A whisper in the grasses

My colors are green, blue and yellow. I fractured the background but when I fractured the grasses they seemed to blend in way too much, so decided to try them layed on top, I now like how they look. I machine embroidered the butterfly. the butterfly body is the yellow, I used textured yarn wrapped on a pipe cleaner. The butterfly is pinned on right now, I am not sure placement of the butterfly is really complimenting the piece or a distraction.
As always your critique is most welcomed!
Jeanne Knudsen

Dragonfly

12 X 12
Green, Purple and Orange

After piecing a scrappy, fractured background in medium to dark greens, I realized the values were wrong as the dragonfly would blend in too much. Appliqueing the five lighter strips didn’t help so I added two layers of netting and let it pucker and fold. I really like the added texture. Not sure I like the three horizontal lines. The quilt is bound with cording made from three types of yarn and a strand of pearl cotton.

Thanks Jan for a fun and challenging challenge!

Comments welcomed.

Fractured Angels

Only a day late. Maybe by next month I'll get some of my energy and creativity back.

I really don't know what to say about it except it is a much better rectangle than the picture shows. I have no good place to take a picture.

Challenge 41 - Transformations

I've posted my Transformations quilt about 14 inches by 21 inches.

Honestly the fractured background was the hardest part - I pieced together and cut a few times an abstract tree bark. I then beaded a caterpillar in the lower right corner and a moth in the upper right corner for my winged creature. I picked this moth because of it's complimentary colors of orange and blue.

As always lots of fun

Lisa
In Overcast Seattle

Dragonfly pond

I had such difficulty understanding this challenge, but decided to make an attempt. Using a turquoise print cotton as background for my composition I constructed what I hoped was two diagonal wavy lines through the lower third and top third of the picture plane. Attempting to keep the colors split, I used fabrics I had either hand-dyed, batiked, silk painted or painted with stamped and foiled embellishments to create the elements of the composition. I am very pleased with the result, unfortunately, I don't think I acheived the stated goal of this challenge.
Jane Stricker

Rhoda Ch #41

First off, thank you Jan for a wonderful challenge. You provided lot's of examples for us, and it certainly was out of my comfort zone. I am posting my finish, and really want to persue the idea of fracturing.
I struggled big time with this, but finished and am not too disappointed. I used all three primary colors with varying hues. The raven, my favorite, does have a crystal for his eye. I put a layer of tulle over the whole piece just to tone down the colors.
My plan was a dark wall with the rays of light coming through from above, not sure I full achieved that, and I did a still life, as the raven likes to sneak into them. I still have the binding too put on, which will be black. I look forward to your critique.

Wings

I decided on orange, green and blue as my colors and a winged maple tree seed "posed" against a maple tree leaf as my subject. I've wanted to try fracturing for a long time, so it was good to have incentive to actually do this. I've learned a lot, chiefly that this would have been more successful if I had paid more attention to value in addition to color. It was fun, however. Thanks for a great challenge!

fractured existance

I feel the life of the penguin is in a state of being fractured by the climate change therefor the title. This quilt is 18"x24". I used cotton silk, velvet and sheers to create this piece. I was very frightened of the challange and had decided not to do it because I was so confused. Now I am so glad I decided to give it a go. My colors are yellow, orange and purple. I'm afraid my camera doesn't see colors quite true. His head is really all black not black and green and his wings are lavender and purple not blue. Great challenge - Thak you.
All comments are welcome and appreciated.

Pat Havey

Crow in Snow by Cynthia Ann Morgan

My winged thing is a crow perched on a snowy branch, in a fractured background of blue, orange and purple. Fun challenge, thanks Jan!

Comments welcome

Cynthia

Ch 41- Hopi-Thunderbird

Hopi Thunderbird is my first try at Fractured art. My colors are green, red, and yellow. I wish I had better lighting for the photo as the dark green came out darker than it is, and the quilting does not show in the photo. The size is 11" x 14", in commercial fabrics, with hand-dyed silk ribbon and beading embellishments.
Thank you for this great challenge Jan. I look forward to comments as I learn a lot from them. LindaMac in WY

Waggle Dance

 Whilst experimenting with painting batting and the fracture challenge cogitating in the sub-concious, I was reminded of our bee-keeping days in the latter years of the last century. I started sewing strata in the colors I chose, yellow, purple and green. As I moved from one thing to another, I thought.... hmmmm... why couldn't I 'paint' batting with thread. So, there there are multiple techniques in this piece.
Besides thread and paint and the obvious commercial cotton, I used wool roving and silk hankie shreds.
I used my favorite thread.... all rayon by the way...
Waggle dance is a term used in beekeeping figure-eight dance of the honey bee. By performing this dance, successful foragers can share with the hive information about the direction and distance to patches of flowers yielding nectar and pollen. Color is also a discrimination.

