Where’s the fanfare??????

I would have thought when I finished stitching the pieces in place for my Boston quilt that I would have heard some fanfare. But there was nothing but silence. After 3 months of stitching you would have thought that I deserved some celebration music. But no! 

I did listen to the Hallelujah Chorus so I created my own celebration. Here’s the finished top. I ordered the backing fabric which I decided was going to be fossil fern in light blue and purple. This design began 2 years ago. Most of that time was spent designing, but the last 3 months of stitching seemed really long. I’m very happy that I made it through this stage. I would imagine that quilting will take that long as well. I expect the quilting to be more interesting at least.

Thanks for reading. 

Chris

Complicated building taking shape

 Not only is this a large building, but it also has a lot of detail….lots of windows, trim, etc. I did get a lot done, but still have some features to work out. I’m talking about the building on the bottom right. Good thing it’s the last building on the bottom of the quilt since I’m nearly down to the floor.  All the curvature of features you see is because the fabric is rippling since there is no design wall to cling to.

I still have the top of the building to do. In the photo it’s lighter than the rest of the building. I’m not sure if I should make it lighter or just keep it the same value as the rest of the building. Here’s a photo with a lighter top with dark features. All of this is roughly cut.  So that’s the next decision. So dark with light features or light with dark features? 

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

Thanks for reading.

Chris

"Starry Scary Night"

Starry Scary Night by Chris Staver (27 in by 15 in)

I remember when planning a quilt meant looking in quilt books or magazines for ideas. Once I chose a quilt that I liked I even tried to follow their choices for fabrics.  That ended back in 2004 when for the first time I made a landscape quilt from a photo. Since then I have worked on becoming an art quilter with my own original ideas.

Several months ago I was thrilled to be asked by Alida to participate in the Art with Fabric blog hop. For this challenge we had to choose an piece of art that inspired us and make a quilt from that inspiration. I am sure it it not hard to figure out what artwork I chose for my inspiration for "Starry Scary Night!!"

Art with fabric blog hop link.

Van Gogh's "Starry Night" has always been one of my favorite paintings. So how could I not use this as my starting point? Many people have already done that. I have seen paintings based on it as well as quilts. So how do you do something different?

Altered Starry Night

Initially I started to play with Van Gogh's painting and changed the colors in Photoshop. Once I saw the red and turquoise sky it hit me to have an oil refinery along a river instead of the village. Anyone that know me knows I have this small thing against the use of fossil fuels and have done several energy quilts. So now the seed of inspiration was sewn.

The fabric design

I decided to create the fabric in Photoshop and have it printed at Spoonflower. This was certainly the easiest way to create that Van Gogh sky. The water I had to create on my own in Photoshop.

Before adding lights

Then it was a matter of sketching out the oil refinery and fusing it between the river and the sky. I had to cut out for all the lights and add fabric behind  the "holes". Some of the lights were from a hand-dyed yellow fabric. Some of them were from the extras water fabric that was created when it was printed.

Starry Scary night detail view

So we have an oil refinery at night with all the lights and reflections in the water. My husband came up with the title and claims it is his favorite of my energy quilts.

Here are the rest of the blog hop participants. Check them out.

Monday, May 9th, 2016

• Maartje (http://quiltinginamsterdam.blogspot.com)
• Lee Anna (http://lapaylor.blogspot.com/)
• Andrée (http://quiltinglearningcombo.blogspot.com)
• Renee (http://www.quiltsofafeather.com/)

Tuesday, May 10th, 2016

• Kathy (http://qreativequilts.blogspot.com/)
• Yvonne (http://quiltingjetgirl.com/)
• Chris (http://chrissquiltinguniverse.blogspot.com/)
• DeAnna (http://southernbellessewcreative.blogspot.com/)

Wednesday, May 11th, 2016

• Alida (http://tweloquilting.blogspot.com/)
• Yanicka (http://yanickahachez.blogspot.com/)
• Heather (http://www.heatherquilts.blogspot.com/)
• Sarah (http://georgiagirlquilts.blogspot.com/)

