Challenge quilts

new theme

2009-06-07T07:54:00.003+01:00

Sorry to all, but I am a bit late with the new theme. For this period the theme will be: DREAMS.
Let it sink in and show us what you can create. As always all materials and all techniques are allowed. Size around 20"x20" (50x50 cm). Don't feel shy or intimidated, I know that you can do something with this theme. And if you want to join our little group or know somebody who does, please let me know.
Wil

New member checking in

2009-05-13T04:27:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone! I have just joined the challenge, and I am delighted to be here.

My name is Lisa, and I am a new quilter. Although I am new to quilting, I am not new to fiber arts. I have done all kinds of needlework all my life, and I love to sew. My desire to move my embroidery outside of the traditional techniques that I love led me to discover art quilts, and I am looking forward to stretching myself in this new-to-me medium.

I live in Mississippi, which has a wonderfully rich quilting history. I am owned by three dogs and a cat, and they add a little bit of fiber to every piece of work I do. :o)

I am looking forward to the next challenge!

Lady in blue

2009-05-09T12:57:00.005+01:00

For this challenge I used the book Lady in Blue by Javier Sierra as in inspiration source. The story is about a Spanish nun in the 17th century who was also seen in New Mexico. According to the story this was by way of bilocation: in some religions a body can be present in different places at the same time. I did not want to stay too close to the story, so this quilt is more an impression of the title. Instead of creating a look alike nun I decided to follow the shape of ancient goddesses. And of course two shapes because of the bilocation. For background I used twice icedyed fabric, for the shape of the lady a shibori dyed piece of fabric. Quilting design is made from rectangulars and circles, the idea of a circuit board. After all, is the mind not a kind of circuit board?

Here is a detail picture:How is every one else doing? Ann emailed me that because of circumstances she will be late with her quilt. And the other participants?? Please post pictures to the blog. Even pictures of work in progress are appreciated.

Wil

Distracted/Delay/Out of Stock

2009-05-07T21:49:00.002+01:00

I've had a few problem the last 2 weeks. First, I got distracted by the flu scare. While I was distracted I played with a lot of products. Then I got to working on my piece, I ran out of ink. I decided not to make a special trip for the ink. I went today and it's out of stock. This piece is my #1 priority and as soon as I get the ink, I'll stay on it until it's done.

Winter in Texas-wins 2nd place ribbon

2009-04-20T17:11:00.003+01:00

Winter in Texas won a 2nd place ribbon in the Bay Area Quilt Show in Pearland, TX April 18 & 19, 2009. It was my 1st attempt at using photographs in a quilt in this way. I love this guild. The ribbons are always hand made. I worked set upo and take down. It was fun, I got a good look at the quilts and had a great time. They're a great group of gals to work with.

Beach theme-my inspiration

2009-04-09T05:13:00.004+01:00

I'm still planning to make the beach theme quilt. My inspiration is a photograph taken of my husband and our grandson on Bolivar Penninsula. On September 13, 2008, hurricane Ike destroyed this beach. The name of my quilt will be Lost but, not Forgotten.

I've thought about painting the fabric, I've thought about applique and I haven't decided how my husband and grandson will be applied to the piece. I'm going to ignore the seaweed. I just love that sky. I really miss the beach.

the last book I read

2009-04-09T03:55:00.003+01:00

The last book I read was Isaac's Storm. It's about the life of Isaac Cline (the man that ran the weather bureau in Galveston) and the hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900. I'm don't what I'm doing at this point but, I'll be thinking about it. I'll start the quilt as soon as the quilt show is over. I've given this quilt a lot of thought and I've come up with another idea. I hope to be making a trip to Galveston this week for inspiration.

winter theme quilt-Winter in Texas

2009-04-09T03:43:00.002+01:00

I'm very sorry for the delay. Life has gotten in the way several times since I started this project. This quilt will be in the Bay Area Quilt Show in Pearland, TX April 18 & 19 2009.

new theme

2009-01-19T08:22:00.002Z

As we are getting close to the due date for the previous theme it is time to choose a new one. For the coming period I have picked as theme 'the last book you read'. Please post to the blog which book that is and of course blogging about the work in progress is appreciated.
Don't forget to show pictures of the quilt you are working on for the present theme.

I will stop with this challenge

2009-01-11T12:07:00.002Z

Hello to you all, I have decide too stop with this challenge group.
I have to much to do with my other quilting groups. I wish you all good luck and health.

mia

2009

2009-01-01T07:57:00.001Z

I wish a good new year for all the challengers, with a lot of creativity and joy.

mia

my wish

2008-12-24T08:19:00.003Z

My wish to you all is: creativity after a period of bleakness, sunshine after darkness. And this is how my wish looks:

This theme has caused me a lot of trouble. The ideas I had were very difficult to visualize so I decided to make an abstract. Different green and blue strips are stitched together to form the background. The circle is made the same way. All fabrics are commercial batiks. And as I dislike handquilting :-) the piece is machine quilted.

Wish

2008-12-20T21:09:00.002Z

This theme has been giving me lots of trouble. My first idea was 'okay that is doable', but then the problem came of visualizing this idea. Several ideas I had, ended up into the garbage can. But now I have found one. How are you all doing with this theme??

A web of imagination

2008-10-30T21:08:00.004Z

I guess I should start with an apology for the difficult nature of this theme - I thought "Imagine" might be good to work with, but actually found it very difficult. In the end, I found myself thinking about webs - imagination is in some ways like a big web of words and images in my mind, so I went with a web theme. I may have spiderwebs on my mind, of course, as it's that time of year... Although I have shown a detail of the word "Hope", the word "imagine" is there, too. I used hope as that was one of the first things I was thinking about, when I chose "imagine" instead as a theme.

This piece is only little - 8 inches square - but I like it.

Anyway, I hope all of you manage to come up with something you are happy about for this theme. Now on to the next theme!

New theme. A Whish for the group Challenge

2008-10-24T08:44:00.004+01:00

It is nearly the end of the year, and then we are going to make wishes for Christmas and for the new year 2009.

So I thought why not A whish for the group Challenge.

What would you whish to our other quilters, while you do not now them personal.
How can you make a groupstheme personal.
And think of the remarks that they have send on other theme's.

now the best whishes from mia

Free Personal signatures - cool!

2008-10-18T18:23:00.001+01:00

TEXTAREA_ID

Next theme

2008-10-16T09:03:00.003+01:00

Around November 1, the quilts for the present theme (Imagine) should be finished. When yours is finished please email me a picture so that I can add it to our flickr-album.
At the same time this means that a new theme has to be called. The person who will decide what our new theme is, will be ............ Mia. Please let us know by the end of the month what you have chosen.

