Thursday, December 26, 2013

Another Landscape from my class


 


This student went toward the realistic side and used fabrics with designs that depict the clouds, trees, flowers, water and desert. The creek even has a pebbled bank on each side.



 



So, quilting it was just a little different than the usual textures. I just had to follow the clouds in the sky fabric. I echoed each colored area in the sky to get the density of quilting that I wanted.



 



And, I put a forest of Ponderosa Pines in the dark green area. The fabric beneath that already had trees, so I just outlined them.








Of course, the creek had to get a swirly water treatment. But, other than that – texture, texture, texture!



 






And, just for a little seasonal fun, here's a picture of a “modified” deer caution sign I took in Bridgeport, California, this past Fall.



 




The end of all exploring will be to arrive where we started and to see it for the first time.”
                                                                                    Anon.




Friday, December 20, 2013

The Lure of Woodland Quilts


I'm blessed to live in a place where you can see elk and deer walking across your road almost every day. In fact, here's a pic I took a while back of a few of the boys hanging out in the neighbor's yard.



 



This next quilt is the 2014 raffle quilt from my guild. It didn't take us long to realize that woodland style quilts do better here than any other style. Everyone wants a woodsy quilt for their cabin.



 



It was put together by a couple of our talented ladies, and I think they did a wonderful job.



 



The animal silhouettes are cut out of ultrasuede, so they have a lovely texture.



 



For the quilting, I tried a variety of leafy shapes  and textures for the multiple sashings. And, of course, I put pine boughs onto the tree shapes.



 



Yes, we have bears here, too, but luckily we don't see them! LOL!
 




 



The animal shapes are even recognizable from the backside.





 



Lots of photos of this one, but I really like it! Hope you do, too!





Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss...but, also the sense of where you are going and why.”

                                                             Eddie Cantor

Friday, December 6, 2013

More Rolling Landscape





I've posted before about the simple Rolling Landscape quilt that quickly developed into a Series of 6 landscapes. Subsequently, I was asked by my quilt guild to teach a class on my free-hand cutting and curve piecing techniques. Here's a picture again of my first landscape, a sunset.



 



And, here is the first one I get to quilt for one of my students. Wow, what a sunset! And, the purple mountains! And the rolling greens that flow past the waters, down to desert sands at the bottom. Beautiful!






That black piece represents the city lights as seen from a distance. Can you see the tiny night lights?



 



While I usually quilt these pieces with tiny textures that don't really represent anything recognizable, the setting sun on this piece just cried out for radiating sunrays. Gives the sky so much depth, don't you think?





"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."
                                                                            Picasso