Week 5 Green

I really enjoy working with strips of materials, so I again used a background in green and then sewed colorful green strips on top.  Each strip was cut with a pinking shear, which adds to the design as well as keeps the strip from fraying.

 My friend, Susan Rienzo introduced me to this type of strip sewing; no fusible is necessary, you simply place your strip on the background fabric and sew it down.  You can see much of her work at www.susanrienzodesigns.com  Susan works with very colorful, playful fabrics and has a signature style, which I love.  More green next week!

Week 4 GREEN

Spring has sprung!  We are enjoying warm, sunny days here in Oklahoma and I am finding it difficult to spend lots of time in the studio.  I guess that's why I love winter so much, with the dreary days and cold weather, it's easy for me to spend the days in the studio creating!  
In any case, I have completed my next GREEN entry, this time I resorted to my favorite pattern of all time, the Log Cabin Block.  However, being the rebel that I am, I did not split the block into lights and darks, as you can see:

I did, however, stick to the traditional log cabin progression of adding evenly cut strips, rather than using one of the more "modern" approaches by wonkifying (is that even a word?) the strips.  I like all the iterations of log cabin, so there may be more in the other colorways.
 

Another Green

This is the next entry into the green colors, and I am working with straight torn strips, bending them as I'm sewing them.  

I placed them on a fairly neutral green and each fabric is mirrored on the opposite side.  Similar to the blue one several weeks ago.  I have so many fabrics in the green colorway that I'm finding it difficult to pick just a couple!  We'll see what I decide to pull out of my stash next week....

Week 2 Green, LATE

Last week was terribly busy as was this last weekend, so I didn't get into the studio until today, Monday.  This is the second entry in the green pieces and I have done a wonky abstract patched piece.  

 At the moment I am planning on doing a similar technique in each colorway, although that may change as I continue into the different colors, we'll just have to see how it goes.  I hope to post this week's piece shortly, even be early with it! 

Week 1 Green

I am beginning my series of 9 green pieces and this is week 10 of the year.  I believe I am going to follow similar patterns, like I did with the blue group,  giving the finished plan more cohesiveness.  At least, that is my plan.  We'll see how it goes.  Anyway, here is my first green piece and it is done by layering torn strips of green from light to dark.  When I do my strata pieces, I usually start at the top of the piece, and layer down from there, so that the torn edges show at the top of each successive piece.

I quilted in an all-over wavy pattern and then added some eyelash yarn across the bottom.  The yarn is glittery and adds some additional texture.  The strip in the middle is a piece of sari silk, and although it's not in the same colorway as the other greens, I felt it added a type of horizon line to the overall look, with just a hint of a bluish tone. 
 

Last Blue Week

This piece is the last in the blue series, and I am late in posting it.  I wanted to post by Saturday of each week, and although I had the piece done in time, I just got too busy to post, plus I was out of town for a day or so.  Anyway, here is the 6 inch square.

 I used a light and a dark blue and sewed slightly curved lines in a four-patch.  This week will be the first in the green series, so I'd better get busy.  Hope to have it posted by Saturday!

Week 8 Blue

I'm up to week 8 in the Blue series and I have one more week to go before I move to another color.  This week I decided I wanted to do some curvy lines.  Of course, when you do curvy lines with blue, you end up having something that looks like water, right?  So here is this weeks' piece:

The fabrics that look white are indeed blue, a very light patterned blue.  I ask that if you stop by to see my weekly rantings that you leave a comment, so I know that you are out there.  Tune in next week for the last installment of the blue series.
 

Week 7 Blue

This week I decided to do a piece using a confetti technique.  My goal was to have dark blue on the edges, and have it fade to lighter blue until the center was almost white.  I guess it sort of worked, but it did not turn out quite the way my mind had envisioned.  After I had all the pieces in place, I put a piece of black tulle over the top.  

