Fall

My word is a simple one, "Fall,"  but it means many things.  Here in the Northeast it is not just a season but it is leaves falling to the ground, cool clear skies, oranges, reds and yellows.  I wanted the word to be both spelled out and integral to the picture.

Ticia

Charm

This was my first time playing with Zentangles and a lot of fun.  I started with a quote and then played with interpreting the letters in different forms and colors.  Although I am not thrilled with the end product (approx. 12" by 17") this piece was all about the process for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  After learning a little about zentangle I wanted to see how it would interpret in thread and free motion.    The biggest surprise for me was when I when I went back and outlined all of the finished letters in the heavy variegated thread that I had drawn all of the initial lightweight thread colors from.  It totally changed the look of the piece.          Ticia

Brick and Mortar

This was a really exciting challenge for me, and I found myself pushing to try combinations that I wouldn't normally do.

I took this picture used for the lines in my piece while on vacation last year. I loved the texture and the strong architectural lines along with the starkness of the color scheme.

Just a few blocks away, I took

my color inspiration photo at a local farmers' market.

I found it really challenging to try to incorporate the bright reds and greens into the strong lines from the other photo. This piece became much more abstract than my usual work although I tried to incorporate much of the feel of the original photo, it is also greatly changed. The mortar for the bricks and the stones is actually a sage green tone, although against the brighter colors it appears to be gray. The quilting is done in a very fine thread in the same sage green as the mortar. It is intended to simply emphasize the textural difference between the bricks and stones and the mortar.

I would welcome your comments, including where I may have missed the mark or could have improved the concept. Thank you!

Ticia

Siblings

For this challenge, I tried to evoke memories of fun childhood days. Siblings, uses paint, metallic thread, and an old photo to try to capture a relaxed summer day. Brother and sister with a day full of possibities.

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

Solace

When I read about this challenge, I had just returned from an Adirondack vacation. For me, solitude is peaceful, calm and comfortable. The "abstract" portion of this challenge was really hard for me. This piece is 25" x 15".

Dancing leaves

When I looked at Mr. Goldsworthy's work, it seemed to me that he took natural objects and showed them in unnatural, often geometric forms. In addition, it appeared that he often colored, greased, or otherwise altered the appearance of the objects. I enjoyed using the complex background, but found it difficult to make the leaves stand out against it. The plain diagonal quilting was intended to take the background, back and let the leaves stand out in relief. Thank you for such an interesting challenge. Ticia

Uphill Both Ways

On a recent vacation to a mountainous region, we had the privilege of walking the children to school each morning. We were stunned, when after walking uphill to the school we found that the return trip was also uphill and seemed even steeper than the walk to school.

When I saw the challenge to use curvilinear forms, my initial journal sketch of the walk to school became the inspiration for this quilt "Uphill Both Ways." It is approximately 10" x 10" and is fused and minimally quilted to enhance the curved roadways between the house and the school.

Thank you for this challenge, I really enjoyed working on it. Ticia Wicks

Tulips on a Table

What a fun challenge! This is the first time I have tried to work in this fashion and it was exciting to try. I started with a sketch of some tulips I had made years ago. Then folded a ribbon bow and laid it on a table. Then a did a new sketch of the tulips with the bow and colored it in with colored pencils until I had the shading correct. Finally, I fused solid pieces of fabric onto the background and shaded them with thread painting (a first for me) and colored pencil. Will I need to use a fixative on the pencil? Last, I layered and quilted the piece. I'm looking forward to trying this process again -- and welcome your comments!

Shake it up! - Life in the Snowglobe

My challenge was working with hexagons. I started off abstract and thinking about piecing them, but they just didn't want to go that direction. The tree is made up of about 300 hexagons cut out of the scrap pieces in my stash and then layered on top of each other. The snow and snowmen are also made completely of hexagons, together with the ornaments and all their accessories.

When I began quilting, my intention was to use layered and repeated hexagons throughout the piece, as I did in the foreground, but it didn't look right in the sky or on the tree. So for the sky I settled on snow lines coming down with hexagons for the flakes. The tree received a garland.

Finally, I used an edge finish that I had not tried before and bound the edge with a zigzag stitch and a specialty yarn to give the illusion of more snow.

This was a really interesting challenge and I enjoyed working with the one shape.

Ticia Wicks

This is a weekend of firsts for me, first blog post, first FFFC, first time using colored pencil on fabric. Dandelions are my favorite flower and on reading the challenge and thumbing through my photos, I decided to work from some macro shots I had taken with a dark background. Some of the flowers are done with embroidery - silk ribbon, embroidery floss and silk thread. Others are done in colored pencil. The bees are also colored pencil. I'm very pleased with the look of the individual flowers, but feel like the composition is a bit lacking.