New member

2008-10-05T07:42:00.004+01:00

As you all read a couple of days ago Ine decided to leave the group. At about the same time I got the question of Suzanne whether she could join the group. Suzanne and I met in cyberspace through her nature challenge. Here is the link to Suzanne's blog. Welcome Suzanne, I hope you like it here and that you show pictures of the theme. Even pictures of work in progress are very much appreciated

confused

2008-10-04T12:48:00.002+01:00

Hello All,
This morning I drunk coffee at Wil's house and we where talked about all kinds of quilting related things. And I told here that I was not sure if I have made a quilt for the Challenge.
I was forgotten that the Jazzman already was made for the challenge Imagine. Oh' that age thing. But now, where are youre quilts? I am curious too see them.
love mia

LAST MESSAGE

2008-09-24T18:00:00.004+01:00

Hello everybody,

I have decided to stop with the 'Challenge quilts' group. As you have noticed I am far behind with my challenges and I don't see the possibility to keep up with you due to other obligations. I will follow your work with pleasure and wish you good luck with the next challenge.

Ine Kluessjen

2008-09-11T17:05:00.004+01:00

OK.........yes yes yes..........I know I am WAAAAAAAYYY late but hey....better late than never, right? Below is step one of the Homage to Vaserely quilt from the LAST challenge. At least I'm trying to catch up. So, what do you think???? Anyone out there????? Hate it???? Love it??? Want me to shut up????????

Got a full schedule today but hope to do one of the black panels by the weekend. It takes a good bit of time to cut out all those lines!!! BTW, in case you forgot (or hadn't even read it yet)....the inspiration pic is posted on this blog date August 30th below .

Above us only sky

2008-09-01T18:22:00.003+01:00

My Imagine theme quilt is finished!! As inspiration source I used John Lennon's song and specifically the line: Above us only sky. Imagine you are lying on your back in the grass and looking up. I used hand dyed fabric for this piece. Here are the pictures:

And a detail:

Imagine this djessmennetjes (jazzman)

2008-09-01T07:56:00.003+01:00

I saw these figures on a fabric and I love them, the fun and the movements they are made. I was just jalours on the moves they make, because I can not do that. So I imagine that I make this moves and dance and make music all day long.
This quilt I have made for the group de uitdaging, specialy for dutch quilters. And every time I was thinking what too make for the challenge, I allways looked at this quilt. So I decided that there was a link too this two challenge groups with this theme.

Later I found out that they are Kokopelli, I did not no that. It make no difference for me, this djessmannetjes are fun, friendly and make me dream of mobility that I don not have any more.

No, no sad feelings just nice to look at.
greetings from
mia

Hommage - Plan B

2008-08-30T21:37:00.006+01:00

OK, here is the deal. The artist I wanted to do was Victor Vasarely. When I first saw his work I was fascinated and thought how many of them would be great for hand dyed gradations! I was going to do the center like one of the squares below. The colors are solid and the white "star" appears when they are combined (you can see that if you look very closely. The lighter corners are not lighter at all). I wanted to see if the same thing could be done in fabric. However, this needed solid colors and I couldn't get them solid enough. Bummer. I was going to do blocks around the square like the ones in the second picture - also by Victor Vasarely.

So, now on to plan B There are two that I LOVE and would like to do. below are pictures of them. I'm trying to decide which one to do. I like them both. I'm going to decide this weekend and get started. I'll also have to be thinking about IMAGINE at the same time!

Quiet ------- Too Quiet!

2008-08-30T18:32:00.002+01:00

My goodness, this is a quiet bunch. Only online I think because I know some of you and quiet is not EXACTLY the word that would immediately come to mind.

I have been guilty of the same quietness. Of course, that IS one of my normal characteristics! I've been quiet because I am so blasted far behind I just didn't have much to say. But perhaps some of you are quiet for the same reason?????? So, why not share all our "behind-ness" together and perhaps we can spur each other on to completions????? I'm game for anything.

Perhaps some of you are quiet because you have what you think is trouble with English. I know someone dropped out for that reason. But just so you know.....I haven't seen any post yet that I couldn't understand and enjoy! And remember..... your English is WAAAYYYY better than my Dutch or anything else! Please don't deprive us of your charm and input. I would miss it so much. In another group with people from all over the place, one of the best things was learning about other cultures and even some language from that culture. That is one of the greatest things about the internet! Meeting people that aren't like me! (Thank heaven!)

I for one would be interested in the process you are going through, not just your completed pieces.

So, having said all that......here is my contribution.

Hommage - I had picked out the artist I wanted to do and the piece I wanted to do. Then I dyed the fabric and it was SOOOOO not what I needed. So, plan B. You would think Vaserely wouldn't be that difficult! At least not to look at. But when it came down to the actual making of the piece...... a whole other story! I haven't given up though. I found another piece of his that I love and think I can accomplish. So it will happen. Better late than never???

Imagine - Like I posted in the comments. My first idea was to use this theme to IMAGINE that I completed my Hommage piece!! Only kidding. The brain is chugging away and bits and pieces are emerging. Hopefully it will happen in the time limit this round!

Now, I've bared my soul. YOUR TURN!!! Jump in, so far as I know no one in this group bites.

Kelly

Imagine

2008-08-27T18:59:00.003+01:00

Earlier this month I showed you the fabric I dyed for this quilt. After that I have quilted the sandwich - with flying birds and clouds - and fused the flowers on it. This is how it looks now. I also know what I am going to do with this quilt when it is finished :-). I am participating in the second ALQS swap - hosted by Kate - and I think it will fit in with what my partner likes. Talking about time management :-).

Pangea

2008-08-25T09:14:00.004+01:00

I've travelled al lot this year so I had to little time to quilt. But I am bag again and I have find the way bag to creativity. The first assignment was to make a start quilt for the A-Texere group. This is the new name for our Quilten-Speciaal group. Were I met Wil, Mia and Ine. When it started to grow in my mind I must think of the beginning of the world. Before the continents are seperated there was one continent named Pangea. The world was very differend then en I like to play with my imagination in this strange world. So I join the 2 assignments.

I put a little space between all the parts of the world and around the whole Pangea I have punched with silk to give an accent. All the words are translations of start of beginning in differend languages.

This is a picture of "Pangea". I found this picture on the internet.

Imagine

2008-08-15T06:33:00.002+01:00

This theme has been simmering in my mind for a while but now I know what I am going to do with it. I googled and found the lyrics of John Lennon's song and I will focus on one line out of it: 'Above us only sky'. To start I drip dyed some fabric for the background:

New theme...

