Arlinda's Art Quilting

Wow! Since the first of the year I have been quilting up a storm. I need to post some pictures but I'm staying so busy it's hard to do. I finished my niece's quilt (kingsize) which was asian fabrics and my own sillkscreen designs (geishas). It was a huge quilt and by the time I finished quilting it I was thoroughly tired of it. LOL. My niece loves it though. I also have made donation quilts (two so far) and that was fun.

I have also made and quilted and won first place with my quilt for the guild challenge. The challenge this year was to make something from something else. I had three kimonos languishing in my closet that called my name when I heard what the challenge was. I have made a rather large lap quilt from them. It was lots of fun and at times frustrating. It is very heavily quilted and I pieced the background and then added flowers and fans which were machine appliqued on with a satin stitch. Also I made a pieced backing from the leftovers which added to the intensity for me. I was so surprised when I won the challenge that it didn't register for a moment or two.

Now I am in the process of finishing my landscape Autumn's Glory Days for the quilt show in the fall. I have also designed and am helping my daughter make her first quilt. It is a queen size for my nephew who is also a quilter in Kansas City, tattoos and all. Really interesting fabric and I hope she catches the bug so that when I die she won't have a bonfire with my fabric stash.LOL.

Oh, and I am collecting blocks from some members of my guild to make a New Orleans block by block quilt to help the city and St. Bernard parish. With the devastation from this oil spill I'm afraid the situation is just going to get worse. Wish I could get Harry Connick Jr. to add his name to the project. That might help spur quilters on to do the good work.

For now, happy quilting!

Clouds in the landscape design of a quilt can be problematic. Sometimes they take over the design when you didn't want them to, quite often they look false while everything else is looking fine.

Here are some hints for making realistic cloud designs:

Some of my best results come from using a fabric that has been handdyed sky blue. If the fabric has been dyed in a mottled approach or dyed with streaks of color going across it you are lucky. You can accentuate those streaks or variations with stitching or ink painting pens to get the cloud effects you want.

The stitching can contour and outline those streaks making beautiful skies. Sometimes I get so carried away I threadpaint those areas to increase the effect. You can use thread to make darker flatter areas at the bottom of a cloud bank for thunder heads.

If you are making clouds to be appliqued to the front of your quilt try to make organic shapes not perfect geometric figures. Your clouds will look more natural. A good way to apply those shapes is with invisible polyester thread, zigzagging the edges.

Look at the sky and the clouds in them. See how light passes through parts of them and see how clouds have many shades of color within them. Thread or pigma pens can really help to get those effects. When you cut fabric for clouds do not cut cleanly cut a little ragged and your clouds will look more realistic.

One of the exercises I do before cutting fabric is to play with cottonballs, pulling them slightly apart gives me insights into clouds.

People ask me what my criteria is for fabric for my landscapes. There aren't a lot of rules. If you wish to make a realistic portrayal I do have some suggestions:

First: Look around you. What are the colors you find in nature? If you look closely, you will find almost every color occuring in nature, plus all the manmade objects offer even more colors.

Second: Some prints just do not translate into anything you find in nature. But, you have to be careful here. I might cut a small shape from something you would swear could not be in a realistic landscape or seascape.

Third: What you do need are many shades(values) of a color and it helps if you find many different textures within that color range.

Fourth: Quite often realistic portrayals of natural objects do not work in my pieces. The lighting, the shading, the sizing might be all wrong.

I work intuitively, striving for a painterly effect. Fabrics that can give me brushstrokes of color make me deliriously happy. Mottled fabrics, handdyed fabrics, these give me good effects. Sometimes clear colors are what is needed.

You have to remember you are going to cut some pieces that later you will decide are not right and remove. You also have to remember you can subtly or sharply change the fabric: thread, fabric markers, paint are all used for that purpose. Twisting and folding fabrics help with texture.

Look at the work of landscape quilters you admire, really look at their work. One of the people whose work  I admire who used odd combos of fabric was Joan Colvin. I might use part of a flower for a rock, part of some sealife might be just right for foliage. When I am working I am looking for lighting and mood. I get these by the values of my color selections.

Bright summer day, bright vivid clear colors. Overcast cloudy day, muddy grayed muted colors. You are really trying to fool the eye into thinking it is seeing what you wish it to see.

So, if you are interested in realistic portrayals of the landscape, pull out your fabrics and practice making a little magic. If you are interested in non-realistic portrayals, the sky is the limit. No matter which you choose, the most impoortant fabric is your sense of fun.