Blog – Page 34 of 63 – Adventure Quilter

Fierce Students in Houston

By Ellen Lindner on January 23, 2019 in Uncategorized

Not only were the women of the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston friendly and welcoming, but the students in my “Design Your Own Nature Quilt” class were fierce! They courageously tackled work that was outside their comfort zones and they achieved marvelous results.

My hosts were FABULOUS! This is Susan, who chauffeured me around, took me out to dinner and made sure I got the rest I needed.

Fierce Students in Houston. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

She made a wonderful poppy quilt, working almost independently. Don’t you love the way those colors POP?

Also going above and beyond in taking care of me was Marcia. She also ran me around, took me out to eat, and provided me with lunch and water. These two women spent A LOT of time catering to me! I really appreciated it and I enjoyed their company, too.

Here’s her background, almost complete. She’s used a lot of different fabrics, just like I enjoy. The center area will be covered by flowers, but it’s still best to fill it in to avoid edges shadowing through her light fabrics.

Marcia started out making a quilt with three yellow flowers.

But, she fell in love with one large flower and eventually narrowed it down to just that.

In the photo above she was just beginning to play with scaling up the central portion of the flower. This is often tricky for students and is worth spending a little time on.

Gina and Sharon sat next to each other and both worked on mountain scenes with trees in the foreground. Sharon’s photo was not too colorful when printed, but she had a better version on her phone for reference.

She used a variety of fabrics and made her piece MUCH more interesting than the photo. (Here shown in-progress.)

I didn’t get a picture of Gina’s inspiration photo. Like Sharon’s, it was also pretty colorless. But, she wasn’t afraid to kick up the colors and got great results.

Look at that orange against the blue!

Maryellen had a beautiful photo of hydrangeas in front of a picket fence and window. She jagged cut her fabrics and was able to interpret it very effectively. A little stitching will make these flowers take shape.

Rather than sewing, however, she switched gears and started work on a second piece. Can you see these becoming snap dragons? (Actually, I think her flower was something else, but I don’t know what.)

I can’t wait to show you some of the other awesome work done in this class!

Ellen Lindner

Hangin’ Day

By Ellen Lindner on January 14, 2019 in Uncategorized

My local art quilt group, Dirty Dozen Fiber Artists, is preparing an exhibit for an upcoming regional show. It has been A LOT of work, but it’s finally coming together. The culmination of our planning and creating was Hangin’ Day, the day we pinned everything to black felt panels to create a cohesive exhibition.

There was a complex master plan and everything had to be measured and pinned.

Quilt Hangin' Day. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog — Jill at work on self-portraits

Don’t we have an awesome space to work? One of our members, Ruth Anne Parker, is VERY generous with her “barn.” It’s a fabulous space for projects during the cooler months.

After pinning, we could peel back each quilt to access the hanging sleeves and tack though those with one of those tacking gizmos. It worked beautifully and we finally got to see the rewards of our work. This is one of the sections in the Parisian Flower Market challenge. It looks pretty awesome, right?

Of course, it will hang much higher when on display. We just kept it low to preview with easy access.

I’m so proud of us! I think this is going to be an extraordinary display. It will include 29 quilts which make up our Self-Portraits, the Parisian Flower Market Challenge, and our Welcome to Provence Challenge. The self-portraits are a requirement to be in the group. The other two are challenges we did in which we were all inspired by the same photo. The different interpretations are really interesting!

Where can you see all this creativity? Glad you asked. All six sections of quilts will be at the World Quilt Show Florida, at the Tampa Convention Center, January 31 – February 2. I can’t wait!

Ellen Lindner

Creating a Background

By Ellen Lindner on January 11, 2019 in Uncategorized

My idea for this quilt was to more or less mimic the background of Palm Fronds.

Click any image for a larger view

Palm Fronds, an art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com — Palm Fronds

I cut strips of white-with-black fabrics and began laying them in a horizontal arrangement.

Creating a background. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

As you can see, I also began to play with the idea of adding contrasting strips between some of the leaves. White strips added the definition needed, but they weren’t too exciting.

Back to the background.

