And So Begins Another Year!!

And now to begin the year with posting some art.   I belong to a small group of art quilters that work in 12" X 12" (remember the hot air balloon?) and the current theme is  "Size Is Not Important". And here is my art quilt for that theme.


Title: Five Smooth Stones

Concept: This was the first idea I had when I read the theme for this quarter. (OK, the second idea!) Anyway, I thought of David and Goliath. Truly size was not the determining factor in that confrontation. So I decided on the five smooth stones that David took to take to the battle along with the type of slingshot the used back in those days (and still do in the Middle East I believe). All the fabrics are my own hand dyed fabrics, the slingshot is made of a very soft leather, the leather straps I've had for years (no clue where they came from now). The straps by the slingshot are bound with a speciality yarn I had in my stash. I did minimal quilting because I used the two colors of "sand" fabric to create the undulation of the sand. Also, I sprayed the two sand fabrics with a textured spray paint called "Stone" Not sure if you can see that in the photo.

Five Smooth Stones

Now I'm ready to find out what the next theme is!! Hopefully this time it won't take me so long to get it done!
Oh and BTW -- HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you! Hoping 2012 will be artful and creative and fulfilling!

Slight Detour

Yep...took a slight detour to join another group doing 12" X 12" art quilts on various themes.  The theme for this section was HOT. Took me almost FOREVER to get an inspiration that I could get excited about.

One afternoon my granddaughter and I were cruising through Google Images and came across a ton of hot air balloon photos. I loved the color and the brightness and the feeling of freedom they evoked.  I knew then that was the perfect concept for my art quilt for this group. So I set about to design one for the quilt. I found this piece of black netting with colorful metallic dots on it. And I happened to have hand dyed fabrics to go with the colors of the dots. Then drew the whole balloon on paper and cut out the pieces to use as a pattern. I tried to keep as many of the dots on the alternate pieces the colors of the fabrics on either side. The balloon is all raw edged applique. Painted very faint clouds in the sky with Lumiere Pearl White paint. The "ropes" on the balloon are from my collection of speciality yarns. I didn't include the basket because the balloon would have had to be smaller and I wanted it quite prominent. All fabrics except the black net w/dots are my own hand dyed cottons.

Full of Hot Air

Taking a bit of a break to complete some other quilts.  A friend of mine recently died and her husband and daughters were kind enough to allow me the privilege of making two baby quilts and one adult quilt from special clothing of hers. I'll be back shortly!