Blue Rose

Blue Rose Center

When the 'Coming Up Roses' exhibit was announced, I choose to create this blue rose.  I decided I needed to post before the next challenge comes out in two days.

I wanted to create something dimensional.  This is my first try after seeing the wonderful dimensional flower quilts by Barb Forrister at Houston last fall.  I also attended her demo and got to meet her.  What a thrill.  She makes it look easy.  However, I found I ripped out a LOT.  If I had more of the blue satin, I would have just cut more.  Having a limited amount of fabric really pushed my creativity.  

I have been experimenting with different ways to finish out the quilt.  I have already thrown out three tries.  Because of my fabric limit, I try ideas out using other fabrics.  However, for me, the blue satin is the only fabric from my stash that works. Perseverance is the name of this game.

Blue Initials

This little quilt was from a guild challenge to use

our initials. I like blue. It's nice to make a quilt just for fun.

Cityscape: A Study in Blue

51" x 61" 

Commercial cotton, silk and polyester fabrics and threads

This piece has been on my drawing board since last fall: the pattern was drafted, the blue fabric palette had been auditioned, and the quilting design was determined.  All that was lacking was the time and motivation to begin.  Thanks to this timely challenge, I have not only started the piece, but finished it too (albeit a week late in the posting).

I have toyed with the idea of a series of cityscapes since last summer, and have drawn inspiration from many quilts and quilt artists on the Internet, our own Fast Friday contributor Meena Schaldenbrand's "I Love Detroit" http://fastfridayquilts.blogspot.com/2013/09/i-love-detroit.html, and the many incredible art quilts created by Ludmila Aristovta http://ludmilaaristova.squarespace.com/.  

This imaginary cityscape serves as a practice piece to sort out a few techniques for my future cityscapes including selection of appropriate fabrics for building surfaces, the quilting of water, working with reflections in water,  and getting proportions right for a realistic look.  While admittedly, this work is not even in the same class as one of Ludmila Aristovta's works of art, I certainly aspire to her level of artistry and look forward to creating more cityscapes that reflect many of the great cities that we all know and love.  This is my first step in the process and I thank you for allowing me to share it with you.

Your comments, suggestions and critiques are welcomed.

Warmest regards,

Cheryl Casker

Comedy/Tragedy

Sorry for the bad picture but I have a new program and can't seem to make it work for cropping.  I saw a picture of this small comedy/tragedy block and fell in love with it .  I knew it would look good in blue and white so here it is.  It always makes me happy to see these masks.

Pat Havey

Sea and Sky

16½" x 13¼"

A while ago I had gathered some black and white fabrics, and I always have plenty of blues, so I got a good start on this piece, until I found that the sparkly organza overlay somehow got cut at the bottom, and I had to piece another scrap on top and hand-sew it in.

I found the larger pattern of the black and white fabric to be too stark as it was, so I mixed some blue and black ink into water and dyed them, with a bit more blue applied to the edges.

The only added color would be the bit of silver in the sky with their "reflections" of the sparkles in the water.

Thanks, Ann, for a great challenge.  Comments welcome, as always!

Ori-Nui Shibori

When this challenge was announced, I immediately thought of all of the wonderful Shibori fabric I have created over the past couple of years.  While I've used many colours, a fair bit of it was done in blues.  Looking through the various fabrics, I found this table centre that I started working on a couple of years ago.  This was during a time that my arthritis was making itself known.  When I saw this, I had to accept the reality that it is unlikely that I will ever start any other hand stitched project. I am no longer capable, but --I could finish this!  A sort of "last Hurrah".

While I can't really call this "art", I did create the  dyeing design on the fabric, and then used that as a basis for the stitching design. I used a fairly coarse running stitch, using Coton a Broder--somewhat reminiscent of Sashiko.  My days of 20+ stitches to  the inch are long gone. :(

I feel a great sense of accomplishment with this, and welcome any comments.
Pat Findlay
aka fndlmous

Blue Moose

I am working in a class taught by Pamela Allen.  One of our assignments was to do a monochromatic piece.  I chose blue, my favorite color. I call it Blue Moose. It was made from bits of fabric left from other projects the center mountain was a pieced triangle lft over from an indigo roman strip quilt I made a few years back.  It is raw edge applique, the applique and the quilting done by hand with embroidery floss.Rosemary Hopkins

Blue Form

This could have been any color, but since the challenge was blue....  Yes, it's sculptural, but note that it is composed of five sections, each of which has backing, batting, and front fabric, all quilted before assembly.  So, is it still an art quilt or quilted art? Do art quilts have to be flat, 2-D?  You make the call.  Feedback is welcomed.

