"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

 

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

Water, Bird and Fish in Fiber Art

Life is Full of Surprises

It was great fun to see these three of my works in the Shaped by Fiber II exhibit at the Mission Viejo Library as the lead in to the great video that Laura and Luke Bisagna created.

3 of My Works in the Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists Exhibit

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

Birth of a Royal Guardian - Peacock Art (continuation)

I find myself incredulous that my post of yesterday was cut off.  When I looked at it today, the final part was gone.  Drats!  Let's see if I can't re-create it now.  Yesterday's post seems to have ended with sewing the peacock's crown.  Here we go with a continuation...

After the crown was sewn onto the backing, the body and tail of the peacock were pinned to the backing and then machine appliqued to the backing, starting with the head and stopping where the tail hangs off the canvas.

Machine Appliqueing the Body to the Backing.

After the machine appliqueing was complete, I randomly added claw shapes made from glass beads across the background and finished the work by adding heat sensitive rhinestones, also in a random manner.

Beaded Claw Shapes and Heat Set Rhinestones

Once the work was complete, I wrapped the quilt around the stretched canvas, stapled it to the wooden stretcher bars, glued black mat board to the back and finished it with D-rings and wire for hanging.

Waalaa, the work was complete and ready to hang on a wall.

Ruminations on Why I Chose to Use a Peacock to Express the "Boundless" Theme

The occurrence of multicolored iridescence in nature has always captivated my interest and stimulated my imagination.  To me, the male peacock is the king of radiant iridescence. After studying this bird extensively, I clearly understand why in Japanese culture the peacock was historically considered a guard to the royal palace.  To me, it is, indeed a “Royal Guardian”.

Exhibit Information

"Royal Guardian" will be on exhibit at the Cerritos Library for the months of August and September, 2015, along with other quilted and mounted art works by members of Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists.  If you happen to be in the area, I hope you will stop by the library to visit the exhibit.  The address of the library is: 

18025 Bloomfield Ave

Cerritos, CA 90703

Thanks for visiting and...

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2015.  All rights reserved