Textile Art Quilts by Lynn In California

"Another Place" Was the most recent Challenge

2012-01-02T16:32:00.000-08:00

My last post showed the challenge that was
"Barcelona". This challenge was to make something from "Another Place". These both done with the women of
"Quilts Around The World Group". As you can see on the previous post that I passed through Barcelona on my way to Israel in 1961. It seemed only appropriate that I finish the story here with this quilt depicting the State of Israel and my time spent there.

We were also to use paper and/or plastic in our art quilt making.

This front top is fully made from papers that are in Hebrew print or written by hand.

The shape of the State of Israel was drawn on and cut from a brown paper grocery bag. Then collaged upon with the emphrema of Israeli stamps, bus tickets, envelopes, aerograms, etc. I used paper photos of myself, my first husband and baby son; showing on the maps where we were married and where they were both born and where we lived.

It was a fun quilt to make and I feel it full filled the challenge points well. My first Map Quilt; and one done all in paper. I machine sewed crazy quilt style and by hand around the outside. Plastic beads were used to embellish it further. The dates were hand stamped on the paper.

I gave the finished quilt to my now grown son showing him his early birth place in art form.

A Memory Quilt From 1961: "Passing Through Barcelona"

2011-10-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

The Challenge group at Quilts Around The World suggested we make an art quilt that had something to do with BARCELONA, SPAIN. On that blog you will see many interpretations of this theme, everything from famous artists from that area to historical buildings. Mine is a more personal art piece of memories of a time when I was indeed "young and adventurous"!

I used a plain piece of off white muslin onto which I transferred photos (of myself in Torremolinas, Spain...setting off on my journey...

through Barcelona to France

and finally to Israel where I went for five weeks, but stayed five years.

There is some top sewing and some hand stitching on this piece, some added embellishments, an excerpt from a letter home at the time...simply done, but full of memories from a time that really did change my life, after I passed through Barcelona!

Sunflower III Finished at Last

2011-09-06T08:14:00.000-07:00

I worked several months to finish this, my third sunflower art quilt.

I am excited by its 3-D sculptured flowers on a heavily textured multi layered background.

Click on the photos to enlarge to see more detail if you like.

The fabric used for the leaves was from Dyed Candy ETSY and is hand dyed.

The rest of my fabrics are mostly up cycled from thrift stores and garage sales.

However, now I am recalling actually buying the batik and lime green & flannel fabrics new from a wonderful store I discovered in Berkeley, Ca.

The background is torn strips of fabric sewn together then machine sewn quilted. It's stamped, painted, and heavily hand stitched. Embellishments include wool felt circles and buttons; several types of beads, and charms (tiny gold hummers and dragon flies can be found among the flowers & leaves).

My own photos of sunflowers are printed on silk and sewn to the background.

The bottom is cut irregularly kind of fence like...and beads hang from the bottom as well.

Lots of hand embroidery was done throughout this piece. Lots of French knots,

straight stitches and others; as well as free motion sewing to enhance fabric designs.

I also couched some really nice yarns I found at a new shop in Winters, CA.

I stuffed three long stalks of fabric, bound them in hemp and hand stitched and beaded them.

Beads came from old recycled necklaces. And some new from Michael's.

I think I will have a hard time parting with this Sunflower Quilt. My previous two sold before they were finished almost. Both were shown in the Yolo County Sunflower Art Show. The most recent before this winning first prize. Hopefully, this one will be in that show next year.

The whole piece is backed in such a way that it turns inwards on the sides and comes down into a vase like shape.

And now I will add the story to the back with this happy ending:

My 21 yr old grandson, Mikiah, saw this art quilt posted on facebook. His first comment was: "This is soooooo beautiful!"
His next comment was: "It is for sale?"
Then he said: "How much? I'd like to support your art!"

And then I said: "Mikiah, consider it an early inheritance. I cannot take money from my grand children. So it is yours, but you have to wait one year to acquire it, as I want to put it in several shows. Then it will be yours to take home."

I cannot think of a happier ending for this art quilt.

"Indian Summer" art quilt SOLD!!!!

2011-06-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

After the Yolo County Sunflower Art Show ended this past week I learned upon returning from our vacation that "Indian Summer" had been SOLD! What mixed feelings I get when one of my pieces goes to a new home...feelings of being honored as an artist, complimented; and then sad to say goodbye to a good friend I've lived with for a while! But the woman who bought her sent me a note saying she'd be (the quilt) "enjoyed by her family for years to come!" That made me happy.
I am tickled that both Sunflower art quilts I made for this annual show sold, one before the show started 2 yrs ago and this one at it's end. Maybe Sunflowers should be my genre! ;-)

See whole quilt here. To see more scroll back two blog posts!!!

Gossamer Spring

2011-04-03T10:01:00.001-07:00

Gossamer Spring was made for the Quilts Around The World Group for the challenge: "Different". Things that I did new/different for my work was using crocheted flowers, zippers for stems, jewelry wire stamens and new rather than re purposed fabrics for this piece! The entire quilt was done by hand.

Hand embroidery and beading gives a rich texture to this piece.I love the three D look!

Gossamer Spring will show at the Dixon May Fair, Dixon CA May 4-8 2011;

and will be offered for jurying for the Vacaville Juried Art Show May 13, 2011.

She is for sale for $200 to be taken into possession after the fair ends and the Juried Art Show should she get in.

Size: 19 1/2" X 17"

Indian Summer for Yolo County Sunflower Art Show

2011-04-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

2nd UPDATE: This piece SOLD after it's tour in the Sunflower Art show!

UPDATE: This piece has won two prizes this summer. First it received a third place in the Miscellaneous category with other quilts of all kinds at the Dixon May Fair, Dixon, CA; and then it won FIRST Place in the Yolo County Sunflower Art Show, Davis Ca. in the amateur adult category up against paintings, drawings, sculptures, mixed media and other textile pieces of art!

My first attempt to re-do an older art quilt and turn it into something very different and exciting. I took Seeds of Hope I, which won a prize at the Juried Art Show in the Vacaville Art Gallery in 2010, and let the flower grow into a sunflower for the Yolo County Sunflower Art Show this May.
I added golden petals, beads and buttons to the heavily felted flower head and fabric paint to change colors from pink to yellow!

All the new additions were done by hand.

Giving it a highly textured appearance!

This quilt can be seen first at the Dixon May Fair, Dixon, CA May 4-8, 2011;

and at the Davis Art Center, Davis, CA June 10-22, 2011.

Indian Summer is for sale for $240, but buyer must wait until after the Sunflower Show to take ownership.

A percentage of the amount will go to help fight mental illness.

Size: 33" X 16" (widest points petal tip to petal tip)

"Tea Anyone?" and "Spilling Over" art journal quilts

2011-03-12T10:33:00.000-08:00

Tea Anyone? is an art journal quilt made up of dried full tea bags sewn on white polyester fabric! Silk neckties refurbished and embellished with beaded button centers, florist green wire stems hand sewn on black fleece with invisible thread for "Spilling Over" art journal quilt challenge on the Art Quilt Blog.

click on photo to see greater details

#8 Art Journal Quilt..."The Love Connection"

2011-02-14T08:11:00.000-08:00

I've been collecting old neckties at garage sales and thrift stores and finally decided to start using them. I had cut some up for #2 "Home Sweet Home" art journal quilt; this time I snipped off the narrow ends of the mostly red ties to form this background and wove one pink tie through them to make my statement of free motion sewn hearts = love! Thus the title "Love Connection" I added the fat end of the pink tie for a pocket with a white handkerchief sticking out to balance the whole affair. Just in time to wish everyone a

Happy Valentine's Day!

