A quick response to a fun challenge. This response was suggested by an article in the latest issue of Quilting Arts magazine. I was able to create a quick small piece with a whimsical look that I wanted to try with the challenge of creating movement. Thanks, Linda. I had fun doing this.

Colors

I began to be very worried that, once again, I would not have time to complete the challenge I hosted. But here we go. This photograph does not represent the actual colors very well. It was interesting to work through this process - the study, the planning, the reality check about what you can actually accomplish in a week - both more and less than I thought. After many iterations of oh so wonderful plans, I decided to work with some handdyes I created in October. There are actually six fabrics from a two color gradation from fuschia to yellow with the addition of the high contrast black. I like the decisions I made about the placement of colors. I fear that it is a boring piece even though it is what I was after and I actually like it - the simplicity, the colors, the contrast.

Any comments or suggestions for improvement are very welcome.

Boy in the Forest - 10" H x 12" W

"Boy in the forest
Autumn is here yet again
Quickly a year passed."

Hand painted, machine quilted. Since I painted this fabric - sketchy trees and blurry leaves - I envisioned a progression of hazy figures through the woods. Who knew this challenge would provide the opportunity. The silhouetted figure is from a photo of mine that I manipulated in Adobe Photoshop Elements.

A really fun challenge. Thanks so much, Kathy.

I do see a bit of light in the middle of the piece that I need to darken. Any comments, criticisms are as always, welcome.

Betty Warner

Printed Circuit Board Study #1

This piece is an attempt to create what I hope is an obvious representation of a printed circuit board. It started with a black resist over which I applied emerald green Jaquard Dyna Flow paint, To indicate solder spots I used a gold leafing pen. The red 'resistors' are simple fabric beads. If you are curious about why they are placed where they are, it is because there were some really big blobs of resist under them. Wire goes through the fabric beads, but does not show in the photo. In the corners and a couple of other spots there are small holes created with a stitch on my machine which do not show up well because of my choice of thread color. The border is some old commercially printed fabric that represents technology components.

For me, a lot of the fun of the challenges is the thinking that precedes the work. (Often way too grand and unrealistic). I started off envisioning a great work about 'conflict minerals and conflict metal', perhaps even using some actual PCB's. I took time to 1) explore where I could find some discarded ones, the dump, 2) explore what are the environments impacted by 'conflict metals', some are rain forests, 3) consider ways that one could represent the PCB on fabric, screen printing, stencils, free hand drawing/painting and dyeing, applique, using actual metals. Considered what I could try out in the time I had available, considered whether this whole of idea of statement pieces about 'conflict minerals' could have legs and even become the basis for a series. (I share this because I wonder if I am the only one who goes off on these flights of imagination about the possibilities of making big statements with our work or am I just one intense woman of a certain age.)

Of course the reality of what can be accomplished in the time allowed combined with the existing skills I have came crashing in. Then I remembered that the challenge was for the piece to be adventurous and optimistic. So I optimistically tried to use a new technique in cheerful colors. Am very happy that I did it and am grateful to Sandy for this terrific challenge.

"Bearing Gifts" - A Childs view of Rocks

One of the challenges for me as I approach our Fast Friday Fabric Challenge is to get real about what I can do in a week, satisfy the requirements of the challenge, and satisfy my desire to push myself to create something new, quickly. This was created from a photo of a child's hand holding beautiful stones to bring to mother. The rocks, of course, were really grey and brown with some flecks of other colors. Both the child and mother find them to be truly beautiful. The arm and hand were traced from the photo to a piece of white paper, then transferred to the fabric using Faber Castell Pitt Pens which are India Ink. They dry quickly and are permanent. I held the pen straight up to mark the dots which create the shading. Being the impatient person I am, after a few minutes I chose to use a bolder pen tip than what I started with. Although I am pleased with the results, they would have been finer if I had used the finer pen tip throughout. The rocks were free motion embroidered using three different variegated threads. The contrast between the threads and the fabric is a bit more subtle than I would have liked. The stipple quilting was an opportunity to practice something that I don't use very often.

I enjoyed creating this work - from taking the photo, converting to a sketch, tracing the important lines, tranferring to fabric, free motion embroidering, and stipple quilting. Thanks so much for creating this challenge Kathy. It was great fun.

Any comments or criticism are very welcome.

Flower Child - 10" x 10 3/4"

A bit late getting this one done and posted, but here we are. This piece, "Flower Child", was fun to do once I decided what to do. It was not my first idea - the first and second ideas were too complex to finish in a busy week, even as a study. I like the colors and the face of the woman in this.

