Butterfly trio

I tried a couple of things before finally settling on this little trio.  I was inspired by the article on the presence of butterflies  in the belief system of  Pre-Columbian Central Americans.  I was also taken by the description of the use of stamps to embed butterfly images in pottery.  I created a stamp using Craftfoam and matt board.  The image was taken from the breast plate shown on a statue.  First I stamped the black out line and then painted in the coloured areas.  The entire piece was free-motion echo quilted ( Boy, does my FMQ'g ever need practice!) I felt that the binding needed to be black to frame the images.  Despite a couple of paint blobs and smears, I have become quite attached to these little critters,and hope to use the motif in other work in the future.  Any comments would be welcome.

Pat F in Winnipeg
www.mousefactorydesigns.blogspot.com

Just When The Caterpillar Thought The World Was Over...

 

The quilt is my fable of the butterfly's life cycle with a moral. The leaf, leaf with eggs, the eaten leaf that feeds the caterpillar, Chrysallis and emerging butterfly. The circle represents the world and the bar code is to count blessings!

It was designed in Make the Cut software. A circle and bar code were Boolean joined. Node editing from lines into curves provides a path for caterpillar to transform into a butterfly. It was cut with my electronic cutter and free motion quilted.

WHO are you?

When I started doing research on Monarch butterflies,  I became fascinated by the Monarch caterpillars, with their striking yellow, black and white stripes to warn predators away, and the fact  that they tasted terrible, due to their diet of milkweed. 

But, I could find no myths about the caterpillars! So I resorted to the Alice in Wonderland fable that featured an arrogant pompous caterpillar. I changed him to a Monarch caterpillar, and it was all fun from there!

I have enjoyed seeing the Monarchs by the thousands, migrating in Florida, and I love watching them on the butterfly bush by the window in my sewing room. But  now, I will also watch for the brightly colored caterpillars.

Challenge 87: Butterflies Are Free

Challenge Hostess: Marilyn Wall

Title:  Butterflies Are Free

Theme:  Butterflies and Myth

Due date:  Nov. 30, 2013

Butterflies have inspired mankind for ages, not just for their beauty but also as spiritual beings, symbolic of metamorphosis, rebirth, love, hope, and freedom. 

I have had a love affair with butterflies that covers the last fifty years of my life. I began planting a butterfly garden and following their grown with photography.  I have art work of butterflies and often produce art work of my own with butterflies as my theme.

My challenge for this month is to read about the myths that span centuries. These myths are prevalent in almost every society in the world. Each culture has their own adaptation; in some the meanings are the same, some are totally different. This challenge can be represented in a realistic or abstract manner. Please post your myth along with the fiber piece.  Don’t forget, it doesn’t have to be two dimensional.  How about a doll or a piece of jewelry?

Mary Alice Monroe’s book Butterflies’ Daughter was the catalyst for my interest in butterfly mythology. I had heard about many of the butterfly myths but never explored their meanings. Her blog post below gives you one idea of these myths and the special meaning to her.

http://maryalicemonroe.blogspot.com/2010/10/myths-of-monarchs.html

Return of the Monarchs, Marilyn Wall,   30” x 40”

The local people of Angangueo, Mexico have long believed that monarchs are the returning spirits of their deceased relatives, mysteriously arriving at the same time each year, coinciding with the Day of the Dead.   Aztec tradition holds that the souls of the departed will return as hummingbirds and butterflies, this link between myth and the monarchs’ annual return spans centuries.

Resources:

Myth and Mystery in Mexico’s Monarch Kingdom:

http://goodnature.nathab.com/myth-and-mystery-in-mexicos-monarch-kingdom/

Delaware / Lenape - How the Butterfly Came to Be:

http://www.ucan-online.org/legend.asp?legend=4473&category=7

Psyche is used also as the word for “butterfly” in Greek:

http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Psykhe.html

On Wikipedia:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_symbolic_meaning_of_a_butterfly

Maraleen Manos-Jones has a book entitled “ The Spirit of Butterflies: Myth, Magic, and Art”

http://spiritofbutterflies.com/

Butterfly and Moth Symbolism List

http://www.insects.org/ced4/symbol_list1.html

Some interesting images:  http://www.theenchantedgallery.com/molds.html

Goddesses Fly Again: Butterfly Images in Mexican Myth and Textiles:

http://www.naba.org/pubs/ab97d/p14.html 

And one more thing – have fun with this!

