Judy S. "Graceful South"

South means flying geese to me. I have always loved the fall. The honking of geese and their graceful formation always amazes and delights me when I hear them overhead. One time we were traveling back from Santa Fe and for miles and miles on our route to Lubbock we saw hundreds of geese flying in to rest for the night. It was such a joy.

I originally thought I would use fall colors for the landscape, but the more I thought about it and worked with fabrics, I liked the thought of the pastel colors of sunset. The geese became the bright fall colors.

I have admired Judy Dales and Caryl Bryer Fallert and their curved piecing. Judy Dales did a lot with pastel soft colors and sail boats that have always intrigued me. Caryl Bryer Fallert has used the flying geese in such graceful ways that I have always wanted to do some myself.

This was my first attempt at making a pattern with the flying geese paper pieced into the block. It wasn't difficult, but it was hard to cut away the area to put the flying geese after I had so nicely pieced the background. I did reverse applique so that the bulk of the flying geese set wouldn't have to be turned under.I continue to use the fused and "pinked" strip of fabric for my binding. Fast fun and not bulky.
Judy Steward

Nedra's South - "Sunbonnet Sue Goes South"

Being a native southerner, I thought this would be a breeze.  However, I had a very difficult time settling on an idea, even though south brought to mind many words, sayings and pictures.  I dismissed most of them for various reasons.  The singular picture of "The South" that kept recurring in my mind was of the beautiful live oak trees draped in Spanish moss that dominate the landscape where I grew up.   Having seen the same landscape in Charleston and Savannah,  I decided that was what I wanted to portray.  I discussed my idea with Andrea, who knows I have a special attachment to Sunbonnet Sue.  She thought I should incorporate her into my design somehow.  Well here she is!!

“Sunbonnet Sue Goes South” wearing her crisp white “sundress” – but wait!!  Ever wondered what she looked like under those unflattering dresses?  Now you know. 

The leaves of the tree are painted with Setacolor paint.   The moss is thread painted and then embellished with an eyelash yarn, that I pulverized with my rotary cutter, and fused on top. The tree, sue and flowers are fused and machine quilting finishes it off.

Rita's South: Not Just a Direction but a Destination

     Upon seeing our new theme on November 15, 2011, the thought of what I wanted to try to depict was quickly and fully developed in my mind.  Next, of course, was actually figuring out how to do it.  I am not a drawing artist and could not take pencil to paper and draw a goose in flight.  So with the help of the internet I found a black and white drawing of my needed geese.  And in my mind, a quilters quilt would also need pieced flying geese.
     The larger geese in the foreground were done using fused, raw-edged applique which was also stitched on the edge with invisible thread.  Additional color was added with crayons, colored pencils, a black Pigma pen and quilting thread.  I had to go to "Peterson's Field Guide to the Birds" for appropriate colors.
     The small background geese in flying formation were drawn and then paper pieced.
     The top was finished rather quickly.  Then I hit a wall trying to decide how to quilt it.  And then it hit me.........they are birds, so quilt feathers!  Duh.
     The finished quilt is gallery wrapped around a 12 inch x 12 inch x 1 inch deep frame as were Harmony and Surprise.

Andrea's South

My first impression when the theme was posted was of Florida, the sun, hot bright colors and palm trees. I rejected those hoping to think of something less predictable that meant something to me. Many weeks and much angst later, I returned to my first impressions after seeing the drawing that my 7 yr. old great-nephew made of that "famous mouse" in anticipation of his first upcoming trip to Disney World. I borrowed his drawing to make a thermofax screen, which is subtly printed ( intentionally ) on the orange strip. The imagery of the postcard, postmarked from Palm Beach in 1919 was written by my grandfather to his 7 month old daughter, my mother, when he worked as a chauffeur for a woman in Geneva, N.Y.
All the images are screen printed using both thermofax and a "traditional" wooden-framed silkscreen, on my own hand-dyed fabric. The black & white stripe is a commercial fabric.

Alice's South Quilt--Vincent's Chair

INSPIRATION:   Vincent Van Gogh’s painting “Vincent’s Chair.”  As soon as I heard what our theme was this time, I knew I wanted to try a fabric version of one of his works he’d painted in the SOUTH of France.

