Exploring Newfoundland

This "Sea" was inspired by my photos from three weeks exploring Newfoundland in August of this year.  Lots of ocean vistas, and many days of grey sky, but a wonderful friendly place to get to know.  After a fair amount of experimenting on 4x6" pieces, I developed waves that I was happy with.

For the base, I used a 12x12" piece of Timtex.  Onto it I fused the blue-gray satin, making tucks as i fused to create the wave effect.  For the sky I got out y fabric paints and sponged on some darker cloud areas, then covered they sky with fine grey net with a sparkle to it.  a line of satin stitch defined the horizon.

Rocks in the sea came from my fabric stash, some of them grayed with fabric paint.  They were slid into the wave-tucks in the satin background. Foam was created with cheesecloth (laid on parchment paper, painted with Modpodge, and then peeled off once dry.)  The stiffness made it easier to manipulate and shape.  Also part of the foam are some strips of sparkly net and the edges of silk "hankies".  These pieces were held in place with strategic bits of Misty Fuse and an occasional dab of Glue-stick so that I could do the rayon top-stitching.

This was really a challenge for me -- quite different from my more usual quilting-type projects.  Great fun and a great learning experience.
Thanks for inviting me to join the group!

The Sea - Home Before The Storm

I wanted a stormy sea, using some semi-sheer blue rippled metallic/silk fabric, and its unrippled blue, and gold twin.  I had visions of crashing waves and craggy rocks, but it just wasn't working because, to me, it looked too contrived.

I began this piece by layering some shiny brown poly/organza over batting and cotton and stitched them together with wavy free-motion quilting using decorative threads. I then cut away areas and replaced the cut-outs with the above-mentioned rippled blue and unrippled gold fabrics.

I added lots of beads and semi-precious chips, including aquamarines (water joke ...) for the waves and a pewter Christmas ornament and brooch that belonged to my late aunt, who loved her walks along the waterfront on Dallas Road in Victoria, BC, loved birds, and loved my sister and me.

Of course, no piece is complete without some glammed and glitzed cinnamon sticks!

Kapiti Coast NZ

Here is my Challenge "The Sea"
I took the photo at the beach on Kapiti coast on North Island while visiting my son in Wellington NZ.
I used shrink magic for a background and used TAP (Transfer Artist Paper) to transfer the picture of the sea on fabric (used Gloria Loughman's technique) and stitched the tiles on to the background
It turned out a tad wonky so I need to brush up on my placing.... I usually unpick my mistakes but have been to busy and didn't get time to redo it better luck next time hehe!!!!
I enjoyed making it and  can't wait to see everyone's challenges.   Happy stitching!!!
   

Coral

I was pleased with the topic of my first 12 x 12 as I live at Umina Beach, Àustralia and have the most beautiful beach at my door.
I started the piece with hand dyed silk which I treated with salt to give a bubble effect. Coral stencilled with luimere paints. I then found a little bag of embellishments that I had purchased in Paducah in 2012 on a whim. The ribbons were couched and then I added beads. A little swipe of moss green sun dyes completed the picture. Overall I am pleased with my first attempt and hope you enjoy it as well.

SWIRL

I am almost finished an 18x36" "ocean" piece for another group, so I was pleased the "sea" was selected for our current theme.

 

I chose to represent the earth's wonderful sea water and its movement.  In this piece, I tried to invoke the gentle calm swirling the sea does, enveloping bits of bubbly froth and foam.  I based SWIRL from a photo my husband took at Friendly Cove on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

The background fabric was hand painted with Procion MX dyes after protecting the froth and foam areas with soy wax.  The quilting lines are supposed to mimic the movements of the gentle side of the ocean!

I'd like to welcome the new members to this online 12x12 group as well as to returning members.  Hopefully 2015 will be positive for all.  (I'm away now so posting early.)  Oops - I didn't have the cursor in the right place but I'm sure you can figure it out! 

The space within becomes the reality of the building.

~Frank Lloyd Wright

My 12 x 12 groups's challenge for this quarter was "Structure".  "Structure" can mean many things; for me, from my nerdy engineering side, I thought first of building structures. 

 I went to Google, looking for structures and the photo below spoke to me.

Below is a photo of my piece in process; it is tough to see all of the layers.  I pieced fabric, sewed additional lines, rubbed  metallic wax on it, covered it with tulle, and then added the two circular appliques.  I knew I needed to add one more layer of stronger supports, but was not sure how I would layer them on.  

 I took a photo of the work-in-process and printed out six copies; I took a white colored pencil and began experimenting with how the final layer would look. Finally, I could add the velvet thread to finish it! 

I wanted this work to be dark and steely, but thought that one pop of color was needed, so a citrine colored velvet puff was added.  Below is my finished piece, entitled, "Industrial Pop".  Enjoy!

Quilting Bee

I have been somewhat obsessed with hexagons lately so for Structure I thought I would feature one of natures amazing builders. (Bees do build hives which is a "Structure" right) These industrious creatures not only produce yummy honey but are integral to our food production. So I decided to give my salute to bees some added colour. First I selected a piece of fabric I ice dyed this summer with my friend Gladys.

I cut the hexagons from this lovely fabric. The bee is a copy right free image I enlarged and printed onto TAP transfer artists paper then transferred  the  image onto white fabric. Once the image was transferred I thread painted it and added dimensional wings to it.

Here is a close up of the bee, hopefully you can see the dimension of the wings.