Flowers in the Window

20" x 25½"

Maybe it's a bit lame to be posting this piece from the last challenge right before I put up the next challenge, but anyway, here it is!

I can't even claim that it is all that cubist, but I went rather freer in my cutting than I usually do, instead of following shapes in the fabric. I added the dark fabric behind each of the planters to give them greater definition.

The flowers, especially side ones, seemed not to stand out from the sky that well, so I used a bit of foiling around the edges.

I like it as a piece in itself, but not necessarily as really fulfilling the challenge.  Your comments are welcome.

Sunset Swirls

I belong to a small Art Quilt group that gets together once a month. Our hostess last month provided us with oil paint sticks and textured plates to make fabric rubbings. I made this rubbing on white cloth. She challenged us to make the rubbing into an art quilt. I took mine home and colored between the swirls with colored pencils to look like a sunset, so I created my background in this way. I then traced these plants from a sketch done by Pam Holland. I used permanent fine point pen. I then quilted with black thread on the lines of the plants. I made French knots to emphasize the little berries.

Sisters

I have been wanting to try a portrait quilt, so took this opportunity.  The cubist part is in the coloring and blocks of fabric.  This was fun, thanks Sylvia.

Hot One Minute And Cold The Next

 

The painted self portrait shows the profile view when I am having a hot flash and another view when I am freezing not long after.

 

 

Square Thinking

Tobi, you're a darling... This was proving soooo frustrating to post..
Any how, now I'm here.. This is Press. 4 by 6 inches (postcard size).  Fused, Oakshott fabrics, free-motion quilted on a treadle Bernina, inspired by the iron that started it off...

I've been recovering from a major tree-attacked-my-car moment, am really glad to be back.. Hello again
And thanks..

Self Portrait

This really took me out of my comfort zone but it was fun to do. I'm not sure of the cubism but I am sure of the colors.

Cubed Bass

This was an interesting challenge.  Even though I’m familiar with Picasso, Braque, Cubism, and the general visual style, I had a hard time bending my mind around the concepts and how those might be implemented.  I wanted to do something “painterly,” but that was even more challenging given the nature of pre-printed fabrics.

Some time back I had snapped this picture at a local street festival when a musician laid down his double bass for an intermission.  The image had good visual detail and creative potential, so I attempted to apply Cubist concepts in the form of distorted perspective, abstracted shapes, deconstructed imagery, and alternate colors.  Since I really enjoy play with color, that part came easily, but I struggled with the planer aspects of Cubism and being looser with the composition.  This is what I came up with.

In the end this challenge helped me appreciate Cubism as the profoundly groundbreaking moment it was and the instrumental role it played (and continues to play) in modern art.

Feedback is welcomed.

Robert Hartley

Braque-inspired Still life

Still Life by Braque

Although I was in the middle of several other projects, I could not resist this challenge!

The opportunity to study two of my favorite artists, Braque and Picasso,  along with the chance to play with color, was right up my alley.

I looked at many still lifes by both artists, and chose the one above by Braque as my inspiration. My quilt group is also doing color studies now, so I picked the split complementary of red, and did this piece in red, yellow-greens, and blue-greens. What's not to like?

I couldn't quite make a triangular peach, or a mango with straight lines, but I did simplify my shapes. 

I really had fun with this, and it went together easily.

It is about 15" x 17", all in cottons, fused and quilted.

I would appreciate feedback on ways to improve this.

Factoid: Braque coined the word "collage", from the French word for glue. (I know this is true, because I read it on the Internet.) 

Challenge 86: Square Thinking in Odd Colors

Title:  Square Thinking in Odd Colors

Hostess: Sylvia Weir

Theme: Interpret a common object in the style of cubism

Technique: Represent an object in non-realistic colors; i.e. a banana might be purple or a person might be green or gray. Think about using the complement of the normal color if you get stuck on what color to use.

