A Matinee with a Manatee

I have to admit, this one was a little tricky. I looked up the definition hoping to find a new angle, but there was none.

This is hand dyed fabric appliqued, then machine quilted. I forgot how much I suck at applique, but like I promised--it was real sewing this time :) I used gel medium to transfer a picture of a manatee.

Is Praire supposed to be any easier??? Maybe I'd better go back and do some of the words I thought were hard to do...they've now become not so hard!

My sister, Su, joined the same time but I happen to have her quilt. She can blog about what she was up to on her own.

So, I recently joined this group and was told "green" was the next word. I immediately thought of "green peace" and decided to make a quilt around that idea. I don't do much with fusible for applique and struggled with getting it right. My participation is about trying new techniques and working them out. So...

I know it's a little more than 12x12 but I had to add the roots!

I used fabric wrapped cord for the stems and felt for the leaves.

It's Not Easy Being Green

Printed cow images on inkjet printer; freehanded large cow shapes for fusible applique; embellished a bit with beads....

Subliminal Green Messaging

I had many "brilliant ideas" for Green but just couldn't seem to make any of them come together.  I finally decided to use this piece of snow resist dyed fabric and attempt to use thread to make it "come alive." 

I'm not excited about the results and I couldn't get a photo I liked either. Neither seems bright enough for me.  I think the quilt is a little brighter in person.  I do like the words I quilted into the tree and grass, although they can't necessarily be seen at first sight I hope that perhaps they provide a little subliminal message to keep the world a beautiful place.

Actually I'm not sure you can read them in these photos either! Oh well.

One Blue Tulip

The tulip applique was given to me by my friend Robyn several years ago. After just returning from Asilomar and taking a wonderful class with Libby Lehman, I decided to take this one applique block and give it a home, using the circles that I learned in the class. Thanks Robyn and Libby for making this quilt a reality.

Mother Earth Is Tired

This may not be considered a "quilt", so I apologize. I promise! Next month I'll do a three layer, stitched quilt.
This is my green quilt. I made the paper/fiber, dyed it in greens and made a face with it. You can't really see, but the bottom layer has seeds imbedded in it. You'll see bits of newsprint and other "trash", as well as bird feathers for the eyebrows.

California Blues

This is so Californian. I took a class from Sandi Cummings (Californian) at Asilomar, in California, while I was living in California. With my friend Diane (Californian). The freeform cutting and sticks were techniques from that class. I bought the fabrics while in California this year at three different California quilt shops. I really enjoy freeform cutting.

Green- Beverly H.

I actually finished two for this one.  I wasn't completely happy with the first, had more fabric I could use, so I had fun making a second- which is what you see here.  

I wanted to use a fabric I'd dyed, discharged, and screen printed with an image of the wind farm that is very close to my home.  I added other fabrics that I also dyed and printed.  The edge is done with Terry Grant's method which she detailed in Quilting Arts a couple of years ago.

I haven't quilted with my Bernina in a long time, but this programmed stitch seemed perfect.  I stretched it some from the default settings.

If you want to see the first iteration of Green, you can see it on my blog.

Chaos

Finally! It's finished! This really represents my creative life....decisions, decisions, decisions! I used a small panel for the crazy lady, enlarged it, cut her arms off and switched them from being on her hips to holding fabric up. She started out as a nurse, so I cut off her cap, used "Texture Magic" on a piece of gray fabric which became her brain, and thread tangles (from the dryer) for her hair. The words were printed on fabric as well, and the little bits and pieces are simply fused on. Once I decided on trying the Texture Magic, everything else just kind of fell into place. Oh, she also has beads for earrings and her jumper is colored with marker and colored pencil. This was a fun piece to make. Hope you all enjoy it.

Pass the tissues

Achoo! 12 x 12

As you can probably tell, this is my entry for the COLD challenge although it would also work well for BLUE. When I thought of cold, cold weather and having a cold both came to mind so I pulled out penguins, snowflakes and other chilly fabrics and started sewing. I used pieces from a silk handkerchief owned by my great grandmother Isabelle Rogers to make the tissues.

I'm so glad to finally have a piece to post. I am hand quilting it with snowflakes and cold words like BRRRR. Enjoy.