Color Bowls & Skinny Strips 06-06-08

I spent a little time today trying to work out the problem with this project. I thought maybe it was the color that bothered me, so I tried a dozen different colors and values. But didn't like any of them. So, I thought, maybe it is the shape of the strips.

And I tried some different curved shapes. These pleased me the most. But I always use Dorene Speckman's example, "Do you like it when it is there? Do you miss it when it is gone?" No, I don't miss it, but the spacing was planned for something to go in the lower section. I'll keep at it.

My friend Liz and are going to Beach Cities QGuild QShow tomorrow. It has always been an excellent show in the past and we are looking forward to it. It is in Aliso Viejo (south along the I-5) and this new venue has air conditioning! Hope it isn't too hot tomorrow, today was!

Color Bowls & Skinny Strips 06-05-08

I am now experimenting with the skinny strips. This one isn't bad, but I think I can do better. Perhaps a brighter, warmer color. Maybe I will be able to experiment further this weekend.

The border/binding is just folded and placed over the edges. That is something else I am thinking about, but the skinny strips come first. Click to enlarge.

Color Bowls/Skinny Strips Qltd 05-24-08

This is a replacement picture for the one I posted on 05-24-08.

I finally finished the quilting. It has two different colors of Valdani 35 variegated thread. The color on this image is good. This quilt is 15" square.

I replaced the original detail picture - this is more true to color.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Color Bowls/Skinny Strips Qltg 05-19-08

I found some time to quilt on this project today. I'm using a Valdani variegated thread which is a little thicker than regular sewing thread.

I've found in the past that I do better keeping the quilting lines straight if I stitch a few lines and move up/down to do a few more. Then I go back and fill in the lines between those that I have already stitched. I plan to use a different color of variegated thread across the top of the quilt.

Here is a closeup. You can see the netting behind the color bowl. I ripped out the blue thread I had stitched around the edge and re-did it with poly invisible thread (Superior). Looks much better.

A bit cooler today - only up to 98, but lower temps tomorrow.

On the back 05-18-08

My friend Patty commented that the quilt I am working on reminded her of Monet's waterlily paintings. It must have reminded me of that also, which is probably why I had chosen this fabric for the back of the quilt. Great minds and all that.

Click on the picture to enlarge and you can see the stitching to the left of center.

Still hot here - 101.8 on my patio today sometime. Bless the person who invented air conditioning.

Color Bowls & Skinny Strips 05-17-08

A few weeks ago I was working to combine color bowls and skinny strips, but neither design worked. The first one at

http://delquilts.blogspot.com/2008/04/oh-no-more-skinny-strips-04-29-08.html

looked like a sort of Indian motif with an image of a person.

Then I tried

http://delquilts.blogspot.com/2008/05/skinny-strips-new-view-04-30-08.html
But it was so static and derivative I couldn't continue with it.

Now I am trying another arrangement and I'm not sure it will work either. Above is the overall shot which looks like a blue fried egg or maybe a monster's eyeball!

I put the free cut net behind the bowl to make more variation in the background. But going around the edge with blue thread just doesn't work. I have picked that thread out and think I will try invisible thread. Or I might cut away the net to make it conform to the shape of the bowl.

I like doing this sort of experimentation, but it takes a lot of brain power and it is really too hot for that, even with the A/C running. Still hot tomorrow (Sunday), but cooler temps predicted starting Monday.

Skinny Strips - new view 04-30-08

Starting with a few elements and trying them in different arrangements and on different backgrounds is an interesting way to work. But there are all these decisions to make. Here is a new background, the same blue elements and some white dots. Maybe "Blue Moon in the Snow" , "Snowy Blue Moon" - it is hard for me to get away from literal.

Wide and short with scattered dots.

More balanced horizontal and vertical, scattered dots.

More background w/arranged dots.

More balanced background w/arranged dots.

Oh, no! More skinny strips 04-29-08

Yes, I am still dwelling on skinny strips. In this piece they are juxtaposed with a "color bowl" and placed on a asymmetrical background.

The turquoise pieces are not yet fused.

Bowl in the lower left.

Bowl in the upper left.

Bowl in the upper right.

Bowl in the lower right and cut away 2/3rd of the piece.

Skinny Strips Inspiration?? 03-24-08

"Where do you get your ideas?" I have been asked this question so often and seldom know where the ideas come from. So, sometimes I try to backtrack and see if I can find the spark that set me on the trail of an idea. As most of you know, the ideas don't pop into one's head complete in every detail, although there are always exceptions to this statement! I started working with the skinny strips without an plan, just a chance to play a little on the design board.

This version appeals to me, but it may be the ground fabric, one of my favorites.

This one looks like a three track rail system, or just a fence.

