The Owl and The Pussy Cat Art Quilt for Allie

This art quilt came out of a request after a request for my grand daughters safety! I saw Allie bathing in the tub at our last visit and noticed a picture in a rather heavy frame hanging on the wall over the tub. I, as very caring and cautious grandma, became fearful something might cause that picture to fall into the tub and be a danger to little Allie. So I asked my son to remove it for that reason. He said he would and did, "but with one stipulation". "What might that be?" I asked. "To make an art quilt to hang in it's place!" he said!

So I thought about baths, water, children, and recalled an old nursery rhyme by Edward Lear that starts: "The Owl and The Pussycat went to sea..." I went on line looking for a copy of the poem and found photos of same. One painting by illustrator, Laila Hills, stood out as perfect for something I could turn into an art quilt. I got permission from Ms Hills to post my replica of her painting in fabric to my blog. Thank you Laila Hills!

Painting by Laila Hills was my inspiration for this art quilt.
Laila Hills art is copyright protected

 

Since we had a trip planned to visit the kids again in a weeks time I had to hurry if I wanted to hang that quilt over the bath.

I started and completed this quilt in three full days over the weekend!

 

I began by drawing elements of the painting by eye, (the boat), tearing fabric, cutting it to size and laying it out, sewing it down by machine. And some, the owl and the cat, on cardboard, as patterns for the cut out fabric backgrounds. You might recognize the sky fabric from my last art quilt made for Ms Em and Mim in my post before this one. Almost all my fabrics are gleaned from garage sales and thrift stores. Some like the orange and yellow used for the cat are hand dyed by Chris Daly from Dyed Candies. Check out her ETSY shop for her hand dyed fabrics. They sing of bright color!

 

 

The cat and the owl start to take shape.

 

 

All pieced together, adhered with fusible web, but not sewn down yet.

 

 

Making the water was fun. I had fabrics with lines like waves built into them and colors that sang of the sea!

 

And finally the finished art quilt!

 

 

 

With free motion sewing making more waves in the water, and highlighting the sky and hills! I also used it for adhering the owl and cat to their places in the boat.

I embellished with hand stitched yarn to make the pea green boat and sail stand out!  Hand stitched sparkly gold thread shoots rays of light from the light house! The binding matches some of the water fabric.

 

And a quilt is never finished until the back is done as well.

Backing fabric from my stash, sewn down, binding wrapped around it, hand stitched in place,

and hanging sleeve added.

DH will cut a thin wooden dowel for me today and I will string wire across the back for hanging.

 

 

 And old pillow case pulled from my stash was perfect I thought for printing the story and poem (using TAP)

A letter to Allie about the making of the quilt and the poem so she understands the story behind the picture!

 

This pillow case is so pretty, a cream color, with gorgeous intricate same color embroidery and scalloped bottom edge.

Sewn down by hand using the same sparkly gold thread of the light rays on the front.

 

Now our Allie will be safe in her bath, and have a fun story to look at and one more family heirloom

made by Grandma Lynn!

Art Quilt of Friends ART for my Friend!

Last December my friend Mim sent me a charm behind glass of the character she draws and calls

Ms Em.

I was so taken by this lovely hand made gift

that I was inspired to gift her back

with an art quilt

using her own art,

which I copied by machine sewing Ms Em in black holding the menorah to a piece of white cloth

as seen here,

then sewing that to a background fabric I had in my stash,

full of stars that went perfectly with the

Chanukah theme of the Festival of Lights.

 

Gold embroidery floss lit the candles and her shoes.

 

 

 

I enjoyed hand stitching around the front focal patch

and adding lots and lots of French Knots

in two shades of blue and gold embroidery floss all over

as a form of quilting the piece.

I added a hanging sleeve to the back and my note of explanation and thanks to Mim

 

for her gift to me.

 

Mim happens to own another art quilt I made a few years ago

of a sunflower, which she calls "Sunny", and she said

she'd hang Ms. Em next to it!

 

;-)

"Generations" an art quilt by Lynn Cohen

“Generations”

By

 Lynn Cohen

Art quilt

2012

Made for Challenge on Art Quilts Around The World

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Something Old: My Great Grandparents, husbands old shirt, old lace handkerchiefs trim, upholstery sample, canvas fabric, buttons, and doilies

Something New: My last born granddaughter, sewing machine stitches, drawing on fabric, beads

Something borrowed:  ideas for drawing on fabric; idea for sewing/writing on quilt, idea for hand stitching from other quilter’s works I have seen and been inspired by

Something Blue: flowers on old doily’s, upholstery fabric sample and husband’s old shirt, hand stitches. Backing fabric is old blue and white ticking fabric.

My mother’s father’s parents, my great grandparents, Moshe and Esther Corren from Poltava, Russia  are the focal point in this art quilt, “Generations”, as is the drawing of my newest and most likely last granddaughter, Allie Bel Cohen, my son’s (Dan Cohen) third child born in the USA.

I drew both from photographs directly onto the fabric using a fabric pen, then I free style machine sewed around and on them. I hand embroidered the swaddling blankets around the baby. And heavily hand stitched using embroidery floss around all three drawings to quilt the piece. I used Allie’s grandfather’s (Fred M.) old shirt from “our generation”, and found old handkerchiefs and doilies from an earlier time as well. Buttons were gleaned at garage sales/thrift stores; and beads were bought brand new at the local bead shop. Some of them sparkle when the light hits them just right.

It was fun making this little art quilt knowing I will gift it to Allie Bel on her first birthday, August 2012.

"Another Place" Was the most recent Challenge

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"

 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

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!!!!

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

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

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

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