Apples and Oranges

2011-02-05T14:37:00.000-08:00

Is there such a thing as having too many blogs, challenges, sites to post our art?

I just realized that I have posted this small art quilt on another blog of mine, another art quilt blog, two challenge sites, and face book. And now here!

But I also realize that I am appealing to a different audience in each of those places. Yes, some viewers may overlap, but some only go to one of the sites!

So, Hi! I made this for a challenge called "Opposites". Apples and Oranges came immediately to mind. For a fuller story of how it was made and how many opposites are in this 8" X 11" art quilt I am going to link you to my other blog here. (See Feb. 5th, 2011 post)

It has lots of texture and pizazz and was really fun to make! I enjoyed the day it took to do it too. Click on the photo to see more detail if you wish.

New Show: Lawler House Art Gallery

2011-01-31T11:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took two of my recent art pieces to the Lawler House Art gallery where they will hang in the show: "Text, Texture, and Tantalizing Eggs" from Feb 4-May 1, 2011.

My self portrait, "I am descended from Women Who..."

and the string of hearts "Hearts...Don't Bully" pieces...

I removed "Wired to Quilt" and "Stop Bullying Now".

I was told that many, many people stood and read the Stop Bullying quilt.

It felt good to know this!

January Journal Quilts 2011

2011-01-28T18:46:00.000-08:00

click photo to see larger view

(I just realized I made seven but counted two #6s! Oops!)

In January I joined a group of quilters at 3Creative Studios and I vowed to make at least two Journal Quilts a month for the year of 2011. Mine would measure approximately 8" X 11".

Each comes with a story and can be found on my other blog Getting My Feet Wet through out the month of January 2011. I got on a roll and produced four to the size I specified and two smaller ones for a traveling art book and a final one near in size but to give as a gift. To see more of the other members quilts go here.

Titles from Top Left:

#1 Our Prize; #2 Home Sweet Home; #3 Can't see the forest for the trees;

Bottom: #4 Let's Face It; #5 Tropical Storm; #6 Deep Blue Sea; #7 She's Still My Gal

"I Descended From Women Who..."

2010-12-31T18:00:00.000-08:00

UP DATE: This quilt is going into a show at the Lawler House Gallery in Suisun, CA on Sunday, January 30 called, "Text, Texture and the Tantalizing Egg."

In October our on-line quilt group: Quilts Around The World were to make a small quilt 8" X 11" of a Self Portrait. I had at first thought I'd do my face in a Picasso fashion, and then the more I thought about it I realized my thoughts kept going back to the ancestral women in my life from whom I descended and the realization that they were all artists of one sort or another. I decided I wanted to make a quilt that honored them and show how I became who I am today because of them.

I took some old photographs of my maternal grandmother, Ella, and my paternal grandmother (seated) Golda and my aunts (dad's sisters in this photo:Rae, Ester, Molly, Freda); my mother Estelle and her sisters, Jane and Miriam, all of whom are wearing clothing they made themselves;

and finallymy self and my grand daughter. And note that in this photo my grand daughter is drawing a picture. She at age six also takes an after school class called Textile and Fashion Design where she is learning to sew.

You can click on the photos to enlarge them if you like. I transferred the photos to white silk and sewed them to a piece of white linen. I added some bits of lace and white buttons and beads. And then in black thread I outlined the photos as a way of quilting them. I then wrote in free motion style around the border of the quilt these words:

"I am descended from women who sewed and knit, drew painted photographed.

I pass on the you in me to my grand children with love.

Thank you grandmothers, mother and aunts."

I showed it to my six year old grand daughter and explained it to her, introducing her to her great great great grandmothers, great great great aunts, great great aunts and great great grandmother. I explained the art they all did. Sharing how I felt we do what we do today because of them. And she got it!

That is my self portrait!

Stop Bullying Now!

2010-12-30T15:42:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: I picked this quilt up from the Lawler House Art Gallery show on Jan. 30, 2011. I was told that many, many people stood and read the quilt. This was a very good feeling to hear.

Second Update: Early May 4-8 2011 Stop Bullying Now hung at the Dixon May Fair and received 15 viewer votes!

Third Update: May 21-July 2 2011, "Stop Bullying Now" was accepted into the 34th Juried art show at the Vacaville Art League art gallery. It hangs there under a spot light very proudly for all to see!

****

I made this art quilt with a message in October of this year. I dedicated it to Tyler Clement and other teens who took their own lives as a result of being bullied. It is currently hanging in a show in Suisun, CA at the Lawler House. The show is called "Quilts of a Different Matter".
I made a rather traditional easy quilt with one piece of fabric and a border and edged it for the background. I free motion sewed across the background with a spiral design of my own invention.
And then I wrote on pieces of white muslin free motion style again the words/messages and sewed them to the background.

I added some photos found on line from news stories about the kids who had succumbed to bullying and the candle light vigil held in their honor.

I added some beads for further embellishment.

I hoped my message would be clear.

It will hang at the Lawler House until the end of Janurary and then I may send it on to another show in Gualala, CA called Confrontational Art in Febuary.

As it turned out the timing was off so it does not go to Gualala after all.

"Wired To Quilt"

2010-10-22T12:09:00.000-07:00

This is a little different from my norm of textile art quilts...

It's for a show called "Quilts of a Different Matter"...

They are "looking for art which references quilts..."

I did so I think in this mixed media piece using

acrylic paint on canvas, swatches of layered fabrics, buttons, jewelry wire, needle and spool...

reactions and feedback welcomed

Useable and Wearable Art

2010-09-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

I have been having a lot of fun constructing and embellishing on these pocket purses. This first one is a four pocket "wallet" with covers made from cotton and batik fabrics, covers and each individual pocket lined with hand made fabric paper. Closed by a button and tie ending in beads. This one was purchased by a woman for her sister who loves Iris' as a birthday gift.

She will stuff the pockets she said with little gifts. They are good for holding anything that fits into a 4" pocket (jewelry, business cards, ATCs, hearing aid batteries, money, etc.)

My daughter wanted one to use for holding her jewelry when traveling on vacation.

Some are sewn together and some are held together with brads and jewelry wire.

For sale: $40 each. Leave a comment to let me know your interest in one or

email me at lyn_fred1@comcast.net. Free shipping in the USA.
The one on the right SOLD. The one on the left is for sale until 11/18/11 then will be in the Pence Gallery Holiday Market sale in Davis.

Another woman wanted two of these individual pockets for her grand daughters' lunch money.

I worried about the pockets getting lost so sewed pins on the back so they could be worn on their clothing. Wha-la! Wearable art!!!

Then I got the idea to add a decorative ribbon through the pocket flap and wear it around my neck.

More wearable art that made quite the statement at a recent birthday party!

Want a 4 pocket wallet or an individual pocket purse?

Leave a comment and tell me which you'd like

how many, and you can choose from fabric ideas such as:

batiks, floral, kids fabrics, jean denim, leather scraps, or leave it to my

imagination.

Larger 4 pocket wallets: $40

Smaller 1 pocket: $20

Free shipping in USA

Outside USA add $2.50.

Jan. 4, 2011 UPDATE on SALES

I am happy to report that I recently sold three of the four pocketbooks and two of the single pockets at Pence Gallery in Davis, CA.

Prior to that I sold at least six others to friends on line who visit my blog.

Thank you all for your interest and purchases!!!

Stone Soup Start to Finish

2010-08-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

I posted about this group challenge with the Quilts Around the World Group I am proud to be a part of in the post before this one. I thought that now that the quilt challenge is over it would be fun to see it from start to finish in one post.

