Blog – Page 53 of 63 – Adventure Quilter

Group Challenges

By Ellen Lindner on January 11, 2017 in Uncategorized

I belong to a wonderful group of art quilters, called Dirty Dozen Fiber Artists. We try to have some sort of exhibit every year and we often have a group challenge as the “entry fee” for participation. On several occasions we’ve used a photo as our inspiration, with all of us using the same image. We’ve had some very interesting results with this approach.

Here’s one from around 2007, I think. We purposely chose a rather busy photo, knowing that different people would be intrigued by different things. We wanted lots of options and this photo from Maui did the trick. Photo credit Ruth Anne Parker

The resulting quilts from this challenge were pretty amazing.

Group Challenges. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Ruth Anne Parker

Peggy Strauchman

Peg Horsfield

Paula Ferguson

Barbara Bilbo

Marylin Salvador

Mary Dyer

Jill Brown

My piece, Tropical Fruit

Elizabeth King

Diane Smith

Can you believe how different they all are?

The reason I’ve been thinking about challenges is because we have another one going on right now. Watch for my next post, in which I’ll show you the inspiration image, along with additional results from other challenges.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. There’s lots of information about the Dirty Dozen on this blog and my old one. Both have search functions at the top right, so you can easily search for Dirty Dozen.

My Brilliant Wish List

By Ellen Lindner on January 9, 2017 in Uncategorized

It’s not very often that I use the word brilliant when talking about myself. But, in this case, someone else said it first so I’m just agreeing. (Don’t tell my mother.)

Does your family spend lots of time thinking up thoughtful and surprising gifts for one another? My family gave up on that long ago. Of course, we want to give things the recipient would like, so we send our wish lists to one another in the form of links about specific online items. But, at Christmas, my husband said he needed ideas for some small stocking stuffers for me. Coincidentally, I was in the local quilt store, when I noticed all the inexpensive items that would fit the purpose. But, how could I properly describe a particular glue, a particular pen, and specific fabric bundles in a way that my husband could ever find them? And then it hit me: photos!

So, I started taking photos of the things I’d like. First: blue-green fat quarters.

Favorite glues and pens:

Warning: These Frixion pens leave a ghost shadow on dark fabrics. I use them only on light fabrics or where the line will be cut off or covered.

Finally, a fabric bundle. I suggested that each fabric could be an individual gift and I was rewarded with lots of soft squishy packages in my stocking!

I sent these photos to my husband and he took his ipod to the quilt store. He’d show the sales ladies a photo and say “Where’s this?” Then, the next one, with “Where’s this?” and so on. They would excitedly show him – all the while exclaiming “Your wife is brilliant! Your wife is brilliant!”

My mother taught me not to argue.

Especially with logic like that.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. I got lots of wonderful gifts for Christmas, including plenty of fabric!

If You Never Make a Mistake

By Ellen Lindner on January 3, 2017 in Uncategorized

Have you ever been to a class and realized you left the most appropriate fabrics at home? This happened to me when I took a class from Elizabeth Barton. I learned a lot about abstracting and designing and had a great paper “sketch” I wanted to interpret in fabric.

Per Elizabeth’s instructions, I worked up my design in paper with three different value variations. I decided to work with the one on the left, above.

But, I didn’t bring enough of my two colors, blue-green and orange. As a result, I had to fill those areas with lots of different fabrics. I worked hard at getting them to play well together.

I tried ignoring color and working only with value.

I persevered and got this far.

But I just hated it. WAY too splotchy! At this point, I bagged the whole thing.

I still love the design and intend to use it for a quilt, but I’ll have a MUCH better selection of fabrics when I do!

I’m philosophical about this sort of thing. By being open-minded I’ve helped myself be more open-minded next time. And the things I learned will stay with me. I didn’t waste my time or my fabric. It was useful.

I saw a great quote, but I don’t know who said it: If you never make a mistake it’s because you’re not experimenting enough. Yes! I believe that. Here’s to making plenty of mistakes.

Ellen Lindner

“Deliberation” Complete

By Ellen Lindner on December 29, 2016 in Uncategorized

My latest artwork, Deliberation, is complete.

Deliberation

I’m quite happy with it and I really enjoyed creating it.

I did deliberate (get it – deliberate?) quite a bit over the title. It does look like an overhead view of rivers and many people suggested titles with that in mind. That would have been fine, except I wanted to work it into my current series which has titles like Daydream, Brainstorm, etc. So, I eventually decided on Deliberation.

Audition this art in your home

On to my next adventure.
Ellen Lindner

I’m a Cover Girl – Sorta

By Ellen Lindner on December 26, 2016 in Uncategorized

I’m really thrilled to have my quilt, Reconciliation, featured on the cover of Storytelling Magazine’s current cover.

The description inside says:

Ellen Lindner uses fabric the way a painter used paint. Her collages are created with a variety of fabric pieces held together with stitching across the top. Her “Body Language” series strives to tell a story with as little information as possible. Reconciliation depicts that moment of relief when hurts and misunderstandings are forgiven. EllenLindner.com

Nice, right?

Holidays or Holy Days?

By Ellen Lindner on December 24, 2016 in Uncategorized

I’m really enjoying the Christmas season. My family is close at hand and more will be arriving, decorating has been fun and stress free, and even shopping seemed easier this year.

