A little Matisse, another fish, a finished bookshelf top

Back in early July, Victoria over at Bumblebeans Inc invited people to quilt along on our own interpretations of any Matisse painting we liked.  I started by selecting this painting and these fabrics.

That was then.  After several starts and stops, I have arrived at this stage.

At this point, everything looks a bit out of proportion.  I will be able to fix some of that with the next additions, but it is still just my interpretation and not meant to be a real portrait.  There are several curved seams and quite a few Y-seams in this piece.  I was going to work in all solids, but I wanted to get the look that I could only get with batiks for a few sections.  When all the piecing is done, I am going to applique a flower or two to the hat.  I don't know if I will leave the face blank or add eyes.  I guess the piece will tell me what it wants.  This has been a real challenge, but I have learned so much doing this and that is what it is all about sometimes.

I finished the top for the bookcase wall hanging quilt.  It looks a little droopy in the photo, but it really is straight.  I know how I am going to quilt the book spines, but I am not sure about the background yet.  I think I will put a daisy on the mug.

I added another fish and now have a nice little family.

Have any of you heard about Cover to Cover Book Club Quilters?  They are Oregon based and they create quilts based on books they read.   Some of them are totally amazing.  I would love to start an online book club with other quilters to do the same thing.  Anyone game?  Take a look at some of the quilts these quilters have made and let me know what you think.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

Taking on the Y seam

Here is my second fish.  Only ten more to go for the swap.  I did cut out two more bodies from this strata.  I used some already made fabric for the tail and the bottom fin.  The top fin is from a batik scrap.  The water fabric is consistent with all the swappers.  This fish is 14.5" by 8.5".  These fish are a bunch of fun to make, but they take time, at least for me who is angle challenged, it seems.

I got the top shelf of two done today.  I started on the bottom shelf.  I think it is going to be a challenge to get the widths to match for each section.  Again, it is the angles of the leaning books.  I really like the way they look, though, so I am keeping them.  The little blue and yellow pieces is another story,

The other day, I found a photo I took a couple of years ago of an abandoned lumber yard.  One of the walls of the main building was a mish-mash of boards and windows of different colors and textures.  It was that time of day when the sun was glowing in reflection on the glass, making the building look like there was a fire inside.  I decided it looked like a quilt.  Then, before I could get it sketched out, I misplaced the photo.  So, I started sketching my impressions of the photo, and I think it is better than it would have been if I had the photo.  The only problem is that there are tons of Y, or set-in, seams on the left half of the quilt.  I tried re-drawing it to make them go away, but I didn't like it half as well.  So, I am going to have to learn to make them.  I started to learn a while ago, but gave up.  Thus, the blue and yellow piece.

This is my fourth attempt today, and there is still a pucker in the corner.  At least I am heading in the right direction.  Now that I have an incentive, I will keep at it every day until I am happy with the results.  Hopefully, that won't be a long time. 
Have a wonderful quilty weekend.

The quilted book shelf

I got the first three sections of the bookshelf done today.  I have one more section of the top shelf, then I start on the bottom shelf.  It is fun putting the puzzle together where the books lean.  In the third section, I appliqued a fabric circle of Beatle fabric.  MAD is a Beatle's fan, so it seemed like the right thing to do.   I am loving the fabrics she selected for this project.  I will work more on it tomorrow.

I worked on building some strata for more fish today.  I got some of them sewn together, but it got too warm in the studio, so I decided to finish the rest tomorrow.  I will make several fish bodies using this.  Then, I will try something new.
I will have more to share tomorrow.
Joyful quilting, everyone.

Some ribbons and a fish

No, these are not all the ribbons I won at our quilt show last weekend.  These are, however, the ribbons we will be handing out at our guild meeting to the winners in this year's show.  There were some outstanding quilts featured in the show.  Over the next few days, I will try and share a few of them.  I had fun making all the ribbons.  I folded the points and stitched them together using a stiff pellon button covered with batting and fabric on the top.  I used iron on labels to cover the backs.  Each one gives the year and the type of award it is.

After I got the last pin affixed to the last ribbon, I started playing with fish.  I have joined a swap over at Mary Lou Weidman's Yahoo group and we are all making brightly colored fish.  This fish block is 14" long by 8" tall.  I used a piece of made fabric that doesn't go with any of my other made fabric.  It was just the right size.  Mary Lou teaches a method she calls hootchie mama piecing, and I tried it with this block.  I was amazed at how much stress was reduced using this method.  I have already sketched out an idea of how I want to put the 12 blocks I will receive together.  I will be working on these blocks for a while along with MAD's bookshelf quilt.  They should keep me out of trouble for a while.
Did any of you read the article in the new issue of Quilter's Newsletter about modern quilting?  It sort of gives an overview of the modern quilting movement.  I don't really consider myself a modern quilter, but found it interesting. There is also a cool lesson on whole-cloth "Applique" where you do no cutting.  You use permanent markers.  Intrigued?  I am ready to try it on a small scale.  Not too small, though, as it calls for very tiny stipple quilting as it is. I also downloaded free patterns for four 9 patch quilts from the Quilter's Newsletter site.  Free patterns are a good thing.