The fabric for the face was created by dyeing white fabric using Sharpie Markers and Alcohol. The outline and features of the face are from a book which allows me to use them, just want to be clear that you know the face is not my original design. The flowers are Lutrador with a thin coat of Gesso applied before running it through the printer. The flowers are attached in the center only. The dimension is implied by some of the pieces of hair falling over each other and the placement of the flowers.

I'm done with this for now, but may pull it out again. My daughter was here and declared she wouldn't mind having it 'in a frame, with lots of beads and perhaps an earring'. Perhaps that will happen.

As always comments about how to improve are very welcome.

Betty Warner

Undersea Study

Have not had much time this week. I just read that Virginia Satir wrote "A substitute for time is focus." So here is my response to this month's challenge. A fish underwater on a background that I had started a long time ago for something else. The fish is machine appliqued, a technique I often use. However, this time I did the raw edge applique without using either fusible web or glue. I am reasonably happy with the result and like that it is not so stiff. I have free motion stitched around the fish practicing that feathery stuff using free motion zig zag. Have couched some yarns, some before the applique and some after. They look a bit dull and uninteresting to me. I probaby should have worked harder to get more width and more movement. It is not really complete needs some quilting and binding. When I have more time I might add some bobbin work coral.

Thanks very much for this challenge. It was fun to do and I learned a couple of things from the effort.

Tree - Approx 7" x 12"

Done. On time. This has been a fun challenge. Actually much of the fun doesn't show up on this piece. I got out some presser feet, tried pintucks, gathering, and pleating. It was great to explore these ways of manipulating fabric, but in the end, I did not use them.

Tree started with a gelatin monoprint. I added scrunched dark grey fabrics for rocks at the bottom - scrunched over fusible web. Then I reverse appliqued the moon under the tree. Appliqued the rock fabric and the moon using monofilament free motion zig-zag. Quilted with metallic thread.

Thanks so much for this challenge.

Any comments/criticisms are welcome.

Cheez-It Crackers as Inspiration

Right now, I am enamored of red/orange/yellow color schemes, so thought a box of Cheez-It crackers would fill the bill. Many in my family enjoy them, so there is often a box in my kitchen. Actually, I realized after I purchased the box and went to photograph it for this, that I completely missed the blue and black that was in it. Oh, well..!

I went looking for a photo of nature that had some red and oranges and found a photo of wild flowers in a field. I cropped the photo, used the palette knife filter, rotated it, posterized, and turned in to a sketch. Copied the sketch to plain muslin, painted it with some acrylic paint, layered and quilted some.

This piece is small, a little study piece really, about 6" x 10". I enjoyed the process of abstracting from a photo of nature and playing with the colors, and painting on the fabric.

I now am aware that there are many products with red/yellow/orange. I wonder if I simply like the colors or if I am greatly influenced by corporations marketing efforts. Coincidence or not? Since these have not always been my favorite colors, I like to think that it is just a coincidence.

As for the piece itself, it is simply a study piece that I have enjoyed creating. Thanks for the challenge. It got me thinking about everyday sights in a different way and got me to use the colors of which I am so fond, and encouraged me to work with abstracting from a photo.

Any comments are welcome.

Challenge 39, Amoebas Play, 16" w x 15" h

This piece was an experiment that I have been wanting to do for some time. I started with a piece of batik fabric, outlined areas that I wanted to thread paint with designs from microscope slides and set some rules. 1) I would just get one shot at my thread painting - if it didn't work I would enhance with paint or whatever, 2) I would use only one color of thread in each area, 3) I would try to create a balanced composition, 4) I would use only thread and paint, and 5) I would use only what I have.

I outlined the areas with 30wt black thread stitched around twice. Stitched inside each with varying degrees of success which was dependent on the color used. Some areas, where I actually liked the stitching the most, were barely visible. I added additional color with Fabrico Markers.

Today I read somewhere that "there are no mistakes, there are only things learned". I think that applies here. Imposing rules helps to stop the 'paralysis of analysis' for me. So here are the things I learned. First, another time I would look for a fabric with a greater amount of light value colors. Second, I would then be able to find more higher contrast threads to use. Third, with higher contrast thread a possibility I would be able to make the more complex designs I had imagined and they would show up.

In spite of the fact that this piece does not match my imagined piece, I have had fun with it and am happy that I was presented with this challenge. I have not spent much time in my studio over the last three months. It's good to be back.