I fell in love with Van Gogh’s paintings as a young teen.  At 13, I read Irving Stone’s book about him, LUST FOR LIFE.  The book enthralled me, and getting to see his paintings “in real life” at the National Museum in Washington, D.C. was profoundly moving to me.  Through the years, I have sought out his works every time I visit an art museum.

In 2009 we took a riverboat cruise on the Rhone River.  My favorite day was spent in Arles.  It was here that Van Gogh lived for the last years of his life and where his signature style came into full bloom.  It was here, sadly, that Van Gogh took his own life.

Our tour guide in Arles showed us many places in Arles where Van Gogh had painted.  While there, she would show us a print of the painting he had done of that site.  Seeing those locations, along with the replicas, made our visit in Arles all the more wonderful. 

“Vincent’s Chair” is a rectangular painting and didn’t lend itself easily to our square format.  I had to widen the design, which of course altered the proportions of his original composition—(and didn’t improve it!)  I made the box of sprouting onions a little bigger; now I wish I had enlarged his chair as well and moved it a bit closer to the box.  Oh well!  Live and learn.  The fabric colors don’t precisely replicate his paint colors, but they are in the same color family

METHODS: machine piecing and quilting; fused raw-edge appliqué and narrow zig-zagging; machine couching; highlighting and shading the chair and box after machine quilting

MATERIALS:  batiks and a few commercial quilting cottons from my stash,  WonderUnder fusible.  The “grout” in the tile floor was stitched first with Perle thread #8 in several lines of straight stitches with final couching.  The tobacco pouch is suede; the pipe is “faux leather” (both glued down after quilting.)  Pentel’s Fabric Fun Pastel Dye Sticks for the door hinge and for highlights and shadows on the chair, floor, and box. Colored-pencil for Vincent’s name. Marcia Stein’s method of binding with matching fabric.

Linda's 12 x 12: Bird of the South

Click to enlarge

   Recently, before the South challenge, I worked on a round robin quilt which had a mariner’s compass as the beginning. In no time, I found myself thinking South in re to a Chinese compass and learned that astronomy in China is different than in the Western World. For a long time, South for the Chinese was placed at the top of the compass:  South, being the direction where the sun reached its highest elevation, is more important than North, and was considered the reference direction on maps. The ancient Chinese grouped the stars into Chinese constellations very different from the modern Western constellations which the International Astronomical Union based on Greco-Roman astronomy.

    The Vermillion bird of the South, or Red-bird of Summer, is one of the Four (or five) Symbols of the Chinese constellations and is a mythological spirit creature. It is not to be confused with the Phoenix of Western mythology. It is an elegant and noble bird in appearance and behavior. Its seven mansions or moon stations are Well, Ghost, Willow, Star, Extended Net, Wings and Chariot which in the future I may crochet or bead into this sky. These constellations, when strung out almost look like the appliqued Fire Bird which is shaped from many different animal parts and associated with good fortune.

South

Hello Everyone,

This is my "South", you're probably thinking I'm obsessed with birds. But I struggled with the concept of south and kept coming back to birds heading south for winter.

It's a new technique for me, it's bleach discharge on black cotton sateen, then bondawebbed onto the background. I played around with the quilting, having clouds at one point but they were too fussy for the starkness, so I settled on straight lines to reflect the slats in the fencing.

I hope you're all well and had the best of times over Christmas and New Year.

Happy Quilting in 2012

Petra

Alaskan Greetings From Judy W. (aka Jude)

Spring Fling (my SAQA 2011 Auction Piece)

Much appreciation to everyone for enthusiastically welcoming me into the fold, with a special thanks to Kathy, who knew nothing of my ongoing interest in joining the Mavens until she phoned me last week.  I’m extremely excited to journey artistically with each of you as we share our combined creative strengths.

Husband Kurt, our two daughters Kristen, Kari and Son-in-Law Joshua, and my parents all reside in Anchorage and have encouraged my art from day one.  Even my West Highland White Terrier Maggie Mae, who routinely fled from my studio when I machine sewed, now keeps me company in my basement studio since her hearing started failing this year.