Thursday, May 12th, 2016

• Cynthia (http://cynthiasark.blogspot.com.au/)
• Janeen (http://quiltartdesigns.blogspot.com/)
• Wendy (http://www.kwiltkrazy.com)
• Afton (http://www.quiltingmod.blogspot.com/)

Friday, May 13th, 2016

• Carol (http://www.quiltedfabricart.com/)
• Jennifer (http://www.inquiringquilter.com)
• Nina-Marie (http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/)
• Joan (http://www.moosestashquilting.blogspot.com/)

Around the World Blog Hop (Monday, September 15, 2014)

I’m very excited to be part of the Around the World Blog Hop. I was invited  last week by Bonnie of Institches with Bonnie.  You can read her blog hop post HERE.  The theme of the hop is to answer some questions about our creative process and to invite others to join in the fun.  At the end of this post you can see my invitees. So here we go…..

What am I working on?

My main focus this year has been the Master Class that I am taking online with Elizabeth Barton. I have always loved her work and have taken several courses with her at the former Quilt University. For this class we are given the lesson on the first day of the month. We have until the 10th to submit our sketches, the 20th to submit the blocked out quilt, and by the end of the month to finish it. At each stage Elizabeth critiques us. The lessons have been on things like value, line, nature, rhythm, letters in quilts.Here are my quilts from the class which runs until the end of the year. The sizes of the quilts varies and are not really to scale in these photos.  I am pretty happy with what I have accomplished so far this year in this class.

 

 

 

I am currently working on the one for September on Lost and Found Edges and have only gotten as far as the sketches and the beginning of the blocking out process.

 

 

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I have a background in physics and math and I think that comes out in my quilts. In fact several have science themes. This year I have created the start of an energy series (windmills, coal stacks, and oil rigs/windmills. I still make traditional quilts when needed, but mostly I focus on art quilts. I think the fact that I do both is different than some people. But who knows….maybe that is not unusual.

I know one thing that either may be the same or different than others is that I am very slow at this process. I have a tendency to over analyze things like fabric choices. I think that is often the battle between the left and right sides of my brain…my creative and mathematical sides. Even when the quilt is completely done I am still trying to figure out where it could have been better. I guess that’s what series are for.

So maybe the bottom line is that what I do is not that different….

 

Why do I create what I do?

I have been doing art in one form or another since I was a small child. I have sketched, painted, metal punched, woven, made clothing, screen printed, dyed and painted fabric, and quilted. Once I found quilting 30 years ago I found my creative outlet. It is just something that I have to do and that I enjoy doing. Seems I have to be doing something creative. 

One of my favorite quilts that I have made over the last several years is my cardinal quilt. Boy did I have fun with this one. My machine quilting improved a lot with it. It was the quilt that made me think for the first time that I could really do this art quilt stuff successfully. This quilt is about 30 in by 40 in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linking to other artists

I asked several people if I could link to their blogs and thank goodness 2 of my favorites agreed. Unfortunately I could not get a third person to agree to do this. The two artists that I am linking to will post their blogs next Monday, September 22. Both are really worth checking out. Make sure you check them out now and on the 22nd when they continue the blog hop with their posts.

 

artist one

First is my good friend Sheila of Idaho Beauty’s Creative Journey. Sheila does amazing quilts as well as making journals, padfolios, and cloth baskets. Please visit her. Sheila has been a great help to me when I have been stuck on a quilt with very generous feedback. I wish I could move to Idaho to hang out with her, go for a hike, and see her quilts in person. Sheila has had her quilts displayed a few times in places like coffee shops. She is one very creative lady.

artist two

Second is Deborah Lyn of Deb’s artistic impressions. Deb does a variety of things as well. She is a wonderful watercolor painter, a portrait painter, a fiber artist and an interviewer. Currently she is doing a series of watercolors called a Virtual Paintout.  You should check out her paintings, fiber art and her series of interviews. Hey she even interviewed me!

Thanks for reading my blog. Make sure you check out the 2 artists that I invited to join me in the blog hop.

I have to publish this one day early because tomorrow I will be teaching all day and I have been having issues with my computer starting up. Not sure it will start up tomorrow. Right now I have to get back to backing up files just in case!

Chris