Quilting on the Edge

Tuesday's Two Cents: Art Quilt Challenge Piece: Fractured Quilts

I think I mentioned a few posts ago that I had joined a challenge group online, here is the small quilt I just completed for our second challenge.  The challenge was to use three colors, do fracturing, or breaking up the background, and create  something that had wings.  I had a great photo under a bridge, by the Gulf waters, which I used for inspiration.  I did a lot of fracturing, or breaking up into pieces. There are three distinct sections, the top is the bridge area, the middle is the water, and the bottom section is the beach are.  I added the heron as the winged thing, of course, his wings are not visible but they are part of him nevertheless.  If you click on the photo it can be seen in greater detail.  The size is 14.5 inches by 13 inches.  Fracturing is an interesting technique, it can add dimension or interest to an otherwise plain background.  I used the secondary colors of orange, purple, and green.  I'll add a photo below of the inspiration photo too.  These challenges are sort of like a problem to solve, so it's always fun to see how what turns out.  There were many other great pieces from other members of the group.  We post our pieces to a blog, and then comments are made by others in the group, and best of all, we learn about ways to improve our design, what could be added, and of course, we get compliments too which we all can use!  Here's the inspiration photo.

The Mystery on My Beach

A local  woman vanishes under somewhat suspicious circumstances a few years ago. There are a few persons of interest, but nothing can be figured out. So the authorities dig.  In the beach.  Once quite a while ago, another time last year, and now again.  Right now.  A block and a half from my home, in the place that I usually enter the beach area to take a walk on the beach. In the place that I have sat and read and watched the people and the waves,  and watched sunsets.  Last week there were small earth moving equipment moving sand into huge piles, baring deeper and deeper into the depths of the sand.  The unruly, out of control, slipping sand.  Two days of that resulted in nothing so it has been returned to a normal sandy beach in that area.  I just returned home from a walk and noticed they are back digging again.  Even closer to the exact spot that I actually have sat on many occasions.  One time a few days ago I stood and gawked with all the others watching.  I want to look away but I cannot.  I don't want to see if they find anything.  It makes me feel sad and uncomfortable inside.  It could bring closure to those near and dear.  For me it will not be closure.  For me it is the beginning of a never ending feeling that my beach, my space, the place I go for solace and peace, is possibly not only what I had thought it was.  I feel robbed in some way.  Even the suggestion that something sinister has occurred on this beach is an unpleasant and worrisome thought.  My heart aches for the vanished person.  And my heart aches for the serenity I have lost.  The comfort and peace I have had walking the beach at dusk or dawn, with only a few others seeking the same. If nothing is found, I'll still remember the images of digging.  And I'll feel sorry that I walked over that very sand that is now the object of interest for sinister reasons.  They've widened that taped off area further today.  The digging continues. 

Lost and Stolen Quilts

Maybe some of you reading this blog are not aware that there is a website devoted to lost and stolen quilts.  Quilts are stolen from exhibits, fairs, and other public places.  Quilts can be taken from homes when people die, others can be lost while moving. Many quilters ship quilts to and from shows, and sometimes they are lost in the mail. Or taken.  Sometimes they receive a closed box back but there is no quilt inside.  Sometimes people are devastated over the loss of a quilt, perhaps it was a made by a deceased relative.  I'm sure we could all imagine circumstances under which the loss of a quilt would be difficult to bear.  Here's is a link to a website where people list lost and stolen quilts, in the hopes that others may see them somewhere and perhaps their quilt could be found.  http://www.lostquilt.com/LostQuilts.php   If you click on the photo of a quilt there, you'll read more about where and how it was taken to stolen.  There's a lot of quilts to look through, but maybe someday, if you have a little time to look around online, you could take a peek.  Especially if you frequent flea markets, antique stores, and the like.  You never know when you might be the one to find someone elses' prize possession!

Tuesday's Two Cents: Fabric Dyeing of Thrift Shop Find

Remember this?  This is the design on a duvet cover, king size, that I bought along with two pillow shams, for 5 bucks at a thrift shop before Christmas.  Saturday, I finally had time to dye, so I cut the duvet into many pieces and went at it with different colors of dyes to create about 28 new pieces for my art quilts.   Next is a photo of all the fabrics I dyed lying in a collection.  If you'd like to see them better, you can view a short video by clicking on this link: http://s604.photobucket.com/albums/tt124/chrispredd/Dyed%20Fabrics%201%2031%202010/?action=view&current=20100131120727.flv

I'm thrilled with all my results, and hope you like them to.  The video really helps to see them better.  

