Sara's Quilt - Pieces of Me    

This challenge put me in mind of a quote from the Hasidic Rebbe, Menachem Mendel of Klotz. He said "There is nothing so whole as a broken heart". Life's traumas have certainly broken me apart and I've put myself together in a new way - not the same as before but hopefully more compassionate, empathetic, patient and  kinder than I was before.

I printed my picture on prepared fabric (EQ printables on an  Epson 3880). I then thread painted the eyes, mouth and hair before applying it to a fabric base and quilting it with monofilament thread

Alice's Quilt: Quilt Block Pieces

 

Two ideas jumped into my head as soon as I heard that Pieces would be our next theme.  I thought of jig saw puzzle pieces and the pieces that make up a quilt block.  Jig saw puzzles had been a great diversion for me during the pandemic lock-down days!  I tried to think of a clever way to compose a quilt using fabric cut into jig saw shapes, but that seemed daunting to me somehow.  So quilt pieces it would be!

First I looked for a quilt block that has squares, rectangles, and triangles.  I used Marsha McCloskey's BLOCK PARTY book, which has been a mainstay in my quilting life.  I quickly honed in on the block called Friendship since it had the requisite shapes I wanted to use.  I decided that I would I would actually construct this quilt block, using scraps from a recent Kaffe Fassett diamond quilt.  The diamonds were bordered with Kaffe's fabrics called Spot and I thought it would be fun to use chiefly those.  I wanted this quilt block to be the backing for my Pieces quilt.  So here's the block:

Setting triangles of two sizes, squares, and rectangles are all here!  

After making the block, I then fused some Wonder Under onto the fabrics I had chosen, and then I cut out the shapes I needed for my design.  After that I played with arranging them into a design that pleased me, and ironed them down.  I backed the quilt front with some batting, and then I appliqued them onto the background with a tiny zig zag stitch.  That became the quilting.  My quilt back was already made, and so the three layers were sandwiched, and then I bound the quilt with more of the green Spot fabric.

Tricia's Jigsaw Pieces Quilt

 I have always loved working on jigsaw puzzles. They are just filled with pieces. I thought it would be fun to try and create a simple jigsaw puzzle quilt. I took the photo this September at a friends summer house in Northern Maine. I just love the sunset colors on the flowers. Here is the photo that I used to start.

I had a friend print the photo onto broadcloth that was prepared for printing. I then downloaded a puzzle pattern. I enlarged the pattern for the photo with just 6 pieces. I stitched the jigsaw pattern on the photo but separated one piece of the puzzle.

CAROLYN'S FABRIC SCRAP PIECES # 1 AND #2

PIECES IN MY MIND

I was playing around with scraps to make these

quirky little quilts.  No pattern for this, I just

set them in place on my design wall, so they have no rhyme or reason.  All Kaffe fabrics except for the tiny hot pink squares and the blue polka dots.

SCRAPPY QUILT #2

Still playing with pieces of scraps, I made                

a second quilt, simply by sewing various pieces 

together until I had a 12 x 12 piece of fabric that

satisfied me. I quilted in the ditch and added 

various designs into some of the pieces.  I was

beginning to free motion circles when all of 

a sudden a part fell off my machine.  So here

are my two yet to be finished little quilts!

 

 

Karen's Pieces Quilt

 Walking the beach, finding pieces of glass...sea glass. 

Simple construction. Fusing small pieces of hand dyed fabric, stitching with monofilament thread. 

Have wanted to experiment with mosaics. This is the beginning!

(Posted by Tricia for Karen)

Nedra's Pieces - Olga's Treasure!!

 

As you can see, I focused on the Spanish coins known as pieces of eight as they were literally cut in pieces and came to be used to make change.  That is how our currency became to be called two bits, four bits, six bits - terms my Dad used for quarters and half dollars.   I chose to focus on repetition of "eights",  and my octopus holding the spoils of treasure came to be.  

Using a coloring book drawing for inspiration, I drew my own octopus and treasure chest on freezer paper and the large shapes were cut out.  A combination of fusing, tuille, and inktense pencils were used to embellish the octopus and chest and to affix them to the background.  Stencils that I drew and cut were used to create the purple "coral" in the background.  The coins are metal buttons stitched to the arms and glued on the inside of the chest.  Plastic "crystals" were used to add to the look of a mass of precious gems in the chest and cystallized glitter also sprinkled on top for the sparkly feel.  Of course Olga had to wear a pearl bracelet as she just loves  bling!!! The blue sea fans were stitched on tuille with wash away stabilizer  and affixed to the piece.  There is a king's crown included in the bounty.  What fun this was to create!!

 

Andrea's Pieces Quilt

 

Bits and Pieces
12" x 12"
Gelatin printed monoprint, silkscreen, stencil, acrylic paint

This quilt is composed of experimental "bits and pieces" of ideas for previous Material Maven quilts.

Some of these ideas were used, others rejected.  The end result is very different from my original idea for this theme.  When going though some of my fabric stash to donate to my guild, I came across a lot of small "orphan" pieces of "what if" experiments.  As the pile grew, I started to put them together in a loose composition and was liking how well they were "playing" together, so thought, why not?  I've added a skinny strip of Kaffe Fassett's "Cloisonne" fabric, which I've also featured in my last two MM quilts.  Not only was it fun trying to incorporate a bit of this particular ( my favorite Kaffe ) fabric, but I think it adds another element  to the composition that was missing.

I am once again so grateful to our MM group for the opportunity to create something that I most likely would not have thought of making.  Although far from one of my favorite MM quilts, is was quite satisfying to put together.