My quilt journey began in a 1988 class which covered all the basics start to finish.  From that point on, I shelved most all other creative interests to pursue my quilt addiction.  I’ve taken and taught classes, had a few quilts published in magazines, developed four quilt patterns (retail) in the mid-90’s, offered my services as a consignment quilter/designer for four years, and worked in a local quilt store.  I also organized a local quilter’s (weekend) bazaar two years, with huge success. 

As an Anchorage Log Cabin Quilt Guild member since 1990, I have participated in several satellite groups through the years.  I’m currently completing a third year with a Round Robin Group.  A few years prior to Kathy’s move to Texas, she and I became SAQA members and ‘art quilt partners’ to seriously study fabric art techniques and surface design as they pertain to art quilting.  She and I produced three art quilt First Friday events.

I pursue art quilting for the creative challenge and a desire to combine the various fiber arts, beading, painting and sewing experience I've learned thus far, into mixed-media quilts. Bold colors, garden themes and texture frequently surface in my work,  and my personal goal is to try something new in everything I do.

Zentipede

This photo depicts one of my favorite, more recent art pieces.   The background fabric was a dyeing session with Kathy which I later doodled with fabric markers, machine free motion quilted and then heavily beaded - not my norm.  It is called Zentipede because it reminded my daughter and I of a centipede and the Zen comes from Zen art doodling which I'd been exploring.  I was glad to see Zentangle mentioned in a previous comment.  Zentangle and Zendoodle are the same thing.

I'm glad to announce the 'south' theme finally gelled in my mind this afternoon. I know the what, but have to work on executing the how.  This evening I completely caught up with reading ALL of the previous MM posts and comments.  So glad to be on board with all you Mavens!

Welcome to our Fourteenth Member!

Judy Wedemeyer, who has been a follower of our blog practically from the beginning, has now officially joined the Material Mavens.  She is a friend of one of our original group of 12, which then expanded to 13, and now has 14 members.  She will soon be posting for us to tell us more about herself and her art quilting.

Meanwhile, for Judy W. primarily, but also as a reminder to all of us, here are the guidelines that the "steering committee" of Judy S., Rita S., and I came up with originally.  These are still in place:

1.  The quilts will be 12"x12" finished.

2.  They will be "quilts" in the sense of being sandwiched with top, batting, and backing.

3.  The quilt's edges will be finished, but the sky's the limit here.  You can bind them conventionally, turn the backing to the front, turn the front to the back, zig zag or otherwise decoratively stitch the edges, or even be as "far out" as one of the original 12x12ers were and bind with flexible metal!  Whatever you choose is fine, just so that the edges aren't left raw.

Oh, and the quilts will be truly "quilted"--but again, how and how much is up to you!  Some of us will machine quilt, some will hand-quilt, some will do a combination.  Anything goes here as well!  Some may choose to add embellishments, others may not ever do this.  All of this is up to the individual quilter!

4.  The quilts will be based on themes, which might be either abstract or concrete, again as did the original 12x12 group.

5.  We drew names for the order in which the themes will be chosen originally.  New members have been added to the end of the list as they have joined the group.

6.  We will have two months to complete our small quilts after the theme is announced.

7.  Quilts will be "due" on the 15th day of a month.  Our first quilt was due on September 15; the next one, on Nov. 15; and the third ones will be "revealed" on Jan. 15, 2012.

8.  On the day we "reveal" our quilts (by posting on The Material Mavens blog), the quilter's whose turn it is to choose the theme will announce the next theme.

Here's our schedule, with Judy W. added:

(4)  Judy S.: theme #4 on Jan. 15, 2012, for Mar. 15, 2012's quilt.

(5) Rita:  theme #5 on Mar. 15, 2012, for May 15, 2012's quilt.

(6)  Patti:  theme #6 on May 15, 2012, for Jul. 15, 2012's quilt.

(7) Andrea: theme #7 on July 15, 2012, for Sept. 15, 2012's quilt.

(8)  Alice: theme #8 on Sept. 15, 2012, for Nov. 15, 2012's quilt.

