Alice: The Majesty of Birch Trees

 I struggled with this theme at first.  All I could come up with was "purple mountains majesty," but I feared that someone else might use that one.  Good friend Linda Hicks, one of our first but now former Mavens, suggested I look up quotations using the words majesty or majestic.  Then she sent me a batch!  I loved one by American writer Washington Irving that says in part: "There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery. . . "

Knowing that New Englander Irving likely often saw birch trees in woodlands near him, I recalled a length of batik that I treasure that depicts birch trees.  (In fact, I've used this fabric twice before in my MM quilts,  for the themes Translate and Boundary.)  

I assembled a background of sky, hills, and foreground using batiks, cutting them freehand and fusing these onto a muslin base.  I sandwiched this background with batting and backing and lightly quilted it.  Then I applied Steam a Seam 2 to a section of my treasured birch tree batik and cut out seven trees.  These I then adhered to the base; SS2 can be repositioned, which is handy when composing, but ironing makes it permanent.  I touched up the trees with black and white Fabric Fun Pastel Dye Sticks.  

For the fall leaves I assembled small pieces of yellow, orange, and tan batiks and began cutting them into "confetti."  This confetti technique Rita Schormann demonstrated to us at our first MM retreat on Nantucket Island.  These had no fusible product applied, but I did apply some SS2 to a few larger cuts and then I snipped these into tiny pieces and stuck them down one by one to be falling leaves.  The confetti pieces I scattered onto the tree tops and the ground.

To keep the treetops and piled up leaves in place for quilting, I covered the entire quilt with white tulle and then free motion quilted through the tulle at the top and bottom of the quilt.  

Once the quilt was finished, I was in a quandary about what to use for binding.  I auditioned many fabrics; all seemed to be too distracting.  Then I remembered a technique I learned in a class taught by Marcia Stein.  I pieced the side edges using the same fabrics that I used for the background, and for the top and bottom edges I used some of the yellow batik.  At last I was content with my woodland scene quilt!

Carolyn - Majestic Lake Moraine

 Lake Moraine is located in a valley inside Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies. Melting glaciers create the breathtaking azure blue color of the water. The lake is surrounded on all sides by 10 jagged peaks towering over 6,100 feet tall. It is a sight to behold!

My husband and I visited Lake Moraine in 1988 just before the area was "discovered" by attendees of the 1989 Winter Olympics in Calgary. With only 3 or 4 visitors in sight, we rented a row boat. As the sun was beginning to set, we rowed to the far side of the lake where we looked straight up to view the giant peaks. The tops of the mountains were covered in snow, and the water was so pure that we could see the pebbles resting on the lake's bottom.

My quilt is a salute to our visit to Lake Moraine. I used numerous scraps of hand-dyed, batik and cotton fabrics. The technique is raw-edge applique using Wonder Under. To create the water, I used a strip piecing method by Cathy Geier described in her book, "Lovely Landscape Quilts." The peaks are varying shades of hand-dyed fabrics with white tulle added for snow. I used a wide variety of drawing pencils and inks to add shadows to the mountains and to highlight the large stones surrounding the water. The green areas on the quilt represent wooded areas with trees packed closely together. I used a lime green pencil to achieve that effect. The tiny canoe with two people and a paddle were cut from left-over fabric from my stash.

To stitch the water, I used a technique described in Geier's book. For water she advises quilting long horizontal, slightly wavy lines. The lines toward the horizon are quilted very close together which adds depth and distance. The lines gradually get bigger as the water gets closer to the foreground. I used 3 different thread colors for the water.

It is said that Prince Harry upon visiting Lake Moraine for the first time said, "Why travel to Switzerland when you can go to Lake Moraine!" It is my hope that this little quilt will entice you to visit this magnificent treasure.

Tricia's Majestic Snowy Owl on Smith Point

 

Snowy Owl on Smith Point

Several years ago, we spent the winter on Nantucket. I had always seen photos of snowy owls but had never seen on in person. One weekend we went on a hunt to try and find one.   On Saturday we drove out to one end of the island and along the water's edge to the Great Point lighthouse. We did not spot one. What was amazing was how many people we out on the far end of the island in the middle of the winter. I guess that's what one does if you live on an island. On Sunday we decided to go to the other end of the island Smith's Point at dusk. As we were driving back I spotted something on the edge of the dune. We stopped the truck, hopped out and walked as close as I could. I was able to photograph the owl right before it took off. It was so exciting. I thought the Snowy Owl was just Majestic.

