A Quiver of Cobras

This is my August challenge piece...A Quiver of Cobras.  I was so surprised to learn that a group of cobras was called a quiver...and voila (with a little help from internet imagery)!

I'll be hosting the September challenge -- coming up in days, and I hope you have fun with it!

A Leap of Leaping Leopards

I'm late....as usual...but at least I've finally been able to complete one! YAY!  I originally intended to do a school of fish with a design that I developed during Elizabeth Barton's Quilt University class, "Inspired to Design."  Although it wasn't terribly original in the first place, when Ann Ruthsdottir posted hers, I decided to scrap it.

Instead, I chose to do this Leap of Leopards....and of course they had to be leaping!  It measures 9 1/4" square.  The sun or moon.....I can't decide which I want it to be, is stitched around with a spiral in yellow pearl cotton.  Machine quilted with a yellow/green rayon in the body, and the sky is a blue done in a swirl pattern.

A Passle of Poseys and a Bevy of Buttons

A church group asked me to teach a class on Cathedral Window Quilts. I needed a sample, so I created this little quilt that measures 8.5" square. Several years ago I made a whole cathedral quilt completely using hand stitching, but I wanted to teach the group a quicker method, so I did this sample all by machine. It only took about an hour to make as opposed to several hours if stitching by hand. I think it also meets the challenge requirement of using a grouping of things--buttons and flowers.

A Friendly Family of Five Fabulous Fish

A Friendly Family of Five Fabulous Fish

Frequently Travel with Two Terrific Tag-a-longs

36" x 47"

A Friendly Family of Five Fabulous Fish

Frequently Travel with Two Terrific Tag-a-longs

36" x 47"

When the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge came out = a group of something, I got this fish idea.

Since I am very behind in my charity quilts, I wanted to 'catch up'. I also have a 'guild summer challenge due September 13'.  This quilt serves all of those purposes. I would really like to know the age and sex of the person who picks this quilt. It is very unlikely that this will happen. I just hope it makes the recipient smile.  It was a LOT of FUN to make.

Because I am thinking it may be washed a lot, everything is faced and stitched down tight. There are NO raw edges, loose threads of anything that might 'wash out'.

A Neighborhood of Zucchini

9/28/12
I added some foil on the leaves and zucchini to give more depth and interest to the piece.
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14" x 29½"

As most vegetable gardeners know, if you have zucchinis in your garden, you end up with more than enough to share with the neighborhood, so here is "A Neighborhood of Zucchini", with the repetition of leaf shape as well as the squash and the flowers.  Many years ago, I made a minimal garden catalog purchase that promised five free gifts with any purchase; they sent me five packets of ... wait for it ... you guessed it ... zucchini seed!

The background is silk, the zucchinis are home dec fabric, the leaves are cotton on a fusible stiffener, and sewn on to the background along the veins so they stand out a bit, and finally the flowers are made from Angelina fiber.

I welcome any and all comments on this somewhat late posting!

Army of Ants

It has been a long while since I have been able to do a challenge.  Many life changes that have prevented me from quilting.   I hope to catch up and look forward to next year.

I didn't really fully read the challenge, I checked the first link and immediately thought of an army of ants.  We have many ants that march along our sidewalk.

Final size 8 1/2 x 10 inches.

Lisa
In Sunny for 40 days Seattle

Stacking the Deck

Two novelty decks of cards were used for this quilt. One deck had Saddam Hussein, his sons and other Iraqi players and the other deck had members of the Bush Administration. Playing with the cards made me revisit "Shock and Awe” and other the Iraqi War Games.

A Coven of Coffee

Finding a picture of a coffee cup made of beans made me think of a coven of coffee.  It is all raw edge applique , shadowed with shiva paint sticks and touched up with puffy paint.  The cauldron is beaded lace.  It measures 29 x33".

Catseye

Just after I read the challenge I found, in my grandma home, this old chalk drawing made by my mom:

I can remember it being framed and hung in my room when I was a child, so it has a meaning to me, and since the desgn seemed to fit with the challenge I've decided to convert it in a quilt.

