The 7th Challenge Rules

Here's the info on our latest challenge... 

 The piece must be black and white with one of the colors from your challenge (ie. Annick who gave the latest challenge could use red or blue)   The piece must be inspired by a specific piece of art or by an artist - it doesn't have to be a painting, it could be a sculpture or even a piece of music that inspires you -- art is all around us!

Have fun!!

Lisa

Blog readers, 
Perhaps you'd like to join us and create along!  Pick your inspiration art, a color from one of our previous challenges, use black and white and make your piece 15 X 15". You can LINK UP when we reveal and share not only your piece but your blog as well.  

On the date that we reveal Wednesday, November 14th we'll have a 'link up' at the end of the post for you to access and share YOUR piece.  



CChttp://creativeconglomeration.blogspot.com

Reveal #6 Close Ups of The Last Two Quilts

“Who Says Women Are Directionally-Challenged?”

René

The challenge was you could only use red and white for colors and the theme was “Mother Country”.  I decided to take it literally because starting with myself and going back three more generations of “moms”, we just happen to come from countries whose flag colors are red and white (and a touch of blue and yellow but we won’t talk about that, lol).  We also came from three different countries, USA, Canada, Siberia and Russia (U.S.S.R.).  Siberia and Russia are now both separate countries but when my grandmother and great grandmother were born they were both still part of the U.S.S.R.  To signify us coming from different areas I made the Mariners compass for the center of the piece using only three colors.  Then to show how all of us are entwined together from generation to generation, I made the woven braid using all the same color.  To finished I embroidered the four initial of us “moms” in the four corners.  S = Susan (Stobart) Reichert, Born in Russia.  M = Martha (Reichert) McBride, Born in Siberia.  W= Winnifred (McBride) Goulet, Born in Canada and R= René (Goulet) Therrien, Born in the USA.

" Ladies Liberties"

Patty

The challenge was Mother Country using red, white and a touch of blue.  Working in the area of women's health brings to light how important the issues of choice, freedom and equality are to women in all walks of life and makes me appreciate the advantages we have in this country even more. That is what I tried to depict in this quilt.

Reveal #6 Close Ups of The Next Two Quilts

“Livin in the USA”

Marie

For this challenge I tried to think of what was ‘down home’ American and my first thought was Blue Jeans.  So I decided to base my piece around a Levis Jean pocket.  To me the USA has always been about freedom.  I discharged with bleach to lighten the blue around the pocket then stitched FREEDOM in Navy Blue and added a couple of flags.  I found what I felt was a great patriotic fabric to use as the shirt above the jeans only to find that I had incorporated WAY too much blue in the piece.  I placed a fun  ‘peace’ hand symbol on the shirt. I added the red to the sides then again began discharging with bleach to further tone down the blue of both the shirt and jeans.  I am still amazed that I managed to not ‘hit’ the red with the bleach in the process! I then painted with white to further ‘lose’ the blue.  I added addition red and white stars with stamps, appliqués, and paint, then free-motion quilted additional stars throughout the piece. I used foil to add additional dimension.     

“Fenêtres sur l'Europe”

Annick

Guidelines: "Mother Country" in red and white, with a touch of blue.  Long ago, I had decided that the largest panel of my challenge was going to be the continent of Europe.  My husband, Robert, suggested I call the challenge "Mother Country" and I chose red since this is one of my favourite colours (and it had not yet been used for any of our previous challenges!).  "Mother Country" fitted perfectly well for Europe, since I am French and Swiss, and my husband is British.  A little bit of geography/history: The Council of Europe is composed of 47 Member States.  The European Union itself has 27 Member States, and its flag is blue with a circle of 12 golden stars.  I designed my challenge with the view of incorporating the 47 Member States, therefore 44 small windows and 1 larger one which incorporates the three which are close to my heart: France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.  To symbolize the diversity of all Member States, I have used 45 different reds and 45 different whites.  I chose one uniform white background to signify the European Unity.  The larger window was made using a piece of fabric from my wedding dress and I used a paisley fabric as it reminds me of the UK.  Marianne is a French national symbol but not the official national symbol, which remains the French flag.  I therefore pencil coloured (just like on canvas) Marianne's profile (which has been used for stamps, coins, busts, etc.).  And, of course, I added the French, Swiss and British flags, as well as the European flag.

New technique: Attic Windows, and I had to work out the dimensions of all the windows, which was rather mathematically challenging (please do remember that I had to learn inches and feet - rather than centimeters and meters - when I started quilting).  And pencil colouring.

Reveal #6 Close Ups of The First Three Quilts

“The Way Home”

Ellen

I pieced a concentric series of red and white stripes in a hexagon to suggest movement toward my quilt and the idea of homecoming.  The idea of offsetting the center of the hexagon to coincide with the "o" in home occurred to me suddenly after I had planned out the hexagon and seemed to give my piece much more dynamism.  I am pleased with how the machine-quilted stars added a note of joy--my husband says that they look like they are dancing.  (He never says stuff like that!)

“Born in the USA”

Lisa

When I heard Annick's challenge of "Mother Country" with red and white and a touch of blue (if desired), I knew almost immediately what I wanted to do. I was inspired by my home state of NY and by my father who came to the United States as a sailor arriving in New York harbor during WW II. The red and white of the piece represents my father's "Mother Country" of Denmark, the Statue of Liberty is in my home state. I used a photograph of the statue and drew the design freehand onto the white fabric. I then added a fusible to the white and cut out the pieces, arranging them on the red background. The effect was exactly what I was going for and I'm very happy with the piece.