I used cotton fabric, fusibles and thread stitching. I printed the owl's body from my photograph on printed treasures and thread painted on top.

Karen's Majestic

 

I had my "majestic" all planned and then the

 inauguration happened and I had to switch my idea. 

Digitally printed flowers create the fireworks. 

They were cut and stitched with smoke monofilament thread. 

May be pretty simple but when I look at it, it reminds me of the 

fabulous fireworks show and makes me happy!

(I am posting for Karen, Tricia)

The Round Table Composite

Our internet connection gets so slow late in the afternoon (kids doing homework and at home playing video games) that, as I worked on this round's composite I was forced to consult an old-fashioned reference source, the World Book Encyclopedia.  Yes, we have a set, purchased for our 7-year old grandson who is an avid reader (and reads at this level).   All I could remember about the Round Table was "One for all, all for one!"  I thought I remembered the words "legendary."  It's a tale at least 1,000 years old.  Therefore, when this round's theme was announced, I suspected we would step back all those years--mostly.  But again your creativity surprised me.

The top row--Jane, Tricia, Kathy--lends a summary touch to our crazy world today.  We are, truly, spiraling out of control and longing for something as simple as a family "sit-down" together, over a good meal, and perhaps at a round table!

The second row is confession time for Randy.  Since I'm not, technically, a quilter, then, technically, I should not be allowed to voice an opinion for #1.  In another life I did present workshops on the use of humor to develop the skill of creativity and that tired old cliche of "think outside the box."  When I saw Judy's quilt, my first reaction was WOW, that's outside the box.  I invented my own prize, an Excalibur Recognition. I really don't mean to slight the rest of you, but Judy's just made me think, "Box, what box?"  Then Nedra's quilt just had to slip next to it to keep us focused.

Alice, if you really stretch your imagination, you can see an angel in that white cloud floating over your Wee Folk King, Queen, and Knight.  Plus what a gift you gave to your grandson to demonstrate what you can do with needle and thread.  I would expect nothing less from an experienced teacher and a loving grandmother!

To close the composite, a graffiti quilt from Gail, a swirl of confusion as to how to cope as we try to sort fact from who knows the truth.  Andrea, I couldn't resist, I put a mask next to your quilt because you so succinctly said "Social Distance."  Unfortunately, that says it all for these days.

Again, hold steady my friends; we will get through this--together!

Jobs well done.

Randy
 

Judy S.: Let's Shake hands at the Round Table

To start with the Round Table I thought of many ways to modernize the Knights of the Round table, but they just didn't flow. One evening at my Camp Gladiator workout I talked to my friend Melinda who is a math teacher. "Is there anything interesting to do with math that would use a Round table?" She thought a minute and said, "There is one where there are 10 people around a table and you have to figure out how many total handshakes there would be if everyone shook each others hands." She continued to tell me that there is a visual where you draw different colored lines for each person and then you just have to count the total lines to get the answer. Oh WOW! I wish she had been my teacher! (Oh and as I was walking away she said, "There is an equation for it too.") Lol

I went online and discovered one where they used the 9 Supreme Court Justices as an example. That seemed appropriate with what was going on at the time. Guess what. Nine is not an even number to make an easy shape, but I got it! The close up shows the different ribbons, yarns and fabric I used to give each one their own color.

 

I basically couch/quilted the ribbons and yarns on. The back is fun to look at too with all the small zig-zag stitching.

Now to find the answer the red ribbon Supreme Court 

Chief Justice shakes 8 hands, Dark Green yarn Justice 7 handshakes, Gold ribbon Justice 6 handshakes, Lavender braided yarn Justice 5 handshakes, Pink ribbon Justice 4 handshakes, Blue ribbon Justice 3 handshakes, Orange fuzzy yarn Justice 2 handshakes, Light Green ribbon Justice 1 handshake and Dark purple Justice already shook everyones hand. So the total is 36 handshakes to go around the table.

 

 Kathy's   "ROUND  TABLE"

I have to admit, when it was time for the "Round Table" Challenge, my very first thought was "Round Table Pizza !" 

[  We lived in Anchorage, AK for 35 years, and believe me...  "Round Table Pizza" was a pretty big deal for us...  Delicious, readily available in just about any combination you'd want,  AND... Free Delivery...  A super great bonus because of our weather and road conditions !  ]

I kept pondering how to put "Round Table" into one of our Quilts, and had, "by chance" recently ordered a book on "Crop Circles" that have intrigued me for many years.    How do they get those truly gigantic circles to be so perfectly "Circular" ?  How do they accomplish the extremely complex designs ?  How do they photograph the Crop Circles ?  So many questions ! 