However, a couple of weeks after I arranged those skinny strips I took this picture at the lumber yard. One that I have visited many times over the past thirty years, but never with my camera at the ready.

And I wonder if my brain had stored this image in its dark recesses and it just popped up when I started playing with the skinny strips. Sort of a 'which came first?' scenario.

Everything we see can influence our design ideas and I don't think I will ever know exactly where some of my designs originate. But I am intrigued with trying to figure it out.

Spacing skinny strips 02-03-08

When I was playing with spacing yesterday I wondered what it would look like if I took out every other strip. Like a RR track w/paint spots!

Or how about crisscrossing the strips. Hm-m-m-m, looks like a dense split rail fence - with paint spots.

I'll have to put the skinny strips aside for a week while I do other things.

4 skinny strip backgrounds 02-02-08

I rephotographed a couple of the lousy pictures from yesterday. And tried a few other backgrounds.

This is my original choice.

And here is the red w/o so much reflection on the vinyl.

This background was much more gold before I sent it over from Picasa.

This very pale stripe is a piece of furnishing fabric.

You will notice that the strips have gotten closer and I think that is more the look I am going for.

The latest SAQA journal has one of Eileen Lauterborn's quilts on the cover. Her gorgeous work is all done with REALLY skinny strips, like 1/4 inch. http://www.eileenlauterborn.com/

Skinny strips w/backgrounds 02-01-08

I wondered how the strips would look on different backgrounds.

So, I put the strips on a piece of clear vinyl (JoAnns) and moved them to some additional backgrounds. Only I did it after dark and even without a flash there is a reflection on the vinyl. Also, these pictures seem very blurry to me, but I have been on the computer so much today that everything is double - on screen or off.

In looking at these up on the design board one fabric is very obvious - the turquoise is a solid, too solid. I may overprint it with something. Or I could just throw these away and make another set.

Almost midnight - time to rest my body and my eyes.

Skinny strips, again 01-31-08

I'm really getting hooked on skinny strips. I assembled the strips differently this time. Using the black fabric as a base I fused different colors and shapes randomly to the base, then I turned it over and fused a layer of Misty Fuse on the back of the base fabric. And finally I free cut the strips. They are just laid on the background fabric here, but when the time comes the strips will be easier to fuse down. This version seems a little dull to me.

In my box of fused bits I had these squiggles with the fusible already on, so I thought I would see how some contrasting color would look. For some reason they make me think of Halloween - pink pumpkins on a three rail fence? ThenI ran out of steam! Maybe I can get back to them tomorrow.

Still not done! 01-12-08

I thought I would be able to post a picture of the finished quilt this evening, but I had a thread crisis. I ran out of the thread I was using and thinking another color was close enough I kept quilting. In the morning I could see it wasn't close enough, making a definite division where I changed. So, I picked that out and ordered another spool of the correct color from Sew Thankful. Tracy Chapman is so helpful and conscientious she put it in the mail immediately. Unfortunately it is the weekend so I won't get it until Monday. Woe is I! Meanwhile I am working on something else - I ALWAYS have unfinished projects that need work.

Skinny strips #6 01-08-08

The skinny strips quilt is sandwiched, most of the quilting finished and I am just stitching in the little twigs. Since I knot the thread ends and pull them into the batting it may take me forever to finish this part of the quilt. I can't seem to get the color in the pictures to match the actual colors of the quilt - is it the camera or is it the camera operator?

I named the quilt "Woodland- Early Winter"

Skinny Strips #5 12-23-07

All of the strips are sewn down along the edges.

I couldn't just stay right on the edge because I was trying to catch most of the little pieces in the stitching. I have the problem that I do not wash new fabric except that intended for bed quilts, so all my scraps are unwashed and the fusible doesn't always stick. I glued some small pieces down before stitching.

I had thought to cover the top with something sheer to keep all those little pieces from coming off, but I don't want to lose the bright blue of the background. Here are three different 'coverings' - left to right are crepeline (a very sheer and very expensive silk used in conservation of textiles), illusion netting in aqua, illusion netting in black. You can see where the pieces are pinned at the top and bottom. I like the aqua best, but I don't have a very large piece. I might have to go shopping for more.

I think you can click to enlarge the pictures. Opinions, anyone?

Skinny Strips #4 12-18-07

Here is the next step in working with my skinny strips. They don't really lean toward the middle, I just couldn't get far enough away w/my camera to 'square up' the image. At present this is 28"W and 13-1/2"L, but the verticals are not fused yet as I need to look at it for a couple days to see if some need moving. I used all scraps to make the skinny strips and a couple scraps had gold or copper foil that I had applied sometime in the past, it looks good cut up it little bits scatter throughout.