A Challenge for Your Quilt Group?

A Quilt Challenge for Your Group?

This was our Y Quilters' group challenge this year and as it was so successful, you might like to try it in your own quilt group or just for yourself.  

Challenge: Each participant was given one paint chip card with 4 coordinating colors on it and these were the colors to use in the quilted piece. The fabric could be solid or prints as long as the paint chip colors were there. The only other color that could be introduced is a polka dot print. (I noted that anyone who added the polka dotted color used the same coordinating colors from the paint chips. I guess that goes to show those designers who choose those paint colors at the paint store know what they are doing). The name of the block that you were to choose was to start with the same initial as your first name. The piece was to be 36 X 36" or smaller.

 

Here are the results from the Y Quilter's Group:

How perfectly the shades of blue come together to show off the pattern in J's piece.

The name of this piece was 'Pumpkin' for Pat

 

W's piece used coordinating mauves. Note that the mauve colors from the paint chips were toned (purple with white and grey added). Sorry if a few photos are blurry. I found quilter's talk with their hands!

  

I am not sure of the name of P's piece but she often sews with the selvage edges and that is what she did here. Now that is a lot of sewing.

N's was a disappearing 'Nine' Patch in soft pinks.

F stepped outside the box and choose her own paint chips from her daughter in law's recent renovation project. Now she has a perfect gift.



B's colors perfectly coordinate. Note that the paint chip designer chose lights, mediums, and darks for us which helped in showcasing the pattern.

J wasn't too pleased with her colors as she said she is attracted to bright colors but 'heh' this table runner is perfectly coordinated in neutrals and someone will love it.



Shades of brown: 2 medium dark prints, one tan and one off white placed with the toned blue are stunning.

H's block. Note this set of colors contained a complementary color scheme of blue and orange but because the orange was so toned it became a brown, setting off the blue perfectly without being too strong.

F found a lovely large polka dot in her color scheme. She told a great story of why she never has liked yellow, going back years to when her mother said 'yellow makes your skin sallow'. Finding this perfectly coordinating yellow at the local quilt store has changed her mind about the color yellow. Unfortunately this piece grew to over 36 X 36" so.....

F created a 'Cat Mat' for the challenge.

'Sun Bonnet Sue' was S's choice of block. Look at the many tints (yellow with white) and tones (yellow with grey) this piece has. The quilt 'Sue' is hanging stands free from the main piece being only attached at the top.

N's piece is a Nine Patch. What is it about the colors from this paint chip that evoke a feeling of nostalgia?

'Card Trick' was the name of this block but C renamed it 'C's Crazy Card Trick' because of all the challenges she had with it.

L liked the colors in her paint chip selection and they make a strong statement in this block with the light and dark (values).

J's block was 'Johnny Around the Corner' and it also grew a little bigger than 36" square. Lovely quilt. Again the designer that selected the paint chip colors paid attention to values and the use of neutrals. It transposes to quilting so well.

S choose to make a purse with her paint chip colors. She told the story of having to take a break a couple of times and go visit other quilters when the pattern's intrigue details resulted in the need for some unsewing. Who wouldn't want this purse with it's many pockets and dotted inside lining fabric. 

A. said this was a quilt as you go piece. I need to ask her more about creating those curves in this manner. A. was not attracted too her colors but if you squint your eyes, you can see the light (off white), medium (rose) and dark (print) so very distinctly. Again we have a piece that, too me, evokes nostalgia. Do you think it is the toned (greyed) colors that do this is or is it the color combination of rose and toned green?

Coordinating Paint Chip Colors and my piece started.

Completed 'Mug Rug' mini quilts.

That's it for this year's challenge except to hang them at the Quilt Show on March 3. The draw for the free hand painted fabrics is coming up on Feb 8. Through my newsletter are chances to win hand painted fabric and ideas for textile art. If you want to sign up (it is also easy to unsubscribe at any time), email me at egidman@kootenay.com 

Creating with Strips of Fabric

When we all put our blocks together, we almost have a small quilt. As borders are mostly what I use, I am wondering how might I use this block in a border?

