Chair With a View

Been a while since I posted one of my pieces to the blog, just haven't been getting them done in time. Even this one is late, but at least the new challenge isn't out yet. For my colors I choose red, blue and yellow. The blue in the image isn't as bright as it is in real life, but I didn't want to play with the photo so.... The texture is the buttons I used for the "painting". I had fun picking them out and sewing them down. No particular order except I did want to try and balance the colors and sizes a bit. I have discovered it takes a lot of buttons to cover even a small area, and it weighs a lot. Still I used pearl cotton to sew them on with and with the frame fabric and the background fabric I have an additional 2 layers of fabric for a base so it should be ok. My theme for this quilt is structures, and I consider the chair in this quilt as my structure, I know pushing it a bit, but it is my theme and my quilt so Size is 9.5 x 13 inches so smaller then I have been working but not quite journal quilt size.

Kathy Walker
http://katwalkdesigns.blogspot.com/

Pumpkin Patch

20" x 17"

The pumpkin fabric was the spark for this piece, conveniently printed in orange and green, as also the two leaf prints, but adding purple seemed a bit forced at first. I had the light patterned fabric for the background, and dark purple for the tree trunk, but it took a trip to Jo-Ann's to find the right textured purple fat quarter which I cut and put on top. The vegetable "rising" out of the green leafy patch is an artichoke, which I had cut out but was not going to use, but somehow it fell into place.

This challenge seems to have broken the creative log jam that has kept me from the last three -- it feels good to be back in gear!

Since I was away when this challenge was posted and only got the e-mail a week late, I regard this as technically a Fast Friday piece completed within the time frame!

After the Rain

My guild had a fabric painting class last weekend. How convenient! One of our exercises (of many) was using triad colors (fushia, yellow, turquoise) and creating a sun scene. It was very interesting to see how everyone interpreted this challenge.
I was actually fairly pleased with the result and realized that this would meet the challenge for this month. Texture is created with some fast machine quilting. It is unbound at this time... that will come later. I'm thinking it will just be faced and turned. Size is 15 x 20".
Thanks, Cythnia, for a fun challenge (and the timing was perfect!).....
Comments of course, are welcome!

Colors of My Garden

18” x 20”

This uses the triad colors yellow-green, blue-violet, and red-orange. The four blocks in the center are paper pieced using my own design. There are 11 pieces of fabric in each block and the only one repeated is the blotchy violet in the center.

The quilting is not heavy. I wanted the designs to speak for themselves. The center is quilted with a vine and the outside is quilted around the flowers.

It is not completed. I had back surgery a little more than three weeks ago and have had all the sitting at the machine I can do for today. I will keep at the border quilting and then face the quilt.

I have enjoyed working on this. It is a happy quilt for me. I love the colors. I had thought they would be difficult to work with---but as I kept pulling out more fabrics I found that it wasn’t.

Thank you for this challenge!

Firewolf - Companion to the Dragon Lords

I started out trying to do orange, green and purple. But when I found this teal and magenta fabric, it turned to red-violet/blue-green/with a variety of the oranges.

Also, I saw the dragon in the fabric, but found out it wanted to be a wolf instead.

As I was working, I realised that it was a Firewolf. They are companions to the Dragon Lords, whose senses are not as keen when they are in their human form. They rely on their bonded Firewolf to sense those things they can not. The Firewolf is very nearly as dangerous as the Dragon, and sometimes are mistaken for juvenile dragons if encountered in the forest. (Well, you don't stay long to look when you catch a glimpse of one.)

I enjoyed thread painting the texture of the Firewolf's fur. I quilted the surrounding areas with flames. His ears are only attached at the base.

Of course the quilting shrunk the size. So, I attached the teal hairy thread and a multicoloured cord round the sides - made using some of the same threads as for the thread painting . (The cord was left from some made for my Dragoness Bernina Ensemble, as it happens!) The piece still is not quite 6x12, but near enough.

untitled Ch #34 Rhoda

I choose the triadic color scheme red/yellow/blue and various hues of those colors. Continuing with my Women theme, I have a woman dancing, although I don't have a title. Her dress looks like bird feathers and I have swans in the window...any suggestions for a title would be welcomed.
I've used shiva for the swans in the window, and a lot of thread painting. She is quite textured from the thread painting and quilting, but it doesn't show on the picture. The cutouts in the top of the dress, I believe add some texture and she has a string of beads...so think I met the textural part of this challenge.
I look forward to your critique.