I look forward to your comments.

P.S. My neighbor from San Francisco loves this piece, says it reminds him of Haight-Ashbury. Maybe I should call it Graffiti.

Fractured Egret as a mobile = fabric art on the move

You have to be over 'a certain age' to remember Frank Sinatra belting out “My Way”. I remember it well. As this project morphed from one thing to another the words, “I did it my way” kept floating through my mind.

As I began to look at the suggestions for fractured things, mosaics appealed to me. Thinking on a grand scale I thought I would do a fractured water lily with an overlay of a dragonfly. I had some sheer fabric just waiting to be used. I found several dragonfly photos, blew one up to a size I thought I could stitch, ~20” long for a single wing. I'm thinking maybe I'll just do the wings as a mobile. By Sunday night I had finished tracing both parts of a single wing onto a sheer paper so that I could just turn it over to get the other side. Taking a break, I got something to eat. When I picked up the spoon to eat my soup, a horrible pain went through my fingers, hand and arm. I could not pick up a spoon without horrible pain. I took some Ibuprofen and sat down at the computer to read; just rocking and holding the arm I had stupidly injured myself. I definitely was not going to trace these again. Of course I was able to eat using my left hand. Not much keeps me from putting food into my mouth.

The next day I took my drawings to a copy place. 4 to 5 hour wait. Nope. I just could not do that. Luckily I didn't do that because when I tried to stitch my sheer fabric over the paper, I could not get the paper out of those little bitty spaces. HMMM.

More research for a winged thing. I was now loving the idea of a mobile. As I surfed, I saw a GREAT plane with a man inside running across the ground. The wings were 3 high and the tail had lots of interesting pieces. I can now imagine this could really have a lot of movement. As I started drawing and planning, I realize I really didn't want a plane. How about a butterfly; hours later that was not working for me. I started looking at birds and mobiles. I did not want a flock of birds. Rather, my vision, was for one bird that I would fracture.

I used one fabric on one side and another on the opposite side. I sewed with a clear polyester in the bobbin and a silver thread on top. As I researched fabrics, polyester is the most resistant to sun and age deterioration. This is what influenced my fabric and thread choices.
Finally, I have something I really like. Luckily, I decided to do a small study instead of a LARGE piece. Balancing the pieces was tricky for me. I used thin black wire and bent my shapes and attaching rings. Because normally these things are done using heavier materials then soldering a ring at the balance point, I added weight [extra wire] when I did my balancing. The beak is really lots of wire, wrapped, then painted. I sewed a layer of sheer fabric to each side, stopped the fray with liquid stitch, then purposefully frayed the edges, ie feathers.

Remembering the goals of this group: “it is through doing that we will learn.” Yes, I learned a lot. Plus, the end of the challenge always states something similar to , “remember to have fun”. Please note it is the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge; not a quilting challenge.

I earned a lot [by doing] + + + I had FUN! I must have inadvertently or subconsciously had the rules in mind all along.

Egret flat

Egret in flight as seen from dining [studio area]

Egret in flight; view from kitchen

Yes, “I did it my way. . .” Ann E. Ruthsdottir aka designerann

Magpie

I was pretty certain I was not going to participate this month, especially since I was traveling out of the country when the challenge was announced. Then I saw the description and I really wanted to play - in part because of the subject matter and in part because of the chance to try the fracturing technique, something I have always admired but never attempted. So I started sketching a magpie on the way home on the airplane on Tuesday. Wednesday I created the design and figured out my piecing strategy and Thursday and today were sewing days. I am really glad I participated even though there are definitely things I would change if I had more time. It is a technique I will try again for sure. He is unquilted at this point but I will tackle that job tomorrow. My colors are blue, green and red with ecru added for the background. The bird fabrics are all my hand dyes and the background fabrics are commercial cottons. He is 25" x 16".

