Stretching Art 2020 Complete

I finished up my entry for the Stretching Art Quilt Challenge 2020 this past weekend.

Here's the description that I wrote about my quilt for this year -

To me, community is not tied to any one locale, geographic area or group of people.  Instead it consists of those that are a part of our lives whether or not we interact with them on a daily basis.  Like a tree that community is always growing, even during times of seeming difficulty or trauma.  I used stylized human figures to represent "leaves" on my Tree of Life and they are representative of all those in my community, both near and far.   Some of those have been there for many years, others are new shoots just starting to grow. 

 This quilt truly does represent how I've been blessed over this past year of dealing with health and financial issues.   Love the community that God has blessed me with.

Fabrics used include -
Leaves - 19 different silks
Background, tree trunk/branches, ground, backing, sleeve and bindings - 6 different cottons

Gratitudes:

1. For the community that I've been blessed with for many years, esp. over the last couple as things have been so difficult.

2. For the stubbornness that made me persevere in getting this piece finished.

Scrap-Happy February 2020

I've been playing with my silk scraps lately as I have been working on a challenge quilt that needs to be finished by the end of February.

21 different ones had pieces cut and fusible webbing ironed on before I took and cut out stylized people/figures from them.














There were 50 something (i lost count of exactly how many) ironed onto the quilt top for my Stretching Art Challenge quilt for this year.  Other than using templates to trace the leaves, this has all been freehand - both cutting and placement.

All of the fabrics in the top except for the sky are from my scrap bins, and yes that includes the big pieces used to make the grass.

Close-up of the leaves at the base of the tree.  Still need to add two more leaves off to the right, but still need to cut those out of the extra scraps.

Gratitudes:
1. For safety in driving

2. For the steady stream of commissioned work this year

Progress on Challenge Quilt

I think I've found the shape that I'm going to use as "leaves".   But before cutting out umpteen pieces I decided to "test" the idea by cutting a few pieces out of paper and pinning them onto the background.

I'm like how this abstract form for a person is working for the leaves on the tree, so these are the shapes that i'll be using but may decide to change up the sizes a bit.

Gratitudes:
1. Paychecks for December came thru today, so I can pay bills...yeah!

2. I get to work from home tomorrow and don't have to commute in the winter storm that is due in tonight and tomorrow.

Stretching Art 2020 - An idea is 'born'

The theme this year for the Stretching Art challenge is "Community" and what it means to each person that is taking part in the challenge.   I've turned different thoughts over in my mind as to what that meant to me and how to depict the same in a quilt.

Last week I did some searching online for images of 'community' and people.   These are some of the ones that stood out to me.

This first one was that I really liked the figures in.  However, I don't like the way half of the figure are hidden tho, and overall the layout won't work in the 18" wide by 36" tall size.

Saw this image and thought maybe something like this might work.

I like this image the best (well at least the tree trunk), and think something along these lines would work best in the size/shape constraints.

So my current design thought process is that I'll sketch out something similar for a tree trunk, and then using figures similar to the first image fill the "leaves" of the tree in.   I'll need to adapt the arm positioning of the figures of the top image to work in the tree......but I think it'll work.


Gratitudes:
1. For the community of friends that I have and all that they mean to me.

2. For getting to leave work early yesterday.

Stretching Art Challenge for 2020......frustrations

The theme of the 2020 challenge is "Community" and what it means to us.   I've been thinking about the theme and when I found this batik panel in my stash back in November I thought I might use it as the basis for my quilt.

The thought being I would embellish the quilt,  and extend it with piecing to reach the challenge size.

 My thoughts were to embellish the tail feathers of the two birds with embroidery and then bead the center of the flowers in the panel.   However, I've tried two different methods of embroidering the feathers and don't like the results on either one.

In addition, because the fabric is heavier than i normally work with it is very slow going and it took about 20 minutes to do just the little bit that is done.  Definitely don't have enough time to do this with everything else.

So I think this one is going to have to wait.

The hotel that I stayed in over night Friday had this motif in it and it struck a cord with me.   So I might use this as a starting point for something or go in a totally different direction.

Gratitudes:

1. Seeing lots of friends at church today

2. Beautiful weather here in phx

Stretching Art 2020 - Community

It's that time again when the new Stretching Art Challenge theme has been given out.   And this year's theme is "Community".  there are two main definitions for "community" on the internet - the first is "a group of people living in the same place or having a specific characteristic in common", and the second is "a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests and goals".   It will be interesting incorporating those ideas into my piece.

