Red Hot Chili Peppers!

"Chili Pepper" by Christina Fairley Erickson
Freehand machine embroidery with decorative stitching and freemotion quilting

Make sure to check out the start of my Design Wall Weekends Blog Link Party coming Saturday April 6!

Well, I finally finished up my final 5 x 7" block for the Salsa Quilt.  I had some fun with this and will be posting a couple of tutorials later this week for both how to do unusual lettering and a new freemotion quilting design.  I also will work on documenting my process for installing new fonts onto your computer, so you can play around with different lettering styles like this "Taco Modern" font I use in each of my salsa blocks.

I've been super busy this last week catching up after being gone for 5 days in the "Experimental Hand Stitch class."  I've been working on continuing to complete my hand-stitch samples, which are quite relaxing to do.  I've also started cutting and piecing a new practice quilt, which I'm doing along with Leah Day's Craftsy class.  Although I'm pretty comfortable with freemotion machine quilting, the more you practice, the better you get.  The one thing I haven't completely decided upon is whether I'm going to do all the fillers which Leah suggests in her class, or whether I'll pick and choose those which I want to do.  I'm not 100% thrilled with every design she's picked, so I may just substitute some of my own, or others I've learned from Leah's blog.

One thing that's going to be a little different in the future is that I will be hosting a "Design Wall Weekend" blog linking party.  This will be open to quilters, fiber artists, mixed media artists, and book/art journalists who have blogs to help increase exposure to all sorts of great ideas.

Now, it's on to do the sashing and binding for this quilt.  Not to mention, I will need to get going on a new 5 x 7 Challenge piece for next week!  So check back for tutorials later this week and I hope you will have some fun quilting this week.

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And the Winner Is...

A Slice of Lime

Peppers and Avocado

Check out these other great blogs:

Freshly Pieced

Freemotion by the River

Quilt Story

Progress on 2013 Goals

It's hard to believe that we're almost at the middle of March... almost 1/4 of the year is done!  However, with that in mind today, I thought I should review and see how I'm doing on My Goals for the year.

"Best Friends" by Christina Fairley Erickson
Commercial and artist hand-painted cottons, machine applique, machine free-motion quilting

My first goal is to work on finding and defining my artistic voice.  I've outlined several steps to help myself with this.  First, is to work with Gail Harker, of the Gail Harker Center for the Creative Arts.  You might recall some of my previous posts about the fantastic exhibit, Complex Threads, which featured the work of students of Gail.  I'm set for this part of my goal, starting next week when I'll be taking her Experimental Hand Stitch 101 course. This course will complete my 100 level series classes, and I'll be continuing on the path starting in May with Studies in Design and Experimental Hand and Machine Stitch 201 which will meet approximately every 3 months through the end of 2014.  

"Best Friends" detail by Christina Fairley Erickson

Next, I decided to kick up my production to help with defining my artistic voice.  To do this, I've been making my weekly 5 x 7 Challenge piece.  So far, I'm keeping up with this (one week I didn't finish, but then did two in another week.)  I also wanted to do my small art quilt group's challenge every other month.  I've only got a couple weeks to go to finish this and I'm not sure that I'm going to make this one.  The theme of the current Fiber Funster Challenge is "Waiting."  while I have designed a piece, I haven't even started it in production.  Maybe I can get it going this weekend.

Finally, I planned to document my progress in my blog, which I've been doing.  This also has helped me with my second major goal, which is to ramp up my pictorial quilts.  I feel like I've made a lot of progress through the weekly production of 5 x 7 pieces, both with my technical skills and composition.  I do still need to start working on a plan for creating a body of work.  

My third goal has to do with studio organization.  Here I have made some progress, but not enough to be proud of... I am at least working in my studio almost daily, rather than my studio being such a disaster area that I end up pulling my work out into other areas of the house!

My next goals, opening an Etsy shop and working towards a solo show in 2015 are still in the thought process, although I have looked through Etsy and think I can stay on track to open by mid 2013.  Beyond that, I'm on track for completing my piece for the Salsa show (entry due in mid-April).  I haven't yet decided upon my second medium-to-large sized piece to create, although I may go back to my roots and make another horse-themed quilt.  I won a first place (and cash prize!) at an equine art-show two years ago and just received the call for entry for this coming summer. Alternatively, I may shoot for finishing one of my works in progress, such as my Waterfall quilt or Cathedral Visions.  

I'm scratching the final goal, completing a driftwood art sculpture in time to enter in the May show.  Although I love the driftwood art, I'm not having the time to do it as well as my main love, fiber.  

Well, I'm in a bit of overwhelm now, with all that I need to do.  Guess it's time to get back to sewing!

