"Crisp Autumn Morn" in Fiber

I'm totally stoked to find myself on quite a roll thee past few days.  Here is another art quilt that was stashed away in a trunk waiting many years for me to revisit it and finally complete it.

20" x 20" "Crisp Autumn Morn"

This piece was made entirely with commercial fabric remnants.  The perpendicular central panels were pieced, as were the black and orange borders.  The 'L" shaped orange elements were hand appliqued.  The leaf and rectangular and "fussy cut" leaf elements were raw edged machine appliqued.  The inner panels were closely free motion quilted with gold metallic thread.  The entire top was then quilted to batting and backing fabrics.  It is mounted on 20"x20" stretcher bars over which I nailed a gesso finished, thin plywood sheet to prevent any possible migration of wood elements through to the quilt.

Thanks for dropping in.  Hope springs eternal that I will adhere to my 2017 New Year's resolution to finish many quilt tops that have been "sleeping" in trunks for years on end.   Perhaps I'll have more to show you soon.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2017.  All rights reserved

 

Understanding

Often my works will have social implications.  Here is another of my quilted art works that seems to have relevance today.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

"It's Not a Black and White World"

I created this work a long time ago, but somehow it seems relevant today.

We are all of the human race and it is high time we respect others as we respect ourselves.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

"Between Heaven and Earth" to make a showing

I was totally thrilled to find out this morning that my work, "Between Heaven and Earth," has been accepted into the upcoming "Plant Life" show at the Linus Art Galleries in Long Beach/Signal Hill, California.

"Between Heaven and Earth" ©Linda Friedman 2012

This 38" (W) x 48" (L) quilted work contains elements of hand painting, stamping with flora from my garden, machine and hand applique, and free motion quilting.  It first debuted with the Quilts on the Wall, "Bridges" exhibit and traveled throughout the United States for two years.  Again, it appeared with Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists in the "Fiber Perceptions" exhibit at the Cerritos Public Library in Cerritos, California .  Now, this fiber friend of mine comes back to take another stroll with me, this time into an outstanding art gallery.

I must say that I thoroughly enjoy greeting each new day.  Surprises always await the rising sun.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

"A Forever Changed World" in Palm Springs, CA

 

I'm thrilled to announce that my quilt, "A Forever Changed World" will be on exhibit with the Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists exhibit at Mancuso's Quiltfest Oasis from October 6 - October 8, 2016.

Our group of invited fiber artists has created an exhibit of works based upon a theme of "Infinite Connections".  It reflects each artist's translation of that theme with fabric and a variety of techniques.  My 30" x 50" quilt reflects the infinite connections that became possible with the advent of radio waves. We often take communication for granted but without it, societies would stand still.  May our information portals never be hacked and closed.

Hope you can set aside a day between October 6th and 8th to visit Quiltfest Oasis which promises to be an outstanding show.

Quiltfest Oasis – October 6 – 8, 2016

Palm Springs Convention Center

277 North Avenida Caballeros

Palm Springs, CA

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

Flight Feathers #1 - Mounted Fiber Art

Flight Feathers #1 - 8"x8" - Mounted Art Quilt

Recently I completed a 40" x 40" work that featured a crow on a telephone wire.*  The theme had emotional significance for me because the call of crow on a wire was in the background as my father and I hugged and said for the last time, "I love you", before an accident took his life the next day.  Every time I see or hear a crow, I am reminded of my father and that he loved me very much.

Because many of my works have implicit undertones, I wanted to have a white feather in the bird's beak that would, to me, signify my father leaving this plane of existence.  This led to my experimenting with thread to create the perfect feather.  Unfortunately, white was "lost" on a silver lame field.  Still, I liked the feathers and knew that if I put them away for future use, they would surely become one with a growing drawer of "someday to use" items.

Thus, I set about making a sandwich of black fabric and batting and free motion quilted a background for the thread feathers.  I then stitched the leaves onto the mini quilt.  In my stash was an 8"x8" stretched canvas.  It was perfect for mounting this mini art quilt.

Close-up of First Feather

Close-up of Second Feather

Close-up of Third Feather

Once the quilt was mounted to the stretched canvas, I used a stenciling brush to lightly apply acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium to the four corners.

Last I backed the work with black mat board and attached D-rings to make the piece ready for hanging.

Back of Mounted Mini Quilt

*Once the large, 40"x40" quilt begins to travel, I will provide a picture and write-up of that, but I will post a "teaser" here.  The crow is constructed with dark blue and black satin and is heavily thread painted on the head and the breast.

Beginning of the Crow

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

3-D Transformation of Felt with Wire

I have long been fascinated with the seeming random quality of how leaves curl as they dry on the limb and then fall to the ground in an artful manner.  What follows is an experiment in trying to capture the feeling that I have when seeing dried leaves on the ground in the Fall.  Nature will always trump my efforts but that doesn't stop me trying.  Perhaps the following will act as a tutorial for you to make your own 3-D fiber art forms.

1.  Tools:     - 20 lb. picture hanging wire
                    - straight pins
                    - wire clipper
                    - beading foot
                    - free motion foot

 2.  Pin wire to felt.
 Note:  A pattern is not necessary.  Instead, merely started pinning the wire to the felt in wavy       lines that are meant to suggest the undulant lines of many leaf shapes.

Starting to Pin Felt to Fabric

3.  Set zigzag stitch width and length on sewing machine to 3.5 zigzag width and 1.5 length.  If you try this, you may need to set the machine width to a different number.  Just make sure that it will be wide enough to let the needle pierce the felt on either side of the wire. You don't want to dull your needle by it splitting the woven wire.

4.  Stitch wire to felt using beading foot.

Close-up of wire stitched onto felt.

How one completed leaf side and center stem evolved

5.  Pin wire to second side of middle stem and stitch, as described in #4.

6.  Sandwich a second length of felt over the wire stitched felt with the wire in the middle of the two pieces.

Layering Felt

7.  Pin the two layers together.  Insert pins so they capture the wire under them.  Use stitching line from the top layer as a guide.

8.  Stitch the layers together.

9.  After stitching around the entire leaf form, change from the beading foot to a free motion foot and reset your machine's stitch length and width to zero.

10.  Free motion quilt the leaf form in whatever pattern you choose.

11.  After completing a free-motion quilting design, use a stiff paint brush to paint the veins of the leaf form with green acrylic paint.

12.  After completely painting the leaf veins on both sides of the form, blend orange and brown      Setacolor fabric paints (or even acrylic paints, if desired) around the edges and into areas of green paint.

13.  Once the paint dries, cut around the edges of the form to "release" the leaf.

14.  Here is my resulting flat, elongated leaf form.

15.  Below are three of many ways the form can be manipulated.  Because it has a picture hanging wire skeleton the form can be flattened and reconfigured over and over again and each time it will hold its form.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved