Category Archives: Charlottes Shadow 2

Charlottes Shadow 2, Daily's, Foundations VII Fragments, I'd Reconsider, Pomegranate

Moon Light January 16, 2014

 

Hello,

Tonight is the full moon, but last evenings moon light  was beautiful too.  The light was so silvery white  through the sky light that I had to go to the window and look out.  Most of the snow had melted, but there was still one drift in the back yard.  The tree limbs cast beautiful blue gray shadows across the snow and my mind catalogued the colors and patterns for a new work.   This morning I did a sketch of the idea so I would not lose the feeling.    I can hardly wait until I have time to begin this new project.

Pomegranate 33" X 46" $535.00
Pomegranate
33″ X 46″
$535.00

Progress Report: Pomegranate I am quitePomegranatecl3 pleased with how this quilt ended up.  All the shadow quilting around the fruit did have a pull on the seams- but I minimized it as much as possible by sewing in one direction all the way around and then doing the next pass in the opposite direction.   All this action made for very slow work.    I also added a spike every now and then to the pattern so there were some strait sewing lines too.   I also tried a little experimentPOMEGRANATEcl4 with the paint on this project.  To give the fruit a little more “punch” I painted clear fingernail polish over some of the red seeds.  Pomegranatecl1      I really like the transparency of the paint on this piece.  It adds to the interest of this work for me.  The paint is fabric paint.

 

 

I'd Reconsider 16" X 25.5" $145.00
I’d Reconsider
16″ X 25.5″
$145.00

I’d Reconsider   I spent a lot of time looking at this quilt before I started quilting on it.  Titles are always a difficult thing for me.   I had been calling this work  Sunshine and Rust- but looking carefully at  the surface-working out the quilt pattern- I noticed the eye shapes in the printed fabric.  I decided to  use those shapes as a starting place for the quilting.    The shape was so easy to quilt and just seemed to flow across the surface of the work.I'd Reconsider  Then when I started altering the size of the eyes to fill in the space it was even an easier process for me.  It took on a life of its own and I went with that feeling.   When it was all done the I'd Reconsidertitle of Sunshine and RustId Reocnsider cl3 seemed  to be a major miss fit.   “I’d Reconsider” seems to work a lot better for me.  I have learned that I will not title a work until it is totally finished from this point forward.

 

 

Charlotte’s Shadow II I am to the quilting stage of this work now too.  It is going to be more in the nature of the fabric that is the main material for this series.  Charloett'sII-cl   I have started adding leaves and finishing flowers on the top at this point.  I will keep working away in this type of style until I have completed the work.

 

Charlotte’s Shadow III  Charlottes-ShadowIII  This is the third and final quilt in this series.  As this shot shows I have only begun to pin some parts to the wall.  I will shuffle them a bit before I begin to put it together.

 

Foundations VII- Fragments   I am still quilting away on this work.  It was pinned to the pin wall and when I came into the room before I turned on the lights yesterday FoundationsVII close upmorning I looked at the piece.  With all the color washed to darks and lights by the laque of light I suddenly saw a section of the quilt that was not working at all.  I had created a whole in the upper left hand side by surrounding a section  with darks.  When I turned the light on it was still there.  My eye is still drawn to that flaw so I will begin the correction today.  That is one really paint/college like quality of this construction method.  I will build over the area that I find offensive a with layers of organza so I can keep the texture.    This shot shows how I am building texture with yarn in one of the areas of this quilt.

tee shirt quiltTee Shirt   I have a new commission piece.  It is a tee shirt quilt.  All the images have been mounted on inner facing so they will remain square when they are seamed together.   Sewing on double knit fabric is always tricky.  I am now ready to lay them out and add the sassing to them so they are uniform in size- like building a log cabin block.  That step will make assembly easy and simple.

Quilt Daily’sDaily's   I believe the daily’s are getting more complex with time.

Keep your eyes open to the beauty around you.

Hugs

Carol

 

Anastasie Ruin, Charlottes Shadow 2, Daily's, Pomegranate, Sun Shine and Rust

Were Do Ideas Come From? January 9, 2014

 

Anastasi Ruins 18" X 24" $ 110.00
Anastasi Ruins
18″ X 24″
$ 110.00

Hello-

The New Year is starting off cold in this part of the country- A feeling that makes me want to hibernate.  But I have just stay indoors and worked away instead.   Last week I said that I was going to choose a word to be my guide for this year.  The word I selected is “EXPLOIT”.  I intend to fully “exploit” my materials, stash and potential for new directions.     Like so many others I have a lot of gadgets and stuff that I have saved for just the write project- but I will not be doing that anymore.  I plan to go ahead and use them now- with out fear or worry.   That is not to say everything will be a big success, but that idea is an illusion anyway, I have given myself permission to “exploit” what I have and enjoy every bit of it.    Saying that I was asked by a friend were do my ideas come from?   After careful thought I decided there are many sources for me.Doodle

First Pay attention to what interests you.  When one is interested in something they look at it and think about it more then other items.   When I was teaching middle school every September when the students all had their new sketchbooks I would ask them to make a list of all the things that they liked in the front.  My lists change and grow from sketchbook to sketchbook as my interests change.    Together my students and I  would use the list as a starting off place for new projects when we needed it.   I still use this practice.

