Thursday, February 22, 2024

Hourglass Quilt Block Cards - Project Quilting

 

Hourglass quilt square cards, 4" x 6", made by Pam Geisel for Project Quilting, Season 15, Challenge 4: Hourglass

Recap for "Hourglass":

You must use an hourglass SHAPE in your project, but you do not have to use the exact hourglass BLOCK.

It's a busy week; between work and a custom quilt, and an upcoming workshop, I knew it was going to have to be a small project. I was interested in how the Hourglass quilt block would work with a striped fabric and the only stripe from my stash that spoke to me this week was a rainbow stripe. 

I used the Scrapish.com Hourglass tutorial which is very easy and yields two complete squares, although that meant one of the stripes was going horizontal (which was what I was envisioning) and the other has the stripes going vertical (and also lining up) which I think helps reinforce the concept of an hourglass. I used the rainbow dot fabric because I thought it was fun: it was a complement to the colors in the stripe but a contrast in the shapes.

For this week I made four quilt block square cards. Usually the quilt squares that I make for my cards are either Pinwheel variations, Nine Patch, or occasionally Four Patch, but I think I will make more of the Hourglass squares using stripes.

Be sure to check out the other creative interpretations on the Hourglass block at the Project Quilting page.

More about Hourglass Quilt Square Cards

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Click on any of the photos to see larger images.

Read more about Project Quilting

To see other entries for this challenge, visit the Hourglass page.

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

In the Garden of My Heart - Project Quilting

 

"The Garden of My Heart" 16" x 9", made by Pam Geisel for Project Quilting, Season 15, Challenge 3: Inside Out

Recap for "Inside Out": 

Some part of your project must thematically or literally be inside out.

As I was thinking about this challenge, I remembered my art quilt "Life is Like a Box of Chocolates," where I took a quilt that was already quilted and cut it into 5" squares and machine raw-edge appliqued those squares to the background in a different arrangement leaving the batting visible on the sides. I also remembered that I had a piece that I'd started for Project Quilting's 2015 "Focus Through the Prism" challenges that was pieced and quilted but didn't work out the way I wanted to, so I cut it up and made some quilted postcards for later Project Quilting Challenges including two Modern Art Postcards and two 3D Flying Geese pieces that ended up being framed.

I was down to just a few pieces but I was able to cut out five hearts (sorry, it's hard to see the hearts that I traced on to cut around).


So this is two ways this piece is "Inside Out" because the hearts were previously quilted with batting, the batting shows around the edges and because the heart is an organ that's supposed to be on the inside.


To keep with the inside out theme, some of the pink fabrics piece for the background show the wrong side of the fabric (a technique I utilized back in season 2 with "Sometimes I Dream of Flying" because I didn't have enough green options...and a side note, I once bought a commercially made sundress partially because it had the wrong side of the fabric facing out). I also created the quilt backwards by quilting and binding with a facing before I started adding the flower hearts on the stems.


Here you can see the batting at the edge of the heart.


There's a yellow/green/blue variegated ribbon sewn on top of the stems and also framing the piece. Green heart-shaped are used for the leaves, and there are also two pink heart-shaped buttons on two of the flowers, and four smaller red heart-shaped buttons in the four corners.

More about In the Garden of My Heart

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Click on any of the photos to see larger images.

Read more about Project Quilting

To see other entries for this challenge, visit the Inside Out page.

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Lavender Haze - Project Quilting


"Lavender Haze" art is 5" x 7", frame is 7" x 9", made by Pam Geisel for Project Quilting, Season 15, Challenge 2: Sky Color

Recap for "Sky Color":

Take inspiration from the colors of the sky, but exclude or use less than 10% of the usual blue.

I've made many quilts with skies, including some that weren't blue. On piece that I made for a Project Quilting Off Season Challenge was even titled "Red Sky at Night."

Pretty much all week here in southwestern Ohio, the sky has been gray. And while I don't have anything against the color gray, I prefer my skies to have more colors. I had several things that kept me from even really thinking about this challenge until the end of the week and no sudden inspirations until I looked into my kitchen cabinet and saw this mug.

