Aubergine scraps

I'm done!
Here's a little peek...

Finishing

I like to explore various finishing techniques with my 12x12 pieces. Thus far, in the Colorplay series, one piece has an unfinished pinked edge (pink), one has a zig-zagged edge (rusty) and the rest have fused bindings. So... time for something new. How about paint?!

I didn't have quite the right color, so I had to mix.
I'll save further details for the reveal on Wednesday, but you can see a bit on the left in the pictures.

Next Steps

In my last post I hinted at using a Baltimore Album style block as my challenge solution. I showed a mosaic of my progress which upon hindsight, was probably cryptic to everyone but me.

What I wanted to show was a peek into my process of auditioning fabrics. I was trying things out approximating their position in my composition (which is the top one in this photo of my drawings).



In all that moving around of fabrics, I learned a few things. One, I don't have nearly as much eggplanty fabrics as I thought I did given my nice collection of purples. Two, I wasn't getting the necessary foreground, middle ground, background distinction that I needed to make the composition work (due primarily to the fabrics I was using). And three, most Baltimore Album blocks, and definitely the ones with Kaffe Fasset fabrics, don't have a foreground, middle ground, and background.



So, back to the drawing board. The composition on the lower right retains the cornucopia, the other to the left is less Baltimore Album. I was sort of thinking Cubist still life a la Picasso or Braque, but didn't actually go that for for fear of losing the connection to the traditional quilt. If I were to take this idea into several pieces, I definitely think exploring a cubist-inspired option would be worthwhile. Alas, you can't cram all your ideas into one piece and I had to prioritize.



Lucky me, my mom sent me some fabrics for Christmas that fit right into the eggplant and emerald them, and I went shopping for a few more. As much as I loved the white fabric with purple sprays of leaves (a great find in my stash), it just wasn't working. Also, to keep with my "modern" theme I realized I needed some solids, both since they are very in vogue right now, but also to bring in the rich color I wasn't getting through the print fabrics, and to provide a little rest.

Putting on the finishing touches, I had to use this embroidery floss from my mom. It's got all our colors (plus a few more) and plays very nicely with my fabrics. I've had problems in the past with hand dyed flosses bleeding, but since I won't be throwing this little piece in the wash, I think it's the perfect place for the floss and I used it almost all up.

I'll show one more step and the final piece on the twelfth.

Shiny Threads

Here's what I've been using over the last few days...

Getting ready for our Eggplant/Emerald/Wine challenge which will be revealed on Wednesday, January 12.

I sure am glad I bought that big box with a rainbow of Sulky rayon thread!

This time with wine

After the absence of wine in yesterday's post GWV - Green White Violet, and in case June thought I don't have any commercial prints in my stash, I thought I'd whip up this simple but fun piece - Cleanskins:

GWV - Green White Violet

I fully intended this shibori piece to be GWV - green wine violet - but somehow the wine is missing. The suffragettes would approve - not only were many suffragettes closely aligned with the temperance movement but, as I'm often reminded by the BBC program The Antiques Roadshow, the Women's Social and Political Union adopted the colour scheme of purple, white and green: purple symbolising dignity, white for purity, and green for hope. These colours were also often used in jewellery in the late 19th century.   It is a popular myth that the colours were green, white and violet, in order to spell GWV as an acronym for 'Give Women Votes'* but I still like the fresh colour combination.

*See Suffragette Jewelry, Or Is It? Dispelling Myths and Ms-conceptions.

Eggplants are Challenging

This is the pile of fabrics I used in my eggplant quilts. Yes, for the first time I've made two quilts for a challenge. I actually started two in another challenge, but one of those didn't get completed. This is the first time I've completed two for one challenge. This was so hard!! Nikki really really challenged me this round. Now to pick the quilt that will be "the one".

Finally, an inspiration!

Well, YAY.  I finally know what I am doing, and have sketches, and a plan. 

I have been mulling over eggplant and wine and emerald and trying to figure out how to use these colors, and yesterday I finally came upon an idea I like.

And with days to spare, even. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our readers and followers!  Our next reveal (Eggplant) is on 12 January.  In the meantime, I think I can safely say that these pieces experimenting with the palette will not proceed to completion but I had fun making a mess with scraps, oilsticks, pastels and fabric paint:

If you're looking for completed works, you might like to check out the self-portrait challenge of Art Quilts Around the World that were revealed on New Year's Eve.