(9)  Petra: theme #9 on Nov. 15, 2012, for Jan. 15, 2013's quilt.

(10) Barbara:  theme #10 on Jan. 15, 2013, for Mar. 15, 2013's quilt.

(11)  Kathy: theme #11 on Mar. 15, 2013, for May 15, 2013's quilt.

(12)  Sara: theme #12 on May 15, 2013, for Jul. 15, 2013's quilt.

(13)  Nedra:  theme #13 on July 15, 2013, for Sept. 15, 2013's quilt.

(14) Judy W:  theme #14 on Sept. 15, 2013, for Nov.15,  2013's quilt 

Happy holidays, happy quilting, and we'll look forward to hearing from our second Judy, Judy W!

Photographing Our Quilts

Friends and fellow Mavens, I hope you won't think me presumptuous, but I have some suggestions for how best to photograph our little quilts.  One of our number recently emailed me and asked me to post on this subject.  So, here it is!

1.  Try to take the photo of the quilt "straight on."  In other words, pin the quilt to a vertical surface and aim the camera right at the quilt, zooming in if possible to include only the quilt in the picture.

2.  Natural light is best!  Flash photography almost always distorts colors.  If weather permits, pin the quilt to something like foam board and take the picture outdoors.

3.  If it is too cold and windy to take a photo outside, if possible set up your "board" or whatever the quilt is pinned to and position it beside a window that lets in good natural light.  Disengage your flash and take a photo.  Take another with the flash.  Later you can compare which one is best, but almost always, the one taken without flash is more true, as far as colors are concerned.

4.  If you have photo editing software on your computer, once you have downloaded the picture, try cropping to eliminate extraneous background distractions from your quilt.

5.  When you are selecting the photos to put on the blog, be sure that you choose the "medium" size.  That way, the pictures look good on the blog, but they are "clickable," so that viewers can click on the photos to see an enlarged view.

I have two big pieces of insulation board, purchased at a Home Depot or similar store, which I use when I paint fabrics.  I can pin my quilts to that, take them outside, and take them in natural light.  Of course, I live in Texas, and we have more bright sunny days here than we do cold, wet, dark days!

So if you just have to use flash, then so be it.  But, please, do try the tactic of taking the photograph "straight on" and zooming in as close as possible.

Thanks and forgive me if I have offended anyone!


Here are some photos to show you how I set things up to take pictures of my little quilts:

Here my quilts are, pinned to the insulation board I use when painting fabric.  It is 36 degrees outside, but
sunny and not very windy.  Even so, I had to put the brick up to hold the light weight board in place
vertically--otherwise the board kept tipping over.  I could have tilted it a bit, with the bottom set
out a bit from the screen it's propped against, but I was afraid that would result in distortion.

This one was on the bottom, so I sat in a chair and took this photo
"straight on".  Of course, no cropping has been done here yet.

For the quilt on top, short Alice could stand up and shoot it from a standing position.
No cropping yet on this one, either, of course.

Now here are the two quilts, quickly cropped with some very simple editing software on my iMac:

I wasn't careful enough in pinning this quilt, as you can see when I cropped, since
the right side is higher than the left.  But at least the ugly background
is, for the most part, removed.

This one, too, not carefully pinned, so I can say the same thing about it!

Hi Alice - Thanks for the play-by-play photos of your beautiful quilt and the narrative... Outstanding :-)

AND for all of you MMs who've been challenged by metallic thread(s), here's some info that might help: There are at least 2 kinds of metallic thread... (1) the slippery, shimmer-y kind like Sulky Sliver, and Madeira Holoshimmer (these are also known as 'flat ribbon' thread); and the tends-to-be 'snarfy' metallic that's actually metallic filament wound around a poly core. When I'm using metallic threads, I always use a metallic (or metallica) needle; usually a size 90/14, or an 80/12 (for the finer wt. metallics). A metallic needle has a larger 'eye' that reduces friction on the thread as it passes back and forth through the needle.

AND... one of the biggest got-to-have's is a wonderful product from Prym-Dritz called "Sewer's Aid." You can find it at any of the larger sewing/fabric stores (in the quilting notions section), and many of the Quilt Shops carry it as well. It's a small, clear bottle (contains 1/2 oz.) with blue printing. Sewer's Aid helps lubricate the metallic threads (and other threads that are being stubborn) to keep them from shredding and breaking. It's wonderful!

