A girl just wants to have FUN!

I was inspired by Sue Church's, "Joyful, Joyful".   http://fastfridayquilts.blogspot.com/2011/09/joyful-joyful.html

My colors are all bright, lush and/or shiny with the bits of lace, buttons and ribbon adding a bit of whimsy.  To me, the mood is FUN.

Pajama Top to match these bottoms

Loss

This scene came to me as a result of all the forest fires occurring in the southwest U.S. including here in SoCal due to lightning. I used fused raw-edge applique, glitter glue for sparkle, angelina for forest fairy's hair and dryer sheets and tulle with circular quilting to create smoke. Please tell me if I accomplished my goal -- sadness as a result of the terrible loss of woodlands from fire. 17"x22"

Approaching Storm

I mulled over this challenge all week until the Friday night before the deadline. As I was falling asleep, this quilt came storming into my mind. I could even see the grass fabric that I had in my stash. It ruined a good nights sleep but in the end, I think it came out very close to what I wanted. Of course Hurricane Irene having blown through here (no damage to our house) made me thinking about storms anyway.

Everything is raw edge applique. The tree, leaves and woman are fused. I was trying to portray an atmosphere of threat and danger and helplessness. Almost a metaphor for our lives now a days with all the economic and political storms swirling around.

I also wanted to do this for our art quilt exhibit so made it larger than usual for a FFFC project.

It ended up 39" x 25 1/2".

Hopefully better late than never and worth the wait

The second photo is the quilt after changes that I made due to suggestions from a friend to make the woman's shirt purple so it showed up better and a suggestion here on the blog to shade the dark gray into the light gray. I tried it and decided that having more dark gray portrayed the menace of the storm more vividly.

Nancy Schlegel, Albany NY

Blue Mood

I took a photo of my neice sitting on a sand dune. She looked very contemplative. I originally did this quilt in realistic colours, but then was challenged to try redoing it in another colour scheme. This is the result. It changes the mood of the piece entirely. I like this one better than the original.

Intensity

I am a new member to FFFC and thrilled to be here. I have been following this blog for the last year and have been impressed with the creativity of the group. I loved August's challenge and wanted to get an early start:)

This piece represents the inner turmoil and tension brought on by the external world. This person is internalizing the immense tension 0f the storm. I used two photos which I altered and merged in photoshop. I played with the color to get that deep purple/grey of dark stormy days. I further intensified the color with Neocolor II water soluble crayons before binding and freemotion stitching.

I have been spending a lot of time the last year playing with art quilt tools and colors. I have been using: dye, various paints and inks, water soluble crayons, pencils and markers, screen printing, stamping, transfers, deconstructive printing, etc. However, very little of my playing has resulted in finished pieces. I am hoping to complete one piece a month using different techniques. All critiques and comments are welcome!

LindaBN from Louisiana

"Pina Colada Anyone?"

I am a little bit behind the ball, but decided after having commented on the works of others meeting this month's challenge, that I should get busy and get something done.  The foundation for this piece is fabric which I sunprinted a number of years ago.  I used rice paper, maple leaves, and water lily pads.  My intent was to invoke a feeling of the tropical jungle with it's humidity, heat, and lushness.  I inked the large parrot in the foreground and then colored it with Inktense Pencils and Neocolor II Watersoluble Crayons.  I then added metallic highlights with gel pens and then re-inked some of the black lines.  The silhouette of the parrots in the back was done with black ink.  

The plan is to trapunto the parrots and leaf shapes and then do free motion quilting in the background.   I would also like to add some type of border on two sides of the piece.  Any and all suggestions and comments are welcomed.  This doesn't feel like my best work, but I have been in a slump, so hopefully this will put me on the right track to begin creating again.

Challenge 60, "A Journey in the Rain" by Jeanne Holmes

I loved the challenge to create a quilt where atmosphere and mood are created with color. Immediately I thought about rain, especially with hurricane Irene getting ready to wreak havoc on the east coast. I love the rain; I especially love to walk in the rain. It was difficult to show the rain and the stormy clouds but to still keep it joyous especially since painting is not my strength. I painted the sky and used fusible applique to create the woman walking in the rain. The piece is 19 1/2” x 16”

Joyful. Joyful

My goal was to express "joy". I started with the warm colors, then found that I moved to bright, visual compliments and used circles (bubbles, droplets) which also "seemed" joyful to me. The edge is irregular finished by Terry Grant's method using perle cotton along the edge.

The cream is my design board behind my piece (probably black or grey would be a better background choice). This measures approx: 22" X 11.5".

Thank you for an inspiring challenge. Comments welcome.

Winter Wonderland

I made this little quilt, 13" X 15" quilt, for my Challenge 60, Atmosphere & Mood. I hope it gives you the feeling of cold and winter. Even the tree is without its leaves. I put it on the outer borders to give a more 3-D look.

Orange petal

What a fun challenge this was. I decided to work from a photo I had taken of a tulip - looking top down. To concentrate on the large blocks of color to set the mood/atmosphere and to add shading with thread painting.

One of the skills I have just begun to work on this year is through the challenges I have done is thread painting. The flower was the first thing I have done so large. The piece is approximately 17" x 12".

