Week 2 of the 5 x 7 Artist Challenge

This week I've completed this windmill design for the 5 x 7 Challenge. As I mentioned previously, I haven't done a lot of paper-piecing before, but it seemed like the perfect technique for the background color splashes which I wanted.

Week 2 completed piece for the 5 x 7 Challenge
Designed and made by Christina Fairley Erickson

Original hand-drawn design

Back side

I ended up change quite a few things from my original hand-drawn design. First, I had small triangles around the center circle of the windmill, which I decided would simply be too small to be done effectively for the size of the finished piece. As I was going through my fabrics for the yellow color section, I found one with the circular motif which I decided would work well as the center, and chose to hand-appliqué it on. The other major change is that I didn't add any struts to the windmill blades. I was going to machine appliqué some red fabric, but it looked too heavy. I then thought I'd machine quilt lines in, but once I finished quilting the colored background areas, the result was that the "windmill blades" and center stand or puff out since they haven't been stitched. I like the look this way and think the result of stitching in strut lines may ruin this effect.  The other obvious change is that I decided to change the placement of the colors.

Sample/tester I made of Leah Day's freemotion
quilting design "Sharp Angled Maze"

I tested out a freemotion quilting design which I thought would work well for my background colors which I found from Leah Day's Freemotion Quilting Project which she calls "Sharp Angled Maze."  Overall, I think the design worked well within my piece.  The one problem that you can catch glimpses of is that with using a different color of thread on the back side of the piece, you can occasionally see bits of the bobbin thread on the front.  In the practice piece, you can see this in the lower half (particularly lower right), but I was able to adjust my machine tension to get rid of the problem.  I'm not sure whether it was the additional thicknesses of the seam allowances, but even with my top tension adjusted all the way down as far as it goes, I still had a little bit of bobbin thread showing.  If I were doing this for a large piece for competition, I'd probably work with it more.  Perhaps a smaller needle size?  Different thread?  Tighten the bobbin tension?

The other criticism I would have of this piece is that when you are further away from it, the blue and purple sections are a bit too close in value to the black/red/orange/yellow windmill blades.  If I were to do it on a larger scale, I would want to add more light values into those sections.

I welcome your comments and critiques on my pieces!

Thanks to other participants this week in our challenge!  Here are what others are working on:

"Wet" -  Hand-painted, thread-sketched and discharged
with bleach pen by Carol

Carol "LandscapeLady" has created this wonderful piece entitled "Wet".
Check out her blog to see her photos of working on this piece throughout the process from photo to completed 5 x 7 art piece.

I really love the movement in the piece... you can feel, as well as see, the drops of water being joyfully shaken off this dog!

"Indonesian Dancer" - Work in Progress by Lise

Lise has this work in progress called "Indonesian Dancer."  She is planning to add more to it, so we'll look forward to seeing more- next week?   The repetition in this piece: wavy lines, musical notes, headdress elements, and sets of eyes all building the theme.  The wavy lines and lines surrounding the face particularly add to the primitive, ethnic feeling.  I can't wait to see it finished!



Other blogs to check out:
Work in Progress Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced - delightful modern quilts

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style... there are some really amazing projects here!

A Lovely Year of Finishes from Sew Bittersweet Designs has a great monthly goal-setting and project-finishing challenge

You might also be interested in:

Week 1 of the 5 x 7 
Artist Challenge

Getting Started May be 
the Hardest Part

52 Week 5 x 7 Challenge 
to Readers

Current Works in Progress

Original sketched design

New week, new project. Well, actually one completely new, one just finished, and another in process. First, I started my next 5 x 7 Challenge piece, which I had sketched out last week.

Paper-piecing pattern

In thinking about how I could most effectively make this, I decided that paper-piecing would probably be the quickest with a nicely finished result. Since most of my art isn't geometric, I haven't had a lot of practice with paper-piecing.  

First section completed

This is where those of you who are familiar at this skill will probably laugh.  When you look at my pattern to the left, I have had to build each section with numbering.  However, I'm having to build parts of the sections on separate papers and then combine them, as my lines don't all match up.  It's seeming to work however.

