Free Motion Challenge - Susan

This month at SewCalGal
Free Motion Challenge - we have a bonus tutorial by
Susan Brubaker Knapp! I have been following Susan's
blog Blue Moon River
for quite some time. Please visit her blog - one of my favorite
pieces that Susan did is "Friso" (the cat)! Stunning work!
She is also a Facebook friend.
You may also be familiar with her work in Quilting Arts Magazine.

Our challenge is to take some photos in Macro
mode (no problem here) and then print and
trace the obvious lines onto cloth. This will
be our original quilting design! I love this idea!

Looking through my photos; I can't decide which
0ne to use first. I want something simple as this
will be a "test".
I chose the mushrooms:


One day after it rained; I walked around the
garden with my camera and spotted some
very unusual fungi. I had never seen this
type before and they were very tiny. I also
found a couple of unusual slugs - slightly
pink in color and also very tiny.




This is the little group of mushrooms that I decided to use
for my project.





As the color is very light; I had difficulty finding the lines.
(my light box is in storage and I used the sliding glass
doors to trace the photo)

I thought that maybe it would be easier to trace
if I turned the photo into a black and white. Which
I did in photoshop.




This was a little easier to trace.

I used a washable pen to trace the design on one
of my hand dyed fabrics.


This is my first attempt. I didn't like the variegated thread
on this fabric. The design kinda gets lost if you stand
a distance away.


For test #2 - I used the same fabric but with black thread...


First of all - I think that the black thread shows more
of your mistakes. The second thing is - (-: I tried to
imitate the mulch and it didn't translate too well
into stitch.

So I tried using a lighter fabric and again the
black thread... test #3You can see more clearly where I back tracked using
the black thread. Also my mushrooms look like flowers!

I will still use this design - I need to get my lightbox!

This is a very fun project! Thanks Susan!

I will probably add more during the month!

Free Motion Challenge - Wendy Sheppard

This month's Free Motion expert is Wendy Sheppard.
I have been following Wendy's blog - Ivory Spring
for quite awhile. Her quilting and quilts are wonderful!


Wendy's lesson for this month (August) is "Jester's Hat" ....

I found this motif is very difficult for me. Maybe I don't
use the left side of my brain enough - don't know...(-:



Drawn on paper first....haha still kept getting lost.


On my first try - I started at the bottom and just repeated
the pattern on top of one another before I spread out -
just to get the hang of it. Well, I got so frustrated - I
just started doing scribbles! Let it go - come back tomorrow!



Next day: A little bit better....

I would start to get the rhythm but then I would get lost again.

Do I go up - down - or turn around.

I have three other practice samples but I won't bore you (-:


So, Wendy made a suggestion of making the motif larger
and then imagining sections -


did that and it was much better. (I think)


I didn't even try the more "cultured" hat motif as I wanted to
master the original first.

My plan is to still work on this motif and master it.


Thank you Wendy!

“I paint what cannot be photographed, that
which comes from the imagination or from
dreams, or from an unconscious drive.



I photograph the things that I do not wish to paint,
the things which already have an existence.” –Man Ray

Wordless Wednesday

Been there done that

To practice any art, no matter how well
or badly, is a way to make your soul
grow.
So do it.

Kurt Vonnegut

Just some of my ramblings (-:

I get bored very easily. So, I'm always

looking to do something new or different.

I finally accepted the fact that I'm starting

a new chapter in my life. Change is good

and I'm looking ahead not back.

They say that your work reflects your

moods... how you feel, what your feeling,

etc., sometimes your not sure what your

feeling.

Right now I'm feeling Abstract. ...

Adjective: for Abstract

Existing in thought or as an idea but not having

a physical or concrete existence.

It doesn't really look like anything you can identify.








Or this piece - where I just kept adding some

colors and letting them run. In this one though,

I swear I can see faces and hands!



Or this one, I had all the paints out and decided

to blend them all together. I really like this one!

I never thought that I would like abstract painting

because of a movie that stuck with me since

childhood.

What A Way To Go <----Click on the link -

it will take you to

Youtube - It's a movie with Paul Newman

as Larry Flint an artist. This machine paints

by sound....in the end the machine kills him

but it's not in the film clip.

I can't find a clip in English but you'll get the idea.

To be continued......





Later!

Wordless Wednesday

Color outside the lines

Life is short. Break rules,

color outside the lines, forget regrets.

Lose track of time. Ignore curfew.

Sneak out. Pig out. Be loud.

Go crazy. Be stupid.

Take too many pictures.

Because your not going to remember

what you should have done,

your going to remember what you did.

- Unknown