First
of all, thank you all for your comments and e-mails. I had a busy week (again some
health issues) and even though I had good intentions to write to you last week,
it never happened.
But
here we are now, another wintery week about to begin up here, we have lots of
new snow and last week had a fair amount of sunshine. Hopefully the extra
cold wind that has been coming this way straight from the Arctic Ocean is
mellowing down.
Last
October I started to make these small (10" x 10" / 25cm x 25cm)
quilts, decided to make one a week restricting myself to techniques that could
be accomplished in this given time. My idea behind these was that once I would
get going with these quilts, I would learn a lot about the process, different techniques
and practice. Over the years I have realized that once you jump off the saddle,
it is always very difficult to get back on but if I would be able to make one a
week, I hopefully would establish a routine and could keep it up. I have almost
been able to do it. I am one quilt behind, well, my 10th of this year is almost
done but then again the 11th week is about to begin. I am hoping to be able to
catch up this coming week.
I
have been asked several times what I am going to do with these tiny fabric
pictures and I really don't have any idea. I am doing these in the same manner
I draw, once the drawing (quilt) is done, I put it into a pile and that's that.
It has served its purpose, has taught me little bit and pushed me one step
(half a step) forward.
They
are here in the order they were made.
Noble
kings, brave princes
This
was the first of the year. I wanted to
use busier background and see where it would take me. I like this one, the old
king is about to give his crown to the young and brave prince that is climbing
up the steps to the castle. His tail is pointing up telling of his brave and
confident mind while the old noble king is stepping aside.
Tree
house
I
prepared this background the same time as the first one and created myself a
problem. The color of this fabric was very difficult to work with. When I
looked at the fabric, I instantly thought of birds and that is the reason I
kept it. Once I thought of the birds, I could have abandoned the back ground fabric
and taken another one, but I really wanted to see if I could manage it. Obviously
I could not, I could not calm it down no matter what I did with the design and
colors and so I quickly stitched it down and called it done. Not successful as
a quilt, but it taught me something.
Colorful
harbor
I
get so bored with my color choices at times and would really love to work with
a colorful palette, but it is very, very difficult to me and even though I like
the colors here, you really can't see the design, it is so busy.
The
Castle of Sleeping Beauty
I
wanted to play safe with the back ground, needed to calm down a bit and also was
little tired of the concept and was not inspired at all.
Fairytale
I like this one. Until this, I had mostly just
used the chain stitch and was very happy when I thought of adding running
stitches and a few French knots. This yellow was little strange at first; the
striped fabric was just right for the steps.
Promise
(of
spring).
White
fabric always takes the stage. I started with the square of the brown leaf
fabric and sort of just did what it told me to. For a long time I was not sure
about the sun, but since the sun started to appear more often in my real world,
I wanted to add it to this picture.
Heartland
It
was the Valentine's Day week, thus all the hearts... See the zigzag chain
stitch in the big heart and along the roofs, had not thought of doing them
before.
Cloud
Castle
I
like this back ground fabric. I have had it for a while in my stash not knowing
what to do with it. I have been saving it for ages... and decided to use it
then and there. I don't think I did anything new, this week was one of those
with very little inspiration to work with. The main thing was to stay on the
saddle.
Snow
Castle
I
enjoyed making this. I thought of all the snow castles in my childhood
neighborhoods. All the huge snow castles or maybe caves were carefully made by
the boys and very often were denied from the girls. When you passed by a snow
castle, it was little scary, because you could be sure that a nasty and hard
snowball would hit your back at some point and you knew where it came from but
could not tell who he was who threw it. By the late spring, all the back yards
were turned into snow ball war zones.
The
next one will be number ten. Not yet
done. But once again, I am enjoying the process
and I needed a short break from the knitting, I have a nasty blister in my
right hand ring finger and while it heals, I am sewing.
Hope
you all have a good week,
Wool
with you,
Lene
Upeita tilkkutöitä. Väritykset aivan ihania.
ReplyDeleteThey are absolutely stunning! You are SUCH a talented lady.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I have never really liked quilts - perhaps I find them visually jarring. Then I look at your mini quilts and you blow my mind with your creativity, skill and storytelling. I hope you enjoy making them since I love looking at them ;-) All the best.
