Friday, April 25, 2014

Have you ever wanted to just throw it out the window?

Sometimes when things are not going well I just want to take what I am working on and hurl it out a window. Can you imagine the surprise of someone outside walking by?

I have been sick for the last few days so that might be clouding my creativity, but I am getting those feelings about my arches quilt. The photo on the left was before adjustments and the one on the right is the adjusted quilt. I changed out the green and blue on the offending arch on the left side of the quilt and replaced the green fabric that read as beige in the photo. I thought that since the lower opening would be in shadow that I should go with a darker rather than a lighter green there. Not sure if I went dark enough, but when I go darker it just looks weird and does not fit in with the rest of the quilt.

     

The right hand photo shows a bigger difference between the light green and the darker green than is actually the case. The light green in the ceiling is more green than it reads in the photo. It definitely looks better in person than the photo shows.  I already started sewing things down so I guess I am stuck with this. I did try several other fabrics in the lower openings, but this one seemed the least offensive!  Have you ever been working on something and get stuck looking for the perfect fabric and just wish that it would just materialize out of thin air?

Here is the quilt in grayscale to show there are indeed value differences. Makes me almost wish I had done it in grayscale! I did not have the fabrics to do that, however.

Thanks to all the people that sent in comments last week when I did not understand Elizabeth’s feedback about the arch.

Linking to Nina-Marie’s off the wall Friday. Check out the other artists. They are probably having a better week. Nina-Marie has been under the weather as well.

http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/2014/04/off-wall-friday-word-from-andy.html

Thanks for reading. Comments appreciated.

PS.

Forgot to mention that we went to a quilt exhibit when we visited our daughter in Boston last weekend. It is called Quilts and Color. Wonderful quilts from the Pilgrim/Roy collection. Check it out here. http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/quilts-and-color

Next weekend we are going to an art quilt exhibit outside of Philly. Check it out here.  http://www.wayneart.org/exhibition/art-quilt-elements-2014

Hard to believe my husband is going along looking at all of these quilts!

Chris

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Help needed to understand my feedback! Yikes!!

I am beginning to think I am getting dumber with age. I just got my feedback from EB and each time I read it I think it means something else. Not sure still.

Here is my blocked quilt and her feedback.

 

gorgeous colors, and love the flow and the doubled lines.
My only suggestion for a change would be to use a different fabric of the arch as for the  support lines off the pillar as I'm adding them together and wondering why one of the support lines (don't know the correct term) bends over sharply in the middle   - so a little clarification at that point would be good - especially as the blue X really forms a focal point.  I think also it might be worthwhile to look for a fabric for the "opening" at the bottom that gives us more a sense of distance...
love the big arching curves!!  and this quilt is a good size: 25" x 38"
It has great presence!”

So I am confused as to what she does not like. Maybe you are better at figuring this out than I am. If you are please post a comment.

Here is a photo of areas I thought she was referring to. Not sure any of these are what she meant.

Is she referring to the dark blue line that curves sharply to the right (pink arrow pointing at this in the photo) or is she talking about the arch on the left hand side near the X? Is she talking about changing out the medium fabric there or the dark fabric there (marked with a ? mark on the photo).

At this point I am thinking she is  talking about the dark blue line curving sharply to the right (arrow pointing at), but I am not sure. Or does she mean all of the dark blue on the support pillar that is on right hand side? Would that be better with a dark green or a different dark blue?

Not sure what she means about distance in the lower opening. In a landscape that means to go lighter with less contrast. Not sure what that means inside in a church. Does that mean lighter or darker?

Any ideas? I did send her an email telling her I was confused about my feedback. Hopefully when she replies I will have a better ideas of what she means.

Additional feedback from EB.

“it is sometimes difficult to do this without being able to point exactly at it...I'm referring to the V shape that is in green and blue BETWEEN the 2 Xes - it's a beautiful Gothic Arch, I don't have any problem with it, but the way it intersects with the pillar on the right - just in your little mockup looks a little odd.

re the loss of distance....it's quite possible that what the photo shows is not what will give you the best sense of distance...again I'm looking on my monitor and in reality it might be Very Different...so if in the real piece you definitely get a sense of distance with those two "beige" pieces then I'm sure they're fine.  It's just such a lovely abstract of the pillars, arches and light in a church that getting that sense of distant space beyond is worthwhile.  But again, I stress, I am looking at a small photograph and you are the best ultimate judge.  Good luck!!!  a very nice quilt indeed.”

