Terry Aske Art Quilt Studio

A change in direction – 2016.05.01

Posted on May 1, 2016 by TerryAske

I started working on my improv idea for the MQG challenge but I’m not happy with the results. I had this idea about cutting the black & white sashing fabric into thin strips, off-grain, to diminish the very linear, geometric lines and make them look more abstract.

I inserted the skinny strips between wider pieces of the solid colors. I sewed a few pieces together, but I just wasn’t satisfied with the results. I’m not sure if I tried to use too many colors – perhaps a more restricted palette? Or maybe I don’t have enough contrast – I could try adding some very light fabrics, or perhaps some black? I tried putting them on my dark gray design wall, and then on my light gray design wall.

In any case, the whole process was starting to feel forced, rather than creative. So now I’m going in a completely different direction. A design loosely based on an old-fashioned TV test pattern, like this one.

Here’s where it is so far. It’s just pinned to the dark gray design wall. I still need to add the background with some more bars of color, and perhaps a TV screen shape as a border.

And I now think I see what the problem is – not enough value contrast in the fat quarter package of Riley Blake fabrics that I bought online. But since the rules require that only Riley Blake solids can be used with the feature fabric, I’m limited in my options. I did order some solid black from another online source, which may help. I’m going to set this aside until the black arrives, and then re-assess.

Thanks for stopping by. Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.

In the mood for Improv – 2016.04.27

Posted on April 27, 2016 by TerryAske

In December, the Modern Quilt Guild (MQG) announced a new fabric challenge. I signed up for the free black & white Sashing Stash fabric, which I received in March. The rules require that only Riley Blake solids can be used with the feature fabric. I didn’t know exactly what I was going to for this challenge, but I wanted to get a variety of colors in the solid fabrics. It was a little challenging to find a good selection of Riley Blake solids, but eventually I found a fat quarter pack at Cotton Capers Online. Here’s my fabric, waiting for me to be inspired.

Because the Sashing Stash fabric is so geometrical, my first thought was to make a quilt with lots of straight lines. But I found that just wasn’t appealing to me – I was in the mood for Improv. I have a couple of ideas and I’m going to start experimenting – working without a pattern, because that the nature of improv!

But first, I warmed up my improv skills by making some blocks for this month’s Vancouver MQG block lotto challenge The block is called ‘X Marks the Improv’ and was designed by Debbie of A Quilters’ Table. It’s a fun and quick block to make – the last one took less than 15 minutes – and a great way to use up all the scraps I’ve been saving.

I’ve made 4 blocks so far, and may make more, but right now I want to start working on my ideas for the Riley Blake challenge. Check back soon to see what I come up with.

Thanks for stopping by. Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative projects to inspire you.

Posted in Modern quilts, WiP Wednesday | Tagged modern quilt, quilt challenge, VMQG, WiP Wednesday | 6 Comments

‘Casper’ the cat is finished – 2016.04.24

Posted on April 24, 2016 by TerryAske

The thread-sketched portrait of Casper is finished and has been shipped to my customer, Maureen. I didn’t finish the edges, because Maureen is going to incorporate Casper’s portrait into a pillow for her granddaughter.

When I last posted about this portrait, the thread-sketching was almost complete. Last week, I finished thread-sketching the chest area, added some details around the eyes and ears, and added a chin line and a few white whiskers.

As I was stitching, I pulled my threads to the back and left tails of about 1″, but I didn’t tie them off. When I was finished all the thread-sketching, I fused a layer of Presto Sheer stabilizer to the back. It’s a very light-weight stabilizer and anchors all the threads, and adds just a bit of stability to the hand of the fabric. You can see in the above photo what the back looked like before I fused the stabilizer.

Below are two photos of the finished portrait, in different lighting conditions. You can see the thread-sketching better in the first one.

By the way, most of my portrait quilts are fused applique, with some stitching or thread-sketching. But for this portrait of Casper, I printed a photo on fabric, then added the thread-sketching. Because the thread-sketching is on a photo printed on fabric, the photo shows through. The thread adds more color, and texture. While it’s important to use the correct value (light, medium, dark), it’s more important to stitch in the right direction to simulate the fur.