 While going through the tote with all of the panels in it, I found two batik panels.   The first one was this figure of a woman.  I'm sure someone gave it to me but don't have any clue now who it would have been. 

It isn't my usual type of subject for sure.   But I did think about using it as the basis of my challenge piece.   Thinking of it as an homage to all of the women in my life past, present and future.   However, it really isn't my type, so I've decided to just list it for sale.

The second batik panel that I found was given to me by a friend who had been a missionary to Papua New Guinea with her husband.   this panel was one of the things that she brought back to me when they moved back.

I'm going to use this as the center point of my challenge piece.   I'll have to do some piecing of a border for it to get it up to the correct size (18" wide by 36" tall), but that will be easy.   Not so easy is deciding what colors to make the border for it.   Ideas?

I've got an idea of how this panel (the birds are the national birds of Papua) fits into the theme.    So I'm happy that I'm well into planning for my quilt for the challenge..........I need that this year.





Gratitudes:

1. Finding the panel in my stash that will work with the theme

2. For my brother, tho he is no longer here, my life is forever richer for him having been a part of it for 19 yrs.

Stretching Art 2019 Progress

I finally decided on a quilting plan for my challenge quilt and did it this weekend.  My quilt friend who ships all of the pieces off to the show is coming to town next week so I want to have this finished to hand off to her when I see her. 

Specs:

Challenge theme = 20 (20th anniversary of the challenge), open to any interpretation we want
Fabrics - embroidered silks, all from my scraps (circles)
               cotton (background and backing)
Size - 18" wide by 36" long
Cotton batting

Design - based on tessellations like seen in nature

Back showing the backing and another view of the quilting.
















Closer pic of the quilting


Still to be decided on - which way to hang the quilt so I know where to put the hanging sleeve (this way or turned 180 degrees, has to be in this orientation).

Yet to finish - binding (once I find it...), label (which means I need to decide on a name), and the hanging sleeve.


The way this turned out it reminds me of one of the desktop sand zen gardens, so I may name it "Tessellation Zen".

Gratitudes:

1. It sounds like we might get paid tomorrow or Wed.....

2. Got paid for the commissioned stuff that was picked up on Saturday

Art With Fabric Blog Hop - My Day!

This piece is being made for the annual art quilt challenge that I've been taking part in for over 15 years.   This is the 20th year of the challenge, but there were a few of those years when I wasn't able to get a quilt finished for the exhibition.    This years theme was "20".  I struggled to figure out what to do for my piece because the theme is soooooooo wide open.   Along with the theme we are also encouraged to try a new technique when creating our pieces.

I ended up deciding to do a piece based on fractals with my inspiration drawn from art (computer-generated) and the world of nature.

A fractal is defined as a structure in which similar patterns recur at progressively smaller scales.

There are many examples of fractals found in nature, some of which can be seen here on the Mother Nature Network.  I particularly like the example of the cross-section of the Chambered Nautilus shell seen here.

And an interesting one from art here, found on the designyourway.net website.

















I used these as inspiration for my quilt, but choosing to go with circles as the element that would be repeated and scaled through out the piece.

Quilt as it is laid out before fusing with all circles pinned in position on the background fabric.  I've tweaked placement of several circles to make the line of the spiral smoother.  As soon as my new iron arrives I'll iron them in place on the background.

The circles have been stitched down with raw edge stitching.   the background here actually shows up much lighter than the golden cream that it is.   I'm thinking I might quilt it in a variegated cream if I can find that kind of color.

Next step in the process of making this quilt has been the decision on how to quilt it.  At this first I had thought about some sort of straight line quilting - either following the contours of the circles or echoing the spiral they are arranged in.

But the quilting design that the quilt really cried out for was the bubbles shown here on the left.     So my plan is to do that, but first i need to practice because I've never done it before on a quilt, altho I can do it on paper when practicing.

I'm glad that this quilt isn't due until around February of next year because it's gonna take me a while to finish it with everything else going on.