We started with this photo sent to us from Kathryn. We were to make our own rendition of it. I pulled out my Melissa Bula book to remind myself how to do applique her style!

I piece all my pieces together...

and I top sewed free motion style, and thread painting style like crazy...

I used embroidery and beads for embellishments and here was my completed art quilt top.

I then according to instruction sent it off to Kathryn, who gathered each of 13 artists tops and cut them into 15 equal sized pieces. She sent us each a packet of 15 pieces including two of our own and two of one artist and one of each of the others.

MY FINAL FIRST STAGE QUILT TOP

Our next step was to put them all together into a whole quilt.

I decided to make mine like a stained glass window. I laid the 15 pieces in order on a black piece of broadcloth and hand stitched each piece to that and batting under it using white embroidery floss.

MY FINAL SECOND STAGE GROUP QUILT

You will recognize my piece in the #3 position of the bottom row from the left.

click on any photo to enlarge to see details

I laid it all out on a piece of black and white checked gingham and brought the back to the front

for a narrow border which I also hand sewed in place. I thought the gingham looked like a tablecloth.

I love seeing each artist's work next to the next bringing alive the original photo but in many, many different styles of artwork.

To see all of the finished quilts go to Quilts Around the World. (all are not done yet, so you may have to wait a few weeks for everyone to finish. I am in the habit of being a quick artist! ;-)

This was fun and I thank all the cooks who worked together to bring this challenge off!
******

Cooks in order top to bottom left to right

A1 Lynn; A2 Fionie; A3 Kathryn; A4 Marion; A5 Linda

B1 Sue; B2 Linda; B3 Jane; B4 Simone; B5 Margeeth

C1 Chris; C2 Marloes; C3 Lynn; C4 Fran; C5 Robyn

Stone Soup Art Quilt Top

2010-06-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

In April of this year Art Quilts Around The World, a group of women artists from The Netherlands, Australia, and the USA, took up the challenge to make this quilt top from a photo one woman in the group sent us all. We each interpreted it in our own way. You can see more of the tops by the others on that blog HERE.

click on photos to enlarge and see detailsOnce finished the tops were all sent to her and she will now cut them up into fifteen equal pieces to be sent back to us so each person will have a section of all the other artists' quilts. We will then sew them together to make a combined sandwiched art quilt.

This was made by first tracing the pieces on my glass slider door from the blown up photo. Then I backed the fabric with a stabilizer (Steam a Seam II) and cut out the pieces from my fabric stash choices.

I used heavy thread painting, embroidery and beading to embellish the top.

It was quite the challenge

Once I get all the pieces sent back to me I will post

the final stage of the challenge with

all the combined artists work and one piece

of my own.

I NEED YOUR VOTES!

2010-05-07T12:48:00.000-07:00

I have entered a contest at Interweave and I would love to win their prize of a Bernina sewing machine and better yet, would LOVE to find my work published in one of their Quilting Arts Magazines! But I need votes!

It's asking a lot for if you aren't already a member at Interweave you must become one to vote.
The website is (click on the word here) here which will take you to the site. Sometimes an "ad" box opens up. Just close it. Then click on Photo Galleries. Then click on the top one that says Bernina Stitch It challenge. On that page click on Most Popular. Mine is around # 5 or 6 now.
You have to JOIN first before you can vote.
Join by clicking on the red JOIN tab in the upper right hand corner of that page.
Then you go here to vote for Nest Building by Lynn Cohen (that's mine). You will be sent an email. Wait for it, click on that and then go back to the photo of my quilt and click on it. You will then see a larger photo of it and the words VOTE FOR THIS! next to it (on the right). Click on that and you will have voted! Thanks you for doing so.

This was done by bobbin sewing with silver metallic thread on a mirror copy photo placed on a piece of white cotton; then turning it over, cutting it out and sewing it raw edge applique style to the background. The background is cotton heavily sewn free motion style for grasslands and water in cotton threads with silver metallic thread for the reflection on the water.
Brown variegated thread was used for the nesting materials also free motion sewn, then real twigs were collected outdoors and sewn by hand with invisible thread to the nest and to the sides.

Thanks for taking the time to vote! It's much appreciated~!
Here!

Garden of L. Eden Completed and Sold on Commission

2010-04-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

In November 2009 I received an email from a woman in NY inquiring about the possibility of commissioning me to make an art quilt for her daughter on the occasion of her Bat Mitzvah.

176 emails, five months later , after many ideas shared, fabrics sent, 100s of hours spent sewing by machine and by hand both sitting and standing, embroidering, beading, quilting, I finally sent off the completed quilt last week and it was received by S. in NY yesterday. She loves it. I am so pleased. Her daughters name is L. Eden. I chose to do a theme called

Garden of L. Eden.

This is written in Hebrew at the bottom of the quilt.

Pomagrantes in her hair (on thread painting portrait) represent the fruit of knowledge

in the Garden of Eden.

Her face is a garden of felted wooly bits and beads for flowers and leaves.

The quilt traces her life from birth to teen. The "Hand of Miriam" or Hamsa contains

the Hebrew Letter Chet, which means life, and sounds like "Hi"...holding the cell phone.

I spent many hours standing to hand quilt this 4' X 3' art quilt.

S. supplied much of the fabric including linens, and silks from India.

I made this "Dolly" from a photo S. sent me of the childs favorite childhood doll she called "Dolly". The blue jean shirt was also worn by her as a baby.

Here she is peeking out of the shirt she once wore.

The other pieces around the central parts are squares with parents,

both sets of grandparents, 3 brothers and 2 family dogs, making this a true

memory quilt.

Also represented by squares of fruits and wheat/barley are the

Seven Spieces of Israel (Shivat Haminim in Hebrew). Other squares represents

her love of her summer camp, the torah portion she will read at her Bat Mitzvah

ceremony in September; and a picture of her and her mother

lighting the Sabbath candles.

The back of the quilt features her baby kimono turned into a pouch

to hold written sentiments by family and friends on this occassion.

This is surrounded by more photos of family and friends.

I added a letter from the artist about the making of this quilt, a

quilted butterfly representing her metamophis from infancy to teenhood.

It was such a pleasure making this piece of art

and then having it received with such love and appreciation.

You can see more detailed photos of the quilt front and back

on my flickr photostream by clicking here.

Thread Painting

2010-02-13T21:39:00.000-08:00

I made this thread painting for Kelly as a page for her traveling sketchbook for the blog called Artshine. The art there is a mix of mixed media, watercolors, and textile art.

This piece is a mere 8" X 8" square...fun to do too.

Simply rayon and polyester threads on a sandwich of off white muslin.

Seeds of Hope One and Two

2010-01-12T23:33:00.001-08:00

UPDATE: May 2010 Seeds of Hope I and Seeds of Hope II both made it into the juried Art Show at the Vacaville Art Gallery! Seeds of Hope I won Second Prize!!!

I made these two art quilts in October 2009. How I neglected to post them here I do not know.

The larger of the two is 31" X 31.5"

I enjoyed using my embellishling machine to felt the wooly bits that make up the flower heads and stems. The sky and fence are hand painted cotton fabric. A heavy textured fabric makes up the border. It is both machine sewn free motion style and hand embroidered.

