seven finished - working on sketch...

So I had already shown you my Blue one, over a month ago. Since then I have worked hard (not only these Prague quilts, but...) -
This is my report:

Finished Repetition - pattern:

text messages 6

text messages 6, detail

Then Kathy had this problem about one being too long, and out of sheer solidarity I made one that is also approx. 10 cm longer than our normal size. At first I planned it for the 'lines', then I thought I might substitute it for my black to grey to white with colour, which I thought I didn't really like.

Play of Lines XXXVII

Play of Lines XXXVII, detail - all the seed stitches are done in
four different shades of grey (no pun intended)

But then I took another look at my original solution for the grey challenge and didn't think it quite as bad as I had remembered - so I decided this one was going to stay my piece for 'lines' after all. By then, however, I had already started another one that could have served for 'lines', which I finished, too. Figuring it might give me a good excuse to drop out of making one for sketch, which I was really having a hard time with - mainly deciding, which sketch I was going to use...

Play of Lines XXXVIII

This one is green, because Barbara had mentioned that she had made a green one extra - and, again, it is slightly longer than the usual size, thus another companion for Kathy's long one.
In between I thought I would never be able to really come up with that nice sketch, then made several, neither of which seemed feasible. However, after I finished all of these, counted to seven and thought I could consider myself done for Prague, I finally took the plunge, chose the sketch least workable - and am currently working on it. This is the sketch.

To be honest, the sketch was done on the computer - but Gillian had not said we could not do that, so I consider the method legal. It will not be a quilt proper, but I am doing it in the style of Jan + Jean, the double-troubles, whom I took a workshop with last year. But again, we didn't say they all have to be quilts proper, so I think it's legal. (And it will be faster to finish before the big date.) Kathy can say no to it when we are hanging, if she thinks it's not appropriate. I will show a picture before we hop on the train.

Lines -- Broken Line

Lines
Broken Line

After many trials I reached the final result which – for me – represents the fine life line that can break in an instant.

Fabrics were hand-dyed by me, and were cut as reverse applique. Quilting was made on a regular home sewing machine.

6 Done, 1 left to complete

 'Red'  and 'Repetition and Pattern'

 ' Black to Grey with dash of colour' and 'change of Scale'

 ' Proof of sketching' and 'Blue'

'Lines'

I'm currently packing up  stitching and painting projects for my retreat next week at Rydal Hall in the Lake District and have hanging sleeves and labels to attach to 6 out of 7 of my quilts and hand stitching to complete on the 7th.

Filling in the details of the insurance form was an interesting exercise as several of my pieces have changed what challenge they're for  e.g. the 'Lines' quilt was originally going to be for 'repetition'; the 'blue' was originally going to be 'lines' ) and as Uta pointed out , my 'Change of Scale' could equally have worked for 'Black to Grey'.  They're fixed now however and all have titles.

I've really enjoyed working to this size and  have tried to work towards the edge of my comfort zone, in some cases anyway.  I've also found unexpected links between pieces e.g. 2 doors and   using photo of my fingerprint and using finger painting. I think I would sum up my collection as 'ripples and marks'  

From what I've seen of others work I think this will be a really interesting exhibition.



"Lines" is finished -- or maybe it's "blue"

We have snow and very cold weather this week and all my meetings and social obligations were cancelled, so I have gotten in lots of sewing time.  Here's my latest quilt:

Sargasso





















The background is one of Uta's hand-dyed fabrics that she gave me a couple of years ago and I have been saving for the perfect opportunity.

My objective was to practice making very skinny pieced curvy lines.  I have made many quilts with very skinny straight lines, but only one with curves, and I wasn't thrilled with that one.  I liked this one better.  I will probably give the fish machine-quilted eyes.

One of the things I've learned about the curved lines is that it's very difficult to predict how wide a finished pieces is going to be.  I gave myself extra width at the start to make sure I would end up with the right dimensions, but ended up with too much.  If I hadn't been working to size the fish would have had better tails.

I first thought this would be the "lines" quilt.  But I realize that this could very well be the "blue" quilt.  I reserve the right to re-categorize it!

Today I'm about halfway through my "sketch" quilt, and then I will do either "lines" or "blue" to finish out the series.

------

Update: this one turned out to be "lines."

No. 7 - LINE

.Another example of my work straight on the batting.  With this one I finished my line of duties.

It was a very good experience for me

Progress Report

I've been sort of quiet in the last few weeks - because I was busy quilting. And I am happy to say: I'm DONE!

I was not happy with my piece I made for repetition. And I was not happy with the idea of creating a series of quilts that did not relate to each other. The first two pieces I made for the "Big and Small" challenge and for the "Black and White with a Touch of Color" both include cobblestone - one of them has an insect, the other has cog wheels on it. So I decided to create my own series of cobblestone, insects and cogwhees PLUS the theme I'm working on.

First was SCETCHES:
I like to scetch figures - which does not mean I am good at it. I need practice and I enjoy practicing.

 

The next one was REPETITION:

 

I learned that repetition is a challenge for me because I obviously can't remember my pattern. I messed up time and again, undid seams, redid them, noticed it was right the first time after all, opened seams, redid them...

The good news is, I like the final result...

Ok, next one up: LINES

Not sure, what was required and having a hard time sticking to rules to start with, I decided not to focus on quilting or sewing a line - instead I made dragon flies falling in line.

 

The colors don't come out that well, but yes, this one is pretty tone-in-tone.

Then, Uta suggested making BLUE. 

I like blue. This one practically made itself. 

 I had recently seen quilts by Susan Brubaker Knapp. She shades her pieces to create a 3D effect an I decided to play with that for a while.

And since I was at it and I had green silk left over, I made an extra piece. Green, distorted cog wheels with a mirror pyramid incorporated, which is the only place where you can see a correct cog wheel - which is kind of contradictory, because this mirror image is a whole big distortion in itself... Again, a lot of shading with color pencils going on here.

 

I'm ready for Prague!!