The schedule for the complete hop:

Monday, November 5th, 2018

• Heather: http://www.heatherquilts.blogspot.com/
  
• Tami: https://thriftshopcommando.blogspot.com/
  
• Moira: https://quiltedsnail.blogspot.com/
  
• Marian: http://www.seamstobesew.com 

Tuesday, November 6th, 2018

• Susan: https://desertskyquilts.wordpress.com/
  
• Terry: http://www.terryaskeartquilts.com/
  
• Janeen: http://quiltartdesigns.blogspot.com/
  
• Lee Anna: http://lapaylor.blogspot.com/ 

Wednesday, November 7th, 2018

• Bea: http://www.beaquilter.com/
  
• Carol: http://www.quiltedfabricart.com
  
• Andrée: http://quiltinglearningcombo.blogspot.com

 

Thursday, November 8th, 2018 

• Irene: http://Irene.grimes.wordpress.com
  
• Wendy: http://www.piecefulthoughts.com/
  
• Judith: http://www.frimart.ch/

Friday, November 9th, 2018 

• Melva: https://melvalovesscraps.blogspot.com/
  
• Barb: http://www.bejeweledquilts.blogspot.com
  
• Anita: http://quiltlovefordomesticfelicity.blogspot.com
  
• Alida: http://tweloquilting.blogspot.com/ 

Gratitudes:

1. For the knowledge that even when I fret and worry, my anchor holds secure to the Rock that will never be moved.

2. For the knowledge that even tho I've never have a life partner in any way, there are still many friends and family members in my life who are there for me when I've needed a shoulder to lean on for a bit.

Stretching Art 20th year

The 20th anniversary edition of the Stretching Art challenge has a theme of "Twenty" which left me blank on what to do.

I've decided to do something using Fractals.  For those that don't know what a fractal is, the best definition that I've found online is this - "A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop."  From The Fractal Foundation.

Currently I'm thinking I may use some of my stash of silks to make the circles.  I've a couple of fabrics with opalescent dots all over them that will make a nice background for the quilt, and I'm hoping that I'll have enough for the binding on it as well.

Current layout idea is something along the lines in my sketch.   There will be 20 circles, or parts there of since some of them may drift off the sides of the wall-hanging.

I even already have an idea of how to quilt this critter.   Woohoo.........and it's well before the due date for a change.   Of course that is because I'm taking part in an Art Quilt Blog hop and needed something for that........lol.

Now where did I put my compass so I can draw all those circles......hmmmm.


Gratitudes:
1.  Off work early today to go vote

2.  A new commission received yesterday to make 4 pillows from a wedding gown.

Finished!

Finished the Ladybug quilt last night.........yippee........and as it were I'm finished early because the due date got moved to late Feb.   Oh well, now I can focus on the other projects with due dates.

I ended up sewing the brooch pin backings onto the ladybugs so that I could pin them to the quilt because I couldn't figure out a doable way to stitch them on with the number of layers that it has.

And then in the morning before work I needed something that didn't make me think, so I took these scrap strips of silks (1" to 1.5" in width) and started sewing them to a piece of fusible fleece for the start of a new purse.  I have a couple more strips to sew on to cover the fleece.   Next up is finding something to use for lining.   I'm thinking maybe a coordinating oriental print for the lining, and ribbon for the strap on it.   I also want to put a pocket on the inside of it, but haven't decided what i'm going to do for that.   This will eventually be listed for sale.

Gratitudes:

1. Paper work that I need to gather for the mortgage is almost together.  

2. For progress in getting things done.

Lady Bug Progress

Thanks to getting off work early last night I was able to make more headway last night on getting this top closer to done. 

Binding is now on (using the same fabric that is on the underside of the leaves).    The hanging sleeve is on and sewn down, and the label is sewn on as well.    I also managed to get the second round of leave stitched down.

The final round of leaves is pinned on in the approximate size that they will be trimmed down to.  Tonight I'll do the satin-stitching that will finish off the ends so they don't ravel and then stitch them down to the quilt.    And I plan to find fabrics to use as test materials in order to make a sample lady bug to see how that process goes.

Close up of the center to the right. 

So far I've used almost 800 yards of thread in making the leaves with all the satin stitching that has been done.

To be decided - the best way to attach the lady bugs to the quilt.  There will be three in the center of the leaves, and several others tucked under some of the leaves.

Gratitudes:

1. For warmer weather

2. For not having to deal with the issues that were found in the home inspection of where I'm currently renting.

Progress on the Lady Bug Challenge Quilt

Made progress on my art quilt for the Stretching Art Challenge today.

Made 12 padded leaves, the top side is a yummy blue-green batik.   I'm using a variegated Sulky 30 wt cotton to satin-stitch around the outside, colors 4120 and 4013.  The underneath threads are by Mettler and Coats.

Bottom fabric is this print.   It is a blue-green with gold metallic weave.

7 of the leaves have been pinned into place and are ready for the centers to be stitched down.   the upper halves of the leaves will be only tacked down at the tip so that they have a little bit of a curl to them.  Once these are stitched in the center, then i'll stop and put the binding on so that I can get it done before it gets too heavy.

