Working on the Pond

The ducks, cattails and water lilies were all floating on the pond in my last blog. I was happy with its appearance.

I fused everything in place, while still pinned to my design wall covered with white flannel.  Then decided, I needed a little more green to spill out into the border.  So I added two leaves in the lower right corner, you'll see that they are still pinned in place.

This last addition will be fused and the composition will be complete.

I've been thinking about a title for this quilt, and so far nothing great has come to mind.  Then it came to me:  On Ginkgo Pond.  The ducks will be Ethel and Norman, the main characters from the movie On Golden Pond.  I loved that movie. 

If I complete my thread work well, Ethel and her buddy should float around in their beautiful pond forever.  Now what should I quilt, embroider or applique?  After I have spent my entire career writing and teaching machine embroidery and quilting, I am over saturated with heavy thread work. I'm going to leave more open spaces so there will be texture changes across the surface of the finished quilt.

Ann's opinion:  I just visited a small show of art quilts, and we are over stitching everything.  Why?  I guess because we can; and historically the judges have always awarded more prizes to those quilts that are heavily quilted.  From my point of view, we're not allowing the batting to add dimension to the surface because everything is quilted too closely. Or maybe I'm just tired and grouchy!

Next time I'll show you some closeups of the thread work.

Ann Fahl

In the Middle there were Ginkgoes

The designing continues for this quilt. Over the last year or two I have been trying to use the ginkgo leaf in different ways. We last left the quilt with 2 ducks and some cattails and things were looking up.  The design phase wasn't complete, I just needed to tweak it a little more.

A few lily pads would fill the space without competing too much with the ducks.

I cut the lily pads from a hand painted green that I had painted several years ago.  There is a soft contrast between the cattails and the green pads.  I like the way it is looking.  And in the meantime, I've moved the lily pads here and there at least 10 times.

The pads cried out for a lily, so I made one out of white fabric and fused a bright yellow center. Oh yes, this is good.  Well, maybe one more flower is needed.

One more tiny lily has been placed in the upper left corner.  It will be moved around many times before it ends up in the right place.

Is it done?

Ann Fahl

In the Beginning there were Ginkgoes

Isn't this amazing?  Here is the background for my most recent piece, the above masterpiece was about 25 x 25 inches. 

Here's my vision for this small piece: a blue ginkgo leaf would become a pond for several mallard ducks. I thought the green would make a soft background for the blue leaf, with a simple pieced rectangle border added. The border would add some interest but not conflict with the central scene.

So I cut a large leaf 18 inches wide and placed it in the center of the background.

So far, so good, there is nothing to dislike about what I had done, so I painstakingly fabricated the two ducks out of multiple brown fabrics.

But I'm not happy with the relationship of the leaf to the background, it looks to small.  So I removed two edges of the border and made it smaller. It is now 22 x 22 inches.  I wanted the blue piece to overlap the border.

Then I decided I didn't like the first blue leaf, and cut a new one out of Frieda Anderson's hand dyed fabric.  I like this better because of the subtle shifts of color.

Now with the ducks resting in their new pond, I like the relationship of all the parts.  But it looks very empty.  What do I add next?

Cattails seemed to be a good addition and would work with my watery theme.  I cut them out of a piece of paper to decide on size and scale.  Their verticality was a nice contrast to the horizontal feeling of the large leaf and ducks.

Using a bright green for the leaves and tan for the cattails, I carefully cut out 3 clumps of cattails.  And I think this is good.  At this point, all the elements are only pinned in place.  I never fuse until the entire quilt top is all laid out, and I am sure it is good. I'm not sure what will happen next. It's not quite complete.

Tune in next week to learn more about this wall quilt.

Ann Fahl

Sunset over Winona Lake

January 8 is my aunt's birthday. She is not just any aunt, we are rather close in age, and over the years we have become good friends. We both love Winona Lake.

As a family historian, I've written about and photographed most of my relatives, so I know lots about them. One of the things Nancy loves is her aprons.  When at the cottage, she'll have her apron on, and you know she is ready for anything. She raised 4 children and has quite a few grandchildren, so she has experienced a lot in her life!

Nancy Harvey at the cottage

When at the cottage, life is very informal. During the summer,  people are dressed in anything from bathing suits dripping wet to their Sunday best. Most likely Nancy is wearing her apron.

