photo challenge...

Am a great admirer of Julia Wood. She is a gracious personage in the blogosphere and a superb quilter. A couple of years ago she wrote the book pictured above. While in painting I'm not attracted to hyper realism I am quite fascinated by it in fiber arts. Think it is the technical challenge that is so appealing. Julia's book is one of the most simple and succinct that describes how to turn a photo into an applique quilt. You can see examples of her own work here (scroll down to April 13th and click to enlarge). Am toying with the idea of turning an image of these two into fabric.

On the left is Edith aka QuiltDog who is a supportive and nurturing companion in the studio and on the right BOH aka Beloved Other Half who while also a supportive and nurturing companion is more often found away from us on a film set. Sadly, he may get edited out as am a bit nervous about doing a person. Apart from in JW's work the human eye can look kind of spooky in fabric form in other quilts that I've seen of this kind. Am also realizing on many levels for many different reasons that I need to improve my photography skills. Have any of you made a photo figurative quilt? How did it turn out? Any tips would be most appreciated...

and i'm back...

Have no real excuse for my absence except that I live in a 4 season climate. At this time of year the days get shorter and cooler. Simultaneously, the days are also busier and busier. In autumn, I am both restless and lethargic and would always like to take a long nap in a nice bowl of pasta... 

Must apologize for the lousy photos. The colors are so off as to be almost unrecognizable. Anyway, work continues on the charity quilt. Due to my ever constant and annoying inability to follow instructions I can't claim that this is Anita Grossman Soloman's technique any longer but the results of my mistakes still have an air of familiarity about them. So without violating anyone's copyright, will say that I have been sewing lots of strips to make these... 

Cutting them twice on the diagonal and reconstructing the pieces to turn them into these...

Am hoping of course to arrange the blocks into something more pleasing. I am not entirely loving this but as a visiting friend so winningly put it: "The colors are very subtle for you. I think a normal person will really like it"... NORMAL?#@!!

Was not quite sure how to take this comment... I did: however, laugh heartily!

new start...

It is funny when you start quilting how many people offer you supplies from a project that they never completed. When it comes to fabric, I am promiscuous and never say no. As a result, I have a huge hoard of very pretty prints that are just not my thing. Decided to use all these predominantly tone on tone florals to make my own striped fabric to try out the Anita Grossman Soloman technique that I wrote about in an earlier post. The amount of fabric to cut was daunting so I turned to my beloved cutter.
When these first arrived on the scene at quilt shows I was a bit sniffy about them. Didn't see the point and thought they would waste too much fabric. My opinion drastically changed when I received an Accuquilt Go Cutter. It handily cuts 4-6 layers and more importantly cuts shapes that are a pain to cut by hand. I got greedy for more power and bought the Westminster Big Shot Pro by Sizzix which cuts through at least 10 layers like butter. In short in an afternoon I cut an enormous pile of fat quarters and half yards and turned them into this:

I stripped everything into 1 1/2" and 2 1/2" widths. The colors range from green and blue through violet with the cheddars and mustards for accents.  They are all perfectly uniform in size and my wrists are happy. Tomorrow I will experiment with stripe patterns and block size. If all goes well this will be my Basics charity quilt...

gift suggestion...

Jan from Be*mused found this antique beauty on Ebay yesterday. Am posting about it because if I can't have it I want someone I like to buy it. On the other hand, friends and family if you are looking for the perfect gift for me please go ahead and bid!  Hurry though this auction ends in 12 hours. Is this not the most beautiful quilt? There are tons more gorgeous photos in the item description. Just a warning though, you may want to wear a bib...