"Monochromatic Illuminations" reception

The reception for "Monochromatic Illuminations" by HiFiber is being held this evening at the Clemson City Hall from 5-7. All are welcome. It's been a crazy filled week so time doesn't allow for a larger post. Stay tuned for photographs. This post is linked towww.ninamariesayre.blogspot.com


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A Week Experimenting with Drunkard's Path

A Perfect World

The week of September 8-12, I am teaching a class at J. C. Campbell, titled Drunkard's Path and More. It's been quite a while since I've taught this class, so I've spent this week trying out all the design possibilities.

I had forgotten how exciting this technique can be. It seems that every where I turn I see new designs. I usually begin by placing the squares on the design wall, in no particular order. Always something strikes me, and my mind starts playing the "what if" game.

This week has been no exception. I haven't been able to concentrate on one particular design but have been hopping back and forth, just to see how many design I can create.

A Perfect World, is one of my older quilts, and may well be the first one I created using this technique. My class will begin by creating your own design using this method, and then we will go off on a, "what if" tangent.

Corner Pockets

Somewhere along the line I came across the pattern Fair Play and decided that it was a wonderful companion to Drunkard's Path. I began mixing the two together, and even more design possibilities appeared.

One think I haven't mentioned is that you begin with a host block. One that is pieced to a specific design, and use it to cut your Drunkard's Path or Fair Play template. This is where all the designs possibilities begin.




This technique is not something that I can explain in a blog post, it's not complicated, but it does take a while to get the momentum going. I've decided to post some of the 12 1/2" squares that I have designed. Some of these are created with just the Drunkard's Path some are using only the Fair Play while some are combined.

I began placing these black and white Drunkard's Path blocks on the design wall. A block in the lower left caught my attention and the "What if" began.

A Pinwheel pattern within a circle.

Squares on point in a circle

Large square within a circle.

A circle with cross bars.

A small square within a circle.

Pie shape within a circle.


















A few of the design I discovered when working with Fair Play,

circles with pinwheel on top.

Purple and green triangles dominate here.

This is all I had time to play with there are so many more designs waiting to happen.

As always, I am linked to www.ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

Back in the Studio

This past month has been one devoted to family. We have four families scattered from SC, NC, VA and CA. We usually have them all here at the same time, this time of the year.. The year for the first time we only had three. As family grow they have so many obligations and places to be. We are grateful for time we do have and love every minute. This explains my absence for the past three weeks.

The week before we went to NC to stay with our daughter after she underwent surgery, BTW, that went well, I started a new project. It had me in it's grips immediately. I worked many hours everyday until I had the figure finished.

Our niece posted this photo of her daughter on Facebook and I knew immediately that I wanted to create it in fabric.

I began with the pants and knee pads. The fabric that I chose had great splotches of medium and dark blue.

I then added darker blue to show the folds and wrinkles in the pant legs.

Next I added the skateboard, a base for the hair, and the helmet.  The sun was coming from the left causing a shine or light on that side.

She has very curly hair with lots of darks and lights. I decided to
represent it with many different shades of yellow, gold and light brown fabrics. I've also added the shoes in this process.

 

Next came the audition for the shirt fabric. Now, this little girl is quite the girl jock but she is also very comfortable in pink and girlie clothes.

By no means were these two fabrics the only ones I auditioned, but it really came down to the two shown here.  I really felt that this one was more t-shirt looking and the colors really worked with the pink,

I'm liking the shirt especially after I painted over some of the extra fabric to create the folds in the shirt. This really helps show the movement as she is walking down the sidewalk. I am also auditing sideway fabric.

I decided on this Stonehenge fabric for the sidewalk and added some dark gray to construct the cracks. I added another piece of Stonehenge green fabric for the grass. Since I had to close up my studio for a while, I wanted to quickly prepare the shadow. Evidently quick doesn't work for me.

Sooooo, I went to plan B.  In this photo the green and gray shadows are not in the position they should be,  but even if they were this still isn't working.

I've posted these images on The QuiltArt digest Facebook page and asked for some suggestions, as well as the SAQA Visioning Project blog. I've gotten some good suggestions, some that I'm planning to try.

I also took this with me today to my HiFiber art group meeting and got some even better suggestions. I have to say that from the first cut I made in the fabric I was hooked. I have had so much fun working on this piece.

 Unfortunately, I am going to have to  put it away while I prepare my upcoming class at J. C. Campbell. More on that later.

This post is linked to www.ninamariesayre.blogspot.com