Over the last several days I've designed and sewn a new apron for Nancy. This one is called Sunset over Winona. There will only be one of these.  I pieced together fabrics from my stash that look like the sunset.

Sunset over Winona Lake, the apron.

I love it when I can go into my stash and just pull all kinds of stuff out, and make a complete project without having to go to the store.  When I was in 7th grade and took my first Home Economics class we made an apron using just one yard of fabric. I've always kept the diagram we used to cut the pieces.  The only difference is that the body of the apron uses 5 strips of color sewn to a wide band of blue at the bottom.  I couldn't stop here, I had to add a water lily to it.

Here is the hem detail

Since an apron is used and washed frequently, I chose to fuse the the lily and pad, then machine applique it in place.  I zigzagged the seam allowances and top stitched them. It should hold up for a long time.

Pocket detail

The yellow needed to be repeated somewhere, so I added a water lily bud to the pocket. I used variegated threads for the applique, both a yellow variegated and my favorite green variegated rainbow #809.

This is kind of a wild splashy apron, I'm certain that all the spots and spatters from cooking won't ever be noticed.  I know she'll like it.

Happy Birthday Nancy!

Ann Fahl

Winona on Ice

This is part 2 of a blog about small photo quilts.

After making the two smaller quilts, I printed this larger winter scene in 2 halves and pieced them together, to make a larger quilt for myself. I added two outer borders to frame the scene.  It is called Winona on Ice.

Winona on Ice, a quilted photo by Ann Fahl, © 20 x 15.5 inches

This photo was taken several years ago, and I always wanted to quilt it for myself. This is the view of Winona Lake IN when you first arrive.  Now that the quilt is finished; when I wake each morning, the first thing I see is this quilt! It is the next best thing to actually being at Winona! I like this photo so much that I'm thinking of having it printed on a larger piece of fabric!

Again, using the Bottom Line thread (Superior Thread)  in the top and bobbin, gave me quilted texture without covering up some of the tiny details. It was important for me to carefully detail all the cottages across the lake; as I know most of the people that live in them. I chose a light gray for the sky, but right above the horizon there a subtle orange glow, so I used a soft coral thread for the quilting. If you look closely you will see the shape of a ginkgo leave quilted in the upper right hand corner of the photo and border. So with this fine thread you can achieve interesting effects with machine quilting.

The frozen lake is quilted with light gray. The weeds in the foreground are detailed with Superior Threads # 855 Rainbow thread. It was the perfect choice. This thread is quite a bit heavier, so it gave great ragged texture to all the tall reeds and weeds on the shore nearest the viewer.

Larger photos of the quilt are on my website.

The photo was printed on "Printed Treasures" by Dritz.

After this quilt was completed, I felt sufficiently "warmed up" and ready to tackle a larger design; so I  made  End of the Hockey Season! This was a subject of many blogs.

Ann Fahl

Hockey Garden part 2

The garden with the hockey sticks continues.  I have cut out and placed lots of the hockey items that would be included in a player's gear.  Hockey sticks, helmet, gloves, bag, pucks.

Here is the hockey bag, that has been fabricated since my last post.

 

What I usually do for pictorial pieces like this is take a photograph of the object--like the gloves resting on top of the hockey bag.  I simplify the photo into sections that I can fuse together with different colors of fabric to add shading and volume.  I assemble each item and press it onto a piece of baking parchment; instead of having 20 little pieces of fabric, I have one big glove or item to move around on the surface until it is in just the right place.

The helmet was done the same way.  And I think it will be sitting atop a hockey stick in my garden.

My plan was to have a pair of skates in the picture, but the above skate has tons of tiny little pieces in it.  So my quilt will only get one skate, you will have to make believe there are two! I liked having it sit on an angle, it seems more chaotic that way--more "real life!"

What I have shown you has taken weeks to accomplish, and this quilt isn't very big.  But that's how this piece seemed to evolve!  So here is the first big reveal.

Here is the background with the pieces in position.

What's next?  The pucks have to be fabricated and so do the gloves, they are in the photo above cut out of paper.  My plan is to then add the garden elements all to make a quilt without a traditional border.

I'm going to be needing a title for this one, and I need your help with that!

Till next time.........

Ann Fahl

The importance of what you don't do............