To use Sewer's Aid, take the cap off the bottle, hold your spool of thread in one hand, then with your other hand, squeeze a very thin line of Sewer's Aid from the top of the spool to the bottom of the spool. I usually run a thin line in 4 different spots (think North, West, South, East). The silicone lubricant helps make sewing with metallic threads so much more pleasant !

As a precaution.... some of my students have been not to use Sewer's Aid (or similar products) on their particular machine(s). If that's the case, then please check with your sewing machine dealer to get his/her opinion. As for me.... I have Bernina machines, have used Sewer's Aid and metallic threads on all of them, and they sew like a dream.

Have fun.... don't give up on those luscious, enticing Metallics ! Peace & blessings, Kathy

Constructing "Surprise in the Midst of Drought"

My little quilt's construction process was basically so simple, that I almost hesitate to write a process post.  But you know me--I love posting, so I'm going to write about it, despite the fact that likely no one will learn anything new from my describing the process!  As I did before, 

I'll post some pictures and discuss the construction in the captions.

I started with this photo.  Noting the colors of the dead grasses and weeds,

I chose chiefly batik fabrics from my stash that echoed those colors.  I had

no lavender for the flowers, so I bought a fat quarter of lavender batik

and also some yellow glass beads.  I luckily had a wonderful leaf-print

batik for the leaves.

After adhering fusible (I used Wonder Under) to fabric pieces cut in 3" or 4" strips, I cut
them again into random widths and lengths.  Then I began
laying them out on the background fabric (which was a leftover hand-painted
piece from another quilt).  I had cut the background over-sized and adhered
it to some fusible fleece.  Once I had my "weeds" in place, I fused them, using a
fairly hot iron and parchment paper laid over, to protect my iron from the glue.

Next I cut free-hand, just using the photograph as a rough guide, the leaves from the
leaf-printed batik fabric, which had also been prepared with the Wonder Under.  These, too, were fused down.

I couched some gold yarn here and there on the quilt to add another color and
some texture or dimension.  I purchased a couching or braiding foot for
my Bernina at the Houston Quilt Festival, anticipating this step.  It worked
beautifully for this regular wool yarn.

I loved the look of this "hairy" yarn, but soon learned NOT to couch
it with my couching foot, but to pull the loose strands to
one side as I zig-zagged over the yarn to couch it down, using one
of my open toed feet.

I hand-sewed the yellow glass beads to the purple centers of the lavender flowers and then
appliqued the flowers down with a zig-zag stitch.  The leaves were
similarly appliqued.

I backed the quilt with a batik fabric which picked up

the colors of the quilt, and I used this same

fabric for the binding, applied in the conventional

way, except that I decided not to miter the corners.

As you can see, the quilt was quilted with the embroidery

floss and an embroidery running stitch BEFORE backing and binding,

as I didn't want to have to hand-stitch through three layers, especially

with one of the layers being the hard-to-penetrate batik.

Here you can see that I used some olive green floss here and
there, in addition to the light brown.

I love the look of hand-stitching with floss on art quilts--a technique
used occasionally in the inspirational TWELVE BY TWELVE
book.  My arthritic hands find it easier to stitch using this
running stitch than with tiny conventional quilting stitches.

surprise quilt

Hello Barbara,
I used about 5 layers of 100% polyester crystal sheers, in pinks, mauves, a pale green and gold. The metallic tape is from Gutterman's. You just thread it like normal thread using a metallic needle. I did have problems with it, it sheared with amazing regularity. I probably would have put more in if it hadn't been so difficult.
Lovely seeing all the quilts
Petra

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

Barbara's Surprise Quilt--Hey, Jude!

Hi everyone! I just finished commenting on all your surprise quilts. They are all wonderful! I am sorry that I am late in posting. I have had other deadlines to meet and ok, I'm a procrastinator! I was in a group art quilt exhibit at Mission Trails Visitor Center in October and had to have 7 nature themed quilts for sale. None sold but it was a beautiful exhibit! I also have two quilts in the Fallbrook, CA Library for an exhibit until January.

