Posts Tagged ‘lines’

Deconstructed Circles For SAQA’s 2017 Online Auction

Friday, April 7th, 2017

The annual online auction to benefit SAQA, Studio Art Quilt Associates, comes up again, opening on September 15th and continuing through October 8th.  I’ll be reminding you closer to the time, of course.  For further information and updates including some of the works already received, go to SAQA’s website  Right now several hundred SAQA members including yours truly are preparing their 12″ x 12″ donations, and over the last few days I have almost finished mine – shown here with quilting in progress:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Excess fabric and batting will be trimmed off once the quilting is completed – and yes, I do darn in the ends as I go!  I may do a fine black binding, but will audition other coloured fabrics anyway, just in case one of them adds a bit more zing.  This is the third in a deconstructed circles theme that has emerged in the last few weeks, and I’m pondering a more meaningful title for what is clearly becoming a series – as ‘Deconstructed Circle #3’ is a bit unexciting.  I’ve started a list, with entries such as ‘Whirlwind’, ‘Cyclone’ and ‘Tornado’ under consideration.

 

 

‘Maelstrom’ 2009  was my first deconstructed circle design, to which I have turned again, and maybe it is now the first of a series of that name; meaning the one I’m nearly finished would be #4, but maybe I’ll come up with something else.

 

Scraps and Deconstructed Circles

Sunday, April 2nd, 2017

I’m still here and still working with the glorious coloured scrap collection I featured in my two previous posts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contrary to my usual experience I am noticing that the volume of them on the table is actually decreasing. I and fellow users of small pieces of saved fabric have always believed that scraps have a secret reproductive life, as the pile or bag never seems to get smaller.  This time it is, because I am sticking to the chosen palette, and not augmenting it by further random scrap bag diving as I go.

I’m now using a black background for a 12″sample-sized piece which will probably be for SAQA’s annual online auction later in the year. If I can finish the remaining two blocks, assemble and quilt the piece without further procrastination, I might even be ready later today to paint the dots around some edges as I plan. For many months, since before last year’s illness, I’ve had some some new plastic bottles with nozzle tips to use painting dots as I did on some of the works in the recent Kimberley series, for which I used a sawn-off paint brush –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I need to press on!

 

 

 

Deconstructed Circles

Tuesday, February 28th, 2017

Someone commenting on my latest work said last week wrote “deconstructed circles are popular now”, and she’s right, they are appearing in more art quilts, though I’ve been using them on and off for some time.  For someone who loves grids and works freehand the way I do, the deconstructed circle has great appeal as a design unit, as these two works in progress show: early stages in the construction of Maelstrom (2006)  left, and Anna’s Quilt (2008) right respectively.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What new work? you might be wondering.  True, it’s been a long time since I blogged, chiefly because I wasn’t creating (not even sewing hexagons) during a long illness late last year and the subsequent recovery period.  But recently I’ve found mental+physical energy coinciding, and have begun exploring ideas that have been on my mind a while.  I’ve keenly followed the the rise of  the Modern Quilt Movement with light clear colours plus greys and white that are so appealing to many that they are even beginning to populate traditional designs.  MQM’s website calls this overlap ‘modern traditionalism’, I just noticed.  A favourite Uruguayan artist, Mario Giacoya uses wonderful greens and yellows with small amounts of other light bright colours in his many rural landscapes.  A primary influence in my work is still landscape shapes, and earthy Australian colours, but I’m finding I’m wanting more ‘light’ and ‘bright’ in my work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although I’ve used the unit before, and am always happy with lines that don’t connect, I drew a diagram this time to emphasise that I’m thinking of some units having many lines of fabric in them, others few, one or possibly none, and I’m still mulling over that and will continue as the work proceeds.  This sample has more in common with Maelstrom above as the arcs are segments of colour.  My sample shows a complex set of them.  These were a bit tedious to make, but I’ve been thinking about this too and will rationalise and synthesise what I learned in this sample making stage:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When sample making I normally just go as far as I need to learn something.  But this one I finished and bound because I plan to hand it on as a gift, hence this documentation.  I still have to think about

  • hand v machine quilting ?
  • any role for glitter here ?
  • what about dots?
  • And what a shame I only bought about 20cm of this wonderful striped fabric …

Alluring Lines

Saturday, August 27th, 2016

posted previously on a great design workshop I attended nearly a year ago in the Wool Museum at Geelong, Australia, with fibre artist Jan Mullen. Photos I took of various activities that day included this and several others of pages of a huge wool fabrics sample book lying open on a table.  This morning, while mulling over a request for information and images of most most significant innovative works had me looking back through photos and information sheets to select a few key works of mine to include in a submission to SAQA for possible inclusion in a book.  Of course, looking back takes time, as it is soooo easy to be distracted 🙂 and I could have my stuff half assembled by now; but revisiting these photos in the files compelled me to resize and post some, shown below.

 

wool sample sheets 1 blog

This morning I revisited those photos of lovely lines and printed this particular one to pin on my wall to look at whenever I walk past.

Wool samples file NWM geelong1

These others are inspirational, too, though for the moment they’re not getting a page of their own on the pin board.

Followers know that I adore  fine freehand cutting and piecing, and I can feel some of that coming on in a way I haven’t quite dealt with it before. To me, the line is the single most important design element, and that includes the expressive potential of the glorious straight stitch.

Watery Inspirations in the SAQA Small Quilt Auction

Friday, July 29th, 2016

 

I’ve frequently found inspiration in movement and patterns in water, and when I viewed the SAQA annual auction 12″  x 12″ mini-quilts donated by members this year, a pleasing number of interesting pieces reflect the same interest by their makers.

This week’s SAQA information email carries the following invitation to all lovers of quilts:  “Join in on the Benefit Auction excitement by creating your own Dream Collection of auction quilts!  YOU are invited to choose six Benefit Auction quilts that fit a favorite theme, curating a Dream Collection of your own. Get inspired by viewing the great selection of Benefit Auction quilts available then complete our submission form.”

So I filled out the information with a Dream Collection of works with watery inspiration, and you can find it and others on the SAQA auction website page by going to the left side of the page and following the link to Dream Collections – they’re always fun and interesting.

My offering this year just happens to be on the very first row, right hand end, of the page featuring all this year’s donations:

Mosaic 1 blog

Mosaic Pathway, 12″ x 12″ 2016.  SAQA Online Benefit Auction

 

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