, September 11th. Cost for visitors is $10. (And if you come, please introduce yourself.)

Ellen Lindner

Suzanne Sanger’s Work

By Ellen Lindner on June 10, 2017 in Uncategorized

Back in October, I wrote about creating torn paper collages in order to loosen up and to work more abstractly. Like this:

Original photo

Torn paper collage
Because the paper is torn, you can’t be too accurate, so you
HAVE to focus on the largest shapes.

The fabric interpretation, Ti Party.
One of my readers, Suzanne Sanger, decided to give it a try and was kind enough to share her results with me (and with you.)

Her original photo, taken in Bermuda

The paper collage, with part of the original photo overlapping.

And, her final quilt, called Dozing in Bermuda.

I think it’s great. And don’t you love the way she’s matted and framed it?

Suzanne says, “I want to thank you for inspiring me! Like you, I’ve been challenging myself to work more abstractly, and have dabbled with a range from just barely to totally non representational. Your blog post from last October about torn paper collage sent me right into the studio to tear up the only magazine I had in order to recreate a photo I took in Bermuda a few years ago. Then I did my semi-annual house switch, life intervened, I took a great abstraction class from Lisa Call, all the while leaving my torn paper start hanging on my design wall. Now I’ve switched back to my summer house, and needed a project to get myself back into the studio. Ah hah! It was time to return to my dozing man. He’s a bit more realistic than I would like, but still a move in the right direction. I LOVE this process! Hmmm. I guess I’ll have to subscribe to an image heavy magazine again, pain though that is what with changing mailing addresses twice a year. LOL. Anyway, thanks for a great idea! You always give me new things to think about.”

I love this! So much so that it makes me want to reach for my magazines again, too. It’s a FUN way to work!

Ellen Lindner

“People and Portraits” Exhibit

By Ellen Lindner on February 26, 2016 in Uncategorized

For me, one of the highlights of the AQS Daytona Beach quilt show was SAQA’s exhibit “People and Portraits.” Even though I had seen these pieces before, I thoroughly enjoying studying them again.

Mary Pal’s cheesecloth portraits were some of my favorites. This one is called Homeless Love.

As you can see, she shapes tiny bits of cheesecloth against a black background to create stunning portraits. Most of them are of the elderly or homeless.

This one is called Stogie.

Aren’t they wonderful?

Joan Sowada is well known for her portraits and images of every day life. This one is called Flow.

And this one is Flight Zone.

Maria Elkins does a fabulous job with a variety of media on fabric. This is called Windblown and is featured on the cover of the exhibit catalog.

Check out the quilting in this detail shot! Although the quilt was beautiful before, this added texture really elevates it to another level.

Maria has another very touching piece in this exhibit, called Surrender.

If I remember correctly, this quilt was made as comfort for a family that lost their newborn child. Can you see the transparent hands coming in from the right?

On a happier note, Pam RuBert has one of her zany quilts included. It’s called Towers of Babble. In it even the dog has a cell phone!

Another quilt with social commentary is Hmm, by Pat Kumicich. It’s about the 2008 presidential election. (I’m thinking she might need to make another one this year.)

Like Joan Sowada, Lore Lupe Pelish’s quilts always show people in every day situations. This is called We Were All There.

This detail shot gives a hint about all the print fabrics she used.

Finally, this quilt by Jenny Bowker drew my attention. It’s called Hassan and the Glass.

The portrait is very well done, but I also think the composition and colors of the rest of the quilt support it very nicely.

This exhibit was just part of the much larger quilt show that’s still going on through April 27, 2016. If you’re in the area, I think you’ll enjoy it.

Ellen Lindner

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Tag Archives | People

My Brothers: Clothing

My Brothers

Listening to Fabrics and Other Odd Behavior

Suzanne Sanger’s Work

“People and Portraits” Exhibit

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