Birthday Celebration

The 4th of July has always been a big deal in our family, because my Mother was born on that day. As a young teen I used to go next door to my grandmother's house where I would bake a birthday cake for my Mother. I especially remember an extremely misshapen, badly frosted cake with a reddish, pink frosting. As I recall, it was accepted with grace and an affectionate smile. All of this to say, that this challenge commemorates all of the lovely July 4ths that our family has celebrated over the years.

My gelatin prints are an abstract version of fireworks which are a time honored way to celebrate July 4th. After making the prints, I selected the ones which I felt were most successful, trimmed and shaped them and fused them to the quilt top.

Home is where the heart is

That is what I wanted to celebrate.  The place I live. 

The gum trees and wattles that I walk under every day, the river I see out my window and the mossy rocks in the forest behind my house. 
This piece is mostly thread painted, with a bit of applique, some underpainting and  layering of sheers.  I used around 16 bobbins of bobbin fill - that is one bobbin per square inch!!!  
So.....  I know you will forgive me if I haven't quite finished.  I just need to finish the faced binding, but I am so tired after being up all night - and I need to get some sleep and be a bit fresher before I tackle that..
One day, I will actually complete something simple and uncluttered - maybe the next challenge?   Didn't I say that last time.......?

Celebrate!- Beverly

 

I thought about celebrations in general and the role they play in our lives rather than any particular holiday.  Celebrations are the high points in our lives, and they can be the threads that tie our lives together.  It can be a big celebration like a wedding, or something simple like celebrating the Eucharist in church.  But in some way, they stand out from the everyday routines of our lives.  I tried to depict this with my use of color, and also in the way I chose to construct it.

This is actually four different quilts- the three panels, and the black backing.  The three panels are fabric I hand dyed for this challenge, then quilted and faced with an envelope finish.  The black backing is sateen, and is minimally quilted- the only stitching is the bobbin work done with the heavy gold thread.  Most of the bobbin work is behind the hand dyed panels, but some does overlap onto them.

Ultimately, I plan to stretch this onto a canvas or stretcher bars.  I'm happy with how it turned out, and also think I learned something about my artistic voice in the process.  I looked back on the pieces I've done over the past two years, and realized that several use black in conjunction with bright colors.  I like the look, and plan to continue exploring how I can use it in my work.

Crack one open!

What better way tocelebrate than to crack open a fine vintage champagne like this one:

Initially I thought of fireworks, but I wasn't prepared to test my skill at thread painting.  So I tried to get inspired by asking the questions, when does one celebrate? how does one celebrate?  That last one gave me the answer.  Champagne is used to toast at weddings, shower a race car driver after a win, celebrate the beginning of a new year and so on.  I had my inspiration; depict the popping of a champagne cork!

It was my first attempt at adding Angelina fibers to a quilt, along with foil for the bottle neck, beading for champagne droplets and some free motion couching to represent streamers.  I think the streamers could have been a bit heavier.  I'll have to experiment some more with that.  I used a bit of free motion quilting to the background hoping to add to the sense of celebration.  Overall I'm happy with the result.  What do you think?  Shall we crack one open?

fabric celebrations make the world go round

My celebration involves fabrics, designers, printers, all people that make it possible for us to work with these fibers. It’s also a celebration of friends from all over the world that have sent me fabrics as a present.
A world connected by fabrics.

The first picture was taken in the shadow and don’t really show the handquilted lines.

My initial motto was Fabric celebrations make the world go round.
I played with the idea to even print that line onto the final quilt. But sometimes you need to make a choice to leave things out, to let the image speak for itself. I’m not sure if the text would have added something extra to the quilt.

The second picture was taken with the quilt laying in the sun, which makes the picture a bit overexposed.

The center circles are made from fabric that I painted with glossy paints. They are also used in the binding.

It was not easy to have all the fabrics stand out, as you can only work with a small piece on a 16" square quilt. The circles are connected by quilted lines using silver coloured threads. The idea was to create a merry-go-round. Maybe it’s more of a fabric flower that explodes (like in fireworks).

When the quilt was finished and the binding was on I decided to handquilt more lines with limegreen, blue and silver sparkling threads. Unfortunately they are not easy to take photo’s from. When the sun shines on the quilt they really reflect.

Making this quilt was a trip down memory lane.

Thanks Brigitte for coming up with this wonderful theme!

The fabrics are: (clockwise from the top middle one): satin from China (bought by Mr DC), fabric by Amy Butler (favourite designer), batik (hate/love relationship), fabric by Kaffe Fasset (favourite designer), Liberty fabric from London (London is the place to be), Marimekko fabric from Finland (gift from a dear email-friend), shot cotton (love it), fabric from the Provence in France (my all time favourite place to spend Summer holidays), Indian embroidered silk (gift from dear friends who emigrated to India), fabric from Africa (gift from a dear friend who originally comes from SA), Aboriginal fabric (from an email friend), fabric by Denyse Schmidt (favourite designer), fabric from Hungary (gift from my favourite longarm quilter), damast from Holland (reminds me of Christmas dinners at my grandparent’s house), woven fabric from Japan (just because I love those), Dutch chintz (donated by my dear (quilt)friend).

Nicolette

Celebrate!

I had a few false starts but after listening to Lisa'a post of Kool and the Gang, I had that song going through my head as I was sorting through my photos. Suddenly the starfish that always been doing yoga were suddenly dancing in celebration. So my final piece celebrates nature with the starfish dancing. It is actually missing the final free motion quilting because as I started into the stitching my free motion foot broke! So I kept going, added some trim and am ready now on August 18th!

