Hibiscus Quilt

Here is the quilt I started back in November. This was a fun experiment to start with a couple of tiny scraps and build a quilt around them. I used free motion quilting to extend the design of the small bits of commercial fabric. Today I painted (mostly in the background.)

To make the painting relate to the piecing, I added some geometric shapes while I was painting. This discovered while I was working on my Whisper Quilt this summer.

I like parts of this quilt close-up better than I like it as a whole, but it was worth doing just to enjoy the process.


The SAQA Whisper Quilt challenge will be revealed at our regional meeting next Saturday in Elk Grove. I will post about it in a couple of weeks.

See what others have been up to this week on Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.

Roll-up Brush Holder

My plastic art bin for carrying painting supplies is just a little too small for some of my longer brushes. I spent part of the afternoon today picking out some fabrics to make a roll-up brush holder that I can toss into a tote bag.

I’m ready for my acrylic painting class tomorrow.

My Quilt Rescue Continues

Steps I have taken so far to rescue this quilt:

1. Attempt to fix color and contrast problems them with fabric markers and paint
2. Fixed some problems but also created more problems because of my timid approach
3. Procrastinated for several days while I decided to continue working on this project or abandon it all together
4. Decided it’s better to risk ruining the whole thing than putting it back in the drawer for another several years
5. Abandoned all caution, and attacked with paint in bolder colors

This still isn’t my favorite piece, but I am encouraged by the direction this is going. I will continue with it this week. I think I will add more color to the still black and white fabrics before I start quilting.

A New Background for an Old Work in Progress

I’m trying to finish up some older things to make room for some new project ideas.

I have replaced most of the background fabrics in this piece which I started in 2006 and got out again last week. I am starting to like this piece up close, but I can see it needs some work with more contrast when I stand back from it. I need to decide if I will add paint or change some of the fabrics to make the composition more successful.

I have it up on my design wall now next to this piece, and noticed it had many similarities to this quilt I did in 2011. It seems I have a series going quite by accident.

Nina Marie has chosen the word Productivity for 2013. She has been finishing projects as well. Things I plan to do for 2013 so I can make Productivity my word also:

1. Finish this quilt (any ideas for a title?)
2. Finish up the quilt made with “starter scraps” (began in November)
3. Make Camilla a skirt (from fabric purchased several months ago)
4. Make canvas shopping bags (got fabric last week)
5. Complete several acrylic paintings for a class I am starting in a week and a half
6. Get started with the new quilting ideas which are in my mind still

I saw a preview of “The Watercolor Show” as it was going up in at the Cinema Place Gallery in Hayward this week. It looks like it will be a fabulous show.

Two More Watercolors & Some Quilted Portraits

Three watercolor paintings I did earlier this year will be an exhibit at the Cinema Place Gallery in Hayward:

The Watercolor Show 

Jan. 10- Feb. 23, 2013 

Reception Fri., Jan. 11, 5-7pm

Here are a couple more watercolors I did for my class.

The technique for the first painting was to emulate the texture that Andrew Wyeth used in his paintings. This lantern and the foreground rocks have texture added to them from stippled paint, sanding, and lots of drybrush. This is my husband’s favorite so far this year. I like how most of the painting turned out, but wish the water hadn’t gotten so muddy looking, and I’m not sure about the brown rocks.

The second painting we were to use Turner’s technique of picking paint up after putting it onto the paper to lighten areas. This is a view of Lake Chabot in Castro Valley from an overlooking trail on Fairmont Ridge.

I found a couple of unfinished quilted works I started seven years ago.

 The face on the first is from two pieces of fabric. The face is drawn on with a Pigma ink pen. The shapes and lines are all traced from a photo of Camilla when she was about six years old, but somehow it didn’t end up looking like her very much at all. The part I like best is stalk of succulent flowers I added almost as an afterthought because the bottom seemed to plain, but they never quite seemed to fit with the rest of the image. This one is nearly done except the edges are unfinished. I expect it will stay this way unless I decide to cut it up and use the flowers from it on something else sometime.

I decided to use the same photo as a starting point for a second try. This time I cut all the shapes freehand and went wild with the colors. Maybe too wild. It got put in a drawer at this point and it was forgotten until I dragged it out a week ago. Camilla likes this one, so I decided to see what I could do with it. I’ve added some more fabrics around her since this photo. I’ll post more photos when I see where it takes me.