Waving in the Wind - free motion quilting cameo 27

A bit of a break from the black and white theme for this post. It is time for another fmq cameo.

Waving in the Wind - free motion quilting cameo 27

This is one of my motifs that was born of putting pencil to paper and just watching and waiting to see what happens, going with what I like, dropping what I don't and constantly trying out the 'what ifs'. For me it evokes crops waving in a summer breeze. Although the line crosses it is a continuous line and has a nice swing to it. I think it looks better stitched all in the same direction, which is a bit of a pain because it means you have to stop at the end of each row and start on again for the next.

Thanks for dropping by..

Hilary Florence

P.S. I'm linking this post to:

WIP Wednesday at freshly pieced   @   http://www.freshlypieced.com/

WOW = WIPs on Wednesdays  @ http://www.estheraliu.blogspot.co.uk/  

WIP Wednesday at TN + TN  @ http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca 

­­­­I Quilt Thursdays http://prettybobbins.com/

Really Random Thursdays http://www.liveacolorfullife.net/
Off the wall Fridays @ http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.co.uk/

Fabric Frenzy Friday @ http://fortworthfabricstudio.blogspot.co.uk

Friday linky party @ http://www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.co.uk/
Do go and have a look at some of the other fantastic quilts there.

To cut or not to cut?

 Actually, that isn't  the question. The black on white quilted piece shown in progress last week, is now finished. The question is, how do I cut it up?

I admit, I am very nervous now. If I get this wrong, a lot of work will to to waste, so for the moment I am still working with my paper layouts. Here are some more.

The shapes are quite nice, but the layout gives a very boring negative space...

so a couple of different arrangements...

a few more with a kind of 'zipper' effect, playing around with the amount of separation between the right and left sides...

or in alignment...like this one, interesting negatives spaces...

could this be the one???

thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

P.S. I am linking this to:

Linky Tuesday at Free motion by  the river­­­­ @ http://www.conniekresin.com/  

Fabric Tuesday @ http://quiltstory.blogspot.co.uk/    

Sew cute Tuesday @ http://www.blossomheartquilts.com/ 

Show and tell Tuesday @ http://ihavetosay.typepad.com/randi/

Let’s Bee Social @ http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.co.uk

WIP Wednesday at freshly pieced   @   http://www.freshlypieced.com/

WOW = WIPs on Wednesdays  @ http://www.estheraliu.blogspot.co.uk/  

WIP Wednesday at TN + TN  @ http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca

We did it Wednesday @ http://www.sewmuchado.com/

Off the wall Fridays @ http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.co.uk/

Fabric Frenzy Friday @ http://fortworthfabricstudio.blogspot.co.uk

Friday linky party @ http://www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.co.uk/
Do go and have a look at some of the other fantastic quilts and quilters there.

Black and white layouts - playing around

I showed this piece in a post last week and said when it was finished (there is about twice as much still to quilt) I would cut it up and applique it.  I have some hand-dyed charcoal material for the background which I will quilt in black - probably in pebble or some other overall pattern.Quite a few visitors were very curious to see how I chop it up. Well, so am I!!

I got out some black and white paper and started playing with layouts. For the next few posts I'll show you some of the ideas I have come up with - although I haven't yet decided which - if any - of them I will use. Today's layout is mostly squares, starting with just a few...

These just landed on the paper like that as I was cutting... so I added a frame...

but it is very basic, so I added more squares...

again framed, playing with strips of different thickness...

felt it still needed more squares...

more or less happy with those square, so now trying out different frames. Elements to play with are thickness of strips, weight given on each side by thickness/number of strips and the negative space between strips.

I'm not quite sure about the thick strip on the base...

and then if you turn it on it's side the whole thing looks different again...

These are just ideas. What is black might become white and vice-verse. The only reason it is this why around is because I have bigger sheets of white paper than black!

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

P.S. I have linked this post to:

Off the wall Fridays at http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.co.uk/#

Show off Saturdays at www.sewcanshe.com

 Do go and have a look at the other quilts and quilters there.

Trio of Leaves - free motion quilting cameo 26

Trio of Leaves - free motion quilting cameo 26

This is a spin off from the previous post 'Leaf Triplets'. The leaves have become more stylised and symmetrical. The curved stem has gone and the straight veins jet out at a 90 degree angle, each vein with an ending - triangles for the first leaf, circles for the second and kites for the third.

Thanks for stopping by...

Hilary Florence

Work In Progress

I like the idea of work in progress Wednesdays, but up until now, I have been busing working on a quilt for the British Quilt and Stitch competition and haven't been able to show that. Now I've finished that - all but the binding - I can join in the WIP fun!

This is going to be a black and white piece - not sure yet how it will work out, but this cloth will be cut up and appliqued when it is finished. Oh, by the way, as you can perhaps see, I haven't marked anything - not even the columns. I believe in learning to love your wobbles!!

Thanks for stopping by...
Hilary Florence

P.S. I have linked this post to:

WIP Wednesday at freshly pieced      http://www.freshlypieced.com/

WOW = WIPs on Wednesdays http://www.estheraliu.blogspot.co.uk/  

WIP Wednesday at TN + TN http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca

­­­­I Quilt Thursdays http://prettybobbins.com/

Really Random Thursdays http://www.liveacolorfullife.net/

Do go and have a look at other fantastic quilts and quilters there!