Last summer we went on vacation to the west coast, and one of the places we stayed was Orca's Island which is on the western edge of Washington State, practically in Canada. We were fortunate to be there for their Solstice Parade which was very cool. Another cool thing was the Orca's Island Pottery where they have an amazing tree house and lots of pottery. My husband bought a mug. Our two friends who we were with each bought a mug. Bowing to peer pressure, I also selected a mug, the one shown, and I just love the colors. When I saw it in my cupboard, I realized they are sky colors, so I used this for my inspiration for this week, although I flipped the purples so the darks were at the top. I also eliminated the blue and focused more on the pink tones.


I call these small framed pieces Fabric Mosaics, and I haven't made one since 2019. I take small pieces of fabric, arrange them, fuse them down, cover with a piece of sheer tulle, then quilt everything in place.


In this one I added a few pieces of colored sheer fabrics beneath the larger piece and also added a round shell and some extra tulle on top. I hand stitched around the "moon" with some white embroidery floss.


I also couched a piece of yarn on top of the tulle and added some small pink pre-embroidered flowers with seed beads in the center.

More about Lavender Haze


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Click on any of the photos to see larger images.

Read more about Project Quilting

To see other entries for this challenge, visit the Sky Colors page.

Sunday, January 14, 2024

Rainbow Pinwheel Birdhouse - Project Quilting

 

"Rainbow Pinwheel Birdhouse" 8" x 10", made by Pam Geisel for Project Quilting, Season 15, Challenge 1: Bird House


Recap for "Bird House":

Use the inspiration of a bird’s house for your project.

It's time again for Project Quilting...this is the 15th year! A little recap by the numbers:
  • 729 quilts I've made to date
  • 268 (almost 40%) of these are art quilts
  • 80 (just over 10%) have been made for Project Quilting
  • 9 of these quilts have had a bird on them (including 3 PQ quilts: "Sometimes I Dream of Flying," "Louie," and "Tweet Dreams")
  • 1 framed fabric mosaic (not a PQ piece) had a bird's nest on it ("Home Tweet Home")
And for PQ 4.4 "Wish Upon a Star" I made a birdhouse ("Make a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul." After making that piece I made 15 more birdhouses!

I wasn't sure if I wanted to make another bird house for this challenge so I considered lots of other bird's houses but nothing was really speaking to me until I came across a photo of a quilt that was made of brightly colored pinwheels.


Now the Pinwheel block is probably my favorite block and I love the other patterns that develop when pinwheels are placed next to each other. But what I saw in this photo was that a birdhouse could be made using a pinwheel block for the bottom with the pointy part made from part of a pinwheel block above it.


I embellished it with multi-colored zig zag band for the roofline and colorful buttons that were shaped as both stars and hearts.


And the backing fabric? Birds of course!


A dozen other birdhouses. More about these are on my blog.

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Click on any of the photos to see larger images.

Read more about Project Quilting

To see other entries for this challenge, visit the Bird House page.

Thursday, January 11, 2024

"Women's Work" in OH+5 2024 at the Dairy Barn in Athens, OH

 


My piece Women's Work is in OH+5 2024 at the Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens, Ohio. The exhibit is open January 19 through March 10 with a reception on Friday, January 19 from 6–8 pm (I will not be there). The gallery is located at 8000 Dairy Lane, Athens, OH and is open W–Su noon–5pm.

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

"How Letters Look" word quilts featured in Art Quilting Studio magazine


The Winter 2024 issue of Art Quilting Studio is out and I am all over it...literally! I have and article titled "How Letters Look," which is also mentioned in the intro letter.





I have an answer in the "What Would You Do" section, and two quilts are featured in the "Patchworks" section: "Women's Work" and "Peace Wheel." 


Art Quilting Studio is published quarterly and is packed full of new quilting techniques and innovative design ideas.

It is one of many publications put out by Stampington & Company. I've heard it's available at some Joann stores. You can find a store near you where it's sold or order it directly from the Stampington website.

Thursday, December 7, 2023

The Art of the Quilt, Hyde Park, MA


A litter farther from home, two of my pieces, Journey and Time Lapse Moon Rise are in The Art of the Quilt at the Menino Arts Center in Hyde Park, Massachusetts. That exhibit is open December 14, 2023–January 21, 2024 with a reception on Saturday, December 9 from 3–5 pm (I will not be there). The gallery is located at 26 Central Ave. in Hyde Park, MA and is open W–F 10–4 and Sa 10–noon. There is an on-line gallery of the quilts in the show on their website.