Fractured Quilt, "Young Buck"




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I have been working on pieces for the fractured art group which I belong to since last October.  It has been an enjoyable experience for me as I get to learn new techniques and utilize old ones in order to interpret the pieces as I see fit.  I have been very busy finishing up pieces for the other four women in the group and just began working on my own piece yesterday. 

I am very excited about it, as I have chosen to do a piece related to one of my many cultural backgrounds (I am what many call Heinz 57, as my parents were of various lineages).  I am an enrolled member of the Klamath,Tribe located in Chiloquin, Oregon.  Our tribe is made up of Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin people.  I have wanted to do something depicting a Native American Dancer for some time.  With God putting together all the parts, I am honored to do a piece featuring Jackson Bussell, a young man of Modoc descent.  Jackson was first and foremost a child of God, a devoted son to his mother Felicia McNair, a professional boxer, a Chicken Dancer, and a student of engineering at OIT in Klamath Falls, OR.   Jackson was also a very good role model not only for young people but for those of us who call ourselves Christian.  Jackson collapsed in the boxing ring at the end of a professional fight on September 20,2007 and went to "kick it with God" as his mom says.  His life story drew me in and I want to honor Jackson and the things which were important to him in this piece.  You can read about him  at: http://www.californiaindianeducation.org/sports_heros/jackson_bussell/

All of the other women in the group have been working on their parts for this piece which I believe will be titled "Sacred Ground" to  honor this God loving young man.  I have truly enjoyed working on another Chicken Dancer, part of my work for this creation,  who I call "Young Buck" in remembrance of a term my mother, Marilyn Hall, used when talking about IIndian men who were younger than her.  The pattern for my Chicken Dancer and two others which will be used in this work were drawn by Marc McNair, Jackson's stepfather. 

I enlarged the pattern, copied the pieces onto fabric which had been fused, cut the pieces out and began assembling him. After assembling his body, I added the apron and chest piece.  I used some braid to decorate around the edges of these pieces and then used some decorative stitches on my machine stitched with metallic thread to decorate the chest piece.  I have a little bit more stitching to do on it, but need some different thread colors.  I am in the process of stitching ribbons to hang over the apron.  The belt to the apron is a copper piece of leather which came from my stash.  The heart in his left hand will be trapuntoed, and the mirror piece in the center is a reflective material which my friend Joanne purchased in a fly tying shop. I will be adding more decorative stitching, arm cuffs, moccasins, roach for the head, hair, etc. in the next week hopefully.  I have to say that I am really enjoying working on this piece because it holds so much meaning for Jackson's family, myself, and the other women in the fractured art group.  It will truly be an amazing piece of art when it is finished.



Ethan and Caleb's Portrait Quilts

I began these two pieces while staying in Spokane before Christmas.  I had completed Caleb's portrait, but just began Ethan's before we left for southern California in February.  I have been working on various fractured pieces, but knew that I had to complete these before returning to Washington in June, otherwise my daughter would just have one more promise of something which I was going to do for her.

Caleb's portrait was taken from a picture of him while he was on an annual camping trip with Nate's (Caleb's Daddy's) family at Icicle near Leavenworth, WA.  Caleb was spending some time fishing in the river with a stick rigged with string and a bottle cap.  I have titled this piece "Caleb, a Fisher of Men!" which is who I believe he will grow up to be some day.

Ethan's portrait is of a picture taken while he, Caleb, and their mommy were at the strawberry farm picking fruit for jam, which they also do annually.  Usually Ethan and Caleb have full tummies and red faces by the time the journey is over.  I titled this one "Ethan the Harvester".  I believe that his walk with God is just beginning and that he (Ethan) will do great things for his holy Father!




"Ethan the Harvester"



"Caleb, a Fisher of Men!"





















Both pieces will attached to wrapped canvas and hung as portraits.  My next portrait quilt will be of my daughter Mandi, her husband Nick, and my granddaughter Pearl taken at their wedding over a year ago.  I think that this time I will try fused fabric rather than painting the faces and body parts!

