Monthly Landscape Art Quilt Challenge

Butterfly flitting

I’m like a butterfly flitting from one flower to another, except that my flowers are anything quilty!

I love trying new things and I tend to get bored quickly with repetition. Since I know this, I sometimes have to trick myself into doing a variety of related things so that I can actually become proficient at a new skill. Practice helps me acquire skills but repetition kills my motivation!

My solution for learning to make landscape art quilts is to set myself a monthly challenge:

• To make a new landscape quilt each month;
• While learning something new (i.e. technique, subject matter, etc.)

Here is how I will try to interpret making a landscape art quilt* for this challenge. A landscape quilt:

• represents a landscape, a view of a place outdoor that is real or fictitious;

  

  Landscape Art Quilt Challenge Button

• is a quilt, therefore has some type of batting and backing; and
• can incorporate various art techniques (i.e. paint, crayons, embellishments, etc.).

*this is strictly my criteria for this challenge

To date, I’ve made four landscape art quilts. You can read more about most of these projects by following the links below.

• Southwest landscape (started 2010, finished April 2015)
• Dream Landscape (2011)
• Experimental landscape (started Aug 2013, finished May 2015)
• Amalfi Coast - Happy Villages (started March 2014, finished June 2014)

Midwest landscape - First landscape started

Landscape based on Dream Landscapes book

Dream Landscapes by Rose Hughes

Amalfi Coast Landscape based on Happy Villages

Happy Villages by Karen Eckmeier

Experimental Landscape

As you can see from the dates above, most of these projects have been finished within the last year. This corresponds to my increased interest in learning and trying new techniques. I find that as I read and take more Craftsy courses, I'm exposed to different techniques which enables me to figure out what to do next when I'm stuck on a project.

If there's one thing that has given me both confidence and the ability to broaden my skills is learning to free motion quilt (FMQ). That has opened another entire universe of possibilities.

For this challenge, I've created a new photo set on Flickr for landscape art quilts. It'll be great to see my progress as the challenge advances.

What I hope to learn during the challenge:

• I think that trying new techniques that are related to what I've learned in the last project will help me remember the lessons learned as well as add to my prior knowledge.
• I think that I'd like to learn techniques that involve surface design but I've always been intimidated. I'm hoping that this will give me confidence to try these out.
• I also want to actually use all of those books, magazines and Crafty courses!

Wish me luck on my journey!

If you feel like joining me, grab a button and leave a message on my challenge posts with links to your own version of your challenge! If there's enough people, I can even create a linking party!

This post is linked to Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop? Link-a-Finish Friday. Check out everyone's posts! 

The Midwest Landscape quilt was highlighted on Link-a-Finish Friday! I'm thrilled. Thanks Richard and Tanya!

The Butterfly photo is from Steve on Flickr. Thanks!