The top picture is a detail of the painting and the bottom one is the full piece.

It was a real struggle for me to work with such large blocks of color (rather than small details). Another first for me was cutting all of the pieces free hand based on a printout of the photo that I had taken.

This was my first year participating in the fast friday group. It has really stretched my abilities and challenged me not to overthink what I am doing. I have also really appreciated the constructive criticism that I have received and tried to incorporate it into my work going forward.

Ticia

Terpsichore

25½" x 16"

Here is the finished piece. The hair is now tinged pink, to make it stand out a bit more, the dancer has lips, and the edge is finished! 9/11/11

Terpsichore is an early kind of dance from the Middle Ages. The colorful striped fabric started me out; I folded it so that the colors radiated out for the dress. The gold fabric started out just for the body, but it worked well for the border, with a lace edging over it. I used Angelina fiber for the hair and collar, sequins for the eyes. I had found a tiny gold rose for a flower in the dancer's mouth, but lost it, so I made that out of fabric paint.

Comments welcome!

Sunset Over the Island

While we were on our boat Tuesday last week, there was a spectacular sunset over an island---not reds, pinks, etc. but golds, bronzes. I kept taking pictures but could never really capture the colors. The brightest was like a molten pale gold. This was the closest I could come to it. It is not quilted---had to take three days this week to be sick. However, the more I look at it, I think I will probably frame it. The white rim and outer black are batting and backing--just not trimmed. The size is 12"x7.25".

Mosaic Table

I loved the idea of using color in a different medium for this challenge. My scrap collection of glass is just as large as my fabric scrap collection.The glass and tile mosaic table is waiting to be grouted.

Meena

Sanctuary

The idea for this piece began by planning to make a layered photo piece that would finish out at 13 x 18. I had plans to use it as a study for a larger piece. The idea didn't work and I had two pieces printed already so I started playing and the project morphed into 37" x 45" piece.

I started out with two photos taken at a bird sanctuary on Harbor Island, SC, I blended the photos in PSE to achieve the final image. One of the photos was taken at sunset and the water reflected the pink in the sky. They are printed on silk habotai, cotton sateen, silk organza and tulle. The background is a purchased hand dye. I've had the hand dye piece of fabric for years and finally found the right use for it.

Carol I hope this fits the challenge. While the piece is not quilted I do have the top done. Getting this far in less than a week on large piece is quite an accomplishment for me. I'm so glad this group is staying together.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Dream of a garden with fish

Challenge 60 Rosemary Hopkins

It was a lot of fun to work on Carole's challenge. I got out my favorite color fabrics (blue) and built the quilt on the batting, as I have done in Pamela Allen's classes. I had a 4 X 5 piece of light vine like fabric that I intended to use as the middle. I wove the roof piece, ala Jude Hill, and was going to set it so that the short sides of the triangle were parallel to the edge, but my little green piece wasn't up to it--it was too small. I selected another piece of light fabric and moved the triangle to suggest a roof. I invisibly based the fabrics down, and then used thread and floss to quilt the light piece and the blue. I attached the roof, and added a facing to finish the piece. I don't know if it meets Carole's challenge guidelines, but I am happy with it. By the way, husband didn't like the "pointy thing" on the top, but he said I was the artist and it probably made sense to me. I called it Dream of a garden with fish. Rosemary Hopkins

Joy!

While doing some sunprinting with my granddaughters ( 3 and 6years) last weekend, we found the strangest thing in the bush near our cabin. It is a battery-operated light contained in a square block about 11" by 11" by about 2" thick. It is a bas relief of a sunflower. With my last piece of fabric we took an impression of it using wet fabric and thin paint. As the piece dried the paint settled into the grooves resulting in the background of this. The colours were so cheerful and happy that I knew it would be perfect for this challenge. I FMQ'd it with bright yellow rayon thread, but it didn't show up very well, so I added some bright green around the edge of the image. The edge is finished with satin stitch over twisted perle cotton.
Great fun, and I'm very happy with it, and have made two more ( without the grandchildren's help-lol), with a little more care and attention, that have much greater detail.
I certainly can't take credit for the design, but neither can I give credit where due, as I have no idea where the original object came from or who made it.
Pat f in Winnipeg
aka fndlmous

Ray of hope

From the smallest candle shines a ray of hope we have heard throughout our lives. At this time of disaster all rays of hope I am sure are welcome. This piece is raw edge and many overlays of fabric - simple and direct.

Pat Havey

I took Jans suggestion and added quilt lines radiating from the white.

The Waiting Bride

This piece is a painted composite done in Photoshop. I used white mist to convey the illusion of a bride waiting for her groom, but is she there now or is she a ghost? You decide.

All comments welcome!

Into the Woods by Cynthia Ann Morgan

The atmosphere I was going for was a mysterious, moody, misty, slightly scary walk in the woods.  This is a small piece 9 x 10" using hand dyed fabrics and raw edge applique.  What do you think?
Cynthia

Flowing Summer Flowers

This is a Nuno Felted Scarf - Flowing Summer Flowers
I used a silk blend fabric with hand dyed alpaca roving and curls. The fabric has green and blue tones it is pretty sheer and reflects the colors of the roving .. One of my favorite things are summer flowers!