Posted in hand embroidery, painting, quilting

Fun Friday Finished Blocks

The Oregon Baby quilt block creation phase is ju……..st about done. Today I want to share two blocks that I finished and two images of blocks that my daughter finished.

Let’s start with sketches: My first attempt at rendering a painted turtle didn’t work out very well in the applique process. It was too complicated.

While I loved the drawing, I decided to start over. Here is my revised sketch with some colored pencil enhancements.

and here is my block complete with applique, machine stitches and painted details.

(there is a little smudge of paint that rubbed off my hand. I’ll have to find a way to cover it up before sewing this block into the quilt.)

Next I sketched a fish common to the northwest: coastal cut-throat trout.

This was easy to applique, and required very little paint to render the fishy details.

Yesterday, I was thrilled to receive two photographs of blocks completed by Amanda. During the preliminary phase of the quilt design, I had shared two sketches with her.

She took these designs and interpreted them in her own style. In addition to applique and paint, she added some expert hand embroidery touches to these blocks. Her results really bring these cute animals to life.

Dragonfly on waterlily
Dragonfly on waterlily
Red Fox

In the meanwhile, I have sewn up all of the strip pieced blocks. There are only two more feature blocks to finish before the quilt top can be assembled.

I’m pretty happy right now, and feel confident the quilt will be ready to send when my goddaughter’s baby arrives in August.

Posted in drawing, painting, quilting

Another Friday, More Finished Blocks

This week was moderately productive. I finished several more blocks for the Oregon Baby quilt, including two feature blocks. There are now four features finished, except for any finishing embroidery touches.

I made the western meadowlark and baby rabbit blocks.

Beginning sketch for meadowlark:

Western Meadowlark

Progress photos and finished block:

Strip piecing added

Beginning sketch of rabbit:

Baby bunny
Strip piecing added

Some additional remarks about the rabbit: The original photo was of a hybrid rabbit – white fur and brown patches, pale blue eyes. I’ve been observing many wild rabbits that hop about the garden here in my new home. Their coloration is more earthy and the eyes appear jet black. So that is how I made this rabbit. Also, the poor bunny has no nose or mouth yet. Those details will be added with embroidery floss. And maybe a few whiskers to boot.

Now when I line up the completed blocks, the quilt looks like this:

Two rows out of five. The big picture is coming into focus.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are enjoying your long week-end (U.S. readers) Please drop me a word or two about your current project. I’d love to know what feeds your creative impulses.

Posted in painting, quilting

Friday Finish: Baby Quilt Feature Blocks

Hi, friends,

I’m thinking that it’s time to reveal the first finished blocks that I made for Oregon Baby quilt. As I described in earlier posts, these would be various animals found in the baby’s home state.

I started with the rufous hummingbird and the Oregon swallowtail butterfly. Here are photos showing the steps to completion:

Hummingbird:

Butterfly:

Slight exaggeration here: The butterfly needs its antenna . I will hand embroider this detail before I assemble the quilt.

Some of you may think that I omitted showing all the steps in the process. And you’re right. I had to turn the pencil drawings into pattern pieces before I could convert the design to fabric. Without going into tedious details, this work was done using tracing paper and photo copies. I also did zigzag machine stitching around the butterfly and straight stitching on all the edges of the hummingbird.

Now here is an photo of how these panels look next to the string-pieced blocks.

My apologies to those who are bothered by the wonkiness of the strips. Yes, it was deliberate. So sue me.

The fun will continue over the weekend as I translate more of my sketches into quilt blocks. Which will I choose next?

Posted in drawing, Living Life Well, painting

Another Oldie but Goody

Carrying on with postings from the past, I bring you this one, written two years ago today. The 100 Day project was a collaboration with my husband. He selected 100 photographs from his archives that matched a list of categories I had given him. I then attempted to make art out of his choices. We both enjoyed the process. In the pursuit of truth, I must admit that I didn’t make it to 100 days.

Posted in painting

Finished by Friday – a Farewell

Taking a break from packing boxes this week, I decided to attend Open Studio at my local art association for a class conducted by mentor Cheryl Bryan. This will be my last class with Cheryl before I move away. She sent us this sketch…..

……and told us we would practice painting with only two colors. We were to choose two that, when mixed together, created a neutral black.

I chose to make my own sketch instead of tracing Cheryl’s. I followed her general design but simplified the line work in the lower left area. My chosen pigments were Winsor and Newton’s Ultramarine blue and transparent orange. This is one of my favorites for a good black, as I discovered when painting Winter Chicks in 2023.

The following morning, I cleaned up my edges, adjusted a few values and added tiny and minimal details using Micron pens and a soluble graphite pencil.

This was a fun, easy class that produced a highly-stylized result. I loved every minute. I call this one Dancing with a Seagull. It is 9 by 6 inches on cold press Arches paper

I will sorely miss these Open Studio sessions, the people at the association and especially instructor Cheryl Bryan. It will be hard to find another group like it in my new home. I’ll check in with Cheryl periodically, in the spirit of Apprenticeship.