Sara's Green Quilt

After a great deal of dithering on this theme, I finally decided to "go green". I picked up a quilt that I started at International Quilt Festival and slashed through it to recycle the green leaves that I had previously quilted. I went through a very old bag of scraps to reuse leftovers. I try to experiment with new techniques with each of quilt challenges. This time, I decided to try piecing the quilts on my longarm- I had just completed a quilt that was smaller than the backing so there was extra backing already pinned to the machine rollers. I put a square of batting down on top of the backing and added each piece using a ruler and straight line quilt as you go. I knew I wanted to practice ruler work and I know I needed the practice after I ended up deflecting the needle into the bobbin case and needed major repairs. (Not sure how the needle fell into the spinning bobbin but my dear husband knows a lot more about sewing machine mechanics now and my wonderful machine is doing beautiful stitches again). I added more quilting and a facing. I then decided to add paint to one of the pieces that had a white background that bothered me. So here it is, a quilt in a green color, with spring green leaves, with re-purposed and recycled fabrics (and dear husband says I shouldn't leave out that I was a greenhorn using this piecing technique)

Sara's Canyon

This was a somewhat difficult challenge for me. I am somewhat Canyon deprived having not really had a chance to view a canyon in person (until my trip this past weekend to Sedonaa, AZ). I knew I needed to get my quilt done before that trip.I looked up the definition of canyon - " a gorge or ravine, esp in North America, usually formed by the down-cutting of a river in a dry area where there is insufficient rainfall to erode the sides of the valley"  and thought of the action of a river cutting into its environment and reshaping it over time and getting deeper and wider over time. I  portray this time sequence. I started off with hand running stitches in white on a dark brown solid background going through the background and the batting. I then added more definition with rowns of couched yarns and cord . I added a backing and quilted it with straight  stitches using  heavy pink cotton. 

Sara's Elements of art - line

My quilt is based on the elements of art. I pieced Improvisational blocks with skinny strips - when faced with an inability to get a sewing machine to work, I resorted to hand quilting lines and dots with embroidery floss. I think it was a fortuitous problem as now the quilt speaks of rhythm as well as line.

I really loved this challenge. My first thought was the periodic table since I spent many years in chemistry classes. Hmm - can I say that my quilt was made if Helium and floated away? I settled on line since I remembered a sensory perception class I took with Susie Monday in which I clarified that I notice line and rhythm when I look at a scene. I liked this challenge so much that I even started another quilt which did not get done do to many life challenges, QA and the sewing machine that would not work. I do plan on finishing and posting that one too.

All the South Quilts (so far)!

And don't they look impressive, all together like this?  Thanks to Diane Perin Hock who told me how to make a mosaic like this!

Now for me to identify each, at least by quilter's name.  (By the way, it would be really super if for the next "reveal", each of you chooses a title for your quilt other than just the theme title!)

Okay, here goes, top row:  Petra, Patti, Judy W.
2nd row:  Sara, Kathy, Carolyn
3rd tow:  Barbara, Judy S., Nedra
4th row:  Rita, Andrea, Alice
5th row:  Linda

And Now--ALL the "Surprise" Quilts!

Top:  Linda's, Alice's, Nedra's
2nd Row:  Rita's, Andrea's, Carolyn's
3rd Row:  Patti's, Judy S's, Petra's
4th Row:  Jane's, Sara's, Barbara's
5th Row:  Kathy's

We Started Off With Twelve--Our Harmony Quilts

And here are the creators of these Harmony quilts:

Top Row:  Carolyn, Alice, Kathy
2nd Row:  Judy S., Patti, Linda
3rd Row:  Andrea, Sara, Barbara
4th  Row: Petra, Rita, Jane

We were off to a good start, but how nice now to have more quilters in our Material Mavens group!