2008-08-02T09:25:00.005+01:00

I have to admit, I've had a hard time thinking of what I'd like to pick for this theme. Right around the time Wil picked me to choose the theme, I learned that a friend with three small children was diagnosed with cancer (luckily, it's Hodgkins Lymphoma, which has one of the highest cure rates of all cancers - but still...) so I was thinking about that a lot and for quite a while I thought I might use the word "hope" as my theme, but I was really stuck for any kind of idea how to make that into a quilt (I know, I know - that's why it's a challenge, right?) so I wanted to find something with just a little more potential, so gradually, I have gravitated towards what is one of my favourite words anyway and which, I hope, will allow for a wider range of possibilities for everyone: Imagine. Heck, if you are really stuck, you can always do a John Lennon quilt, though I admit that's not really what springs to my mind! So there you go - imaginations in gear, ladies and gents...

Kate's little muted quilt

2008-07-27T23:49:00.002+01:00

Ok, finally. Here is my quilt for Kelly's theme. I had a very hard time with that brief, and for a long time couldn't think of anything at all that I wanted to do. Then, the other week, I went to see the Vilhelm Hammershoi exhibit at the Royal Academy and I found his paintings really inspiring.

This piece is actually not much like his paintings, but what I have tried to take from them is the sense of colour - he uses a very limited, muted palette - and something of the composition - frequently, his paintings show a female figure, from the back, standing in front of a window or piece of furniture. I have used Japanese taupe type fabrics to help acheive that muted palette.

I have chosen to make the piece very abstract, with the white bars representing a window, and a "figure" standing before it. There is also a sideboard or table with a dish on top of it - sort of. What I wanted to capture was a little of the balance and composition, and I think I have managed that. At any rate, I really like it, and that's what counts. It's a small piece, sort of a4 size or a little larger.

I am thinking about what to choose for my theme - a few ideas are floating around, but nothing finalised yet. I can promise it will be very different from Kelly's - whether it will be easier or more difficult to come up with an idea for, remains to be seen!

new theme

2008-07-17T12:56:00.002+01:00

The due date for the present theme is (around) August 1. How are you all doing?????? Are there pictures to be shown ????? As a consequence it also means that it is time to start thinking about a new theme. The coming theme will be decided:------------ Kate!
Kate, please let us know by August 1, what are new theme will be. As usual there will be a 3-months period to work on them.

almost finished White swans, black swans

2008-07-17T12:43:00.002+01:00

My quilt for this theme is not completely finished, but as I cannot continue working on it for the moment I decided to show it here anyway. I combined our theme with the theme for the Dutch sistergroup De Uitdaging (music). For music I wanted to use a children´s song. There were two favourites ones called (in translation) White Swans, black swans and All the ducks are swimming in the water. I found a site which had the sheet music which I wanted to use. The theme for this group was a person you admire. Well I had several favourites, so I started to Google and see what kind of pictures would show up and whether they would give me the inspiration I needed. Google lead me to pictures of work of Escher. He is a great Dutch artist who specialised in tesselations and he had made art using white and black swans. The connection was made! I decided to cut swans from black and white commercial fabric and fused these together with the sheet music printed on fabric onto a blue batik background.
If you don´t know the song, you will think the quilt is finished, but some element has to be added: a broken key. In translation the song goes like this: White swans, black swans / who´s sailing with us to England / England is closed / The key is broken / Is there than no one / who can fix the key. I have ordered a mold for a Victorian key and am now waiting for it to arrive. With clay I will make a key and break it before I bake it so that I can add a broken key as finishing touch to this quilt.

present theme

2008-07-10T18:56:00.002+01:00

It has taken some time, but at last I made up my mind what I am going to do with this theme. I love the drawings Escher made and I am going to use one of his tessalations.
As I have at the moment about 7 commitments for challenges I will also combine this theme with the theme for the Dutch challenge group. which is music. For this group I decided to work with a children's song. It is one of those nonsense rhyms but it is about white and black swans. And that is also one of Escher's drawings :-))

2008-05-14T20:08:00.004+01:00

New Theme,

I always wanted to do something with the paintings of Paul Giovanopoulos.I have chosen for Fish A, an Acrylic and mixed media on canvas. You can see it on his side. This because we have just come back from a diving vacation on Bonaire.
Ine

Where are the beaches??

2008-05-13T18:10:00.002+01:00

Due date for this theme was (around) May 1. I am curious to see what you all created with this theme. Please show us pictures, even if the quilt is not yet finished.
For the finished ones, please send me a picture so that I can add it to the Flickr-album.

Challenge box

2008-05-03T07:37:00.003+01:00

To store the challenge-quilts I have made a box. The measures are 55 cm2. Big enough for al the quilts. On the top you can see a Tifaifai quilt I made at a course given by Dijanne Cevaal from Australian who often comes tot Holland.

On top the positive-quilt.

On the inside of the cover the negative-quilt.

The box is made from cardboard and self dyed fabric.

awards

2008-05-01T08:10:00.002+01:00

At the moment the Open European Quilt Championships have their annual show in the Netherlands. Corinne won the Award for Merrit this year. Congratulations! On this link you can see the winning quilts: http://www.oeqc.eu/indexnl.php?i=69
You will also see that Hilde won 2 awards at this show.

language

2008-04-29T14:32:00.002+01:00

Some time ago I announced that Hilde van Schaardenburg was our new member. After much consideration Hilde still felt insecure about her knowledge of English. She decided to join the Dutch version of this group. As reading English is easier than writing it, she will continue to read the messages on this blog. Hilde thanks every one for their kind words of welcome.
I can only add that I understand her decision. What I had not yet told this group, I will do now. This year Hilde has already won several prices, the first one in an Australian Show and Best of Show in a Dutch one.

Dutch versus English language

2008-04-26T13:59:00.002+01:00

Not all of our Dutch members or 'interested would-be members' feel that their knowledge of English is enough to participate in this group. This is the reason that I have decided to open a yahoo-group next to this one for every one who feels more comfortable in Dutch. This does not mean that all Dutch members have to leave this group!!
We will also create a quilt 4 times a year, same dimensions, based on a theme. Only our messages will be in Dutch. If you want to join this group, send me an email and I will send you an invitation.

East meets West on the Beach

2008-04-15T16:26:00.008+01:00

Mij tribute to the beach challenge is the followingquilt.
I love the beach, the sea and everyting in and on the see. So this was for me the right challenge.
I started with making a sandwich of self-dyed fabric. Brown and blue for the sand and the sky. Then I add a synthetic fabric for the glittering on the water. The folling step was "Lutrador". I had never used it before, this was an experiment. I first painted the lutrador with acrylic paint and than draw the shell form on the back. Than I sew on the bag on the drawing line. Then cut the shell form out of the lutrador and the shell was ready.
Painted Lutrador for the exotic shell.

Dutch mussel-shells were add first on the sandwich with free-motion sewing.

After pin the exotic shell on the sandwich the quilting part started. The details of the shell-chambers are made with quilting.

NEW THEME!!

