Finally...a Picture

I have had this piece finished for awhile now, but I hadn't taken a picture of it. It is a piece that is stitched to a black fabric that has been stretched over a frame. I don't have anywhere to hang it to take a good photograph of it. Today, I just decided I'd try to get SOME picture taken. I needed to use pictures of parts of it for a blog post I was writing for the And Then We Set It On Fire blog. I sat it on my couch and took pictures. They aren't great, but they will do for now.

The inspiration for the piece came from some "doodles" I had drawn awhile back. I blew the "doodles" up to the size I wanted and then tried to figure out how I would translate the drawing into fabric. Here is how it turned out.

The "spikes" on the bottom left are paper pieced. I have made small white yoyos and placed them in a couple of locations on the quilt. (I added one red yoyo as a focal point.) There is a bit of beading using black seed beads on the right-hand side (to the right of the red yoyo). I have used some white bias strips to make the squiggly lines on the bottom right. The checkerboard at the top right is machine appliqued. The clam shell shapes are all hand embroidered using both the stem stitch and satin stitch. The design in the upper left is primarily made of French knots, but I have also used the stem stitch and satin stitch there too. The stripes "behind" the yoyos are machine appliqued. It is hand and machine quilted, and the size of the piece is approximately 24" X 30".

Here is a close up. I think you can click on the picture and get an even closer look.

I had SO much fun making this piece and hope to get it juried into some shows in the future. I don't have a name for it yet. Any suggestions?

I have linked this post to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Fridays here. 

Check It Out

Check out this month's posts on the And Then We Set It On Fire blog. For the first eight days of the month the resident artists are reviewing some of their favorite books. We thought it might be nice to include some gifts, so each day there is a giveaway of some sort. So far, I know about these giveaways (there may be more)--books, a 6-month membership to The Quilt Show, and a journal with a special hand-made cover. There is still time to get in on the giveaways by leaving a comment on each post.

Here is the lineup so far...
December 1st Book Review by resident artist Nienke Smit--Textile Adventures of Mirjam Pet-Jacobs and Textile is Alive! by Ellen Bakker. The winner of the giveaway will be chosen December 8.

December 2nd Book Review by resident artist Karen Silvers--The Sketchbook Challenge by Sue Bleiweiss and Melanie Testa's Dreaming from the Journal Page. The winner of the giveaway will be chosen December 9.

December 3rd Book Review by resident artist Beth Berman--Finding Your Own Visual Language written by Claire Benn, Leslie Morgan, and Jane Dunnewold. The winner of the giveaway will be chosen December 10.

December 4th Book Review by resident artist Judy Sall--Create Your Own Hand-Printed Cloth by Rayna Gillman. The winner of the giveaway will be chosen December 11.

December 5th Book Review by resident artist Judith DeMilo Brown--Sock Appeal and Sockology by Brenna Maloney. The winner of the giveaway will be chosen December 12.

December 6th Book Review by Me!--Art + Quilt, Design Principles and Creativity Exercises. The winner of the giveaway will be chosen December 13.

December 7th Book Review by Ann Vanherle--Picture This--How Pictures Work by Molly Bang. The winner of the giveaway will be chosen December 14.

December 8th Book Review by Beata Keller-Kerchner--I don't know what she'll be reviewing yet, but come on over to the blog and find out.

Remember...you have to leave a comment on each post to be in the drawing for each giveaway. Have fun reading the reviews, finding out about books that might interest you, and getting a chance to win a great gift.