ReplyDeleteThese pieces are just wonderful. The colors studies are also very inspirational to me. I find I pick the same color families for projects and have a very hard time trying something different.
ReplyDeleteI think this is time well spent for you!
Lene, your little quilts are so beautiful. I LOVE Fairytale. How clever of you to use the striped fabric for the stairs! But I have to disagree with you about Colorful Harbor. For me it is just gorgeous. I like having to take a second look to appreciate the design. And the colors! Oh my. Add me to the list of readers for whom you are an inspiration.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAmazing work! I was trying to pick a favourite, but I'm not able too.
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
Tori
I am not a quilter but love reading about your process and seeing the results. Interestingly enough, my favorite by far is Tree House, the one you don't like. I LOVE it! If you want to send it to Oregon, USA, let me know what postage would be!
ReplyDeleteWow! I enjoyed the tour of your quilt neighborhood. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYour creativity & talents abound! What unique & gorgeous quilts.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, we are our harshest critics. These are all wonderful and interesting and you do fabulous work.
ReplyDeleteI love the little quilts. You are so creative and thoughtful. Time well spent.
ReplyDeleteStunning! Love the one with the birds especially. And the Noble Prince is soooo cute.
ReplyDeleteLove each and every one! Happy you're "Back in the Saddle Again"! Thank you for sharing your art.
ReplyDeleteThese quilts are absolutely beautiful. The colors are so balanced. You are an inspiration !
ReplyDeleteThey are joyful, both the colour and the content. Thanks for sharing...I love them.
ReplyDeleteWow....stunning. I,too, often make something for the learning what I need to learn, then it goes into a box, or behind the couch. Deep down, I hope you feel the stir of talent that you so graciously share with us. Your illustrations, knitting, needlework, quilting...all tell such beautiful stories. Thank you for sharing. You are a gem.
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful your work! I would make a big quilt out of them and put it on the wall as a wall hanging...
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is, you set a very high bar for yourself! Thank you for sharing these lovely castles in the air.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your process and your thoughts on the work. It's always good to reflect on results--both good and bad! (But I think they are all lovely in their own way.)
ReplyDeleteI have only just discovered your blog. I was looking for writing on twined knitting and came across it that way. I just LOVE your little quilts. And harbour is MY favourite - I just love your colour combinations. You are making the sort of things I would like to make but I just don't have the imagination. Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteColourful Harbour is my favourite - it's like a luscious bath of silken colour for my tired eyes. Your work is just lovely and I admire it so much. It makes me want to try art-quilting but I'm afraid the finished product would disappoint, especially after seeing your beautiful work.
ReplyDeleteWell done!
Lovely, and particularly beautiful stitching! My favorites are the same as yours; especially cloud castle and snow castle.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see them all together in a quilt, making a fanciful city together. If that doesn't work for you, you could make wall hangings, placemats, or pillowcases out of them?
If they just sit that is fine, of course, but to me they are so delightful, I'd love to see them have a useful life past their initial time spent teaching you.
You are so talented, Lene. I particularly admire how strong your artistic "voice" is and how you can express yourself in so many media.
beautiful, way too nice for a child to play with, but reminds me of a lovely soft fabric book my children had, no words, just pictures, that we used to make up stories about. a friend had cut and sewed the fabric pictures. sometimes the stories changed on different nights, but some stayed the same.
ReplyDeleteskubitwo
Lovely! Cloud castle is my favorite. The background fabric looks like falling rain to me. Love the effect.
ReplyDeletelove the Harbor quilt the best and I would turn them into a book as a reflection of the year what a memory for the children later on in life. i only ended up half making one, just no time and projects that had to get completed,A wedding shawl a prayer shawl,a baby blanket then another one, now some sewing for the grandchildren that has to be finished before we go to see them at Easter.One more folder to sew and that should be finished, now to work out an edging for the second baby blanket, the one i had is not working.
ReplyDeleteYou should write a children's book and illustrate it with mini quilts. They are wonderful!
ReplyDelete