2008-04-15T04:12:00.002+01:00

Ok, for those overachievers in this group ............... (you know who you are!!!)........... I already know what the theme will be. I wanted to give you all plenty of time to think about it. (drum roll and trumpets!!!)

Hommage (Fr) - (a sign of) great respect shown to a person

Here is the concept. Choose a famous artist (painter, scuptor, architect, writer, etc) and make a quilt in their style or a recreation of one of their pieces. This is a very wide open challenge. If for instance, you LOVE Dr. Seuss's Cat in the Hat....... you could do a quilt that inspired by that book. I started to keep it to just painters, etc. but I feel there are so many areas that inspire our work that it wouldn't do the challenge justice to narrow the field.

I'm very excited to see what all of you do with this

Back to the coast part II

2008-04-09T09:48:00.003+01:00

And I forget to tell you what kind of fabrics I have used.
sand -> white fabric of Ikea, called Ditte and with old iron, vinagar and water for two days in a plastic bag.
sea -> commercial fabric with the waves muslin that I have dyed with a left over.
air -> with fabric of Ikea, and dyed with proxion
poles -> old shirt of my husband Jan
and yarns in multi color.

mia

new theme

2008-04-09T07:26:00.002+01:00

Don't worry, the duedate for the beach theme is still 3 weeks away, but I want the one who has to come up with a new idea for next theme to give some time to think about it. The lucky person who can decide what we work on the coming 3 months is:................ Kelly.

Back to the coast

2008-04-07T14:51:00.004+01:00

Back to the coast, is a song that often pops up in my mind. When I hum it, I always long for the beach. The coast of the Netherlands on the Northsea.
My favorite beach lies in the South of the Netherlands in the province called Zeeuws-Vlaanderen with its wide vieuws over the North Sea and the river Wester Schelde. Where the tall ships com in.
The beach with his poles standing proud in the sand where mussels and other shell animals grow. On that beach, when the wind blows trough my hair, I feel free and without any care on my mind. Even if there are any troubles on my mind they will blow away on the wind.

A part of the song I have tried to translate.

I want to return to the coast
Very disquieting
I am looking for the road to the coast
Almost not aware of the threat that my youth has just passed me by

mia

Beach-Thelma

2008-04-02T19:21:00.002+01:00

Living in central Arkansas, I have only been to a beach a couple times. I decided to take a picture I had of when I had went to the beach and I scanned that pic and then enlarged it and printed it off on Lutrador. Then I took my handy dandy heating tool and distressed the Lutrador giving it kind of a lacey look. I put different types of fabrics for the background and the red violet really made it stand out better for some reason so I used that then it's compliment for the binding. I quilted the lutrador with metallic threads. And of course I had to put a palm tree in it.

Beach

2008-04-02T11:55:00.001+01:00

I was just fixing to upload my beach quilt and realized that I am going to have to retake some pics, it has my background showing a blue instead of the red violet . Will try to get some better pics today and get it uploaded. I am finished, just not satisfied with the picture. May have to take it outside to get a good pic.

new member

2008-03-30T19:23:00.003+01:00

Today I was at a quiltshow in the Netherlands where at last I met Hilde van Schaardenburg. I had heard about her work before and we have had quilts in the same show, but this was the first time I met her in person. Hilde did the Quilten Speciaal course with group 6. Ine, Mia, Corinne and I were in group 7. Anyway I asked Hilde whether she would like to join us in this Challenge Quilts Group and I am glad to say that she loves to participate.

Figures!

2008-03-29T23:05:00.002Z

Now, you see, as soon as I post that I'm uninspired, I get an idea - which I guess is ok...

So, I've made a start on this - English beach huts, with a railing in front. I'm not sure quite what else I am going to do with it - I think I will quilt it first and then add some other things, like a deck chair and a windbreak - and I probably will make the deadline - here I was thinking it was April 1st (not a chance of that) when in fact, it's May 1st - such a relief.

Uninspired...

2008-03-27T22:21:00.002Z

Just wanted to drop in and say that I am not going to be on time with this - though I hope to get something done fairly soon. My main problem hasn't been lack of time but lack of inspiration - and it's not that I don't like the beach, I just can't find an idea that will settle in my mind. Hopefully I will be able to come up with something soon...

winter show

2008-03-27T20:14:00.002Z

I read this evening that there is a quiltshow/contest in the Netherlands in November with the theme Winter. Let me know if you want to send your quilt there. There is no fee, but the entry form is in Dutch. I intend to send my Cracked Ice to this show.

2008-03-25T14:39:00.004Z

BEACH

This is my beach quilt. It is not yet finished and it will not be before the first of April because I am very busy with my final project for the course QUILTEN SPECIAAL. I think I made it difficult for myself and now I have to work on it every day.
I saw this blue tyvek quilt hanging on my wall and while I was thinking of the beach project I saw two mermaid dressings in it and I liked the idea very much so I decided this is my beach quilt. The intention is to machine quilting it further.
Many greetings
Ine

beach is done!

2008-03-17T17:02:00.002Z

I know that some of you have not even started working on this challenge but I had some spare time and decided to create this one. All the fabric are my handdyed ones. The shells are raw edge applique on a quilted background. For the quilting I used a design with different shells. As usual I did the quilting before the applique.
Am I making you nervous that I have it all ready finished or am I giving you inspiration ?

beach

2008-03-13T10:47:00.003Z

I had time and inspiration this week. My beach quilt is almost finished. Today I will be adding the binding and the sleeve. Do you want to see a picture this week or do I wait till May??

beach

2008-03-11T11:05:00.002Z

I started working on my beach quilt. The picture shows a detail of the quilting, sorry about the flash light. As you can guess I am using shells to represent this theme. Normally I quilt before I add the applique. It is a bit an unusual sequence of working, but I know more people who work like this. I know that Kelly has done most of her quilt but I am wondering how the rest of you is doing? I would love to see pictures of work in progress :-)

Beach-the next quilt

2008-02-28T07:22:00.002Z

I have a photo in mind for this quilt our only grandson has Autism he loves the beach and I have some great photos from the last time we took him to the beach I'm hoping to take him to the beach soon he keeps asking if we can go and I'm hoping it'll be warm enough to go over spring break I love the beach I have a thing for sea shells and I collect fabric with sea shells on it take care, Debbie

Winter in Texas

2008-02-28T06:46:00.003Z

I love the background piece-it's one of my earlier hand dyes-take care, Debbie

"Winter in Texas" a work in progress

2008-02-28T06:28:00.003Z

I wanted to get this posted I wanted everyone to see what I have so far I also wanted everyone to know that my brother is now out of the hospital he's got a long road ahead mom is there with him and that's a comfort for all of us this is not my original idea I have had to modify it a bit I wanted to make a monoprint for the tree that is actually in the original view but, time wasn't going to allow for that I'll have to save that for another project
"Winter in Texas" these are the plants you will actually see growing in my yard in winter

BEACH takes shape

2008-02-27T12:21:00.002Z

I have started on my BEACH quilt. Today I wanted to get a new perspective on it to know what I wanted to add by way of water. Then I found this quote. OK, it seems SERENDIPITY is alive and well. You'll notice the name this quote is accredited to!!