Challenge #41

Here's my entry for challenge #41. Its a butterfly, fractured or broken apart, done in primary colors & quilted in a butterfly design. I may have made the fractures too far apart. My inspiration for this piece is a crayon picture my granddaughter made at school & brought home.

Under the Bridge

I used a photo I had taken under a bridge by the bay here in Florida and

fractured it, then used green, purple, and orange colors. Added the heron. I created the ray of light to shine on the heron. There's three areas: the bridge, the water, and the sandy/grassy area, the quilting follows those themes in the different spaces. It measures 13 by 14 inches or so. Didn't show the wings, but he's got them! Lots of small pieces, it is fused.

thanks for commenting if you have a chance. Chris Predd

My Little Angel

This was really a challenge for me.   I tried the fracture technique once in a class with Katie P. Mostly the class bit off a lot more than they could handle including me. I did not like the technique so I abandoned all thoughts. So I had to overcome some mind things. I decided to go very simple. Something with "wings". Hmmmm. I discarded many ideas including the West Wing of the White House and went with a crazy little angelfish who thinks he can fly. I think I need more contrast with the coral.

I used fusing for all of it. Sometimes fusing was not so easy. Comments and suggestions are very welcome. I did enjoy this challenge and possibly I will try this again.

Carol Tackett

Sea Ranch, California

Squadron On Patrol

I have chosen blue, green and violet for my colors. The fractured background uses many different types of fabrics including lame, holographics, velvets, silks, cottons etc. It was done from a smll section of a photo of a leaf magnified many times then fractured. It makes me think of a high mountain pass.

My theme is a squadron of wingnuts on patrol. The challenge did say "anything with wings" right? (ha ha). The wingnuts are freely floating, attached only across the tops of their wings creating shadows as they "fly the mountain passes". They are constructed using Timtex with a deep charcoal lame covering both sides, accents of silver lame and satin stiched edges using dark silver Glitter (Superior Threads).

It measures 19"x28"

A terrific challenge Jan, so much fun!

Comments / critiques gratefully received

Cherie

Challenge 41 "In the Sun" by Silvia Dell'Aere

Ok, here's my work for this challenge.
But before I've to admit that I've misunderstood the guide-line, due to a translation mistake. When I read "quilt theme" I've understood "the theme of quilting motif", and when I've realized that wasn't right, the design was yet done.
And I loved it so I went on with it. :)

My colour choice is yellow/purple/green... but then I've lost control and added also oranges and pink.
The design jumped in my mind when I've seen a photo of a bunch of flowers. That bunch really looks like a sitting cat. Silly isn't it?
So I've drawn an oval, and a stylized cat, made of circles, in it. Then I've added more circles, to close the lines of the cat contour.
Finally I've added 3 stright lines that would looks like sunbeams. I've taken these lines as a guide to place colours: light in center beam, the 2nd from top, medium tones in 1st and 3rd ray, and finally darker tones in the last ray.

size: 24"x16"
(you can click on image to enlarge)



PS: can you see the butterfly? ^_*

of course I'd like to see what do you think about it :)

Challenge #41- The Source

My little quilt this month is kind of a disappointment. I love the quilt, but don't feel I really got the fractured part. I tried for several hours to make the fractures make sense to me and could not produce a good result to my design sense. Gave up and went with the sheer bubbles to give a "kind of" fractured appearance.

My intension was to get the center portion to be a lighter value to depict light radiating from the "Source" I free cut the fabrics and auditioned onto different grounds but couldn't get the composition to make sense to me. I must be missing some element. I think next time I will use a black and white patterned design with no real subject with color in the fractures to see if I can get it to make sense to me.  Finished size is 11.5" x 17"

Fairy Blues

Ha! I surprised all of you by NOT doing a bird! Besides, I needed to challenge myself more, too.

First I drew the picture of the fairies and mushrooms on a piece of drawing paper. Then, using light lines I tried fracturing it in different ways until I settled on one diagonal line, one vertical line and a circle behind each fairy. I then chose the analogous colors of blue, green, and yellow. The background sky and ground were divided into lights and darks. The circles I chose to do in medium blues. Where ever the lines crossed from one section to the next I used that value of color. The fairies I had intended to do in lights and darks but decided it best to do them in all values and put them on top of the circles. This way the eye was drawn to them more. It measures 14 1/2" x 17".

