Week 5 of #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt (Art)

Last week was the end of the #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt (Art). It was a great finish, even if I was less organised as the month went on. I want to thank Frédérique of Quilting Patchwork Appliqué for a wonderful challenge. I really learned a lot and am so happy to have participated. Here's a look at the last week's post.

V is for Village

This project, Amalfi Coast Happy Village was one of my first art quilts, although I didn't realise it at the time. It was made during a workshop with the owner of a local quilt shop and based on Karen Eckmeier's book, Happy Villages. The image is loosely based on a postcard that I bought in the Amalfi Coast in Italy. 

Amalfi Coast Happy Village - my first art quilt

Putting Amalfi Coast Happy Village together 

Happy Villages by
Karen Eckmeier

W is for Weaving

This piece is called Ciboulette Stitches. It was created based on a workshop with Sue Stone through TextileArtist.org. Weaving was my first passion and it was great to incorporate it into my art. BTW ciboulette is chives in French. 

Ciboulette Stitches on a woven background

Lovely ciboulette flowers

The real thing in the garden

X is Xerothermic

Xerothermic is an adjective used to describe dry and hot climates. Isn't Google amazing? I actually learned a new word 😊! 

This piece is called South-West art quilt. It was begun at a workshop at my local quilt shop, Quilty Pleasures, in 2010. I had done what I could, but had no idea how to finish all of the grasses in the foreground. Finally it came to me – couching! So the piece was finished in 2015 as part of a UFO challenge. 

The quilt hangs in my daughter's room as a reminder of our wonderful vacations in the American South-West.

South-West Art Quilt

Couching was the solution that I
was looking for!

Lighting up the sky

Y is for Yellow

This piece is called “Keep Calm and Stitch”. I stitched and beaded the word “Calm” since it’s my word of the year - I didn't realise until then that my unconscious word of the year for 2020 was Frenzy. That's why I consciously chose Calm. 

This piece was made in January for the first challenge of the year of Project Quilting 2021. The theme was to use the Pantone colours of the year – Illuminating and Ultimate Gray. To avoid last year's Frenzy and to remain calm, this is the only one of the Project Quilting challenges that I did this year. I did enjoy it and hopefully it's something that I will continue to participate in, at least occasionally. 

“Keep Calm and Stitch” - for the Project Quilting 2021

Details: buttons, couching
and stitching

More slow stitching to remain calm 

Beading and various
embroidery stitches

Z is for Zigzag

This practice piece is zigzag crosses. It is a Sashiko stitch that I learned from Shannon & Jason Mullett-Bowlsby of Shibaguyz Designz in a virtual workshop. I also bought their book, Boro & Sashiko to keep on learning. Now that I know how to create the grids to stitch Sashiko, I really love it and hope to keep adding it to my art quilts. 

It's too bad that this last post wasn't an example of something in a real art quilt but the only other word that I might have used was zillion, as in a zillion beads in an art quilt. I am working on a project that feels like it has a zillion beads in it but when I looked at it, it didn't look like it even had tons of beads, let alone a zillion 😁.

Sashiko stitching zigzag crosses

What I learned

• 

  Although it required a lot of preparation, this was a great challenge.
• I think what I underestimated the most was the time to prepare the posts since I didn't want to just put in what I had said on Instagram.
• It was a great experience to see most of the art quilts that I have done over the years. Many of them have been created since belonging to the TextileArtist.org's Stitch Club, for which I am very thankful.
• I know that I've learned so much as an artist about colour, composition and techniques, but I'm pretty impressed with some of my earlier works. Most are pretty good!
• Now that this rush is over, I'm looking forward to reading some of the other participants' posts 😊
  

Related links

• Amalfi Coast Happy Village, May 26, 2014
• Ciboulette Stitches finished,  July 20, 2020
• Slow stitching with new projects, July 12, 2020
• South-West art quilt
• April Challenge Completed, April 25, 2015
• Project Quilting 2021 -  Grey and Yellow, January 10, 2021
• Sashiko samples
• Catching up on posting projects, February 8, 2021
• Sashiko stitching and visible mending, December 06, 2020

Linking parties

I will be linking up to many fun linking parties this week. You can still link up to Free Motion Mavericks until Tuesday evening. After that, make sure to visit Muv and link up there! Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Oh Scrap!, Patchwork & Quilts, 

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!

