LATEST CHALLENGE

The next challenge for our art quilt group, Challenging Ourselves, is a palette:  orange, purple and blue, with orange predominating--a requirement I'm not too worried about.  I expect the orange to predominate on its own without any help from me.  In my experience, even a little bit of orange will do this quite decisively.  I wasn't too hopeful that I would have very much in my stash that I could use but just a few minutes of searching yielded some very pretty sky and water blues, soft lilacs and lavenders and oranges in many shades, tints and values.  Thanks so much to my beautiful daughter Erin for the fibers, yarns and beads.  See those lampwork beads in orange and royal blue (University of Florida Gators colors)?  She made those and if she doesn't want me to use them, she needs to say so now.   As I arranged these bits and pieces, a plan began to form.  Happily for me as I'm not one to wait until the last minute when there is a deadline. The date for revealing these pieces is, I believe, March 31. 

Thank you, Bern, for this palette and for being such a good sport and taking some teasing.  Actually, I'm enthusiastic about it and planning to do a respectable job of it!

Postagestamps

I'm hoping to finish one UFO per month this year and this one was finished in January.  It has been too cold and rainy-grey for me to get a photo until today.  The little fabric squares were mailed to me from all over the world.  I have collected them for years and years.  And pieced them together for more years and years.  I'm not sure it was worth it, though it's warm enough--I know because I've been wrapped in it since it came out of the dryer a couple of weeks ago.  This has been the perfect winter for testing it.  It is made of 1560 teeny tiny one-inch squares and measures 75 x 55.

Challenge Quilt--Favorite places

Here's mine.  You can see the others at Challenging Ourselves.  It's the big old apple tree that grew in the first backyard I remember.  I have a clear memory of a full moon through bare branches.  That and the yellow apples brought to mind the Yeats poem "The Song of Wandering Aengus," which accounts for the metallic gold and silver apples. 
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Another Challenge, Another Journal Page

The topic for this challenge was the Four Elements but I couldn't work out a piece to include all four elements except for a landscape/seascape/thunderstorm sort of piece.  Fine ideas, all.  I just wasn't in a mood to do any of those.  Instead I was in a mood to practice curved improvisational piecing.  I was a chemist in a former life and I'm claiming scientific license (instead of artistic license) to adapt the subject to fit my interests.  So I found these shiny, metallic fabrics which could be taken to represent four actual earth elements--copper, silver, gold and cobalt.  The curvy logs represent the elements as building blocks occurring in veins. 



This was intended for the back of the page but I got the shape of it all wrong and didn't notice until it was quilted.  I can't claim a learning experience as I have no idea how it happened nor how to prevent it in the future.  I should have flipped it once for a mirror image but worked an extra twist into it somehow.  I cut stencils from freezer paper and filled in with a paint stick.  A quick and easy technique for a simple design to be used only once.  I didn't think it was worth doing over as I had the experience and that's all I really care about. 

September 15 is the reveal date for this challenge.  You may see all the submissions at Challenging Ourselves.

Delia Held a Giveaway and Look Who Won

What luck!  This lovely piece was sun-painted by the generous and talented Delia of Delia's Place.  The photo is hers, too.  While you're there, look at her thread-painted lorikeet.  Think I will try something similar-an applique of tree frogs?  It measures 20 x11.5 inches, a perfect size.  A good thing as I know I couldn't cut it.

My First Art Quilt Challenge

I'm a member of a group of twenty art quilters, Challenging Ourselves,  and the first reveal is happening today!   Our objective is to explore new techniques and to venture beyond our usual areas of skill and interest. With this challenge, I wanted to learn a bit about painting--with both thread and textile paint.  I'm not exactly thrilled with the results but I am more comfortable with the techniques and it's a start...

A wonderful surprise!

I had no idea this lovely wallhanging was on its way to me!  It was hand-embroidered and hand-quilted by Trish who has all the talent and expertise to do the teeny tiny perfectly straight and even stitches.  The fabrics are beautiful and are right at home in my wee white and pastel cottage.  It will hang at eye-level by the computer (where I seem to spend more and more of my time) so I can enjoy it.  I do so admire the little dainty, delicate stitcheries.  Thank you, Trish!! Such a treasure!