Many of us have been quilting for most of our lives.  About a year ago, I realized that it was time for me to slow down my quilt production. After 34 years of full time quilting, I needed a break to spend time doing other things.

Detail from A Quilter's Menagerie, by Ann Fahl

In December Oprah interviewed Stephen Spielberg, Sally Field and Daniel Day Lewis about the making of  "Lincoln" the movie.  History fascinates me, especially American history and what affect it has had on our lives. The back stories about the making of movies and other art forms always brings a nugget or two of wisdom my way.

Another detail of A Quilter's Menagerie, by Ann Fahl

 Daniel Day Lewis talked about how he needed at least a year to prepare himself for the role of Abraham Lincoln. Not only does he want to research his character, but he also needs to spend time doing other things. He finds joy in being home with his family and doing mundane things like taking the kids to school and soccer practice. So he has found that he not only needs to immerse himself in his work as an actor, but also spend time at non-theater tasks.  Both make him a better artist.

Swan detail of A Quilter's Menagerie by Ann Fahl

The bells and whistles went off in my head, when he said this. I've been balancing family, traveling/teaching, and making quilts for so long, that I'm not experiencing the many other facets of life. Daniel is so right. It's OK to take time off. I don't work on weekends anymore nor make 12-15 quilts a year.  Maybe just 2 quilts a year will be right when combined with being a master gardener. Yes, time away is much more important than I realized.

It has become very important to write my family history; both for myself and for my two sons. This is a fascinating journey using all the skills I've developed during my career in business and quilting: computer word processing, investigative work, problem solving, writing and assembling a book.  Right now, with the temperatures below 20 degrees, what could be better than working in a sun filled office then learning about all your ancestors? It's good to stay home.

So if a day comes, and you decide to do something other than make a quilt; don't feel guilty, it is OK.

A Quilter's Menagerie, quilt by Ann Fahl

Ann Fahl

Variegated Thread with Fresh Salsa?

My three choices for thread in the red areas of the quilt Fresh Salsa.

You may think that selecting thread for a quilting project is a small thing, but it's more important than you think.  It pays off when you make the right selection. So now I've got this top that is a cacophony of red, green and yellow, what thread should I choose?

One of my issues with sending your top out to someone else to quilt is that you usually get one color of thread for the quilting. This would make my quilts so boring! Mattress pads are quilted with white thread, how exciting is that? I choose to use multiple threads, usually depending on the color of the fabric where it will be used. No mattress pads for me.

Learn to machine quilt so you can finish your quilt in the manner you choose!  You can do it!

Auditioning the thread. This is shown using white paper just for illustration. It should actually be done on the fabric of your choice.

 Back to Choosing Thread:

• Pull out all the colors you think might work.
• Audition them by unreeling about 36 inches of thread and letting it puddle on the project.
• Give each thread a rating:  yes, no, maybe.
• Give a second look to the yes and maybe threads, I throw the ones I like best into a basket or bowl, so they are accessible when the quilting begins.
• If unsure whether to use thread A or B, sew up a little sample of both; hold each sample up to the quilt top, and this should help you make your decision.
• There is nothing worse than having to rip out lots of machine quilting, after you figure out, you should have used another thread! I have lots of personal experience in this area.

Solid color or Variegated? This is a personal question. Most of the time I prefer to use variegated threads when I quilt. It makes the stitching more exciting on solid color or mottled fabrics. But if you are using prints a solid color thread may be a better choice.  Audition both types of threads to see which you like best.

Contrasting or Matching thread?  Here are some tips I have learned over the years.

• Matching thread will be less visible, and will hide irregularities in the quilting.
• Contrasting thread will really accent the quilting, look great from a distance, but will show everything little booboo.
• A slightly richer color will subtly enhance the quilting without being too distracting.
• Lighter threads on deep fabric will usually look good.
• Dark threads on light fabric are very challenging, all the mistakes will show.
• The choices are up to you.

Rainbow variegated threads, # 851, 814, 844 from Superior Threads

I have chosen three threads to use on my quilt, most are subtle contrasts with the rich colors in the quilt top. The yellow will look great on the small yellow areas of the quilt, because it mixes several yellow tones there will be subtle contrasts and matching colors here. The red thread includes red, purple, and gold, this makes the red areas more exciting. The darker rainbow thread looks great on all dark fabrics and will make the green areas richer on this quilt top.

