Favorite tree

The Uncommon Threads art quilt group’s latest challenge is “My Favorite Tree.” At first I found that trying to limit myself to just one tree was very hard, but as I reviewed some of my old photographs I realized that I really do have a favorite. Or did. A Wahoo tree (Euonymus atropurpureus), native to this area. The tree starts in the Spring with green leaves first, then flowers with rather insignificant small brown flowers and in the fall it’s foliage is red and gold with little red pods opening to red berries. In the winter we used to see a flock of Cedar Wax Wing birds feast and strip it of the berries in just a few hours.

In 2009 we were hit with a terrible ice storm in which you could literally hear tree limbs cracking and breaking and falling. It was a terrible two days. When it was all over the beautiful little Wahoo tree in my back yard had “exploded” and all the branches were broken. All that was left was a trunk.

My first attempt was to print a photo image of the Wahoo foliage onto canvas and then fuse another photo image of the broken trunk onto that. I was not particularly thrilled with this so used it for the back.

Next I used a purchased hand dyed fabric on Etsy for the back ground and fused to it a free hand cut out of the trunk in brown fabric. The trunk, branch and berries are embellished with machine embroidery. then quilted with a free hand leaf motif.

 “Boo Hoo Wahoo” 

Lesson learned – don’t quilt through the canvas. The needle leaves holes.  You can see the other members work on our UT blog here. Enjoy.

Latest Challenge

The latest challenge in the Uncommon Treads Art Quilt group was chosen by Carol Bormann and entitled “Transportation.” I really felt challenged to come up with an idea and in trying to think of some unusual mode I decided on a woman carrying a baby on her back. Obviously, the woman doesn’t get any kind of transportation but the baby sure does.

The work of the other members can be seen here.

Red, White, and Blue and Patriotic

R,W,&B and Patriotic is the theme of the Uncommon Threads 12 x 12’s current challenge. The “reveal” was today at the monthly meeting but I’m currently in New Mexico and won’t see everyone’s work until it’s posted on the UT blog. Here is mine. This is my patriotic statement WITH which I know some will disagree but I feel that I’m just as patriotic as the next person. I just happen to be anti war. It’s entitled, “Make Peace, Not War.”

12 x 12 Challenge – Black, Anything But Square

Lily Kerns chose our latest challenge for the Uncommon Threads group. It had to be black and anything but square.

Drove me nuts!

I cut 3 1/2 squares out of all the black fabrics I have in my stash and sewed them together to make a 12″ x 12″ square. Then I auditioned all kinds of stuff on it and it all looked mundane. Finally I settled on a pojagi sample, made some time ago when I was just fooling around. The sample was sewn to the black background and the black cut away behind it. Then the back of the whole piece was also cut away so that one can see through the transparency. The tile is “Diaphragms.”

I actually like the back better than the front!

All of the challenges can be seen on the Uncommon Threads blog site here.

83 Napkins

83 Napkins

Talk about serendipity!! Yesterday I was cleaning out the laundry/storage room and found a laundry basket full of 83 napkins bought years ago at estate sales and yard sales. Don’t ask me why I bought so many; I don’t remember! There were 84 to be exact, but a mouse had chewed one up. I decided to wash and iron them and store them in a better place. While they were in the washing machine I entertained myself by surfing the web and found Paula Kovarik’s blog where she has been free hand quilting napkins for pillow tops. Wow! There’s a thought and her’s are beautiful. Then while the napkins were in the dryer and I was still surfing, I foundSewCalGal doing a 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge. Another thought – I could use the stained or worn napkins for learning and “perfecting” my free motion quilting. It’s turned out that ironing 83 napkins was very meditative. I had lots of thoughts about what I might do with those napkins. Maybe some small art quilts or dye them. I’ve learned that no fabric is too precious to cut up. 2012 is going to be full of fun stuff!

Heron At Sunrise

The latest Uncommon Threads Challenge was “Peaceful Waters” which happens to be the title of a song written by Roberta Ranney’s husband, Bob.

I used this pictures of a Heron that I took at sunrise last year down at our neighborhood boat ramp.

I could have tried dyeing fabric for the background, but that seemed tedious so I found some hand dyed that I bought a number of years ago and have been saving  for a special occasion. This is the occasion. I printed the heron onto fabric and then machine embroidered all over it and fused “him” and the dock to the background.

You can see all the Peaceful Water challenges on the Uncommon Threads blog. Click here.

Totem Challenge

My art quilt group’s latest 12 x 12 challenge was “Your Totem.”  I googled “Native American Totems” and found this site.  As I read the list I would think “maybe” then on down the list another “maybe” but when I got to the Flamingo I knew immediately that that was the one and that I needn’t go further!

In a manner of speaking it’s after Nora Butler’s flamingo that I’ve worn on a T-short for many years.

But then, thinking more about totems, I realized that I can have more than one so I made another 12 x 12 and inserted the flamingo into a poppy that I’ve photographed.

Of course, both flamingos are wearing jewelry.  For your information, the flamingo stands for – heart healing, psychic, people person, and flirtatious. HA! You can see everyone’s totems on the UT blog.

May UT 12×12 Challenge

The next Uncommon Threads  12×12 challenge was due at our May meeting. Incredible obstacles kept me from the meeting – you don’t want to hear me whine – and I’m terribly disappointed that I couldn’t make it. But here is my challenge piece. The inspiration, chosen by Lucy Silliman, was NOTAN. It’s a Japanese word having to do with high contrast. i.e. black/white, light/dark, etc.

I chose to work on a 5″ square piece of black paper and transpose it to black fabric. Fused that to a white background and then hand quilted it.

I get to pick the next challenge which will be using this lower image as inspiration. One may use the title “Bittersweet,” the color, or the design. I haven’t a clue as to how I am going to approach this.I may be my own worst enemy!

Abundance/Indulgence

My art quilt group, Uncommon Threads, started a bi-monthly challenge of making a 12″ x 12″ art quilt with the inspiration being chosen by a member. Merrilee Tieche was the first leader choosing the word “Abundance.” For some reason I came home with the word “Indulgence.” (I’ve been accused of not being a good listener.) She further furnished the image below to strengthen her choice.  Merrilee says she came up with this idea after our retreat where we ate too much and drank too much!

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This was my offering. The Goddess of Wilhelmsdorf with an abstraction of my face in place of hers. Sadly, this is the way I felt after the retreat!

And here is a group shot of all of the pieces. Note the upper left. Lettie Blackburn also used the Goddess.

Our next challenge, chosen by Diane Steffen and due at the March meeting,  are two words:  “Winter, White.”