A local quilt shop had a lovely challenge in the late spring of 2009. CeCe, one of their part time workers, created sacks of random fabric. The store owner wrote, "We challenged these quilters to make a quilt top (which will eventually be finished and donated to charity) using at least half of the 2 1/2" strips in a CeCe sak, plus their own fabric if desired." The results were 27 fabulous quilts. My donated creation is seen here and won Second Place by all who voted on-line and in person during the annual Shop Hop.
In reflection, the very first quilt I made during a blizzard in 1996 was a "Trip Around the World" pattern similar to this one. I guess, fundamentally, I haven't really journeyed far from my quilting roots. After all, with the exception of some fancy quilting, I still sew in mostly straight lines!
Detail of raw-edge appliqué and free motion quilting.
“Blumen” is based on the design called “Das Blumen” by Fourth and Sixth Designs. The background “garden” is composed of various greens using strata technique, then the “flowers” are created using raw-edge appliqué and straight free-motion quilting stitches using variegated threads. This piece, measuring 15 by 18 inches, was created for a local preschool's silent auction fundraiser. The pattern, if followed completely, will lead to a finished piece measuring 48 by 64 inches.
Given in honor of childhood friendships cultivated at preschool, I hope “Blumen” will bring as much joy to the owner as the sounds my preschooler and her friends bring to my life and home. Come to find out an adult friend with whom I went to high school and whose child is friends with my daughter won "Blumen" and will be displaying it in her home locally!! I'm very excited!!!
Currently I have the pleasure of serving my profession on the national board of directors of my music teacher association. This work can be done while in my pajamas and hanging out with my young children. Twice a year, however, I pull out the good clothes and attend national board meetings away from home.
On these trips I often take hand work since I don’t yet own a laptop to keep me busy. This Celtic knot was to be my latest donation to the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative, until it met Mrs. G.
Mrs. G, a colleague also on the OAKE national board of directors (www.oake.org), kept inquiring about this little piece and her interest in AAQI grew. When she fell in love with it and asked to purchase it, I had to reply, “No, I’m sorry. It is for the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative and their fund-raising efforts to support Alzheimer’s research.”
“Well, I just want the top to frame. Can you make me one?” asked Mrs. G.
The side of my brain which is inherently lazy, thought ‘Great! I don’t need to quilt it! EXCELLENT!’The perfectionist side thought, ‘If not quilted, is it a quilt?’
So, after months of internal debate, Mrs. G made me a very generous offer for this piece and second one (soon to be posted--when it’s finished) and the donations are being sent to AAQI.
So, what about coloring books?
Did you know that Dover Publications, Inc. allows the use of up to ten illustrations for commercial or non-commercial use from one of their books without formal permission? (For more information contactrights@doverpublications.com). I certainly didn’t until this project.
Therefore, the design of Mrs. G’s Celtic Knot is from the Dover Colouring Book, “Celtic Knotwork: Stained Glass Colouring Book” by A.G. Smith. After tracing the design from the coloring book onto the background fabric with chalk, I laid it out and glued some gold bias left over from a Christmas project. Then the hard work of hand sewing the gold to the background using a blind appliqué stitch began. This part took months of on-and-off work as I really didn’t dedicate “just get it done” time to this little knot.
The result is stunning and will be a lovely addition to Mrs. G’s home, I’m sure. Thank you for your support of my work and Alzheimer's research, Mrs. G.
These two quilts were recently given to my music teacher colleagues at our conference. Both women have multiple children and the "I Spy" quilts make nice entertainment as well as a play or picnic surface. The 5 inch hexagons were cut from the template seen in the link enclosed here (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300361198358#vi-content) as were the triangle setting pieces. To save time and my mental health, I cut multiple layers of novelty fabric at once. I also pieced together the horizontal strips before adding on the next strip. As for quilting, I simply stitched in the ditch everywhere. With busy backing fabric (one was the Eric Carle kids from the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?" and the other a school bus and neighborhood print) the quilting did not distract at all. Yes, I could have quilted more, but decided against it as time was limited to complete these gifts and actually give them!!
“Petite New York Beauty” was inspired by the 2008 Q.U.I.L.T.S. (Quilters United in Learning Together Schenectady) raffle quilt, a full size bed quilt using the same pattern.This 11 and ¾ inch square piece has over 150 pieces of fabric. I used the 2 and 5/8inch sample blocks as the paper-piecing foundations from Karen Stone’s book “New York Beauty.” It is machine quilted on my Viking home machine.
In October 2009, “Petite New York Beauty” won a First Place award in the Miniature Quilts Category at the Empire QuiltFest.Miniature quilts are defined as any quilt 24 inches or less in length andin width with all aspects of the quilt reduced in scale. This is quite an honor as the Empire QuiltFest included over 200 quilts from numerous guilds in the eastern part of New York State. Then my "Petite New York Beauty" traveled to the Vermont Quilt Festival (VQF) in the Summer of 2010, and earned 83 points (the ribbon cut off is 85 points). I was thrilled as VQF is one of the oldest and most competitive quilt shows drawing from the USA, Canada and abroad. Finally, this quilt went to my local guild show and earned a First Place.
My husband likes "Petite New York Beauty" so much that he has requested a series created in different color palettes. We willsee about that!
Meanwhile, here is the link for the Vermont Quilt Festival Contest Winners 2010:
http://www.vqf.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=4
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Lenten Reflection in Collage
With Easter being so late this year, I almost forgot about Ash Wednesday. It actually surprised me. In the middle of two other deadline driven projects, I took a little spiritual reflection break and made this little piece of art.
Purple, the color of Lent, set the tone and the book "Collage Sourcebook: Exploring the Art and Techniques of Collage" (Authors: Jennifer Atkinson, Holly Harrison and Paula Grasdal, Quarry Books, ISBN 1-59253-101-6) provided the inspiration. Next came the layering and gluing. Soon my spiritual life was appearing in this little work of art.
First, the roofline of my first church appeared and then symbols of my faith followed in the lace cross and the butterflies. Second, fabric from our bed quilt containing love letters and purple polka dots (It is "P" week at preschool!) from my daughter's world appeared. Finally, the hexagon with pansies comes from the "I-Spy" quilts I'm making for friends. Therefore, it represents an outreach of our family.
Lastly, I utilized the fancy stitches built into my Viking Designer I sewing machine and "quilted as I went" into the final stage of this project. Small enough for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (Maximum size 9" by 12") this will make a nice donation after Easter.
Do you have experience with fabric collage? I'd love to hear about it. Please comment below or e-mail me. Thanks, This Quilting Mama