Due date: November 2

Most of us are familiar with Picasso's rendering of the human figure into  several aspects all seen at once. Georges Braque worked with Pablo Picasso with the two of them painting into the wee hours of the morning interspersed with whiskey consumption, cigar smoking, and a great deal of laughter. Comparing their pieces, I am not convinced that they did not switch easels when they returned to work thinking it a grand joke to sign their names to the other's painting which they may or may not have worked.

However, other painters explored cubism, notably some of the Latin American painters. One of Emilio Pettorutti's work is currently on display at the Museum of Fine Art in Houston in addition to other  Latino American artists working in synthetic cubism.

The challenge for today: Take a common object in your sewing room or kitchen and convert it to a cubist piece using non-realistic colors. For example, if you choose the familiar tomato pincushion, it needs to have sharp angular edges, seen from on top and on bottom and a different color -- perhaps blue or purple. If you want a real challenge you could do your self portrait or that of your dog or cat. Think of pleasing colors that are not realistic. This is an impression of the piece,  of what you know about the object and what you see and what you see over time as you circle about the object. In some ways this is suggestive of drafting a machine part in 3-D.

Resources:

A  brief history of Cubism in Wickipedia; interestingly enough it contains references to architecture -- Le Corbusier, literature, Faulkner; and sculpture.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubism

A collection at MOMA in New York of Braque's work: http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=744

 I was fortunate to see Duchamp's Nude descending the Staircase in person at the Philadelphia Art Museum. This was a significant piece as it represented the beginning of modern art versus classical art. http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/51449.html

Cubism: Picasso, Braques and others

http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_movements/cubism.htm

Emilio Pettoruti Paintings

http://www.midcenturia.com/2011/05/emilio-pettoruti-paintings.html

Take a look at how the portraits were simplified into squares and rectangles and triangles using the face as a basis and the multiple aspects of the object seen and remembered.  Note the odd colors.

Color Theory:  http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-design/basic-color-theory

Of course any good design text book will also have information. This is just one of several hundred websites I found. Libraries also have a lot of resources.

I am not aware of any fiber artists with this sort of work so this should be interesting.

And one more thing: have fun with this! :)  Don't think too hard about it -- just have FUN!

La Danse

First, here's the photo that inspired me. I'm not sure it's the best example of negative space, but I was inspired. The source is: http://narrativetangotoursblog.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/foto-rutas-top-5-tips-for-taking-great-tango-photography/#comment-12 or http://tinyurl.com/mjj6d27 . I left a request for permission, but didn't hear anything either way . . . thanks to them for not quashing my creativity. I found too late that I needed to lighten up the picture very much to get the detail I wanted. But I'm still happy with the result.

And here's my interpretation of the photo. I think I will change his foot, again; then I have to decide how to quilt it. There won't be a border, and her skirt will go off the edge. And looking at the picture, I expect I'll cut the other three sides close. It's hand appliqued, though not super-fine. The hat is wool with ink, sleeves are black Radiance, his leg is discharged (unsuccessfully) cotton sateen, her arms are hand-dyed and inked, and her skirt is velvet/een. Oh, her hair is a cotton quilt fabric that I was thrilled to find in my stash. Size is presently 24" x 25".

Thanks for looking, and comments are most welcome! - Lisa of DippyDyes

Whirling Star and Tree

20" diameter

Many years ago, I created the mandala shown here, with three whirls in black on a white background, and a solid five pointed star which wasn't really there, but implied in the missing parts of the three whirls.  So for this challenge, I decided instead to have a background picture, with a similar whirl pattern.

Making it was harder than I expected.  I first laid out the tree, a rather simple one, on a piece of white fabric, then taped together enough paper to make the whirl pattern, cut it out and laid it on top, and it was too big!  I ended up cutting three spirals, and laid a star on top, then cut out the star, and decided to make it with lines instead of solid.  I pinned the paper on my tree and carefully cut the fabric. Once I satin-stitched the pieces down, I felt I had lost too much of the tree, and added lines of stitching across the white.  The star is edge-stitched with gold metallic thread, in part because it didn't seem to come out as well as I expected.

And then, with all that done, I saw that the left arm of the star is over-sized!  It is not completely finished, still needs to be tacked down on the foam core circle, so the circle will be better defined when that is done.  I'd call this a partial success.  Karol, thanks for an interesting challenge.  I welcome any comments.