Thanks for the great challenge Cynthia.
I have a new Mega Quilter and tried it out on this project, fun!

Gerbera

(No Inuksuk this time) I scanned a real Gerbera daisy, and printed it on fabric in two different sizes. The flowers and leaves and stems are fused, then free-motion embroidered. The daisy centers are also beaded. I didn't use any new techniques, but I really enjoyed making this.

Colors are yellow-orange, red-violet, and blue-green. Size 11 1/2" x 13"

"Untitled" by Linda Cline

This began as a succulent quilt which was rejected and tossed aside as a reject a few months ago.

I cut it into rough squares a couple months ago, with the intention of completing the Fast Friday Challenge which was supposed to be based on grids with an accent color. I picked out the fabric for the accent color, but then couldn't satisfy myself with the final arrangement, and it got set aside again.

My rejected project was already the right colors (purple and green with an orange accent), so I got it out again. I sewed the squares together at random, quilted, and then used orange and white paints to bring out the texture and add some dimension. Then I cut it apart again, and inserted orange veins.

This was a fun experiment. The current plan is to cut this into trading card size pieces to trade at a swap planned at the next art quilt meeting. In progress photos can be seen on my blog http://lindasartjournal.blogspot.com/

Update July 4, 2009:
I've finished my Artist Trading Cards for next weekend. I like these work better as smaller pieces than I did as the one large piece it was a couple of days ago.

Red Beet

The triad I have chosen is red, blue and yellow. My original series hasn't been doing it for me so I switched to a broader topic - "Can I Eat It?" The texture is in the free motion stitching and on the satin-stitched border. The background is a pale yellow while the statin stitching is a combination of two shades of blue and a varigated red.

Ch 34 - Devil's Tower

For Challenge 34 I chose Devil's Tower as it has a lot of texture. The tri-colors are yellow-orange, red-violet, and a touch of blue-green (vegetation). My husband's family homesteaded near this landmark many years ago, but my scene is even before that time, when there were still buffalo roaming. For texture in the buffalo I used trapunto, and needle-felting, as well as the quilting. This was a fun challenge. Thanks, LindaMac

Two Crows by Cynthia Ann Morgan

Two Crows 16 x 21"

I used a triad of colors in tints and shades for a subtler look than pure hues....blue-green tint with red-violet tint, blackened red-violet and blackened yellow-orange. My texture is the color variations and quilting lines in the tree branch as well as the dense background quilting. I used trapunto on the branch, birds and the moon to add some depth.

Comments and greetings welcome!

Cynthia

Seaweed in 3/4 Time by Pat Havey

My entry for challenge #34 is 18x22 and is named Seaweed in 3/4 time. I Have used Velvet, brocade, silk, organza sheers as overlays, metallic cord, ribbon braid and beads for quilting the background. There are so many different textures that they all photograph differently therefor the colors are not very true in the picture. My triad is orange purple and green.

Rusted Love

I used stamping,stenciling, foiling, embroidery stitches and free motion quilting to create texture on this piece of green rusted fabric. I believe the green, rust and small bit of mauve equal the triadic color scheme of this challenge.
It is only a small piece 7.25 x 7.00 but it is all I had time for.
Your comments are appreciated.

Whimsy

Whimsy
11” X 12”

My triad color scheme is purple, orange and green. For texture, I used scraps of fabric and painted gauze for the background and bound the quilt in yarn. Unfortunately, I was over zealous in my quilting so the pieces aren’t as dimensional as I would have liked nor the yarn as interesting. I would have preferred a more textured or multicolored yarn but I have a rule for all the FFFC projects that I can only use materials already in the house.

The flowers are commercial decorative flowers and I used a variety of buttons and one silk yo-yo for the centers.

My series is shapes.

Comments are welcome and appreciated.

Thank you,
Pam

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.