FFFC 56 "Splintered Leaves"



Original UFO





"Splintered Leaves"

The most recent FFFC was announced on Thursday and after working on it for the last two days, I have completed it and am pleased with the result.  I was the first one to post a completed piece on the FFFC Blog, and that is most definitely a first for me and an accomplishment which probably won't be reached again!



I had already been thinking about what I would use as a background for the next challenge, one of my UFO's!  I had another one in mind, but after digging through my stash underneath the bed in my motorhome, I came across this piece and decided it would work with the challenge theme of Nature's Rhythm.  I began with a piece of sun printed fabric which I had done about five years ago.  I had already trapuntoed the leaves, but was not enamored with the results, so I put it away, as I seem to do with a lot of the pieces which I am not happy with.  Little did I know, that I would eventually pull it out to recycle, redesign and rebirth it!

The piece had already been trapuntoed and layered for quilting before I rejected it.  All I had to do was finish the trapunto and cut away behind all the leaves.  After that, I took it to my cutting mat and began disassembling it with my rotary cutter.  Then I fitted the pieces back together in a fashion which looked good to my eyes and joined them with a zigzag stitch.  After that, I layered a thin flannel backing behind the piece and begin quilting the open areas and around the leaves.  I enhanced the trapuntoed leaves with jaquard and setacolor metallic paint.  I made 1/4" bias tape and applied it first with glue and then decorative stitching to cover my joining stitches.  My plan is to attach it to a prewrapped canvas and hang it as a piece of wall art.  It measures approximately 18 x 20".

I am very happy with the way the piece finished out.  I really like the color combination and the happy accident that the trapuntoed leaves form a diagonal pattern.  I am wondering if I need to somehow enhance the quilting in the right top corner to make the piece more visually balanced.  I was thinking about darkening the background behind the leaves to lift them, but this is supposed to be an abstract, so I am not sure that is warranted.  I also want the colors and interesting paint patterns to be apparent.  Any and all comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciate.





FFFC "WIND DANCER"

Wow, it has been three and a half months since my last post and I have no excuses for that!  Well almost none.  We were able to head south in February since our son-in-law returned home from his tour of duty in Afghanistan early.  The tank which he was in hit an IED, but thankfully he only reinjured his back and returned home safely.  We are counting our blessings and thanking God that he is home in one piece. 

I have to admit that I was seduced by the sun, blue skies, and warmer temperatures here on our RV lot just outside of Palm Springs.  I have been spending most of my time playing, learning a new hobby, making new friends and enjoying the wonderful places to eat out here.  I have been doing some quilting in my spare time and have managed to finish four of the five pieces for the Fractured Quilt Group which I belong to.  I haven't done the last two challenges for the FFFC, but decided that I needed to produce something for the March challenge which is Dance/Movement.

I decided to do a piece featuring a Native American female dancer.  I began with a piece of white fabric and traced the figure onto it using pen and ink.  I then drew the triangle pieces coming in behind her.  I trapuntoed the dancer, added the batting, and then quilted the whole piece before coloring it with Inktense Watercolor pencils, Tsukinkeo Inks, Gel Pens and Jaquard and Setacolor paints.  I initially had an orange background but couldn't make it work, so I painted over it with brown and copper paint and then antiqued it with the brown, adding more copper for highlights.  I am very happy with the movement of this piece which I think was achieved through the background quilting.

FFFC 52 "Endless Summer"

Happy New Year everyone, I pray that this year will bring you more love, peace, and happiness than you could ever imagine.  The last year was ushered out with a visit to our daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren in Lake Stevens, WA.  New Years Eve was welcomed in with our daughter and granddaughter in Spokane.  The weather is cool, subzero, but the sun is shining, which I will take as a good omen for the coming year.  I managed to finish the challenge for the FFFC group which I joined in September and to also get a walk in today!