 

Keen quilters in their seats waiting to get started on the workshop using scrap strips.

 

We ended up with pairs from these two sets of sewn strips. Wow, how fun are these together. Pinwheels and alternating diamonds where the ideas we came up with, should you decide to put a solid colour with this block.

 

 

Another block put together involving an accent strip. How clever those these instructors are! Doesn't this look like a kaleidoscope image. I am sure I could use these as a border which should show the accent strip as a zigzag.

 

At times, the room was so noisy with machines running you couldn't have a conversation. Also one time, we all fell silent for a minute or so. It sounded eerie.

 

Next we are going to be experimenting with the scraps we have left over from cutting our blocks from the sets of sewn strips. I am sure I will be making some borders with those. Hopefully for my textile piece, 'Carol and Sue' from the previous post. Have you ever experimented with strips. What did you come up with?

Translating a Charmed Life into Textile

 A NEW SERIES!

 'Carol & Sue'

Kootenay living, for me has been a wonderful life and over the years I see people, particularly friends, doing things that reminded me of how fortunate we are to be living where we do. Things such seeing a friend's kitchen counters lined with jars of canned salsa, taking photos of friends as we are hiking through the mountains, watching the progression of wildflowers on spring walks, admiring vendor's wares at our local market,.....and the list goes on.

 

The series was envisioned in watercolour and although I won't discard that thought, the first of the series is done with thread sketching on textile. Why now? Some of the things that finally pushed me into starting the series were:

• Sketching one of the artists at a weekly sketching session in the fall.
• The interest of a student, from the Friday watercolour group, in drawing figures.
• Looking through my sketch pad and adding the chicken to the watercolour sketch done several months earlier.  Choosing the chicken to reflect the model's love of her farm.
• My friend wearing some beautifully flowered rubber boots to an art show we went to this fall. Loved those boots.
• A fellow quilter sharing some very small print fabric with me two weeks ago after I exclaimed over it.
• Recently thread sketching on some textile cards got me excited about creating in thread again.
• A desire to create some larger textile pieces. 

The watercolour sketch upside down as I follow along as I thread sketch with my machine.

Watercolour sketch (left) that inspired the textile art. Oops, too much thread to the upper lip looks like a moustache and that chicken is a bit fat.

Chicken slimmed down.

Mouth fixed and background stitching added in white thread.

Do you have any ideas for a title for this series? These are my ideas so far: Kootenay Charms, Kootenay's Charm, A Kootenay Life, What a Life or The Kootenays' Charm.

Pieced 2" Pinwheels

Two inch Pinwheels!!! Okay this is so outside my realm that I am surprised I had so much fun sewing them today. It all started yesterday, with my friend Patty, when she gave me some one inch half square triangles and encouraged me to try sewing some together into pinwheels for adding into the mug rugs that I sew using my hand painted fabrics.

 

The Pinwheels I made today using the 1" half square triangles.

A pinwheel with the alternating lights and darks is 2 1/2" and finishes to 2"

This part was so much fun to do. Deciding which of the scrap, half square triangles, would go together for a pinwheel. Even though there are only 8 colours I was imagining all sorts of combinations.

 There is quite an intersection of seams in the center and next week at our quilt group Patty will show me how to position the seams so they lay flat.

Chaining pairs together. I can't wait to get dye painting fabric to go with these delightful pinwheels.



In the meantime I thought I would use some pinwheels in the 'mini quilts' I am making for my Quilt Group Challenge. Do you see the paint chip? These are the colours I am to use in a block that has a name that shares the same first letter as my name, Eileen. The two blocks I came up with on the internet were Economy block or Evergreen block.

 

Drat, can you see that I have sewn the wrong white squares onto the sides of the tree trunk on the Evergreen block on the right? Oh well, it was pretty easy to sew another one.

