Solid Segments Quilt Top DONE!

My mini-quilt is finished...my inspiration was this painting by Shawn McNulty.

The mini-quilt will be on it's way from Florida to New York City tomorrow!  Hope you enjoy it Victoria!

deb

My Quilt Top for the Solids Segment Swap Challenge

After too many weeks of sewing machine woes, I was finally able to pull a pile of solid scraps from my solids bin, and I got busy making the mini quilt for this swap.  My inspiration painting is in the picture below.

A day later and I have this. 

Hopefully it will be quilted right away and sent off to my swap partner just in the nick of time!  I'll post a picture of the completed mini quilt when it is done.

Deb

Recap and Catching My Breath

I have two people's June blocks here.  One we were waiting for her to move.  Has the move been completed?  Can I send the blocks to you?

The other is Mary's strips and those are hanging on my wall as well.

I have to work on bow tie blocks for Helen and heart blocks for Barbara.  Luckily Barbara's blocks only have to go just down the road from me!  LOL.

I have to sew the binding down on the Segmented Solid Swap and it will be off in the mail.  It is looking fabulous with the quilting.  I really like it a lot.  I went to the George Rodrigues' Blue Dog Exhibit yesterday and thought, darn, I should have done a blue dog!

A Matisse Mess - Help

Okay people...I was attempting to practice the solid segments challenge...with the picture inspiration...and hit a stumbling block.  See, I am not great, good, or even novice at curved piecing...i thought i figured it out...but clearly not...i want to try to get more curves, versus angles...i.e. a curved coife...but alas...its not working.  So, because i know me, and didn't want to jump in and starting chopping my newly acquired Kona solids, "just yet", I decided to practice with some other bits and pieces...Thankfully I started with an easier piece...before jumping into the one i truly desire...smiles

I am asking if anyone has any suggestions on how to curve tiny pieces, etc.  as you would in a challenge of this sort... to avoid the folds and buckling of fabric.....

This is what I intend to do in solids, after some practice.

Jacob Lawerence

1965 Dreams

As it ought to be

Solid swap received

I received my beautiful Van Gogh today from BeeBee...

and she even decorated the back!

Thanks BeeBee, I love it!  I'll put yours in the mail the week of the 24th - I need to "take it on the road" to another meeting first. 

I'm glad I had a chance to do this solids challenge, it has definitely stretched my horizons.

Linda

First Solids Challenge Completed

My Kandinsky inspired quilt is finished

(except for a few little threads I'm noticing) ...

It was more difficult than I thought it would be

but I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge!

Next I think I'll try a Matisse ...

Solid swap completed

Well, my Matisse solid quilt is done; I hope you like it, BeeBee. 

I decided to keep the quilting simple, so I used a close-set almost-straight line quilting design, nothing elaborate. 

This was a fun project to do, it made me  s-t-r-e-t-c-h  in a whole new direction!  I had a number of solids in my stash, but I never deliberately set out to make them the main part of a project - a solid was just a no-never-mind part of my stash. 

I was a little brain-fazzled when I started out because I honestly had no idea how to approach this project.  But... it was after I realized I was to use the painting as an inspiration that my mind turned down another track.  What a wild ride; thanks V for the challenge!

Edited 7/11 to add more info: 

I made my hanging sleeve according to these instructions on the Alzheimers site, the first one.

Linda

Been Away But Busy

V's BOM - Beacon Lights

Loved making this block!

Solid Segments Challenge:

My take on Kandinsky's

Impression III (Concert).

Still thinking about how to quilt

this baby.

The solids challenge inspired me to made another AAQI 9x12.

My first "made fabric" project is finally finished and I'm thrilled with the finished quilt.

Solids Challenge Swap Finished

Well almost finished.  Still have to add the binding and label. Lots of decorative quilting in this one.

Using just solids was a really a challenge. I have a Kaffe Fassett floral collection that really wanted to be used.

You can find more of the process on my  Blog as well as the start of my next solids inspiration challenge.

My Kandinsky so far

I am getting closer.  I need to finish the bottom and figure out what I want to do for quilting.  This has been a very interesting exercise for me.  I don't usually work with solids.  I have very few of them in my stash.  When I first started looking for paintings to interpret, I kept seeing them in one or another patterned fabric from my stash.  Now, I am really enjoying having only the solids to work with.  I will post again when I am further along.  I may be asking for advise on the quilting.  If you have any ideas, please share.

Solids exchange almost done

Solids quilt inspired by Matisse

I'm almost done with my solids challenge quilt, I made a few additions to the piece I started with.  To bring out the black zigzags on the red background, I made red-and-black wavy fabric pieces; I think it adds  something to the design.  

Next I'll join the blue piece with the red and black piece, add them to the right-hand side and do some trimming. 

I'm thinking of adding a plain red strip across the top... blue strip at the bottom?  That blue on the right sort of sticks out, how shall I corral it into the overall design?  all the gold seems to be bunched together in one spot... and what shall I do with the left side? Decisions, decisions...

Any ideas??

Linda

Back where I started

I got back on track with my Solids Challenge after I remembered that I'm not trying to recreate  the painting as it appears - I'm being inspired  by it!  I'm not Matisse - Henri is!  After I realized that, I was able to move just a little bit out of the box I put myself into. 

