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

The Sentinels

The Sentinels was inspired by the painting (above) by George Caitlin. Caitlin painted mostly scenes of Indian life as well as many Indian portraits. I first saw his work in the Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC where there is a large permanent installation  of many of the portraits. I liked the lines and shapes in this particular painting; the embellishments are the decorative stitches around the spheres, in the striped fabric, and on both sides of the blue area. My quilt is approximately 24" x 18".
Ann In Fallbrook, CA

Road Trip!

"R" is For Road Trip!

This is a collage of several small postcard-style quilts that show a road trip through the Southwest. The background is a city skyline while the border represents the wide open road. Text includes not only the free-form cut letters, but  also the background map behind the two figures. My quilt measures 22" x 21".

The Eyes Have It

"The Eyes Have It" is mounted on black felt, then quilted, is 6" x6".

Pod, Again

This is called "Pod, Again" because I find myself drawn to creating pods over and over. Pea pods lend themselves easily to texture. The pod itself is rough; I've used both sides of a heavy upholstery fabric here.The peas are also decorator fabric - a bit lighter this time - and I also used both sides. The circle quilting pattern gave the piece the tiny little boost it needed. Over all it measures 6" x 8", but will be matted to 4.5" x 6.5"

Cattails

Cattails, 18" x 24"

Not being a believer in numerology or lucky numbers, I was a bit perplexed as to how to approach ths challenge. But after re-reading Susan's information, I was drawn by the number three as a representation of the Holy Trinity. My stash has a great tie-dye print that worked beautifully as the background. The cattails are made using velvet and ultrasuede.

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

Special Delivery

Florals aren't really my favorite subject, but that's the point of a challenge, right? So I dove in and used abstract art as my genre. The vase fabric was in my stash, and after twisting and turning it, I found that it had the highlights printed into it that I thought I would have to add with stitching. The background is an older Wyland undersea print that had all the right lines for echo quilting. This was a fun piece, and I really am thinking of doing another! Size is 18"x24", maybe a bit less.

Ann In Zen

Tangling is addictive! I spent several hours yesterday and quite a few more today working on this tangle. It was a lot of fun finding patterns that would work well in the area around my name. I don't know what I will do with my "masterpiece", but it sure was fun creating it. It is almost 8.5" x 11". ANN in Fallbrook, CA

It Was A Musical Year

"When I'm 64" is a great little song, full of visual imagery. I chose these lines from the first stanza:..."Will you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greetings, bottle of wine?" I love the whimsy of this song! Anyway, the background is a collaged mishmash of acrylic paint, ink, torn wrapping tissue and pattern paper. It also has a layer of textured organza fused over the top. All the other elements are layered and fused. The label on the wine bottle is zentangled; both the bottle and wine glass have acrylic painted details. Note the date on the neck of the bottle - appropriate, don't you think?!
My quilt measures 19"w x 21" and hasn't yet been quilted because I am about to run out of time - the hubby and I are leaving for a Mediterranean cruise in less than a week!

Zebra (En)Closure

When I saw Cherie's theme and read through the various Gestalt principles, the one that spoke to me was Closure. This is an interpretation of a closely cropped image I found in a book somewhere. Once I got started the quilt almost made itself and was a pleasure to create. Overall it measures 12"w x 14"l.

Ann In Fallbrook, CA

View

Thank you Cynthia for an interesting challenge. At first I wanted to moan and pull my hair, but your statement about not over-thinking it and just doing it struck home. I found an image in a travel mag that had great lines, then went to a color design book I've had for many years and use frequently. My palette was yellow, blue, purple and blue-green. Though I'm not sure I've hit all the values and done them in the correct proportions, I am happy with the outcome. The quilt is 5"x7".
Ann In Fallbrook, CA

