Sun Goddess - What to do with a boring quilt

I made a convergence quilt top a couple of years ago. The technique, shown in a book by Ricky Tims, is to take 2 pieces of fabric, cut them in varying widths of strips, sew them together, and repeat. It creates an interesting illusion, but not even interest for my taste. After mulling what to do, and getting great input from my buddies in my small quilt group, I decided to paint it. I almost just threw it away, so I had nothing to lose.

I found inspiration in the Sun Goddess that hangs on the wall on the back of the house. I took a digital photo of it, traced it, scanned the trace, printed it onto a transparency, projected it onto my design wall and copied it to a large pieced freezer paper for a template. I carefully cut out the design, separating the 2 halves of the sunbeams, and gently dabbed paint onto the surface of the quilt top. I was very careful to make sure that the paint wasn't wet or it would run.

I love the effect! This quilt, that I very nearly tossed into the garbage on more than one occaision now has personality. I cannot wait to stitch it!

Let's try one more

At the excellent suggestion of a friend, I've added one more piece to the value study - light trees, dark background. My trio has become a quartet.

Quilt 6 - Into the Woods

Into the Woods - 2012

This quilt was started on Day 6 of my quilting challenge in October 2009. It is a value study. It started as simple shapes but came to life as trees. I stitched the limbs of the trees on my Bernina home machine and quilted it also on that machine. The edges were zig zagged rather than a traditional binding.

Quilt 5 - Fierce!

Originally entitled "Oscar the Ostrich," I thought Fierce! was a much more apt name. This quilt was begun at the Empty Spools workshop in Asilomar, CA, in 2010, given by Hollis Chatelain. I started with a photograph taken by Denise Larsen at the Ostrich Farm in Aruba. The fabric was dye painted then thread painted and quilted. Angelika fibers were added to the background clouds to give them shimmer.

Fourth Quilt - Going With the Flow

Going With the Flow

I began this quilt on Day 5 - Actual Texture, creating texture with fabric and embellishment. If you go to the original work, you won't see the extensive beading. I also added a face to the center of the sun. This bead was made from an original glass bead. I made a mold and the fashioned this one out of clay and painted it. The Victorian lace beadwork on the bottom was all done by hand using a technique I learned from Larkin Jean van Horn's book "Beading on Fabric."

I promise this is the last blog post today.

Third Quilt Finished - Blowing Leaves

Blowing Leaves

This was orginally 3 fabric sketches studying focal point. Upon reflection, I decided that, when put together as a tryptic, I saw movement. I quilted it, added 3 dimensional leaves and beading. You can see what I originally did on my Day 7 post. 

Second Quilt Finished - Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

This little quilt was begun on Day 24 when I was studying landscapes. It is inspired by one of the many photos taken by my husband at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is simply breathtaking. If you cannot find inspiration there, I don't know that you can ever find inspiration.

August 2012 - A Month of Finishing Up

This is a month for finishing the work I began during October 2009 - dubbed Quiltober. During that month, I spent each day focusing on some aspect of quilting art. I learned many new things and ended up with a drawer full of UFOs. It's been almost 3 years now and it's time to see if I can do something with some of these fabric sketches. They are in varying states of completion. Some were actually 'finished' while others are fabric patches colored with PaintSticks.

Along with my Quiltober projects are quilts that I have been working on for years and just need some of my time. I do not have any illusions that I can finish one each day, but so far, I've gotten 4 finished. I will post them today and post again whenever I finish another.

Here's the first one I finished, a wholecloth shadow trapunto - quilting designs by Karen McTavish.

Blush - Wholecloth shadow trapunto