I was happy with the background, but thought that it, too, might need some more definition between sections. Should I define the background sections with more skinny strips? To be determined.

Meanwhile, I tried black strips for contrast. I liked this much better.

At one point, I used the computer to loosely audition a black strip between every leaf. And also grey stripes in the background sections.

Hmm, I think the black strips are taking over. But, the grey has potential. More experimenting required.

Ellen Lindner

Starting a New “Grassy” Quilt

By Ellen Lindner on January 9, 2019 in Uncategorized

When I drew the sketch for Palm Fronds, I drew several others in a similar format and size. This is the sketch for Tall Grasses, (working title.)

Click any image for a larger view

Starting a new "Grassy" Quilt. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I envisioned green for the grasses and fuchsia for the tips. I had several fabrics from my first dyeing session and I dyed several more long, skinny green pieces to round out the selection. First, I drew my design onto muslin, and then I began to audition fabrics.

I liked these fabrics but I could see that I would have to be careful with them. The colors and values are very similar, so I knew I’d have to arrange them in such a way as to play up contrasts.

Here are the first few pieces in place.

And most of the green pieces. Hmm, as suspected they sort of merge together. I’ll have to work on that.

But first, I went ahead with something I was confident about: fuchsia tips. First, audition time.

And here they all are in place.

I’m happy with the colors and the composition, but I think I’ll need to either switch out some green fabrics or add fabric strips for contrast. But, I’ll probably do the background first.

Ellen Lindner

“Miscommunication” Complete

By Ellen Lindner on December 31, 2018 in Uncategorized

My latest quilt, Miscommunication, is now complete.

Miscommunication, an art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com — Miscommunication

I especially love the dynamic line in this piece! And it think the design matches the concept and title very well. Hooray!

See full details and learn how to audition this piece in your home.

Ellen Lindner

Farm Quilts

By Ellen Lindner on December 24, 2018 in Uncategorized

It turns out I’ve made quite a few quilts featuring farms and rural scenes. I guess that’s not surprising since I grew up on a dairy farm. And, because my parents still live on that farm, I get to visit it frequently. I always love seeing the rolling fields, the way the sun hits the barn roofs, and the dappled shade of deciduous trees.

Click any title to see more about that quilt.
Click any image for a much larger view.

Here’s a stylized view of the farm.
Oak Green Farm

Oak Green Farm, an art quilt by Ellen Lindner. AdventureQuilter.com — /*Oak Green Farm*

The same barns can be seen in the background of this piece, which shows my two brothers target shooting on a Thanksgiving afternoon.

Shootin’ the Breeze

Since many family gatherings have been held on this farm it’s no surprise that some great family moments have also been captured in fabric. This one shows my son and two of his cousins skipping down the farm road shown in the first piece. Don’t they look happy?

Carefree

What’s funny is when I showed this quilt to my farming dad and brother they didn’t comment on the people, but instead began to discuss which crops were planted in which fields.

This little silk quilt shows the farm view once again, but this time with the buildings and nearby trees removed. Can you pick out the tasseling corn?

Summer Fields

A companion quilt shows corn stalk stubs sticking up through snow. I’m always a little mesmerized by the way these parallel rows converge as you drive by.

Winter Hills

Narrow little country roads have no center lines and no shoulders. Which means the trees grow right up next to the road. All of which inspired a haiku quilt.

Quiet Dappled Light

When my uncle commissioned me to make a quilt for my mom, his sister, of course it had to be of a rural scene. She always commented on a favorite barn in the area, so it became the subject for her quilt.

Barn #8536

Who knew I had all these farm quilts floating around in my head?

Have you had any “accidental” series like this?

Ellen Lindner
P.S. Here’s another one: a simple maple branch, but the tree was on my parents’ farm.
P.P.S. Related links about the creation of the first quilt, above. (From my old blog.)
Designing a Farm Quilt
Starting the Farm Quilt
Farm: Creating Fields
Adding Barns and Making MORE Changes
Farm Quilt: Home Stretch

“Scribbling” on My Quilt

By Ellen Lindner on December 20, 2018 in Uncategorized

After becoming familiar with the work of Jane Davies, I’ve been enamored with what she calls scribbling. Exactly as it sounds, she LITERALLY scribbles directly onto her painting. Although it seems random, it almost always enhances her work. I had tried it with some paper exercises and have been looking for an opportunity to use it with fabric. This quilt gave me that chance.

