Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Salsify by Kathy Lichtendahl


Here is my second entry to FFFC. I am amazed at how many of us seem to have had the same initial idea of wind as the subject for the movement in our pieces. Especially since it is an invisible element in real life! The timing of this challenge was perfect for me as I just purchased an embellisher with some birthday money and really needed an excuse to try it out. The seed pods of the salsify plant are made from some of the hair off one of my llamas, attached to the background with the embellisher. The curving line of flying geese was a true challenge and I really need to work on coming up with a better method for including them in any future quilts. Any and all comments are welcome!

9 comments:

Ann Morrell said...

You will enjoy your Embellisher... it does a lot more than folks realize...if you think it might work for a technique...try it...and most likely it will do what you want. I like the wind...am thinking it might have been neat if the wind extended into the border...but then the border would have had to be a different color. I really like the piece.

Kathy Lichtendahl said...

Ann,
Good idea although it probably would require more time and planning than I had on this quilt since the "geese" are inset. But I think I may go back in and continue the triangles in the border by using quilting lines. Hmmm...
Kathy

Roberta Ranney said...

Hi Kathy - I like the way you've used the flying geese to give the illusion of wind. There are some of us who are lazy enough that we would just fuse down all those triangles and call it good rather than piecing them. Or maybe I'm the only one!

The seed pods made with the llama hair is really attractive. The whole piece works well to me.

Roberta

Art by Rhoda Forbes said...

Kathy, a lovely piece of work. YOu can feel the dandelion seeds blowing in the wind.

I would have liked to see some seed pods in the border, but that's just me, I tend to take things out to the border.

Well done.

Jan said...

Pesky as they are I love dandelions. I agree that the llama hair worked great for the seed pods and also would have liked to see them estend out to the border and maybe beyond to show them scattering. Maybe even bending the stem a bit would have helped to show more movement. I do love it, though, and would proudly hang it on my wall.

brendaj said...

Hi Kathy,
Great job. Love the seed pods; love the triangles. I agree that I would either like to see traces of the seed pods in the border, or maybe have let a little more background above the head of the flower; it seems just a bit too closely cropped there. I love the quilting lines; they really add to the movement of the piece. Great job!
Brenda

Monty Wilson said...

I love your quilt. I thought about making those flying geese for mine, but the time limit kicked in and so I didn't. Yours are very effective, especially since the background of the triangles matches the background of the quilt. The triangles really move around the quilt, and then your quilting enhances the feeling. Very very nice!

Carole said...

Love your flying geese. What if they were softer, say a greyed blue to really bring the focus on the dandelion. I agree with the others, some fluff beyond would add a bit of 'extra'.
Well done, you made a lovely lady of the lowly weed.
Carole

Cynthia Ann Morgan said...

Hi Kathy, This is such a crisp clean piece...it's refreshing. The only thing I would change is just a hint of bend to the stalk and carry a bit of the fluff into the border along with quilting the continuation of the flying geese into the border.

I like the cropped view, too. You watch...alot of us will have those flying geese in our upcoming challenges!

Cynthia