Chloe's Art Quilt & Jim to be Immortalized in Fabric

Chloe wondered why I hadn't yet published this work of her's so here it is. She chose all of the fabrics and yarn for this project and she did the freemotion stitching while sitting in my lap.


And my current QuiltU class, Realistic Fabric Portraits, is not so easy. I'm debating on the right photo and made Jim brush his hair and change shirts for these pic today. Ain't he handsome! It was a struggle but who wouldn't want to be immortalized in a family heirloom forever? Our instructor, Marilyn Belford encouraged us to use a "mature" photo rather than a child because of the thread painting. Mature faces are more forgiving for beginners.


mmmmm...is it me or does he look a tad like the deliciously evil Dr. Christian Troy from Nip Tuck baby!

Abstract Emotional Attempt

Still in the midst of my Art for Quilter's class and I'm way behind. I forced myself to do the abstract challenge tonight. I just hope they don't vote me off. (watching too many Project Runway DVDs lately)

We were to use geometric shapes to create an abstract in fabric that represents a feeling or tells an emotional story. How you do that with abstracts? I still don't know. I kept finding myself wanting to paint a full-blown picture of Lucifer in the corner. Ok, now you can guess my "feeling" was not happy! Actually, looking at it on my black blog, it does kinda convey the sorrowful tone I was aiming for! Good times.

My original "emotion" was too ugly to even post so here is the lightened up version: This is about grief and the loss of a loved one. Kind of a snapshot of early grief and pain of loss shooting in. For the longest time you feel as if a spear is stuck in your middle...very deep and it may never come out. Then, the grieving squeezes tears out and the long healing process begins. The blue circle represented the lost love in the beginning but transformed into myself. I wanted to depict the lost one disappearing into oblivion but my skills lack and I wanted to finish and move on. Before I started I kept saying to myself, "Do something pretty and soothing and fun....come on you don't have to go THERE." Then It just wouldn't go away and hey it works, it's done and out.


This is my original sketch. The results are similar but I just couldn't pull my "vision" off since 1) I'll never have enough fabrics 2) I really wanted to get her done and move on from this unhappy place.

My extremely talented instructor
Marilyn Belford
wrote:

This is a strong piece. It is well thought out and the eye moves around the work perfectly. It expresses everything you said, and more. Those red arrows moving in, changing direction and getting smaller, add great depth and suggest the three-dimensional roundness of the circle, as well as the transition to tears. The whole piece evokes a feeling of healing. Nice going! I notice in the lower left some squiggles in red. Is that a compositional ploy (which, by the way, works)? Or a symbol, or letters... or?

But I just had to respond,
could it be....Satan?

I was thrilled she got the "healing" aspect of the piece!

Happy Birthday Mom! We made it through Monday!

I had lunch with my mom today and it is her birthday! I thought this day deserved over-running that ugly anxiety fabric below with an empty tequila bottle on a Mexican beach! Since my mom encompasses about 98% of my readership I don't want her subjected to my stressed out brain below. (: I love you Mom!!! : )

Anxiety Art

I painted this chunk of fabric with straight black dyes the other night. It's a good picture of Sunday night anxiety. Since it bothers me to look at, I'll post a prettier piece once Monday has come and gone so as not to bum anyone out all week. I painted left-over ebony dye onto dry fabric thinking I'd get black on white but the red traveled out of the black. Maybe this is what my brain looks like when stressing out. Not pretty.

Actually, this weekend turned out several twisted pieces of ugly things and I can't post them because I abandoned them at a friend's house. I'm sure she appreciates that!

Battle of the BAQ

I couldn't figure out why, all of a sudden I couldn't move the quilt during stitching. I'd just changed the needle. Oh, must be this cheapy machine and if I only had a Bernina. Is gum stuck up under there or nasty thread nests snagged to the feed dogs? Ah, just Sammy the daughter's cat napping on the corner. This thing follows me everywhere. He loves to nap on the computer keyboard but only when I'm typing. What is it with cats and quilts? And did you know you can dye kitty fur? Yeah, no joke. People do it and I've seen it with my own eyes. No one knows what she'll make with it, but I do hope she sends me an email of her finished project. It is tempting...here kitty kitty!

I've committed to finish a minimum of one square of stitching per night, maybe two. My goal is to finish before the cold of winter. In Houston that'll give me until..hmm that one weekend in February?

Big OLE Quilt In Progress

The BOQ (formerly the BAQ) title is self explanatory. I was warned by the awesome staff at Sunflower Quilts http://www.sunflower-quilts.com/ to pay to have this sucker long-armed. But NOOOO...my "can-do" self thinks "Why not! How hard can it be? " I should be finished right around Chloe's wedding day...(she's 6 now) My dear friend Mary was absolutely correct in her assumption about my constant thread breaking. Must use same BA Thread in bobbin as well as top.

Chloe and Zoe's art quilts

CLICK IMAGES TO MAKE THEM BIGGER
(Click on images to enlarge)

The girls painted muslin last night using my Jacquard Textile paints. I heat set them and quilted them up over night. Chloe expressed anxiety about my stitching on her work but was pleasantly surprised when I finished it. Her profound text reads, "Don't Blame Me...Blame the Heart" (I didn't do it).

Quilt for Chloe - 30's reproduction squares

I made this one from 30's repro fabric squares and added machine applique on the borders. The picture doesn't do my curly free-motion stitching justice. This project was made entirely out of quality cottons from ebay and quilt shops.

My First Quilt

I was inspired to make this after watching an effective demonstration at Houston Quilt Festival 2003. This girl whacked, shuffled and sold me on the kit. So I bought the ruler, the pattern and not enough fabric to do it. Talk about proud when completed! We use it daily and love it. Though, the colors are very strange. Mom said "It's a Mardis Gras quilt!" Yeah, yeah that's what I was aiming for, sure. Self Question: Why do I always put purple and green together? It's also a combo of really cheap fabric cottons with quality pieces. And for some reason I used purple and green flannel for the sashing? Oh well, it all gets better from here!

From "Fun With Fusibles Class"

I made this mini quilt from "Fun with Fusibles" online class. I love www.quiltuniversity.com classes!

You HAVE TO CLICK on THE PICTURE so you can appreciate the fine free-motion stitching I did on this!