Amaryllis Blossom

Seems I'm doing more with my photography than quilting.   Anyway, I shared my Amaryllis bud last time.    This is what I got the next day when it opened!  

Amaryllis Time

It's time again......that time of year when I wait for the Amaryllis to bloom.    Sometimes it is a time of surprise because the color I think I picked is not the one I get.    The apple blossom variety is my favorite.   I've had every other color along the way, even though the box pictures that one,   This year it looks like I will get what I purchased.   The blooms are just getting ready to open.....after watching it grow to 34 inches.....the tallest one I have ever had or even seen,    It is well staked because it is now top heavy!

The first bud

A reference to how tall this thing is!

Sumac

I'm working on some ideas to go with a poem I found.   I will share the poem later with my finished piece.   The essence of it is the changing scenes of November,   Always a gray month it seems and this year also very cold.   The poem deals with changing beauty that occurs within one month,   I started with a photo I had taken of some sumac which had changed into its glorious pink, orange and yellow colors.

I decided to use  dark green fabric I had and do some tile or mosaic appliqué on it to portray the greenery seen here,   In this process I appliqué strips that are 3/4 x 3 inches.    Placed on a handdyed background you can see the various shades coming through the spaces to give movement and variety.  

I then set out to appliqué leaf shapes onto this tiled background.   I used cording for the branches.   This is how it is right now,    I thought it was done, but now I'm not so sure.   I left plenty of fabric around the tiled area in case I want to go further.

So.....stay tuned to see how it evolves.   I will be starting another panel similar to this showing how November morphs into winter.

Off to Old Forge Arts Center...

I have two quilts that were juried into the annual quilt show in Old Forge, NY.  (Click on link to learn more).   If you get a chance to see this show, it is well worth the time to visit.   The Arts Center is a wonderful venue in a beautiful location in the Adirondack Mountains.

 Birches

This is from a photo I took of a Birch Tree in our neighborhood.   I have manipulated the photo in Photo Shop and had it printed onto fabric by Julie Brandon of Red-Dog Enterprises.  Free motion quilting accentuates the bark and the leaves.

  

Standing Tall

This is also a photo I took of my Watercolor Orchid.   This was also printed onto fabric by Julie Brandon of Red-Dog Enterprises.   Free motion quilting is used here also.

Hibiscus Beauty

I have 4 beautiful hibiscus right now.   Two are hardy and two are tropical.   

This is my oldest one....I moved it to this house from our former house 7 years ago....so it is older than that.   With all the rain, it is thriving this year.  

So, deciding one was not enough, I recently bought a companion so it wouldn't be lonely...

   

Both of these of the hardy variety have blooms at least 8 inches in diameter. 

Then I have this tropical.....a variety called Mandarin Orange...

I said, I have 4.... and that is true.    The other one is yellow.   However, the resident deer decided they liked it more than I could and chewed it down,    It is rebounding and I am hopeful for more flowers before the season ends.   This is what it looked like before being eaten.....

In addition, here are two gorgeous hibiscus.   One is very small and it is a round bloom.   The other is huge after 3 years and it is called "Limelight".    It has the cone shaped blooms.  

Architecture Abstract

This week's photography class challenge was just way too much fun.   "Architecture Abstract".

My favorite way to shoot photos is to capture something that might not look like what it really is - or might zero in on a certain point as in "contemplative photography".  

This was the photo I chose to enter:   It is a stairway, manipulated in photoshop - the original picture is just below this one.

The following photos were my "also ran for contention".    I like any and all of them!   

 The original of this photo is a barn roof line, which has been mirrored, merged, flipped and rotated.    It reminds me of  a level of a Frank Lloy Wright House that might be cantilevered out into the landscape.

 This one is a stair way again - much the same process as the other stairway.   Mirrored, merged, flipped, rotated - all for interest.

The top dome of one of the buildings.    Mirror Imaged - it looks different depending on where your focus is.

This is just a rock wall - but love the texture.    It was taken last week - so technically should not be entered this week. 

Journey of a fern leaf......wet cyanotype

So my old Blogger App has failed me,    Have downloaded a new one.....with of course a new learning curve......let's see how this goes!

I have been playing with some Wet cyanotype sheets......a process I read about on blog by Sue Reno.    I had some older various treated sheets and decided to try it out.  This is a Jacquard Sheet.   It seems to be heavily treated sateen.   This is the best of the Jacquard sheets I have gotten thus far.
    This was how it started......around 9:00 AM.   Fern leaf on slightly misted canvas.   Ready to sit outside and bake in the sun.

        A little later in the day
    24 hours later before washing.

     Rinsed and ready to dry.
      Fully dried.  

This is a total 36 hour process

Sacred Threads Quilt Show

These two quilts have been on display for the past 3 weeks at the Sacred Threads Show  in Herndon, VA.   The show was created by Vikki Pignatelli as a "safe place" to tell your story.   I am so honored to be part of this show.   It is a juried show for entrance, but it is not a judged show.   The show is entirely about the "stories".   For sure the techniques are excellent and there is much to examine and contemplate as to how they told their story.....but you have to read every label and every label is more compelling than the one before it, it seems.   Also, I am honored that one of my quilts will be part of the 36 out of 300 chosen to travel for the next two years.