We’ve already attended several fun events and have more scheduled. Maybe even some caroling. In our shorts and sandals.

I hope you’re having a similar experience. But, I hope you’re also celebrating the holy aspect of your holidays. For me, that’s a challenge sometimes. As a Christian, I want to remember and be thankful for God’s gift of his son, Jesus. With that in mind, I’ll be listening to some sacred Christmas music, attending church, and TRYING to stay mindful of the reason for the holy-day.

However you celebrate, I hope your holidays are filled with joy, memory making, and occasional thoughts as to the real meaning behind all of it.

Wishing you holiday blessings.

Ellen Lindner

In the Studio

By Ellen Lindner on December 20, 2016 in Uncategorized

I thought you might like to see a little bit of my studio (which I did NOT clean up for your visit.)

This is my secondary design wall. I seldom use it for creating. Instead, it holds other things that need my attention, like these quilts waiting to be sprayed with UV protectant and photographed.

My primary design wall is on the left and my working table is on the right. When using the table I sit on the far right.

Let’s take a little tour. This small quilt is one of the samples for my Floral Improv class. It’s for the live class. The online one has a much larger project (coming soon.)

Since I’m working in a series with repeating motifs, I’m saving some of the patterns.

And also precut shapes.

These little fabric strips were in a project that I decided to discontinue. Again, I’m saving them, since this color scheme will be used again.

The top left corner isn’t too exciting. Just a computer sketch for a recent quilt.

But, if you follow that brown line upward you’ll see my decoration. Yep, a hornet’s nest.

I actually paid money for this nest and I love it. My husband thinks I’m nuts!

As I was taking details shots, I discovered a pleasant surprise: an interesting composition.

That has potential, don’t you think? I’m excited to work with this idea.

So, there you have it: a mini tour of one corner of my studio. I hope you’ll visit again sometime. (But, I still won’t promise to clean it.)

Ellen Lindner

A Spoonflower Experiment

By Ellen Lindner on December 15, 2016 in Uncategorized

Have you ever printed onto fabric from your home printer? I’ve had good luck with it, but every now and then I want to print something larger. Like the background for Carefree. At 51″ high, I needed an online service to handle it for me. I used Modernyardage.com and was happy with the results.

Recently I found myself with a credit at Spoonflower.com, another online printing service. Since I didn’t have a particular project in mind, I decided to do some experimenting. I prepared a large file that would cover an entire yard, 45″ wide. It was a good opportunity to experiment with various sizes, resolutions, and artistic effects. This is the file which included notations about each image.

And the printed result.

Let’s take a closer look. These next two images are exactly the same, except the second one has been printed on fabric.

Actually, I think the fabric version looks better in person.

Here’s a detail shot of the largest image, on which I had used the paint daubs artistic effect. (PSE)

And the printed result. It definitely lost some sharpness, but I think it would be useful for most projects.

And the cropped sideways image.

With its printed counterpart.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with these. Still, I think I’d be most inclined to use such printing services for things that didn’t have to be exact. Things that were already vintage or could look somewhat distressed.

FYI: I used the least expensive fabric ($17/yard), and the hand of the fabric is unchanged.

What do you think? Would you ever use something like this in your art?

Ellen Lindner
P.S. You can read more about how I made Carefree on my old blog. Check out December 2014.

What Shall I Call It?

By Ellen Lindner on December 5, 2016 in Uncategorized

I’ve almost finished my latest abstract piece, “Abstract #4” as I’ve been calling it.

In my last post I showed you how I was auditioning the color for some skinny strips. I decided to do them in rust and tan, and here they are.

I was happy with them.

Next, I wanted to add some even skinnier turquoise lines. I decided the best way to do that would be with some hand stitching.

Well, I decided that didn’t show well enough. And in the first of these two photos, you can’t even tell the stitching is blue-green!

Time for something more.

So, I added another parallel line of stitching.

That helped.

Now, I need a name for this piece. I’ve got a couple of ideas, but I’d greatly appreciate your suggestions. You can offer them by commenting in the comments section, below. Thanks in advance!

Ellen Lindner

Rust with Turquoise Abstract

By Ellen Lindner on November 30, 2016 in Uncategorized

My latest abstract piece is progressing nicely. After creating the sketch and selecting fabrics, I began to compose the background on my design wall.

Here it is, completed.

Next, I made tracing paper patterns of the two undulating lines I wanted to add.

It’s coming along, don’t you think? I was happy with this design and began to select fabrics for the undulating lines. As usual, I wanted several fabrics for each shape.

Here they are, finished.

Next, I auditioned the idea of adding skinny undulating lines. Should they be teal or rust? I tried out both.

I drew sketches in the computer and that settled it.

Not teal.

So, I cut some skinny strips of hand dyed rust and set to work.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. Right now I’m calling this “Abstract #4.” I definitely need a different way of thinking of this piece, but titles often come to me last.

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Adventure Quilter

Group Challenges

My Brilliant Wish List

If You Never Make a Mistake

“Deliberation” Complete

I’m a Cover Girl – Sorta

Holidays or Holy Days?

In the Studio

A Spoonflower Experiment

What Shall I Call It?

Rust with Turquoise Abstract

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