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.
Surrounding Orlando are several quaint neighborhoods and Maitland is one of them. With sprawling oaks, brick streets, and old buildings, this tiny neighborhood is full of charm. Perfectly in step with the area, the Maitland Art Center sets the standard. It’s a cluster of small buildings and it was built in the 1930’s as an artists’…
I like challenges. As a result, I’m currently working on an abstract self-portrait. It all came about when my art group, Dirty Dozen Fiber Artists, came up with (another) self-portrait challenge. This one was to be inspired by another artist. After some online searching and thought I decided on one of my favorite contemporary artists,…
I haven’t done any garment sewing in ages, but all my luscious hand-dyed fabrics have had me thinking about using some in this way. This is the fabric that started it all. Isn’t it gorgeous? Although I’ve been dying to use it, I wasn’t sure how to use it in combination with other large scale…
I’ve been having SO MUCH FUN working on my current quilt! It’s an abstracted design, which always pushes me outside of my comfort zone. But, I love the way it’s coming together. First, I needed a design. I took my cues from a Quilting Arts TV segment featuring Pat Pauly. She suggested cutting up a…
The San Diego women in my “Love It and Leaf It” class had a great time and did wonderful work! I didn’t save my photos properly, but several of them were kind enough to send me photos after class. The expression on Diane’s face, above, is a good example of the delight each student…
As a warm-natured Floridian, I’m often asking “Is it hot in here, or is it just me?” The hot colors of this quilt made me think of that, so I used my frequent question as the title. This quilt is larger than most of mine, 54 high x 49 wide. So large, in fact, I…
