Oops, I Did It Again

  The girl with the hammer quilt reflects a bit of my humor.  In 2011, I took a class from Fiber Artist, Annette Kennedy.  Annette's work is inspirational (http://annettekennedy.com/).
  She taught controlled painting techniques for creating details and depth.  The class used Setacolor fabric paints. A pattern was provided.  The success of the piece was largely due to choosing the correct fabric for the desert scene. Batics were used for the mountains and the road.
  Once the class project was complete (stitched, painted, quilted), I wanted to change it up a bit. I added a touch of irony by placing something unexpected in the piece, the girl with the hammer.  The girl with the hammer, the road runner, and the desert bird were appliqued to the desert scene.  The 3-D grass was added last.
  Someone said, "she looks quite guilty to me."

Oops, I Did It Again ~ 2011

Detail

Free Motion Exercise

Backside Detail 2

Free Motion Exercise

Backside Detail 1

  This mini quilt is an exercise in free motion quilting introduced by Linda Natale, a member of the Art Quilt group.  A print is chosen by motifs (large is better), selectively cut to exclude some of it's elements, boarded by a contrasting fabric, and then boarded again with a white or beige fabric.  Add batting and backing to make a quilt sandwich.
  The objective is to quilt, using free motion, the printed patterns echoing out into the boarders. With this exercise, I tended to do more thread painting than free motion quilting.  The backside of the quilt is great for showing how the stitches are forming.  Great way to practice ... little piece, small investment in time and materials.  It is one way to get over the need to free motion perfectly and just practice.

High Flight Quilt

High Flight 2012 (17x20 inches)

Detail ~ Fabric & Beads

Detail ~ Tree & River

High Flight is a comissioned piece created for my friend Carol's husband, Joe Hammer, to celebrate his 90th birthday.  "High Flight", one of Joe's favorite poems, was written by Pilot Officer Gillespie who was killed in 1941.

The entire poem and and an article about John Gillespie can be found at the web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Flight

The quilt is a mixed media fiber piece using painted Tyvek for rocks, puff paint for the tree body, and Angelina  fibers which are incredibly luminescent for the water.  The poem was printed   onto organza silk and then fussed to the quilt top.  Horizontal rows of beads were added to echo the water's movement at the lower boarder of the quilt.

I am sending out the quilt in today's mail.  I do hope Joe likes it !  Aloha.

Sunny Flower and Friends

Detail of Frog

Sunny Flower in process

  Sunny Flower & Friends was made for a challenge given by the Art Quilters, Etc. circle which meets monthly in Las Vegas, NV.  The challenge was simply "flower".
   I wanted to try a new technique for this challenge and was inspired by quilt artist Susan Carlson.  After watching a segment on the Quilt Show web site and re-reading her book, "Serenity Quilts", I was ready to move forward with a flower design.  The creation of the flower came first.  But the flower alone needed something more, so the frog hopped onto the canvas.  The flower, frog, and background were made using Ms. Carlson's technique of fabric collage.  I used purple tolle over the frog to tone down his color, leaving the flower brighter and the central focus of the quilt.  Each petal was fussy cut to resemble the shape and contour of a flower petal.

God's Eye III

  God's Eye III is a quilt I finished for a friend's birthday.  This is a third in a series of three quilts. The colors used are her favorite colors.  So, the real name of the piece should be "Cher's Colores".
  I made this piece from ribbon and cording. To create more depth, the ribbons were sewn onto three different background fabrics, black, blue and shiny mylar (dark, medium, and light values).  The mylar also adds a reflective element to the quilt.
  The fabrics were cut into one inch squares and fused to a backing fabric.  Placement of the squares creates different designs as well as a colorful and textured piece.  Beads and buttons were added for more texture and more color. I used a blue thread to top quilt the piece.  This was a fun project.

Cher's Colores 2012

Detail - click on picture to see enlarged version

Up, Up and Away Quilt

  Up, Up and Away (Fantasia Adventure) was entered in this year's Desert Quilter's Show.  While it did not receive a ribbon,  it was well received by the attendees.  It's bright colors attracted kids of all ages.
  This quilt was started two years ago.  Piecing the balloon was the first challenge; what to do with the balloon was the second challenge.  I found the commerical panel of the poppies and the trees and added the scene as the foundation for the balloon.  But at that stage everything looked rather ordinary.  So, the third challenge.  I thought it would be interesting to place something in the poppies that one might not usually see.  So, the dolphs swimming were added.  From there, the fish in the sky seemed like an almost natural occurence.  The monkey in the basket just made me smile.

Up, Up, and Away 2010

Up, Up, and Away - Detail

  An other challenge was quilting this quilt on a home machine; that was the last and final challenge.  The clouds were left un-quilted, making them puff out in the heavily quilted sky. 

  If you click on the photos, a larger view of the photo will open in an other screen.  Check out the monkey in the balloon's basket.

2012 Desert Quilters of Nevada Quilt Show

On Raven's Wing ~ 2nd Place ~ Category: Art Quilt Framed

The annual Desert Quilters of Nevada quilt show is this weekend. The guild is approximately 400 persons strong.  The show is open to all guild members for entries and is judged by a professionally sanctioned judge.
I entered seven quilts, one traditional, and the rest fiber art quilts.  Happily, I won four ribbons (three second place and one third place).  The art quilts took the ribbons.  My favorite quilt is "On Raven's Wing."
I also placed two art quilts into the show's auction.  See the March 3rd blog for photos and descriptions of the quilts.

Tree of Life ~ 2nd Place ~ Category: Mixed Media

If Matisse Designed Shoes ~ 3rd Place ~ Category: Original Design

Surfing Santa Barbara ~ 2nd Place ~ Category: Digital Design

God's Eye

The annual Desert Quilter's of Nevada quilt show in this coming week.  I have placed two pieces for auction.  God's Eye is the first in a series using a ribbon construction technique taught to me by my friend Suzanne.

The quilt was made with yarn and silk ribbons sewn in a straight line onto fabric.  The fabric is cut into one inch squares.  The one inch pieces are fused and then appliqued onto a whole cloth creating two inch blocks. Each block is embellished using beads, real pearls, hand made buttons, and fish shaped beads.

Details: The rose in the left corner of the detail photo was made from silk ribbon and embellished with beads in the center. The outer boarder was hand embroidered using Brazilian floss which is a high sheen embroidery thread.

This fiber arts piece was a fun project.  It is a great way to play with color and try new combinations.  Adding texture with the ribbons, yarn and embellishments adds interest to an already pleasing technique.

Auction Update:  The God's Eye quilt did well at the auction.  20% of the proceeds go back to the guild.

Reflection

The second art quilt placed in the auction is called Reflection.  A reflection of the fairy's image is sewn into pool below her.  The quilt is one in a series of fairy quilts I have made.  This one was constructed during a class I taught to a group of art quilters.  A pattern was provided.

Auction Results:  The Reflection fairy quilts was most admired by little girls attending the show.  I am glad to report it went home with a very happy girl.

Reflection 2010

Reflection Detail