The quilting will begin next.

Ann Fahl

Quilt Judge on a Soap Box

Not too long ago, I was one of a panel of judges for a lovely quilt show, in a modest sized midwestern town.  Some of the work was outstanding; there was quite a bit of hand applique, a few hand quilted pieces, some amazing pieced work, a few were absolutely masterfully made, yet there were only 5 entries that were original designs!

Pardon me while I pull out my soap box one more time after a quilt exhibit.......... What has happened to us as quilters? Quilting has enjoyed a great resurgence of interest since about 1976--the bicentennial year. Have we still not learned enough about our art/craft to create more original work? Perhaps quilting has become more of a money making business rather than an art.  There are businesses creating books and patterns, tv shows, tool manufacturers, big exhibitions and contests, there are websites and workshops to teach new ideas,  and the list goes on and on........

We can cut out all the pieces for a quilt by cranking a machine, we don't need scissors and rotary cutters. We can sit at a sewing machine, and let it do the stitching for us.  If we create a top, we send it out to be quilted. Somewhere we have lost the joy and satisfaction of creating our own work.  I think you get the idea.

Everyone is trying to sell something!

Each time I finish a quilt, whether large or small, I feel a great sense of satisfaction in creating something that is truly my own. The process of making a quilt is similar to a treasure hunt. I begin with a small idea, and I keep working on a design wall, until pleased with its composition and appearance.  Yes, it takes time to create something that is your own. Most of the time I never know what the final project will look like until it's done.  Why use a pattern, you already know what the finished product will look like?  Where is the surprise?

Ann almost feels like a queen when she finishes a new project, she feels so proud.

Yes, we all have different talents and skills.  Let me challenge all of my readers to try to add something original to each project you begin.  You may be surprised to find you have the skills to create more than you think. You will become more confident in yourself.  Sometimes this path will put some obstacles in your way, it isn't always easy. Remember that the quilting community is one of the most helpful and supportive group of people in the world.  Ask for assistance and you will find many suggestions and possible solutions. After a few projects your skill and idea bank will grow.

Please give this a try. As a community we need to rediscover our creativity.  It's in there, we just need to let it grow.

Ann Fahl

Time to put the Sun in the Garden

The sun rests above the garden.

The black "bowl" above the heron's panel is actually a cow horn headdress.  It holds a flaming sun that I created from a commercial fiery red fabric. One of the earliest symbols in ancient drawings and art is the sun disk.  In early Egypt is was shown as a headdress worn by the goddess Hathor, or seen as simply a round disk in the sky.  Now the flaming red sun fabric can warm my quilted garden.

It is now time to permanently fuse all the pieces in position.  I do this on my design wall, after painstakingly removing the paper backing from the Wonder-Under.

I thought I was done. After reviewing a photo of the "finished" piece, I realized that the panel behind Harry needed a little something.

Addition of grass in center panel

I cut out some little grass like shapes and they seemed to fill the soil area behind Harry. Yes, this is a small thing, but the empty field now has what it needs.

Now it is time to begin the embroidery.

Garden of the Sun God -or- Harry leaves the paper

I have been arranging, moving, shifting pieces of the quilt, taking breaks, looking at the quilt again, and using binoculars backwards. Taking digital photos and carefully looking at the image on the little screen of your camera can also give you another view of the quilt.  I've moved Harry up, then down, over a little bit, and finally he is resting on two lily pads in the pond.

Harry finally gets pulled off of his paper foundation.

Almost all of the elements are in place.  Harry has been oh, so carefully removed from the baking parchment sheet and pinned in place.  Originally, I wanted him to rest on the big carp in the center, but I had chosen a light yellow/green/purple painted fabric and his feet disappeared due to lack of contrast.  So, I wound up cutting the fish in half, putting the fish halves on each end, and moving the lily pads to the center, so he could rest on them. Yes I could have fabricated a fish out of a different fabric, but I loved the first one I made, so this shift in plans made everything work!

Look at the papyrus on the left you will see a similarity in my arrangement  to one of my favorite quilts On the Nile. The "swooping" papyrus that crosses over the lower part of the sashing was inspired by a gold box that was included in the King Tut exhibit that traveled the world in the late 2000's.