Any comments are welcome!

Rose - 16" x 16"

This is as far as I can get before this weeks challenge is due tomorrow. I have really enjoyed working on this. This work is based on a photo I took about a month ago. I converted the picture to black and white, enlarged it to 16", printed on to paper, traced the outline of the rose and surrounding leaves with pencil on to white PFD fabric, stitched the outline in black thread, painted the color on using Fabrico pens. (I seem to have a fascination with trying different methods of applying color over the past month.) The composition is radial, but not too symmetric. The quilting that remains to be done will be more lines of black outline.

I like the imperfection of the color application in this piece. Actually, I always like the imperfection in the hand application of color to fabric. However, am wondering if others perceive it as careless or somehow insufficient. Would appreciate honest feedback so that I can either stand tall around my few perfectionist friends or decide to put more effort into getting closer to perfect.

Thanks so much for any feedback.

Betty Warner

Challenge #34 - Triad color scheme is purple/orange/green. This was accomplished by painting a flower and the background grid using Caran D'Ache Neopaque II water soluble wax pastels. I like to use them because you can create a quiet texture with them. Am not sure that shows up so well in a photo. The inner border - actually a flange - and the binding are dark green. (I know they look black, but are not.) The pattern is the grid and the texture in the painted areas as well as that created by the fossil fern purple border and the batik dark green inner border and binding. I think I could probably do more with this piece, but need to noodle on it for a while.

This is a style not typical of me. It was fun to do and certainly a new color scheme for me to try. Thanks Cynthia.

All comments/critiques welcomed.

Music Makes My Heart Sing

I have added a picture of the completed project. The handstitching that I added could be smoother, but I was happy to have finally added it to something after thinking about it for so long. Also, I am much happier with the smaller border and the red binding. Thanks for the help and encouragement.

Thank you very much for this challenge. It has been fun. Split complimentary color scheme is red, yellow-green, and blue-green. I attempted to repeat the S-curve in the straightest line in the G clef. The greens are not so obvious, so it seemed like the thing to do was add borders. At this point the piece is quilted very simply around the applique pieces and the curve down the middle.

I feel that, while the borders repeat the split complimentary colors for emphasis, am not certain they are that successful. While in person the piece looks fairly balanced, the picture looks a bit top heavy. Would like some feedback on that or anything else that could be improved.

Am considering simply binding it in black. Am looking for comments on whether that choice or a faced binding will be more successful. Thanks so much for pushing me to do this. Have never been so intentional about the use of an S Curve before.

Oh, and my series is stripes.

Blue Shapes

This is my answer to Challenge 26. I continue to work in my 'Stripes' series. The monochromatic color scheme is blue. I needed to get this done especially quickly before leaving for Houston (for the first time). I combined the challenge with my own desire to play in Photoshop in a new way. I created the image in photo shop, printed on fabric, quilted, added some hand stitching around a few shapes and here it is.

Any comments you would like to make would be appreciated. I am especially interested in the effectiveness of the almost squares in the upper right. (I know that they do not contribute to the piece being as cohesive as it could.) Which one do you think is the closest?

Stripes #1, 17" x 19"

This is the first in a series of ‘Stripes’. The composition is intended to be vertical, using some horizontal as well, but with an overall vertical feeling. The complementary colors are blue and orange. It is derived from the last work I completed, an abstract piece which had vertical line quilting and long vertical rectangles placed within.

The process steps were 1) do some improvisational quilting of blue fabrics – lights and mediums, 2) border the irregular piece with dark blue indigoes, 3) create a wonky horizontal background of light and medium blues, 4) chop up the background and insert orange stripes, 5) appliqué pieced portion to background, 5) quilt vertical lines with dark blue thread, 6) use vibrant orange thread for narrow and medium satin stitches to emphasize the vertical orange stripes.

My observations are that the piece is successful in terms of the composition feeling vertical. I believe that the proportion of orange used in the stripes accomplishes this. I noticed that my ‘wonky’ horizontal stripes no longer look so ‘wonky’ when sliced and appliquéd over. Also, I think the point on the appliquéd section provides something of a focal point, but am uncertain that it is strong enough. I had hoped that the improvisational piecing in the middle would draw the viewer in, but do not think it is strong enough to accomplish that.

I would like feedback on a couple of things: 1) is enough orange included? 2) should I add something in the area of the ‘peak’ to clearly establish a focal point? 3) generally, does it feel well balanced or is it really off?