My Own Brain

This is my first challenge in about a year.  I decided I had to get back into it.  I've missed doing the challenges.

When I read about negative space I felt like I would have to make my own brain.
I guess I was meant to do it because a friend posted a picture on Flickr of a tree and it's reflection with the limbs  of the tree itself and the reflection coming together in a point making perfect arrow heads.  He gave me permission to use it as my inspiration.

I machine embroidered the tree and satin stitched the branches.

I made it into  a notebook cover.

Betty

Still Life with Apples

 

Still Life with Apples 14" x 24"

This piece came to life in a round about way.  Though I try to draw something in my sketchbook every day (try is the operative word here) I had forgotten about the negative space exercises we did in drawing class so the challenge really peaked my interest.  First I tried the chair exercise we did in class a couple of times and though I was getting better at defining the negative space I decided I really didn't want to do a chair.  Next up were some paper-whites that were in a little vase.  I liked the drawing:

 

so I created a background to be the negative space but none of the fabrics I auditioned for the paper-white shape looked right.

 

Later in the week when I was out for a walk I noticed how many apples there are this year even on the old roadside trees.  The red of the apples is so nice with the green leave but then of course many of the apples are red and green in various combinations.  Bingo!  I would do apples and let the background work as the green contrast with the  apples.

First Freeze

I am back again after the summer hiatus.  We spend those months with our children and grandchildren, so all my time is taken up with making memories to last me through the winter.  That being said, this challenge called to me and I developed several ideas, finally settling on this piece of fiber art.
The base fabric was made with one of my new favorite tools, the Gelli Plate.  I used several different techniques to build up the surface texture including brush strokes, stamps, and tree stencils.  I was very taken with the ghosting which occurred on the right side of the piece.  I also really like the ethereal feel of this piece.  Can you see the bird up in the bare limbs of the tree?  I decided to finish this differently than I usually do by mounting it on a black canvas and adding some old jewelry findings, metallic skeleton leaves, and some decorative trim.  I am really happy with the end results and I am sure that I will be playing with these techniques again.
Thanks for a fun and interesting challenge!

Arizona Sunset

I took a photo last year in Arizona at sunset of the adobe house next to our condo. The little bird sitting on the top was what attracted my attention. The trees lined along the horizon line let the sunset show through their limbs.

It was interesting cutting out the trees for this as I concentrated on just cutting out the negative space. After I finished I wondered if this was really a good representation of negative space or a silhouette. What do you think?

I Love Detroit

 

 

Using negative space, the key emphasizes the Detroit skyline, including the Renaissance Center, the Penobscot building and the Ambassador Bridge among others.

It was designed in Make the Cut software cut out with my electronic cutter.

I would love suggestions on how to quilt it.
I designed it with two versions. One has a circle for the keyhole and one with a heart...which one do u think would work better?

Feedback would be very much appreciated.
Thanks
 

Lady in Heels

We have been on the road a lot recently, and I spotted a lady in heels, filling her tank.  Snapped a quick reference photo, and tackled this using negative shapes.  This was quite a challenge, but I like how she is turning out.  No telling when it will all get appliqued and quilted, so I am posting another pinned piece.  I hope everyone sticks with this challenge, even if it gets difficult.  I am excited to see what we all come up with!!

Challenge 85 September 2013

Karol Kusmaul, hostess

Theme: Negative Space

Due Date: October 5, 2013

When I was in college, our drawing instructor stacked up an odd assortment of stools, old chairs, manikins, and wadded up newsprint.  We had several assignments using this mountain of stuff as our subject matter.  One day, our assignment was to draw the air around the objects, NOT the objects themselves.  In other words, we were to focus on the shape of the spaces between the objects. 

This is a technique recommended by Betty Edwards in her well known Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain books.  Betty tells about Bugs Bunny running through a door and leaving a rabbit shaped hole in the door.  If you were to draw the shape of the door (or the negative space), you will have drawn the shape of the rabbit. It is amazing how well this technique can improve the way you see and draw.

Try it with fabrics!  You can use real objects or photographs you have taken.  You can use any subject matter that has interesting shapes or openings.  

Here is one of my son sitting at a counter.  It is on my list of projects to finish one day!!!

