A Star is Born

The Victoria Quilters Guild has launched a new challenge. To encourage the production of more baby quilts which go to babies and children at the local hospital, and to tie in with the theme of next year's quilt show, Quilting with the Stars, two challenge fabrics were chosen to be in a baby quilt top. This is a scan of the fat quarter I chose.

This is a teaser really because the rules are that our work must be kept secret from other Guild members until November!

Various ideas are flying around my head, but nothing will be online until after November. Math is involved in my thinking because we have a fairly tight size range and I don't want to design something using more than I have of this fabric.

Feel like I'm returning to square one in a way, there are many old sketches on graph paper where I would figure out how to use all of a certain fabric. And the graph paper is out again this morning. Even wished for a moment that I had a quilting software program but that is velleity rearing its seductive head!

If it looks wrong, it must be right

This is the challenge piece I'm working on. Its current state is the top photo -- the strip on the right is auditioning and not sewn on yet, nor is the ExtravOrganza. In fact I flipped that strip around and now it looks better because the light green continues the motion in the dark piece to the left of it.

Everything is hand dyed except for the dark green/blue around the top and sides. Interestingly this framing of the top and sides is the same as in Ballerina, and even the impression of sideways motion coming from the right of the piece is similar. Wow, a series!

The reason for the title is this is the first piece I've made with curved seams, which has been a learning experience. I finally put the on-line instructions up on my computer screen and reviewed them carefully before sewing each piece. The instructions are at:
www.equilters.com/library/techniques/sewing_curves.html

Soon I will be reaching the point where the top is finished, and since Susan wants to take photos at the next FAD meeting I will need to decide whether to layer and quilt it and have it completed by the 19th or leave it as is and then pick it up after the 19th. Probably I should stick to my motto and complete it.

Testing, Testing!

My first ever curved seam, believe it or not!

Think this will give me many possibilities for future quilts as well as the current challenge.

Beginning of challenge piece

Here are the front and back of a piece of fabric Susan Purney Mark distributed at our last FAD meeting. The challenge is to create a piece using this fabric that is ready to be photographed by the next FAD meeting in February. Susan CLAIMED that this was originally a really ugly fabric until she did things to it, which is hard to believe.

I scanned both sides of my piece because they are so different. Of course due to all the processes Susan had tried out on the fabric, everyone's piece was significantly different.

Also printed the side at the top on a piece of ExtravOrganza. This will be in the piece somehow, not quite sure exactly how yet.

Have pulled out a bunch of other mottled/dappled fabs (and have not yet been into the green and purple bins!).

My thoughts are running on curved seams so I've made a practice piece using other fabrics because I don't want any flubs using the "good" fabric. Will post a photo or scan of that later.

Off to my green bin I go!

Force Field

Force Field is my second contribution to the challenge. It's fused applique, regular applique, and acrylic paint on fusible web.

The symbolism is an exploration in progress -- EIP

Doesn't that sound better than work in Progress!

The wedjet eye is a symbol that has been with me for years. Before we moved across the continent from central Canada to the SW US I had an image of a wedjet carved into a wooden picnic table that came to me while I was having acupuncture treatment.

The dots and bright colors remind me of Mexican folk art. I usually stay away from natural/neutral tones but this batik is so beautiful that I bought a pack of fat quarters last time I was at JoAnne's.

Up to now I have not used human figures much in my art -- I sense this may change. The force field around the main figure resembles a Picasso-style head in profile, this was unintended but I could see it even before I fused the paint onto the fabric.

One down, 99 to go!

My first mixed media piece for the challenge. It's a door hanger, one side says

DISCOVER POSITIVE ENERGY

and the reverse says

RECHARGE YOUR BATTERIES

RELAX!

I hope to set a positive tone for this challenge and use the appropriate side of the hanger as needed.

Wooden door hanger, acrylic paints, commercial stickers and tag, oil pastels.

Did not buy anything for this one (the hanger has been hanging around for about 3 years!) and it's Wednesday today, not that that matters, but now I have until Sunday to create my next piece.