I love to travel and pictures from my adventures can be starting points for work.  Like the  quilt above.

I alsoBlock-and-print doodle and that can be the beginning of work for me.  I used this doodle as a starting place for a stamp that I created and printed this week.  It is not a quilt yet, but I think the graphic is good and I am sure I will use it in the furture.   Sketchbook  I find myself searching out items that I have  interests in and the list helps me remember.  Pomergranates are one of the things on my list.  So when I saw this shampoo bottle it caught my eye.   I then purchased the fruit Shampoo bottlewhen I saw it again the grocery and I did a little sketch to make myself more filmier Pomegranit2with it before I cut a series of stencils of this subject.  I am enjoying using the stamped fabric that I created using this idea. So those are three sources of ideas for me.  I will try to pay attention over the next few weeks and mouths and note were the ideas come from and point them out.

Progress Report : PomegranitPomegranate I   This work is still at the quilting step.  I have learned that I do best if I only work for about an hour before I stop and go to something else.  That way I do not hurry and mess up.   I am nearing the end, but I am not there yet.

 

Charlottes Shadow 2 Charlottes Shadow2  I had just pinned this to the wall last week.  I am building away on the top now.  The quilt is taking shape.   I use the tape measure to help me keep my sizes what I have in mind when I am working.  I want all the pieces in this series to be the same size and this method  really helps me do that.

Sunshine-and-rustSun Shine and Rust I really love the print fabric that is in this top.  That is the real starting place for this work.  I also wanted to work with a sunny color this week when the sky was so gray and it was so cold.  This project did help me feel more cheerful.

Foundations VII   I still have not settled on a title for this piece, but I am enjoying the BJ914FoundationsVIIprocess.   There is so much wonderful texture here and the free motion work is so very calming to me now that I have done so much.  This close up shows the use of  waded green organza, wool fabric and wool yarn.    There is also a little bit of colored pencil drawing in the lower left hand corner here.  I am exploiting all  my knowledge and talents on this work!

Daily'sDaily’s    I am still going strong on this project.

Stay worm and keep creating.

Carol

 

Charlottes Shadow 2, Charlotts Shadow 1, Daily's, Pomegranate

January 2, 2014

Charlotte's Shadow 1 18" X 27"
Charlotte’s Shadow 1
18″ X 27″

Happy New Year.    I am having a difficult time wrapping my mind around the idea that it is 2014.  Time seems to be flying along.  I am going to try to choose a word  of the year for myself.   I want a unifying idea to hold/guide  myself along through 2014.   I read about his idea somewhere and  I like the concept- now to decide on a word to be the guide.   I am still toying with several, but I will have a final selection by next week.

Like most folks in the north east I am dealing with snow and cold at the moment.   I am fine for the most part, but I feel for the birds and beasts out there.  I see lots of crows, but not many other animals.

Progress Report: Charlottes Shadow 1   This quilt came together quickly for me.  One of my quilting friends died last year and  at Quilting by the Lake there was a show of her work that two of her dear friends put up.  They had also emptied  her studio and they gave me some of her fabric.  This quilt grew out of that gift.  I only added the white and the hand dyed pink to the fabrics to create this quilt.  My plan is to create two more little quilts using more of her fabrics and then passing  the works back to the gals who were her roommates.  ShadowCl2I am going to keep using the big florial material as my starting point.    I did hand work in the center of the flowers.  Then   I did free motion Ch shodow cl1quilting around the flowers and learned a lot doing this.  All the circular motion sure distorted the seam lines.  I have done shadow quilting before. But I had always gone to the edge of the quilt after two rounds so there were some on grain quilting lines.  I did not realize how important  those strait lines were to the stability of the quilt until now.  Charletts CL3 The next quilt will be different as there  is not more of the second  pale florial print fabric left.CharolettsShadow-2

Charlottes Shadow 2 I am enjoying this process and I like this little challenge of using colors that someone else has selected.  It is a good way for me to honor  the memory of Charlotte.

 

 

 

Foundations-VIIFoundations VII     I am still doing free motions work on this piece.    All the base units are down now and I am building the textures with yarn, torn satin, and various shades of nylon netting.  I like all the shading this allows me to add to the surface, sort of like cross hatching when one is using a pencil on a drawing.

 

 

Pomegranate  I am continuing to work on this piece too.  Pemagrannte  I will apply the lesson I learned about  doing strait quilting lines as a part of the design on this one.    So far I have only out lined the fruits and done one row of shadow quilting on this work.  I am always surprised by how long it takes me to work in a circle as I have to keep stopping and turning the quilt- but I think it is worth the effort.

Daily's

Daily’s     I am finding  that it is difficult for me not to see the red circle as a flower center or a sun.   Hopefully that will diminish with the work over the course of the thirty squares.

Keep worm and keep creating

Carol