  

Having taught this technique in my high school art classes, I was always impressed with the resulting drawings.  Give it a shot!!!  You might try a quick fabric study of a chair that has interesting open spaces.  Don’t cut out a chair shape, instead, cut out the shapes of the air around the chair.

  

Negative space, in art, is the space around and between the subject(s) of an image. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, and not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape, and such space is occasionally used to artistic effect as the "real" subject of an image. The use of negative space is a key element of artistic composition.

Here are some examples:

http://painting.about.com/cs/paintingknowhow/g/negativespace.htm

http://blog.insightsoft.ae/22-artworks-with-clever-use-of-negative-space/

http://painting.about.com/od/paintingforbeginners/ss/negativespace.htm

http://www.tutorial9.net/articles/design/enhancing-your-art-with-negative-space/

http://www.boredpanda.com/negative-space-illustrations-noma-bar/

http://www.behance.net/gallery/The-Art-of-Negative-Space/1316541

  

This is an image of a drummer.  As in the one with my son on a stool, I started with some  wild fabrics as a background, then added shapes for the negative spaces.  The wild fabrics became my positive shapes.  You may want to simplify and use solids or more tame fabrics.

  

 

Here are two paintings by Hessam Abrishami where negative space is emphasized.  It really is as important as the positive figures!!

Here is the same idea in a small watercolor study.  If you paint the negative shapes, then the positive ones appear.

Finally, a student piece that plays with positive and negative shapes, as well as implied shapes, where your eye completes the tank top on the right, even if it is not delineated. 

And one last word: have fun with this!

Boysenberry Fog

Challenge #84 finally!

I put this together tonight.  It is made of a variety of materials in circular and oblong shapes.  Comments welcome!

Six Sonner Suns

I have (finally) finished my circle-themed quilt. Six Sonner Suns is about our recent trip to Germany to visit my husband's aunt and uncle. We are all Sonners (4 by birth, 2 by marriage). We traveled around the green countryside and enjoyed lots of sunshine with blue skies and some clouds. We even found a strawberry farm run by Sonners. It was fun recreating the colors of the trip and adding happy family photos. This quilt is part of my family history series, which is evolving into family travel.

A Jungle of Tomatoes

25" x 17½"

Last year I came up with A Neighborhood of Zucchini so this year it's back to the garden with a Jungle of Tomatoes, and I couldn't even keep it contained within the original space I had started with!  And that's also what made me take more time in completing it, I'm afraid.  The leaves aren't quite right for tomatoes, but the jungle aspect certainly comes through!  What doesn't show as much are the bits of highlight I put on the tomatoes.

Later is better than never!  Your comments are always welcome.

Road Racer

This is a portrait of a ten year old girl as she was about to begin her first motorcycle road race of the day. She was dressed in all pink from her helmet to shirt, pants, boots, and gloves. She was as determined as the predominantly male contestants. While not exactly just circles, there are a lot of circles in this piece. It is destined for the SAQA trunk show in 2014.

I've written a bit more about it on my blog--sylviaweirart.wordpress.com

Forest

Forgive the pins, as this is as far as I've gotten on this piece.  I was rebelling against what I call 'lollipop' flowers, so I made marshmallow ones instead!  Had fun with lots of recycled fabric prints, and playing with light against dark in this one.  Critique is welcomed. 

Sowing Circles

While flying over Colorado I saw the irrigation circles and immediately knew I needed to make it into a quilt.  This one measures 22"x24".  It is machine appliqued and quilted - no fancy techniques.

Galactic Billiards

The first thing I did was make stratas in two colorways using 1 1/4" strips of hand dyed and batiks.  I then used my Olfa circle rotary and cut circles in different sizes.  I appliqued these onto a backing of velvet encrusted with glitter using satin stitch.    Next, I layered a deep purple-glitter tulle over all, stitched around the circles, then quilted the background in circles.

I actually had no idea where I was going with this when I started...just chose the colors and went for it.  My husband thinks it looks like billiards...thus "Galactic Billiards".

I have always loved working with circles, and have made many quilts based on circle themes.  I really had fun with this one!

It measures 18"x24"

Comments and critiques welcome and appreciated...Cherie

Running in Circles

Running in Circles or Spinning my Wheels is what I feel like I've been doing all summer trying to keep up with the yard work and weeds.