For a reminder, here's the Matisse I'm using for inspiration:

Here's my first attempt:

It looks nothing like the painting, right? This little piece is the middle part you see through the doorway. Notice that, for my pieced version, I rotated it counter-clockwise; I like it better that way. I'm trying to use most of the original colors and generally picking up some of the shapes because they have a lot of potential. That black strip next to the two yellows is a bit wider than I meant, but that's okay, I get to take artistic license!

I'll add more blues, reds, maybe some orange and more black in there someplace.  Definitely some white and/or off-white too.

I thought about changing to a Kandinsky because his work has so much movement, but I'm going to stick with my original choice, and challenge myself to work it on out.  There's no "right" or "wrong" way for interpreting this challenge, right?  It'll help me grow. 

Solids challenge - so far

Finally, after finding and rejecting three other works of art, I have settled on Improvisation 7 by Kandinsky.  I love the warm colors and the lines of this painting.  The first thing I did was to cut out a 15" square of paper to check size as I sewed.  This is a bit different for me since I usually just sew pieces together until I think I have made enough for what I want.  For this one, however, I wanted to have the elements I am choosing to include in some semblance of the correct place.  I am choosing to interpret this painting rather than reproduce it. I am having great fun with this one.

Muscular Colors

I have been having a hard time finding just the right painting, photo or picture for my inspiration. Something special for the basis of our challenge piece. I have been looking exhaustively at Klimt, Degas, Renoir, Klee, Cezanne to name a few. I liked the houses of Cezanne, but I could not find the series I loved so much two years ago. So I kept looking and looking and looking.  I even polled my interior designer daughter who informed me she does not deal with paintings and sofas, that is for the interior DECORATORS to do and huffed away. 

I knew that.....but I thought she would give me something since she designs modernistic interiors in old buildings.  Juxtaposition.  In moods too, I see.

All of a sudden I remembered this beauty was sitting on my table for a week or so. I can see a lot of potential here.


Hmmmm.

And you know what, I think I can handle four of him! LOL.

With a little manipulation I think he will work. Now to pull my suntan browns, warm sweet browns, and other muscular colors.

One reader noted on my blog.......Poor Frank!

glen:  now how did she know this is not a picture of him?

Solids challenge prep

I wanted to get my materials sorted out for the solids swap challenge, so I can go ahead and complete two other projects I'm working on with a clear mind.  I'm using the Matisse painting that V posted, here it is with the 8 solids I intend to use:

I might readjust the colors later, but it's a start.

I have some translucent sheets I picked up from the Dollar store that are sold as veggie chopping mats... 

 

I used a dry erase marker to outline the areas of the painting that I want to bring out...

Here's a clearer look at the marks I made:

these marks can be wiped off with a paper towel. 

I haven't been to the dollar store lately to see if they have the dry erase markers, but I picked these up at the CVS drug store. 

That's my progress so far, baby steps baby steps...

Linda

I'm solid for the challenge!

Getting ready for the SOLID SEGMENTS challenge, I shopped my stash for solid fabrics, convinced I wouldn't find many.  But hey look - I found a double-armful! 

You can't even see them all in this picture.  True, I had to pull out tubs and dig through cupboards but the final result was more than I could have wished for.

And the good news is, I won't have to make a fabric run!

Linda

solid segments SWAP challenge UPDATED INFO

please see this post for revised rules & info

http://www.15minutesplay.com/2011/06/solid-segments-challenge.html

The Official size is now 15" X 15"
A quilted and bound MINI quilt

solid segments SWAP challenge

 SEGMENTING... I love playing with fabrics this way... I look at things, I see Shapes... 

I want to play.

In one of the Bee's I am in, My friend Andrea send us a packet of solids 

and an inspiration

image to jump start our creative idea to  put some bits together 

free piecing...

I jumped right in, and then couldn't stop at one, and put all the scraps together

into a second block...

It reminding me of a challenge I did WAAAAY back on my

Bumble Beans Blog... (2009)

Based on a Matisse painting, looking at shapes structure, color,

balance,  and free piecing...

 It's one of my favorite ways to work... 

So I thought, wouldn't  a SOLID Challenge

based on the same ideas free piecing scraps or otherwise based on 

either

 A Diebenkorn painting ( click to see more)

or another Mattise.... I love the red yellow BLUE primary colors

in this with the black...

Or any other painting you you feel you can pull the segments from 

to build a small quilt based on?

The SOLIDS will be a great summer challenge!

 

I'm thinking that by August 1st, we have something Complete

to Share a pic of

Also show your inspiration image in your post.

And show as much process on the site here as possible...

THIS IS A NOW  A SWAP CHALLENGE

I will just match you up in pairs,

Not a secret swap, I leave wed. the 15th, 

so SIGN UP FOR THIS CHALLENGE

will end MONDAY JUNE 13 at 7pm.

So I have time to pair you up.

The Official size is now 15" X 15"
quilted and bound MINI quilt

MAILING DATE FOR YOUR FINISHED QUILT

is AUGUST 1st.

Participants at the end of the challenge

will have names 

put in for a drawing for special prize.

email me with any questions

bumblebeansinc at gmail dot com