WIP Wednesday

In case you’re not up to speed on the lingo, WIP stands for work-in-progress. I’ve been having fun creating the elements required for the Dwayne Wanner workshop I’m enrolled in. This coming Saturday, we’ll be bringing these elements along with our sewing machines and putting them together into 10 or 12 blocks that will form the wall hanging (approximately 4 feet square, although Dwayne does not encourage the standard, square product). It’s far more likely to have an irregular shape.

“very skinny strips” – one of the elements for my abstract expressionist wall hanging

There are six different elements, using a range of techniques, and it will be a lot of fun deciding how to put them all together.

Work in Progress – Amish Pinwheels

I’m making progress on my Amish pinwheel blocks, slowly but surely. I’ve got 10 made (or partially made). I didn’t have enough of one fabric, so my sister took a scrap home with her and reported back that she found a match in her stash!). You can see that block on the upper left side of the photo.

This is a large block (18″ square), made from half square triangles, that I found a sketch of in the Mary Ellen Hopkins book It’s OK if you sit on my Quilt. By selecting some rather dainty floral fabrics I am creating a modern vintage look.

Amish Pinwheel blocks on the design wall

I have the fabric selected for block #11, and I only need 12 in total. Once I have them sewn together, I will have to measure to see how much border fabric I need. I’m really hoping to find enough in my stash for the border. We quilters are always trying to use up what we have (so that we can buy more!).

I’m looking forward to the next challenge, as always. On April 20, I’ll be attending the first session of  a three-part workshop with Dwayne Wanner. I have seen his work, and heard him explain his philosophy of abstract expressionist quilt art, and now I will get to work with him.

This is one of those workshops where you actually complete something! However, the last session isn’t until May 25, so I won’t be posting about that for a while yet.

Wordless Wednesday

quilt colour combination inspires jewelry

Colours and themes

I just finished two small quilts that were distracting me from some more extensive projects that I have on the go. Pleasant distractions, I must say!

In Transit II
32″ x 14″

The first is a commission that resulted from my donation to the United Way fundraiser (silent auction) at my workplace last December. My colleague Jennifer told me that she missed out at the last minute when someone else out-bid her for my “In Transit” quilt.

She asked whether I would make one for her. I hesitated a bit, because this was during the lead-up to Christmas, and I wasn’t ready to take on anything with a deadline attached to it. But she said I could have all the time I wanted, so I agreed. I zeroed in on the theme for “In Transit”, city transportation, because I work for Metrolinx, the regional transportation agency for Ontario.

Most of the fabrics depict the different transportation modes and city scenes. I let those fabrics dictate the colour choices, pulling complimentary colours from my stash.

Closeup of In Transit II

I went out looking specifically for one additional fabric, because Jennifer is an avid cyclist. I walked into one of my local quilt stores and found this fabric – Cruzin by Barbara Jones of QuiltSoup for Henry Glass. It didn’t really matter that it was the ONLY bicycle-themed fabric they had, because the colours fit perfectly into my scheme!

My quilt label

Jennifer was thrilled with In Transit II, and she was even impressed with my choice of backing fabric, which we both think evokes a cityscape at night.

My second finish is a “cobblestones” quilt, which I attribute to my discovery of Wanda Hanson’s Exuberant Color website. It’s made entirely from batik scraps (except for the backing). There are even two fabrics that are clothing scraps (one from a pair of pants I shortened, and some leftovers from a blouse I made a about two decades ago). I have titled it “Undertones”.

Undertones
26.5″ x 21.5″

For this one, I was able to piece together scraps of batting too, further evidence that I am a frugal quilter.

I puzzled for a while over how I wanted to quilt it, and ended up tapping into my “organic process” – that is, just listening to my intuition and using circles and unwinding spirals to compliment the nature-themed batiks.

With these pieces finished and labeled, I have returned to my Amish Pinwheel summer coverlet project. I have six blocks done (it takes me about an hour for each one, including cutting the fabrics).

Wordless Wednesday

laneway surprise

Women inspiring women

I have a couple (OK, maybe four) projects on the go, so I thought I would share one of my latest obsessions. Wanda Hanson inspires me on many levels, and I identify with her bold colour sense. Ever since I came across her blog,  which has only been a matter of a month or two, I have been following her daily updates. She’s one talented artist, and prolific, to say the least. I don’t know whether she has any “down” time at all.

my “cobblestones” in progress on the design wall

Here’s my take on Wanda’s “cobblestones” design, batik style, up on the design wall. I’m not quite finished with the arrangement, but it’s getting there. The process is simple, downright addictive, and for the most part, I am using scraps.

Last weekend, I took my folks for a drive north of the city to a small art gallery in Unionville – the Varley Art Gallery - to see an exhibit titled “Canada on Canvas”.

We discovered a modest exhibit in a rather tiny gallery, but there were a few pieces by relatively famous artists that I hadn’t seen before. In particular, pieces by two Canadian women – Emily Carr and Doris McCarthy – made an impression.

Home, by Doris McCarthy

Ms McCarthy lived to 100 (1910 – 2010) and she lived and worked for many or most of those years atop the Scarborough bluffs, where I lived for a few years.

I can visualize her “Home” painting interpreted in fabric … inspiration for another day!

Wordless Wednesday