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.

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.

"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.