Thanks for your help sorting this out. I am still confused.

Chris

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Did I invent something new???

I have been using Totally Stable ( an iron on tear away stabilizer) for years when I machine appliqué fabric pieces with invisible thread.  In fact I buy it by the bolt instead of in little packages. Lately I have been using it to create the pattern pieces for raw edge appliqué. I trace the piece I need and iron it to the right side of fabric that has been backed with Misty Fuse. My latest quilt, however, has such large pieces that I did not want to use fusible and preferred to turn under the edges. So I figured that I would be working with lots of freezer paper to do this. I decided to try using Totally Stable instead. It works great!!

So now I can use it instead of freezer paper. It is much easier to see through to trace the pieces than freezer paper is and I think that it sticks better to the fabric. The following photos show you what I did.

Tracing the pattern piece.

 Ironing the pattern piece to the right side of the fabric. I have notations on the pattern to show where I need to turn under the edges and where to add fabric to make sure this piece will fit under other pieces. For the turned under edges I have cut the pattern about 1/4 inch wider than the piece.

The piece cut out of the fabric with the pattern still ironed to it.

Now I finger press the edges that need to be turned under. I make cuts in the seam allowance where there are curves just like you usually would do when doing any turned under appliqué. This finger pressing makes a pretty sharp crease in the fabric.

 Once I am done with the finger pressing I give it a good press with the iron.

 Here is the edge all pressed and ready to go.

 Tearing the Totally Stable off of the fabric to give the piece one last press.

Checking the fabric piece against the pattern to make sure it looks good.

 

 

Pinning the piece to the design wall.  Not many more pieces to go!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading and check out Nina-Maries Off the Wall Fridays. Linking today since I will be away for the weekend. http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Chris

Friday, April 11, 2014

Made it to the wall Friday

I spent a lot of time this past week trying to figure out what fabric colors to use in my Arches quilt. Initially I thought about yellow and purple, but then decided to try a more soothing palette. After all an old church should be a place to sooth your soul. Or at least that’s how I see it. Plus the interiors of many of the churches I have visited have been cool in temperature which begs for a cooler color scheme. I tried lot of things and at points my studio was a mess, but I kept coming back to greens and then eventually greens and blues. I think if I keep arriving back at the same colors after trying different things I should go with it. I think it is trying to tell me something. That’s how my windmills from February evolved.

Yesterday I went to Staples to have my print enlarged and I hung it on the design wall. To give you a perspective on size, the small print you see is on an ordinary sheet of paper. The size of the quilt looks like it will be about 25 in by 38 in. Now I have a pattern to work with.

The “green thing” you see is my Paris rooftops quilt hanging out sideways on the side of the design wall. This was the January quilt from the master class. I still don’t have that one quilted since EB has been keeping us busy ever since. The greens in this were olive greens. This time I want to use brighter greens.

I think the print looks pretty stunning on the design wall!

 

I picked out fabrics. Some are my hand dyes and some are commercial batiks or fossil ferns. I love fossil ferns and drool every time I look at the box of 90 of them over at Craftsy. I think the next time they have them on sale I will have to buy them.

My birthday is next Thursday and I debated about asking for them, but decided that I needed one of those Big Board ironing boards more. I might just buy the fossil ferns as a treat to myself one of these days. I should have bought them the last time they had them on sale for around $140.

 

 

I have the pattern ready and the fabrics ready so now I have to get to work. I did try out this design and colors in Electric Quilt so at least it gives me some idea of what this might look like. It never really shows what the quilt will truly look like, but gives me something to go on. It was helpful in eliminating many fabric choices. Even so I had my studio torn up an lots of fabrics all over the place.

arches

 

  This could come out looking really impressive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about retirement. I have been at my current teaching job for more than 30 years. So we are thinking of retiring at the end of this year. When I started college back in 1970 I had to decide whether to major in art or major in math. I made the more practical choice and picked math which eventually led to science and math. Now I am thinking that maybe when I retire  I can start a second career in art. Of course the question is what would that mean? I think since I love teaching so much I would love to teach some art quilt classes. The self doubts ask whether I am good enough for that. Could I sell some of my quilts? Would anyone buy them? Would you buy them? How much would I charge? I know nothing about these things. A few times I have been tempted to add a tab at the top of the blog with quilts for sale just to see what happens.

