The Photographer's Assistant

My DD came down from Edmonton for the better part of today...and we accomplished a number of things.

• We delivered The Quilt Top to Sylvia Sawyer, long-arm quilter/proprietress of Windwood Quilts just up the road;
• DD photographed some of my roses...while I held an umbrella to cast the appropriate shadows;
• We reviewed her Maritime commission options and will go with 2 fabric minis -- the one that's finished and one other... and 
• DD photographed three pieces I have in mind to enter into a couple of juried exhibits this fall.  She took the photos; I helped adjust the lighting.  :-)  She'll send me the shots, sized per requirements for the competitions...and I'll take it from there.

One of said pieces is "It's Still About the Sky"...the latest in my Master Class efforts.  In my last post I was awaiting EB's comments re: quilting.  She didn't disappoint; her thoughts were as follows:

Yes quilting skies is a problem, funnily enough that's exactly what I was trying to work out yesterday on the quilt I'm finishing right now.  I have different solutions...sometimes I just go with vertical lines - never horizontal because it seems to compress things.  and never ever those horrible wormy things that people call meandering - ghastly!!!

I do vertical, or diagonal usually...once in a while I'll look at the fabric and follow  the markings on it..and that might be your solution here...that expanding circle is really the focus of the piece...

I like to print out a few photos and draw potential quilting lines on them...and then I'll mark out the lines with a chalk pencil on the fabric to see how it looks too.

It's a great relief to me that someone of EB's stature agrees that "quilting skies is a problem"! :-)

Upon her advice, I added more quilting, following the "natural" markings on the fabric...and was so pleased with the results that I've faced it and am calling it "finished"! (Label to follow!)

Here's a photo I took of it right after facing it:

It's Still About the Sky (C) 2015
27.5" W x 23.5" L
Materials: hand-dyed and commercial cottons,
fusible web, cotton thread.
Machine pieced; fused, rough-edged applique, machine quilted

All in all, it's been a particularly satisfying month...Somehow, I feel that I've crossed a threshold...

And on that note, I'm off to bed...just as soon as I link up with Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she has a great wee post on 'critiques'.  (To my mind, EB's "crits" definitely fill the bill!)

Have a good one!

P.S. You can check out more of my daughter's beautiful work on her blog.

'Scuse Me While I Quilt This Sky (With apologies to Jimmie Hendrix)

Well...The Line Painter showed up...and laying down the road lines was easier than expected.

The piece is now quilted and trimmed...and awaits further feed-back before facing is applied.  Why?  Well...I am not fond of quilting skies and I have not fallen prey to the trend to quilt the life out of everything (i.e. to quilt everything densely)...so I've asked EB for some advice about my sky quilting...and my road quilting.  (The trees and fields? I'm not concerned!)

Here's how it looks right now:

It's Still About the Sky (C) 2015
28" W x 24.5" L (before facing)

Detail of trees, grass, sky...some road...

It turns out the most challenging part of this piece was figuring out if its sides were straight.

I live (as I may have said before) in a small space.  My studio is the largest bedroom in said small space.  I have an 18" x 24" cutting mat on a surface that's not much larger.  Trimming this piece (which started at 30" x 26") to make its sides 'even' was a challenge!  No wonder I work "small"!

On the commission front...the client (my DD) who wants the gift(s) for her friends' tenth anniversary...well...she wasn't so sure about these:

Maritime Trio (C) 2015
Painted whole-cloth, quilted;
mounted on stretched canvas;
each = 6" square

Then again, she hasn't seen them in person...just a photo of the first one (far left)...

So I made an attempt at a 'mini' in my "usual style" and came up with this:

Maritime Memories I (C) 2015
5" x 7 " matted to 8" x 10"
Materials: commercial cottons, batiks, silk hand-dyed with indigo
Techniques: fused applique, machine quilting, thread painting

I dunno if I can come up with a companion piece...we shall see!

Meanwhile...I await feedback on all fronts (my DD will be here Saturday to review!) and...I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday on The Needle and Thread Network...

Have a lovely evening!

Waiting for the Line Painter

A rainy day today, so one of the things I did was to begin assembling "It's Still About the Sky", in light of EB's recent feedback.

She wrote:

I love the title "It's all about the sky" that you've chosen - fits it very very well...the road leads us right into the sky...

And talking of sky..the  fabric is very nice but I wonder if you have something a bit more dramatic?  something Really Stunning?

Also the yellow center line is very slightly off at the bottom...needs to be a bit more towards the center...(as it is in your sketches).

Otherwise...you've used perspective well to give a great sense of depth...also size...both positive and negative spaced becoming smaller...it would be good if you could soften the yellow going back into the distance...also the road color...go out on the road and look again!! see what happened to those hues as they recede from you...you'll notice, when you really look, that the colors don't remain the same.  and you can make these adjustments with felt tips, or a little thinned acrylic...or anything like that...

Overall a great sense of distance!!   (emphasis mine)

Okay...so she misread the title...

But...wanting me to make the sky more dramatic?!  You've got to be kidding, right?

I commented thus:

Make the sky more dramatic?! You need to spend some time on the prairies, Elizabeth (grin). Some days here it's completely cloudless. I could do a thunderstorm but that would change the mood altogether so...maybe another day! I will adjust the centre line...and there are two other lines to add that aren't in the blocked piece. I may find it will be best to leave them out but I'm going to have to play with them first. Thanks for the tip about softening the colours of the line and road...I was just concerned about getting it sliced on the right angle to make it recede (grin).

And she agreed that perhaps she did need to travel to the Prairies (presumably Canadian but other prairie will do)...

So I focused today on getting the background together and fusing the fields and trees in place.

The pavement lines?  Those are going to be tougher.  I only showed her the yellow centre lines; there are also white ones down the sides that delineate the shoulders.  Studying the photo, I can see that they don't necessarily fade out or change colour in the distance; rather, they could be said to disappear altogether...whether uphill (as in the photo) or not (as in my piece)...

 As for 'other things'...

My August "Block of the Month" was finished last week, despite all of its darned bias edges...

"Boys' Nonsense"

Now...did I show you July's?

"Wild Geese"

Or June's?

"Union Square"

Or May's?

"Windblown Square"

Now you're all caught up there, too.  :-)

And as for the knitting...

P loved her socks, and they fit perfectly!  (Here they are on my feet.)

Pattern: "Angular Velocity"
by Rich Ensor

And the August ones...are going slowly...

The challenge this month?  "Knit socks in a pattern and/or colour to reflect your favourite holiday."  Now, I'm not the sort of person who does 'seasonal' decorating...and my Christmas decorations are decidedly simple.  But...it is a favourite holiday so here are my 'Christmassy' socks... er...sock (only just cast on the second; these likely won't be finished for month-end...)

Pattern: "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?"
by "knittymelissa"
Yarn: Schachenmayr Nomotta 4 fatig (4 ply) in red and cream

Linking up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...and retiring with a good book...in order to let the Line Painters come in and finish my roadwork...

All for now!  ;-)