A Peek through the Garden Fence - A New Work Underway

Here's a peek at a new work that is under way.

A while back I participated in Teresa Shippy's tin tile printing workshop, created some great prints and fell in love with the process.  Because of other projects on my worktable I didn't explore the technique further until recently, but last week I set up a little work station in my driveway and set about making four fabric blocks with Teresa's technique.

 

 This quilt top is now at the stage where I need to consider how I am going to quilt it and what, if anything, I need to add to really make the tin-tile* prints pop.  I'll post more about this work as it progresses.

*Note:  I used Teresa's technique, but I did not use a ceiling tin tile.  I used a wrought iron piece that I picked up at a yard sale that a friend was having.

"Cool Classic Rides" - A Solo Show of Teresa Shippy's Art

Teresa Shippy's solo art quilt show, "Cool Classic Rides" was like no other that I have ever attended.  If any readers have a chance to visit the show, it will be on exhibit at Soft Expressions through October, 2013.  I spent at least 2 hours at the show and still needed more time to be immersed in the grandness of creativity.  Teresa has created 27 art quilts that feature classic cars.  Her choice of fabrics, including the use of men's ties from the 1960's for some of the grill works, was absolutely stunning and her hyper-dense free motion quilting with Valdani Threads exclusively was out of this world beautiful.  Be sure to check out Teresa's blog.  It provides an insight regarding the meticulous detail that goes into each and every one of her gorgeous works.  The post card to introduce the show were created by the curator and artist extraordinaire, Deborah Stanley.  

If at all possible, you must try to see these in person to appreciate them fully, but if you are unable to visit Soft Expressions from today through October, 2013, they entire collection will be traveling with the Mancuso shows where you will have a chance to see these works up close and personal.  I dare you not to want to touch then...but don't. :-)

Here is a closeup of the fantastic post card that the curator, Deborah Stanley, created.  It also provides all the information you will need to find Teresa's show at Soft Expressions.

 

"From Summer to Autumn" - A 12"x12" Art Quilt

The inspiration for this 12"x12" quilt came from 4 small remnants of black and white fabric that I thought about using in a binding for the larger quilt, "Balancing Act".

I pieced four black and white patterned squares to create the central theme's background.  Lying next to the pieced square was another, larger batik remnant with glorious red, gold and chartreuse colors and it "screamed" to be included as a floral element and to be one of the borders to surround the black and white pieced square.

Free form Leaf Shapes Cut and Machine Appliqued to Suggest Summer Flower

Beaded Center of Floral Shape

In order to reflect the seasonal change from Summer to Fall, I cut two maple-type leaf shapes from some of my hand dyed fabric stash, machine appliqued and heavily free motion embroidered veining onto each leaf.

Autumn Leaf Shapes

Around each flower petal is dense echo quilting with gold thread and to set off the central them I framed it with close zigzag, buttonhole, gold stitching..

Dense Echo Quilting around Petals

To continue the floral theme, I free motion quilted leaf pairs into the yellow outside border and feather stitching on the larger, inside batik border.  Once I was satisfied that "enough was enough", I turned the piece over and set about making a hanging sleeve and label.

Back of Quilt ©Linda Friedman 2013

Recently I've decided to try to incorporate an initialized image as further identifier to each piece that I create.  For this I used  Sharpie "Stained" markers that become permanent when heat set.

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QUESTION OF THE DAY :-):  Do you save every little scrap of fabric and do each of these remnants offer an opportunity for creative exploration of an idea?  If you use remnants in your quilts, I'd love for you to post a link for me to enjoy how you use these fabric gems in your work.

 

All contents of this blog are copyrighted. Linda Friedman 2002-2013