I was interviewed as a Featured Artist by Deborah Lyn Stanley. You can read the interview at her blog.  http://deborahstanleyinspirations.blogspot.com/

Wow I am a featured artist!!!

Linking to Nina-Marie. Check out the other artists.

http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/2014/04/playing-with-color-off-wall-friday.html

Thanks for joining me today.

Chris

Friday, April 4, 2014

Feedback. So it’s time to get to work, Chrissy

Feedback from Elizabeth came in on my 3 sketches. She said:

“Three value studies - which is wonderful - enables one to see right away the huge difference it makes when values are changed...I like the design a lot.  it is well pulled together, but there are interesting things happening in several place.I do think you could make this one fairly big, and it would look better big too.  I very much like the subtle changes in the width of the edge or surrounding lines...you can see this clearly at the top X.It gives a really nice sense of depth which supports the gothic feel of the subject. Of the three I like the top one best because there's a beautiful sense of openness to it...the structures have weight, but what they're supporting is light.
I don't see anything that needs changing. It's going to be a very elegant quilt!”

April_CS_sketch1 Of my sketches she liked this one the best.

Funny I was thinking I liked my second one the best! That is the one with the medium shade for the vaulted ceilings from my previous blog. But she does have a point about this one being lighter and more open. I think that was the point of the high vaulted ceilings in gothic cathedrals…open to the heavens and god.

I thought EB would have thought the X in the upper left as being too heavy, but I guess not.

 

 

I did make a subtle change to the coloring of something that bothered me about the vaulted ceiling on the far right not being light in shade. Which do you think looks better…original on the left or the revision on the right?

April_CS_sketch1

sketch1revision

Now my next step is to draw it out in Electric Quilt and try out fabrics in that software. This was really helpful in my line quilt for this class. Sometimes I just cut and re-cut fabrics until I find what works. We all know how frustrating that can be and what your studio looks like during that process. EQ made it so much easier. Here is a sample of what I tried in EQ software before arriving at my final fabric decisions.

lines2 lines3

Here is the final quilt in EQ and the actual quilt. While it is not a perfect match to the fabrics that I had in my stash and I did not draw it out exactly it was pretty darn close to the finished quilt. The actual quilt in on the right.

lines1

So now I must get busy because I think I am going to make the gothic cathedral about 27 by 42 inches which is larger than my pieces from Jan, Feb or Mar.

Thank for reading all of my blogs lately. Seems I have been pretty chatty all of a sudden. I guess it is my renewed enthusiasm from taking this class. I am beginning to think that I am starting to grow as an artist!

Chrissy (this is what my husband calls me)

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Other crafts I have tried

Some of the blogs that I read have reminded me of other crafts I did before I began to focus on quilting.

I did try basket making for a while. I don’t even know how I found supplies because no local art store carried them and there was no internet back then. I think I found an ad in the back of a magazine like Country Living and called them to have them send me a catalog. I made about 6 or 8 baskets and gave most of them away. I still have 3 of them. The one is loaded with my antique thread spools and the large one we use for bananas and other fruit on our kitchen counter. The small heart shaped one in the front holds antique cookie cutters. The ginger boy is from my childhood.

I also did metal punch. Most of those I gave away as well. I still have my metal punched “Paul Revere” lantern. Boy that one was a challenge. Not only did I have to punch some very detailed designs, but I also had to shape it to make a cylinder, create a top, solder a door onto it and electrify it to light it up. I remember very clearly the directions for the lantern. The guy who wrote them was great. At one point he says, “ You are probably ready to kill me right now!”

 

 

I really love it when it is illuminated. It creates great pattern on the walls and whatever it is sitting on. This is a keeper.

What other crafts have you tried?

Well we are onto our April lesson in my master class. We have to draw shapes and then lines to connect the shapes. I decided to try doing this with the arches and curved ceilings that you see looking up inside of an old church. The shapes are the curvy triangles and the lines are the arches connecting them. We had to print out our sketch and shade it in in three different ways. I sent my drawings off and await feedback. Not sure what she will say about these.

April_CS_sketch1

April_CS_sketch2     April_CS_sketch3

Linking to Nina-Marie. http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading.

Chris