As you can tell, "Crop Circles" became my theme, and I had a blast making this quilt !

The book, "Crop Circles, the Bones of God" by Michael Glickman has been (and continues to be) an enormous source of inspiration and information about these phenomenal structures.

All the fabrics in this quilt were "Rust Dyed" using old, rusted pieces / parts we continue to find in our pasture; and I have to admit, any time I see an old rusty piece of metal I tend to pick it up and add it to the stash  :-D

This particular Crop Circle, is called the "Angel Formation," and its one of my favorites.   It was "created" in July 2001, and is about 700 feet in diameter !

Andrea's Round Table Quilt

 

 

When Will We Be Reunited?

11" x 14"

cotton, silk screen, stencils, paint

This is a nod to the situation we continue to live with and the social distancing protocol restaurants have to follow.  Chairs have been separated from their tables, with many lined up against nearby walls just waiting to be reunited.  

After many weeks of struggling with this theme, I finally had an "Ah Ha" moment towards the end of September after meeting two friends for lunch.  This was my first restaurant experience since probably February, at a favorite Asian eatery.  Although we intended to eat outside at tables set up in the parking lot, it was a very hot, humid day so we decided to eat inside.  We were brought to an octagonally shaped room with a large round table in the center and smaller rectangular tables around the perimeter.  I suspect they can either seat a larger party at the round table or use every other smaller table for guests to remain 6' apart.

The chairs and chrysanthemum were painted using hand cut freezer paper stencils.  

freezer paper stencil

Jane Hartfield’s Roundtable Quilt

 Spinoff

Lately I have been spinning a bit out of control. COVID has kept me at home which gave me plenty of time to create. That was perfect six months ago. However, as time goes by, I tend to get distracted more easily. At times I feel like I just can’t focus. That means I have quite a few works in progress. Spin-off is one that I finished! It was fun to do and moved smoothly from start to finish.I entered it in Quilt National along with Coming Together. Both were rejected. 

At any rate, when a Roundtable begins to rotate and spin, it can throw off bits and pieces which can form new tables. 

This piece started as a mono print using thickened dyes and a piece of silk. I realized it needed more details and definition.

So I started adding paint using thermofax screens and just sponge brushes.

Next I had to start quilting. I added even more paint after that. I used Lumiere metallic paints to emphasize the spirals spinning off. I finished the quilt with a facing.

Happy Spinning!

Jane Hartfield

Gail’s Round Table Graffiti

 I recently completed a Graffiti Quilting online class with Karlee Porter.  I learned a lot!  Our final was a small graffiti quilt.  This one starts in the center and moves round in a clockwise or counterclockwise manner. Quilting in the round until the space is filled was so much fun that I can’t wait to use it on larger quilts.  

Nedras Round Table - Arthur's Realm

King Arthur immediately came to mind when round table was named as our theme for this reveal.  I explored other interpretations but kept returning to ideas of knights, swords, Camelot and castles so I ran with that idea.  Tintagel Castle was named by 12th century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his historical account of British history,  as the place where the story of King Arthur and the knights of his round table was conceived.  My piece is a collage of Tintagel, a knight, a crest and a replica of the round table that King Henry the 8th had decorated with a tudor rose and the names of the knights of the round table and hung in Winchester Castle.  The original table was built of oak for a festival to celebrate the betrothal of one of Edward I daughters.   See this site for a picture of the real table and more details.   https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/winchester-round-table

The piece is composed of items that were fused onto stablizer and stitched before attaching to the background.  Normally I stitch after affixing to the background, but I found I prefer to work in this order as it allows more "margin of error".  The background was machine quilted also before I sewed the individual items onto it.  Commercial cottons and silk fabrics were used and embellished with  inktense pencils, stitching, tuille, etc. to create textures and detail.  Braid, beads and crystals finish off the details.  

I really had fun with this theme, although not totally engaged initially!!! 

Alice's Round Table Quilt: Camelot

I struggled with this theme, trying to think beyond the "knights of the round table" and come up with a  a broader theme. But then it occurred to me:  Why not the knights?