One more round of leaves to be made and then 5-7 lady bugs to be made and stuffed before being sewn to the quilt.

And here is the photo that I'm working from. 

Gratitudes:
1. Good friends who speak truth to me

2. For encouragement from those who know me best.

Stretching Art 19 - Ladybugs Started

And I've finally been able to start this quilt, a good thing since I need it completed by mid-Feb.

First step was to trace my rough draft pattern onto tissue paper sheets and then stitch the leaf outlines into the quilt.    Then the tissue paper was removed.

 Once the paper was done, the next step was to prep and then stitch the first sets of leaves onto the quilt.  To make these leaves, I fused a layer of batik to batting, then cut out the succulent leaves.  Once the leaves were cut out I satin-stitched around the edges using Stitch-n-Tear to stabilize them as I stitched.

I'm using Sulky 30-wt cotton variegated thread (color 733 4120) for the satin-stitching.   And it's looking like I will have to get a second spool of thread because I've got a lot of leaves yet to make for this. 

Once the leaves were made, I then used a straight stitch to applique them to the quilt.   I still need to do a little stitching in the leaves because the batik was contrary and bubbled on most of the leaves.  But I figure that will just give added texture to the quilt.

Closer picture of the leaves. 

I am going to have to go back and do some additional stitching on the leaves that I quilted into the background of the quilt because the stitching lines are not showing up well.  Am debating how I want to do that.   Am leaning to the stretch straight stitch, but might decide to do a very narrow satin-stitch instead.

The remaining succulent leaves remaining to be added will be totally 3D and will be used to add depth to the quilt.

Gratitudes:
1. Finding the additional fabrics over the weekend that I needed for this.

2. For the unexpected half day holiday at work today.

Vacation Sewing

Yes, I brought my sewing machine and several projects with me on vacation.   The blessing of staying with friends is that they know I sew and don't mind if I do it during the day time.  =)

First project to be worked on is the wedding quilt.   I know have 20% of it together (5 blocks + applicable border sections) and am working on block #6.   Thankfully they are going together fairly quickly, as a result I'm hoping to get this together before I change residences.  First two rows from the top are in progress.


Project #2 will be working on my art challenge quilt for this year.   It is basically a whole cloth quilt, and I've decided to baste in where I need to stitch......I think..........lol........I may pick up some tissue paper from the dollar store and draw it out on that instead then stitch through the paper.   I'm still debating on how to do the ladybugs to show depth - currently thinking of beading over stuffed little figures.  I do know I'll have to make some of the leaves 3D to give the right sense of 3D-ness to the quilt.   Final stop of 4 or 5 for this group exhibition will be a month long stay in an art gallery in PA where those that want to can put their quilts up for sale.  And I've said that I'll put mine up for sale.  =)  I'd like to get all of the plant stitched in while out here.   Beading I'll leave for home.   Here is the pic I'm working from (found on the web).


Project #3 will be making the blocks (and hopefully top) for a mini quilt I need to get completed for  an online swap.   Pattern has been decided on, just need to pickup fabric for it.

And should all projects make progress I have a set of swap blocks made with 30's repro fabrics
that just need to be put together.........lol.

Gratitudes:
1. Safe travels on the long days of driving this past weekend.

2. Good times with friends and family so far and more to come.

Stretching Art 2018 Inspiration

I love looking at pics of plants that show geometric designs and progressions inherent to the plants themselves.   And have wanted to do a quilt based on them for a long time.

This year's challenge is "Focus" and I found a picture to serve as my inspiration.  This pic of a succulent with the lady bugs in the center has really caught my attention.    So this is the one that I'm definitely going to do.

However, having said that....I'm also intrigued by a couple of other pictures and am sooooooo tempted to use them as well.  Especially the one with the raccoon.   Don't you just wish you knew what he (or she) was focusing on?

Gratitudes:

1. The inspiration for creative endeavors that is all around us.

2.  The ability to take that inspiration and do something with it.

Dreaming Big, part 1

Quilt is now basted together (main fabric for the front and the backing) and I've not started laying out the fabric for the river bed.

The fabric that I'm using for it is one that is graduated in color.  Light at the selvedges to dark at the center.  All of which means I have to use multiple pieces to get the coloring that I want through out my "river bed".    I've done a rough layout of the pieces to get a feel for the number of pieces that I need.   May yet rearrange them.

Next step is to add strips of fusible webbing to the edges of the strips and then trim the pieces into a more random but continuous river.  Normally I would put fusible web under the entire sections but since i'll be hand stitching the "water" down I don't want to do that this time.    Should be "fun" working with it.....lol.