Approximately 1000 beads are hand sewn on the fleece background.The Seeds of Hope I

31" X 12"

Click photos to see enlarged details

Both art quilts hung in my Solo Show in Davis, CA in November 2009
and at Mojo Flow Studio, Davis CA in December 2009

Mixed Media Quilted Wall Hanging

2010-01-05T20:41:00.000-08:00

Click to see details and colors:

A long weekend of paper bead and wire making, followed by a day of collagraph plate creating, another day of sewing beads to paper and fabric, cutting up painted c. plate, positioning them all on a rose cotton fabric; hand embroidering around it all..machine and hand quilting... happy with the textures and colors flowing thorough ...These 2nd two photos show the truest colors...
liking the way the paint dried on the crinkled paper and fabric, candy wrappers,
and snaps...

lace and Velcro,

to make up this whole of 22.5" X 17" wall hanging

On sale in my ETSY store

(see side bar)

Mandala Challenge Met for Quilts Around The World Blog

2009-12-31T15:04:00.001-08:00

The group Quilts Around The World is a group of women art quilters from around the globe, (Australia, The Netherlands, Europe, USA)...who take up a challenge every three months to make a small art quilt and post it on our blog. http://aroundtheworldin20quilts.blogspot.com/
Go there to see ALL the quilts as they are terrific...The most recent challenge was to make an art quilt in the theme : Mandala!

Mine is this machine felted velvet butterfly on a substrait of hand painted muslin, machine sewn free motion style and using some fancy machine stitches. Embellished with glass beads.Click on the photos to see the texture and detail close up.

Let me know if you can FEEL the velvet!
I often like the backs of my pieces as much as the fronts.

Happy New Year!

Simply Dreadful

2009-12-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

I made this portrait art quilt for my 19 yr old grandson for Chanukah. He does wear his hair in dread locks, and leads a hippie-like life style.

This is the photo I started with.

I took artistic licence to color the dreads brightly. The dreadlocks are made from rolled up hand dyed repurposed dryer sheets. The face is made up of layers of cotton fabrics, the base is hand dyed cotton by Chris at Dye Candy.

The substrait fabic is brown felt, bound in cotton. I have top sewn the entire background in swirls using brown varaigated and gold metallic threads. Some of the swirls are painted with paint sticks. I love the 3-dementionality of the piece.

click on photos to enlarge

The head and hair are hand sewn to the background piece, as

is the binding.

Let me know what you think.

It's 17" X 19".

I will probably make this again, as I would love to enter it into a show.

Solo Art Show A Huge Success!

2009-11-19T09:01:00.000-08:00

On November 13th, I had the honor and excitement of seeing my art hung for the 2nd Friday Art About at the Paint Chip in Davis, CA. We had a nice reception and a very good turn out.
Maia, the owner of the store, said I'd had by far the biggest turnout of any artist she had hosted to date.

Friends and strangers came through and spent long periods of time looking at, talking about and asking questions about each piece.

It felt so good to have other textile artists there whose work I admire and respect giving mine so much attention and affirmation.

I was invited to hang my art at another studio (Mojo Flow Studio) by one of the visitors that evening. It will go up there this Friday!

What a joy it is to see my art traveling this way and being seen by so many.

Earth, Water, Air and Fire

2009-09-28T11:26:00.001-07:00

I recently made four art quilts using hand dyed paper towels and dryer sheets. I then stitched the small paper quilts to painted canvas. These represent the four elements of Earth, Water, Air and this one is FIRE.

Click on photos to see details.

Earth SOLD

Water

Air

These are for sale in my ETSY store, but could go on display before they sell.

How Does Your Garden Grow? Sold on ETSY Today

2009-09-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

The woman who purchased this art quilt from my ETSY store left me this thank you:
"oh my gosh, this piece is such a BEAUTY, i can't stop holding/looking at it. it is bringing me joy!!!!thank you so much!!!!"

Well, what a joy it was for me to find this feedback. There is nothing greater than making something and having it appreciated by the reciprocate. I made this sweet quilted wall hanging using remnants of fabric from curtains, ribbon, muslin, Terry Busse's "Woolly Bits", metallic, cotton and rayon threads.

It's partly machine felted, partly top sewn machine free motion style

It's 27 and a quarter inches by 17 inches in size

It was fun to make and such a compliment to have it sell so quickly.

Thank you buyer!

"!"

2009-08-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: May 2010 Changed the name to Mono Madness, entered it into the juried art show at the Vacaville Art Gallery and it not only got into the show, but also won 3rd prize!!!! This is my latest art creation and for now I am calling it: "!"

This is two three day weekends of mono print painting, cutting, sandwiching, sewing around each piece, top sewing each piece, then painstakingly sewing each to the other to get this wall hanging. I'd guess I put in approximately 65 hours into this baby.
In person it is full of texture, bright color and sparkle!

Size: 26" height X 34" width

To see a video I made about the mono print making
go to http://lynn-nonameblog.blogspot.com/
and scroll down to August 5, 2009 post or

click on "short movie" in the next line.

The mono printing shown in this short movie was done following my reading an article in Quilting Arts magazine (pages 14-17) by Frances Holliday Alford called 'flight of fantasy' a gelatin monoprint process. I took up the challenge and taught myself to do this.The printing process with gelatin plate and paints took two days to complete.
Above photos show the end result of this work.

Click to enlarge and see details.

3-D stuffed Fish Quilted Wall Hanging

2009-08-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

This fish has been "caught" by Sylvain in my recent blog Give Away on Lynn-Getting My Feet Wet Blog.
I had great fun yesterday constructing this 18" stuffed fish! I used cotton fabrics left over from my Gold Mountain Wall Hanging Quilt seen below(some hand dyed) and ribbons with lots of frayed edges and sewed them on thick felt with a felt backing.

Here it is in it's "Look what I caught!" position!Here it looks like it is swimming in a stream (sort of, use your imagination)!

Ribbons swim behind him.

Layers of ribbons made his eye and nostril. Do fish have nostrils? LOL

And look closely it is smiling!

(click on photos to see more detail)
I love that one piece of fabric in this and my Gold Mountain Quilt below

is from my very first ever quilting class sampler. (circa 2007).

Wait till you see what I am working on now!

Gold Mountain Art Quilt FOR SALE IN ETSY SHOP

2009-07-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

This colorful art quilt wall hanging is made from hand dyed fabrics, some other cotton fabrics, and hand dyed ribbons which I bought from another artists ETSY store! It is embellished with Chinese coins from the era when gold was discovered in California. This group of coins includes one with the Ying Yang symbol.

click on photos to enlarge to see more detail

colors are somewhat brighter in person

This quilt measures approximately 17 1/2" X 18" in an uneven square.

The layout of ribbons and fabrics gives a sense of depth

as if you are looking through windows, perhaps into the window of your soul.

The various ribbons have different textures adding yet another dimension to the work.

This piece is both machine quilted and hand quilted using metallic threads in gold and red and some rayon threads.

It is for sale in my ETSY store which can been found on the left sidebar of this blog.

Sun Flower Art Quilt Finished and SOLD!!!

2009-05-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

I will be entering this art quilt in the NAMI-Yolo Seeds of Hope Sunflower Art Show & Competition this Friday in Davis, CA. Nami-Yolo is a chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness. As a mental health counselor (MFT) I have a special place in my heart for this organization.

The name of the quilt is: Sun . Flower . Life . Energy

This first photo shows some detail in stitching. I cut the stamp of the sunflower that borders the quilt on Styrofoam. And the buttons that add texture represent seeds. The leaves of the sunflower are repurposed hand dyed with acrylic paint dryer sheets.

The central flower is made of pieces of craft felt, cotton fabric and wool roving machine felted then machine top stitched free motion style.

The light green frame around the central flower is tissue paper. Click to enlarge for details. There is thread painting done around the sunflower and top sewing free motion around each stamped sunflower on the border.

The cotton orange fabric was all torn by hand and edges purposefully left frayed.
My hope is that the whole piece looks like a seed packet.

