Every year the Canadian Quilters’ Association organizes the TrendTex Challenge. The fabric is donated by TrendTex Fabrics. Quilters purchase the fabric bundles and donate their finished pieces, which are then auctioned off as a fundraiser for the Association.
Here are the five fabrics included in the 2025 packages.
This is my submission for this year. ‘Fleur Nouveau‘ – an elegant, stylized floral motif inspired by the Art Nouveau school of design. It is 13 by 13 inches.
The TrendTex Challenge entries will be displayed at Quilt Canada 2025 at the International Centre, Mississauga, ON June 19 to 21. This year the auction will take place online only, from June 2 to 21. The entries can be viewed here.
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I’m linking up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.
Here is ‘Neptune’s Dream‘. The finished size is 21″ x 41″.
It will be one of my art quilts included in an upcoming exhibit ‘The Planets Within: A Fibre Cosmology‘ at Il Museo, this summer at the Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver.
I set it aside for a month or so while I travelled and worked on other projects. When I returned to it a couple of weeks ago, the next step was to quilt contour lines on the felt-backed planet.
I drew the contour lines on a circle of freezer paper, then cut it apart into strips. I quilted next to the edges of the strips. Below is the contour quilting in progress, quilting completed (front view) and quilting completed (back).
After completing the planet, I attached it to the starry background. I’m thrilled with the finished piece.
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Thanks for stopping by.
I’m linking up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.
Here is my next planet quilt – Neptune, one of the gas giants in the solar system. Neptune’s swirling gases create its characteristic blue color. Its powerful winds create the bands and swirls.
I used several photos of Neptune to create my pattern. I had more than enough blue fabrics to choose from. The challenge was to select the correct values. Since I knew the values were very close and might be tricky, I pinned the pieces to the design wall, as I fused and cut them. When I saw them all together, I could see that the third darkest fabric (number 6 on the value scale) was too dark.
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I was able to quickly find another blue fabric that worked better. It is a bit more purple, but the value is much better. And I like how the purple adds interest.
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Then I took all the pieces off the design wall, removed the backing paper and reassembled them on a horizontal surface. I finger pressed the fabrics to parchment paper, starting with the lightest values. I had traced the design lines onto a transparent overlay so I could easily position the pieces.
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After I fused all the pieces to the parchment paper, I carefully peeled the fused planet off the parchment paper and fused it to felt. Below, it is pinned to the background fabric.
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The next step is to quilt contour lines, then I will attach it to the background.
Here is my entry for this year’s annual textile art exhibit Cherry Blossoms: A Textile Translation which will be on display in April at the Silk Purse Arts Centre in West Vancouver.
I reviewed my collection of photos of cherry blossoms, and found this close-up of a blossom and buds with a nicely blurred background. I enhanced the image with a computer program to boost the colors and add an interesting artistic effect with squares. The image on the right is the result.
I printed the enhanced image on prepared fabric at about 13″ x 13″. I layered it on felt and added outline quilting with black thread. It’s mounted on a black 12″ x 12″ wrapped canvas. I titled it ‘Blossoms Squared‘.
The exhibit will be on display Wednesday, April 09 through Sunday, May 04, 2025 at the Silk Purse Arts Centre, 1570 Argyle Ave., West Vancouver.
The Opening Reception will be on Thursday, Apr. 10, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.
I put this aside while I was working on other projects. I returned to it in December, and quilted the planet and the rings to the felt, then attached them to the background with zigzag stitching. I quilted the starry space background with a very dark purple thread. The finished size is 18″ x 41″.
‘Saturn’ by Terry Aske‘Saturn’ (detail) by Terry Aske
My plan is to create more art quilts based on planets of the Solar System. The next one will be Neptune, featuring a multitude of blue fabrics and a similar batik fabric for the background.
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Thanks for stopping by.
I’m linking up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.
My local fibre art group, FYBR 2RT, is organizing an exhibit for early 2025 titled ‘What About Red?’ All pieces will be 16″ x 16″ and must include some amount of the color red.
Here is my submission for this exhibit, titled ‘Vivid‘. It is mounted on a black wrapped canvas. I love the way it appears to glow, especially when viewed as a thumbnail image.
When this exhibit was announced, I knew I wanted to use a multitude of red and red-adjacent colors. My brainstorming notes say ‘red, fuchsia, orange, bit of yellow, bit of black’. Below is my original fabric and thread selections. Other than adding red-violet, I stayed fairly close to my original selections.
The background is 4 quadrants of reddish fabrics, each section straight-line quilted with variegated threads. For the wonky squares, I moved further around the color wheel and included colors from yellow-orange to red-violet. The squares are fused and quilted to black felt which is trimmed 1/8″ from the edges. There is a sliver of black canvas showing around the outside edges.
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Thanks for stopping by.
I’m linking up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.
Here is a new fibre art piece I made for the Arts New West Winter Solstice exhibition.
It’s based on a photo I took a few years ago of one of my favourite local landmarks – the Pattullo Bridge. This bridge is a beautiful structure, with its graceful arched shape, intricate angled beams, and distinctive colors. Unfortunately, it is old and beyond repair, so it will be replaced with a new bridge in the next year or so. The Pattullo was designed by supervising engineer Major W.G. Swan, and it opened in 1937. You can read more about the history of the bridge here and here.
My original photo was taken on a cloudy day and the colors were not good (photo on the left below).
A couple of years ago, I experimented with a variety of computer programs and iPad apps to digitally enhance the photo, with some wonderful results. (Unfortunately, I seem to have lost my notes about what programs I used).
