Autumn Sky

This is my latest quilt - I'm thinking the title is driven by the fabrics.  I fell in love with these marbled fabrics that I saw at a show in New Jersey.

The orange is a little darker than this picture denotes.   I attached fusible webbing to a piece of black fabric, folded it in half and drew half a tree.   Then I proceeded to cut through both layers, with an exacto knife and scissors, so as to have a symmetrical tree when finished.   It turned out to be no easy task.   It was even more cumbersome when I removed the fusible and all those black branches twisted and stuck to each other.   Carefully, I had to separate them and form them into what would appear to be a symmetrical tree.   I think that was the hardest part of the whole project.   I then did close stitching on each branch, to permanently attach the tree and to complete part of the quilting process.   I completed the quilting with free motion swirls in the background, mostly following the pattern of the fabric.   Simple, yet strong!

"Yes, the Water Really is This Color!"

Everyone knows I went to Bermuda last year and I'm STILL creating quilts from the sights, sounds and colors I saw there.   This quilt is from that experience!

One of the things that impressed me the most was the color of the water.   We always see pictures of the turquoise waters, but it REALLY IS that color, or in this case "this" color!   I've always wanted to do a beach scene and I knew this would be it.   I used many different fabrics - a definite sky print, some stonehenge fabrics (in the water and the beach, some batiks, silks, a lame (however you spell that) and some laces, cheesecloth, yarns, beads, crystals and buttons.   It was fun to do and went together quickly (relatively speaking).

This is the cheesecloth, about halfway in the water scene.......it covers another teal fabric with white dots, to which I added beads - denoting bubbles or whitecaps or whatever it is you see!

 Closeup of the buttons and beads to denote what you might find while walking on the beach.

Closeup of the lace and fuzzy yarn and beads to denote the foam you find at the waters edge!

This quilt was SO much fun to do!   As I said, it went together quickly and more times than not I find that those quilts are the ones I like the best and I think maybe show the best.   They practically make themselves!!!!

6x6 maybe...........

Every year our RAFA group in Rochester participates in the 6 x 6 challenge at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center.   The goal is to make any type of art as long as it is 6 inches by 6 inches.   I can't remember how many they collected last year - from all over the world, but it is well over 1,000 - probably WELL over.

This might be my piece this year.   It is a sun print that I did a couple of years ago.   It is cyanotype with special fabric that you place in the sun to tranfer a design.  This was a snowflake stencil that I laid on top of the fabric, set in the sun, under glass, for approximately 15 minutes and then rinsed.   The dye under the stencil washes away leaving the lighter design.   Beyond that I emphasized the snowflakes with metallic thread and then "beaded the heck out of it".  You can't see the thread and all the beads, but they are prolific.