Sam

  In memory of Sam (Kamuela) is a quilt made for a dear friend in Hawaii.  Sam passed peacefully at home on the Big Island this year.

Sam - Sharon's Photo

  The quilt uses a photo (taken by Sharon) and printed onto white cotton treated with digital ground clear (Golden) to enhance print quality.  Sam's photo was manipulated in Photshop Elements to give a painterly effect.  I fused purple tulle and black organza silk to make the hat and shirt.  To continue the painted elements of the quilt, the background was quilted and then painted with Lumiere pearlescent blues (brand: Jacquard).  The flowers for the lei are fussy cut, fused and dot glued to hold until they can be sewn onto the quilt. I was planning to add beads to the lei, but the flowers seem to stand on their own.
  Next I will finish the quilt by hand quilting in the boarders.

Sam ~ 2012

Sam _ Detail

Enchantment (Sunny Flower and Friends)

Enchantment

  Enchantment was originally called Sunny Flower and Friends.  This title did not seem to fit the magic I found in the piece.  Well, here it is in it's final version.  A wider boarder was added along with crystals and some beads.

Enchantment 2012

Enchantment - Detail

Enchantment - Detail

  

The inspiration for this quilt came from a hand painted greeting card of an intertwining sun flower and iris. The quilt is designed to be enchanted and whimsical. It depicts an imagined sun flower species spied by an enchanted frog. When I create a quilt my goals are to draw the viewer into the work with high contrast and color and then keep the interest through creative detail.

 This is an original design.

Basic Colors:

Beige, orange, yellow, brown, white, green, blue and purple.

Techniques:

Machine applique, fussy cut, fused pieces, machine quilted, free motion quilted, hand stitched.

Materials:

Commercial fabrics, tulle, pearl cotton yarn, cotton and poly threads.

Windows of a sort ...

I was going through some of my photographs and noticed several images taken, the eye of the camera seeing through them.  The three pictures I want to share are all of windows, very similar in function, but very different in style.  Take a look.  I hope you enjoy.

Rhyolite - a ghost town in Nye County, NV

Native American Ruins

Guestroom view in Hume, Virginia

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.