Four in Art- Rising Above the Blues

This final quarter in our Colour theme for our Four in Art group this year, the sub theme was "I've got the Blues" I guess this could be interpreted in a musical way or in the direction I have chosen, which springs more naturally to mind for me, working as I do in the Mental Health field. I've called my interpretation Rising Above the Blues.

Also it seems I had a few blues left in my stash of fabrics...

I wanted to let the blues sink down to have the lighter shades rise to the top; the nesting tessellating blues subtly meshing and becoming distinct, which alludes to the thoughts and feelings that structure our moods, blue or otherwise.

Initially I was going to quilt it using an orange peel design but decided in the end to have the quilting denser at the bottom with the darker colours, lightening with the mood and colour and thinning out to give the idea of a more settled calmer mood with wavy organic lines. The bottom rows have six rows of quilting each, gradually decreasing to just one in the top row

The binding is a Carolyn Friedlander cross hatched charcoal and for the back I used good old Ikea Nummer print. After washing the texture really is highlighted.

Is it really an "art quilt" I ask myself? What is an art quilt anyway? Maybe a quilted something trying to convey an idea is sufficient?

I have been particularly busy at work this quarter so I'm glad I started early and did manage to finish in time, but the photos certainly leave something to be desired; so I shall update these in the very near future (not in the dark tonight!) to provide a better idea of this quilt.

Be sure to check out the other interpretations of this theme over at The Four in Art blog, publishing sometime on 1 November (depending on time zone) and on each of our individual blogs:

Betty at a Flickr site 
Catherine  at Knotted Cotton
Elizabeth at opquilt.com
Janine at Rainbowhare
Nancy at  Patchwork Breeze
Rachel at The Life of Riley
Simone at Quiltalicious
Susan at PatchworknPlay
Camilla at Faffling

A finish- finally and some fabulous fabric

I have finally finished off my table runner!  I was feeling indecisive about making a facing, but ended up deciding a binding would finish off the stripes, rather than leaving them hanging. Tho' I did like the wine red idea, suggested in the comments on my last post, I'm a sucker for green and happened to have enough on hand. So green binding it was.

I absolutely love this Wrenly pattern with its greens and small and large detailing . The red spiky flowers like the one below towards the right totally remind me of the Pohutukawa and rata flowers from home in NZ which flower around Christmas near the beaches. I decided to quilt some of the patterned areas with some free motion outline quilting. Not only because I was sick of doing short stripes!

I deliberately didn't make the striped piecing ruler straight, but am not entirely sure about the quilted stripes accentuating that. I might make a different decision next time, but overall I'm pleased and think it's happily Christmassy without having to be hidden away for 11 months of the year.

In other news...we have been receiving various exciting packages to put under the tree and for our younger son who turns 14 on Sunday; but one came today which I could open already!

I have really fallen for Carolyn Friedlander's Architextures range. Believe it or not I did exercise some restraint and there were a few I didn't get, but I've always loved maps, so these were irresistible!
I'd love to make a bag, but they'd also make great little pouches, cushions and some are destined for my low volume text/ crosses quilt.

The white on white  is hard to photograph with the others and reflects the light quite trickily, but I think these will be great blenders, as well as stunning on their own. The cross hatch on the bias is a nice change. As is becoming my standard, I got 1/2 a yard of each, but a yard of the black and white as I have a project in mind for the future.

Joining in at My Creative Space today

Spring Colours

 I had never seen a lily (I presume it is) like this one before. It was so thick and large it looked like it was moulded from plastic. The bud you can see behind was also most unusual.

These, just growing by a busy, dirty noisy roadside in a business garden, were prolific and so vivid too. The centre of that flower looks like it's designed especially for pollinators to me...!

I managed a bit of sewing a couple of evenings this week and was impressed with my aging machine's capabilities in sewing this leather pouch for a friend's birthday. 

Lined with some lovely orange feathers from Anna Maria Horner's Field Study collection

I made another pouch too, which I might keep under wraps for the time being.

And here are a few more pictures of my finished improvised quilt previously posted here and here.

I like the effect of the scrappy binding and for the quilting I used a thread a few shades darker than the aqua as I wanted to reduce it's clean brightness a little. I had mis-identified the blue I'd used in the centre of some of the squares as Kona Aqua, when actually on closer examination in better light I think it was Dusty Blue- the perils of 1" swatches on a card...

At least I think it's finished, I'm considering adding some dark aqua and blue hand quilting in between some of the wider lines...?

And last but not least, look at the lovely needle case Liz made me to match the pincushion at the end of this post! I suspect she used this pattern?

Sneak Preview

I have finally finished the improvisational piece I started in my pajamas and continued with the last couple of months alongside another couple of projects.

 More and proper photos soon, after it's dry. I had to get a move on to finish and wash it coz I oiled my even feed foot since it wasn't behaving... The problem was fixed but some oil did seep onto the quilt in a couple of spots :-(

A portion of the back, which I might even prefer to the front?

There hasn't been a deadline for this, which is probably why it's taken ages. I always seem to do better with a deadline!

Linking up to  Creative Spaces today.