I have wanted to attempt a fractured piece for quite some time and felt being hostess for this challenge was my push to do so. And now that I've tried this I intend to do more pieces using this technique.

Of course, now you have to comment on mine first!

Challenge 41

FFFC Challenge #41 – January 2010 Hostess: Jan Johnson

Too often we get ‘stuck’ using certain colors in our work and our choices tell a lot about us. Think back to Rhoda’s December challenge and the meaning of the colors in advertising. This month we will be restricted to using only certain colors and subjects.

Color Scheme: Primary Colors and their Complements
· Choose any 3 of the 6 primary and complementary colors. (Red, Blue, Yellow are primary, Green, Orange, and Purple are their complementary colors).
· Use a variety of values to achieve contrast and interest.
· Use their shades, tints, and tones. Shades are blackened hues, Tints are whitened hues and Tones are grayed hues. An example using Orange: the pure hue is the saturated intense Orange, the shade would be Rust, the tint would be Peach, and the tone would be Pumpkin.

Technique: Fracture
Create a series of lines that complement your subject and fracture or break up the surface creating additional shapes. Use fabrics rich in texture and/or pattern, combining solids, calicos, tie-dyes, small print, wild prints, satins, velveteens, etc.

· The Merriam-Webster’s definition of fracture is the act or process of breaking or the state of being broken.
· Try breaking up, or fracturing, your piece into 3 or more areas.
· Use the different colors in each area of fracture. Study how this will change the feeling of your piece and the vibrancy obtained by using just these 3 colors.
· Different patterned fabric will add to your piece.

Quilt Theme: Winged Things either Natural or Man-made
· Choose an animal, plant, or man-made object that possesses wings.
· Use all of the object or part of this object.

Resources:
· Color values and intensity: http://studiochalkboard.evansville.edu/c-saturate.html
· Since mosaics were the first type of fractured art you can compare these to the following modern day fractured surface: http://www.fracturedartmosaics.com/WallPiecesMain.html
· Not textile art, but painted in a way that the entire piece is fractured: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/fractured-heart-brenda-adams.html
· A master of fractured landscape quilts is Katie Pasquini Masopaust. Following are several of her fractured quilts that use pretty vibrant colors which use the fabric design to add texture to the different areas: http://www.katiepm.com/riohondolarge.html http://www.katiepm.com/stairslarge.html http://www.katiepm.com/paintvillagelarge.html http://www.katiepm.com/greenleaveslarge.html http://www.katiepm.com/redwoodslarge.html
· Robbie Joy Eklow has also created several fractured quilts.
http://www.robbieklow.com/Gallery.asp
· These two artists also use fracture in their work to give a different dimension to their work: http://www.acustomquilt.net/ffracturedlandscapes.htm http://www.priscillabianchi.com/po_70.html
· And of course, the original fractured art was of the Cubism school of art…Picasso, George Braque, Juan Gris, et al
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/cubism/ http://tinyurl.com/y9ok4mu http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gris/

Remember to have fun!

Challenge 40

I actually finally finished a challenge - late, but done. I liked the raisin bag - it was colorful and then when I walked into my studio, I spotted the watercolor (picture on the right) I'd done of the caladiums - many of the same colors - so there was my still life. Finished piece is much darker than the package and the watercolor. I'm going to do this piece again with a different background and another hand-dyed fabric for the caladiums to see if I can lighten it up a bit.

Challenge 40 Done!

Well, I'm finally trying to get back into doing the challenges... I did this yesterday, and thought I would have it done and posted before the next challenge was announced, but... yesterday was the 4th Friday.... Maybe I'll get that one done on time??? Anyway, here is what I ended up with for #40. Posted on January 23, but dated the 20th to stay with the proper group.
I drink hot chocolate every morning (my coffee), so I decided to use this box. I love the color blue, and even though the packaging wasn't what made me buy this particular brand, I can see why the colors were used after reading the information about colors and marketing. The blue is used to give the feeling of cold, which is when you would normally be wanting a hot drink. The gold "ribbon" attracts attention to a benefit of the product, and the brown chocolate.... speaks to me.... a chocoholic.
Here it is.... I have a little collection of cobalt blue bottles that I took photos of and printed onto cotton fabric for appliques. I almost didn't remember that plants were to be a main theme, and began this a little differently, but ended up with the right bottle being a vase for a stem of daisies and the eye wash cup made another container for more flowers. The leaves are from a stem of silk ones that just happened to be the color of the center banner on the box. White flowers are also laying on the white lace.

