Design Wall......Woven Sunshine

Something new up on the design wall

Click Images to Enlarge:

This is my first attempt at a woven quilt. I have been following the work of Anna Faustino for a couple of years now. I am working from her book, Woven Quilts.

I made this 36 x 45 inch quilt top last fall. It is now time to complete it so I can include it in an exhibit in September...........deadlines.........they work for me!

The 2 fabrics used for the woven background are: Benartex Glacier Park by Caryl Bryer Fallert. The gradiations in the fabric makes these absolutely perfect for this technique. The fabric does all the work for you!

Last fall I was foolish enough to sign up for my quilt guild's 2009 CHALLENGE. I paid my $10 and reached into the box full of Ziploc bags and pulled out this gorgeous green batik fabric (which instantly reminded me of leaves), with a yellow crayon attached. The challenge rules state that I must use the green fabric and the crayon should be my accent color..........you do know.......rules were made to be broken.

The yellow crayon is very bright.......like sunshine! Sunflowers have always reminded me of sunshine.........hmmm.

I auditioned some of my brightest yellow fabrics, and threw in a few rusty gold batiks to mix things up a little bit.........I think these yellows might add up to a bit more than an accent color. They are a good contrast against the woven quilt top.........it's a start.

I worked with this Phil Beaver sunflower pattern for the Sunflower Quilt I just completed.......it is the best! It makes it easy and fast to create the most gorgeous sunflowers! I guess I have not had my fill of sunflowers, because I am headed in that direction again.

When I begin a new piece I rely heavily on the design wall. Right now it is layered about 6 deep with new work in progress (I am getting ready for an exhibit in the fall and I am working on 20 different quilts in all different stages of completion). So, don't pay attention to the quilts underneath. I threw a piece of muslin on the design wall, pinned up the woven quilt top, the challenge fabric and crayon, possible stem and leaf fabrics for the sunflowers, maybe a chicken or crow.....I like to see all the possibilities together in one place..........after awhile I begin to pull things off the design wall that aren't working.

I pulled out the Phil Beaver sunflower pattern, placed it on the light table and began to trace out the petals onto VERY lightweight fusible.

I placed a Teflon pressing sheet on top of the sunflower pattern (I can see through the Teflon) and began to place the petals in order. This is the easiest method for getting proper placement.......and it's fun.

It is exciting to see the sunflower come to life!

When all the applique pieces are in place.......fuse everything down onto the Teflon sheet.

Wait for the sunflower to cool off after pressing.

The sunflower will be stuck to the Teflon sheet. Once it is cool, it will peel off easily.

Ta-da! Here is your entire sunflower all fused into one piece of applique. I love this method for big applique motifs.

Now I can take the entire sunflower head and audition it in different places on the quilt top until it tells me where it wants to go......it told me it was lonely, and it wants me to go make a few more...

These are some of the quilts I am preparing for the exhibit in September. It is my very first solo show.........."The Evolution of a Quilter". I am preparing 20 quilts that will represent the 20+ years I have been quilting. Some of them only need hanging sleeves or labels.........some of them need a whole lot more than that. Over on the very left edge of this photo you will see those colorful swimming noodles. The completed quilts will be wrapped around a noodle, covered in muslin, labeled and sent to the exhibit hall. It is a great way to transport them. They will arrive without wrinkles and ready to hang. Swimming Noodles.......you gotta love'em!

Weaving Sunshine,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

Portrait Quilts.....Learning to Fly

Portrait Quilts...they grab my attention and just won't let go. I have been following the work of many portrait artists over the years: Charlotte Warr Andersen, Bonnie McCaffery, Maria Elkins, Deidre Scherer, Hollis Chatelain, Lura Schwarz Smith and Marilyn Belford. More recently the animal portrait quilts of Toni Whitney. Click on their names if you can't resist taking a peek at their portrait quilts.

I long to create a portrait quilt. The closest I have come is photo transfer portrait quilts. They are fun, I enjoy the thread work, but I am ready to sink my teeth into more advanced portrait techniques. I have hoped to take a class from one of the artists mentioned above, but that just hasn't happened yet. If I could just glean one or two tips from each of these artists, just imagine what I could do.........I am day dreaming here.

I have decided to quit dreaming and teach myself, through trial and error, some portrait quilt skills and techniques and create my own portrait quilts.

This morning I played around with the Photo Shop Elements program on my Mac. I have had it for a few years, and never touched it. I managed to open the program, import a photo and manipulate it just a bit...........

Click Images to Enlarge:

This is the ORIGINAL image I started with

This is my niece, who is now 20 years of age.

She found a wounded bird in our yard and brought it in to care for it.

I started playing with some of the EFFECT & FILTER controls in Photo Shop, having no idea what I was doing... I love the way her freckles are pronounced in this image.

BE SURE to click on these images to see what the computer program did to manipulate them.

This image defines the shaded areas on her face and arm

This image looks like a painting on canvas with lots of texture

This image looks like it was embossed onto copper

The outline of her face, features and arms is well defined.

