This and that

This is the 11th quilt that I have made by myself or with others. It is for a retired or injured veteran. Usually I send them to an organization to anonymously give them. However, this time it was given to a veteran who is a member of the health club that I attend. His reaction was delightful and it was a nice way to end the series. Maybe, there will be another one, but I'm ready to move on to other projects.

Bud and his wife are on the left and I'm third from the left.

This flower quilt is made from my hand dyed cotton and silk along with commercial fabrics. I wove the background, fused the flower and leaves and then added accents by thread painting.
A nice learning piece.

One of the nice gestures lately is creating a free library. People place little cupboards outside and passer byes are invited to take a book and leave a book. These neighbors went way beyond and made a nice walkway, doors with glass, a welcome bench and planters. It's fun and so easy to stop for a new book. Thank you to these people who have shared some happiness.

CELEBRATION

Decided that Celebration is the name for this wall hanging. I've used some hand dyed fabrics as well as commercial material. There is machine and hand quilting and sewn bead work. Although this is certainly not a drawing, the lessons learned by drawing and painting are applied to this medium.

It was fun watching this piece unfold. Oh yes, I added a multi colored yarn.

                                                         There was joy in the making.

Hand dyed silk pieces

Lately I've been lucky enough to go to a friends house and play with fabric dyeing. The first piece is all cotton with various techniques for dyeing plus a couple of pieces done using a Gelli Plate. This wall hanging is about 20 by 25". To me it called for hand quilting.

The next piece is hand dyed silk. The mandala was a watercolor that I transferred to fabric via my printer. Yes, each bead is sewn on and there is a bit of hand quilting. A few lines were emphasized with fabric markers. Size is 9x12. A friend made the frame for me.

Here is a somewhat fuzzy closeup.

Greetings!

Below is my Christmas card.

How did I do it? It was not a one step process.

First, I created this quilt.

The quilt was my hand dyed fabric that I quilted and then painted with black acrylic.

A friend steered me to a Kaleidoscope Kreator 3 program. This computer layout provided many templates (a section that was repeated) that you put place over any photo. That was a fun part of the process. I chose the design and then added the background color (in this case the dark purple). Next I cut the image and the two background papers which I glued to the card. There it is.

To all: may the joy of the season be with you throughout the year!

Hidden Views

Hidden Views was the latest quilt challenge for my quilt group. Other than the title, the only guide line was that the size was to be in multiples of 6". Examples: 6x6, 12x 24 or 6x30 up to a maximum of 36". I chose to think of view as a mental thought. So, I bush lettered a quote on white fabric, cut it into squares and then added color using a Gelli plate.

The first design had all the squares without the black spacing and I found that people were spending too much time trying to play a game and figure out the wording. So, I ripped it apart (as ye sew, so shall ye rip), cut the squares smaller and added the black.

I also discovered that there are two sides to the fabric! By flipping nine squares over, the piece was not so "in your face". I hope that people will reflect on a hidden view that they might have. 

You can see work by other members on our blog, Pins and Needles Art Quilters.  

There has been time for sketching, something that has been encouraged by the teachers and talented students in Sketch Skool.

This is a model from a magazine.

 This is after Mary Engelbreit's wonderful people.

Fabric Art

Painting and dyeing on silk has been one of my latest interests. The colorful squares are from fabric that I dyed and the purple background is hand dyed silk that was a pair of pants.

This is a close up that shows the beadwork that I added.

My latest piece is one that I painted, lettered, quilted and beaded. I'm just learning this technique, so there is lots of experimenting to try. The few beads are on the rose petals.

Red, white and blue

This is the latest of quilts that I have made for veterans or wounded soldiers. I understand that the Marines insist on red, white and blue. This has light blue and they may reject it!Actually, I have no idea who will receive it and that is the way I want the gift to be given.Two friends helped to choose and purchase the fabric. The border says, Thank You American Hero.

Trying to do it all

 Figure drawing has started again and I'm beginning to grasp the art of drawing after three years. I'm lucky to have people who are willing to mentor struggling artists!

For the grand kids I found this panel (one solid piece of fabric with the design printed) and spent hours quilting it with love. Really, it was educational for me as I do not know the capitals of each state. Hope that they have hours of fun.

Recently, my husband and I took a mini vacation. We included a visit to Railtown, California State Historic Park in Jamestown, CA.

This old engine has been in hundreds of movies and television shows, including Petticoat Junction and Wild Wild West. The people restoring this old trains have a real passion for their work.

The last picture is an update of our garage wall. I don't work when it's 100 degrees and since I know that there is no deadline for this project, I work on it "whenever".

Hope that you enjoyed looking into this mixed bag.