Quilting on the Edge

Finding the Light

Finding the Light is my recent art quilt, 18 by 22 inches.  One  morning recently I was on my way to the Gulf for an early morning beach walk, and glanced down an alleyway to see one back door of a house full of light.  It struck me since dawn had not arrived yet, and in the misty, grey morning, it just stood out.  I used that experience as the inspiration for this quilt.  As I worked on it, my mind turned toward Christmas and it took a spiritual turn, and became "Finding the Light". All machine pieced, appliqued, and quilted.  It's for sale on my etsy site........http://www.chrispredd.etsy.com.

Scrap Quilt

Yes, I still make traditional quilts too, and this is the one I just finished.  It's about 80 by 80 inches, machine pieced and hand quilted.  It's for a friend of one of my son's who asks me whenever I see him "when are you going to make a quilt for me?".  So, the next time I see him, and he asks, guess what?  He'll get one!  Enjoyed making it.

All In a Day's Work

This was a fun piece I made with the background fabric as the inspiration.  It's about 17 by 13 inches. I really like the stick figures in the background, and decided to make a larger one as the focal point.

Winter Woods

Okay, thanks to all you wrote me privately about Winter Woods and the hidden figures.  Guess it wasn't too hard to see the eight sets of eyes in the foreground...this is a fabric I believe is meant to be peacock feathers, but all I kept seeing was eyes!  So, I decided to hid some forest creatures in the forest floor, happily living unbeknownst to all of us who visit the woods.  This was fun......and reminds me so much of the woods by the lake where I lived in Indiana a while ago.  Chris

Winter Woods

Yesterday I heard about all the snow up north in my Indiana home and felt compelled to create a piece about winter, using only black and white fabrics.  Here is Winter Woods, about 17 by 13 inches.  I love how there is so much contrast in a piece despite the lack of any other colors.  Another reason I made this piece was to "hide" images as a surprise to the viewer.  I'll wait until tomorrow to reveal the hidden images, just in case someone takes a look and tries to find them before I spill the beans, as it were.  I love working in only these hues and plan on doing another piece soon in black and whites.  If you read this, and find the images hidden, leave me a note here or email me, link is on the right of this page.

Windchimes as Inspiration

                                 I purchased these windchimes you see hanging in the first photo just about a week ago.  I loved the colors, and they are very thin shapes, so they only make a delicate noise, sort of tinny sounding.  They are hanging on our deck and the palm trees are in the background through the screens.  Anyway, today I decided to make a few painted fabric pieces using the windchimes as an inspiration.  I got the idea for contrasting light and dark backgrounds from looking at the windchimes in another photo I took, where parts of them were against the darker background of the neighbor's house, and parts were in the sunlight.  I played around a lot with acrylic paints, making circles and square shapes, and overpainting and underpainting to end up with these samples.  I was also trying to put into practice some design principles I've been reading about.  I think quilting them with interesting patterns may make these pieces even more interesting.  Just sharing where my fabric adventures took me today.   CP                   

Sunday's Sand Dollar

While walking on the beach Sunday morning I found a sand dollar.......and decided this would be the theme for my December art quilt challenge group.  I took a photo of the sand dollar, transferred it to fabric by printer.  Cut out the sand dollar and appliqued it to a background fabric.  Then I transferred the same photo to organza, and applied that transparent piece over the sand dollar and background I previously created.  A lot of stitching in the background caused the sand dollar to 'pop', in person it looks like you could pick it up.  I'm really happy with how this piece turned out.  What do you think?   Chris

Journal Quilts 2006 Returned from International Quilt Festival

My journal quilts from 2006 that were at the International Quilt Festival have been returned to me, so I decided to post a few of my favorites.  It's been so long since I've seen that I nearly forgot what I had done!  They are all 81/2 by 11 inches.  Numbered left to right:

l.  "Trapped"  I used shiva paintsticks to create rubbings on the fabric around the trapped woman, and striped fabric positioned to emphasize the center subject.  It reflects turmoil over family problems.

2.  "Ocean Reflections"was made by creating a thread piece by stitching many fibers and yarns between water soluble stabilizer, then appliqueing the thread piece to a fabric background.  The texture and glistening reminds me of the sea.

3.

City Streets I: Child's Perspective

Here 's one of my latest pieces, I have to admit it's a little different than my usual work.  I was attracted by an image I saw of different legs on a commercial, and I started thinking about where one might see groups of legs all together.  That's when I decided to make this piece.  It is sort of three dimensional, in that the pairs of legs are raised from the service about a quarter of an inch.  I pieced the background to resemble a street of storefronts or building, stencilling in some windows, and the foreground is to be the street.  It reminds me of people waiting at a bus stop, as a child might view them from a limited height perspective.  I had fun doing it, and I'm thinking of doing more pieces with legs as the main focus.  What do you think of it?  Chris