Sandhill Crane Nest Art Quilt Part One

I'm in the countdown towards my shared art show with Wilson Cady, who is an avid birder.  I asked for permission to make a sandhill crane art quilt using his photos as my inspiration.  So this quilt is a nod to his photography, while keeping within my series of imagined nests.

Sandhill cranes photo by Wilson Cady

A little background: The first time that I saw a Sandhill crane, I had no idea what I'd seen.  There were two of them in an open field inside of Grand Tetons National Park.  As my husband and I approached them on our hike, they took off, so we just barely got a glimpse of them.  Later on, we saw them in a marshy area and the picture we got was so blurry by the time it was blown up, that we weren't sure what it was.  All we knew was that they were big, had long necks, and had red on their heads.   Later on, we figured out that we'd seen a pair of Sandhill cranes.  OK enough about the bird, onto the nest art quilt.

I sketched up a few ideas, traced a bird from Wilson's photo and then flipped and enlarged it in Photoshop.  I decided to make this piece twice the size of my other nest art pieces.  Partly because the bird is so large, and partly because I have a bigger machine to quilt with now!

Rough sketch

The fibers for the nest included fancy yarn, shredded fabric, felted wool, raw alpaca fleece, bias binding, vintage piping and thread.  I sandwiched the fibers between a layer of organza and a layer of gray tulle, then lightly stitched them together.  This nest is huge, and I made it as a big rectangle to trim to size later.

Fibers being laid down

Nest after sewing the layers together

I often find a great background fabric already in my stash.  I'm not sure where I bought this one, but it works.  I loosely placed other fabrics on top to get an idea of what the background might become.  Here is a progress shot showing the loosely placed materials.  At this point in my design process, I'm never quite sure how it's going to get sewn together.  What method would you use for this background?

Here are the baby birds and the adult crane after the pieces were fused together.

Sandhill Crane adult

Sandhill Crane babies

I hope you like it so far!

Carrying Bag for Art Quilts

An art quilt group that I joined requires an identifying carrying bag for each quilt that travels to their shows.  One of the members told me that she makes hers out of rip stop nylon and I thought that was such a great idea!  Rip stop nylon is waterproof and light weight, and the quilt slips into the bag easily.  Of course, I bought green fabric, however, there are many other colors you can choose from.  I thought that I would share with you the process in case you want to make one too!

Rip Stop Nylon Bag for Art Quilts

Materials

Rip Stop Nylon cut to the width and length required in Step 2 and Step 3.  For an 18" Wide x 18" length quilt, you'll need a 26" wide x 28" long piece of material. 

The measurements and instructions are for rolling your art quilt around a 4" diameter swimming noodle.  These can be purchased at all the big box stores in late spring. 

1-1/4 yards 1" wide ribbon

1 zip lock quart sized freezer baggie

1.    Cut the noodle 1" longer than the width of your quilt. (For an 18" quilt, cut at 19")

2.  Roll quilt around the noodle starting at the top and ending at the bottom.  Measure the circumference.  Add 8" to this number.  This is the width of  your fabric.  (For the 18" x 18" quilt, the circumference is 18".  So 18" + 8" = 26").

3.    Add 9" to the cut length of the noodle.  This is the length of your fabric. (For the 18" quilt, this is 18" +1" + 9" = 28").

4.    Find the center of the width of the material and chalk mark 12" from the top of the material.  Place the baggie on this mark and pin, or tape, this to the bag.  Sew around 3 edges of the baggie, leaving the zip lock opening unsewn. 

5.    Fold the material right sides together.  Sew 1/2" seam.  Fold this seam over and sew again to get a double seam. (Note in the picture that I folded the seam over right at the thread from the first seam).

6.    Sew 1/2" on the bottom.  Fold this seam over and sew again to get a double seam.

7.    Turn the bag right sides out.

8.    Make chalk marks for the two buttonholes 2-3/4" from the top edge, 1-1/2" apart, and 1" long.  Place stabilizer underneath these marks.  Sew two 1" long buttonholes on these chalk lines.  Trim the stabilizer.  Cut the openings with sharp scissors.

9.    Fold down 1/2" on top edge.  Fold again at 2".  Pin and sew close to the edge.  This casing should be sewn with the buttonholes centered in the casing.

10. Put a safety pin near the edge of the 1" ribbon, and ease it through the casing.  Center the ribbon ends, and stitch  a line at the center through the casing to hold the ribbon inside.  Stitch or tie the ends so that they won't ravel.

I hope you can understand these instructions and that you will try making a carrying bag of your own!