"There is indeed, perhaps, no better way to hold communion with the sea than sitting in the sun on the veranda of a fishermen's cafe." ~Joseph W. Beach

Then I had it - the title of my BEACH quilt ---------- "View From The Veranda"

I'm so excited!

Winter in Texas

2008-02-26T17:03:00.002Z

Hi,
I'm Debbie Alley and I'm in suburbs of Houston, Texas. We have very mild winters here. My plan for my quilt has been a slice of a view of my backyard garden in winter. I have not been able to dye the fabric I need for this project and my brother has been very ill. My brother CJ is mentally ill and he has had a harder time coping since our younger brother died last April. Each time his is hospitalized (September, November, December & February) I have hoped and prayed he was going to be better and it hasn't happened. If I can't make my original project plan this week, I will come up with something else. thans & take care, Debbie

Leaving group

2008-02-24T18:09:00.000Z

I must apologize to this group, and especially to Wil, for my failure to submit a piece for the first challenge, "Winter".Upon my return from a Christmas cruise, I brought home a bug that kept me in bed for the entire month of January, and the first part of February. It has left me with very little energy.I have an idea in my head which incorporates leather, but that is as far as it's gone, for the reason stated above, and also because I've not found the right ink or adhesive to use with it.Since it is now closer to March than to Feb. 1, I am quite embarassed by this. I will leave the group rather than to risk facing this same dilemna again.So sorry, all.
Becky S.

Icicles finally finished!!

2008-02-24T03:53:00.003Z

Sorry I didn't get my piece finished earlier but it is now DONE!!!

Living in Florida winter is just a bit cooler weather so I used a picture from my childhood as my inspiration. One of the times the temperature was to be below freezing during the night so my dad put the sprinkler on the wisteria on the side of our house that was growing up on chainlink fence. The background is all made out of a gradation of hand-dyed Dharma Jet Black except the tan area was painted with a combination of brown Dynaflow and white and brown Jacquard textile paints watered down to make it the same consistency as the Dynaflow. The wisteria, binding and backing are black Kona. I must say I don't think the picture does the piece justice.

I used silver YLI Candlelight in my bobbin for the fence and rainbow for the icicles with clear wonder thread on the top without batting or backing. I then used fusible fleece and did some FMQ with smoke YLI wonder thread. Next I used Gem-Tac and applied some mixed white and clear beads and then some Glamour Dust which is a white irridescent glitter.

I am pretty happy with this piece, it is my first 'art' piece but I wish the rainbow thread wasn't so green. Also, I'm not really happy with the FMQing but I'm learning.

sunny winter

2008-02-12T07:46:00.000Z

Yesterday afternoon, the sun is shining and I enjoyed sitting in my garden for the first time this year.
There are no real winters in Holland anymore. Almost 10 years ago there was snow and ice and in Holland we have the elfstedentocht. This is a challenge for iceskaters over more than 200 km and on real ice, the skaters have to skate along 11 different city's in the north of Holland.
It is sad that there is a changing of klimat. My grand children don't now what it is to play in the snow.
How is it in your region, is there a changing to?

Today I want to finish my homework for the Quilten speciaal course, and than I can started on the challenge, I already have an idea. I have painted (aquarel) the beach a vew years ago and I will try that to make it in fabric.

many greetings from Mia

Februari - Winterquilt

2008-02-07T19:29:00.000Z

Hello everybody,

I am back from my winter vacation and it was very nice, lot of snow, sun and fun.
My pictures are on the computer now and here they are.

The beginning I made on a workshop with Saskia Weishut, together with Corinne. Saskia works a lot with tyvek and I wanted to know more from this material. I made a black and white one, a red one and a blue one. When I joint this club and learned the subject was winter I immediately thought of the black and white tyvek quilt, because the winters in Holland are mostly black, grey and sometimes white.

Now I learned they can also be blue and sunny.

The red and blue one I am still working on and I will show them to you when they are finished.
I am very pleased with the next subject because I had on my list a series of the “Wadden”(this is a part of the Netherlands) and now I have to make a start with the subject BEACH what is a large part of the ”Wadden”
Many greetings
Ine

Winter Challenge

2008-02-07T14:35:00.000Z

Hi All.. Sorry I have been a little silent lately.. Unfortunately I have been enduring some serious problems at home with my teenage son. But things are looking up! Below is piece.. not quite finished.. I need to bind it.. It came out rather simple and I went in a completely different direction. While being at the lake house, while I love tree's and it seem's everyone else loves trees too. I stayed in that theme, but mine was more of a color choice to reflect the winter far more than a literal picture. I have been playing with tree shapes and designs for a little while and this is what I came up with for this piece. The colors jsut make me think winter, I am in the process of screening these images as well so I can use them in some art cloth pieces I will be working on. I recently signed up for a 12 week Art Cloth Class I am in my 2nd week with that.. so I have been rather busy lately.

The techniques on this were rather simple actually.. the images are printed from my printer and I did alot of fusing... Not alot of stitching as I wanted this to seem more like a "Print" than a quilt per se. Let me know your thoughts.

How far are we??

2008-02-06T08:35:00.000Z

In the flickr album are now pictures of the finished quilts made by: Corinne, Thelma, Kelly, Kate, Mia and Wil. I know that Sarah is swamped with work and will show her quilt later and that Ine is having computer problems which prevent her to upload her picture.
The winter challenge quilt was supposed to be finished by February 1. I have not heard from the other members of this group how far they are with their quilt. Celia, Cheri, Vicky, Von, Debbie and Becky please post to the group how you are doing with this challenge.

And the theme is........

2008-01-30T00:41:00.000Z

The BEACH!

I posted on my blog about a wonderful project sponsored at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) website, the World Beach Project. I was so inspired that I immediately dropped whatever I'd been considering for our next theme, and picked "beach." Here's a picture of what my 9 year old son and I did this past weekend--that's a yin and yang (very New England..made of mussel shells and worn brick bits):

Think of the beach in winter. Of the beach on the other side of the world. Of summers at the beach. Of the best time you've ever had on a beach. The beach at night. Starfish. Tide pools. A frog's eye view of the human's on the beach (all those tasty toes).....ok, maybe not that one!

Do you dream of the tropics? Or the stormy North Atlantic? Maybe you've always wanted to visit the Great Barrier Reef... so go there in cloth! Now.... at least I've only missed one of my two challenge deadlines this month.... my winter quilt will have to come later... too much life happening to me!

