Sketch, finally finished

Just about in time - I finished my sketch-challenge!

It all started with my heaps of scraps:

And, of course, the sketch which seemed everything but feasible (a line tracing of a photo of water swirls I had seen somewhere):

I used techniques from the class with Jan + Jean, which I took last year, and in the end, strictly speaking, this is not a quilt.

Scraps arranged on solufix, covered with Avalon film, stitched

under the machine

It waited on the wall for a few days,
trying to figure out whether it needed
more stitching, or was done like this

Check out whether the other orientation is preferrable -
definitely not! But I could imagine a double version
including both orientations, perhaps in a different color range...

dissolving the film and solufix in the sink

figuring out how to do the sleeve, involving the flimsy backing

finished

It is just a bit wider and a bit longer than our usual size - but I did not want to cut anything off at the edges, it needs to be raw as it is.

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.

Sketch -- Lace

This work too was made from a whole recycled piece of cloth I colored specially for this purpose.

The pattern sketch was drawn on a paper glued to the back of the fabric. The entire print was made in one line and so it was cut. The quilting was done with my new sewing machine.

Sketch -- Kathy

I had a hard time with "sketch" because I never make sketches.  But I doodled around with this idea, a design I have toyed with in the past with my daily collages.  I used the second and third sketches on the top row for my piece.

For a long time I have been intrigued with the idea of stitching directly onto canvas, because the stitching line would become so important.  This was an opportunity to do something very different from what I had ever done in the past, yet it reflected some elements of my previous work.

The solid black was composed of selvages, which I have used a lot in the past.  And the very dense stitching reminds me of my sew-off squares, which I have used in many previous projects.
I like the fact that the canvas bulges and ripples in the unstitched areas, and that the stitched areas aren't totally flat (you can't really see that from the photos).  The detail shot below shows the scribble pattern of stitching, and if you were to look at the back of the quilt, this is exactly what the solid black shape looks like on the back.

I have been using the International Threads quilts as experiments, ways to try out in small scale what I might have already been thinking of.  This one was so exciting that I suspect I will be doing it again soon on a larger quilt.

Missing image

Here is the image that wouldn't post the other day.

Sketch

And here are 6 of my finished quilts. The "Red" is missing.

They all look very different. 

Gillian

Sketch

This is my Sketch quilt and the last one - making up the set for Prague. It is a poor photo and I will retake it using by camera rather than my iPad mini when I get all my technology back working properly.

Challenges are all about pushing you out of your comfort zone. Over the lat couple of years I have making quilts based on Indian men and women often avoiding the faces so i decided I would try painting a face.

We were lucky enough to go to an Indian wedding when we were in India in Jaunary. I set about sketching her using my photos on to paper, and then thought - just work directly on to fabric.
When I set the challenge I said you should include or post the drawing, so I don't have a drawing.

I have used lots of metallic thread here. I never use metallic thread and bling but here it seemed appropriate.

Overall, yes I am happy with it but I am not sure she looks exactly like the bride and her face looks a little wrinkled due to the quilting. Lessons learnt.

No. 5 - Sketch

I used my hand dyed fabric which I dyed with ice cubes.

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!!

Sketch progress

 I've been having a productive time over the festive season, working on my 'sketch' challenge piece ( you can read more about it on my blog here)
It's based on a watercolour sketch I did in Greece in 1998.

 I have a question about whether to include the scaffolding pole to the left. It wasn't  in my original  drawing but when I visited again in 2006, the poles  in position added something to the composition. Then it's deciding how to quilt it .