LaPorte Indiana: The Movie

This is a photo taken in Fox Park, in LaPorte, Indiana. I remember playing on the swings there as a child, having family reunions and school picnics there, breaking up with a high school boyfriend there, walking the trails there with a longtime friend, and just going there for a sit and a bit of relief from life's ups and downs.  You don't grow up in LaPorte without knowing and using Fox Park.  Recently our town became the subject of a documentary about LaPorte, created by Director Joe Beshenkovsky  and Producer Jason Bitner. It's an interesting story about how this came to be, having to do with finding boxes and boxes of photos taken by a LaPorte photographer long ago.  LaPorte is the place I was born, grew up, and still live much of the time.  It's changed a lot over the years, but there's still the small town flavor and feeling it always had.  It's not unusual to hear or say "that's a LaPorte name".   As we did, many in the community donated to help bring this project to fruition.  If you're interested in this window on small town America, you can see a trailer of this documentary and more information about it here: http://laportemovie.com/    If you're from a small town too, you'll enjoy what's there so far. 

Artist Trading Cards

If you're not familiar with artist trading cards, they are small pieces of quilt art, 2 1/2 by 31/2 inches.  I joined a group this year that will make and trade these cards.  Our first theme was to use the color red on our cards.  Six people participated in this first exhange.  These are the five I made to send to the others.  I used recycled art quilt pieces for the backgrounds, adding the images from my photo collection.  The walking man is from a quilt I made, I cropped out his image and printed it on lutrador, then applied it to the card. Layer with batting,and  timtex or another rigid item.  Edges are bound with satin stich, the back is card stock paper.  They're about the size of a baseball card when done.  When I receive mine, I'll post a photo of the ones I was given.  I've heard of these before, but often wondered why I would bother to make such a small item.  Then, a friend asked me to join the group, so I said why not?  Guess what?  It's really fun to make them.....and fun to create art in such a small space.  Looking forward to next month's theme.  maybe something you would like to try......save those bits of quilted fabric you may trim off your other projects........they could be perfect for this!  Or, create an ATC (artist trading card) from the scraps of the quilt you made, then leave it with the quilt to write info about your quilt on the back.  Or as a gift card if you give it away.........ideas!!!

The Work of Christmas by Howard Thurman

I received this poem in the mail today and thought you may like it as much as I did:

The Work of Christmas by Howard Thurman

When the song of the angel is stilled

When the star in the sky is gone

When the kings and princes are home

When the shepherds are back with their flock

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost

To heal the broken

To feed the hungry

To release the prisoner

To rebuild the nations

To bring peace among others, To make music in the heart.  

Nice thoughts for a New Year, right?

Tuesday's Two Cents: Inner Child Art Quilt Progress

So here's where I am on the Inner Child quilt I've started within the past ten days or so.  I added two more images.......the clearest one is in the 'cave', or dark area, and the other two lose their focus as they proceed out away from the dark area.  Maybe I should call it a closet.    I like it so far, altho I am not finished.   As I've worked on it, I began to understand that I was thinking about our childlike tendencies in creative work......and how as we get older, we often become judgmental of our work, and more restrictive in what we do and try creatively.  We no longer work with a child's mind of freedom, and let ourselves just create.  Instead, we analyze, over study, and sometimes fear that we'll make a mistake.   I know I'm not the first one to talk about this, as I've read about it many times. And I know I'm not the first one to experience this phenomenon.  My piece here is showing that the inner child is like a ghost outside of the confines of our inner space, wanting to get out but just really invisible around us as we work. Food for thought anyway.  This piece is resting on my design wall now as I figure out what to do next.  I have to admit, this has taken a turn I did not expect.  Isn't that the fun part about creativity?  You never know what it will end up being, until you finish making it. 

Winter Planting on Anna Maria Island January 2010

We decided to plant vegetables in our earthboxes, and picked up some nice tomato plants, peppers, one each of red and yellow, and two green peppers, and a few spinach plants.   Altho the weather is still cool by Florida standards, it is not too cool at night, usually staying in the fifties or sixties.  This is always a fun thing for us to do as in our northern Indiana life, this could not occur until late May.  Here's a few photos of our earthboxes planted. 

Art Quilt: Threaded Petals

I finished another one of the projects I left hanging on my design wall when I left for the holidays.  The final size is 16.5 inches tall, 21.5 inches wide.  The background is collage, free motion quilted with vines and leaf patterns. The flowers are extensively quilted with threads for the petals.  I added the white centers to the flowers for added attraction.   I wanted to create a lot of movement in the background, and use fabrics with interesting motifs for exploration by the viewer.  This quilt is available  on my website, click on http://www.christinepreddquiltart.com/for further information.