Drinking in Color

When you wake up to a color display outside your window, how can you ignore it?

There will be no sewing done today as I drink in color and more color, breathing it and absorbing it. All too soon the gray days of November will be upon us so I have to get my color fix now.

The brilliant maples draw my attention.

The landscape is enchanting.

I am captured by the combinations of color.

Praise God for the beauty that surrounds us.

Tuesday's Tile - Twin Pines

Quilter's Tile - Twin Pines

8" x 8"

©2012 Sharon V. Rotz

No, not identical twins but the kind where each has its own serendipitous personality.

I recently enjoyed a mini class with Rene Iannarelli on different ways to piece trees. Great ideas!

Trees were on my mind as I was string piecing, so thought that I would try string piecing some pines.  I covered these two muslin foundations with bits of green.

After trimming the pieced section into a triangle, I stitched a sky fabric on the edge. 

This was trimmed into a vertical rectangle.

Soon I had sections pieced and ready to put together.  I did trim the sections larger than I thought was needed. Good thought, maybe I've learned from all those years of making blocks only to find that they were a bit too small.

I pieced my sections together

and added quilting.

  Off the cuff and totally spontaneous, what fun I had making this quilt.

I think that I spent more time picking out the fabric for the binding than I did for the rest of the tile.

Don't Be Left Out

Photos cannot do this exhibit justice.

Enjoy the color, textures and patterns of fiber art 

at the Nicolet College Art Gallery in Rhinelander, WI.

Fine Art Fiber

September 15 - October 6, 2012

Fiber Art of Pat Gaska, Gale Wilcox,

Louise Schotz, Pat Kumicich

and Sharon Rotz

Artwork by Louise Schotz, Sharon Rotz and Pat Gaska

Beadwork by Gale Wilcox

Artist Gale Wilcox, Gallery Director Katy Ralph, myself and Artist Pat Gaska

at the Opening Reception 

We all invite you to travel to the Northwoods of Wisconsin,

 enjoy the colorful autumn season and view our artwork in person.

Quilter's Tile - Strings and Petals

8" x 8"

©2012 Sharon V. Rotz

What can you do with a gelatin print that may (or may not) be a favorite?

It was fun exploring gelatin printing in a recent class. In this print, I printed twice. After the first print, I removed the elements and re-printed over the first print. Is this a real technique or did I just make up or mess up what I had?

Of course, the real question is: What will I do next?

Still thinking string piecing, I made a section to add to the printed block. (You will notice that I used fabrics from last Friday's blog post.) I stitched a row of narrow rick-rack to the edge.

I pressed the seam allowance to the back, leaving half of the rickrack showing forming a clean-finished edge.

Stitching in the ditch (stitching only through the narrow rick-rack edge), I top-stitched the string pieced section to the block.

Machine quilting added definition to the edge of the flower.

One of those many machine stitches that I rarely use was a perfect edge for the circle.

More machine quilting completed the design.

Oh, yes, a few were beads were in order,

and the binding was the last step. 

Beginnings of a New Quilt

 A new quilt idea has been running back and forth in my head. Yesterday, I started playing around with pencil and paper in hand and came up with this.

After drawing the design, I gridded the paper to help with the placement of the sections as I construct them.

 I traced one of the sections unto muslin. I marked the grid lines so I would have these registration marks for joining the sections into a whole. 

I am string piecing this section with a stitch and flip method.

After stitching the strings unto the muslin, I trimmed with a 1/4" seam allowance.

I stopped to admire the right side

and placed the string pieced section in place on the design.

What will come next? Where will this lead? What changes will happen along the way?

Tuesday's Tile Raided the Jewelry Box

Quilter's Tile - Silver, Bronze and Gold

8" x 8"

©Sharon V. Rotz

Are you looking for an added accent for your quilting project?  It could be as close as your jewelry box.

I have a collection of jewelry that I will no long wear but some of it just could show up on a quilted piece.

A pair of earrings found its way into this Quilter's Tile. 

First, I used Shiva Artist's Paintstiks to add a design to my fabric. The metallic paint was then enhanced by beads and the bronze and gold earrings. 

Hand-stitching with silver and bronze metallic thread completed the tile.

(By the way if you were counting, I really don't have three ears. The third piece came from the matching pin.)

Fine Art Fiber Exhibit

Uninhibited Growth

©Sharon V. Rotz

You are invited

Fine Art Fiber 

Saturday, September 15 - October 6, 2012

Nicolet Art Gallery

Nicolet College

Rhinelander, WI

Five artists are highlighted in this rich exhibit of fine art quilts and beadwork. Featured are Pat Gaska, Louise Schotz, Gale Wilcox, Pat Kumicich 
and Sharon Rotz.

Greet the artists at the Opening
 Saturday, September 15th
5-7 pm

The Fine Art Fiber Fair is 

Saturday, October 6

10 am - 4 pm.

Meet and interact with the fiber artists as they present live demonstrations.

This event is free and open to the public.

See you there.

Reflecting on Tuesday's Tiles

Quilter's Tile - Serging Added

8" x 8"

©Sharon V. Rotz

Today was a good day to reflect on previous tiles to review what I have learned from them and perhaps provide new direction for future projects.

One of my very first tiles included serged cord. (Again, using my serger as a quilting tool as I have mentioned in my previous post.)

Quilter's Tile - Looking at a New Age

8" x 8"

©Sharon V. Rotz

I think this is my favorite Quilter's Tile. Did I hit on colors that grabbed me?

Is it combination of fabrics and paint?

Or is it the variety of shapes, textures and stitches?

Quilter's Tile - Undergrowth

8" x 8"

©Sharon V. Rotz

This tile reflects the freedom of improvisational piecing which I continue to explore. Adding hand embroidery also keeps popping up. Is it the joy of holding needle and thread or the texture that each tiny stitch brings to the completed project?

Quilter's Tile - Purple Tree

8" x 8"

©Sharon V. Rotz

It's been exciting to try new techniques or those which I haven't visited for a while.

This tile uses a heavier thread placed in the bobbin and stitched from the reverse side.  Color is added with a purple colored pencil.

These small tiles are a wonderful place to try different ideas for bindings. Here a cord is stitched to the inner edge of the binding.

Quilter's Tile - Falling Leaves

8" x 8"

 ©Sharon V. Rotz

Continuing on with binding ideas, the binding for Falling Leaves uses two fabrics.

The tile is made from fabric stamped with a hand made stamp and fabric paints. The tree is fused on using a sheer fabric and the project is free-motion machine quilted.

What a wealth of ideas are used in these small tiles! Exploring on a small scale can quickly give us the needed background for our large artworks. 

What have you explored today?