Judy's Balancing Rocks

I have always been fascinated by the way people can balance rocks. It doesn’t seem possible, but they have the patience to make it happen and I love seeing them. One day I was hiking on a trail at Ghost Ranch which is near Abiquiu, New Mexico (Georgia O’Keefe’s territory) and came upon some rocks that were balanced on each other. I took pictures of them and thought I would use that for my “Rock” quilt. As I was paging through the other photos I found this one of the most spectacular balanced rocks that no man can make. If you ever get to go to Ghost Ranch, hike the trail to Chimney Rock, this is what you will see.

 Here is the "In Process" photo. The photo is 8.5" x 11" paper. I traced the lines and enlarged it to 11" x 14". I did a little bit of painting on it, but you really can't see it. It did help me decide how I should quilt it.

Here is a closeup that gives the truer color of the piece and the thread work that I did on it. The sky fabric is a piece that I hand dyed.

Rita's Rock: Geology 104

Time:  Winter Quarter, 1958-1959

Place:  Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois

Scenario:  During this time in history, Biology majors, like myself (female), found little opportunity to teach what we loved, High School Biology.  For the most part, the teachers hired to teach these classes were also coaches.  Therefore, my adviser and head of the Zoology Department, Dr. Scruggs, suggested as many different science courses for my electives that could fit into my schedule so I would be qualified to teach a wide variety of High School science classes.  This decision proved invaluable over my 36-year teaching career.

During my Freshmen Winter Quarter, I found myself in Geology 104. Although there was no term paper, a rock collection was required.  The one you see on this quilt could well have been mine because we had to turn the collections into Dr. Chang in a partitioned box, each sample correctly labeled.

 For this Material Mavens post, I found photos of rock samples on line and printed them onto fabric using the ink jet printer.  The box was modeled after a “look through the window quilt pattern” for the depth dimension.  The rock sample photos were then cut out and placed in the “box”.  All the fabrics are fused onto the light background and then the quilting was done by stitching around and along the edge of all pieces.

The identification key:  1. Basalt   2. Anthracite Coal   3. Granite   4. Pumice   5. Diorite  

6. Limestone   7. Conglomerate   8. Schist   9. Shale   10. Marble   11. Breccia   12. Flint   13. Halite (rock salt)    14. Quartzite   15. Sandstone   16. Chert   17. Gneiss   18. Hematite   19. Obsidian  

20. Slate

Side note:  This was the time frame when I met this handsome young man, Randy, that worked in Owl Drug Store with my roommate, Barbara.

Side note 2: Dr. Chang’s first language was Chinese so he spoke with a very heavy accent.  It gave many of us guilty pleasure when Dr. Chang was describing the unique characteristics of the mineral, Schist (sample #8).

Rock challenge by Teresa Schlabach

My Birthday is in the month of February and I have always loved Amethyst as it is my birthstone.  I am especially partial to geodes.  They are so fascinating.  This is actually done using the confetti method with a batik purple fabric, purple Angelina, and purple tulle overlaid that contained a few sparkles.  I used by Brother Scan and Cut for the letters.

The new challenge word is:  Blues

Jane's Rock Quilt

Detail

Jane’s Rock Quilt

Jerry Is My Rock

As I worked my way through a diagnosis and treatment of lymphoma, many people asked me, “Is Jerry taking good care of you?” My answer was always, “Oh yes, he is a rock!” What I meant was that he was always dependable and always available and always thinking of what I might need. He never wavered in his care.

I like rocks. I like the way they look. I like their unique appearance. I like the many colors and textures they show me. However, I have always been challenged in depicting rocks in fiber art. I am learning and as in all art challenges, I am trying to depict what I see not what I expect to see. That is not as easy as it sounds.

This time I started with a piece of Stonehenge fabric. I liked the name and the neutral rocky feel of the cloth. Then I used a custom thermofax screen all over the fabric with brown fabric paint. The screen was made by Jane Dunnewold’s husband using a photograph I had made of rocks.

The next step was to add various fibers and hand dyed cheesecloth. Then I quilted strata in by machine. At this point I just let it sit on the design wall for a while. It did not photograph well. Not enough contrast even though I did like the detail shot.

I decided to add a little glitz to it. I started with gold paint. That helped. But I added some beads to look like the pebbles that collect in fissures in the rock.

I hope you enjoy my interpretation of Rock. Jerry is a lot more handsome but he is my rock.

Gail’s Rock Challenge—Alexandrite

Alexandrite

.

Beautiful gemstones come from rocks that one would not look twice at.

We are born of raw rock that is cut and shaped by life.  The beauty does not 

shine forth without pain and adversity.  The longer we live the more we are cut and 

polished into a precious gem.  What starts as a large rock ends up a small jewel.                        

  Natural alexandrite  is very rare and expensive.  It is found mainly in 

Russia, hence the name alexandrite.  My 12x12 quilt feebly attempts to capture

the faceted reflection of an alexandrite gemstone. 

Randy's Reach Composite

Hope you are not superstitious for this composite! It is close to Halloween and there are 13 blocks. We now have 13 members, having recently lost some, but Tricia was too caught up in remodeling and/or construction to make a quilt. I inserted a title banner to come up with 13.   Let’s swing a black cat to dispel the Halloween jinx and here is my explanation of why I put quilts where I did.

Row one: Hands, and the colors blend nicely also.