Amalfi Coast Happy Village

Happy Villages by Karen Eckmeier

In March, I took a workshop to create a Happy Village, based on Karen Eckmeier's book, Happy Villages. The course was taught by Jan Kittle, the owner of The PickleDish quilt store in Carleton Place ON.

I completed a large part of the wall hanging that weekend, but like most things, it took me a while to finish the entire project. Well, it's done!

I chose the Italian Amalfi Coast because I fell in love with it when we visited. The views were spectacular and we had the best lunch ever! Anyone who knows me, realizes that travelling is about the food (and the people, the views, the wine and when ever possible, the fabric!)

Amalfi Coast Postcard

Here's a picture of the postcard that the wall hanging is loosely based on.

The project calls for adding mesh on top of the piece and then sewing over it. This stops the fabric from fraying. I chose not to do that since the mesh really tones down the colours, no matter what colour mesh is used. Since I'm all about colour, I just couldn't do it.

Final Amalfi Coast Happy Village Project

Here's the final project.  It was a lot of fun and I hope to make another when ever I get inspired!
















What I learned:

• It may have been finicky, but it was a lot of fun.
• I didn't follow the book's instructions (what else is new!) because I couldn't "see" the houses when I lay the blocks down as directed. So I started working in the left corner adding structures, steps, doors and windows. That worked best for me.
• I enjoyed the free motion quilting - it's far from accurate, but it goes with the rest of the whimsical project. Besides, from far, you can't tell (and if you can see it, you're standing way to close!) 

Finishing up - Final Update

What a month! It was a great idea to join the 30/30 Challenge hosted by Berry Barn Designs. It encouraged me to quilt as often as possible and I got to read some great blogs, comments etc. Thank you everyone, especially Sarah of Berry Barn Designs!

Here was my list of projects and what I hoped to accomplish:

• I'll be finishing my Quilt-Along project using Dot-to-dot FMQ (free motion quilting);
• I will also be working on my frog quilt. My objective is to get the quilt top finished.
• I will be working on my Grandmother's Choice quilt.  My objective is to get 10 more blocks finished and blog about them (that takes the longest time since I usually research the Canadian facts about each issue.)

What was I thinking? I think I thought I was going to take the month off work and quilt!

Quilt-Along almost finished

Here are my accomplishments:

• The Quilt-Along project is almost finished. I used only Dot-to-Dot FMQ on it. All of the blocks and the sashing have been quilted. I just need to quilt the border with the Cathedral curves.
• I completed two blocks of the frog quilt in the first week of the challenge. That's as far as it went.
• The Grandmother's Choice quilt is coming along. Before the challenge, I had chosen and cut the fabric for 5 more blocks. This weekend, I completed them, plus one more; and then chose the fabric for another 6 blocks. I haven't blogged about them yet but I will in the near future.

Grandmother's Choice blocks

Accomplishments that were not included in the Challenge:

• I completed a DIY kimono for my daughter;
• I completed the batik quilt top that I started during week 2, when I was too tired to piece my complicated blocks (frog quilt and Grandmother's Choice);
• I have embroidered about half of the leaf for one of the projects from Carol Armstrong's Applique Inside the Lines;
• I have almost finished the Happy Villages project. It's 95% completed. I just have to add boats on the water and FMQ some waves on the water; and



Completed Batik Quilt Top

• I attended one quilt guild meeting and three classes in Canadian art appreciation.

One of the reasons I got so much done was that I went on a quilting retreat from Thursday to Sunday this week. That's essentially where I did everything that I hadn't done in the previous 3 weeks.

It was a great weekend of quilting, sleeping, reading, and eating with friends....not necessarily in that order. It was almost as good as going down south for a holiday (almost but not quite!)

What I learned

Happy Villages - Amalfi Coast

• Why am I always so ambitious in setting goals? At the time, I actually thought they were pretty realistic. Not sure on which planet or alternate universe!
• I really did get a lot done - frankly an incredible amount. It just wasn't on the projects that I had anticipated doing.
• In hindsight my objectives were made up of projects that demanded a fair amount of concentration and focus. What I did accomplish included easier projects that I could do without too much thought.   

30/30 Challenge Update - Week 3

Happy Villages by Karen Eckmeier

I had a wonderful time last Saturday at the Happy Villages course. It was taught by Jan Kittle, owner of The PickleDish quilt store in Carleton Place ON.

I used Jan's batiks as well as some of my own to create the quilt.

Postcard of the Amalfi Coast, Italy

I based my Happy Village on a postcard that I bought on the Amalfi Coast in Italy two years ago. It was such a magical area that it would be great to have a quilt to commemorate it.  This is the postcard that inspired the quilt.