Art Show with Nest Quilts and Summer Breeze Part One

I'm so excited to have been accepted into an art gallery for a show in September 2016.  When I started my journey with the nest art quilt series, I had the intention to make 15-20 nest art quilts and get them into a show as either a special exhibit at a quilt show, or as a solo show in an art gallery.  In late November, I got a call from Second Story Gallery in Camas, Washington.  They let me know they have scheduled my show in conjunction with an acrylic artist who is an avid birder.  This will be a perfect combination, and we both will be showing about 15 of our works.  I'm so pumped now to look at my collection of art quilt in the series and fill in some gaps with new quilts.

The next one in the series is called, "Summer Breeze".  Here's my sketch ideas.  I picked the 15" x 18" one that says, "YES". This little quilt reminds me of summer flowers and birds coming back into the yard.  That's a good thing since we had a record amount of rainfall this month.

I added a cut away stiffener to the back of the quilt to support all the stitching and weight I plan to add to the front.  It is a product from Sulky, called Cut Away Plus.  I only put it where it's needed, and after stitching, it gets trimmed.

After I stitched down the pole, I free form stitched some stems and leaves.  These will be the first layer in the background.

I colored these in with Derwent Inktense pencils.  Then using a small fabric paint brush, I brushed on some Textile Medium.  Once the green parts were dry, I stitched on the flowers, painted them in with both colored pencil and Inktense pencils, and repeated the fabric medium to set the colors, and let this dry overnight.

Textile medium

For the flowers, I remembered a technique recommended by one of my art quilt friends.  I used two layers of fabric, back to back, and sandwiched the fabric between layers of Solvy Wash Away Stabilizer.  I traced the flowers from my drawings right onto the Solvy, then sewed on the lines with a straight stitch. Then I zig-zag stitched a couple of times.  The Solvy dissolves easily in water, and if you want a little stiffener in the fabric, you can take the pieces out and blot them lightly, letting them dry and stiffen overnight.  Otherwise, you would rinse thoroughly.

Flowers showing zig zag stitching

Flowers with extra fabric trimmed away

Flowers showing extra Solvy trimmed away

How do you like the concept so far?

I'll continue the blog next week with the second half of this little quilt, called "Summer Breeze".

Hanging Devices for Art Shows

After I posted my blog about the hanging device for art shows, a good friend of mine shared her process, which is much better than the one I had previously shown.  The difference between hanging quilts in a "quilt show" vs. in an "art show" is that at quilt shows the quilts are hung up with rods, boards, or other hanging devices that slip through a 4" sleeve.  This type of hanging device is supported on either side of the quilt, and the hangers are adjusted to make the quilt hang level.

An art gallery uses picture hooks in the center of the artwork.  Since normal quilt sleeves don't have a gap in the middle, the quilt sleeves have to be modified to accept the picture hook.

My friend, who is a member of quite a few art quilt groups and has coordinated many of their shows, graciously gave me her drawing and showed me a sample of one that she had made.

I didn't care for the staples and picture wire all accross the back, so I modified the picture wire a little bit to only be in the center of the hanging device, left some space between the board and the wire, and twisted and taped it on the reverse side.  My friend had modified her hanger the same way.

I left 1-1/4" in the middle of the sleeves to allow for the hanging wire.

split sleeve with hanging device inserted

side view

top view showing wire

 I hope this helps you get ready for showings in an art gallery too.

Art Show Hanging Devices

Earlier this year, I went through the book, "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron with a group of other fiber artists.  This really strengthened my resolve to become more of an artist than a quilter.  I told the group that I wanted to make and exhibit my Nest art quilts.

Synchronicity was one of the themes of the book, and my basic take on it is that whatever you're seeking will happen.  And if you stay aware, when opportunities present themselves, you notice and take action.

A few weeks ago, I saw a call for artists in our local paper.  One of the local galleries was seeking artists for a show entitled, "Texture".  Whoa!  I knew that I had to submit some nest pieces to the jury for this show.  And I got in!  I'm so excited and can't wait for the show and the artist's reception.

I hope your dreams also come true.

Anyway, I had to come up with a hanging system that is different than the 4" sleeve required for quilt shows, and I found a great start on Pinterest.  I used 3/8" x 2-1/2" pine boards, 13/16" eye screws, and fishing line.   I cut the board to the same length as my sleeves, which were already sewn on to the back of the art quilts.  Then I screwed in the eye screws in the center of the boards.  After I slipped the boards into the sleeves, I attached the fishing line with several knots on both ends.  Now the art quilts can be hung on regular picture hangers or picture nails and the hanging system doesn't show from the front side.

End pulled out to show location of eye screw

hanging system inside sleeve

end picture showing board and eye screw