"Opening" by Christina Fairley Erickson
100% Freehand Machine embroidered and Freemotion Quilted

I also just completed my first piece for the Fiber Funsters 10 x 16 challenge. Guess I'm all about the challenges this year! finishing off this dense freehand machine embroidery was more difficult than I expected. I decided to do a trap unto effect with a second layer of batting inside the lily, to have it stand out from the background. I then added the backing and freemotion quilted around the flower and in uneven horizontal lines over the blue background. Of course, I realized after doing a good portion that I could have just as well quilted from the back side since the flower was already outline, which would have made it possible to have even spacing of the lines. As it turned out, I couldn't distinguish my quilting lines from all the thread of the background, which makes it a little less precise when you view from the back side.

"Opening" back - faced and freemotion quilted

See the white
on the edge?

The real difficulty came when I faced the piece and tried to turn the facing to the back. With such dense stitching, it was remarkably stiff and didn't want to gracefully bend and hide the facing. Also, the process stressed it a bit and little bits of the white under-fabric were showing through.

The edge after painting
with fabric markers

See the difference/?

Well, I steamed and starched and pulled and cajoled, stay-stitched the seam allowance to the facing, and cut away as much of the seam allowance as possible.  I hand stitched the facing down, but still wasn't fully satisfied with the result.  In the end, I dug out some fabric markers and 'painted' the edges and little white spots that shouldn't be showing!  I think it did the trick!

My final piece to share is the second quilt for Fiber Funsters.  The word we're using this time is "Celebrate!" as our theme.  I'm not sure what I think of this piece yet or if it has any promise.  I played around with some fabrics I'd hand-dyed and painted and this is how far I've gotten.  I don't really know how I'm going to free-motion quilt it yet... But it's supposed to be done in a week, so that gives me a little motivation!

"Celebration" - work in progress by Christina Fairley Erickson

You might also be interested in:

52 Weeks of Art

The Fiber Funster's 
10 x 16 Group Challenge

2013 Open 5 x 7 Challenge

Blogs You Should Check Out!
For Fantastic Tutorials on FreeMotion Quilting go to The FreeMotion Quilting Project
Work in Progress Wednesday (Thanks Freshly Pieced!),
Link it Up Thursday  (Thanks Seven Alive!) and
 Can I Have a Whoop Whoop (Thanks, Confessions of a Fabric Addict!)
Off the Wall (Thanks Nina Marie Sayre)
TGIFF (Thanks Diane - FromBlankPages!)

Getting Started may be the hardest part

When I first discussed my 52 week 5" x 7" challenge here on this blog, I really didn't think much beyond my desire to get myself in the practice of creating and being accountable to do my work each week to my readers.  However, since then I've recognized that many of you also may have the same issues as I:  not enough time, too many competing demands for the little time we have, the desire to develop ourselves as artists, and the big one... fear of failure.

Well, I've made the commitment and have extended the invitation and I hope you'll join me in going for the challenge!  I admit I'm a little ahead, as I started my first week's piece back in early December.   I finished up my freehand machine embroidered Zebra over the holidays and today I spent my studio time making a "pillowcase binding", practicing micro-stippling, and starting the quilting for the piece.

I was inspired this last week when I went to the LaConner Quilt and Textile Museum and saw a piece there that was made by Cathy Erickson (no relation, but she's also a member of CQA.)  Cathy's quilt on display had won the best machine quilting for the LaConner International QuiltFest last October, and it's no surprise.  Cathy has some of the most beautiful micro-quilting that I've ever seen.  If you're not aware of micro-quilting, it is quilting designs in miniature... almost microscopic.  Lines may be as close as 1/16" apart.  In general, you need to use lighter weight threads to get this incredible lace-like effect.