And so I constructed a quilt featuring one of the knights of the round table, Sir Lancelot.  I have always loved the musical CAMELOT that told the story of the marriage of King Arthur to Queen Guenevere and then her illicit romance with the handsome Sir Lancelot.  And so my quilt features these three characters in the form of Wee Folk dolls.

I learned to make these dolls years ago while baby-sitting with my four year old grandson Locke in New York City, while his mother was a summer session visiting professor at the Columbia School of Law.  Prior to their arrival in the city, I met Linda Hicks and she took me to the wonderful quilting store, City Quilter.  It was there that I found Salley Mavor's book FELT WEE FOLK.  Thinking that Locke

might enjoy making these dolls, I bought the book and some supplies.

We did make a few, but I learned quickly that these dolls are too challenging for a pre-schooler, but Locke did enjoy watching me make them.  Later on that year I made him a set of Robin Hood dolls for a Christmas present, as he was at that time a huge fan of Robin Hood.  I've included a photo of this set below.  When I showed them to Judy Steward, she said, "Alice, you ought to feature some of these in a future MM quilt!"  Well, it's taken a lot of years for me to follow her suggestion!  Locke is now a junior in high school!

I used wool for the background for my quilt, blanket stitching the sections down to a base, along with the castle and the tree.  The dolls are constructed from chenille stems (like pipe cleanser), wooden beads for the heads, and their clothes are made from wool and rayon felt.  I decorated the clothing with different embroidery stitches and then sewed them onto the dolls with the blanket stitch.  Their arms and legs are wrapped with embroidery floss, and their hair is wool fleece.  I inked the features of their faces with permanent markers.

 

With so much embroidery, I decided to forego any real quilting.  The quilt is also finished along its edges with more blanket stitching.  The dolls are tacked onto the quilt in strategic places and I was relieved that this "tacking" kept them from sagging on the quilt.  I confess that this quilt took me far longer than any other quilt made for this blog!  But I loved every minute spent in its construction!

Grandson Locke's Robin Hood dolls--Robin,  Maid Marian, and Friar Tuck

 

Tricia's Family Round Table

When I thought about the theme, all I could come up with was the classic King Arthur's round table. After talking with my husband about the theme. We thought about the oak kitchen table that we purchased from an antique store we loved. The table was going into our kitchen. We just loved the wood and it came with leaves so we could accommodate many family members.  Many meals, stories, laughter and love are shared at the round table. A few years ago we remodeled our kitchen with an island that our family now sits around. The table has a new home in our youngest daughters house with new her husband. The round table will continue to have a life of family round table discussions of love, laughter and stories to be told. If the table could talk how many generations have sat around it before and probably after our family.

I created my piece by having my daughter photograph the table. I printed the photograph on fabric and cut out the table and chairs. I fused them onto fabric that looked like a wooden floor. Before fusing I machine quilted words in a circle around the table. A few of the words are love, laughter, family, togetherness, gatherings and hearts stitched in between the words.

The Garden Composite

Webster says – Garden (GAHR-nd) n. ground for growing flower, fruit, or vegetables – v. cultivate garden.

When I read the challenge for July my first reaction was, “Wow! I’m going to see someone do ‘fried green tomatoes' or at least, ‘home grow’d t’maiders [sic]’” Oh well! I added the vegetable garden myself to make sure we were all-inclusive in our endeavors. There is a hamburger joint in Fort Worth that serves fried leeks that will stop your heart. Now that’s gardening.

This composite came together with ease. I usually do all the “tweaking” first. Then, sit back and study the page and see if my imagination can visualize how they interact. Or, at least, which one will make a good middle of the page image. In a photo, just above center at the one-third line is often where we try to put a point of interest – such as the eye line of a portrait. That’s where I put the composite's “center.” Another photo trick is to put something in the image that will “lead” your eye to other points of interest – like Judy’s butterfly wings. They are right in the middle, but notice how they lead your eye to upper left and upper right, top row, and Alice and Carolyn’s quilts nicely frame Tricia’s garden.

The reds of Nedra’s and Jane’s quilts also frame the butterflies and the sweep of the quilting leads your eyes back to the middle.

Karen, we all know the importance of bees to any garden, be[no pun intended] it flower, fruit, vegetable, or field crop. It’s great you added one of the most significant insects in the 6-legged world to the collection.  [Did you know there are over 200,000 different kind of animals that act as pollinators?]

To start the description of the last row with “and that leaves” Andrea and Kathy” would seem to demean their quilts. Absolutely not! They both fit perfectly in that space, both in color and size to balance the corner and leave room for the label.

