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.

A new project and two fabric stores

My friend, MAD, asked if we could create a wall hanging for her bedroom while I was visiting her in the San Francisco Bay area.  Of course, I was very excited.  I thought and thought about what to do, and came upon the idea of book shelves.  MAD is a voracious reader, a reviewer of YA literature for VOYA (a journal about YA lit), and the best English teacher I have ever met.  Book shelves seemed like a no brainer.  Fortunately, she liked the idea. (editor's notes:  This idea was inspired by a project by Elizabeth at Don't Call Me Betsy) We found fabric she liked for the spines and a wonderful woodgrain print for the shelves.  I brought a few pieces from my stash for background and a few more books.  Then I set to work sketching, measuring, and cutting.  The photo above is the space I turned into a quilting studio for the morning.  You can see the shelving unit has two shelves with four spaces in each one.

 

I cut all the book fabrics into 2" strips that I could cut to any size I needed to match my sketches.  I put them all on the ironing board so I could pull colors as I needed.  I want to make sure I balance the values and the colors throughout the piece.  I am finding it pretty easy to adapt any space to a studio.

This is the first space laid out.  I haven't put the background in, so you can see the placemat in the background.  I will piece all of this when I get home.  Today, I am going to work on the rest of the spaces.  Then, I will pin all the books together in order for each space, and take photos so I can get them right when I do the final piecing.  I think this is going to be very cool when it is done.
We visited two shops to find the fabric.  One was in Sunnyvale and the other in Santa Cruz.  The shop in Sunnyvale is Eddie's Quilting Bee.  This is a beautiful shop with fabulous fabrics.  The first thing I spotted as we went in was a shelf of Kaffe Fasset I drooled over.  There were wonderful batiks, collections by favorite designers, fantastic Asian designs, $1.00 fat eighths, and the best book collection I have seen in a quilt shop yet.  They also had a good selection of Laurel Burch designs, and novelty prints.  I think I may have to go back to this shop before I go home on Tuesday.
The second shop we visited was Harts Fabric in Santa Cruz.  This was completely different from Eddie's.  Harts has all kinds of fabric, including a huge selection of upholstery and home decor.  There is a wall of quilting cottons in one room that is separated by color.  There are Tula Pinks and several Moda designers, but you have to look for them in the color sections.  I know some people really like this kind of layout.  It makes me crazy.   They have a nice selection of Japanese import fabric that I have not seen in person before.  They also have several Liberty of London fabrics.  These are so beautiful, and have a wonderful light hand, but they are $43 per yard.  Worth it if you have extra money to spend.  I don't.  At least I got to see and touch them. 
Have a wonderful quilty weekend, everyone.