I’m participating in The International Quilt Challenge, a group of 16 women who are doing a series of challenges – our first theme was SUNSHINE & SHADOW.
I decided to start with a photo I took on Ellis Island in The Great Hall several years ago. If you look closely (click the photo), you can see the Empire State Building in the window on the door.
The Great Hall, Ellis Island
I used a piece of commercial fabric for the sky and decided to eliminate the landscape. Here is my finished piece, 9×12 on gallery wrapped canvas.
The Great Hall In Sunshine & Shadow. 9" x 12"
Available for sale for $125.
And here are photos of my process.
Yesterday I posted about Art for Art’s Sake request for donations that my sister is asking for.
Here is my donation, have you started yours yet?
Click for information
My sister Megan is Director of Development at The Virgina Beach Friends School. This year they (like many schools) are struggling to keep their art programs going and she has organized a Silent Art Auction which will be taking place on October 8th.
Since I’m sure that all of us know important ART is to each of us, it goes without saying that keeping ART in the Schools is a necessary part of every student’s education.
Megan has run the music and drama programs (during and after school and for summer programs) and she would love to see all of these and other art programs continue. Please consider helping with a donation for the auction. This would be the perfect opportunity to try out a new technique or to donate something you’ve already made. There is still lots of time <VBG> to send something to Megan. If you are a shy artist – this would be a wonderful opportunity to show your work.
All artwork will be featured on the school website www.friends-school.org
Click the picture for more information. And remember – a donation from you can make a huge difference to this program!
Please pass this information on to your artist friends! ALL MEDIA IS WANTED!
Thanks for your consideration and if you’re near VA Beach, come to the auction!
Here is a basket I have almost finished for Morgan. I just need to bury the thread ends. I made this basket with a different technique than we learned in the class. I left raw edges and pinned and sewed from the outside. I think it was much easier to manage this way. YMMV
I had so much fun on Saturday a group of friends took a class with Mary Cannizzaro at The Quilters Alley in Ridgefield. We were going to make Bags from Clothesline and strips of fabric. I have to admit that I’ve wanted to do this for a long time – and even had collected a number of different patterns. The benefit of doing this in a class – is that I actually will do some of the sewing instead of just collecting more fabric or patterns.
I had a hard time deciding which fabrics to bring, but settled on bright batiks (leftovers from my bed quilt).
I didn’t take any photos at the class but when I came home last night I worked on more of the bag, so last night this is where I ended up. 6h x 9w x 6d.
As the basket/bag gets larger it is harder to manage the shape – Mary told us to hold the side up and that worked great in the beginning, but when the bag got larger I kept turning off the light or catching on the foot lever. If you don’t hold the bag up – the tendency is to have the edges flare out and then the shapes turns into more of a bowl than a straight-sided container. I was getting quite frustrated and decided to try a few experiments – taping a block on the sewing table didn’t work and I finally decided to try pinning the next strip. THIS was a great help and I think that you get almost total control over where you want the strips to attach to each other. I took a few back stitches and stood the bag up straight – then every 1 or 1.5 inches I put a pin in straight down coming out inside the bag. If you enlarge this photo you can see both ends of the pins.
(DO NOT SEW OVER THE PINS!)
I did realize that since I was starting and stopping that I should only go 3/4 of the way around so that I end in a different location (because I’m backstitching and don’t want each row to have the stitches end/starting in the same area. I will also have more thread ends to bury.
Here is where I’m stopping tonight – I have a few more rows and then have to finish the top edge, but I’m thrilled with the way this looks – THANK YOU MARY! (and Roxanne & Stuart). If you look at the top photo you might notice the variegated thread . Since you sew from the inside of the container, and I’m using bottom line thread in the bottom, I will turn the final piece inside out to have the thread on the other side.
The height right now is just over 8.5 inches.
And I will definitely make a few more of these.
I was VERY VERY LUCKY to be the WINNER in Liz Kettle’s Blog Giveaway!
Winner's LOOT