I tried a new technique (to me) by taping a thumbtack onto my sewing machine next to the needle.  Then when I put the quilt sandwich down the tack holds it in place, causing the stitches to form a perfect circle.  By moving the tack closer to the needle, or further away, the size of the circle changes.

Size is 12 inches square on a hand-dyed background.

Challenge #84: What Goes Around Comes Around

Host: Tobi Hoffman

Due: August 31, 2013

Theme:  Exploring the Circle

Design Element: Circles and arcs.  The circles can be part of the fabric patterns, actual full circles, and/or the quilting pattern.  Let them overlap as much as you want, or make concentric circles or offset concentric circles.  You can distort them or use ovals, particularly where perspective might show circles from the side.

Style: Aim for a pictorial or symbolic quilt rather than just a repetitive pattern containing circles as in traditional quilts.  Mandala patterns are acceptable, but try to get away from the traditional. 

References:

The Circle, The Wheel of Fortune & The Rose Window

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.geometry/unit9/unit9.html or 

http://tinyurl.com/FFFC84-1

Circle Symbolism

http://enthusiasticartist.blogspot.com/2011/01/circle-symbolism.html or http://tinyurl.com/FFFC84-2

Circle Symbols - What Do They Mean?

http://webclipart.about.com/od/businessoffice/ss/Circle-Symbols-What-Do-They-Mean.htm or http://tinyurl.com/FFFC84-3

Mandala Symbolism:

http://www.michaelbrown.org/HTML/mandala_symbolism.htm or 

http://tinyurl.com/FFFC84-4

 

Plotting a Circle in Perspective (Technical)

http://studiochalkboard.evansville.edu/lp-circle.html

And maybe not directly relevant, but fascinating (meaning, I couldn’t resist):

Mysterious Underwater ‘Crop Circles’ Discovered Off the Coast of Japan

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/09/mysterious-underwater-crop-circle-art-discovered-off-the-coast-of-japan/ or http://tinyurl.com/FFFC84-5

Examples in art:

The Giving Circle, by Lorraine Landroche

http://quiltforchange.org/2013/07/the-giving-circle-lorraine-landroche-of-west-warwick-rhode-island/ or 

http://tinyurl.com/FFFC84-6

Lucina Lighting the Way, by Mary Veneecke

http://quiltforchange.org/2013/07/lucina-lighting-the-way-by-mary-vaneecke-of-tucson-arizona/ or http://tinyurl.com/FFFC84-7

My Dresden, by Anita Peluso

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bloominworkshop/5924452298/in/photostream/

Art Made Entirely of Circles by Ben Heine

http://twistedsifter.com/2010/04/digital-circlism-ben-heine/

Megan Aroon Duncanson

http://www.artistrising.com/shop/artist/16911/Megan-Duncanson.htm

And above all, have FUN with this!

Bridges

Book cover for Bridges of Madison County.  I tweaked it a bit from the photo posted in Yahoo Groups.  I know my focal point is too centered.  Tried to offset that by adding the bright flowers on the left. Maybe cropping away some of the left side would also help. 
I have not participated for a long time.  Tobi gave me a push, so I'm back.  I DO love challenges, but you know how life gets in the way. 

Karol Kusmaul
Inverness, fL

Fantasy Book Cover

Cone Flower

Framed 10" square

  

Because of my love of plants and gardening, I have many gardening books.  My frustration with all of them is that they try to cram too many photos or a photo of too many plants on the cover.  Because of this, I decided to create a book cover that I would like to see.  I also was so fond of my idea, I thought it might make a nice series.  However, because of the strictness of my design, everything had to be exact.  It was much easier on paper than fabric.  Paper doesn't stretch and move, sometimes with a mind of its' own.

 

Because my original photo was very busy with other flowers, it had to be painted over a LOT!   I used tiny, iridescent seed beads on the top of solid small seed beads.  Those glaring dots in the photo are reflections of light.  I stretched the center of the flower with the round handle of my scissors.  Then I beaded it and stuffed it.  After mounting on the foam core, the perimeter of the 'cone' didn't want to lay flat.  I stitched the edges down with clear poly.  Now it has the depth that I wanted.  I like a lot of depth and texture.  I first stitched the petals to one layer of poly batting and a thin backing.  After stitching all of the petal veins, I cut around the petals so there was no batting between.  Then I made the usual layer of top-batting-backing.  I re-stitched around the petals so that they would have dimension.  Then I quilted the rest of the piece.