Size: 24" X 27"

Juried Art Show 2009

2009-05-03T08:51:00.000-07:00

Last night was my night to shine! Three of my pieces had been selected by judges for the 32nd annual juried art show in our local art gallery. And all three brought home awards: Best of Show, First and Second! Needless to say, I feel very overwhelmed, proud and very very humble. You've seen the pieces before as I made them, but here they are one more time being honored! Thanks for coming to "my show" here. ;~)

My best friend from childhood, Patty, came to see the work the day before and my brother came the night of the show to support me. It felt so good to have both at my side. Thanks Patty and Richard.

To learn more about each piece scroll down to earlier posts. They are in order of recognition: Hard Times, Desert Cactus and Snake, and Living Green.

Hard Times Art Quilt: Fabric Paper Collage and Fabric Portrait

2009-04-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

Currently hanging at the Vacaville Art Gallery Annual Juried Art Show April 25-May 20 2009

I belong to a group called Art Quilts Around The World (formerly Around The World In 20 Quilts) The theme for the latest challenge quilt there was Brave New World.

My “Brave New World” idea struck me as we entered into a decline in our economy hitting an all time LOW. (Our home value dropped over $200,000, stocks took a nose dive, and at age 68 retirement is nowhere on the horizon). As we watched our assets plummeting and this recession leans fearfully toward a possible depression it lent to the name: “Hard Times” and the suggestion of the challenge to use recycled pieces.
It was also suggested to do something you'd not done before, learn something new. I took on the challenge of learning to make fabric paper and fabric portraits.

I learned to make fabric paper from glue, water, paper and muslin. Words and phrases cut from newspaper and magazines tell the story in collage form; fabric portrait, using multi-layers of fabrics in 3 shades with cutouts showing the various layers below gives the emotion to the piece and sets the tone. It is then top free motion sewn with various threads and designs.
Making the portrait was a labor intensive experience, and a challenge in itself, but satisfying in the end.

I also used stencils, paint, Paint Stiks, thread painting, recycled newspaper, tissue paper, embroidery floss, hand embroidery, muslin, cotton, Punchinello ribbon and old beads, all things I had on hand. Many of which were found at thrift stores and/or garage sales second hand.

My main foundation piece measures 11 ½ X 10” approximately (it’s an odd cut shape) with a few extra inches for the green Punchinello pieces I laid under it for a little added dramatic flair.

I framed the small art quilt in a black shadow box to show at our local Art Gallery show in February.

The portrait made from a photo I took of myself is approximately 4” X 5 1/2” at its largest sides (also odd shaped).

I learned how to make the fabric portrait by reading Maria Elkins contribution called "Making Portraits" in The Quilting Arts Book by Patricia Bolton on page 122-125. And I learned the “Making Fabric from Paper” from the contribution of Beryl Taylor on page 84-85 in the same book.

African Tree

2009-03-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

I have no idea if there is a tree growing in Africa that looks like mine, but when I added the zebra I decided that is where it had to be. Artists' creative license! The top of the tree is the result of sitting at my felting machine and adding bits of dyed-green dryer sheet, threads and strings including some gold metallic, and dryer lint to a piece of green felt. The beads are from a recent garage sale find necklace sewn on orange felt on top of brown felt and trimmed with upholstery trim from the fabric store. Zebra came off a large garage sale find of cotton fabric with an African animal design, which I also used as the backing. I enjoyed the hand sewing and embroidery work after top sewing free motion on my sewing machine. The whole piece is 13" X 13" square. Click on photo to see closer up.

Cactus ATCs and Cactus Quiltlet

2009-03-16T09:42:00.000-07:00

These cactus ATCs and Quiltlet were inspired by another bloggers art: Studio Lolo, who gifted me with a drawing of a cactus on an ATC. We also "celebrate" Cactus Monday on the other blogs and so I have been in a cactus mode of late, both drawing and quilting them. Then I was asked by Nadia in The Netherlands if I would trade ATCs with her. So I made these two for her.

And here you see the Quiltlet in the middle that I made for Lolo.

Cactus Quiltlet is 5" X 9" in size

I used a hand dyed green dryer sheet over the yellow felt, and used a shiny green metallic

material over green cotton for the cactus, brown cotton for the dirt, and purple and blue dotted cotton for the curtain on top. A wonderful sparkly purple fabric is the pot.

I then top sewed it to follow the lines of Lolo's drawing, and put French Knots in the holes of the

green fabric on the cactus and dirt.

Living Green Art Quilt

2009-03-11T10:43:00.001-07:00

Hanging at the Vacaville Art League and Gallery
32nd Annual Juried Art Show April 25-May 20, 2009

Now in the P. Atana Collection This piece came from a desire to weave fabrics together and use recycled materials. As the woven central piece evolved a city of buildings grew. A wind blew in green leaves made from hand dyed re-purposed dryer sheets.*
The leaves were embellished with thread painting and beads sewn on by hand.
Thread painting continued to embellish the outline of the tall building skyline and down the sides and across the bottom.
Birds and beads landed on leaves and buildings re-purposed from an old found necklace.
A mixture of cotton and metallic threads were used by machine and hand alike.
And fabrics both found and new were woven together to form a unifying art quilt.
This piece measures 45” long by 27” tall.
The back is covered in a dark green satin fabric with matching hanging sleeve.

* I learned the dye process from Natalya at http://artbynatalya.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-make-leaf.html

This photo is not showing its true colors well. The outside binding is a bright shiny gold fabric that sings, but my camera (with and without flash/indoors and out) refused to show it off to it's full glory. You will just have to take my word for it.

click to enlarge photos to see details if you want to

Dancing Buttons Bangles and Beads

2009-02-15T11:37:00.000-08:00

Click on photos to enlarge them. My friends from near and far came up with many possible names for this piece, all wonderful suggestions, so I took a few words from some and combined them with my own ideas for the title "Dancing Buttons, Bangles, and Beads".

It's free motion top sewn felt pieces over burlap, both from thrift store...cotton fat quarters,

thrift store ribbon...cotton threads...

Metal pieces thanks to Judy at Red Velvet...a gift...

Angelina fibers and wool roving from Susan Stein's Minnesota quilt shop.

Hand embroidered over stitching, wooden beads garage sale gleaned,

big buttons from a quilt show visit last year, knew I'd use them sometime on something!

;-)

A designed Grandmother's Bag for a new Grandie

2009-02-05T19:42:00.000-08:00

My friend, Soulbrush
became a Grandmother this past month. Many of you now know her as Grandie now. Being a happy Grandma myself I got caught up in the waiting for her "Baby Bean" to be born...she had a count down on her blog marking off the days.

I appointed myself as grand-mothering tutor/mentor to SB. I told her she definitely would need a 'grandma's bag' or in her case a 'grandie's bag'. So to surprise her while I was waiting for baby to be born I designed a combination grandma's bag and baby mat for HER to use. I take a bag filled with little toys each and every time I visit my four-year- old grand children (twins) and they delight in opening the bag and finding old things that have been there from when they were little babies and new things I toss in (usually finds from the thrift store or craft store or my own crafting stash) little toys, puppets, books, and now always at least one craft project to do with them. And so the idea was born.

I remembered back to when they were babies and while I was constructing the initial bag out of a half yard of beautiful brightly colored Laural Burch fabric I decided to make this outer quilt a mat for baby to play on (pre-crawling stage). The backing became the calmer blue side for quieting baby. I added little satin ribbons for baby to grab on to, again remembering our little guys liking tags left on toys to hold.

I then added a bag with a shoulder strap and used large utility snaps to hold it inside the bag...this to hold the toys and books...It can be unsnapped to allow use of the quilted mat, which I top sewed around the pictures of cat families and some added personal photos of SB herself now and as a baby, and her dog Snuffles. I imagined baby learning to identify "grandie, baby, and doggie!" before long.

