Tag: art quilt

Posted in quilting

In Progress: Pieced Landscape Art Quilt

Posted on by Laura Kate

Today I’m catching up on the abstract landscape quilt that I started in mid-May:

Obsessed by Strips

I would say nothing has changed, but I would be lying. During the planning phase, I started to think about Japanese quilts – most likely because I recently purchased two books on modern Japanese quilting by Susan Briscoe. She is a textile artist who worked in Japan for many years as an English teacher. In her book, Japanese Quilt Blocks to mix and match, she features 125 patchwork, applique and sashiko blocks in a modern style that is inspired by tradition. Textiles recycled from kimonos and other garments give the blocks an Asian look.

Consequently, I decided that my original plan was not abstract enough. I discarded the house block already constructed and made one using the Japanese block called Sunken Hearth.

In fact, I made two hearth blocks – one in bold colors for the middle ground and one in faded pastels for the background. This second block is located half-way up the mountain in the foggy part of the landscape.

I redrew the upper right corner of the design from clouds into a mountain. You could think of it as Mt. Fuji. The fabric is a white-on-white print of spirals, suggestive of clouds to me.

As of today, I am about 2 thirds finished with the piecing phase. I have completed four rows out of seven.

By the way, I have a new favorite tool:

This flexible flat-bottomed shape is a technical drawing tool that belongs to Bill. He got it back in his college days for a class. Using this tool, I can match up a long curve which crosses over two different blocks. I Love it.

One more Japanese touch will be added to the lower right corner. In the reference photograph, there is a group of red-twigged shrubs behind a stone wall. I plan to use the Pieced Ogi, aka Folding Fan, to abstract this feature.

Are you making something from your scraps? Do share.

Posted in quilting

Obsessed with Strips

Posted on by Laura Kate

Since completing the Japanese Knot bag (which turned out quite well, IMHO,) I keep thinking about the potential of making art by sewing strips of fabric together. Casting around for some inspiration, I thought about making another abstracted landscape art quilt. Last year’s landscape quilt was inspired by a visit to the Badlands at Roosevelt National Park. My technique of choice for that piece was layered applique. It interests me to try another landscape but this time piece it with blocks made of fabric strips.

In searching suitable references, I returned to this evocative photograph by James Kemp which I had found on Unsplash a few years ago.

james-kemp-bXFEiuZtk64-unsplash

I love the contrast of pale foggy high places, with a midground of dark trees and a foreground of warm grasses and red twigs. If I can simplify the big shapes and translate the photo’s colors to fabric scraps, it could work.

Next I did a quick, scribbly value sketch.

I transferred the major lines to a giant Post-It note, which happened to be full-size for this project. I next drew in a grid of 4 x 4 squares. Using 4 inch blocks, I will need to make 35 blocks.

I started cutting my strips and sorting them by color.

Using the image as my guide, I built sets of six strips, arranged them along the grid and cut them down into squares.

The whole project started to spin out of control. Weirdly enough, instead of getting frustrated, I was drawn into working with more effort and thought.

Two days later, things looked something like this.

No, look away Nothing to see here!

Ah, more like this.

Sad little blocks. Believe me, it does look better IRL than in this photo.

I predict that if it keeps raining, and I can’t go outside and play, I’ll continue to cut, strip and sew on this project.

Posted in quilting, sewing

Here’s what came today

Posted on by Laura Kate

Earlier in the week, Quilting Gail had let me know that my name was randomly selected to receive a door prize for participating in this year’s Stay At Home Round Robin quilt challenge. I was thrilled to learn that the prize was Aurifil thread! Of all the gifts that were sponsored this year, the thread was the one I had my eyes on. I’ve been wanting to try this superior brand of thread for several months now, ever since a certain big box store discontinued offering its line of quilting thread – I’m pointing at you, Hobby Lobby!

The Necessities House Collection includes four neutral shades ranging from white to black. For piecing one’s quilt, this covers all the colors that one would need to get the job done. I can’t wait to try it out in my Bernina machine.

So here is my shout out to Gail and her cohorts for organizing the challenge.

And here’s my shout out to Aurifil for its generosity in sponsoring SAHRR 2024.

To see the quilt I made for the SAHRR 2024 challenge, click here.

Posted in quilting, recycling

SAHRR 2024 Finish: Migration World

Posted on by Laura Kate

This is the week that Quilting Gail has designated for challenge participants to post pictures of their finished quilts. The Stay At Home Round Robin challenge is in its fourth year. It’s been a fun ride for me, and pure pleasure to see the work of other quilters as they add a border week by week.

It started for me when I chose a center block from a group of experiments that I did almost five years ago. Back then I was teaching fiber arts to a group of home-schooled children. One week I had the students experiment with fabric paint on pieces of a cut-up sheet. The panel I used in my SAHRR came from the example I made, to show the students some of the possibilities of fabric paint.

Four colors of paint were applied in bands horizontally across the fabric and allowed to bleed together. When the panel dried, it looked like a mountain scene to me. I enhanced the image with opaque white paint, paint pens and stencils of pine trees.

The painted panel set the color palette for my SAHRR.

That choice led me on a path which resulted in a quilt about migration. For some time, I had been toying with designing and sewing paper pieced butterfly blocks. Could I make a quilt about the monarch annual migration to Mexico? The time I spent researching this migration led me to think about the wider issues of habitat loss and climate change. Now I had a broader story to tell with my quilt.

The weekly challenges offered by SAHRR quilters helped me to build some structure around my ideas. For that I am grateful.

Here are some close-ups of a few details I added with applique and micron pens.

And here is my finished quilt:

Just a word about the materials used: I was determined to buy nothing for this project, making it entirely with stuff that I already owned. I mentioned the cut-up sheet. In addition, I recycled pieces of clothing such as dresses and men’s shirts. The main fabric, which was used as sashing, was also divided up and painted various colors to carry it into most of the borders. Ultimately, I did have to buy a few quarter yards of black patterned fabric and the quilt’s batting.

Thank you to organizer Quilting Gail and her fellow designers who put together this year’s SAHRR challenge. You can find their work here:

And to see the finished quilts, follow this link.

https://fresh.inlinkz.com/party/7eab5849658e4307bf5cfcff8e69c998

Posted in quilting

SAHRR Round #5: Moving forward with 4

Posted on by Laura Kate

Our quilting guru for this round is Quilting Gail. She has suggested that we make this border inspired by the number 4. That can cover a lot of turf. One could use blocks made of 4 patches, or 4 different colors in the block, or build the border to be 4 inches wide, or all of the above. Here are the fabrics I have selected for the bottom row of my SAHRR quilt.

The warm and earthy palette of this round is informed by the colors of the American Southwest desert. My goal is to depict a (deadly) drought.

Here are the aspects of my border that accomodate the number four. I started with a piece of fabric about 5 inches square. I then transected it vertically, inserted a strip of black, cut across the block and inserted another strip. Four sections are divided by the sign of a cross. I proceeded to make four blocks containing crosses.

I also made a few four patch blocks, a few blocks sewn from 2 1/2 inch strips and a few one-piece blocks.

Here is my collection of blocks for the four-inch bottom border.

After this week, my quilt looks like this:

There is much left to do before I can proceed with round 6. I need to make the left and right borders of this round. I also need to finalize the top border, which now contains the fishy square in squares. While I will be seeking additional inspiration, I can reveal one thing: There will be more butterflies landing on these borders.

If you are curious to see how other Stay at Home Round Robin challenge participants have interpreted this week’s prompt, you can find the link to their posts here.