Winter Landing

2008-01-29T03:56:00.000Z

I just finished my challenge quilt. I decided to name it Winter Landing. This was fun to do, looking forward to the next challenge.

Winterquilt

2008-01-25T21:57:00.000Z

Hello everybody,
I am going to the "winter" tomorrow, Austria, for a week. My quilt is finished but there is something wrong with the connection from the camera to the computer so I will show it to you when I am back next week. Hope to make lot of photo's from the snow etc. because in Holland we don't have winters
anymore.
Till next week.

Greeting Ine

Cracked Ice

2008-01-25T12:31:00.000Z

My winterquilt was finished some time ago, but I had not yet posted pictures of it. For this quilt I used lutrador, angelina film, cotton balls and beads. All on a fabric background. It reminds me of cracked ice, but you can also see skiing tracks in it. I had fun making it.

No Two Alike with binding sewn

2008-01-24T21:35:00.000Z

OK, I'm posting the picture of No Two Alike after the binding has been completed just so I can test out this picture placement thing.

HA!! I did it!!! Have no idea what made the difference but here it is anyway. Hopefully next time it will work, too.

Reading others blogs-OT

2008-01-24T00:18:00.000Z

I have gone to some of your blogs and can't read them because I can't read the language. Is there a way I can translate it for reading purposes, I would love to know what you are saying about your great pieces of artwork.

Vicky

Snowflake quilt finished

2008-01-23T22:07:00.000Z

I just realised that I never posted here a photo of this quilt after I bound it - so here it is.

Looking forward to the next challenge!

pictures

2008-01-23T21:03:00.001Z

Some of us have shown their quilt on the blog. I will take pictures tomorrow and show mine. What I want you all to do, is to send me the pictures to my email address as well. I want to open a flickr account for this group and without your pictures the album will be very empty :-)).

How are you all doing? I know that Sarah will not be able to finish the quilt in time, but what is the situation with the others? Kelly, Mia, Kate and me are finished, how about you?

Full and detailed views of "No Two Alike"

2008-01-23T20:56:00.000Z

No Two Alike - full view

No Two Alike - detail 1

No Two Alike - detail 2

Kelly

WINTER finallly completed!!!

2008-01-23T20:18:00.000Z

But with a new name. You know how that happens..... you have an idea and it changes itself in the middle of everything. So here it is (well, it is not QUITE complete. I have to sew the binding to the back.) But, I'll be out of pocket for the next week and wanted to get it posted before the end of the month.

The new name is "No Two Alike". It has a lot of snowflakes on it - stamped, stenciled, buttons, sequins, ornaments, etc. And of all of them - no two are alike!!!! The quilting is swirls (like the cording in the center and the binding fabric - like the blowing wind. There is angelina scattered all over the back and quite a bit of the glitter that came off the netting got stuck there also. (There's that SERENDIPITY again - my word for 2008!)

I had a blast and it went really quickly once it settled in on what it wanted to be. I'm very happy with it. Hope you guys like it.

Pictures are in the next post.

Next challenge theme coming....

2008-01-22T17:46:00.000Z

Hi everyone... thought I should introduce myself again since I've been pretty AWOL (absent without leave)! I am a mom, daughter, wife, self-employed quilter and quilt teacher, and have been having an amazingly good run in the quilty world lately. Yesterday's stunning news is that one of two projects I submitted for the Creative Quilting With Beads book is on the cover of the book (at least as it is being advertised on Amazon!)... if you go to my blog, you can see pictures.

I'm also working on a book, tentatively titled Unraveling Threadwork, which is about using thread for applique, embellishing and quilting. Due to a whole lot of life happening last year, I am behind in completing the manuscript, so am working like a crazy lady. The most recent projects are my big "Nourish the Body, Nourish the Soul" quilt and the spin-off Plumeria single-block quilt (picture at the top).

I had though I might do a theme of "Art a la carte," where we would each pick one word from column A, one from B and one from C, but then realized that was kind of boring, and there would be no unity to the challenge. So now I have a better idea, and I'll tell you about it in a few days. Now I need to finish lunch and get back to quilting on Nourish!

winter in Almere

2008-01-21T14:43:00.001Z

And here is Winter in Almere,

I finished the quilt today while it is raining outside. And that is also the picture of my quilt.

I saw on my car window a drop of rain and the colours where so brigthly in de evening shade that I drove home to write the colours that I saw.

Green is the basic and these are the trees along the road, yellow is the light of the car that was driving to me, the grey and the blue are the colours of that day. It was sparkling on the window and I have tried to hold that feeling. The snowflake is made of organdy and I cut it away next to te stichting.

And yes we had one day with 1 snowflake, so this is winter in Holland. The times that we had a lot of snow and ice are many years ago.

The fabrics are, green is taft, I dont no the name of it in English, de yellow,grey and blue are fabrics that wil be used for chairs and sofa's, the yearn is metallic and the other yearn is ordinairy cheap thread.

Oh, and can you find the tulip?

Mia

winterquilt

2008-01-13T17:05:00.001Z

Hello,
My name is Ine Kluessjen and till now I did not wrote on this blog, but now my winterquilt is almost finished and I have to check how to do it so you may consider this as a test.

Wintertree in a winterwonderland

2008-01-05T11:30:00.000Z

When I start with a new project I can't stop no more. Just a few minutes ago it was finished. After finishing the sewing part I put al lot of materials on the quilt and quickly taken it away. Finally I put some silkfibers on the top and then it was allwright for me. After puniching the silk I write the name of the quilt on the bottom. This was the first time I write something on a top with the free-motion way.
Corinne.

Wintertree in a winterwonderland

Detail Wintertree on Chiffon

Detail Tyfek and Silk

Detail text

Winter quilt

2008-01-04T16:29:00.000Z

I'am living in the centre of the Netherlands, on the edge of a little busy city. Next to my house is a grazing-land with in the middle a great and strong tree. A love this tree very much and in the future I want to make a beautifull quilt with this tree as subject.

Summer

Winter

I have printed the photo of the winter tree on silk chiffon and put the picture on a sandwich. The sandwich was made from self painted fabric. Then I put painted tyfek around the tree. The next step is free-motion sewing. When the sewing is ready I want to add something more but I want first to see the result.
The beginning of the winter-quilt.