Leaves

This is a small piece, only 9"x9", and is mounted on black velvet. The quilt sits in a shadow box, but the glass does not photograph well at all, so I took it out just for the photo. I have been in a creative slump for the past few months and could literally create nothing, and I forced myself to get involved this month. After about five tries, this is what I settled on. Wind-blown leaves that echo the printed pattern beneath are quilted with a swirly motif. Thanks, Tobi, for a good challenge.
ANN

Crying Tree

There is a fabulous new artist out there named Megan Aroon Duncanson, and I have used one of her works as my color pallette inspiration. She works in wonderful, vibrant and clear colors. Her painting is called "Twisted Love". My quilt is called "The Crying Tree". I am about to throw a big downer on all of us, so I apologize in advance. My adult daughter intensely dislikes me, for reasons I can't quite understand. I raised her to be polite, thoughtful and compassionate. Yet when she interacts with me, she is none of the above. My tears fall via the leaves on my tree, but never on her. My wish is that she will come to her senses and drop her selfish attitude. The quilt is 13"x18", and all critiques are welcome.
Ann In Fallbrook,, CA

Talleulah Finds Solitude on the Mountaintop

Talleulah is still on her quest for new adventures and this time has landed atop a very high mountain. Perched there she has found perfect solitude. My quilt is 18"x24" and is not yet quilted. The foreground mountain top is done collage-style with several batiks from a Hoffman jelly roll. I have uploaded a closeup on the Yahoo page.

Talleulah Finds Her Pot of Gold

This challenge theme had me stymied until I met a few fellow FFFC'ers last weekend. Cherie Brown and Kathy Brannock threw out a few suggestions that caused the lightbulb to come on. I have been making projects over the past few months with the overall theme of "Talleulah Dreams". Talleulah is a bit of an odd bird, always wearing goggles and a cap just in case something exciting happens. She often has at least two friends nearby who are her support system, friends who would stick by her side no matter how odd Talleulah's dreams are. I have made many Talleulah quilts with several different adventures, so when the idea of a pot of gold was mentioned, I knew exactly where Talleulah fit in. My quilt is 18"x24", the egg is stabilized lame, the grass is attached so that it will wave in the breeze. Any and all comments, no matter how odd, are always welcome!

The Chrysler Building

For this challenge I wanted to do a take on one of the iconic pieces of architecture from the Art Deco era. The Chrysler building is one of my favorites; I love its style and lines. When I googled it, I found a wonderful photo with a forced perspective and used that as my inspiration. In my stash I found an older chunk of fabric depicting the nighttime New York skyline. Perfect! And while I do realize that this is far from perfect, I think it is OK for this challenge. All comments are welcome.

Iris Worthy of Goldsworthy

This was a fun and exciting challenge and I am very happy to have been able to finish this before leaving for a week in Cambria, CA. After browsing through several pages of Andy Goldsworthy's artwork, I realized that he often works with circles/bubbles, one of my favorite shapes to work with, both in form and in quilting motif. The bubbles lended themselves well in forming the stem, while leaflike shapes suggest the garden grounds. All of these shapes are used as quiting motifs as well. I haven't added quilting to the borders and don'tknow if they really need to be quilted - what do you think?
Ann - formerly in Walnut, but now in Fallbrook.

Profile

Curvilinear Perspective threw me for a loop; that is until I took a deep breath and really thought about it. In my mind I kept seeing this girl's face in profile, with a sixties-style hair-do. After a quick sketch, I pawed through my stash to find fabrics to create just the right mood. The hair is overlaid on black to give it depth. Yes, I know the wavy-cut binding edges are crooked, but I had to hurry to finish. While I was doing the binding, we sold our house!!

Four Leaves

What can I say? This is four leaves assembled in a rotary-style layout. Each leaf has been split vertically and diagonally for veins. The background is where I got a bit more creative. I first fused a small part of a very loosely knitted scarf to a piece of upholstery fabric, then placed the dissected leaves. Next, I fused some cheesecloth stretched taut over the leaves. After stitching around the leaves I cut the cheesecloth off of two of the leaves, then stitched in the details. It measures 9"x9".