Echeveria Forest

I have finally finished this small succulent quilt that I have been working on. It is about 8" x 10". I don’t want to name it Succulent V, because it doesn’t seem to be part of the same series as the other succulents. I have given it a working title of “Echeveria Forest”, but don’t know if the name fits. Any better suggestions for names? I have satin finished the edges instead of using a facing or a binding. If I hang it, I think I will mount it behind a mat.

This Month’s Fast Friday Getting Slowly Done

I’m getting a late start on this month’s Fast Friday quilt. I almost decided I would skip the challenge for a month. But then decided to spend just a couple of hours and make a quick fabric sketch with freehand cut fabrics, which led to hand stitching with embroidery floss. Half way through the stitching, I decided to make some changes in my fabric choices. So now, several hours into the project, I’m not halfway done. It will be getting done, but not on the schedule I had originally planned.

For this month’s challenge, we are to put some Rhythm/Movement or Tension/Energy into our piece and use an analogous color scheme. The plan is to finish hand stitching around each fabric piece, and then do free-motion machine quilting in the background. The piece is loosely based on a succulent photo I took in my garden last month. I believe these are echeveria.

Meet SAQA’s Artists: SAQA’s 20th Anniversary Trunk Show

“Succulent IV” is a cropped version of the first succulent in my series. It will travel for a year as part of SAQA’s 20th Anniversary Trunk Show.


After the end of the show, selected quilts will be donated to the International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Experimenting With Paint

I had fun yesterday continuing my coloring experiment in actual paint. I am undecided whether I like the painted version better or not. I think I was hoping that the addition of color would breathe a bit of life into the composition, and give it more character. But it’s just the colored version of the old quilt.

Contemplating Color

I created this quilt in a Pamela Allen class last year. All of the fabrics are black and white, but the stitching is in color. I have been contemplating adding some color to it with fabric paints. Here is the digital mock-up. I think it would be fun to experiment with real paint. What do you think? Color or black & white?

Succulent III

Another Succulent quilt is completed for the Fast Friday Challenge.

My first idea of flower stalks reaching upwards was abandoned, since the only flowers blooming on my succulents right now seem to be the sorts that bend downwards. And the stalks all seem to be at awkward angles. I was having trouble getting a composition I liked. So I settled for leaves reaching upwards.

The original intent was to edge the larger leaves with bright red the way it is in my garden. It was to be my “zinger” color to fit the theme of the challenge. But now I think I should leave well enough alone. I don’t think it needs the red, and I’m afraid to overwork it now that it seems done.

The original photo was backlit with strong light along the edges of the back leaves. I may go back and soften some of the white edges and make the white blend into the green more.

Out in the garden, some of the succulents are blooming.This succulent was received as a gift, and was one of a variety of succulents planted in the one large pot. It was beginning to crowd out some of the other succulents, and was looking rather crowded itself. So I made some cuttings from the potted plants, and a succulent garden was born. The potted plants are still only about ten inches tall, but it took off right away when it was freed into open ground. The tallest plant stalk is now nearly three feet tall, and the leaf rosettes about a foot across. It will likely become part of my succulent series some day.

Christmas Gifts & Illustrating Character

Did everyone have a wonderful Christmas? I received a pinwheel block from my nine year old daughter. She hand stitched it without any help, and I have instructions that I may finish it with quilting. I think I might make it a bit larger and turn it into a dresser scarf.

This month’s Fast Friday Challenge, we are to work with “zinger” colors, and illustrate a mood or emotion with the piece we create. I know I can easily add some zinger colors to a succulent piece, but how can I express emotion?

Verticals, branches reaching towards the heavens, sunbeams reaching down, rising bubbles, all seem of joyful. I nearly always choose to work in a vertical format even when my subject is a landscape. Last January, I did a digital experiment to stretch one of my vertical landscapes into a horizontal. The horizontal version seems more peaceful and spacious, and the water and horizon seem to have more emphasis. I prefer the vertical version where the emphasis seems more on the tree and the upward reaching branches.

So, perhaps this month’s succulent quilt will feature flower stalks reaching upwards.

I have been working rather precisely lately, tracing photographs to lay out main shapes before I begin to paint and quilt my succulent pieces. Perhaps I should try cutting or drawing freehand shapes to see if this will add character to my succulent series.

How do you express emotions or add character to your quilts or other artwork?