Finished: New Work, “Dogwood II”

Here she is.  I’m happy to report Dogwood II (finished size 20”H x 38”W) is headed across the country to its new owner.  This one, along with Magnolias III (summer is the time for sequels), satisfy my self imposed May 30th’s deadline.  I’m counting them as one major work, since they are at least 36” x 36” put together.

Dogwood was inspired by one of the trees in my front yard, which happens to be in bloom these past few weeks.  The quilt is made with hand dyed and batik fabric, as well as a few layers of plain white for the flowers.  Details were added with free motion stitching.  I used a variegated brown-gray-black thread for the branches.

So what’s next on the design board?  I should go back to the “Then and Now” challenge and finish those tulips.  But all these flowers lately, I’m kinda longing for another city scene!

Just in time, City Quilter just announced a design challenge based on Grand Central Terminal.  Deadline is August 21, 2013.  Hmmm.  That would coincide nicely with my next major deadline.  But then again, I still have this tattoo theme running in the back of my mind.

So many ideas, so little time…!

Work in Progress: "Dogwood II" (unquilted)

So here we have "Dogwood II" assembled with fabric, unquilted.  This is not the best photo; just a quick pic with my phone.  It's a bit darker than the real quilt, but it's enough for my purposes right now.  I'm taking an "eyeball" break, before moving onto the detail stitching. 

Often at this stage, I put the piece up on the design board and take a photo of so I can see the image on a small screen.  (A trick for artists who don't have a large studio or workspace.  Seeing it smaller kinda fools your eye into thinking you're seeing the piece from a distance). This helps me decide if the overall composition is working and running on all cylinders (color, visual balance, contrast, movement etc).  If anything needs to be changed, it's better to see it now rather than after everything is sewn down.

When I'm done with all the quilting, I'll square up the edges and probably crop it a bit more.  I'll share a better quality photo once Dogwood II is complete and approved by it's new owner.

Thanks for visiting! :-)

“Morgan’s Flight”: Quilt National ‘13

Now that Quilt National ‘13 is officially open, I can finally share a photo of Morgan’s Flight (which was completed in 2012). Thanks again to Morgan Kaolian for inspiring me with his aerial photos of Bridgeport.

So now we’re back from Athens, Ohio. The whole weekend went by in a flash. What a fantastic experience.  The show this year is incredible!  It was such a thrill to see all the artwork in person, and meet many of the artists during the opening weekend.

(Detail)

Check out the Dairy Barn’s Facebook page to see photos of Quilt National’s opening night.https://www.facebook.com/QuiltNational

Enjoy!

 

Finished! “Magnolias III”

After sitting on the bench with an injury this past week (cut my thumb pretty badly with a rotary cutter), I finally got back into the studio yesterday to finish Magnolias III.

The rotary cutter incident happened as I was trimming the sides of the finished piece, getting it ready for a binding.  Stupid mistake, a moment of distraction, and the next thing you know I’m heading for the walk-in medical center.

The good news: I’m fine and this will heal completely.  The bad news: It will take a long time before my thumb doesn’t look completely gross.  Definitely not in time for Quilt National this weekend. :-/

Onto even BETTER news:  Here’s a photo of the finished Magnolias III, which will be sent to the Texas Quilt Museum next week for the “America the Beautiful” exhibition.  The show will be on display from July to September 2013.

Next project: “Dogwood”
Stay tuned for updates and photos!

Work in Progress: Magnolias III

When I got back from the SAQA Conference in Santa Fe, I was delighted to see our Magnolia tree in full bloom.  I had to take a few photos of it, since I knew that in a matter of days, the beautiful white and pink flowers would turn brown and litter the front lawn.

This is my 3rd homage to the Magnolia, a short-lived celebration of spring.  When it’s finished, Magnolias III will travel to the Texas Quilt Museum in La Grange, TX.  It will be exhibited along with Copper Lily and Sunflower in the “America the Beautiful” exhibition.

The flowers were created with cut pieces of hand dyed and plain white fabric, shading was added using silk paint, and now I’ve started adding more detail with free motion stitching (detail photo below). 

Next up on the design board: a commissioned piece featuring Dogwood flowers which will be about 38”W x 20”H.  Along with Magnolias III (17”W x 36”H), these two compositions will count as “Major work #3”, due May 30.

I will post photos of the finished pieces in the next few weeks.

New Work: “Celtic Geometry”

This piece is a celebration of my Irish heritage, for the Viewpoints9 challenge “Image from Tradition”

Although my original inspiration was the “Book of Kells”, I quickly found that I could never duplicate the Celtic monks’ precision and geometric accuracy… and I didn’t have 8 years to work on this challenge.  It felt wrong to make a sloppy, amateur version of one of the real pages in “Kells”.  So I decided to go with a simpler design that included elements of Celtic illustrations from the Middle Ages: compositional balance and near symmetry, lack of negative/blank space, bold color, interwoven shapes and lines, elongated or stylized animals, flat perspective.

You can read more about this piece and see all the finished “Tradition Challenge” quilts on the Viewpoints9 blog.

(detail)

Progress: “Then / Now”

Here’s a look at my work in progress for the “Grandmother’s Flower Garden” piece. Part of the WTHM challenge is to use our own style and perspective to interpret an older quilt. 

I’m really not a gardener… at all.  The area around my house is decorated by what I call “Survival of the Fittest” plants. Whatever can survive on its own with no help from me.  I’ve managed to keep one Peace Lily (houseplant) alive for over 12 years, which is my greatest gardening-type accomplishment. Other than that, the only plants in my life come from a grocery store or via FTD.  My experience with tending flowers is to put them in a vase full of water. 

So I decided that was where I should focus my ‘interpretation’. Plus, you know how I love a shiny object. I couldn’t resist the challenge to create (in fabric) the illusion of water with its surface distortion, the reflections and transparency of glass – how fun!

Ruth’s Flower Garden quilt is mostly blue and pink, with little yellow centers in all the hexagon “flowers”.  Maybe because we’re so close to Easter and springtime, I thought of tulips. I’ve always liked their clean lines and wide variety of colors.  I decided to go with a few pink and a few yellow. 

The bright green is all me.  It may not totally coordinate with my “Then” quilt, but that color makes me happy. Green makes me think of living gardens, plants, fresh vegetables, the first buds of spring.  It was a little sad to cover so much of Carol’s fabric, but I felt like the bouquet needed to fill the space.  And I think the green balances nicely against the mostly pink and burgundy background.

I have the bare bones of the fabric “structure” done. You can start to see the outline of the pitcher and the stems in the water.  It still needs a bit more definition.  But soon I’ll be moving on to the final stage – free motion quilting.  The next photo you see will probably be the finished piece.  Stay tuned!