Gratitudes:

1. The heater works well in my car.

2. Repairman is finally coming to the house this afternoon to make the needed repairs.

Stretching.......

For the past 15+ years I've taken part in an annual challenge to make an art quilt.   There is always a theme, and the quilts are then shown in a special exhibition at one or more quilt shows.   Each year's challenge always has a theme to it.   And the idea is that each person will try to stretch themselves in some way as they make their quilt.  

This year's theme is "Dream Big".   And for me that big dream is paying off all of my debts so that I can live debt-free with the possible exception of a house at some point in the future.   I've made progress over the last couple of years, but there are several more years to go before I'll be there......hence my big dream.  One lesson that is all too well learned is that when deeply in debt and struggling to make ends meet, so many of the pleasures in life such as family, friends, hobbies, travel, church, giving to others and so many more cannot be enjoyed because ones focus is utterly consumed with survival.

Having been down this road before and now doing it again, paying off debts, especially where I started from just a couple of years ago the process has ups and downs.   And in many ways is like a rafting trip down a turbulent river towards the calm at the end of the trip.    And thus my choice of how to depict my dream.

I plan to improv-applique/piece a river depicting the stages that one would go through on a white-water rafting trip with 4 basic stages.   Each of the succeeding stages will have water that is less and less turbulent, ending with calm water that you can see the river bed below and all that the river contains.   I plan to write all the things that I haven't been able to enjoy along the river bed, but just as in real life they will only really become apparent in the calm water at the end of the trip.

The fabrics I'll be working with include -

These two batiks - the top green one is the front, and the one at the bottom is the backing fabric.  They are basted together at this point, and all piecing will take place at the same time that I work on quilting the piece.







This is the fabric I'll be using for the riverbed.   It is one that shades from light to dark and back again.  



















This final bunch is what I'll be using for the water in the river.  There are tulles, and other similar fabrics that I'll be working with to show the turbulence in the river as it rushes by boulders and turns in the and head to the calm at the end of the rapids.

Still to be decided - how to make a canoe or raft of some sort to show where I'm in this journey.

Gratitudes:
1. For the progress I've made in paying off debt to this point.

2. For those that have supported me along this path.

Finished projects

Looking back over the pictures of what I've completed this summer I've realized I've managed to get several projects finished up.  The biggest project was my challenge quilt for the Stretching Art 2013 Challenge.    

I love participating in this annual challenge because it always challenges me to try something new.   This year it was the use of raw-edged woven and quilted strips for the center of the quilt.    To work with this years theme was "Here Am I" I had fun looking for charms and buttons that fit a part of my life and me.   There are charms/buttons for my graduation from grad school this year, but being a Texan, Irish, Scottish, for having lived in AZ for many years loving cats, collecting snails, and to honor friends and family.   There are buttons from my CQ stash as well.    Once those were sewn on I then wrote words on the alternate blocks that either I had come up with or that friends had said to describe me.   Overall this quilt went together quickly which is what i needed this summer.    It finished out at 17" wide by 31" long.

I also managed to finish off a couple of gifts early this summer.   The first was a quilted cover for a Nook for a birthday present for one of my best friends.    It was late, but that's pretty much how everything went this last school year.   The outer case is a drapery print in blues and the lining fabric is a old style book end print.  

The second gift I finished was for my niece who graduated from high school this year.   I made her an embellished towel set  to take to college with her this fall.   The set has a wash cloth and towel with a strip of fabric sewn on them.  The third piece in the set is a hand towel that has been made into a toiletry holder with spaces for a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, etc.  The instructions that I used as a basis for the toiletry holder can be found here on The Organized Wife blog.   Thankfully this gift was done on time for me to head down to my niece's graduation.  =)

Next up for gifts - baby gifts for two ex-coworkers, and thinking ahead to a wedding gift that I need to start thinking about.   Thankfully the latter doesn't need to be finished till next summer sometime.   The baby gifts tho need to be worked on now.   And to easily finish both of them I really need to get my quilt frame set up so that I can use the long-arm to quilt.............but that won't happen until the end of September when my niece is back up here after finishing basic and advanced training for the Army National Guard.    Other plans in mind are to work on a quilt for my niece, but it definitely won't be done for when she finishes her training, especially since 2 wks from now school starts back up and I won't have a lot of time to sew anymore.....sigh.

Gratitudes:
1. For the funds that God provided to pay for new brakes on the Rav and the new sensor earlier in the summer.
2. For the amount of the commissioned work that I was able to accomplish this summer.