Kanji

My entry for this challenge is a basic triad color scheme, using teal, gold and red-purple. This is a very simple design, and is only 10”x12”, but it is fairly pleasing and I learned a great deal about playing with textures as well as using a triad palette. Starting with the back ground of cut-away appliqué, I found that the composition needed a focal point, so I added the Kanji. Some painted tyvek, and some fringe were added to generate a little texture and add more interest. Hopefully the letters are oriented correctly as not to offend our Asian friends. This was a quick and simple exercise, and was not intended to be a major piece, however it was a lot of fun to make. Thanks Cynthia for this challenge. As always comments are welcome.

COSMIC FIREWORKS

My Triad colors are : Blue green, Red orange, and Red violet.

Texture is use of different fabrics, yarns, braids and metallics as well as variations in quilting.

I have used my series theme of shapes, creating pattern

It measures 231/2"x 291/2"

Any ideas what to name this? I am stumped...

Comments and suggestions appreciated

Cherie

Desert Rain

This is the first in a series I am calling *Illustrated Haiku*, the verse is my original and first attempt at doing a Haiku..don't know if it is actually one and don't know if it's any good, but I liked it so went with it..lol
Anyhow, my colors are purple, orange and green, colors are darker than seen here, at least on my screen.
It is all hand pieced and made mostly of felt, the middle "painted desert" mountains are cotton. not really sure they give the effect I was hoping for though. The spines on the cactus are made with white embroidery floss, the rain is a metallic thread that has white, light blue and pinkish colors in it and I scattered some silvery bugle beads around too.
I purposely did the Haiku in wavy lines and primitive embroidered letters .
Not sure if I met the pattern part, I was thinking the pricklies of the cactus, the rain, and if you notice I did wavy lines in the sand to represent mini dunes. I meant to do another line right next to each in a darker color to add more contrast,but totally forgot.
This is 8x10 and isn't quilted in the traditional sense of the word, it IS sewn to a piece of card stock and some outline stitching was done through the felt and card stock. It is going to be framed so I didn't want it too thick. The metal brackets you see on the edges now holds a piece of clear glass in front of this, I kept it off for picture purposes. The frame will allow it to stand or be hung.
Feels good to do a challenge finally. Hope you like it, comments as usual are welcome.

Challenge 34 - Texture/Pattern & Triad Colors

Challenge # 34 - Friday, June 26, 2009
Guest Hostess – Cynthia Ann Morgan
Challenge Description – Create a piece emphasizing texture and/or pattern in a triad color scheme. If you prefer to use only texture/pattern or only a triad color scheme rather than both in the same piece, that is fine, too

Color Concept: Triad

A triadic color scheme uses colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel. (red/blue/yellow; green/orange/purple; yellow-green/blue-violet/red-orange; and yellow-orange/red-violet/blue-green)
Triadic color harmonies tend to be quite vibrant, even if you use pale or unsaturated versions of your hues.
To use a triadic harmony successfully, the colors should be carefully balanced - let one color dominate and use the two others for accent. Or use shades and tones of the colors to tone it down.
http://www.color-wheel-artist.com/triad-colors.html
http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/ColorSchemes/index.htm

Composition Concept: Texture/Pattern

From The Quilter’s Book of Design by Ann Johnston:
“Pattern and texture are often used interchangeably because a pattern may give a surface the appearance and because textures have a distinct repeating arrangement that creates a pattern. Pattern is a repetitive design with the same motif appearing in a predictable way. The repetition of the motif, color, value, line, shape, or texture, however does not necessarily have to be identical to create a pattern”

You can use pattern to set a mood, add interest in areas of a design, to unify a design, to show depth. You can use the quilting line to create pattern.

Texture is the nature of a material’s surface. It can be tactile textile (you can feel the texture) or visual texture (it looks like texture, but it actually smooth…like a fabric that looks like rock). You can use texture to suggest movement and add dimension as well as the main use – to create visual interest and variety. Quilting adds lots of texture as do embellishments of all kinds

http://gigaweb.brigantine.atlnet.org/ARTiculationFinal/MainPages/TextureMain.htm
http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/p/pattern.html
http://daphne.palomar.edu/design/texture.html
http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/encyc_texturetypes.html
http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/p/pattern.html