I then did spiral couching using a shiny silver cord.  All of my pieces to date have been made at 7 inches, and all will be cut down to a 6 inch finished piece, which is why the cord does not go to each of the corners.  I measured 6 inches and stopped the couching at that point.   Maybe after it is fully trimmed it will look more "finished"!  Two more weeks of blue, then I'll probably move onto GREEN.

Turquoise Blue

We are on week 6 of the "blues" and I have to say that turquoise blue is probably my favorite shade of blue.  I love the way it plays off of black and rusted fabrics and I use it a lot in my work.  I have used several turquoise fabrics this week in a simple four patch.

The fabrics are torn and placed on top of each other, and I have one silk sari remnant in there, the one with the crinkles.  I only quilted the vertical and horizontal line on this piece until I can figure out how I want to finish it.  It sometimes takes me awhile to figure quilting designs, so I'll let it sit for a week or two before I decide.  There are truly so many different shades and hues of blue, and some of them don't play well with their brothers; so I'll have to see which shades I'll be using next week.  Stay tuned!


 

Week 5 Blue

I tried to work in lighter shades of blue this week, tending towards the gray scale.  Perhaps next week I'll work more into the blue/green shades.  It's amazing to me how many shades of blue there really are in fabrics, although I guess that can be said of many colors.  We tend to think of the pure color first, but as you add black and white to a color, the shade and hue change dramatically.  This piece has many subtle blues in it, with a lot of stitching.

 I may add some surface design to this before I incorporate it into the final piece, in fact, I may alter several of the squares with different surface design techniques.  That is yet to be determined and offers so many possibilities!  Stay tuned for week 6, as winter barrels down on us!

Still Blue

This is week 4 and it is still blue.  This week I did a piece inspired by Susan Rienzo's work.  She often uses colorful, whimsical strips of fabric cut with pinking shears and sews them onto another piece of fabric.  You can see her work at www.susanrienzodesigns.com  She and I were together in several groups when I lived in Florida, and her work has always inspired me, so this week I pay homage to her sense of color and design.

I had to really dig through my fabrics to come up with colorful blues, but I managed to find a few that kinda work.  I tend to buy more tone on tone fabrics, like batiks so my stash is certainly not as colorful as Susan's.  Her style is a fun way to incorporate colorful prints, and something I always enjoy playing with.

Week 3 Blue

I have been very busy this week creating a piece for my regional SAQA call to entry.  However, I made some time today, Saturday, to create my week 3 blue piece.  

I used a white with blue polka dots as the background, but the white was a bit too stark, so I placed a dark blue fabric underneath it.  That managed to soften the white of the background fabric.  I then tore strips of blue fabrics, and when I was ironing them I pulled them into a curve and sewed them down.  I plan on using all blue fabrics for my 9 blue pieces, from true blue to more of a turquoise shade; it's amazing how many blue fabrics I have in my stash.  Now I get a chance to use some of them!  Yea!

Week 2 Blue

My second week blue piece is also an abstract, this time using squares and rectangles.  I may add some additional hand stitching on top of the piece, but I've not decided on that just yet. 

You can see a red line at the top and bottom, that is the 6 inch line which leaves me some leeway for putting the pieces together.  Two of the strips in this piece are my hand dyed pieces, done many years ago!  

Onward to week number three....

Week 1 Completed

I have finished the first piece in my BLUE series, there will be 8 more after this one.  I used torn strips of fabric going from dark to light and inserted bits of dyed cheesecloth and silk sari ribbon into the strips.  

I have already sandwiched the piece with batting and backing and done free motion stitching on it.  The right and left sides are cut to size, but because I am planning on joining the pieces together at the tops and bottoms, I have left a 1/2 inch leeway there.  Week 1 is completed!
 