And then I've named it "catseye" because you can't name a group of cats ... every single cat is sure to be the center of the world :)

I've fused the blue and yellow confetti and the cats using commercial cotton, the threada are poly and rayon..
It's 15x9 inches and I think I'll frame it :)

The only doubt I have is about the blue/yellow part of the catseye... I wonder if it could benefit by a dark satin-stitch to enhance the blue/yellow edge. But I'm afraid that this could visually darken the right half of the work lowering the calue contrast with the purple cat.

what would you suggest?

Thank you!

A Plethora of Grapes

I went through many ideas before coming up with this one.  My piece is done on canvas and is approximately 16"X 20".  The grapes are made from a combination of fabric, deli paper and watercolor crayons and then stitched.  The big leaf on the upper left side is made from a paper bag and the leaf in the lower right hand corner from deli paper.  The small little stems are painted with acrylic paint and water color pencil.  Since I want to hang this as an art piece I backed my piece with felt to frame it, instead of using stretcher bars as was my original plan.
Thanks Ann for the great challenge!

A Pick Up of Sticks

15 1/2" x 15 1/2"
I hope everyone has at least given this challenge a try. I had a lot of fun coming up with this concept, then creating my own quilt, and abstract representation of a collection of sticks. Each block measures 5" square and is constructed from decorator fabrics. I've added a few hand-stitched details in a few intersections. The black outer border is actually a large piece of felt which serves double duty as the batting. At the moment my quilt is only two layers so doesn't technically fit the definition of a quilt, but if I fused on a backing, then it would. All comments are welcome.
Ann Turley

A Ziggurat of Zigzags

Ziggurat: A rectangular tiered building/temple or terraced mound erected by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians.

I had a lot of fun using my "artistic license" making up groups of objects, like a rounder of rings; a cyclone of circles; a triad of triangles etc.  Can you tell I'm into 'shapes'?

The ziggurat is all velvets and brocades, and the shrine on the top is the Palomar Observatory dome.  The sky is a sparkle satin with overlays of jeweled organzas.  The mountains are hand dyed silk and the grass is taffeta.  I built the tree trunk on timtex, painted with puff paints, then expanded with a heat gun.  The leaves/branches are a netted lace fabric.
I tried some new to me quilting designs...they took forever! LOL
It measures 29"x31"

This was a really fun challenge Ann, thanks for the 'nudge' out of the box.

Comments and suggestions appreciated
Cherie

Challenge 72 Fill in the Blanks!

CHALLENGE #72, “FILL IN THE BLANKS”         Due: Sept 1 noon EST

Host:  Ann Turley


A pod of whales. A deck of cards. A stack of pancakes. We’ve all heard these terms to describe a specific group of animals or items. But we creative types surely can think of much more inventive and creative descriptors.

The San Diego Zoo has a long list here: http://tinyurl.com/8grom9v 

James Lipton, of The Actors Studio fame, has written a book on this very theme, entitled “An Exaltation of Larks”. You can read a review that includes a few of his terms on Amazon:  http://tinyurl.com/87tw3m9 .

The obvious art principle we want to explore is repetition, defined here. “Repeating visual elements such as line, color, shape, texture, value or image tends to unify the total effect of a work of art as well as create rhythm. Repetition can take the form of an exact duplication (pattern), a near duplication, or duplication with variety.”

This website: http://www.filmclass.net/principlesart.htm covers the basics on the principles of art. While all of them are pertinent, be sure to read the small section on Repetition.

A few images that illustrate Repetition:

http://tinyurl.com/9ldp7ux http://tinyurl.com/8evbq3c

Andy Warhol was a master when it came to repetition: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/W/warhol.html (Scroll to the bottom for links to his artwork.)

Your challenge is multi-layered. You could select one of the many descriptors found at these two sources, or you can invent one of your own. Or you could borrow one of the few I have found – a royalty of chess pieces, a flirt of butterflies, a dearth of politicians. Illustrate your selection in an innovative manner. Have fun!



Ann Turley

www.annturley.info