So, this quilt is a dual challenge. My quilt guild is having a Beatles themed challenge. Using a Beatles song or lyrics for inspiration in a 14" (album cover size) quilt. My grandson's name is Jude and so here he is on a hay stack. This quilt shouldn't be seen yet as the reveal is next Monday but I couldn't wait!

I did lots of hand stitching in the hay. I think its called a rice stitch or chicken scratch stitch. I machine quilted the ground and hand quilted the sky (which was sponge painted on top of a mottled blue fabric). For Jude, I changed a picture of him crawling up a hill to black and white in Photo Shop and used the Posterize filter. Then I printed him onto fuseable fabric for ink jet printers. I used watercolor crayons (NeocolorII) to color him in and used my watercolor brush to wet and blend the colors. I set the colors with an iron and cut him out and fused him on.

Kathy's "Surprise"

My "Surprise" was inspired by a recent visit to my 3 year old Grandson, Logan, who lives in Florida. He and I would play the surprise game where one of us would cover our eyes, then at just the right moment, would yell "SURPRISE!" He never tired of 'surprising' me and we giggled and laughed all the time ! The real surprise was that when I returned home, I carried his sneezing-coughing-sore-throat-ache-all-over 'bug' back to Texas with me, and it's taken 6 weeks for me to recover. Surprise !

I made this quilt in two parts... the 'outer' quilt seems pretty plain and in some ways resembles a closed book. Ah... but when you open the clasp...

SURPRISE ! I used a sunny-yellow hand-dyed fabric and used 'Transfer Artist Paper' to transfer the word-image to the center section of the quilt. The top and lower sections are quilted with Sulky Sliver variegated thread to give the quilt some sparkle and shine. It's that sparkle that reminds me so much of my precious little grandson who makes my life so special.

Thanks, everyone - I've enjoyed your beautiful work and reading your commentaries. We're such an interesting and diverse group :-) Looking forward to our next challenge and getting to know all of you better as we work our way through this exciting adventure !

Sara' Surprise Quilt =Rockets Red Glare

Surprise was an amazing theme and I spent too much time pondering which idea I was going to follow up on. I thought of the wicked witch of the west being surprised by a house and also having a child play in a room with a butterfly quilt and watching as a butterfly comes to life. Instead I decided to portray the explosion of color and light during a fireworks display which always causes me to gasp with delight as I am surprised at the sound and colors that suddenly erupt.
This quilt also met my goal of trying out different techniques each month. One of my IQF purchases this year was glitter and glue. I used those plus the glitter and glue purchased at a previous show. I also added heat set crystals, something I had not used before. I quilted using Madeira FS thread that matched the background but added sparkle.

Hi everyone

I know you're all dying to know the theme for January 2012, so here goes......

"South"

I can't tell you yet what inspired me to choose this as it might influence your ideas, but I promise I'll let you know the source of my inspiration in January.  In the meantime, I'll be intrigued to see what you come up with.  What does South mean to you?  How can you interpret it in a little quilt?
Get your thinking caps on!

Wishing you all lots of creative thoughts....

My Surprise quilt is designed from thoughts of Jack in the Boxes, so the surprise is in the fold-out "box" and all the other boxes lead up to it.  The red/gold boxes are painted bondaweb (wunder under? maybe), the fold-out is painted lutrador for stiffness in the same colours and the quilting is with a Madeira metallic. 

Petra's Surprise Quilt

The surprise is not the subject of the quilt but in the technique, as I did things I've never done before. I dyed the background fabric, always a surpise I feel, I never get bored with it I always think it's a miracle. I then layed it up with 5 layers of sheer fabric then stitched randomly with metallic tape, which I've never used before just letting the machine take me. I then randomly burnt out areas with a soldering iron and added some beads and used my new hot crystal applicater which I was pleasantly surprised with. So 4 new techniques, which I probably wouldn't have tried if it hadn't been for the challenge, so thankyou.

I love everyones quilts, I thought the standard was high for the Harmony quilts, but the bar has certainly been raised I'm blown away - amazing