 

Stranger in a Strange Land

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein was one of my favorite books, it was absolutely the most influential book I've ever read. I read it when I was 15, about the time you start to think as yourself, and it taught me to think about fairness, love, acceptance, and most of all, truth. Do you remember the Fair Witness concept?

 Yes, its view of women is dated, but they were always treated with love. Then there's the whole question of the true identity of Valentine Michael Smith. I recommend a reading or rereading of it to everyone. Anyone younger than a Boomer should keep in mind it is historical science fiction.  It is also the first part of a trilogy and really more spiritual than science fiction.

I uploaded two images; the first is my book cover (I love this challenge!) and the second is the cover as experiment. I'm going to finish it in the manner of Susan Lenz, a tutorial of which is on her blog, http://artbysusanlenz.blogspot.com/2007/07/how-to-make-in-box.html

I look forward to your comments.  

Suzanne Thompson

www.texturedwords.com 

Lord of the Rings

16" x 13½"

It will come as no surprise to those who have seen my early entries that "The Lord of the Rings" is my favorite book so it was my immediate choice for this challenge!  My initial idea was to have just the hand reaching up to the ring strung on a chain, with the title and author, but my husband felt I needed to include the Eye of Sauron.  For that, I used Angelina fiber with some black strands to be the cat-like pupil of the eye.  I used two layers of dark blue organza to somewhat mute the background; both the eye and the hand are between the two layers.  One mistake was to stitch the chain and ring last, because when I was placing them, I found that the chain needed to go behind the eye, and that was a bit tricky!

And while I normally go with less regular shapes, that's not the way books are made, hence the rectangle!

I look forward to your comments.  Thanks for the fun challenge, Sharon.

Alice in Wonderland

A friend of mine was sketching for fun and when I saw this sketch I immidiately thought of  Alice in wonderland.  It is made with commercial and hand dyed fabric.  It is hard to see the quilting in the photo but it is there.  The "hole" is paper pieced and the tree is raw edge applique. The piece measures 7x17".It is fun to be back in a creative space. 
Thanks for the fun challenge.

Pat Havey

Positive Hand Gestures

Based on one of my favorite books, The Power of Positive Thinking by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

 Designed in Make the Cut software, thread sketched portraits, Tsukineko ink, free motion quilted on Moire fabric.

Five Smooth Stones

 I am not sure how I am quilting this, or even if I am, I may stretch it onto a frame the way it is or use some other method to attach it to a canvas or board. Also not sure if I want to add words. I am liking the simplicity of it the way it is.
The color is off, the background is supposed to be stark white, but I can never get a good shot in here at night no matter how I try.
As soon as I read the challenge for this month, I knew I wanted to do this. I have read this book many many times and it never fails to touch me. I chose to reproduce a painting done by Sara Kent, one of the character's in the book. Everytime I think of this book the description of this painting is always one of the first things to come to my mind. I added the stones to represent the title. they will be sewn on using tulle to hold them..

Not sure if we were supposed to include this, but I thought a description of the books would be nice so others could go look for them and read them if they wished.
(following blurb from Amazon, link to site included)
Five Smooth Stones was written by Ann Fairbairn, and first published in 1966.
It is the story of David Champlin, a black man born into poverty in Depression-era New Orleans who achieves great success and then sacrifices everything to lead his people in the difficult, day-by-day struggle of the civil rights movement. Sara Kent is the beloved and vital white girl who loved David from the moment she first saw him, but they struggled over David's belief that a marriage for them would not be right in the violent world he had to confront. Likening the struggle of black Americans to the “five smooth stones” the biblical David carried against Goliath in lieu of arms, this novel’s range encompasses decades and continents—but that range is insignificant compared with the intimate picture of its hero’s irresistible warmth and inner conflicts. , this epic has become one of the most loved American bestsellers.

I enjoyed this, even as simple as mine is. Thank you Sharon for hosting a challenge that I feel  has rekindled the spark I used to have for creating with fabric!  Sorry I was so long winded! LOL