 

Click here To Julie Cefalu's site The Crafty Quilter where I got the free directions for the tree portion of this block.

To make the 1/2 square triangles, I cut 2" blocks of the light and dark material. Then laying them right sides together, I sewed them a 1/4" on either side of the diagonal center line. After that they were pressed, I trimmed them to 1 1/2".

Here is three of the Pinwheels sewn together of an accent strip. I will bind the piece in the dark blue.

Okay, here I have sewn the center square into a Pinwheel that had the lights and darks opposite to the other two blocks. Well I certainly learnt something there. I didn't even realize that was possible. I am actually glad it happened as it allowed me to place the three squares into a more complicated and unexpected arrangement. I will bind the piece in the brighter green.

 Well thanks to my fellow quilter Patty. You have inspired me to try something outside of my typical freeform piecing. I can't wait to make some mug rugs using the pinwheel strips and some of my hand painted fabric but first I have to get painting some cotton fabric with some dyes.  

A Week in the Life of a Textile Artist

Textile cards for sale, a textile card received, an art meeting, and textile art photos in an email are all art related things that happened this week.

New winter related art cards created for sale at Creston Card and Stationery

 

Someone purchased one of my own cards to give to me this week! How very delightful and thoughtful that was.

Click here for more information about my 'Clotheline Series'. Are you a clothesline user? If you would like me to paint a watercolour painting of your clothesline, email me at egidman@kootenay.com.

An art meeting at our new place. Of course as you can see it involves a lot of tea drinking and eating of treats. Fuel for the brain.

How terrifically excited I was to receive an email from Joan this week showing me what she did with two of her fabric pieces she painted at the 'Painting With Dyes Workshop'  at the Sunshine Coast this spring. Click here for a post about the workshop. 



Textile Art: 'Forest Scene'
Painted and embellished with hand stitching by Joan Baker of Sechelt, BC 

 This textile painting is so representational of the area where Joan lives. I love it.

Textile Art: 'Waterlilies'
Painted and detailed with stitching by Joan Baker of Sechelt, BC 

Do you see how Joan included the title of the piece and her signature in dyes right on the art work. This really lets you know how original this piece of fabric is. Thanks for the idea Joan.

Visiting a Quilt Store in Cape Breton

Anne (right) and I throwing autumn leaves

What a colourful day we had finding Anne Morrell Robinson's Quilts and Fiber Art Store on Cape Breton Island. http://www.kingrossquilts.com/ I was told by a friend, before I left home in BC, that it would be a road trip into see Anne's Store but that it was well worth it. Isn't 'word of mouth' from quilters wonderful. Without the quilter's recommendation, would I have ventured so far a field to find this little gem of a store in the highlands of Cape Breton? On our map, Kingross, the region the store is located in, looks to be the end of the road into the Margaree Valley but our drive was well worth it. Click here for more information about the area.

I called stop at this stretch of the road. Can you see that each tree lined up along the side of the road was a different colour?

The drive in the Margaree Valley of Cape Breton had some of the most colourful autumn scenery we encountered on our visit to the Maritimes.

This photo was taken twice as the colourful maples grabbed my attention both driving into the store and on the way out.

It felt like we were going through a tunnel of yellow and orange just before turning into Anne's driveway.

Anne designed this quilt for a block of the month challenge for her quilt group. It will be made into a veteran's quilt for donation. When I said I always have trouble drawing maple leaves, Anne replied "I just ran out and picked up a maple leaf to draw from. I like that it is so representational of the area.

 

Visiting Anne (on the right) in her shop was that a treat. Not only were there quilts she had designed and created herself but I was surprised to find she had many other talents from creating original pieces of textile clothing, to felting brooches, to hooking traditional rugs with strips of wool fabric, to fabricating dolls.

 

Look for more photos of quilt shop visits, waterccolour sketches, and colourful landscapes of the Maritimes in upcoming posts. Thanks for stopping by.