 

Okay, this group is really pushing my boundaries, but in a good way.  I was going to use the holidays and travel as an excuse to not complete this challenge.  The real reason being that abstract quilts are a new venue for me and understanding the colorfield concept was difficult for me.  But hey, I am three for three for these challenges, so I forged ahead!  A post a couple of days ago cleared the waters a little for me, so I went ahead and attempted a piece.

I have titled my adventure "Endless Summer" which is what I am wishing for in the subzero temperatures of Spokane, WA.  I chose the colors of blue (for the sky), green (for the plants), and yellow (for the sun).  I pulled out a piece of white silk and used my dyes to paint it, which is another first for me.  Once the foundation was done, I struggled with what to add to it.  I have been reading some posts about lutradur and it's transparency, so I decided to paint it with the same colors.  After it was dry, I sliced it and diced it and then rearranged the pieces into a grid pattern.  I think that if I had diluted my dyes more, the grid would have blended more into the background, but I didn't really consider this until everything was already put together.  I then quilted it with vines and leaves, and yes, those are the sun's rays peeking out of the squares!  I echo quilted around the grid and am thinking that I will add more rays on the outside of the grid.  I believe that it loosely fits what I understand to be the colorfield style.  It is okay if I didn't hit it on all levels, because I love my piece and it brightened my otherwise very cool day!

Thanksgiving Blessings!

We enjoyed spending Thanksgiving with our two daughters, one son-in-law, and three grandchildren.  This is something which we haven't done in a few years as we are usually in our motorhome in Palm Springs this time of year.  The only thing which wasn't so great is that our son-in-law Nick, Mandi's husband, wasn't with us as he is serving a tour of duty in Afganistan this year.  We thought of him often and prayed for his safety and know that next year he will be home to celebrate with and enjoy his family!

The three grandchildren, Ethan, Caleb, and Pearl, got along famously.  We know that Pearl enjoyed the company, because she did not tell anyone that it was time for them to go home, which is what she had done in the past!  We celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday, as our children had other family get togethers on Thursday.  Mandi cooked all day and provided us with a wonderful feast which we enjoyed for the following four days.  The grandkids got to make candy necklaces, watch a movie and eat lollipops with Grams one day.  Aunt Carly and Uncle Nate took them all sledding twice, yeah snow!  We also made some ornaments with lots of stickers and glitter glue.  The boys and Pearly watched monster truck videos on the computer with me a couple of times (one of their favorite things)!



'The making of a Snowman'




Jewelry Making 101!



Storytime with Mom, Aunt Carly



'This is way too much fun'

It was hard to get everything squeezed in that we wanted to do, so on Sunday morning before departure, we got to feed them ice cream with sprinkles and whipped cream for breakfast.  I know that was a first for them and who knows, it could become a tradition!  We are truly blessed to have such great children and grandchildren.

FFFC 'Garden Globe'

The challenge for November was to do an abstract piece using just one shape.  I have to admit that this was a difficult challenge for me as I have not done an abstract piece per se, even though I have been quilting for a number of years.  I have seen a lot of abstract pieces which I have coveted, and have contemplated playing with the style, but had not followed through.  I am not really in love with this piece, but I will definitely play with this concept in the future.  Thanks for pushing me outside of my box.

That being said, I decided to use circles as my shape, and fit it into my self selected theme of botanicals.  I used some of my photos and some from the Morgue Files and played with them in PSE 9.  I applied a free action (which I downloaded from the web), called Crystal Ball to each of the photos and then printed them onto fused fabric treated with Digital Grounds.  I then fused and cut out organza and the black and white circles.   I quilted the background with circle motifs prior to placing the fused pieces on top (after several attempts to find a suitable placement).  I used gel pens to add some bling to the flower globes and then stitched everything down.  I then did some bobbin work (my first time) on the globes using some Razzle Dazzle from Superior Threads.  I thought about adding some beadwork or paintsticks on the background circles.  Any and all suggestions are welcome.