"Despair...and Hope".    This is the journey of a person with depression.    One who sits at the bottom of the well unable to get out and one who on better days, does climb that tree to the light.   This is the one that will travel.

  "Standing Tall" is from a photo of my watercolor orchid, printed on fabric.    Together with the previous quilt the following quote is appropriate:     "Sometimes you have to get knocked down lower than you have ever been, to stand up taller than you ever were......."

What is it?

This past week our photo challenge theme was "What is it"?    I love contemplative photography....I love searching and finding what fits rather than trying to take a photo and edit it to fit.   The natural setting always works better for me.

The first photo is the one I chose - although rather obvious as to what it is.   I loved the pop of color, the reflection - the even circular pattern - there was nothing I didn't like.   And I only basically edited this to bring out highlights and clarity.  

The ones below are my "also ran" .....but weren't chosen.

Resisting...

I recently created two pieces of art to be entered to the Threads of Resistance exhibition  http://threadsofresistance.org/home.html.   Sadly, neither was chosen to travel.    There were 500 entries and only 62 could be chosen.    However, it does not diminish my feeling, motivation and determination to resist all things awful happening in our political climate right now.  

The first one is taken from a photo I took of my granddaughter while skyping one day.    Most of my sadness involves what is happening to our planet, our society, our rights....especially women's rights....as the drama plays out. 

I created the background as a dictionary definition of all the meanings of "resist" and "resistance".    The third column is the word "resist" in all languages.....appropriate as many nations and countries have joined us in our concern for our country.    "She" is portrayed as a silhouette.....she represents "ALL" girls who long to grow up and be what they want in a safe environment.   

"The Future Belongs to Her".

I have entered this quilt also to Global Murmurs.

"Respect Existence or Expect Resistance"

I believe that all persons should be allowed to love whoever they want, despite their gender or race.    We are way past time in our society and lives that we should be able to accept all peoples, and allow them to live in peace without fear of discrimination.

'We Are All Branches of the Same Tree" - Global Murmurs Art

"We Are All Branches Of The Same Tree". Just completed and will be submitted for acceptance into a show called "Global Murmurs" (http://experiencefiberart.com/) in Rochester, NY later this year. The prospectus statement says "Global Murmurs invites you to explore the subtle and ever present concerns, joys and curiosities of humankind so often influenced by cultural and national boundaries. It is an expression of the hopes, dreams and despairs of our global community; perhaps a pathway to better understanding. " I saw this quote and it rang true for me as we are facing so much divisiveness right now....why can't we all just get along? Since I love to do birch trees this was an easy subject to ponder. The trees are made of 4 different fabrics and quilted for texture with variegated threads. The background - which was the hardest part.....is all branches, depicting the many millions of us represented in the two stronger branches, of different colors.

Linking to Nina Marie Sayre's Off the Wall Friday blog".....because I've never done that before.  

http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/2017/05/off-wall-friday.html

Quilt Show Winner.....excited and humbled,

"Triptych...the Leaves of Florida" is a winner in the recent Mancuso Tri-State Quiltfest in New Jersey.   Sadly I couldn't get there to see it.   I am still surprised and humbled when I see a quilt of mine doing well.   

When all you can do is to make art.....then make art!

Troubling times - no matter which side of the debate you are on - often frustrates us when we wish there was more we could do.   The recent ban on immigration is troubling to me.   Inspired by an artist FB friend, I decided to make an art quilt representative of my feelings.   It was quick and practically made itself.    I wish I could do more!    Based on the poem by Emma Lazarus....

Challenge Reveal

Saturday was our annual challenge reveal at guild.   This year's theme was "Bars".    Anytime, anyway, anyhow you wanted to depict them.    Members showed their challenge at the meeting and now they will be hung at the Richmond Library in Batavia from February 1-28.

Of course my first thought was "Bars of Music"!   

This is a giant log cabin block - using all music themed fabrics.   I called it "Piano Bar"

Since we were allowed 2 entries, I decided to do a second one.    I had a FQ pack of modern fabrics I had purchased a couple years ago in Florida.    My goal was to use them.....in bars.    I wanted them to look woven which took a bit of planning and I wanted some white space to do more quilting.   In the end I had about 2 inches left of each of the fabrics and about a 5 x 7 inch piece of the white.    Of course that would partly be because I had to redo a couple of ideas.   My other theme I adapted to go with "bars" was diamonds - 60 inch angle diamonds.   

I learned a few things which is always good for a challenge.   Since both were original, I had to draft my own pattern ideas.   Some of the fabric was loosely woven and raveled, so I had to figure some ways to applique and make sure the edges didn't fray.  Quilting on the white was a challenge as I don't like to mark on my quilts.   I thought I could do the center with a walking foot......not true......free motion was a little more difficult.