Corinne

new challenge coming soon

2008-01-02T13:01:00.000Z

By the end of the month the Winter challenge quilts should be finished so this is the time to start thinking about our next challenge. I wrote your names on pieces of paper, folded them and put them in a box. Shuffled the box and without looking I picked out a name. I know you are all anxious to hear the name so ....... drumrolls.......: Sarah!
Sarah, you have till the end of the month to come up with our new challenge theme. Congratulations!
Wil

winterquilt is almost finished

2007-12-27T12:46:00.000Z

I have added the last beads to my winterquilt and now only the sleeve and the label have to be attached. I will not yet show a picture of it, but I used lutrador, angelina film, cotton balls, and beads on it. The picture will come around the end of January.
How are you all doing with your quilts??
I have been thinking about the next challenge and for this I want to write down all your names on a piece of paper and put them in a bowl. Out of this bowl I will draw a name and that person will decide what the next challenge theme is going to be. How does this sounds to you?
Wil

merry christmas

2007-12-26T08:39:00.000Z

I wish all the challence quilters a merry christmas and a happy new year

mia

More snowflake progress

2007-12-16T19:44:00.000Z

Did some work on my challenge quilt today - I picked 9 of the snowflakes I had made before and sewed them together, and have begun quilting them. I will also put some smaller snowflakes (quilted) in the four intersections in the centre of the quilt. I was going to stitch them down with invisible thread, but was having tension issues, so will hope they hold ok with just quilting based on the shape of each snowflake. Detail of two below - I have done five, still have to do the four in the corners, but I had to stop to go to a Christmas party. What a hardship!

Introducion

2007-12-09T10:47:00.000Z

It is very nice to yoin the challenge group. Sorry for my English, this is not my strongest talent.
Working with Quilten Speciaal, and this challenge group has give me much to think about, it is indeed a challenge. Ik know precisely what to do for my final design for Quilten Speciaal and as soon as I finished that , I get started with the winter subject.

Winter wonder in Holland

2007-12-08T23:49:00.000Z

Today we had a meeting with the groupmembers of the Course Quilten Special. We are a group that has finised the course. And now we have too make each a final design for a Quilt.
This Quilts are to bee showing on the Dutch Quilt exhebition next year in Holland. So we are very hard working to make a design and we are telling to each other what we think of it so far.
Holland is a small country, if you drive fast you can do the trip north to south in 4 hours (if there are no problems on the road) But as allways I lost the way and Wil my co-pilot was only laughing but finaly we found the home of Corinne. Half hour later than was planed.
Later when I brought Wil to her home, I was going too my own house, I saw a design for the winter challenge. So finaly I now wat too make.

dag dag from Mia

Snowflakes

2007-12-02T23:51:00.000Z

Did some work today on the piece that will be my challenge quilt for this group. It will also serve another purpose and be a quilt for a swap I am in with the theme (wait for it) - winter. How lucky is that, one piece doing two jobs?

Anyway, these are all about 7 inch blocks, with snowflakes cut out of fabric (most of which has snowflakes on it as well, but not all of it) in the same way you make paper snowflakes, though not with as much detail, as of course fabric is much thicker to cut through (I iron bondaweb on first, keeping the paper on, and fold the snowflake with the paper side out - it's easier to cut that way).

These will get put together into a small top, which will then be quilted in some fashion - I'm thinking it may involve (this will shock you) - snowflakes. Then I may or may not embellish it further. I will wait to see what it tells me to do!

another new member

2007-11-30T15:42:00.000Z

And again a new member :-) Corinne Zambeek joined us too. She also took the Quilten Speciaal course. Welcome Corinne!

new member

2007-11-29T12:17:00.000Z

As I mentioned in my first post to this group - at least I think I did :-) - the maximum size would be 15 members. Not every one whom I wrote was interested or had time to participate in this challenge. But from today on we have a new member: Ine Kluessjen. She participated with Mia en me in the Quilten Special course given by the Dutch Quilters Guild. Welcome Ine and I hope you like it here.
Wil

Yikes! and intro

2007-11-24T01:09:00.000Z

Well...as usual I am swamped, late and behind the curve...... I'm a pretty busy mom, wife, quilter, quilting teacher, etc. I'm also a would-be author (as in I have a manuscript that is overdue thanks to a few minor and one major (but now OK) catastrophe this year) and have a deadline of December 1 for a quilt to be in an invitational show. That means I am WAY busy. Worse yet, I am not supposed to share the finished piece for the show, but I just posted an in-progress piece to my blog (on my website at www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog ).

I like the idea of winter, but can tell already that I may not be able to spend as much time as I had hoped if the deadline is February 1, because I need to finish the book. I have several ideas, tho, and may be able to use some offcuts from a piece destined to be in the book which will help...nothing like having a project do double-duty, eh?

Let's see: I met Wil first online, including the Fabled Fibers challenge (can you believe I'm a cover girl? Well, my quilt, with my youngest son on it, is the cover quilt for the calendar this year). Then what a surprise when there she was in class in Fall River, Massachusetts, where I took the second week of Carol Soderlund's dyeing workshop this year.

I've been sewing since I was six, which was 44 years ago! Just before I hit 30, I found a Keepsake Quilting catalog, and all of a sudden I knew I had found my niche: a way to marry art and sewing! I started out as a traditional quilter and then morphed into an art quilter, but I love all forms of quilting. The urge to do my own thing was there from the start, but I didn't really get to branch out until my husband retired and I resigned from the US foreign service (diplomats) and I was an at-home mom. Since then, full speed ahead! And now, need to go chase one kid to bed and try to convince the other one to follow suit (he's 14, and less easily persuaded to do anything these days --grin--).

That's enough blathering for now. Happy to be here! Cheers, Sarah

PS... I live in Camden, Maine...that's 2 hours north of Portland, Maine and about 3 hours south of Canada (via slow 2-lane road most of the way)

Thelma's Winter Project

2007-11-19T12:10:00.000Z

I was able to work on my quilt yesturday. I added some brush in the background using water soluable solvy and using a verigated thread. I forgot how much they shrink up when you dissolve the solvy..lol but anyways it worked for me, I then used clear polyester monifilament thread to stitch it down with. Couldn't make up my mind on the cabin, finally decided I would go ahead and put it in there. I used wonder under to put the cabin together. I still need to stitch the cabin and trees down. I also decided to use the organza to cover the rocks and shrubs in the background, I ironed some wonder under with a cool iron onto the organza and ironed it on top of them to make them not as bright,,I want the rocks that I will be adding to the foreground to be more vivid than those. I haven't gotten all of them covered yet but will be working on that today. So now all I like is adding some more trees and rocks and the duck.
Oh yea, I had a happy incident when trying to iron the chimney onto the cabin, I had used the wonder under on the organza and ironed to the material for the roof,,,well, when I was putting the chimney on (forgetting about the organza) my iron was to hot and melted some of it off...but it made it look like the ice was melting off the roof...sometimes mistakes turn out really well. (g)

Winter Dreams

2007-11-17T18:56:00.001Z

Well, I've begun. Didn't get too far today..... certainly not as far as I had planned but the first step is done.

Here is the background for Winter Dreams.