This first photo is the mat spread out for sitting or laying on.

This is the opposite side the blue calming side.

Here you see the bag for toys snapped into place.

This is the top folded over forming a carrying bag.

and here you see it again with the shoulder strap handle from the inner bag sticking out.

I wish you many years of joy and fun

with your little grand baby!

I had fun waiting, creating, and sending you this project!

May it get lots of wear at Grandie's house and when you go to visit!

Fabrics: Outer layer is half yard of Laural Burch designed cotton I got in MN at Colorful Quilts (Susan Stein's store, which closed this January, unfortunately); Inner blue lining is 100% cotton, I found at the thrift store; The bright orange inner bag is left over 100% fabric from my very first ever quilt made in a class at Quilted Heart in Vacaville, CA, very good quilting cotton; Orange binding is cotton from the thrift store. cotton threads. Snaps. Fusible web lines the strap. Ribbons from the thrift store.

Quiltlet for Suki

2009-02-03T06:08:00.000-08:00

Sukipoet is a blogland friend for whom I made this quiltlet after her mother died. It's a tribute to Suki's love for her mom, made from fabrics that had belonged to her mother who was a seamstress. Suki had a give away and I was fortunate enough to win these fabrics.

I had wanted to weave some fabrics and took this opportunity to do so as the plain pink made a wonderful frame to weave the patterned floral fabric through. I then top stitched hearts and flowers and ribbons etc. to hold the weave in place. I made a small doll to represent her mother using a photo of mothers face taken at the very last days of her life and transferred it to cloth. I even left a bit of batting sticking out around her head to match her lovely white hair. I stitched the doll to the mat and gave her a red heart necklace that matched the one Suki had given her mother.
I added green grass for her to stand in as if she is standing in a garden. The white fabric for the backing and binding was part of the giveaway too.

I received wonderful kudos of appreciation from Suki and other blog friends who saw this quilt on her blog today.

In Honor of Suki's Mom

Curly Haired Girl

2009-01-14T20:01:00.000-08:00

Little Curly Haired Girl

Colors her world

Creatively

This is #4 in a series of fabric portraits.

(Maria Elkin's directions showed me the way!)

Fabrics are from 2 fat quarters; and wavey scraps from a found stash somewhere
(yard sale probably)
Threads are all 100% cottons in red, yellow, green, light and dark blues

The Boy With Red Lips

2009-01-12T22:20:00.000-08:00

Boy with Red Lips is hanging in the Vacaville Art Gallery for the month of February! He enjoys the wall he is on along with Hard Times.
His head was full of thoughts of
catching butterflies
His heart was filled with gold

I am continuing to learn to make fabric portraits. This from a photo of my grandson.
I am the first to admit that the fabric portrait does not do his photo justice. However, I am very pleased with his butterfly skin, and his blue hair and red, red lips. The red was a last minute decision and I think makes the quilt complete.

I continue to use Maria Elkins directions in the book mentioned in earlier post with a twist of my own.

Size 4" X 7"
100% cotton fabrics
one purchased fat quarter,
some thrift store finds (butterflies,
blue spirals,
& red hearts)

threads a mix of rayon and cottons
in blues, white and red.
free motion top stitching

Portraits in Fabric

2009-01-12T08:02:00.001-08:00

I love learning new techniques. I've been impressed with others turning out fabric portraits and was amazed that although it is a tedious process that took a lot of time (part of Saturday and all day Sunday) to complete these two 4" X 6" portraits of my best friend and myself it was also fun and exciting to see them come to life.

I learned how by reading an article by Maria Elkins called "Making Portraits" in The Quilting Arts Book by Patricia Bolton, that I bought this past Friday!

Erika's World

2008-12-11T09:59:00.000-08:00

My sister in law asked me this summer if I would make her an art quilt wall hanging for her den. She asked that it be about her mom. Thus Erika's World was born. Erika is my ma-in-law, and she has been in my life for 30+ years now. We have quite a history...we used to write to each other weekly for MANY years (and she saved all those letters)... we have visited twice a year for many years summer and winter sometimes spring between California where I am and Minnesota where she is now. (Earlier she lived in Cambridge, MA near Harvard Square).
But in her latter years in MN she was pretty home bound in her daughters home in MN where she lived with her grandson from the time he was 6 months old until she was placed in a nursing home this past summer. Grandson is now a senior at the University of MN in the drama dept.
Erika loved to feed the birds and squirrels in their backyard and did so sun or snow on a daily basis.

The quilt depicts as best I could her love of nature and her love of music. You can see her in the upper right hand corner playing the piano in the nursing home where she lives. Dementia plays an active role in her life today. So I am hoping this quilt will bring back pleasant memories for her of those things and family members she loves so much and who love her in return.

This first section in her bird houses, birds and flowers in the back yard of their home. And she and I taken last summer when we visited.

And this is the reverse side of the same section of the quilt. I love how the bobbin threads transfer the picture so nicely again.

Here is the whole thing...birds, trees, ducks, squirrels, music, grandson hanging from center tree, son and ma, daughter being playful bottom left, early photos of Erika and her husband,

Erika and her young children, later photos of Erika and her grown children and grandchild, young Erika, old Erika...the music she loves still, i.e. "Erika's World".

It was a joy to make and I look forward giving it to them this Christmas holiday when we go to visit. I'll report back her reactions and perhaps add some photos of Erika with the quilt.

At the bottom right are photos of ducks that represent a duck family that came back each year to the yard to be fed by Erika. She gave them a pond to swim in too. ;-)

There is a strip of German ribbon across the bottom of this that represents Erika's German heritage. She was born in Berlin. And she came to the US as the war bride of my DH's father.

You can see more of them in an earlier quilt below: 1940's quilt "War, Love and Liberation".

This is the label I made on cloth and hand sewed to the back of the quilt:

And a close up of sunflower with beads added for embellishment sake~

December 2008 by Lynn

Special thanks to Cris, Artist in Oregon, who sent me photos of live birds and squirrels and ducks from her yard that closely matched those in Erika's yard to use in this quilt.

A Star is Born

2008-11-30T12:29:00.000-08:00

Update: "A Star is Born" is hanging in a show at the Vacaville Art Gallery until Jan. 24, 2009. I put her in a black shadow box and with the light shining on her and reflecting of the Angelia fibers she stands out and shines beautifully!

I belong to an art quilt group called Around The World In Twenty Quilts, which can be accessed via my sidebar "other blogs". We have a quarterly challenge to make a small approximately 8" X 11" size or A4 as the Netherlands/Australian and UK folks call it. One member picks a challenge theme and we have a few months to produce it. The first challenge was Trees seen below this post, and this one is Stellar. Be sure to go to the ATWI20Q site to see all of quilts. You will be glad you did.

I enjoyed making this small quiltlet using Angelina fibers which I hand felted using a four needle hand punch I bought last summer. This was my first time felting using it and the fibers. The black background fabric is fleece. I free motion top stitched and hand embroidered french knots. I sewed on tiny red beads and some larger circular flat beads that I picked up at the bead store for the adjoining stars. The binding is a black satin ribbon. It is within the challenge size of A4.