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Complex Threads 1

Complex Threads 2

Artistic Goals 2013

2013 Artist 
5 x 7 Challenge

Peppers and Avocado

Isolation.  It can be really nice to have time to yourself… time to do your projects, eat on your own schedule, stay up as late as you want.  But this weekend was more than time to myself.  Sometime on Friday, a critical piece of equipment broke down cutting off all Internet, email, WiFi and our home and business phones.  Although I still have my cell phone and texting, it’s amazing to find out how connected we are through these other forms of communication.  With my husband and sons away for the weekend, it was more like solitary confinement than a peaceful weekend to myself! Luckily, our computer expert was able to find the piece of equipment and get it installed this afternoon, so we're back live!

Start of Red pepper- showing underlaying stitches

The good news is that I had little distraction, so I’ve made a lot of progress on my Salsa series.  First, I started with peppers:

This red pepper proved to be particularly challenging, since the perspective.  I started with making the stem, and then doing the darker parts as underlayment.  I made circular shapes, to try to get the sense of the knobby bumps on the top of the pepper.

I think it came out pretty well and like the effect of adding a little violet for the shadows.  

With the orange pepper, I again started with the stem and the darker shading.  As you can see, most of the stitching goes in the direction of the shape of the vegetable.  With the underlayment, I will go across the grain, but most of this stitching will be beneath other layers of color, so it won’t show the cross-grain stitches.  

I then start building layers of color up.  I generally go from dark to light, as the dark is in the shadows, so further away from the viewer and light is closer.

Here are the three finished peppers.  I need to start working on doing the freemotion quilting and decorative stitching on the background today.

Next, I started on avocados.  Same, process, although it is challenging to think through how to be able to show the indentation of the place where the avocado seed was versus the other half with the seed jutting out. The rough texture of the outer skin was a little worrisome as well. 

I started with going over the darkest part in a thick black cotton thread.  I then added layers of dark grays and some dark muted green (basically a green that has dark gray added to it.)

I added the darkest yellow to the texture of the fruit, making it heaviest in the area that the pit was removed.  Then I layered about 10 different shades of light yellow and light green to make the fruit.

The final part of the process was to do the avocado pit or seed and the little area where the stem comes out.  

Because of how I layered the thread, both the pit areas are slightly stretched out, which will give a nice 3-D effect when I add trapunto.

I'll be looking over Leah Day's FreeMotion Quilting Project to find some interesting designs for the backgrounds of these two 5 x 7 Challenge pieces!

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Cilantro- Si!

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New 5 x 7 Challenge Pieces

We have some wonderful additions to the ongoing 5 x 7 Artist Challenge!

Janine, aka Rainbow Hare Quilts, of East Sussex UK: 

Fused Fabric Valentine by Janine

Janine has a wonderful post on her Rainbow Hare blog called "Do You Ever Get Quilter's Block?"    Not only does she describe making this wonderful fused fabric Valentine, she also links up to a Ted Talk by Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of "Eat, Pray, Love."  What a wonderful opportunity to hear someone who has made such a success in her creative life struggle with many of the same challenges we all do.  Thank-you, Janine, for sharing both your 5 x 7 pieces and Elizabeth Gilbert's exposé on creative genius.
Detail of Rainbow Hare's Fused Fabric Valentine

Janine discusses her process for the little house piece to the left in her blog post "Not What I Meant At All".  I think it's really helpful to hear how people start and what they go through to get to a finished result.

Next, Hilda of Hilda's Hideout is working with found objects.  Here are two of her newest pieces- I see a series in the making!

Lise, aka French Canadian 23, has been working with trees for her 5 x 7 pieces:

Lise describes her process for making Birch Trees... I love how the paper-pieced background is so muted but totally gives you the sense of the tree branches, as well as the graphic fabrics which work well for different bark!

Oak Tree in Fall by Lise- FrenchCanadian23

Although not yet complete, Lise has her second tree quilt well under way.  I'm looking forward to seeing it when she finishes the thread painting that she's planning.

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Cilantro - Si!

Recognizing our limits and not giving up

There are times for each of us when we need to just need to assess what's realistic.  It's been that kind of week.  As I mentioned a few days ago, I have a Valentines special trip to visit my girlfriend and her husband for their twenty-fifth anniversary.  It turns out that Valentine's and President's day coincide with my sons' mid-winter break, so my family and mother and I are taking a long weekend trip down to the San Francisco Bay area.  But, as most of us know, things start to get complex as soon as you plan to get out of town.

My cilantro machine embroidery on the background fabric
I've chosen (still to be completed.)

Therefore, I haven't finished my 5 x 7 art piece for the last week.  I'm not sure whether I'll get one done in the coming week, since I'm out of town.  However, I did bring my sketchbook along, so perhaps I can finish something that way.  My current 5 x 7, my cilantro piece, is well on it's way.  So, I might get it finished when I get back next Tuesday.

Regardless, I want to be honest with you... I think it's important to recognize that we can't always reach our goals.  I've had a few people feel like they couldn't continue with the 5 x 7 challenge, because things came up and they weren't able to do their artwork a week or two.  Sometimes the most important thing is to accept our failures and then get back to work.  Perseverance pays.  So even though I know last week and this coming one might not be as productive as I had hoped, I will not give up.