Leaf Triplet - free motion quilting cameo 25

Leaf Triplet - free motion quilting cameo 25

The vase majority of my designs come from just sitting with pencil and paper and doodling. Sometimes I have an idea already in minds eye that need developing on paper, sometimes I have no idea and just wait to see where my hand takes me. That doesn't mean that I am blind to inspiration elsewhere.  The above leaf was inspired by wallpaper. The design was printed with a vast array of flora and fauna, but this one leaf immediately stood out as a potential fmq motif and I think it works well. It would be a bit fiddly to make, but it would also work well as a stamp. Although each leaf is a continuous line - up  one side and down the other, making the steam as you go along - each leaf requires a start and stop.

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

P.S.   I've linked this post to   'Anything Goes Mondays' at  http://marelize-ries.blogspot.co.uk ,
 'Linky  Tuesday' at http://www.conniekresin.co.uk, 'Fabric Tuesdays at http://quiltstory.blogspot.co.uk, 'Sew Cute Tuesday' at http://www.blossomheartquilts.com  and last but not least 'Show and tell Tuesdays' at http://ihavetosay.typepad.com/randi/.    Do go and have a look at some of the other fantstic quilts and quilters there.

Leaf Print - free motion quilting cameo 24

Leaf Print - free motion quilting cameo 24

We are back to parallel lines. They are oh so flexible and rich in potential. I'm sure I have seen this idea in a drawing somewhere, but I can't remember where and when. Evidently I filed it away as inspiration for free motion quilting. Like the Funky spider web - this would be a great design for simple plain squares, especially if you kept to the idea of filling in the space between veins with parallel lines, but changed the size and shape of the leaf. Now there is an idea!

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

Funky Spider Web - free motion quilting cameo 23

There is nothing original about parallel lines and spiral, but I'm rather fond of this funky spider web. I always like playing around with the dimensions of a motive - making it bigger or smaller. I find these 3 motifs work well together and giving the web nine arms lends a nice symmetry. I haven't yet tried the idea with other motifs - but I'm filing the idea. I have a quilt top of 6" squares that I made in my very early days of dyeing (idea was to see how many colours you could make using just 3 dyes). I have never got around to quilting it. This might must be the job. Watch this space!

Thanks for dropping by...
Hilary Florence

Hourglass - free motion quilted Cameo 22

Hourglass - free motion quilted Cameo 22

Rows of hourglasses flow across the page in gentle lines. Symmetry across the horizontal axis means this one looks the same quilted forward or backward. Depending on the space to be filled, the hourglass can be tall and skinny, or short and fat. It is interesting to see how that can quite alter its character. There is a good juxtaposition of angles, straight and curved lines - although some of the 'staight' lines can also be given a bit a curve if wished.

Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

A bit of colour and something a bit different

When I decided to do my project of 101 free motion quilted cameos, I chose indigo blue partly because white stitching shows up well on that colour and partly to create a unified body of work. The downside of this, which I had not thought of, was that the blog colour wise begins to look all the same.
So I thought I would put in a small experimental piece which started off yellow. Once stitched, I then went over the quilting with Markal paintsticks - in blue and silver. So yes, we are still with blues, but it does look a bit different!

I'm linking the blog to nina maria's 'Off the wall Friday'. Go and have look to see what others are doing.
Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

Keyholes - free motion quilting Cameo 21

Keyholes - free motion quilting Cameo 21

OK, so this quilt a jumble of keyholes all tangles up together, but that is rather the fun of it! I wonder what secrets so many keyholes are hiding?

Like Thorny Point, Cameo 17, this design is a 'there and back' one. In other words, the first line creates just one side and you need to quilt back again to finish the design, so ending up at your starting point. You could be absolutely symmetrical and make keyholes left and right the same - but you know by now I rarely do symmetrical. Here I've taken asymmetry even a step further and made the central stem occasionally shift to the right or left.

Enjoy

Thanks for dropping by...

Hilary Florence

Copyright, labelling your images and the second life of a work of art

There is a very interesting discussion on Annabel Rainbow's blog about copyright law, blogs, the web, Pinterest and having your work reproduced without your knowledge or consent - see link below.

http://grumpyandmad.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/help-please-with-pinterest-and-blog.html#comment-form

An art work really has two creative lives. The first is the process of creation between the artist and their chosen material. This can be a wonderful, frustrating, fulfilling, enriching experience, which is why so many of us indulge in it. The  is second is the life of the work after completion. This can be in the realm of its interaction with its audience - hopefully creating connection, pleasure, inspiration, feeling, opinion - provoking reaction. It can also be in the physical realm, including being reproduced by the artist or other, with or without the artist's permission, with or without the artist's knowledge, with or without acknowledging the artist.

This is not a new problem. As soon as an artist reveals her work to the world, she starts to loose control of it, and art has been copied throughout history, which is why we have copyright laws. But the web, blogs and particularly Pinterest seem to be producing very gray legal areas. Most artists agree that Pinterest has brought them a larger audience, but many have been dismayed to discover their own images of their own works on sites with no reference or acknowledgement of them at all. And the worst story I have heard was of one artist finding someone had made and was selling cards of her work!

I love sharing - most of us do. I have had hours of pleasure and inspiration looking at art on the web and I admit I love it when others look at my work and leave comments. I have also been frustrated when I have found something on a pinterest board that I like, but can not find out who created it.

For this reason, I will now put my name and blog address on all my own photos. You may pin away, I will at least know that the work will be traceable back to me. Unless, of course, you can remove the name? I know I can't. I've tried, as I wasn't happy with my first attempts. I didn't succeed so its a bit intrusive for the moment. Sorry. Hopefully I'll get there.

Hilary Florence