Row two:  As a photographer I especially enjoyed the full moons we have been seeing this summer so Alice’s quilt gave me the idea for the Material Maven’s title banner. What better place for Kathy’s quilt – front and center.

Row three: Let’s call it “reaching for the stash” row. Clever all!

Row four: You could call this “The Botany” row with a spiral start to end and with humor. I’m still grinning when I look at Carolyn’s “Reach.” We have a 12-foot rolling library ladder in our study. Our 4-year-old grandson likes nothing better than to pull it away from the wall and climb to the top and give his Omie a panic attack.

Friends, another wonderful, creative adventure.

Kathy's "REACH"

NO MATTER HOW DISTANT.

NO MATTER HOW FAR.

 I WILL FIND YOU MY CHILDREN

WHEREVER YOU ARE.

I wasn't quite sure how to handle this challenge, but for some reason this poem popped into my mind. I don't know if I read it somewhere, or more likely, it came to me through "Divine Inspiration."   

Of all the events in my somewhat ordinary life, the most significant of those events was the tragic loss of my son, Ian Alexander Harte, in October 2003.   I was still living in Alaska; Ian and my daughter, Aimee, were living in California near their Dad.     When I got the phone call that Ian had "gone missing" I was terrified.   How could this happen?   He had just turned 24 !  He'd just graduated from college.   He had a job.   He was supposed to be OK !   Our family did everything humanly possible to locate our boy.... Police, Detectives, Investigators, Attorneys; Ian's friends, his college; "Missing" posters on every vertical surface in the town where he lived.  We stormed the gates of heaven, begging our Dear God to return Ian to us.    It was not to be.
 * * * We will celebrate Ian's 38th Birthday tomorrow, October 16, 2017. * * *

During these past few months, our beloved country, the United States of America, and many other countries (especially the "Island Countries") have been devastated by Hurricanes and Tropical Storms.    As Hurricane Harvey was gathering speed and force, many areas in Florida were under "emergency" (mandatory) evacuation.  My daughter, Aimee, and 9 year old grandson, Logan, were among those evacuees.  To hear my child sobbing; to hear my grandson crying as he asked if they were all going to die was heartbreaking.    Fortunately, we were able to get them out of Florida and they stayed with us for the several days it took "Harvey" to calm down.   We celebrated their safety, and them being here with us in Central Texas !

The small poem at the beginning of this dialog has become the title of my "REACH" quilt.   I'm grateful to our Dear God for all He's given to me; and I know at some point in time I will understand!

_____________________

The Quilt :    The Cross represents God's ever-presence in our lives.

Fabrics:  I hand-dyed the background fabric using lots of rusted "found objects."    Commercial fabric was used for the cross, and the backing.  

Quilting:  I Free-Motion quilted the background using the fabric designs as inspiration.    The Cross was machine quilted using straight stitching to simulate the grain in the wood.

Finishing Techniques:   I used a "Ragged-Edge" process for the Cross to give it dimensionality; I also left the edges of the front of the quilt ragged.    The "Poem" has been printed onto fabric, and appliqued to the back side of the quilt.

Binding:  The binding is a "double fold," and was used to finish the edges on the back of the quilt.
_____________________

Peace and blessings,    Kathy

January 15, 2018 Challenge Word

The next challenge word will be "Rock".

Dee's "Reach"

"Epiphany"

After many weeks of thinking – just thinking about this word “Reach”, I finally went to my “Epiphany Drawer” to see if I could stir up a bit of imagination or magic; it worked.  The “Epiphany Drawer” is where I keep all of those very special scraps that turn out so amazing that I cannot believe I made them.  (big grin – of course they are.)   These are the scrappy treasures from classes and workshops where I try new things.   These pieces are never big enough to make a ‘real’ work of art, but heaven forbid that I ever even consider cutting them up!!!  Also, I usually do not have the tools to replicate them at home.  So, this is the drawer that I reached into; I wanted to do something that had a combination of things that I love. I gave myself permission to play as I reached into the symbolic fuel tank.

This 12 x 12 piece has a background that was drip dyed with three red colors.  The way those reds perfectly melded together, I knew that I would NEVER cut it apart, so I cut it apart.  The green and black piece is silk-screened and I knew I would NEVER cut it apart, so I cut it apart.  I love improv piecing, so I did.  I had a never used “Pounce” chalk pack and a never used stencil from 9 years ago that were

threatening to expire, so I used them, too.  This was fun - I should REACH more often.

Carolyn's Reach: Reaching for My Daddy

My sweet mother-in-law loved to tell the story about my husband's childhood antics.  Jerry was always an explorer, and one day when he was 3 years old, his mother glanced out the kitchen window and saw him climbing up their tall ladder.  

The extended ladder was leaning against the roof where Jerry’s Dad was repairing some leaks. 

Of course, his mother panicked, but she quietly slipped outside and signaled to her husband that Jerry was climbing up the ladder.  His Dad turned around just as Jerry reached the very top rung.  He carefully reached down and caught Jerry’s hand. His Dad pulled him into his arms and carried him safely down the ladder.  When the theme, “reach” was announced, this scene immediately came to my mind.  My quilt marks this event in my husband’s young life.

To create my quilt, I free-cut cotton batik fabrics and fused them onto the steel blue background.  Although their home was in West Texas where there were no trees or flowers, I decided my little scene needed enhancing.  So I used fusible fabric and fabric pencils for the tree, embroidered a few flowers and finished the quilt with machine quilting using Aurifil thread.