There is still that empty red spot in the upper center of the quilt.  The symbol of the sun god will go there.  You can see my white paper pattern in the place where it is to rest.

Garden of the Sun God-or-Harry the Heron comes back

Harry the Heron has been fabricated and fused onto baking parchment.

Needing to concentrate on the heron, I removed the papyrus and coneflowers that had been floating on the background. Doesn't he look great standing in front of his new home?  This is such an exciting part of the design process when everything is flowing well.

I wanted to make the coneflowers, one of my favorite images to use in quilts; look Egyptian.  So I drew them to fit in a diamond shape to become more angular.

A left-over Egyptian coneflower.

 I cut out more coneflowers than I needed, but that always leaves some to use for embroidery practice. If you look at my quilt Scraps of a Different Color you will see an extra one that has been inserted into a collage.  By doing this, I learned how I didn't want to embroider the flower in my Sun God quilt!  If you look at the close up images you will see how it was embroidered. Allowing yourself to play with your images and experiment with ideas is important because it helps you make better decisions when it comes to your more important work.

Here is Harry now standing among the papyrus and coneflowers.

The coneflowers have been pinned in place, with long graceful curving stems and a few green leaves to anchor the plant.  The papyrus are back in position, with a warm brown fabric that was eventually used for the stems. Things are looking good.

Why is Harry still pressed on baking parchment?  Because at this point in the design phase I want to be free to move the all elements around until I am completely sure everything is in the right spot. His beak, feathers and legs are too long and narrow to be able to shift around; so he stayed on paper until it was time to fuse everything on permanently.

Tune in next time, to see if Harry gets glued on!

Ann Fahl

Garden of the Sun God part 2

So here is the unveiling of the border.  I did struggle with possible ideas. At times of indecision like this, I will look back over my earlier quilts for ideas.  If nothing comes to mind, look through the books and magazines I have saved over the years.

For this quilt I finally decided to add an irregularly pieced border, including as many rich red fabrics as I had in my stash.

3 border strips pinned up around the edges.

Then comes the question of what to do with the corners.  Do I use a square in each or do I just continue with the strips?  Hmmmm, I liked the idea of light turquoise in the upper corners to carry out the feeling of "sky." But what do I do for the 2 corners on the lower border?

Borders are attached, the background is complete.

So I compromised.  Two turquoise at the top and I carried the pieced border all the way across the bottom to create a firm foundation for my design elements. If you look closely you will see that the bottom border is actually a little wider than the 2 sides and top.  This is a technique that I always teach in my workshops. When a quilt is meant to hang in one direction such as a landscape or pictorial quilt, make the lower border a little wider.  It isn't obvious, but it adds "visual" weight to the quilt, its purpose is to create a base for the entire composition. This little trick works well. 

The important elements pinned in place.

OK, so you aren't impressed.  But I was pleased at this point in the progression of the design.  I loved my Eqyptian style coneflowers, and the blue and green heads of the papyrus.  To you as the viewer, all the little images are just floating on the background.  But to me, everything seemed to pull together when the drawing of the bird was pinned up. I did have a few moments of indecision, because my original plan was to include 2 or 3 birds in the center. But the birds would have been sized too small to have a family of them in the picture.  As it worked out, I gave up on that idea and included just one much larger bird. It makes a stronger statement this way.

What will happen to Harry the Heron?  More info in my next blog.

Ann Fahl

Where is the Art? My Opinion...............

White Coneflowers, by Ann Fahl, my first "big" prize winner!

So I've been home from the big show in Paducah for awhile, and have been re-evaluating what I've seen and where my quilts should be displayed in the future.  As I walked through the show this time, instead of being overwhelmed by all the amazing work; I realized that my work no longer belonged there. Why? This is my same old song.  I am troubled by the lack of good design in so many quilts at so many shows. Oh yes, there were some wonderful pieces in the AQS show, but there were some that were not. AQS has been very supportive of me and my work, so I'd like to make it clear that this is about my opinion on what I see in all competitions, not just in Paducah.

What direction is the quilting world headed? I've been asking myself this for some time now, and my answer is: I don't understand where it's going and I don't want to follow along; I need to take my own path. It is  important that my quilts are uncluttered in design with strong visual impact.

