Small Town Church - First Art Quilt of 2014

On the way to work a few weeks ago, I drove past this small Presbyterian church in Magna, UT. Its beauty struck me and I literally had to pull the car over to snap a few pictures on my phone. The lines are so clean, the colors so bold and true. I loved the modest and perfect beauty of this home of worship. It is in stark contrast to the huge and somewhat glamorous temples that are so commonly linked to the state of Utah. I knew immediately that I wanted to create an art quilt of this image.

Wouldn't you know it, the next week Project Quilting started up again. The first challenge was to create a quilt with fabric strings (fabric no wider that 2.5" across").

I roughly sketched out an idea of the quilt on graph paper and began slicing up the fabric I wanted to use.

I then glue basted all the strips on to muslin. After fussing, snipping and finally completing the layout, I then basted a grey felt back and a white, small weave tulle on top. Why the tulle? Since I don't use fusible webbing, the fabric can begin to lift. If I quilt with a discreet tulle layer on top, it keeps the fabric laying down.

And this is the final quilt; it is approximately a 20" square. I am shipping it off this week for consideration in a publication and upon its return, I will donate to the church. Maybe they would be happy to display it?
Here are some detail pics..

I've really embraced what I considered to be my "style". I am not fully abstract nor am I a realist artist. I truly like to focus evoking an emotion and giving more of a memory of an image, rather than an exact replica.

xo,
Jenny

Marriage Equality for Utah - Art Quilt

I've always been very supportive of LGBT rights. I remember in junior high that I would cringe when peers would use the word "gay" as a negative slur. Maybe it's the part of me that wants tolerance in the world or fairness. Not sure. 

Marriage equality is very important to me for a number of reasons, but there is one that you may not know. My husband is Latino - so we are considered a "mix race" family/marriage. I can't say I ever think of us that way, but there it is. It was not all that long ago that our marriage would have been illegal. I can't even fathom that. I can't imagine someone trying to explain to me how our love and commitment was wrong or less entitled than others. It makes me ill and I refuse to accept this for other consenting adults. Love is love, and that my friend in my opinion is what this world needs more of.

XO,
Jenny

A Productive Start to the Month

Our year has started off with so much happiness. We found out we are expecting a baby boy! Our two girls are pretty ecstatic to be blessed with a baby brother. We are planning on making the theme of his nursery nautical/ fishing -- I have been pinning ideas like crazy. What a change we will have, for the last 5 years our home has been adorned with pink, princesses and tutus. I think my husband will be happy to add a bit more race cars and dinos.

Even though I've been fending off a bad cold and have lost a majority of my voice, my energy levels are high and I've been whipping through quilt tops. In less than two weeks, I've created 3 quilt tops, completed one quilt, and create a mini art quilt. This is not my normal speed and it's been fabulous to get so much done.

If you follow me on Instagram, then you are pretty familiar with the Scrappy-Trip-Along. A great quilt pattern that utilizes scraps and comes together so fast; the tutorial is here. This block can be fashioned in various ways and they all look amazing. This quilt is for a friend of mine that just adopted a sweet, baby boy from Africa. His nursery is full of bright, happy colors. I did change the layout a bit before the final piecing, it was a bit dark in the lower right in this picture.

 Last year, my guild friend Elisa hosted a hexagon challenge using FreeSpirit's Bee's Knees fabric line. I created my baby quilt using a faux applique technique. Basically you sew the fabric to fusible interfacing and iron it on the base fabric. It achieves a clean applique edge, but does not adhere the fabrics flat together and it's super fast! 

This is the improv pieced back of the quilt. I love the bright colors and bee motif. This will be Baby Boy's first quilt.

The season 4 of Project Quilting started back up this week and the first challenge was "A square in a square.. ". I was inspired to finally create a mini art piece based on our church. Every Sunday I'm fascinated by the blue, green and purple stain glass squares featured in our parish. I've titled it "Church Squares".. Small art quilts by far are more challenging for me! This one measures a modest 8.5" square.

It was a fabulous excuse to break open into my new box of Inktense pencils and experiment. So much fun! This was on a very heavy canvas fabric. I colored the squares with the pencils first. Then mixed equal portions of water with fabric medium and painted in the squares. It is magical to watch the colored pencil come alive with a bit of medium. Once it dried I went back and filled in the other areas with Lumiere metallic paint.

 

Last by not least, I've retrieved this Valentine quilt top that was shelved last year. It was a simple and sweet construction, adorned with a bit of hand embroidery. I now have it loaded on my mid-arm, Fiona, and hoping to have it completed by late this evening.

Phew.. It's been a busy two weeks!

Modern Nativity

Yesterday I was able to complete my Nativity art quilt. Lots of free motion quilting, hand embroidery and it is gallery mounted. There is a little embroidered halo gracing his sweet head. Loved I was able to create what I wanted to do in a timely manner.. I must be gaining some of my old energy back. It is placed in my Etsy shop for about another week or so if you are interested.

Now off to finish some teacher gifts.. lots of needle turned applique going on here!

Starting to Look a lot Like Christmas

We have spent today decorating for Christmas. Oh isn't this the best time of the year? I love the decorations, the food, the nostalgia and cheerful mood that seems so contagious. I hope whatever holiday you celebrate, that you are having a wonderful time.

If you have followed my blog for a bit, that you are familiar with the Disneyland silhouette tree. I love having the silhouettes created with every visit. Such a treat to see how they've grown through the years on this very special Christmas tree.

And well... we have to get the doggies involved in the decorating. Needless to say they are not feeling the holiday cheer!

A sweet little candid shot of Baby enjoying the tree decorating. It's wonderful to feel their excitement!

And I was inspired to create a little holiday collage textile art. My nativity scene is almost done and will be listed in the Etsy shop tomorrow afternoon..

Happy Holidays to you!

Modern Cowboy

For this week on Project Quilting we were asked to create a work based off a song title. I knew immediately that I wanted to work on this quilt for my family. I've envisioned this quilt for several months and just haven't had the time to dedicate to it. My song inspiration was "Modern Cowboy" by Tesla and I was also inspired by my family.

I wish I could photograph this piece in a way that does it justice. There are a number of painted layers with thread painting as well.

I can't wait to hang it in our bedroom. I know my Cowboy's life is nothing like he envisioned, but more importantly, I know he loves it with every bit of his heart..

Quilting Arts Magazine - Feature

I've officially accomplished one of my bucket list items - be published in a magazine I adore! One of my quilts is featured in this current issue of Quilting Arts Magazine.

And what sophisticated piece of art made this happen? My quilt about never having toilet paper in the bathroom...

Yes, it's true - you can make an art quilt about anything and everything! Who would have thought that this pet peeve would make it to print..

Misunderstood