Thank you for letting me be a part of such a talented and creative group.

Randy

Tricia's Garden

Here is my stitched garden.

Judy's Butterfly Garden

 

It is such a delight to see a butterfly flitting around the yard. I don’t have a lot of flowers in my yard, but the other day my 3 year old grandson and I were blessed to see a beautiful butterfly swoop by us. It was in a hurray, but we both saw it and enjoyed that little spot of color fly by us.

The large butterfly is a leftover from a mandala quilt I am working on. It didn’t turn out perfect for that quilt, but it works fine for this one. The way I made it was to use freezer paper for my template and cut out the sections of the butterfly. I thought about putting silk, satin, or lace under the cutouts, but I looked up from where I was sitting and saw a bag of Angelina fibers. I played with laying out the different colors on top of each other so that there are gold fibers, holographic ones, and some darker ones to give it interest. Once I had the fibers laid out I fused them together into a large sheet. From there I chose where I would get the prettiest look on the butterfly and cut that out to fuse onto the back of the butterfly.

I had another piece of fabric that had the other butterflies on them which made it easy to fuse and cut them out. 

The flowers were hours of struggle. I took down my box of fused fabric and just started cutting up slivers of fabric. Boy, was that ugly! Then I went back to my fun petal shapes and the flowers were more like the summer time flowers I grew up with. I tried different colored fabrics and on this small piece it was too much, so I used the same fabric on all three flowers. I truly only had a small piece of it that fabric and it has been a favorite for many years. Now that fabric is all gone, but it is in some of my favorite quilts.

The grass blades are slivers from a hand dyed piece I made many years ago. The background is an ombre fabric made by Caryl Bryer Fallert  called “Essentials” for Benartex.

I read this quote and thought it was a good reminder for us during this pandemic. We are definitely going through a change that we didn't choose. "We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty." ---Maya Angelou

Kathy's "GARDEN" Quilt

This "Garden" quilt started with a toddler's "T-Shirt" that says "One of a Kind."  As soon as I saw the shirt, I knew it was going to become the focal point of my quilt.

I carefully cut the T-shirt, then used "Misty Fuse" to mount the front of the shirt to the white fabric that has a floral motif in the background.  I "Free Motion" quilted the background to add texture.  The trim around the sides of the quilt was hand stitched, and the heart shape and rectangular "Hot Fix" embellishments were affixed to the fabric with a special (very hot) heating tool.

I took the picture of my "Garden" quilt in our back yard.  The background is a small view of one of the 5 gardens we have that surround our home.    I'm very happy with this Little Quilt, and I hope all of you enjoyed your journey through "The Garden!"

Peace and blessings,   Kathy

Carolyn's Garden Quilt: Every Garden Deserves a Touch of Blue

I believe every garden needs a touch of blue.  But blue is also the hardest flower color to find.  For several years I have relied on a lesser-known flower, scaevola, to add a splash of color to my gardens.  It is commonly called “fan flower” for its left-handed, one-side blooms that resemble a fan.  Native to Australia, fan flower is a prolific bloomer, loves the heat, requires no dead-heading, and little or no fertilizer.  These features make it an almost perfect flower.  It is equally lovely as a well-behaved ground cover in front of plants or in pots trailing down the side of other plants.  It can be found in many colors - light blue, brilliant bluish/purple, pink and white.

My quilt is a representation of the very top of a blue scaevola plant using varying colors of solid 100% cotton fabric.  I first made a photo of my daughter’s fan flowers.  Then I cut out each piece of the flower, using copies of the photo as my patterns. The pieces were raw-edge fused onto the green background.  The quilting was done using multiple colors of Ricky Tims Art Studio threads.

I hope you will begin adding this little-known flower to your garden.  I promise it will bring you much joy.

Below are photos of this little-known flower!

[Alice posted for Carolyn who was having computer problems!]

Karen's Bee Skep

Started a while ago for a class sample, dug out and enhanced with more flowers for the Maven's.

Flowers are made from torn, knotted or stitched scraps of batik fabric.

To make the skep, I drew out the shape, cut it into 5 sections. I free hand cut skinny strips of batik and stitched and flipped them onto muslin. Using the 5 sections as a pattern I cut my shapes out the stitch and flipped muslin and sewed them together. 

The bees are needle felted

Bee trails are stitched in using metallic thread.

(I am posting for Karen- Tricia)