April 2011 "Light" Theme

These are all  fantastic pieces!  I think we are all creatively growing, Yea!

From Mia: "Glow"
I took the picture outside with a white background which successfully avoided glare back from the shiny surface. The lesson I learned is that I need to more practice taking pictures & free motion quilting.

From Linda: "Lighting The Way"

During our last big rain storm, our entire area lost power for over 3 hours and candles were a saving grace in the pitch black night hours, especially when I had to use one to make enough light to even find a flashlight.  When the "Light" theme was chosen, I couldn't get my humble friend, the candle, out of my mind and, thus, "Lighting the Way" developed.  The background fabric is from a swath of Setacolor treated fabric.  From that point forward I just started freehand "drawing" with the sewing machine.  With the exception of the gray thread, all the other threadwork was accomplished with Floriano rayon threads and Superior silver metalic thread.  Pinkish bugle beads and silvertone round beads were added to make the candle seem as if it is giving off real light with little "pops" that a candle sometimes makes when it is burning.  For the backing I designed a postcard template and printed it onto commercial fabric that is prepared for inkjet printing.  To add a more personal touch I wrote a little message in hand with a Staedtler pigment marker.

From Eileen: "Light as a Feather"

This postcard quilt was made using oil paint sticks to "negatively paint" around feather templates. The original fabric was the black and white print. After quilting I added beads across the feathers.

From Mary Beth: "Lighting the Creative Imagination"

From Teresa: "Lightning Bugs"

From Cynthia: "Sun Shade in Style"

My inspiration for this theme is the warm hot sunlight which I find invigorating. Nevertheless, I enjoy protection from the sunlight and I enjoy wearing hats to create my own shade. This postcard uses some hand-dyed fabric, batiks, satin stitch fusible applique, machine quilting, thread painting for the lips, crystals, beads, and flowers. I am very pleased with the satin stitch finished edge treatment. I use a 100% long staple Valdani cotton thread, 35 weight and 3 ply. It gives great coverage. To implement the technique, I stitch around the postcard with a zig-zag, then I go over the zig-zag with a close satin stitch which eliminates all thread whiskers. I used a pellon single-sided ultra firm stabilizer instead of batting and I really liked the results for this size work. Thank you Mary Beth for sharing your tip about the stabilizer.

From Deborah: "Light Comes Through"

I used a piece of brown fabric I had discharged with Clorox Bowl Cleaner, practiced two needle stitching techniques with straight and zig zag stitches, then I used white ink to highlight some light spots and white ribbon to 'bind'.  Way fun - I want to go this again.