As long as you have a good photo as a base, this process is certainly quicker than creating a portrait from scratch with fused fabrics.

Thanks for stopping by. Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.

Posted in Art quilts, Portrait quilts | Tagged art quilt, photo imaging, photo printed on fabric, portrait quilt | 3 Comments

Cat portrait in progress – 2016.04.13

Posted on April 13, 2016 by TerryAske

I’ve been working on a cat portrait, using the same techniques I used a couple of years ago for the portrait of ‘Baby’.

In February, I received an email from Maureen, which said “My 9-year-old granddaughter asked me to help her make a throw blanket with the image of her beloved cat, Casper, on it. . . . I used Google to search for cat quilts and saw your commissioned piece on your web page . . . Not only is your work beautiful, but Baby looks a lot like Casper! I have attached a recent Facebook photo of Casper. He is a rag doll breed and a lilac point color. He has the same beautiful blue eyes and a medium length coat of creamy white fur. I’m wondering if I could commission you to create a quilt piece similar to Baby’s (8×8”, face only) and applique the “enhanced by thread-sketching” photo-on-fabric to a fabric piece I provide. From this, I would make a round decorative pillow for her bed.”

Maureen sent me several photos of Casper, and after looking at several options, we decided on a photo and background fabric. I cropped the photo and printed it on prepared fabric, then selected the threads I would use to sketch on the printed photo.

I fused Misty Fuse to the back of the fabric photo, then cut around the edge of the cat’s head, and fused it to the fabric background. I used a black Sharpie to enlarge his pupils, and a white gel pen for the highlights.

Then I started thread-sketching. I printed a ‘posterized’ version of the photo on paper and made notes of thread colors on it. I find this is very useful if I need to go back later and add thread to an area.

The thread-sketching is almost complete. I had to stop because I was finding it hard to focus on light thread on light fabric. Another couple of hours and it should be finished.

Thanks for stopping by. Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative projects to inspire you.

Posted in Art quilts, On my design wall, Portrait quilts, WiP Wednesday | Tagged art quilt, portrait quilt, WiP Wednesday | 6 Comments

The Edge of the Pond – 2016.03.31

Posted on April 1, 2016 by TerryAske

For the last few days, I’ve been working on the art quilt that I started designing in February. The online submission deadline is tomorrow, and today I finished it, took photos, wrote my artist’s statement, decided on a title, and submitted it.

I called it ‘The Edge of the Pond’. It measures 18 x 41 inches.

This art quilt is for a Fibre Art Network (FAN) exhibition called ‘Ekphrastic’.

The word ‘Ekphrasis’ means a rhetorical device whereby one medium of art is created to relate to another medium of art. Usually Ekphrastic poetry is created to respond to a piece of art. FAN put a distinctive spin on this process by inviting twelve well known Canadian poets to each contribute a poem of their choosing. Each of the twelve poems will be interpreted by four FAN members in a wide range of styles. In total FAN members will create 48 pieces of fibre art, both two-dimensional and three-dimensional pieces. The two-dimensional works will all be 18 inches wide and will vary in length. The only restriction for the 3-D pieces is that they have to fit into a medium-sized Canada Post box for shipping.

The exhibit will debut at the La Conner Quilt and Textile Museum in La Conner, Washington in October 2016, and then will travel to other locations until the end of 2019.

The poem I am responding to was written by Lorna Crozier, who lives on Vancouver Island. It will be very interesting to see how three other FAN members interpret Lorna’s poem, and to hear what she thinks of our artworks.

To create the illusion that the fish are underwater, I constructed the quilt in the following order:

fuse the fish and reflections to the background fabric
quilt the water ripples
fuse the lily pads slightly overlapping the fish and reflections
quilt the lily pads
fuse the foreground irises and calla lily, then quilt them.

