Last month I got to spend two and half days with members of the North Suburban Needle Arts Guild when I conducted my class, Design Your Own Nature Quilt. Because this group includes many non-quilters there was quite a mix of skill levels in the class. About half had never made an art quilt and several had never made a quilt of any sort! But, they all bravely dove in and they achieved EXCELLENT results.
In this class, each student brings their own inspiration photo, which means we’ve got 15 DIFFERENT projects going all the time. It keeps me on my toes, but I love it. They learn so much in this class!
I wish I had thought to photograph their inspiration photos, rather than just their resulting quilts. (These photos were showing on my computer when photographed. The quality is sometimes low, but you’ll get the idea.)
Gretchen was inspired by a photo of water lilies. She changed the nearly black water to a dark plum, which worked beautifully. She’ll use fusible web to add the skinny little grasses, and she’ll stiffen some of the leaves to make them 3D. It will be great!
Ronna also worked with water lilies, and also switched to purple water. This complementary color really adds drama and contrast. And check out how effective those black shadows are. Nice!
Val’s lily pads are coming along nicely. She’ll add some shadows to add dimension. Check out her water grasses and their reflection near the top. She spent a lot of time on them and I think they’re very effective.
This photo doesn’t do Barbara’s work justice. Her photo had three delicate flowers against a complex shadow. She had to work at providing contrast with value. Her later progress showed that she was moving in the right direction.
Nancy cut loose in a really wonderful way. She started working with solids, but needed some dappled light. As we searched her print fabrics she realized that she had quite a big selection of them, so she switched gears. This brought a lot of energy to her scene. She’ll add some thread-painted grasses in the foreground.
My sister and I had a great time attending a recent scarf dying class. Taught by my good friend, Jo-Ann Jensen, she provided me with plain silk, knowing that I’d want to use it in quilts. Of course! She first taught us how to do a tie-dye sort of thing. She calls her geodes. Well,…
I’m just back from teaching Design Your Own Nature Quilt at Empty Spools Seminar, in Pacific Grove, CA. It was fabulous!!! The beach side setting was lovely, complete with historical architecture, wind-swept trees, and the sound of the surf. But, of course, the real excitement was occurring in the classrooms. I had nine fantastic students who…
Taping for Quilting Arts TV was a total blast! My sister, Sharon, went with me and served as my “roadie.” The staff and other quilters engaged with her so well that I think she had just as much fun as I did! I arrived the day before taping and they gave me big trays on which…
All quilters and textile artists face the question of what to do with their scraps. I mean, they MIGHT come in handy one day, so it would be good to keep them, right? But, that requires not only space, but some sort of organizational system so the scraps can be seen and used. And what…
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…
I’m very excited to be in a 3-person exhibit opening next week! The show is called Cover Story: 3 Perspectives on Contemporary Quilting. The other two artists are Gabriele DiTota and Sue Robinson. This exhibit will be on display at the Museum of Florida Art and Culture, on the campus of South Florida State College,…
