Ah, I Am Green

The sun is shining, the snow is melting and I have laid aside my brown fabrics. 

A scrap of color has caught my eye.

Not wanting to waste (that is so stuck in my personality), if I have a bit of paint left after working on a project, I use it up on a piece of muslin. Perhaps these muslin pieces are nothing but paint rags or maybe, just maybe, they are the start of something beautiful?

When I pull out one of these painted pieces, I don't feel the pressure to create a masterpiece.
I can play and experiment and there is the thought that I may be able to rescue this bit of nonsense or perhaps, a masterpiece WILL pop out.

Thinking spring, I could see trees coming alive on this mottled ecru fabric. 

I started to add embroidery stitches. 

Will this work? 

The green tree is coming to life but is it still just blending into the background? 

There just isn't much of a value difference.

French knots add texture to the ground.

I finished my Quilter's Tile off with a border and binding of a great dotted print.

Even with a fun fabric in the border, the green tree still didn't stand out. 

Out came the paints.
 I mixed a bit of yellow into my green for a spring green and painted,
not the tree, but a halo of green around the tree.
My tree is now happy basking in the glow. 

Quilter's Tile

"Ah, I Am Green"

8" x 8"

"Ah, I Am Green" is available for 
purchase here.

Linked to Off the Wall Friday

Dancing Trees

Quilter's Tile - Dancing Trees

8" x 8"

Sharon V. Rotz

Some days you don't know where your path may lead.

I had stamped on a printed fabric with both a hand made stamp and some basic texture. The variety  presented by the stamping piqued my interest.
After adding a hand dyed fabric to two sides, I brought out my needle and embroidery floss. The simple lines created by the stamp suggested curving tree trunks and the idea bloomed in my mind.

Maybe it's the long winter but the trees are so happy to not be covered with snow, they seem to be dancing with joy.

Flowers poked up along the winding pathway. (I do love making french knots.) 

Color, color, anything but white.

Quilter's Tile - "Dancing Trees" is available for purchase.

$32.00 includes shipping (US sales only)

Linked to Off the Wall Friday

Mowing Around the Violet Patch

With the warm weather and sunshine, its hard to stay inside. The grass is growing and needs a trim so with lawnmower in hand, we are out to tame the lawn.

But, STOP!

There are violets blooming

and more violets blooming.

In fact, there is a whole patch of violets.

How could I possibility mow down these beauties?

They even come in white. 

There is no way that I can mow. I've chosen to simply enjoy the scene. The bits of grass and weeds scattered in my violet patch are safe until another day.

The quilt of the day is

"Mowing Around the Violet Patch"

8"x8" Quilter's Tile

featuring 

silk ribbon embroidery and

machine applique and machine quilting.

Linked to Off the Wall Fridays

Little Bits Obsessed

Yes, I have to admit that I can become obsessed with little bits of "left-over fabrics" and that is exactly what happened when I trimmed my solid color log cabin blocks

into tilting freedom blocks. 

Follow the link to see further information on this: trimming log cabin blocks
If you love the results, you can find instructions and patterns for making fun-loving quilts in my book "Log Cabin Quilts with Attitude".

The narrow wedges of fabric trimmed off could, of course, be thrown away. That is what any logical person would do. But what if...................

I sewed these narrow bits together. What could pop up as a result?

These stitched bits seemed to fall in love with a background fabric that I was enhancing with fabric markers.

A bit was added here.

And a bit was added there.

 

Oh, this is so much fun. I just hope you are enjoying your day as much.

Quilter's Tile - Rainbow Rose

8" x 8"

©2013 Sharon V. Rotz

No matter which way you view it, may you find rainbows and roses in your day!

Linked to Off the Wall Friday

Caws for Tuesday's Tile

Quilter's Tile - Crow

8" x 8"

©2013 - Sharon V. Rotz

This week I combined ideas and fabric scraps that I used for one of my challenge pieces. 

Based on a drawing from my sketchbook, this was an inspiration for one of my secret challenge pieces. One crow flew off and was ready for a new landing spot and a new quilt started taking shape.

After piecing a narrow strip of brown into this background fabric, the background was slashed on an angle. 

Really, what can be thrown away? What scrap is too small to work its way into another quilt?

The background is getting more interesting.

Yes, a bit of border that was trimmed from last week's tile popped in there, too. 

This provided the perfect background for my crow.

I wanted to add some writing to the tile and practiced on a scrap of paper. 

Oops, when placed on a light table I could read all of the writing on the opposite side of the paper.

I guess there is a time and place to break out a crisp new sheet of paper.

After tracing the word "crow", I placed the fabric on a piece of sandpaper to keep the fabric in place and filled in the letters with a textile marker.

I added small notes about crows with a Pigma micron pen.

For the binding, a fabric strip was hand-cut and stitched on irregularly to create an uneven binding. I don't know if this worked, or it merely looked like a poorly executed binding.  

What do you think?

Friday's Tile - Blue and Wooly

Quilters' Tile - Blue and Wooly

8" x 8"

©2013 Sharon V. Rotz

After working on a larger quilt, it was fun to get back to a small project.  This tile had been started a few weeks ago and you can see its beginnings at this earlier post.

Beads were added.

And more beads created a new shape.

Hand stitching emphasized the shape.

It was a delight to see where the stitching took me.

After adding the binding, I rotated the piece in my hands. Which way was up?  Would it matter? Could abstract art be viewed from multiple angles? 

Which way would you choose?

Linked to Off the Wall Fridays

Is It Time to Move On?

I now may have enough Quilter's Tiles to tile my studio or at least tile my bathroom. 

Each one has been an adventure with an unknown outcome.

Should I continue on or switch my focus to something new? 

I pondered this deep into the night. 

There was no post on Tuesday, no Tuesday's Tile, as I thought and thought. 

I finally fell asleep and have no resolution.

So I am asking you my blog followers and friends.

What do you say?

Tuesday's Tile - At Least It's Not Orange

Quilter's Tile - Frosty Leaves

8" x 8"

©2012 - Sharon V. Rotz

This tile started nicely with a demonstration to a small group of quilters. I wanted to share the fun I was having creating freeform small feathers. I was even using red (another of my favorite colors) thinking this is so right for the Christmas season.

After the demo, I came home with my sample, ready to finish it. This could be an example of machine quilting, nothing more.

And then the trouble began.............

Out of my cabinet, jumped a tube of paint and a leaf shaped stamp. 

And the next thing I knew, there were white leaves on my lovely red, half quilted project.

Again, I'm working backward or side-ways, at least. My project is half quilted and now I've gone back to the beginning. 

Of course, there was only one solution and that was to continue on. 

Actually, the quilting above and below the stamped leaves brings an interesting transparency to the piece.

To complete the tile, I found some glittery thread to add to the binding edge. 

 Just a little side note: Don't forget to change your needle plate from the single hole one that works so well for free-motion quilting to a wider one for zig-zagging.

I bet you think I forgot, didn't you. 

Not this time and and, at the last moment, saved myself from breaking my needle. 

It's a good day!