Staying Neutral

Our next challenge is all about neutrals.  Our pieces to this point have been all about using color. Now let's work without it.

The true neutrals are black, white and gray. Some however, view brown as a neutral.  So to avoid being too restrictive, we will include it in our definition of neutral.

So, your palette is:

Black, gray, white, beige and brown.  Any or all of these.

Just remember, when working with neutrals your two best friends are value and texture.

"Mardi Gras"

                                                                         "Mardi Gras"
                                                                              12"x19"
For this Triad color challenge, I chose purple, orange-yellow, aqua-green and I added black.  The colors reminded me of Mardi Gras so I had my theme. I used fiber reactive dyes sprayed randomly on white PFD fabric to get the background colors. The mask was then machine appliqued to the background and the eyes were painted in with Jacquard Lumiere paints.

The background was quilted with a simple elongated grid to mimic a Harlequin pattern. Then crystals were added in a swirl pattern reminiscent of ornate Mardi Gras masks. A close up photo of the mask and additional construction details can be found on my blog.

Such a simple quilt in design and execution, but fun to create!

Three Color Spread

Susan Christensen: 'Big Wind' - 8.5"x11"; Procion dye and machine stitching on cotton

Susan Christensen: 'Domestic Turbulence' - 8.5"x11"; Procion dye and machine stitching on cotton

For the challenge I worked with Blue Violet, Yellow Green and Orange.  Both pieces were painted and stamped with thickened Procion dye on cotton.  Batting is felt.  I finished the edges with zigzag stitching.

Variations on a Scheme

Variations on a Scheme 4 ~ 22.5 x 12"

My triad for this challenge ~ Red Orange, Yellow Green, Blue Violet

Variations on a Scheme 1 ~ 19 x 12.5"

Variations on a Scheme 2 ~ 19 x 12.5"

Variations on a Scheme 3 ~ 19 x 12.5"

More info on my blog.

summer nature study

Images from my sketch book were transferred onto silk cloth then outline stitched with a heavy weight thread. 

The triadic color scheme was added using a variety of paints and inks, then each was heavily quilted and satin stitched.

  

Each quilt was attached to a background piece of dyed and quilted burlap. 

Dyed vintage lace, buttons, beads and embroidery threads were added to fill in the spaces.

If you would like to see detailed images of each of the mini quilts, you may visit my blog here.

Let the Sun Shine In

Let the Sun Shine In

With this new challenge I decided to continue my series on secrets.  I also made the choice to have the design remain very close to constant, hoping that it would magnify the change in the use of color.

I am using zippers as a metaphor for secrets and have placed them variously in each piece.  All the zippers can also be zipped or unzipped as the viewer wishes....although that does get into the whole 'do not touch' thing.

Prickly Secrets

Population Explosion

 

Connie's quilts in the last challenge fascinated me and prompted me to buy Rayna Gillman's book on free-form quilts.

 

I ventured far out of my comfortable little box on this one, and I'm ready to crawl back in!

 

 

31" x 60"

Yellow-Orange, Red-Violet, Blue-Green

 

Because I normally work in a small size, hand-quilt the majority of my pieces and am most comfortable with more neutral colors, this was truly a challenge for me.  The piecing and slashing and putting back together was much fun.  I love puzzles of any sort ... and this was quite a puzzle!  Fighting with my sewing machine ...?  I know now why people buy long-arm machines!!!  Wrestling this 5 foot monster through such a small space is not something I'm eager to repeat.  Glad this one is finished!!!

Triadic Fruit

Our theme was to choose colors that are a triad on the color wheel. I chose to use my own hand-dyed fabrics: plum, turquoise and orange. 

          Triadic Fruit 16" x 14" 

Once I'd chosen the colors I realized I could do a bowl of plums and oranges.  I dug into my batiks to find something that would coordinate for the bright spots or shadows depending on the object. Fabric selection is the funnest part for me when I'm making a quilt. 

I was challenged by the limitations but I like the outcome. I would like to make more still-life pieces in other triadic color schemes. 

I blogged a bit more about technique and materials on my blog.

color challenge 5

FANTANGO 20"x20"

 For our 5th challenge we were supposed to select three colors evenly spaced on the color wheel.  I chose red, blue, and yellow-green.

 I love working on round robin quilts so I decided  to use this process in my challenge.

Triad

It was my turn to pick the color scheme, so I picked one of my favorites-Triad-3 more of less equally separated colors on the color wheel.

First, I wanted to try my BigShot cutting machine and did the ovals. I liked the negative space so much that I used those shapes too. Of course, Blogger put it on it's side and I don't have the time to mess with it today. The blue violet background is a sparkly cotton commercial fabric I bought when I was in Houston. The yellow green and red orange are hand dyes. They are stitch with perle cotton.

The piece seems a bit weird to me, so I did a second one more in my style. It, too, is on it's side-not my day.

The background is a hand painted piece of cotton that I also stamped leaves on. Then I couched the fuzzy yarn and applied the silk leaves using seed and bugle beads.

Here is a detail.

Whimsical Klimt

For this challenge I chose primary colors because I have always wanted to work in these colors and they fit in the triad theme.  One of my favorite artists that I learned about a number of years ago when I went to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City was Gustav Klimt. In the robes and dresses of his models he has these great geometric shapes, so I decided to follow that example in this piece and use these bold red, yellow and blue colors to create this design.
The quilt is pieced on the right and the rest is done with fusible applique. I have put beads on as well that were the perfect color for this quilt. I enjoyed working in these colors very much and hope to do another quilt in this color scheme.