Challenge 54 Leafy Tropics

For this challenge I cropped a section of a photo I took at a botanical garden. The final piece is only 8 by 14 inches, I have it pinned here to a canvas which is the way I'll probably display it, altho I may cover the canvas with fabric or paint it. I layered the fabrics to create the leaves and shadows, satin stitched, quilted, and highlighted with colored pencils. Thanks, Janice for a great challenge, especially since I've been lost in the desert of no motivation and this got me working again at least for this piece! All comments appreciated.

Challenge 53 Table for Two

I had no time to make a piece this week so I'm posting one I made last spring. It's about 26 by 32" or so. This is one of our favorite places to have coffee outdoors, so I took a photo and used the photo as a pattern to make this piece from fabric. It was labor intensive and certainly couldn't have done it in a week! Pieces are fused, highlighted with paint when needed, then quilted. It was challenging to create the shadows on the table and chairs, and this is what I settled on. I took artistic license and changed the chair colors to red since the originals are teal and that blended in too much with the blue walls and greenery. Thanks in advance for any comments. I've enjoyed hosting this challenge even though I wasn't sure I could pull it off, and thankful to all who participated! Chris Predd

The Grande Grand

Here's my small piece, about 14 by 10 inches. When I first saw the Grand Canyon I walked into a visitor's center and for the first time in my life I applied the word awesome to my experience and it was the correct use of that word! Both visually and spiritually, the view took my breath away and kept me enthralled for the duration of my time visiting the area. I have tried to capture that image in this piece. I painted on decorator fabric, a textured off white piece, with acrylic paints and a putty knife. My goal was to created layers of color against the blue sky. Light areas on the piece are the background fabric unpainted showing through. I free motioned quilted in a loose pattern for the sky and in a more rigid layered pattern for the canyon rock formations. I satin stitched the edge so as not to cause any sense of hemming in of the great expanse. It is inspiring to me, and maybe will be to you. I can still remember the site and how I felt that day. Thanks for any comments.

Waiting for Pizza

I kept thinking of the mushrooms in my frig and decided to use them for this challenge. I took a photo, transferred to fabric, then highlighted with watercolor pencils. It's 6 by 9 inches. Looks like I could have used more value differences seeing it here. I'm glad I at least made something as I have missed the past few challenges due to creative boredom. thanks for any comments, Chris Predd

Under the Bridge

I used a photo I had taken under a bridge by the bay here in Florida and

fractured it, then used green, purple, and orange colors. Added the heron. I created the ray of light to shine on the heron. There's three areas: the bridge, the water, and the sandy/grassy area, the quilting follows those themes in the different spaces. It measures 13 by 14 inches or so. Didn't show the wings, but he's got them! Lots of small pieces, it is fused.

thanks for commenting if you have a chance. Chris Predd

Lemons from Cheerios

I decided to use the Cheerios box since I've been eating them as long as I can remember. As I pondered the box, my eye was drawn to the stainless steel basket of lemons I have on my island, so I went with that idea. I made a small arrangement in a blue bowl and took photos. The lemons are a photo transfer to fabric, except the bottom one which is made from transfer to lutrador, my first use of this product. The bowl is also a transfer to lutrador. I added to the lutrador transfers with pastel dye sticks and watercolor pencils. Upper background is a hand dyed piece of mine. I used a new facing technique to finish it. It's about 8 1/2 by 12 inches. I'm pretty happy with it, as I challenged myself to use new products and techniques and for me, stepped out of my usual abstract/ geometric box. Comments are welcome. Thanks.

Chris Predd

Challenge 37: Somewhere out There

This quilt is about 28 by 30 inches. All the background fabrics were painted or dyed on white fabric by me.
I "globbed" on different colors, sprayed a little water, then shaped the fabric into a ball and let it dry outside. I used three different pieces of fabric prepared in this way. After they were ironed, washed, and ironed again, I cut them into four inch squares. The white irregular area was partially in the fabric, but I extended it with white fabric paints. The circles I had painted on initially using a lid dipped into white paint to create open circles. Then I filled the circles in with metallic paints, hoping I created dimension in the circles as moving heavenly bodies of some sort. I quilted over the surface in lined star shapes using different variegated and metallic threads. I had no idea how this would end up when I started, but this is my preferred method of working. Just begin with some fabric and see where it takes you.