Here is a detail so you can see the "fringe"

Now on to the fun stuff!!!

Kelly

Thelma's Winter Project

2007-11-16T23:27:00.000Z

I am just in the beginning stages, and this photo is not the full quilt. I focused on what I had done on this pic. I don't know if you will be able to see it well in this photo but after I stiched the trees I used Sulky Holoshimmer thread and boy does it make them look like ice is on them. Hope you can see what I am talking about. I may have picked the wrong color for the land but I believe when I get everything in that I will be putting in there it will look better. I am nervous being the first to post a photo...I have two more trees that will come in at an angle over where the other trees are at. Haven't yet decided if I will do them now or wait and put them in after I put the border on...

Snow dreams

2007-11-16T23:02:00.000Z

OK, I'm a Texas girl living in Minnesota. I LOVE SNOW!!! Heck, I even love it when we get blizzards! So, my quilt will have a background of a gradation of Cobalt Blue. I tear strips of fabric and pull strings out of the edge of the strip to "fringe" it. It's a snowy blustery day and there should be movement, not a solid background after all. I stitch it in what I call "raw fringe piecing". I'm sure it has a more official name but I don't know what it is. I sew each strip directly to the batting just inside the fringe part.

Because I love snow so much it will have lots of swirls and differenct kinds of snowflakes. Like when the wind blows the snow outside the windows of our 4-season porch.

I just finished laying out the background this afternoon.

Are we going to post pictures of the quilts as they develop or will it be a surprise at the end?

Kelly

Thelma's Winter Project

2007-11-16T15:27:00.000Z

I have started on my quilt, not gotten very far but it's a start. My scene is going to be nature also. My husband and sons love duck hunting, so for this quilt it will be a snowy day with ducks coming in for a landing. I am using a sparkling organza to cover the water to make it really look cold and somewhat icy. I will be embroidery trees, I dyed some thread the other day and added grey to them to give that wintry effect. (Hope it works) The far away trees will be done in like a feather stitch,,then the closer trees will be done in a split stitch to make them look real. I haven't decided yet if I will add a cabin or not. Will decide on that when I get to that point. I will be doing the ducks in embroidery too, unless I change my mind and applique them....Oh decisions, decisions. I will post a pic soon.

Von's Winter Piece Thoughts

2007-11-16T13:25:00.001Z

ooops I keep forgetting to post here instead of the yahoo group..sorry if you got 2 messages :)

So I have been thinking sketching in my mind.. I do that a lot LOL (my
wifes says I'm in the zone, or I'm not paying attention to what she is
talking about LOL LOL..) but here are my thoughts.

Creating a winter scene of nothing but trees. the tree trunks will
actually be painted with puff paint. Then I will stitch branches from
the trunks... then start adding some of those funky fabric scraps..
that have that clear but yet.. "Ice" look to them when the light hits
them. I'm thinking of cutting them very thin strips like tencil all
most...(oooh on 2nd thought.. I might use that tencil for Christmas
trees that a clear mylar type product ) and use it to stitch down
around the trunks and the limbs indicating ice... then add of course
some beading.

Any thoughts.. the back ground behind the trees will be for example
just a sky and "dull" piece of ground fabric. I cee this piece being
very "Crusty.. you will want to touch it type of piece.

Any feedback would be great.

Von

2007-11-14T15:49:00.000Z

Hello this is my necklace at the way Kate made her snowflakes, I can show him around my neck but I made too little stichestripes to hold the lace together. Learinng project, the next time I do it better. I made it on soluvlies and after watering I put the necklace on a foamboard and helt it in place with a lot of pins.

My winterproject is stil on the designboard, we have a very busy month, Sinterklaas (Dutch tradition same as Santa Claus specely for children and the grow ups!) and Christmas days and newyears weekend.

mia

Winter musings

2007-11-06T18:22:00.000Z

On the surfacing list this morning (this morning my time, at any rate) there was a lot of discussion about using soluable interfacing and free motion embroidery to create skeleton leaves, etc, so I thought I'd try that out today, but with snowflakes, as I was planning to make some Christmas ornaments and postcards. I have to say, I didn't much like it, but perhaps my threads just weren't quite connected enough to one another - I found it hard to make the finished item lie flat, even having pinned it during drying. So I got to thinking that you could do the same kind of thing on a fabric which you wouldn't have to wash away, so there would still be some stability, and of course sheer fabric like organza seemed the sensible way to go - so I put some organza in a hoop and gave it a try. And I love the result - I think it looks really beautiful and fragile.

It was at this point that I decided that my first challenge piece would be about snowflakes. Not sure quite what angle I am going to take, maybe just a lot of snowflakes with a lot of different techniques. But this one will definitely come into it somewhere. In the meantime, these little chaps are going on Christmas postcards...

Introduction - Becky

2007-11-06T04:47:00.000Z

Hello, everyone! I am Becky, also from Arkansas, as is Thelma. (We live only an hour apart!)
I am 59 in human years, but in real life that ranges from 3-100. ;^) I share a home in the rural countryside with my husband of 30 years, Sandy, and our two miniature schnauzers, Ms. Willie and Hey, Julius! . I am a quilter/fiber artist.
My traditional quilting life started in 1988, before which I dabbled in pottery, decorative painting, counted cross stitch, needlepoint, crewel work, macrame, and a host of other arts and crafts. Looking back, it seems like they were all 'practice' for the art quilts and fiber art work that keeps me healthy and happy these days.
Like many others here, the quilting led to dyeing my own fabrics. From there I found Dyehards, and many dear friends! Their encouragement, patience, and teaching have changed my life. Our year old group, Surfacing has opened so many more opportunities for me to grow as an artist, and I'm sure this Challenge group will do the same.
Wil is and has been a source of inspiration for me, and I am so glad she has decided to start this group.
I look forward to this new journey with you all!
Becky

Introduction

2007-11-05T21:50:00.000Z

Hi...my name is Cheri and I live in Washington with my DH Russ (32 yrs). We live in a wonderful house on our very own dirt road with our 3 dogs, 2 cats and assorted chickens. We have 5 children, Sandy 42, Jim 40, Melissa 39, Doug 38, and Jesseca 34. We also have 11 grandchildren...10 girls and 1 special boy!

I started quilting when Caleb was born and have made quilts for most of the grandkids...3 to go. I find I love quilting second only to my family...lol. Russ set up a spare bedroom for my sewing room and built a table for my sewing machine and a place for hand work.

I take a lot of classes online because I am disabled and can no longer drive. Learning this way is much easier for me, and I get to continue to grow as an artist. At times I have trouble remembering and thinking straight due to a head injury 25 years ago...this is why I am disabled.

I am looking forward to these challenges...although I have over extended myself until the end of the year!

I'd like to add my blog address on the right, but can't figure out how!