Abstract would be my style...

if I were a painter!

However, here I have been working with textiles following my design of collaged magazine rip-outs: the last picture shows the 6 finished 12" quilts, the first picture is of the design. The goal was to work outside of my comfort zone, well that mission has been accomplished for sure, by using these pastel colours, by the more or less organic shape of the patches and by the techniques used. Though I have never worked in this colourcombination before, I like the results and I am going to hang three of them in a vertical row in our hallway at home.

* method: all quilts started as white pfd cotton, which I painted/sprayed with textile paint first, following the design. The individual patches were then cut and laid out according the design, considering where to overlap, what to applique first etc. All sewing is done by machine, including the freemotion quilting. I don't have a plan before I start quilting, I just start and follow the needle (and the patches), if feels a bit like drawing, doodling. Finally I put on a split sleeve, in which I slip a long bamboo skewer. This works well on these little pieces that are almost weighing nothing. It appeared to be difficult to get all six pieces at excactly the same size, however, the differences are not disturbingly big. As you may see, I changed my direction in choosing colours somewhat during the process, the upper left one has been made last and the colours are way more strong than in the original design, I guess I was being 'fed up' by the pastel pink by that time ;-)

* used materials: cotton/organza/lurex/decorator fabric/recycled clothing fabric , wonder under fusible web, textile paint, acrylic paint, fray check, cotton batting and backing

*size: appr. 12.5 " x 12.5 "

Thanks for visiting today!

Nr 4 & 5

# 4 and 5 of the Translation series,

finishing #6 today, having fun and

feeling a bit proud...

Happy Easter

I hope you all enjoy the Easter Holidays,

grtz,

Regina

Today

will be busy!

I want to finish my designed (!) little quilts, have to buy groceries for the little Easter holiday that lies ahead, and when there is some time left you might find me at this terrace at the lagoon...

Have a great Thursday!

Btw: on my Facebook there's my weekly Tropical Thursday foto presentation (in the above format). You might consider becoming a FB-friend and have a look at them...

Trip around the island

Sometimes we do just that: driving around and see what's up.

This is the very dramatic Cupecoy beach. A lovely beach, which is continuously threatened by project developers...

Cotton plants galore along the dirt road that leads to this beach

(clickable image)

Coconut with fungus; I see a lot of these trees that are infected. Still I like the effect!

On another note: my translation series is slowly progressing. I hope to finish nr. 4, 5 and 6 by the end of this week. My days are furthermore filled with walking on the beach, body balance class two times per week, learning Spanish, reading (just finished Handle with Care by Jody Picoult, great book!), well that's about it. Even without a paid job days are too short ;-)

Thanks for visiting! (ps. like everybody Ilove comments...)

A perfect day

on this perfect beach on the island of

Sint Maarten

swimming, sunbathing, reading,

no time to blog!

That will follow in the days to come!

Playing around with images

I made this storyboard and just like the result.

No deeper meaning, just my love for traveling, colours and making pictures and collages combined

Possibilities...

The other day I received a big plastic bag from a friend. " They are kitsch, they are not my style", she said, "I would throw them away unless you want them..."

Want them??? Throw away?? No way!

So now they are waiting for me, until it's time to temporarily change from cloth and paper to beads and jewelry, omg, thinking of all possibilities...

Have a lovely, creative Wednesday,

grtz. Regina

The Series (continued)

The original design

(collage of magazine rip outs and pastel crayon on paper)

Translations #4

My interpretation in fabric. Trying to follow the design as closely as possible, while at the same time allowing me freedom if I want to.

It is a true balancing act, for if I allow myself too much freedom I fall back into old habits and favorite choices, and the goal was to work outside my comfort zone.

The three little art quilts I made until now do look very well together, also combined with the larger panel shown in this post. I look forward to make the next three, but that will be next week.

Today is beachday!

thanks for visiting, as always,

Have a great Sunday,

Regina

Halfway

This is the original design in paper that I referred to in this post.

This morning I finished nr. 3 , so I am halfway now and still enjoying this way of making art quilts!

The work below is my fabric translation of the top right design.

As you can see I have allowed myself more freedom already in my choice of fabrics, for I chose a rather painterly part of the top I mentioned instead of the pastel yellow part of the design. Though this fabric makes the work somewhat busy (maybe even very...), I still like the total effect.

Now nr. 3 is also finished, I see big possibilities in combining these in all kind of sequences. I just have to make sleeves for hanging these, will do that once the six are all ready. It's likely I will make a divided sleeve, so that I can hang them both horizontally and vertically.

Translations #3

13 x 13"

hand dyed and painted cotton, organza, polyester, arylic paint

raw edge applique, machine quilted

Thanks for visiting, to be continued...

I'm having a blast!

This is the first one in a series of 6. I described my way of working in this post and it is leading to surprises and lots of joy!

Translations # 2

13 x 13"

hand dyed cotton, decorator fabric, organza, polyester,

fused, machine stitched and quilted

The original design.

It is looking somewhat simple, but in the series of six it fits perfectly, will show a picture of that in my next post. I have overcome the big brown area with some of my favorite gold lame. The black fabric is a recycled top I sewed and hardly wore because it did not flatter me. I remember buying it at a market in Breda (NL), after having visited the annual exhibit of the Dutch Quilters Guild somewhere in the nineties; I do have a shawl and a little vest of the same fabric that I wear every now and then and still like. In the meantime I am proceeding with the other parts of this experiment, tune in to see the results in the next days.

Thanks for visiting!

Regina