To get some practice, I started with one of my favorite blogs, Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project and found her instructions and video on Microstippling.  I did a sampler using Leah's instructions and then made several samples of micro-quilting, using different pattern ideas... one with a squared edge stipple, one like grasses, one irregular stripes (like the zebra) and another grid pattern.  I looked at each of them alongside my zebra and then chose one for my quilting background.  Which one do you think I picked?  Tune in next week....

I also found from Leah's site a wonderful blog which shares work in progress each Wednesday.  It's called "Freshly Pieced".  Make sure to check it out!

Tonight I spent a little time thinking about my next design.  As you may know, I've had windmills and the Moulin Rouge on the brain for many years.  Since the late 19th century, the Moulin Rouge has been an inspiration for artists.  It has symbolized the bohemian lifestyle and served as a gateway to Montmartre, the neighborhood in Paris where writers, artists, and philosophers congregated.  Most notably, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec captured many scenes of the Moulin Rouge in the 1890's, helping to assure its fame through his lithographic posters.   Most people are familiar with the Can-Can, a dance popularized at the Moulin Rouge.  My quilt pictured here is the exterior of this famous windmill (Moulin in French) at night, from a photo I took in Paris in 2009.  The reader board image, freehand machine embroidered, of "120 ans" is celebrating the 120th anniversary of continuous operation of the infamous nightclub.

So, I was playing around with colored pencils and here is my potential for next week's 5x7 challenge.  I'm thinking of doing the four areas in between the windmill blades in two pieced groups of complementary colors (blue & orange, violet & yellow). I'm still considering how I want to do the windmill blades.

I think getting started is the hardest part... I feel a little bit of trepidation about whether I'll be able to sustain my production or not.  Anyone else sharing this fear?  I can't wait to see what you create!

You might also be interested in:

52 Week- 5 x 7 
Challenge to Readers

52 Weeks of Art- 
A Personal Challenge

Making Fabric

52 Weeks of Art- a Personal Challenge

OK, I know this has been done before, in fact it's been done in a much bigger way that I'm going to suggest. But you have to start somewhere and I know personally what my bandwidth might be able to withstand.

I'm so hesitant to type this out... I feel a tightness in my belly... fear. Can I really say that I'll do this? Will it compromise my other art and goals that I want to do?

Artist: Gwen Lowery

As part of my journey this coming year, I'm going to make one 5" x 7" composition each week. I'll post pictures along the way, here on my blog. Notice I didn't say fiber composition. Part of the reason why is that I consider myself a fiber and mixed media artist. While fiber is my favorite chosen medium, I think I can learn a lot through using different materials. I also think combining techniques can be quite effective. Why did I choose this size? It seems doable, but it's also more than an artist trading card... it feels like it can be be art in and of itself, rather than just a practice piece. Not that these items will necessarily be successful- that's part of the process. But I do hope to find satisfaction with some of these pieces I create. I think that having a manageable size will help me really work at producing, something I think I need to do, to increase my skills.

Artist: Deborah Zibrik

One of my favorite teachers, Gail Harker, had an exhibition and online auction of some of her student's work. The show was called Black White and Red and it was all 5" x 7" works in values of those colors. She still has the pieces up on her online gallery. I was extremely happy to be able to purchase three of these small works, which are pictured here, and which I am displaying as artwork in my home. I had planned to do a piece for this show/auction, but didn't end up making it a priority. When I went to the opening, I was somewhat ashamed that I hadn't. I could see that making a 5 x 7 piece wasn't all that unattainable, even with the demands of work, a family, my volunteer work for other fiber organizations (CQA and SDA, primarily), and everything else that puts demands on my time. So, it's time to put it to the test.



Artist: Judy Alexander

In case you're wondering about my fascination with windmills or 'moulins' in French, I am passionate about France and Paris. My husband, Randy, works in the international aerospace industry, and travels abroad regularly. He proposed to me on the shores of the Mediterranean and we've enjoyed visits to Paris and many areas in France numerous times. I started studying French in the fall of 2008. Between the beauty of the French countryside and the iconic portrayals of the Moulin Rouge in late 19th century art, I've developed a fondness for the imagery of the windmill. Guess I should add Holland to my list of places to travel someday!