The piece is 12"x12" in size. For the sake of this post this is finished, but I really think it needs something.... I think I will add some beads to the flower centers. I also may experiment with adding some diluted gloss medium over the bottles to possibly deepen the color and maybe add some shimmer?? I also may want to do something to make the white lace show up better??

I posted about the process of this on My Blog.
Any and all comments and critiques would be very much appreciated.

My goal this year is to at least attempt something for each of the challenges, and try to do some of the many I missed.

Wild Rose

I learned a lot about the effect of color on me during this challenge. I always buy the same bag of corn chips. However, I bought 'the other one' recently so that I would know which was the freshest. It stunned me. I do NOT like or am at all attracted to the dull yellow and green package. I really love the blue! As the colors began to change, I went through my cupboards and freezer in search of some color package that would match my 'new colors'. None did. I also noticed that all of my impulse purchases had this electric blue color with some shade of yellow. WOW! I never knew I was being influenced before this challenge. I am the type of person that reads the ingredients, the nutritional value, the fiber and salt content. I consider myself an informed, careful buyer. I didn't know that the simple use of color was such a big influence. Quite an awakening.

I really love these challenges. I learn so much. I don't think I could have made this much progress without them. I started sketching a yellow rose in a vase, then gradually I eliminated the vase and blew the rose up. I only had this tiny bottle of yellow dye, so the colors changed during the development.

I used a piece of white sheeting, dyes, and paints. My original thought was to just paint the yellow tones of the rose and leave the white for the highlights. That didn't have enough depth for me. So I just kept painting until I got some shapes I liked. I found the painting so relaxing and exhilarating and challenging all at the same time. Obviously it was fun!

The background seemed rather uninteresting so I remembered the month we experimented with stamping and mark making. I scoured the house for things that would leave some texture. My problem was stopping because I was having so much fun.

Although my yellow rose gained a lot of other colors during the process so that it doesn't exactly match the predominately blue and yellow of my chips package, I'm thrilled with the result. It is the most colorful thing I've ever done.

I've also been admiring those interesting borders that many folks use on their quilts. Mine never really called for that. However, as I made the rose larger, I realized it might be more dramatic with the bottom border following the lines of the rose and leaves. It does! I struggled with this border for over a week. Finally I stitched it by hand on the back to hold the facing in place. Any and all advice about doing this would be appreciated. I got it done, but it did involve a lot of angst.

Challenge 40: Milk--It Does a Quilter Good

What a fun challenge! I knew right away that I wanted to use this milk carton, since I love the colors:

The red, white, and blue colors were easy to work in, but I wasn’t sure how to work in the white & black of the cow “print.” Anyway, here is the result:

I like the finished result, but my vertical and horizontal lines are off somewhat, I guess because of the stitching; I definitely learned something about when to use extra stabilizer. I may go back and do some quilting to the piece, especially on the red “tablecloth.” This piece is 14"x15".

Chalenge 40 "ugly flowers" by Silvia Dell'Aere

Hi :) here is my quilt for the challenge 40.
My inspiration came from the "nidra latte miele" (nidra milk honey) bath gel bottle.
The bottle is all white, I think because it want to give the idea of clean, purity and a product that doesn't set upon the skin.
Then there is the "nivea" word in dark pink. I think that the pink is asreadable as the red, on white background, but don't give the "attention" or "danger" message that the red would give. Again the pink may be more attractive for women.
There is a yellow/orange drop. The colour is really close to the colour of the gel and wants to refer to the idea of the colour of honey mixed with milk.
The "palmolive" logo is white and green. This is because the storic logo is green, I don't think there is a specific purpose, is just something that "have to be".
Finally other words are in blue. The blue is very clear readable on white, but is not as "funereal" as black.