"Muther Country"  

Lois

This is my humorous twist on "Mother Country" and I titled my piece "Muther Country."  The piece is an original drawing and was machine stitched with hand stitchery and machine quilting.  It's an animated retelling of an actual event.  One evening, while living in a little town outside of Ft. Worth out in rural Texas, my daughter came home and found me on the front porch with my knitting and a rifle across my lap. Of course, I was rocking and waiting for the flower uprooting vermin armadillo to show itself after destructing my flowerbeds for days! It's a tale, not so tall, that my daughter loves to share when she describes me.  Truth be told, that same armadillo scared the bejeezes out of me a few nights later when I propped a flashlight on my shoulder all the while balancing the gun to take aim.  He must've heard me, because he stood up on his hind legs and hissed at me with his nasty teeth bared and claws up.  Freaked out, I panicked and ran.  Yup, he won that battle.  Lucky me, my hubby came home and won the war a few more dead flowers, and few days later.  ;)

6th Challenge Reveal

This challenge was “Mother Country” and each participant was given the assignment to interpret that title using the focal colors of red, white and a touch of blue.

Individual reveal photos and artist statements to follow.

Reveal #5 Close ups

René presented this challenge.  

We were given a beautiful piece of fabric

and asked to make purple an important of our piece.

FANTASY!

In the order of reveal:

"Lupine dreams in bluebonnets fields”

Lois

"The challenge “fantasy” was given and the fabric made me think of flowers back home.  As we’re in the process of moving back to Texas it seemed appropriate to depict my fantasy, the unreal thought of taking all of New Hampshire back with me!  This was an original design, first sketched, then the background fabric was created, appliqués where fused, some highlighted with fabric paint, some shaded with water based oil pastels or fabric pencils.  Stitched down with a bit of thread play and then the outer border was piece to flow with the background fabric depicting light falling across the piece." Lois

"Shangri-La: Near and Far?"

Ellen

"I was introduced to the techniques of creating a three-dimensional landscape scene in a workshop given by Jo Diggs.  It seemed particularly fitting for our theme of “fantasy” for our purple challenge.  The landscape is presented in a circular border to suggest that it is a dream.  Finally, what is the fantasy of the figure in the foreground?  Is it distant places or close at hand?" Ellen

"Melpomene & Thalia"

René

"For this challenge we were given a piece of blue/green/purple batik and instructed to use it as an important part of the piece.  The theme for the piece was “Fantasy”.  I decided that what could be more fantasy than “theatre” where everything is make believe.   I used the main fabric as my base and then wove two different colors together to form the background for the masks.  I appliquéd the masks on and then stuffed them.  I then embellished with ribbons and Swarovski Crystals to bring the piece to life.  My piece is titled “Melpomene & Thalia”." René

"Asie Mystérieuse"

Annick

"New technique: 3D twisted strips of fabric. How to depict "Fantasy" in Asia?  I was planning on depicting China with a dragon, Russia with a unicorn, India with Buddha but this proved too complicated.  Therefore, I combined strips of fabric with names of "Things That Never Were" (Encyclopedia written by Michael Page and Robert Ingpen, Parkgate Books).  Each strip represents Arabia (Scheherazade, etc), China (Ching-Wa Shen, etc.), India/Pakistan (Rakshashas, etc.), Japan (Shina-Tsu-Hiko, etc.), Russia (Ilya Muromyets, etc.) and various other Asian/Arabian countries (Draconis appadociae, Yeti, etc.) - a total compilation of 72 names.

My piece looks like a fan." Annick

"Octopus’ Garden"

Lisa

"Challenge #5 was one of those challenges where I knew what I was going to name the quilt before I knew what I was going to make! I struggled with not making it cutesy but I think there's still a little cutesy in it. I used paints, glitter glue and glass tile to embellish the piece. I used a fusible to attach the fish which I then used colored pencils to shade the fish. The seaweed is a few strips of fabric layered and then I sewed down the middle. I then cut the strips and frayed them. The majority of the piece consists of free motion machine quilting. The final touch was using a glitter cord on the binding to add a little pizazz." Lisa

"FANTASY ORBS"

 Patty

"Fantasy was the theme for this challenge using the purple background fabric as a significant part of the piece. Soon after the challenge was given, I went to a workshop at Snow Farm in Williamsburg, Ma led by Leisa Rich. We learned several fabric painting techniques and I wanted to use something I created there for my quilt, as it was a "Fantasy Weekend"! The orbs were cut from my favorite piece. It then felt celestial, and I added stitching and beading to enhance that theme." Patty

"Frolicking Fairies at the camp!"

Marie

"In our camp yard you will find the most ‘magical’ cooper solar lights which resemble flowers and are covered with vining leaves.  As dusk falls the ‘flowers’ come to life with light flowing down to the most perfect circle on the ground.  My mind immediately goes to visions of fairies dancing in the night while we sleep.   My challenge piece tried to capture that moment with the lights flowing and the ‘fairies’ dancing.  

An ‘earthy’ batik became the background.  I wove ‘lattice work’ from gold shear ribbon.  I used many different cords and yarn to create cording which become the vine for the two-toned leaves and the outer edge of the quilt.  The required batik became the ‘bulbs’ for the lights, flowing gold was added to represent the light beams and tiny beads with wing-like threads became ‘fairies’ playing in the moonlight." Marie

5th Challenge Reveal

This challenge was “Fantasy” and each participant was given a beautiful piece of batik which had many colors but the focal color was to be purple.

Individual challenge photos to follow.