I have previously used two of these enhanced photos to create fibre art pieces – ‘Pattullo Bridge with Yellow Sky‘ and ‘Jade Sky at Night‘. I had forgotten about this one. While scrolling through my photo library looking for inspiration for the Winter Solstice exhibition, I rediscovered this version of my photo. It seemed perfect for this theme with the dark cloudy sky. I printed it on fabric, and outlined some of the main bridge components with stitching. It is 10 x 10 inches, and mounted on a black canvas frame.
The Gallery at Queen’s Park will be hosting the Winter Solstice Exhibition December 4 – December 22, 2024. “The exhibition will feature work from over 50 local artists and looks to embrace this magical season. The short days and long nights of Winter are imbued with moody ambience and spiritual significance. It is a time for contemplation, but also for celebration. Visit the gallery and celebrate the season through art.”
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Thanks for stopping by.
I’m linking up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.
There is something new on my design wall – the planet Saturn.
My goal is to create several art quilts based on planets of the Solar System. My first choice was Saturn – with its distinctive bands and amazing ring system, it is the most visually interesting planet in the Solar System.
My internet research tells me that Saturn’s colors are quite subtle. The planet has weather bands of pale colors – yellows, browns, greys, and the rings are shades of grey and light brown. (See additional information here about the true colors of the planets.)
However, I had already been captivated by many colour-enhanced images such as this one from NASA. So I choose to depict Saturn with brighter colors. My version of the planet is orange, yellow and pink bands, and the rings are various shades of purple/violet.
I started my design by determining what portion of the planet and rings I wanted to show, andfrom what angle. I cut the shapes of the planet and rings from felt and positioned them on this lovely batik that looks like a starry sky..
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Then I cut and positioned the fabrics for the planet. I was happy with the colors, but realized the bands were not curved enough. My planet looked more like a slightly curved disc than a sphere.
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So I found a few guides to drawing a realistic-looking sphere. I drew contour lines on a piece of Duralar (a transparent film that can be drawn on) which I pinned over the planet so I could see what changes I needed to make.
Here is the improved version. At this point, the fabrics are backed with fusible web but they are not yet fused together.
Next were the colors for the rings (excuse the bad photo – this was taken at night)
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I have now fused all the fabrics to the felt pieces. Here they are on my design wall, pinned to the background fabric. The background is 20″ x 44″. The finished size will be 18″ wide, and the height will be between 36″ and 42″.
There are several reasons that I fuse and quilt the fabrics to felt before attaching them to the background:
It will give some dimension to the planet and rings.
I can quilt the fabrics and felt without having to bury all the thread ends.
If I make a mistake while quilting, it’s easier to correct than if the items were already attached to the background.
The next steps are to machine quilt the planet and the rings to the felt, then attach them to the background.
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Thanks for stopping by.
I’m linking up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.
SAQA’s 2024 Benefit Auction starts this Friday. It will take place online from September 13 through October 6.
Each year, SAQA invites each of its members to create a small 12 x 12 inch piece of art and donate it to the annual SAQA Benefit Auction. The auction has a dual purpose – to increase the recognition of quilts as art and quilters as artists, and to raise funds to support SAQA’s exhibition programs and education outreach activities.
With 440+ pieces of beautiful artwork available for bidding, there is something for everyone to enjoy! These artworks have been donated by SAQA artists from around the world. You can see them all on the SAQA website here. Think about which you might want to bid on when the auction opens on September 13th. Or just enjoy browsing through hundreds of mini works of art!
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This is my entry for this year – ‘My Signature Colors’. Read about how I made it here.
This is my twelfth SAQA auction quilt! As you can see, I like to mix it up and use a variety of techniques.
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Thanks for stopping by.
I’m linking up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.
In September, I’ll be heading to Edmonton AB for the annual conference of the Fibre Art Network. As usual, we will have an artwork exchange. The theme this year is ‘River City’.
The conference organizers described the theme: “This year, the Art Exchange will be ‘river city’ inspired. We hope you will interpret some aspect of the North Saskatchewan River Valley, Edmonton itself as a River City or any river theme. Whether fun or serious, your artwork will be a valued keepsake for another FAN member attending the 2024 conference. It is so much fun to share!”
I was in Edmonton in June for the Quilt Canada conference, and had lots of opportunities to view the North Saskatchewan River and stroll along the River Valley walkways enjoying the beautiful city and scenery. I took lots of photos that could have been inspiration for an art quilt. But what struck me the most about the river was its shape when viewed from above (as on a map) – its graceful curves as it meanders through the city.
I collected a few maps of the city and created my pattern, simplifying at a bit.
Colours – For the river, I selected an intense blue color. A green print for the the park lands and trail areas in the river valley. And a mottled green fabric for the surrounding land (totally ignoring the city streets and highways of Edmonton). It needed a splash of another color, so I used red-violet for the base fabric. I trimmed each fabric piece slightly inside the lines so there would be gaps between the pieces, where a sliver of the red-violet base fabric would show as ‘grout lines’.
For quilting, I edge stitched each fabric. I considered a few options for overall quilting – echo quilting the shape of the river, a grid and (my recent favorite overall quilting design) a tilted grid. The tilted grid appealed to me more than the other options. I positioned 1-inch tape and stitched on either side of it.
I tried something new for the facing. I left the ends of top facing open, so it could be used as a sleeve for a thin dowel (made from a 30″ bamboo campfire skewer)
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Here is the finished piece, titled ‘Meandering Through the City‘. It is 18 x 9.5 inches.