Jump for Joy!!!

Today is the day 

that I finally get to reveal challenge #2!!!

When the theme, "celebrate" was announced

it happened that our family was about to celebrate a great milestone in our lives...

the completion of high school for our oldest child!!!!

Like other members of our little textile group,

I like to try new techniques when challenged...

and that in itself can be a challenge and a little nerve wracking...

 but I started with the basic techniques from this new book of mine...



I used a photo that I had of my "Teen with lots of stuff"

which I then enlarged, using Picasa, into a poster

and also changed to black and white so I could check value every so often...

I traced it onto tracing paper..

and then onto muslin before I began gluing on many, many scraps of fabric...

Now this project is NOT for the faint (or at least, neat) of heart...

remember we do NOT create in a vacuum!!!

Gradually, the quilt took shape,

or should I say face....

I finished the top by
(1) adding a layer of black tulle,

(2) free motion quilting,

and (3) binding it with a facing!

and so now....

Let's Celebrate!!!!

Challenges!

Challenge has been the key word for me for Celebrate. I'm missing supplies and now I discover how much I miss my Bernina. I tried free motion quilting with the used machine I bought and what a disaster. I'm used to free motion stitching with my old record Bernina 830 (I've had for more than 30 years) so thought another basic mechanical machine would offer the same service but I was mistaken. So now for the challenge of cover-up ....what sort of fiber art make-up can I use with the slim pickin's I have on hand. Anyway .... I did use the suggestion of glue to adhere petals to fabric and here is the result of those samples ..... I had some dried petals, lavender, grass and pine needles. Besides glue, I used some dimensional paint ... at least 15 years old but not dried up! I doubt they are the cover-up I need but it is good to know I don't need tulle to adhere my organics to fabric.

But I am still Celebrating!!!!! Life is good, summer is wonderful!

Some progress

I got started yesterday, and have been having fun creating some fabric - we'll have to wait and see how much of it ends up in my challenge piece!

painted colour catcher

stamped and painted

Cheers,

Janet

almost done

A sneak peek of my celebrate quilt. I tried some new techniques, some worked, some didn’t, but I hope the overall look will be festive. 

Can’t wait to see everybodies quilts, cause I’m sure there will be a great variety in approaches and techniques again!

Nicolette

New Technique

For me, a part of each challenge is to try a technique which is new to me. Can you guess how these designs were made on the fabric?

You can find more details here.

Some finishing needed

With summer arriving late here in my neck of the woods and just five days left before the reveal, I am finally able to settle down and add the finishing touches on my piece.  Here is a sneak peak to add to Lisa's and Vicki's.

Can't wait to see the rest on the 18th.

Finally into the Fabric.....

Until yesterday Celebration was just a series of ideas in my head and a wide range of sketches, none of which had a way of materializing as I'm not as home with all my stash of fabrics and supplies. However I have some fabric samples, old pillow cases and odd bits and pieces that can certainly be turned into a celebration. Friends have given me lots of ideas and this card I received a couple days ago may have set my theme. Thanks Holly! This is one of Holly's beautiful photographs.

 So I printed off a few of my own summer photographs onto an old pillow case with freezer paper adhered to it. Here's a preview of some of the fabric that MAY make it into my Celebration ......

 I'd love to add some of the flowers I've been drying but don't know if I'll find any tulle and the netting I've saved from onions and other groceries just don't seem to work!

I needed a colour fix yesterday so did some fabric painting and laid a fine grid on it, laid it out in the sun and created this piece of fabric .....

Here's hoping everyone is enjoying whatever they are CELEBRATING!

woohoo!

Hey ladies!

I'm celebrating a little early!!!!

I finished challenge #2 late yesterday!!!

Now I can relax a little while....

aaaaahhhhhh!

What will I be?

Now we are down to the last three weeks!  Perhaps my piece might have some of this -

or maybe it might have some of this -

I suppose I will make up my mind sometime - hopefully in the next three weeks!

Maybe

I'll be including some of these in my next piece

Trying to get an idea firmed up, but it's not paying attention to me!  How about you, are you having any luck with this challenge?

I spy....

with my two eyes...

a new project developing!!!

4 weeks left to celebrate the challenge

Time flies when you’re having fun!

 

A few days after the celebration theme was posted by Brigitte, I managed to have some ideas translated into digital lay-outs. I did put them aside, cause I thought it was impossible to be happy with an idea this soon. However, I still like it, so why not stick with the initial idea?

I first comtemplated about celebrations all over the world, India, China, Africa, South America, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, but while making a list of those celebrations I came up with the idea to celebrate the fabrics that are made all over the world. After all, they allow us to be creative in more than one way.

This is a sneak peek of the digital lay-out that won’t give away too much of the translation into fabrics!

Nicolette

A sort of peek.

This is one of my early ideas, because I think that children are something we need to celebrate - since they are our future.  The butterflies signify how the children will grow/change to become that future. The children which would be printed on organza and threadf sketched) are all from wiki media and the butterflies (which would all be made 3d from lots of different coloured threads and fabric)  are clip art.  This was just a digital sketch, which I often do before creating a pattern and at this stage I am working on something else entirely - but you never know!

Very quiet celebration

Where is everyone?  Aren't we supposed to be working on our "celebrate" piece?

Can we have just a little peek?  How about an idea?  Here's something I've been thinking about.