New Year, New Challenge

It's 2019 and I am going back to a challenge I made myself a couple of years ago.  At that time I made a 7 inch piece each week of the year.  My only goal was to get into the studio on a weekly basis and do some playing.  I liked some of the pieces, some others not so much, but it made me play each week and I completed the year with 52 pieces!  A success.  This year I am challenging myself to do something similar.  I will make a piece each week, 6 inches square, but I am going to make them in certain colorways.  I want to make 9 pieces each of the 3 primary colors (red, blue, yellow) and the 3 secondary colors (orange, purple and green).  That will come to 9 x 6, or 54 finished pieces, so I'll have to extend the year by two more weeks.  I hope to have each week done by Saturday, and will post my work as I go along.  I have an idea of how I want to put this all together and I'll see how it works out when they are all completed! 

Metamorphosis

I made a piece for the SAQA competition "Metamorphosis".  My piece is titled "Metamorphic Rock".  Metamorphic rock can be formed by heat or pressure and it totally changes the look of the rock.  It most usually adds striations in layers.  This piece was made with commercial cottons and upholstery fabrics, all torn to give an organic look to the piece.  I then hand couched silver cord to the edges of the rock, free machine quilted circles in the open areas and quilted the background in straight lines which echoed the lines of the rock striations.  Next I used a silver Paint Stick on top of the quilted circles.  I had to add several layers of the Paint Stick, allowing it to dry between applications in order to cover the black background.  I did not make the cut for the competition, but hope to enter this piece into the Fiber Artists of Oklahoma (FAO) yearly competition. 

Here is a detail shot of the painted circles:

New Doll

OK, so I haven't posted at ALL this year; I really don't know where the time goes, but here we are at the end of July already!  Christmas must be just around the corner.  I have been busy, though, and have completed three quilts and a new doll.  I don't know what to call her yet, the Muse hasn't struck, so if you have any suggestions on a name for her, I'd certainly consider all possibilities.  She is made from a magazine pattern by Judith Pryor.

She was made for my doll club's Batik challenge, she had to be made completely of Batik fabric.  And she is, except for her parasol and gloves.  Don't you just love her figure?  Oh, those were the days......

Last Post of the Year, Week 52

Well, we are finally at the last week of 2016!  My last entry for the year is what I was wishing for on Christmas, and what we certainly DID NOT have: A White Christmas.  This area of the country had extremely warm temperatures for the day, and it will continue throughout the coming week, so that we will end the year on a warm note. 

If I can't have a white Christmas in reality, I can create one in fabric!  I used commercial fabrics and a little bit of silver mesh for bling.  That's supposed to be a small pond in black; not sure it's totally believable, but then, it doesn't really have to be!  I love the fabric I used for the sky, with the rays coming from the horizon.  I'll have to remember that fabric when I'm looking for sky fabrics. 
I hope everyone had a wonderful, blessed Christmas and that the New Year of 2017 (EEK!) will bring lovely surprises, lots of creativity and JOY to you all!  Thanks for sharing my 2016 weekly project with me, it's been fun!

Week 51

You can probably tell by this point that I enjoy doing squares and rectangles, since I've done several over this past year.  It just somehow speaks to me.  Maybe next year I need to switch to circles?  Spice it up a bit?  Well, I may have to work on that!  This week I wanted to work in blue again, mainly because it is so reminiscent of winter; skies and snow and all.  We have finally had a dusting of snow and the world has turned magical, especially in the mornings when the sun hits the ice covered trees.  Just beautiful.  But I digress. 

The fabric on the left side has a Christmas tree in silver in the fabric, so it just seemed natural that it would go in this square.  And of course, we have snowflakes in the central square.   I decided to add some orange for a bit of  pop.  There's only one week left in the year and I will have completed 52 pieces!  WOOHOO! 

Week 50

Week 50!  We have only two more weeks in 2016.  Wow, this year has flown by.  My piece this week is a bit uninspired, but it's done, so there's that. 

It's funny, I have a lot of blue fabrics but I seldom work in blue! 

In trying to keep with a wintry theme, I decided to pull out some blue pieces, but really had a difficult time putting them together, hence this piece of squares and rectangles.  As I said, a bit uninspired.  I'll try to be more creative next week!  Maybe get some time in the studio to really play.  That's when the fun happens!