I based my quilt on this information and photo found on line: Emission nebula NGC 604 lies in a spiral arm of galaxy M33, 2.7 million light-years away in the constellation Triangulum. This is a site where stars are being born. Though such nebulae are common in galaxies, this one is particularly large, nearly 1,500 light-years across. At the heart of NGC 604 are over 200 hot stars, much more massive than our Sun (15 to 60 solar masses). They heat the gaseous walls of the nebula making the gas fluoresce. Their light also highlights the nebula's three-dimensional shape, like a lantern in a cavern. The image was taken on January 17, 1995 with Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2.
CREDIT: Hubble Space Telescope, photo PR96-27B
SOURCE: http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/BROWSE/gallaxies_3.html
COPYRIGHT: This photo is not copyright.

Remember "Night Owl"? She's to be Shown!

2008-11-07T19:31:00.000-08:00

My tree quilt done for the Around The World in 20 Quilts first challenge, which I named "Night Owl", will be shown at the Vacaville Art's League Art Gallery starting tomorrow. The show called "Nature's Bounty" runs for a month and a half.

2008-10-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

This is one of the most wonderful parts of quilting I have is giving a gift that has great meaning to it's reciprocate. In this case it is the art quilt wall hanging I made in tribute to our dear friend, Jim, who died this summer. I made it for his daughter, Abby, shown here receiving the quilt. She wrote these words of appreciation to me:

"Dearest Lynn,

Thank you SOOOOO much for my beautiful wall hanging that you made me! I love it so much. I can't tell you how much that means to me. That is one of the sweetest gifts I have ever been given and one that I will cherish always. I am so deeply touched that you put that together for me."
The quilt is made up of photos of our history with Jim, his history, and the use of his old Hawaiian shirts that he loved to wear. They are set off by the black broadcloth cotton background and top sewn free motion style.

More of this quilt can be seen in the post below this one.

Another Tribute To Jim for His Daughter Abby

2008-09-26T21:23:00.000-07:00

This 42" X 35" art quilt is made from black broadcloth Cotton for the back ground fabric and backing. The colorful fabrics are all taken from old Hawaiian shirts that belonged to our friend Jim before he died this summer. When we were at his memorial service in July I vowed to make a memory quilt for his daughter to remember her father by. The eight photographs span from 1970 to 2008. Two photos include my DH who was a close friend from when they were in their 20's. They are playing music together in the top left photo. Jim was an incredibly talented musician. Jim was also an avid fly fisherman thus the fishing theme. I pieced a lot of scraps from the shirts together to create the binding. After adhering the eight 5" X 7" photos, which are printed on cloth to the back ground fabric leaving the edges frayed, I free motion top stitched around the framed photos and added embellishments (fish, flowers) with a variegated turquoise Sulky thread.
I wanted to convey water with this sewing.

Grand Daughter's Art Quilted by Grandma Lynn

2008-08-24T09:54:00.001-07:00

My grand daughter, aged "3 & 3 quarters" she said, drew a stack of pictures for me. I selected two to turn into art quilts (so far). The castle and the two girls who are "me and mommy" she told me.

Click on photos to see them enlarged:
Here is my design board with lots of GD's art surrounding the two pictures made into art quilt wall hangings. Or they could be put together in a big cloth book as well.
Hanging sleeves will be added to the backs and stories on cloth if I can get GD to tell them to me first.

First I copied her pictures on my printer and then sewed over GDs lines onto off-white muslin fabric. I then layered around this in other fabric: The castle has a sky in an eyelet blue with lots of silver sequins sewn into it that sparkle in the light like stars in the sky. The water or moat, surrounding the castle, is a water-like green/blue batik. Fabric I picked up in MN on a recent trip and used in my Night Owl quilt was perfect wood-like colors for the planks leading to the castle door and for a border around it. Then a border in red followed by the backing fabric in a tiny floral design comes forward forming the outer border or frame. It is then top stitched free motion style by machine.

The two girls picture was done similarly, and framed in yellow with gold glittery threads swirling around and around in that background color as well as in the blond girls hair adding sparkle. A turquoise fairy printed fabric follows that includes a grandma at her sewing machine quilting, then a border in red that has hearts top sewn onto it, followed by the backing fabric again brought forward to frame it. I used Paint Stiks to color both pictures, letting this paint dry for five days before ironing it into place.

Night Owl is now FOR SALE in my ETSY STORE

2008-07-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

I belong to a quilters group made up of 20 women from around the world aptly called: Around the World in 20 Quilts. Our first challenge was to make a quilt sized 12" by 20" in landscape form with the theme TREES. This is my rendition and I call it "Night Owl".

I enjoyed learning about and using the "confetti" technique for many of the leaves on my trees giving them a three dimensional effect. I used fabrics I gleaned on our recent car trek across many states in June/July of this year visiting many, many fabric shops.

I also used a photo of a local owl and had fun top stitching him following the colors in my photo. So he was printed first on cloth, cut out and sewn onto the quilt. My DH is put off by the fact that "our owl" is a burrowing owl and does not hang out in trees. Somehow this one got up there however, and there he sits! Artistic license if you will.

The batik background fabric looked like night to me with it's swirling blues and I top stitched it with small swirl motions. I used dark fabric for the binding to continue the feel of night.

The whole thing was inspired by a painting my friend, Cris the artist in Oregon made for me.

This was a fun project done with others. To see their quilts go to the Around The World in 20 Quilts blog which can be found on my sidebar.

Double Click on photo to enlarge and see more detail:

Cris' painting from which I got my inspiration:

My quilt "Night Owl" where I turn day into night:

1940 America's Greatest Generation: War, Love And Liberation

2008-06-15T18:50:00.001-07:00

This is a quilt I made for an upcoming show at the art gallery in July.
I followed the theme of The 1940's America's Greatest Generation by incorporating my family's and my husband's family's life experiences of those times.

My FIL who I never met, served in the US Army. He was one of the many brave soldiers who landed on D Day on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. He also was instrumental in the liquidation of concentration camps, freeing its surviving victims; and interrogating Nazi war criminals. He met my MIL there in 1945 and she worked as his interpreter. My husband was born there. She became a war bride, as did my aunt, my mother's youngest sister. My uncle who served in the Pacific and in Guam met and married my aunt during the war also in 1945.

My immediate family was at home, parents doing neighborhood watch, and sending money to Israel for it's statehood. Grandparents pictured with me on my first birthday, and my aunt with my brother. Family staying close and supportive.

All the materials for this piece were gleaned at either garage sales or thrift stores: Fabrics and threads and embellishments alike. Nothing used cost more than $1.50 and most was in the neighborhood of 25 cents.

I did all the embroidery in the car on our summer vacation in early June.

Double click on photos to see them enlarged.

The letter under the heading "Fears of War" in the upper left hand corner was written by my husband's great grandmother to her grandson, his father, in 1940. You can read her fear in her words in this letter.

In the upper right corner: The picture of the blue tin box, a Tzdaka (Hebrew) box was for collecting charity during this time to send to Israel. Tekun Olam means to heal the world.
Thanks to my friend, Jon/Hopper in Newfoundland, my blog friend, for allowing me to use his photograph. My mother had the exact same box in our hall closet.

This second photo is my family taken while on a vacation in 1944. I was around 3 years old at the time.

This part of the piece features my husbands parents who met and married in Berlin, Germany, my MIL's homeland.

This photo depicts the closing of the war camps where six million Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses, gypsies, homosexuals, etc. were murdered. The gold stars of which there are six represent those six million lives. I didn't realize till I had added the binding that there were six stars across the top of the quilt as well. I distressed the stars that Jews were forced to wear as identification, to make them look old and worn.

