Tuesday, November 1, 2016

I've Got the Blues

I've Got the Blues 


I'm having a hard time typing this morning 
as I am eating ALL the roasted pumpikin seeds from 
the Halloween pumpkin carving fisaco that took place 
in our back yard yeasterday. 
Type one word, eat a pumpkin seed, 
type 2 words, reach for more pumpkin seeds. 
See my predicament????

As I mulled over this quarter's Four In Art theme of...
I've Got the Blues
I decided I just can't have the blues becasue........


I'm happy that we still have 2 kiddos living at home with us. 
(Aren't my nerds cute?)



I also got to witness a friend getting a pie in the face
 at our church Harvest Festival.
(Doesn't he look happy?
Oh, and look at that cute Brony shirt.)


I helped a high school football player sew his first 
and probably his last quilt for a school assignment. 
(He was a quick learner and did a great job.
Go North High Huskies!)


And lastly...I get to see this view
 twice at week at my daughter's soccer practice. 



Back to reality.... I traced the word 'azul' meaning blue in 
Portugese onto a white background. 
See my nifty high end light table? 
I chose this word becasue I lived in Brasil for a summer 
and even though my Portugese stinks, 
I'm always happy to find a way to use it. 



I then drew 3 circles to encompas the word azul. 
I wanted to quilt inside just the circles and use the 
negative space of the quilting to spell the word azul. 

I decided to use 3 different thread colors, 
one in each of the circles.
Right here I'm quilting around the 
letter Z with medium colored blue thread.



One of my kids decided that I needed to be documented. 
I'm always the photographer and never get to be the photographee. 


Before quilting I added some fabric inside the quilt 
sandwich that could be seen behind the white fabric.
The intention was to highlight the 3 different circles. 
I chose fabric that had circles on it, to go along with the circles I quilted. 
I know there's a name for this technique. 
Right now I can't remember the name and I can't find it on the web. Boo hoo. 


I quilted the cirlces to overlap each other and bisect in the middle. 
It looks more meesy on the quilt than it did in my mind. 
I think sometimes my mind tricks me into thinking it has good ideas. 


This time around I chose to finish the 2 1/2" binding by machine. 

You can view other Four in Art Quilts too! Check out the links below.

Bette Ayershttps://www.flickr.com/photos/toot2
Camilla Cathrohttp://faffling.blogspot.co.nz/
Catherine Chisholmhttp://www.knottedcotton.com
Elizabeth Eastmondhttp://www.opquilt.com
Janine Greenhttp://www.rainbowhare.com
Nancy Myershttp://www.patchworkbreeze.blogspot.com
Rachel Rileyhttp://www.rachel-thelifeofriley.blogspot.com
Susan Snooks http://patchworknplay.blogspot.com

9 comments:

  1. Great idea and perfectly stitched. Glad I learned a Portugese word too. You definitely cannot be blue with all of the fun events happening there.

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  2. Yes, you have cute nerds! Azul is a lovely word, and I like the way your pebble quilting makes it stand out. It also gives the effect of sea foam which seems very fitting. What a cool idea to use fabric which shows through - that's going on my list of things to try.

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  3. This is such a clever idea and you've done it all beautifully. A really lovely quilt - and cute children too :)

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  4. What a delightful idea. You have created a Zenn diagram (math term. I thought of water bubbles or drops for each of your quilted circles. I think your mind has great ideas in there and this is great. Wish I could think of what the technique you used is called. Geta Grama uses it sometimes on her projects.

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  5. I love how you have made a feature of your quilting Simone! You really pulled it off! And Portugese no less! Clever thinking all round!

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  6. This is a great quilt. I figured azul must be blue is some foreign language! I like the shadow effect of the fabric showing through - seems like we quilters usually try to stop that from happening! I do like all the overlapping circles, even if you think they are messy. I think they add something. Great quilt.

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  7. A lovely original idea, very effective!

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  8. First I saw the color gradation and liked it. Then I read Venn Diagram and had to go back to see. Clever! Then I noticed the "lost edges" on the 'A' at the left, something I've been taught to try to do to create mystery. Nice.

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  9. I just realized I'd never left a comment on your blog post so thought I should take care of that. I think technique term you are looking for is trap unto, but it could also be something else...great piece you've made here! When we were in Lisbon, they tied the history of "azulejos" or the blue-and -white tiles, back to Brazil. Great job on your inventiveness!

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