A Brighter Day, by Ann Fahl, the most prize winning quilt I have ever made

I love thread work, of all kinds, but quilter's have gotten all tied up with doing too much thread work and heavy heavy machine quilting--to the extreme!  We have forgotten that the original design of the quilt is the most important element, the thread work in whatever form, just adds texture and surface interest.  As we have gone overboard on the heavy quilting, so have the quilt judges.  They are impressed by the quantity and quality of the thread work and they seem to have forgotten to consider the overall impact of the color and design of the quilt FIRST.

In my opinion, the overall design should be the first consideration when judging, then the workmanship should be considered next. In other words, only those quilts with good design should be selected from the category, then the workmanship should be evaluated to determine which ones are winners.  It appears to me that the quilting/thread work is evaluated first and wins the judges consideration so the design qualities are overlooked. This would account for so many quilts with poor design winning at shows. Yes the quilting is totally amazing on so many of the quilts today, but it isn't the only part of the art form. Great quilting cannot make a poorly designed and conceived quilt-- a good one!

George's Garden, by Ann Fahl

Whether one makes traditional quilts or original designs, quilting is a visual art form. We must step back from our work, and examine its visual impact.  Does it have a focal point? Does something draw the viewer in? Is there balance in the composition? Is there contrast between the colors and elements of the design?  Is there something that unifies the design (ties the quilt together,) such as repetition of shape or color?

Orange Coneflowers By Ann Fahl

What can you do to improve the visual impact of your work?  Take photos of your work in progress or look at the quilt with binoculars backwards. Always use a design wall to design and view the progress of your composition.  Read books on design or take a class. Look through books, magazines and websites and see what you like best, and what is most appealing to your eye. We need to take a step or two back from heavy quilting and spend more time on the initial design, this is what should "sell" your quilt to your viewer or a judge.

A prize winning or a successful quilt should have both a well designed top and great quilting!

Amen.

Ann Fahl

Quilts in Color, part 4

This blog features Barbara J. Schneider from Northern IL.

The Anderson Art Center

January 29-March 25, 2012

6501 Third Ave.

Kenosha, WI  53143

262-653-0481

hours 1-4:00 Tuesday through Sunday

All the artists have gotten a "fireplace" shot.  This one features 2 of Barbara Schneider's pieces from her "Reflections series.

Barbara J. Schneider  says  “I began quilting in 1996 and rediscovered the pleasure of working with cloth, paint, dye, and thread. My background is in visual design and I worked for many years as a designer in the publishing industry. I take lots of photos of found objects, nature, shadows and tactile details. These as well as my underlying interest in the Japanese concept of Wabi-Sabi have had a strong influence on the direction of my work.  I have an extensive background in surface design and teach as well as exhibit my work nationally and internationally. My artwork is in both private and public collections.”

 

Her Reflections series explores the concept of reflection and how to capture the essence of images that are not physically there, images made of light and movement, images that change. Her depiction of water is what draws me to her work.  She also uses other images, but in this exhibit she featured her water pieces. 

Quilt by Barbara J. Schneider,  from the Reflections Var. 1

Her work is an exploration and interpretation of natural images by enlarging and reshaping them. She collects leaves, pods, flowers, grasses and look closely at their structure and shape. In particular, Barbara likes to collect these natural objects at the end of summer when they have begun to wither and fragment. Looking at them closely and then enlarging them allows her to see them as sculptural objects. She captures the play of light upon surfaces, and shaping the pieces introduces a new element – light and shadow interacting with the undulating surfaces. 

A corner of Barbara J. Schneider's gallery, quilts from the Reflections series

Quilt by Barbara J. Schneider, Reflections Var 11

Even removing the color and designing in black and white her work is fascinating.  This quilt is very wide, but not tall, and completely filled a wall in her upstairs gallery with a Lake Michigan view. 

One other thing, Barbara included some of her 3 yard pieces, which she has printed and manipulated in many ways.  In the gift shop at the Anderson, there are several beautiful wall pieces for sale.

Barbara is from Northern Illinois. She teaches, lectures and exhibits her work extensively. http://www.barbaraschneider-artist.com

Come and visit the Anderson before this exhibit changes. 

My next artist featured will be someone without a web presence:  Rhonda Rodero.  Her work is wonderful.

Ann Fahl