It's 9" tall and approximately 10" wide.  It's not a a soft sculpture; it's hollow.  Contour mesh (aluminum screening) adds structure to the lower portion.

Robert Hartley

Field of Square Posies

Blue is not a color I use often, so when the challenge was announced, I was on the fence. But after all, it is a challenge, so I pulled what few blues I have and came up with this piece, Field of Square Posies, which measures 12 1/2" x 9 1/2". I thought I added only a bit of yellow, so was surprised to see  a bit of green as well. Sorry, I didn't notice this until the quilt was finished!
All comments are welcome.
Ann In Fallbrook, CA

Wild Blue Yonder

Some friends and I dyed white fabric in an Indigo dye vat a couple of years ago, and I never did anything with the fabric.  The Blue theme this month is perfect for this.  It is a quilt on a quilt, as I brought the lighter square forward to add dimension.
Size is 14 x 22 inches.  I still need to add the outer binding.  Comments welcome.

Bluebird of Happiness

My sewing room is too cold to work in right now, but I found this challenge irresistible. So I decided to make "something blue" by just using cutting and fusing. I used fabrics from my bag of blue scraps, and there are about 40 different fabrics in the feathers. 

Once it warms up enough for me to get to my sewing machine, I will do some quilting on the bird and in the background. The finished size will be about 12" x 12"

Challenge #89, January 24, 2014: Blue . . .

Hostess:  Ann E. Ruthsdottir

Title:  Blue . . .

Due date: February 1, 2014

Theme:  Thinking blue

When I think about blue, countless themes come to mind: blue bloods, blue mood, the Blue Man Band, blue skies, blue water, Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Stocking Society, blue collar, blue ribbons, etc. Blue is often used to signify the best quality as well as the lowest emotional mood.

Blue was my Mother's favorite color, not mine. However, I am painting my bedroom a shade of blue-purple. Not sure if it is to remember my Mother. It just seems to appeal to me at this point in my life.

Blue is the most popular color for decorating a home. My first table ware was white with blue decoration. My neighbors got together and got 'the first set free' at a Kroger promotion. I tired of the decoration, but loved the gift of friendship.

My challenge is to create a quilt that makes one think “blue”.

Technique:  Limited color palette

The major color should be blue. It is OK to add white and black and ONE other color. These should be minor additions; just an emphasis on the BLUE theme. Any subject that appeals to you, real or imaginative; traditional, modern, abstract or 'art' quilt

Resources

Following are some links to BLUE sites that hopefully will give you some ideas. I tried to put the ones I thought the best first. I got totally overwhelmed with all the gorgeous eye candy that is on-line.

Picasso:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picasso's_Blue_Period

http://pablo-picasso.paintings.name/blue-period/

http://www.pablopicasso.org/blue-period.jsp

Matisse also had a BLUE period

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Matisse

See specifically: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Nudes

Biblical uses of “blue”: http://tinyurl.com/FFFC89 or

http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=blue&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue       

Blue quilts

Eleanor McCain: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/533958099540265816/

Kim Yasuda: http://www.kimyasuda.com/quilts/blue.html

Judy Laquidara:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2010/01/21/quilt-without-borders/

http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/quilt-patterns/quilt-throws/blue-jeans-quilt

Tanesha: http://www.craftygardenmom.com/2012/09/fo-lovebirds-art-quilt.html

Video: Hungarian Blue Quilts, Houston Quilt Festival 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m59YO-XLBQA

More references to BLUE

Depression Awareness Week: 11 Artists Who Had Blue Periods

 http://tinyurl.com/FFFC89-1 or  http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/04/25/artists-with-depression_n_1451512.html

Blue Man Group: http://www.blueman.com/about-blue-man-group

And to find more references, just google “Blue”!

One final note: have fun with this!