Reader Challenges

One of the features of Quilting Arts magazine is a Readers Challenge.  They pick a topic and challenge readers to make a small quilt that fits that theme.   The sizes vary - 10 x 10, 8 x 10, 9 x 12; themes run the gamut from Passages to Hands, In the Park to In the Garden.  You send in pictures of your quilt and they choose about 12 from all the entries.  Odds of being chosen are pretty slim - they pick only about one tenth (or less!) of the entries, depending on how many entries there are.  I've entered twice in the last year; not chosen yet, so it's safe to share my creations.  I will keep trying.

 Above is my entry for Passages, called "I Can Fly".  The base is rusted fabric. Other techniques include gelatin plate printing, screen printing, transfer artist paper, and fusible appliques.  The inspiration for this piece was my daughter, who, when she was growing up, often said "Guess what?"  When I asked what, the response was "I can fly!"  She's all grown up now and proved that she can fly. 

 For "In the Garden", I submitted 2 pieces.  Above is a mini version of my Song Sung Blue quilt that you might remember seeing pictures of here.  This piece is rubber stamped and screen printed with some beads added for embellishment.  The piece below, Money Plant, is a quilt I made a couple of years ago as a sample.  It was 9x12, but needed to be 8x10 for this challenge so I cut it down and did some additional hand stitching.

Even though I didn't make it to the pages of the magazine, I'm still happy with all 3 of these pieces.

Magic Paint

Hmm...if only I could make that one flower disappear.  Well, I think I did, mostly!

If you look really closely, you'll see it's still there, just hiding in the grass.  In printing the flower, I covered the bottom leaf next to the rock, so I started by reprinting that leaf.  I added some more blades of grass on top of the white, and repainted the part of the rock that had white on it.  So from a distance it's not really visible, and close up, it's just peaking out from the grass. The others may be a little more prominent than I want at this point, but I think the quilting will blend them in a bit more.

Next - the quilting.

Finished Leaves and Stems

 I used these 2 leaf stamps to fill in some of the space in the garden.

 At this point, I like it, but decide to see what it looks like if I add some butterflies left over from another project.

The butterflies are screen printed on yellow fabric and have fusible on the back so when I decide on the final placement they can be fused in place.  I'm planning on one more addition but am not quite there yet.  Stay tuned.

Printed Leaves & Stems

In the last post I showed a thermofax screen I made for printing stems.  It's actually text - the first 2 lines of Song Sung Blue:
Song song blue, everybody knows one
Song sung blue, every garden grows one.

 I think the use of text adds an interesting element and also ties the piece in with the song.

 Above are some of the stamps I used for leaves and stems on the smaller flowers.  The 2 pink ones are carved from Speedy Carve and the other is made from a foam sheet with adhesive on one side; it is mounted on a piece of Styrofoam meat tray.

Here's an unobstructed view. More additions to come.

Building Up Layers (2)

Let's try this again.  Here are the next 2 photos in the process.

 Above, I added more detail to the flowers.  You can see that the dark blue flowers had a second screen that outlined the petals and filled in the center.  I thought the yellow would work for this but hmm....a little too much yellow?  Well, I decided to let it go for the time being and continue adding.

I had carved a flower stamp, but wasn't sure if I wanted to use it.  I made some modifications to it and added 3 prints.  I thought it was a positive addition. More tomorrow on what comes next.

Brand New Year, Brand New Start

2013 - Brand new year - wow, I remember thinking about 10 years ago how far away that date seemed, it being the year I reach full retirement age with the state.  And now its here.  Happy, YES! But also more aware of how quickly time passes.  9 more months (till retirement) but it will fly by. 

I've also been contemplating what to focus on creatively for this coming year.  Not sure I've come to a conclusion, but have a few things I would like to pursue.  Sketching is one.  I've tried rather unsuccessfully to keep a sketchbook, but I think this is the year to try harder.  I've gotten some inspiration from a few sources - books and blogs - and would love to say I'll make a daily sketch, but realistically, once a week may be more doable.

I just read Lynn Krawczyk's post on her blog about an idea from the JustB blog - a month's worth of creative prompts.  Think I'll have to check that out.  Maybe ideas for sketching prompts.  Hmm....  And posting to this blog more regularly...starting today.

Finishing projects is always on the list.  Thought I'd share the process for one I'm working on now.  It's a quilt guild challenge based on top songs from 40 years ago to celebrate the guild's 40th anniversary this year.  All the participants chose a song from the billboard top 100 of 1974 - I chose "Song Sung Blue" by Neil Diamond.  One of my favorite singer/songwriters.  The piece was originally going to be all block printed, but after doing the background, I decided to combine screen printing, stenciling and block printing, similar to a piece of fabric I created last summer. (Truth be told, it was going to take longer to carve stamps than I had time for!)

Here's the first step, with the sky and grass block printed for the background.  There is actually  more layered printing of the grass than shows in this picture; it looks like I didn't take a picture with that additional printing, but you can see it in the image below.

My vision is a garden of blue flowers, hence the blue flowers printed above.  "Song sung blue, everybody knows one.  Song sung blue, every garden grows one."  These are all thermofax screens made from photos of flowers.  More on the process tomorrow!

Quilt Camp 4

Greetings from New Hampshire!  My friend Elizabeth and I are in the midst of "quilt camp 4" at her summer house on the lake.  We've had limited internet access so this is the first post.  Weather has been beautiful, we escaped Northern Virginia just before the big storm hit that knocked out power for days.  We have been creating and relaxing, enjoying nature...except for the bear that visited this morning!  Here are a few pictures from the first week and a half.

 This fellow decided to take one of the bird feeders as soon as Elizabeth put it out this morning.

 First round of ice dyeing, a t-shirt and 2 half-yards of fabric.

 This was my big project for week 1; screen printed, stamped and stenciled on duck cloth, 1/2 yard.

 Ice dyeing, round 2. T-shirt & 2 scarves this time.  

 A carved rubber stamp to represent grass for another project.

 Sun printing.

 A beautiful sunset on the lake.

 A walk in the woods at Castle in the Clouds.

 A visit with friends at their camp on nearby Squam Lake.

 We paddled the canoe into the nearby creek in search of dragonflies and other pond life to photograph.

First attempt at breakdown screen printing.  Results of 2nd round are better, photos later!