Here are a few more wonderful pieces from the Bellevue Art Museum "High Fiber Diet" exhibit:

"The Contact: Climax Forest"
by Ann Johnston

These three pieces by Ann Johnston were hung together and all feature Ann's hand-dyed fabrics.  Climax Forest is hand dyed cotton that has been hand & machine stitched.  I love the complementary color scheme with the golden yellow-orange and blue.

"The Contact: Nevadan Orogeny"
by Ann Johnston

Her piece Nevadan Orogeny is also hand dyed cotton with machine stitching.  It represents the era where massive plumes of molten magma intruded into the earth's crust, lifting and creating the western part of the North American continent.

The final piece,Vigil is also hand dyed cotton with hand & machine stitching.  I love the cracked look of the mountain peaks.  I've climbed glaciers in Alaska and while the beauty of the great blue ice is incredible, something that many people don't know is that the ices has cracks and lines of dirt, from the rocks that have been crushed through the force and power of the glacier.

"The Contact: Vigil"
by Ann Johnston

The next piece, "Studio" was constructed with Felt, Polyfiber, wire, and PVC.  Tamara Wilson of Fairbanks AK recreates her surroundings with felt and thread.  She feel that comfort and warmth, safety and security are conveyed both through the topic of her familiar surroundings as well as the usage of felt.

Each part of the scene below is made out of the felt and supporting pieces... and I mean every part of the scene... the bike on the wall, the light bulb and wire it hangs from, the table & chair, the sewing machine, reading glasses, cup of noodles, trashcan, etc.  All of it!

"Studio" by Tamara Wilson

"Studio" detail view

I hope this gives you a little inspiration and helps you remember that it's ok when you don't always meet your goals.  Goals are there to help you... to light your way.  When you have other things in your life, it's o.k.  Learning balance is such a critical part of all of our lives.

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For great ideas on freemotion quilting, check out Leah Day's FreeMotion Quilting Project

La Cebolla (Onion)

I finished my third piece for my 'Salsa!' quilt this evening:

"Onion" by Christina Fairley Erickson - Machine freehand embroidered, freemotion quilted and decorative stitching

Layers of batting for trapunto effect

I had a bit tougher time with getting the trapunto done well, so that the depth perception of the onions in back would be complemented.  So I did several layers of batting which I stitched together to help create this effect.

For the freemotion quilting background, I used "Stone Portals" from Leah Day's FreeMotion Quilting Project.

I'm not sure that I got quite enough contrast in this piece, particularly for the background.  However, I think once all the pieces are put together, it should hold its own.  You can see the contrast issue, when I compare it with the other two pieces completed so far:


You might also be interested in:

Week 4 - Tomatillo

5 x 7 Week 3- The
 Start of Salsa!

52 Week - 5 x7 
Challenge to Readers

Other great blogs to check out:

Leah Day's FreeMotion Quilting Project

Nina Marie Sayre's Art Quilts

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

FreeMotion by the River

QuiltStory

Freshly Pieced

A Quilting Reader's Garden

Piquant Progress

Piquant:
1.  agreeably pungent or sharp in taste or flavor; pleasantly biting or tart
2.  agreeably stimulating, interesting, or attractive

Doesn't that word just make your mouth feel a little strange, but good?  I'm working on my projects this weekend and am faced with a little sense of this odd flavor treat as I work on my "Onion" for the Salsa series.  I did something a little different from my Tomato and Tomatillos on this piece.  Rather than having everything be freehand machine applique, I put a layer of organza for the sliced face of the onion and just sewed in the lines of the layers of the onion.  This gives it a translucent, shiny appearance, like a real onion.

Now that I have the onion finished, I need to make the background on which to applique it. I'm a little unsure how I'm going to do the trapunto on this one, as it has a real sense of depth with each onion behind the other.  I'll have to think on that.  I should have it finished in the next couple days and will post the rest of the pictures from the process of making it.

First two rows stitched together

I'm also finally starting to get my Waterfall quilt UFO pieced together.  I'm planning to try our a quilt-as-you-go method, per Leah Day from her Freemotion Quilting Project.  I've put together these two rows and plan to quilt 2 rows together at a time.  I've been thinking I'd use Leah's "Mesh Curtain" design to quilt this, but I'm a little worried that it will be too busy or will dominate the quilt, making the color shifts and curved pieces less noticeable.  Any thoughts or suggestions on how I should quilt it? Waterfall quilt UFO on the design wall (some pieces have now been changed.)

You might also be interested in:

Week 4 - Tomatillo

5 x 7 Week 3- The
 Start of Salsa!

52 Week - 5 x7 
Challenge to Readers

Curved Piecing 
Video Tutorial

Check out these other great blogs:

Stitch-by-Stitch... my quilting journey