I've done a little quilt (8x9") with two flowers.
I wanted to try what happens reversing the predominance of the colours. The bottle has a lot of white, so I've decided to use very little of it, just for binding and beads, using more the colours that are less used in the bottle: blue, pink, yellow and green.
I've tried to use watersoluble pencils on silk; I've tried soaking the silk in a soda solution. It didn't help for colour spreading, but I hope it will help for colour resistance.
I've quilted and tried a sort of thread painting (my first time)
Well, this is the first time I do something different from "take the design - follow instructions", this time I've "just done it".
I'd like to hear comments, constructive critics and suggestions :)



Made by Silvia "OrkaLoca" Dell'Aere

Sweet Honesty -- Packaging

Once again, I'm late. Just after the challenge came out, I got the flu. My niece suggested several different perfume packages. After looking at several of them, I realized that for the most part, fragrance packaging uses a limited number of colors, usually with black and gold.

With the exception of fragrances which are designated "sporty" or exciting (viz Red Door and a few others) most of them are suggesting elegance and beauty and therefore have these restricted color palettes.

I went to my pantry cupboard and the only thing I could find which really said "BUY ME!" was a can of "fire roasted tomatoes" which were all natural. Therefore it was in tones of reds, with gold, black and green. I thought about doing this, but kept on going back to the image at left--an advertisement for Annick Goutal's Eau de Parfum "Eau de Hadrian" which is advertised here on Anthropologie's website.


I had been thinking about doing something with the shape of a green vase I had and this sort of just sent me right into that. The piece measures 24 5/8" high x 11" wide. I used gray Kona cotton with an overlay of a chain-stitch embroidered polyester sheer. The "tablecloth" is a piece of polyester lace in a light ecru.

The plant for the still life requirement is supposed to be a branch of
Lunaria annua which is commonly known as "honesty", "money plant," "Silver dollar plant", "Bolbonac", and "moonwort." The seed pods on this plant are transluscent silver once they have slipped their husks. I have represented them with fused layers of irredescent polyester sheer lame with the whiter ones being a piece of the lame fused to a piece of white satin before fusing it to the background. I satin stitched the stems in gold metallic thread.

The vase is a polyester damask.

I quilted the background "swirls" following right along the edge. However, I originally thought I would outline the swirls in gold. I did the interior of the piece and wasn't sure I liked it so I switched to grey for the rest of it. The seedpods of the luminaria are loosely outlined in gold mettalic thread as well.

I had originally intended a larger amount of open area (blank space) at the top of the piece...but I am afraid that the flu I was struck with on Dec. 27 made me really dopey as to what I was doing. Once I started it, I realized that I didn't cut a large enough piece to accomodate the hand basted vase and the plant....ooops!

I faced the quilt rather than using a traditional binding in gray (which I considered)....and I'm still not good at it. Critiques are gladly welcomed.

Lisa Broberg Quintana (Michigoose)

Challenge 40 - Ode to the Raisin Box by Robin M. Robboy

REVISED :

BEFORE CRITIQUE:

This was a fun challenge; my first with this group. I really enjoyed creating this piece and the way the challenge parameters called me out of my comfortable little box. It got my creative juices flowing again!

For this challenge, I began with the raisin box. This color scheme is a little of a stretch for me as I usually prefer hotter, more vibrant colors over the richer, warmer colors in the raisin box. I didn't have a plant handy and it's snowing, so I made a still life of lemons and limes on a two tiered cake stand. After photographing the still life, I manipulated the photo in Photoshop using a variety of filters. My aim was to make the image very abstract and make the color range simpler. Once I had an image I liked, I turned to my stash of decorated papers to test my ideas about the composition of this piece.

I am pleased with the finished piece - I love the way the squarish shapes turned out. I wish I had paid some attention to quilting the background BEFORE I did the heavy stitching over the edges of the shapes. I'm reluctant to add it now for fear of ruining the piece. What do you think? I would love to read your comments.

Thanks to some very helpful critiques, I added the yellow background quilting - see image at top. It really works for me. Thanks everyone!