Tribute To Jim

2008-05-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

Our friend Jim died a week ago today. We will see his family late next month on a trip in their area. I wanted to bring something that depicted our past history together. And was some how a tribute to Jim. This hurriedly made quilted memory quilt is the result.
The top panel shows Jim and my husband, buddies since they met in the early 70's, playing music together, and Jim with his then baby daughter. The middle panel shows Jim in his element outdoors in nature, something he knew a lot about; and the last panel he and his then wife on a cruise, dressed in a suit, something I never saw in person; Jim more comfortable as fisherman in jeans and a t-shirt; Fish for his profession as fly maker for fly fishermen of which he was one; and again he and my husband on a more recent visit (four years ago) now both "old guys" but still really good buddies.

double click on photo to see larger

I discovered the free motion satin stitch on my machine and used it around each photograph and around the outline sewing inside the edge of layered top, batting, backing fabrics, then cutting it around the edge careful not to cut the threads. Where I did I was able to sew over them after the cutting was done. I used this stitch for the peace signs too. Then free motion top sewed flowers, words, trees, fish, waves for the quilting.

Memory quilt made for my aunt turning 89 this week.

2008-05-04T21:34:00.001-07:00

What a joy it was to gift my dear aunt with this quilt filled with photos of family events, all the people in her life from birth till now. Her parents, her self as baby and child, young woman/bride, family holidays, children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great grandchildren. The joy it gave her to receive was such a gift to me, the giver.

This kind of quilt is more than a blanket or wall hanging or even a work of art. It is life itself captured on cloth for the person to hug and hold and love. My dear cousins were already asking to be on a list to receive it next. ;-) I have no doubt this piece will stay in our family for generations to come.

I made this with some fabric from my stash: some white eyelet with a tiny floral and heart design; some rose/orange cotton for backing to the eyelet and to the back of the quilt, as well. I added photos of flowers on cloth from her garden and mine around the border, leaves cut from deep green batik became the family tree scattered between photos of family members. I made it in a pillowcase format so no extra binding was necessary. I was in a hurry as I had the idea to do it two weeks before her birthday!
And got it done just in time.

On the back I sewed a story of her life on cloth and a second page with numbered rows associated with the rows of photos and every ones names in the photos in each row. These I bound in green and hand sewed to the back, along with a photo of myself, bound similarly.

I top sewed free motion the names of everyone in our family as they entered the family starting with her parents (my grand parents), herself as baby, siblings, husband, children, etc.under the photos in each row.

At the very bottom I top sewed free motion a Happy Birthday greeting to my aunt.

Riding The Rails of The Orient Express

2008-04-18T19:55:00.000-07:00

Today (April 21st) this piece won an honorable mention award in the Vacaville art gallery's juried art show.

No longer for sale. My daughter admired this one and said it would look good hanging in her home. So that is where it went this weekend. (Sept. 20, 2008)

Top Stitched, Appliqued Clematis Altered For Newlyweds to Be

2008-03-30T19:14:00.000-07:00

This quilt now hangs proudly in the home of my son Dan and his new wife Jackie in Oregon.

They were married on August 16, 2008.

This Clematis quilt is from a pattern design by Melinda Bula using her book Cutting-Garden Quilts Fabulous Fusible Flowers. I first saw Melinda's work in a quilt show and bought her book.
I went home and began the long ardourous process of constructing this quilt. I love that the back is as beautiful as the front, as she suggested using the same colored threads in the bobbins as in the top stitches. On the black background you get another picture!

My next challenge will be using my own photos of flowers to create my own design in this fashion.This wall hanging hung at the Vacaville Art Gallery from March 21-April 18th. On May 1, it went to The Quilted Heart Quilt shop to hang (out) there a while. The place I learned to quilt last July!

Life's Crazy Pieces is now a WINNER!

2008-03-30T17:18:00.000-07:00

I am proud to announce that a picture this quilt was voted in along with 12 other pieces of artists works to be in the 2009 Art Calendar in New Zealand. What an honor! October 5, 2009

On April 21, this quilted wall hanging was selected to be in the Vacaville art gallery's juried art show. And now, May 20, it's been entered into the 65Plus-the art and lives of older artists calendar contest in New Zealand. The winners will be exhibited on the virtual Tart website during October 2008. (http://virtual.tart.co.nz/ )

This is what traditionalist might call a crazy patchwork quilt. I wanted to do something with patchwork, so did so on a small scale wall hanging. (18" X 23") It's top stitched using a free motion foot, metallic and rayon threads, and beaded a bit for extra pizazz. It is bound and has a hanging sleeve on reverse side. Colors are brighter than shown here. Double clicking on photos shows greater detail.

Lynn's Art Quilts

2008-03-22T22:05:00.001-07:00

Abstract Art Quilt Wall Hanging in Black and White

2008-03-13T18:48:00.000-07:00

On April 21, 2008, this quilted wall hanging was selected to be in the Vacaville Art Gallery's juried art show.

May 20: comment overheard by art director while two women were looking at this quilt: "The person who made this one must have been quilting for years!" ;-)

[Nope, less than 6 months when I made this one]

The frayed "flowers" in this abstract design are taken from the Rose quilt in the heading of this blog.
The use of black and white changes the look to a more sophisticated quilt. Each 9 inch square is top stitched free motion style in an echo pattern around the outer layer of the "flower". Most of the fabrics used here are batiks the rest being cotton. It comes together in a stand out wall hanging.

This quilt is hanging in the Vacaville Art Gallery from March 21st until April 18th, 2008.
It also hung in the Quilted Heart Quilt Shop from March 1-March 15, 2008.

Double clicking on photo allows you to see more detail.

Baby or Child's Small play blanket

2008-03-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

This is a good example of a children's wall hanging or doll blanket incorporating family memories. There are photos of grandparents with grandchildren and grandchildren by themselves and siblings together in this playful child's quilt. Embellishments include metallic threads and ribbons of varying colors and textures.

This frayed edge piece was made with a baby or child in mind. The textures and layers give a baby something to grab onto. The squares are trimmed in yarn for another texture and look.
Animals cut from a cotton t-shirt walk around the outside border rectangles, some with a glitter of gold or silver raised sparkle and an added sparkly rhinestone. An inner border of colorful ladybugs attracts more interest.

Happy Customer Received this Quilted Art Wall Hanging

2008-03-13T18:19:00.000-07:00

The woman who ordered this quilt made grew up in South Africa, now resides in London, England. She wanted something that incorporated her art, her family history, and the fact that she was turning sixty years of age. I met her through blogging, and her blog name is Forever Young.

I created this collage using family photos, pieces of her art, symbols that I knew would resonate for her. Embellishments included beads from South Africa, and other beads to brighten and add sparkle. Photos and art pieces were printed on cloth and sewn into the whole collage. There are a few pieces that I stuffed for a three dimentional look and feel. The design in the border is top sewn to make it stand out more, and the whole inside is also sewn using free motion stitching. Some of the outside border design is cut out also giving it another dimentional feel to it.

Needless to say her response to receiving this quilt, her purchase, was again one of high emotion. The praise and thanks I received were a gift for me.

Ella Quilt Made Great Memory Wedding Heirloom

2008-03-12T20:21:00.001-07:00

Memory quilts tell the history of a person or family in ways that bring heartfelt joy to the receiver of such a work of art. I made this piece for a wedding gift for a young cousin.
The central character is her great grandmother, Ella, who is centered in the large photo. She is surrounded by her loved ones from early marriage, first child, first grandchild, great grandchildren, and last days of life. This piece is embellished with her own costume jewelry, pictures and beads, and appliques that depict her love of sewing, and gardening. When my cousin received this piece in the mail she called me in tears. They were tears of joy and she was overwhelmed by the feelings this quilt brought to her. I added to the back of the piece a printed cloth with the story of Ella told by the quilt so it could be passed down to generations to come and be preserved as a true family heirloom. Double clicking on photo allows you to see more detail.