Here it is before scribbling. It definitely needs something, right? And since I wanted to play up the idea of conflict or misunderstanding, a wild squiggly line seemed to fit.

Designing with a Message in Mind. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

First, I loosely auditioned the concept with photo editing software.

It clearly needed some refining, but I liked the general effect.

"Scribbling" on My Quilt. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Next, I put tracing paper on my quilted quilt and sketched a design in pencil.

After some modifications I was happy with it and went over my pencil lines with a black Sharpie. As you can see, I intended to make the line thicker in the largest open area.

But, I wasn’t careful enough and I got Sharpie on my orange fabric! Well, I immediately knew one spot where the squiggle would travel. 🙂

After adding fusible web to a solid black fabric I slowly began to cut and place the scribble.

I hoped to use my scraps to create unexpected twists and turns in the line. However, I found that, more often than not, I ended up cutting things specifically to shape.

And here’s the quilt with the scribble completely pinned in place.

Doesn’t it add a lot of energy? I love it!

I should have it finished soon.

Ellen Lindner

Designing with a Message in Mind

By Ellen Lindner on December 17, 2018 in Uncategorized

Most of my designs start with something visual. I’m inspired by a combination of colors, a particular photo, or the pattern of some fabric. I’m not particularly good at (or comfortable with) designing for a particular theme or idea. Yet that is exactly where I found myself a short time ago.

I wanted to create a piece for a regional exhibit called “Perspectives.” My idea was to do something that played up the idea of conflicting points of view. This came to me as I was creating my latest quilt and working with this fabric.

Favorite dyed fabrics. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Don’t you think it could represent crossed lines of communication? That was my idea, so I started sketching.

Hmm. It turns out that crossed lines aren’t that great a composition.

What about lines that cross wildly?

Yes, that’s much more interesting. And those squiggly lines reminded me of some of the exercises I had done while reading Jane Davies’ book. Some included large bulky shapes overlaid with interesting scribbled lines.

I sketched several ideas.

And decided on this one.

Yes, that had promise. And since it was basically just 3 large elements, I had it composed in no time (without the scribble.)

Next, I quilted it. I knew that would make adding the black squiggle much easier.

I was off and running and enjoying the Adrenalin ride!

Ellen Lindner
P.S. The orange fabric I used is the one I “ruined” with too much bright orange. I toned it down with an overdye and I love it here. Most other fabrics are also my hand dyes.

Floral Improv in Bradenton

By Ellen Lindner on December 15, 2018 in Uncategorized

I recently taught “Floral Improv” in Bradenton, FL. With only five students in the class, everyone got lots of attention and made good progress.

Mary was able to complete all of her quilting in class.

Floral Improv in Bradenton. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Check out her fabulous results, in-progress below.

See how much the quilting adds to it, below?

Carol used her own hand dyed fabrics for the flowers and they were so lovely together.

Darlene was all smiles after fusing her piece. She’ll finish up with some more stitching later.

KK was inspired by some baby zinnias and even brought them to class as her models. Because they have more petals than the daisies we were making she had a LOT more cutting to do! But, she worked hard and had all her flowers in place by the end of class. They look great, don’t they?

Ellen was even more adventurous. She brought photos of Japanese Ti Plants as her inspiration.

Here, the building cat came to “help”her, while Mary took photos in the background. It didn’t take us long to decide that we didn’t actually need feline assistance.

And here’s Ellen’s work part-way through class. Very dramatic, right? The colors really pop against the black.

As always, it was a fun class. Everyone enjoyed it, including me!

I’d love to come teach it for your group.

Ellen Lindner

“Rhythm of the City” Complete

By Ellen Lindner on December 4, 2018 in Uncategorized

My latest quilt, Rhythm of the City, is now complete. It’s made almost entirely with fabrics I dyed myself. I’m very happy with both the fabrics and the composition.

I added additional pattern and interest with couched heavy black thread. I think it adds a lot.