A Spine Tingling Book!

As promised, here is a photo that shows the book in 3D. It may seem an odd angle but it highlights the spine of the book with twelve exquisite embossed thumbnail images. Running your fingers up and down is spine tingling!  The images on the front cover are matte, in slight relief against the smooth, high gloss background.  This combination makes just holding the book a surprisingly tactile experience for a softback cover.  Remember you can pre-order Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge now to get your hands on your own copy in March.

An Exciting Parcel - the first copy of the BOOK!

It was an exciting afternoon. After a refreshing swim in the summer surf, I returned home to find a card on the doorstep indicating that I had missed a courier delivery by a matter of minutes. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait overnight to collect it from the Post Office - the suspense would have been too much. For inside this box was the single author advance copy that we are allotted of our forthcoming book - Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge.

I did try to record this historic moment to share with you all but I am woefully unfamiliar with the video function on my camera. I managed to record before and after the opening of the package but not the opening itself.   However, this is a reasonably faithful re-enactment along with some fuzzy stills. 

Opening the Twelve by Twelve Book! from Brenda Gael Smith on Vimeo.

I'll take some better photos in the morning and will experiment with the webcam too . In the meantime, two words - it's REAL!

False Starts

Like Helen, my Eggplant, Burgundy, and Emerald quilt isn't turning out quite like I imagined it in my head.

Upon hearing the theme, I immediately thought not of the colors, but of the foods. I was in Houston at Quilt Festival at the time and there were many beautiful Baltimore album quilts on view. So, it's no surprise that I made a connection between the bounty in a Baltimore album block (baskets and cornucopias especially) and the bounty in our Twelve by Twelve theme.

I've also been inspired by the ladies at Material Obsession and imagined my Baltimore album block to be contemporary looking and full of Kaffe Fasset type fabrics.

Much moving about and auditioning of fabrics later, it's just not working. Part of it is that I don't have nearly as many appropriate eggplanty colored fabrics as I had assumed I had. But, as I was sketching the composition, another idea tried to assert itself. I ignored it at first, but now I'm thinking it was the direction I should have followed all along...

Happy Boxing Day

It's "Boxing Day" here in Australia.  The origins of this secular holiday are unclear but these days in Australia it is mostly associated with the first day of the Boxing Day Test  at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the start to the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race and, for some, a frenzy of shopping and sales.

You too can snap up a Boxing Day bargain without venturing to the mall - certain book retailers are currently offering deep discounts on our forthcoming book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge which can be pre-ordered for a guaranteed low price of US$12.56 from Barnes & Noble  or US$13.23 from Amazon. And you don't have to be a proponent of Helen's "Girl Maths" to realise that it's worth ordering TWO (or more!) copies of the book to take advantage of the free shipping within the US for orders over $25.  Happy Boxing Day!

Have you noticed

Have you noticed how quilts can be stubborn little things? If you recall my torn napkin, I had A Idea. It involved cuts ( in felt) and green shoots of (machine embroidered and wired) recovery and was all very clever/ pretentious. But would it be born. No siree. I have a table spread with  specially bought fabrics and threads and would they play nicely together? No Ma'am.

And so I went off in a strop to attend to another task, namely finding one specific book in a pile of fifteen packing boxes. At about box five I found the project design sketchbooks I did for my first C&G course. Given I have now just ditched the second C&G course I thought I might as well just chuck those out. But one fell open at a picture of a West African Hunting Jacket a little like this one ( but different) and suddenly I had a new idea.

And then there was the song on the road in the car as I drive home that day. Can you believe Band Aid  was as long ago as1984? Or that it could inspire an Eggplant quilt?

So the special fabric is back in a drawer and some alternate fabric is on the desk and looking anxious to be made into a little quilt. Or two or three..... Weird how this inspiration thing works isn't it?

Oh. And I never did find that book.

The Dark Side

As kind of a Christmas present to myself, I finished quilting an Eggplant quilt yesterday. Whether it turns out to be the official quilt remains to be seen.  A key challenge with a palette of  "deep purple, burgundy red and dark green" is the dark value of the hues that tend to blend together creating no discernible shapes or patterns.  Fortunately I have some hand-dyed emerald fabric that really sparkles and conquers the dark side.