Challenge 40 Pause by Madalene Murphy

This is the first challenge that I am entering, and I almost didn't make this one, but I found the use of product packaging colors intriguing, and after looking around my kitchen, chose one fairly quickly--a box of one of my favorite teas.  These were much        quieter colors than I usually work with but I loved the rich red brown of the edging, a brown I had actually tried for in my dyeing this summer for another project.  I also cheated a bit and chose to add the teal from the teacup on the top of the box.  So I went through my hand-dyes to see if I could come close with the colors.



My quilts also tend to be more abstract so the still life/plant requirement slowed me down a bit until I decided on abstract simple shapes with the leaves as contrast.  I played with the composition a bit  and came up with what to me is a very restful piece--like sitting down for a cup of tea.

This was great challenge.  Made me realize even packaging can be source of inspiration and made me take a whole new path to creating a quilt.  Thanks, Rhoda!

Please comment.

As I confessed on Saturday, I cheated on my still life, which is now finished. I brought a can of Progresso Soup, with its red blue and green label, into my studio. As I started pulling out fabrics I came across 6 wonderful circles in pink, orange, gold, and purple. Then I happended onto a lovely pink moire and some other wonderful pieces in my stash of upholstery fabrics.

I was off and running on my quilt. It was quite a while before I remembered the can of soup. I did see a box of Fruit Loops that had all the colors I used but only after the fact.

Most of the fabric in this quilt were on the take free table at my guild. The circles were already layered and stitched just as they are. The orange border and the binding are organza. The background is a leftover from the Chuppa ( wedding canopy) that I made for my son's wedding.

The only thing I might still do is add some shadowing on the pot with paint and do some beading in the center of the flowers.

Lilies and Roses with Salt and Pepper

When I first read this challenge I wasn't sure how I could manage.

I had ideas of doing purple and pink fluffy. Early in Dec, I tried to sell some little soft Christmas trees for decoration at a Cancer charity fund raiser, out of 70, I sold 12! But the stall next to me made a killing with purple and pink fluffy glittery girly things. however, I couldn't carry it through because I have never been a purple and pink fluffy glittery person and I never had a little girl. :) Without going to the shops and looking, I couldn't think how the layout for those things would look.
But then I remembered I bought some crisps for visitors over Christmas...not a well known brand, it just had a good price! So, anyway, here it is, and here is the result. I started looking for fabrics and remembered the gold coloured fabric which had all the colours. When I tried it to see where it might lead, I thought it could pass for kitchen curtains. So, I went for a rather abstracted kitchen still life.

The reddish flowers started being a big dalia using the tissue pompom technique with the thin transparent paperlike fabric I sometimes use. But it rather overwhelmed things, so I cut it into 3 and they became roses. The yellow flowers were going to be glads, but I couldn't figure out how to ruffle the edges, so they became lilies instead.

I used silver and metallic stitching here and there because part of the colour composition of the packaging seemed to rely on the shinyness of the bag. But there is a bit of silver behind the word tortilla, too.

The part I like the most is the clock! It seemed to need that little splash of red and white that the packaging had.

I am not sure I learned that much about colour, other than to recognise this as a version of a triadic scheme with versions of blue, red and yellow. What I have taken away with me is that packaging is a very good way to learn lessons of composition. repetition of shape including the shape repeated in a scaled version, contrast of shape, and also things like small bright spots balancing larger duller colours. I think it would be worth looking at packaging for hints of composition layout in the future.

Poinsettia

I did not immediately see myself doing this challenge, as I could not get my head around finding inspiration for a still life from packaging colours. When I saw some of the fabulous work done by others for this challenge, I found myself even less able to do anything.


I couldn't think of anything when I looked in my pantry. I found an ad for pasta in a magazine, but had no ideas for a still life.

Then by serendipity I was taking down my Christmas cards and found this painting by Donald Hamilton Fraser which had exactly the right colours and was a still life!

I free cut the poinsettia (yes, that's right, I did NOT make a freezer paper template - a first!).

One thing I found really interesting, studying the painting, was how to use different colours of thread which I would not normally use. For example orange on the green leaves, and a bright pink on the lighter edge of petals (bracts). Maybe I will get braver about colour choice, but I reckon it will be slowly!




I have not faced this, as I am thinking about matting and framing it.

I really like the various reds with the charcoal and beige. So not my normal colours.

I was not sure why the painter had such a lighter block of colour on the right, but I needed it for the cream of the pasta, so I was quite happy to copy that.

Julia