Contrast

This month the theme for Sky is the Limit is contrast. When I read this, my first idea was that I should make something with black/white and red, but after a bit more thinking I decided against it. Not that I don't love that color combination, but more that I have used it too often. So thinking cap was put on again and I came up with a complete different idea. This is how it looks:

The contrast is between the evergreen pines and the lonely deciduous tree. Also you can read in it the contrast between green - color of life - and brown - color of decay/death. The fabrics I used are all my own hand dyed ones. The only thing missing is a proper title, but no doubt that will come.
I am linking this post to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday. Check out this blog to see what others have done this week.

Life's too short to dance with ugly men

Life's too short to dance with ugly men is the title of this quilt:

For the 8th time Kate organised a quilt swap - ALQS8 - in which I participated. This quilt made by Lynda Monk aka PurpleMissus is the quilt I won. I consider my extremely lucky that I now own two of Lynda's wonderful quilts. My quilt is on it's way to her new owner.

Overlapping circles

For my latest circle quilt I decided to work with commercial batiks. Usually a quilt has 3 layers, but this one has 6: backing fabric, batting and 4 layers on top. In each of the top layers I cut out circles in different sizes and in different places. By positioning the fabrics on top of each other, you get a see-through to the other layers. Here is how the end result looks like:

 And a detail shot:

As you can see for quilting design I followed the design of the fabric. Binding is done with a sheer yellow. Slippery to work with, but I like the transparant effect it gives.
And as it is Friday I am linking this post to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.

Salt mines

This time not a circle quilt - although I might use this idea for a future one - but a quilt for the Voyage group. For this group the theme this year is Earth and I am focussing on aerial views. This photo by George Steinmetz of the salt mines in Niger was my inspiration source:

Some time ago I had bought a piece of black textured felt. At that time no idea how I was going to use it, but it was the starting point for this quilt. I applied gold/bronze textile paint to it. First I tried paintstiks on a small sample, but the rubbing reduced the texture. To create more depth I glued 2 pieces of felt together. When I started cutting the holes the second layer moved a bit. At first annoying till I realised that this would give some shadow emphasizing the depth of the mines.

 

I could not find a piece of fabric with the coloring I wanted, so I painted the batting using orange and red paint. A minimal of quilting completes this quilt.

Here you see a detail picture:

 As it is Friday I am linking this post to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.

I have discovered that working in series can be quite addictive :-). For Stitched I have to create 4 quilts by the end of the year and I have to admit that they are done already. Guess I will have more than 4 by the end of the year .
For this quilt I started with a hand dyed piece of fabric which I made a couple of years ago in one of Carol Soderlund´s classes.  I cut circles out of freezer paper in such a way that only slight areas would be open. With a stencil brush I applied the paint onto the fabric. Let it dry, repositioned the circles and repeated the process. For quilting I followed the circles and  filled up the open spaces. Sofar the only downside I can find with working in themes that it difficult to find suitable titles. Of course I could just number them, but that is a bit boring. For now the title for this piece is Overlapping Circles. Maybe I change that if I find a more interesting title. Size of this quilt is 12"x24" (30x60 cm).

I am linking this to Nina Marie´s Off the Wall Friday. Check out this link to see other interesting work.