To do a series or not?

There is a lot of pressure in the quilt world for us to work in a series. I can certainly see the point of working in a series, but what if you don’t create a series of quilts? You begin to feel like a failure. Why can’t I get it together and create a wonderful series like everyone else is doing? Why do I hop from project to project and explore different ideas instead of focusing on only one?  Maybe I have no attention span or am easily distracted by all the wonderful things out there to work with. We get that pressure, too. More and more stuff for us to try and we will be missing something if we don’t try them. I better dye, paint, and marble my own fabric. I better stamp and do monoprinting. I better use unusual things in my quilts like dryer sheets, dryer lint, plastic, recycled materials, photos, sheers, silks. I better plan my quilts in a sketchbook and make an art journal. I better take more classes. All of these things will lead to wonderful quilts we have been told.

This quilting thing that we do is supposed to be fun and sometimes putting all these expectations on ourselves is turning it into work instead of fun. Quilting is the thing I do to escape from the real world and I don’t want the stress of that world coming into my creative time. But it does seem to come in….big time!  I become  super critical of my work, I get frustrated when I make mistakes, and I compare myself to others that I consider more talented. I keep taking more classes. I would be ashamed to tell you how many Craftsy, Quilt University, and in person classes I have taken. I have some projects to show for all that effort and have learned something from all of them, but was it worth it? Sometimes I wonder if all these things are like hoarding.

This is the closest that I have come to a series. I have made quite a few quilts with the Moon in them. I am sure that they would not fit the definition of a series and were not planed as a series.

Fabulous Night for a Moon Dance

Call of the Wild 

 Connected to the Moon

Do you work in a series or do you feel left out because you don’t? Do you put too much pressure on yourself and forget to enjoy the fun of creating? Do you feel torn and frustrated because you are expected to try all these new things and yet have no idea how you will ever use them?

I am on Nina Marie’s Off the Wall Friday. Check it out.

http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/2014/01/1-down-11-to-go-off-wall-friday.html

Thanks for reading.

Chris

A challenge done and a decision

I finished the challenge for the 15 by 15 group yesterday. The theme this time was RHYTHM (a regular, repeated pattern). It is not due until the end of the month and I am thrilled to have it done early!
I was looking through my photos from Paris and my fabric for inspiration and it hit me to do a quilt of a stained glass window from Sainte-Chapelle. I fell in love with the interior of this church the moment I stepped inside.

I chose my photo of the rose window due to the repeated pattern of the glass pieces. But interestingly enough the fabric was the main inspiration to do this piece. It was a fabric that I had printed at Spoonflower last summer from a sketch that I did on my ipad. When I received the fabric I liked it, but had no idea what I was ever going to do with it. I thought for sure that it was going to take a long time to get around to using it.

Has a fabric ever been your inspiration for a quilt idea?

Here is the fabric. Doesn’t it just scream stained glass? I might have to have more of this fabric printed for future use since this was only a fat quarter and I pretty much used it up.



My photo is a view of the window from below so you get distortion of the pieces of glass due to that perspective, but I liked that. The "leaf” shapes alternate between the thin leaves and the fat leaves in a circular pattern.  Hence the rhythm.

I decided to print out the glass pieces on ExtravOrganza to get very shear images of the glass to put on top of the fabric. In doing that I realized that the fabric did not have enough white in it so under some of the organza pieces I painted some white with Tsukineko white ink. After cutting out the glass pieces I went to my stash for a black fabric for the background and of course did not have anything large enough. So I hand dyed some black fabric so I did not have to go out in the bitter cold to go to a quilt store. Plus it did not come out as black as some of my solid fabrics which was actually a good thing.

So here is the quilt that I call “Rhythm in Glass.”


 

So that is the challenge done. What is the decision? I decided to go with sketch 5 for the master class quilt. That is the one that most people liked the best. Interestingly enough it was the last edit I did to the original sketch. The more I look at it the more I like it the best.


Elizabeth suggested in the lesson that we make a monochromatic quilt so I think I will make it from blues. I have a ton of blues in my stash. I guess I will pull fabrics today to see it that will be interesting enough. If not I will have to rethink this choice of color scheme.

As always thanks for reading my blog and let me know if you have ever had a fabric give you the inspiration for a quilt.

Chris

Strongest design??

I am taking a year long class from Elizabeth Barton and got some feedback on one of my sketches. The design is from a photo I took of Paris rooftops and chimney pots this past summer. For the assignment I sketched it out trying to shade in various values since this was basically supposed to be a value study. Before I even sent the sketch to Elizabeth I knew that the roof on the lower right was too strong. Why do we know something, but refuse (or are too dumb) to change it? I guess I was copying the photo too much. I have to remember that people don’t create the values in their city buildings to result in a great design in a photo without editing.

Elizabeth also pointed out that there is not much happening on the left side of the sketch. Boy I did not even see that. Again I was just drawing what I saw in the photo. So I had some work to do. She also suggested that cropping to just the interesting stuff might be better.

Here’s what I tried.

 Sketch 1: Cropping to just the right side where most of the stuff is happening

 

Sketch 2:  Cropping out the large dark roof top on the right and adding another chimney on the left.

Sketch 3:  Adding a chimney on the left side and toning down the large dark roof top

 

Sketch 4:  Same as 3, but moving the chimney on the left further to the left

Sketch 5:  Cropping the right hand side of the original sketch, but toning down the roof

So the question is which is the strongest design? Which one would you make into a quilt?  I think I know which one I am leaning toward, but your feedback would be helpful.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Looking back at 2013

I was trying to figure out whether I did many creative things during 2013. I guess I did. I did all of the challenges for my 2 challenge groups, I made a small quilt for a QU class, I made 2 lap quilts, and I made the traditional ornament for my daughter. Here is a look back.

The 12 by 12 challenge quilts. We only did 5 last year.

The group has chosen a different challenge for 2014. For 2014 we had to submit 3 things to the group…a word, a color scheme, and a technique. The words, color schemes and the techniques are put into 3 separate hats and one is drawn from each and those 3 things become the challenge. Should be interesting.

The 15 by 15 challenge quilts.

Blue flower quilt made in Susan Brittingham’s Flower Power class.

My MIL saw this quilt just sitting on the dresser in the guest room and commented that she liked it. I asked her if she wanted it and she said yes. Now I have to sew a sleeve on it, but as least someone will be hanging it on a wall instead of it just sitting on the top of a dresser.

Traditional lap quilts made to use up fabric and maple leaf blocks from an exchange.

I sent these out to be quilted.

Eiffel Tower ornament made for my daughter.

She loved it.

Thanks for looking back with me. Hope you had a creative 2103 as well. And of course we all hope for lots of creative endeavors in 2014.

I am taking the online master class with Elizabeth Barton this year and hope to get much better at making really good art quilts. What do you want to accomplish this year?

Chris