This will help create pattern pieces for the portrait.

I love the hard outline of her features, it defines the specific pattern pieces I need. Plus I love the freckles it created all over her skin, and the bird is more defined.

This also looks like a painting

This looks like it was cast in cement

She has a NEON glow to her in this one.

This has lots of thread work possibility.

Reminds me of a watercolor painting.

Also helps to define the separate areas of her face, hair, body.

This looks like a basic sketch.

I printed this out on transparency film.

I will put the film on the overhead projector, cover my design wall with paper, and project this image onto the paper and trace the image larger to make a master pattern.

It is a start...

"When you have come to the edge of all the light you have and step into the darkness of the unknown believe that one of the two will happen to you... either you'll find something solid to stand on, or you'll be taught how to fly." ~Richard Bach

This is my favorite of all the images I created.

I also printed this out on transparency film.

I will see which one works best when they are projected onto the wall.

I have decided to work intuitively using the skills that I have......and see where that leads me. I will keep you posted as I make progress on this portrait quilt.

CLICK HERE to view this image as a Portrait Quilt

CLICK HERE to view Photoshop Elements Tutorial

Learning to Fly...

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

Play Day......Mark it on the Calendar

I was cleaning out image files this morning and found these photos taken at a PLAY DAY last February. As soon as I saw the photos, all the wonderful memories of that day came flooding back to me..........

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We marked it on the calendar.........PLAY DAY........we looked forward to the date for weeks. When it finally arrived, we gathered up all of our supplies and met for a fun day of playing, experimenting and creating art.

The majority of these supplies came from thrift stores. The Goodwill is one of my favorite art supply stores!

We brought supplies to play with Shaving Cream Printing, Melted Crayon Printing, and Jello/Gelatin Printing techniques. You can find a tutorial on this blog for Shaving Cream Printing if you CLICK HERE.

Most of these stamps came from thrift stores....we used them in the jello printing technique.

This orange and green print on silk was made using the shaving cream printing technique. If you have never tried this.........it makes for a very fun play day!

This orange and purple piece is also a result of shaving cream printing.

We don't get too serious when we are playing and experimenting..........the key words here are playing and experimenting.

Everything you create may not be a magnificent piece of art, but at the end of the day you just might end up with one or two pieces that have real potential, that get you enthused and inspired to turn them into a terrific little journal quilt. This is an excellent way to try out new techniques on a small scale and see if you like the particular technique, or see if they will be useful in larger projects in the future.

Purple and Black shaving cream print.

This print inspired me to put it into a journal quilt.

CLICK HERE to view it.

Melted Crayon Printing Technique........TREE

CLICK HERE to view the completed quilt.

At the end of our PLAY DAY the counters and tables are covered with our experiments. We work in a 9x12 inch size, so the prints can eventually be finished as journal quilts, or sewn into larger pieces.

As I look at my calendar........I see in July I have a PLAY DAY scheduled with my friends. I promise to post our little experiments on this blog.

Remember.......set a date with your favorite friends.......mark it on the calendar!

It is one of the best things you do for yourself.

Here's another link to a Shaving Cream Tutorial....CLICK HERE.

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

Gardening & Computers...

I have neglected the flowerbeds lately with all the time I have spent finishing up the Sunflower Quilt. I was looking out the window sipping coffee this morning and saw how the poor climbing rose, so heavy with blooms, was drooping over. A bit of guilt set in.......out the door I went with scissors and twine...

Click Images to Enlarge:

These CA Poppies are just glowing. They have self seeded themselves around the corner of the patio and now growing under the climbing rose.

It took quite a bit of twine, but the rose is tied up to the patio, looking much happier now. I ran into the house to get my camera. Some of these blooms or so luscious I just have to photograph them.

The bumble birds have a feeder right next to the climbing rose...and they were not too happy with my spending so much time around their rose bush. They kept buzzing around my head trying to scare me away. I held my ground and managed to get a few photos of the roses.

When I came back into the house and downloaded the photos into the iphoto program on the computer, this pale pink rose caught my attention. The petals are so distinct looking, each one so separate and well defined...I decided to play around with this image and see what happened...

iphoto has very simple controls (I am no computer wizard) so I moved some of the controls back and forth to see what would happen to the image. Check out those well defined pink petals in this photo...very dramatic.

This image has a vintage look to it........still soft like the original image, but with an old fashioned photo appeal to it.

I played with the temperature control and started turning the rose different colors.

Then I played with the saturation control and made the rose very very yellow.

This looks neon yellow...

Then I took all of the color out of it with the contrast control. It looks more like a black and white photo. The petals stand out distinctively in this image.

The temperature control turned the rose shades of blue

I think all of these images, printed out on fabric, would make a great collage quilt. Also just one BIG HUGE image printed onto fabric would be fun to do lots of thread work on and free motion quilting.

If you are inspired by any of these images, please feel free to download and use them in your artwork. They are full high resolution images, and should print out very nicely for you.

Enough computer time......back out to the gardening,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE