More Gabaldon covers

I finished 2 more small quilts based on covers from Diana Gabaldon's books.  One is from Drums of Autumn, the one with the tree on it.  I sewed down tiny bits of green to serve as leaves.  The tree trunk is made from a commercial fabric usually used for costumes, I guess.  I added beads.  The background is as piece of dupioni silk.

The other one represents A Breath of Snow and Ashes.  I used a  piece of navy blue polyester for the background.  I had a doily, but it was ecru, so I painted it with acrylic paint and added tiny bits of white embroidery to imitate snow.Link to Off the Wall Fridays

a gift for Sandy

My art quilt group had a challenge for December.  We had saved bits and pieces that would normally be thrown away, put them in a bag, and distributed them to the group.  No one knew whose bag they got.  Sandy only had a small amount of blue. I had an idea, to make a weaving aka Jude Hill, and attach a doily in the middle.  I wove the blue strips on a piece of fabric, put a piece of batting behind it, and sewed invisibly down the sides of the strips.  Then I attached the doily, and another piece of blue fabric (from a Goodwill shirt) on the back, and folded the shirt to the front.  Hope she likes it!

Stitched Pelican

I finished stitching the pieces down for my Pelican.  Haven't quilted it yet, nor have I bound it.  I might pillowcase the piece--haven't decided.
I sometimes take the color out of a picture of the piece, and using tracing paper, audition possible quilting designs.  Hence the black and white Pelican.

about style

I've been working in Pamela Allen's online class, about style. Her class will help me to develop my own personal style. The first lesson involved choosing a work of an artist and roughly interpreting it in fabric. Then, using the same palette, making a small quilt that epitomizes my style.

I chose Auguste Herbin's Corsican Landscape for this exercise. I used a picture I had taken at Asilomar, California as my guide, and made a piece I call Pelican. He isn't stitched yet, but I think I will finish Pelican.

Echo in the Bone cover art

I love Diana Gabadon's Outlander book series. I also like the cover art for the books. So I am attempting to do a series of small quilts (8 inches square) based on the covers. The quilts will all have dupioni silk as the background. I had some trouble with the first one. I hand embroidered using metallic thread the Celtic frame. Then the piece did not lay flat. I soaked the whole thing, and it got a little flatter. Then I remembered Jude Hill's kantha stitching, so I used a matching thread in the middle and stitched many rows across, which worked. I used a gold machine quilting thread to quilt the background. I don't know if you can see the little sparkles in the background. It was hard to do, but I like the result.

New Jude Hill class

Jude is starting Spirit Cloth diaries. I am in, also doing a sketchbook challenge for Missouri Fiber Arts and a new and exciting Pamela Allen class.

I made the bird piece for a friend, Gina, whom I met on a trip to China.

I also turned some pieces from Jude's previous classes into pillows. Rosemary

Zentangle knight

My art quilt group had a zentangle challenge. I decided to make a knight. He sort of turned out like a paper doll.