This is what it looked like at 3 pm on Saturday.  It had a semblance of a village by then.

Results by Saturday evening 

This is what the project looked like by Wednesday evening. Since I left it on the dining room table, I was able to work at it in small chunks of time. I found that it was important to work on it and then leave it for a while to get the overall look of it.
I'm really hoping that the free motion quilting (FMQ) will add a lot to it. I can't wait to give the church some details.

Result by Wednesday evening

During the week I was able to do a little bit of embroidery of my second leaf. I also go the chance to moved the squares that were in the wrong place on my batik quilt.

What I learned:

• It's a VERY finicky project. Those tiny pieces are tiny! You cut the pieces, audition them and when you like what you have, you glue them to the surface.
• It's a very forgiving project.  If you don't like what you put down, you just cover it up! It's not worth fighting with the glue to remove pieces.
• Since there's so much going on, I wanted to make sure that there was some consistency in the fabrics I used. I used the same fabric for all of the trees within the village, all of my stairs were made with the same background fabric (a light mauve-pink) with the stairs a dark blue. I also had some awesome orange-yellow fabric that I used for stone walls (and the top of the church since it was made of stone). 
• Leaving it out and having it accessible to work on for short periods of time was the best way to go. I could spend a half hour or an hour playing without getting frustrated or too stiff.

Challenge Results - Week 2

The week has been a very busy one. I did have a chance to spend some quality "me" time but it wasn't necessarily spent quilting or sewing.

On Sunday, I finally got around to sewing my daughter a DIY Kimono from a lovely scarf. It came out ok, if you don't examine it too closely :-) When I finished it, I told myself that I wouldn't make another one, but since then I've been thinking that if I were to sew the front and collar by hand, it might be less trouble and look better. Here's the post.

Batik 5 inch squares

On Monday, I was so tired after work that there was no way I was going to be able to do any type of difficult blocks or FMQ. So, I found some lovely 5 inch Tonga batik mini squares in my stash. Since they were a great price, I had bought 3 packages. That was a great idea. Now I have enough to make at least a throw. The colours are beautiful - from dark blue, to pale blue, yellows and oranges. It's very rich looking.

I've worked on it for a couple of days. Here is the result to date. Once again, it's taken a photo of my project to see that I've made an error - it looks like I've messed up the pattern of the yellow squares in the top left corner. I guess I'll have to fix that up. It's amazing how you "see" so much better when looking at a photo instead of the real thing!

On Tuesday I went to the Common Thread Quilt Guild meeting. The presenter did a trunk show - she had some amazing pieces. When I went to look at her work up close during the break, I realised that I was able to recognize the FMQ that she had done. That's the first time it's happened to me. That's a sign that I'm learning my patterns. I was quite happy.

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

On Thursday, I went to my second class - I'm taking a Canadian art appreciation course. It's held at the National Gallery of Canada. What an amazing adventure. I get to look at great Canadian paintings in an amazing building while listening to our extremely knowledgeable and interesting professor - and the bonus... no homework. What a joy!

In last week's post, I realised that if I wanted to sew every day, I should probably bring a small embroidery project to work so that I could do my half hour during my lunch break. I brought my project to the office and I worked on it for the first time today.
This is a project that I started a couple of years ago. It's from the book Applique Inside the Lines by Carol Armstrong. I've done a couple of projects previously (here they are). This one is a set of three leaves. I've finished the red leaf and started working on the yellow and orange leaf. You start by embroidering the outline and then appliqueing the fabric within the lines. These are great projects for learning to hand applique.

Applique Inside the Lines

Happy Villages by Karen Eckmeier

Tomorrow I'm going to take a quilting class offered by our Guild. We are making our own Happy Village, based on the book Happy Villages by Karen Eckmeier. This should be a lot of fun. I'm bringing a postcard of the Almafi Coast in Italy. It looks a lot like some of the villages. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to make it look a little like it. It was such a wonderful area and we had a great time. It would be fun to remember our trip through a quilt.

What I learned:

• Sometimes I feel bad that I have so many projects on the go but then I'm very grateful when I can choose to work on the project I want, based on my energy level. I guess it's not such a bad thing. At least I do get back to most of them....eventually.
• I didn't think I had accomplished much this week, but as I was writing my post, I realise that I've been productive. I may not have worked on my challenge projects, but I did have a good week!