Of course, it wasn’t quite that simple, as I needed to figure where the lily pads would be before fusing the fish and the reflections – so there was a lot of temporary positioning, removing some elements, fusing others, quilting, adding more elements, positioning, fusing, quilting, and so on. I started at the top of the quilt and worked my way down, finishing with the irises and calla lily in the foreground.

Here are some of my in-progress photos from the last 10 days.

The background fabric is a tonal, almost-solid fabric in a dark green – the exact color of many Koi ponds. I wanted some reflections on the water, and I had a small piece of this beautiful watery fabric. I applied fusible web to the back and drew wavy lines, then cut the fabric apart and strategically positioned my ‘reflections’.

I quilted the ripple lines with variegated rayon thread. It makes it look like the sun is sparkling on the water. At the top of the quilt I used a teal variegated thread, and at the bottom I added some blue variegated.

I kept most of the quilting quite simple – just outline-stitched most elements – and let the fabrics do the work.

I’m very happy with the calla lily. I used a light green pencil crayon to draw the elegant curved edges of the petal and the slightly darker throat of the flower.

Thanks for stopping by. Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.

Posted in Art quilts, Friday finishes | Tagged art quilt, Fibre Art Network, Friday finish, fused applique | 8 Comments

Off my design wall – 2016.03.06

Posted on March 6, 2016 by TerryAske

The Koi Pond 12 x 12 inch mini-quilt is finished, except for the boring parts like sewing the binding to the back, adding a sleeve and a label. I’m happy with how it turned out, so now I will go back to the bigger art quilt. The online submission deadline is the end of this month, so the finishing on this one may have to wait awhile while I work on the larger one.

Thanks for stopping by. Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.

Posted in Art quilts, Friday finishes | Tagged art quilt, Friday finish | 8 Comments

On my design wall – 2016.03.03

Posted on March 3, 2016 by TerryAske

Last week, I showed my 12 x 12 inch fish pond quilt before any fusing or quilting.

This week, I’ve layered the quilt and started fusing and quilting.

To give the illusion that the fish are swimming under the water and the water lilies, I first fused and quilted the fish, then fused the ripples over the fish.

To create the illusion of distance, I quilted ripple lines closely together at the top of the quilt, with small stitches. As I got closer to the bottom, I spaced the ripples farther apart and used a longer stitch length.

I quilted the ripple lines with a variegated rayon thread that I’ve used before on several water quilts. I first used it on this quilt, then on this one, and this one. I love how it looks like the sun is sparkling on the water!

Next I’ll add the lily pads, then lastly the lily flowers. If I think I need additional ripples, I’ll slip them under the lily pads before fusing them in place.

Thanks for stopping by. Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative projects to inspire you.

Posted in Art quilts, On my design wall, WiP Wednesday | Tagged art quilt, water quilt, WiP Wednesday | 4 Comments

On my design wall – 2016.02.24

Posted on February 24, 2016 by TerryAske

I’m designing a new art quilt which will feature a koi pond and irises. It will be 18 inches wide, and anywhere from 36 to 60 inches in length. Fortunately, the condo building I live in is surrounded by gardens and lagoons which are home to more than 100 koi. So I have lots of photos to use as inspiration – here are a few of them.

The arrangement I’m planning will have irises in the foreground, in front of the pond with lily pads and swimming fish. I traced some key elements from my photos, then enlarged my tracings and put them on my design wall on top of a piece of dark green fabric that is a similar color to the water in our lagoons. I think I like the one with fewer lily pads.

I decided to make a smaller version (12 x 12 inches) to ensure my idea would work when translated to fabric and thread. At this point all the pieces have fusible web and paper on the back. They need to be fused in place, then I will add decorative stitching.

Thanks for stopping by. Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative projects to inspire you.

Posted in Art quilts, Inspiration, On my design wall, WiP Wednesday | Tagged art quilt, WiP Wednesday | 9 Comments

Spring is in the Air – 2016.02.19

Posted on February 19, 2016 by TerryAske

The abstract art quilt of a Cherry Blossom tree that I started last week is finished. It’s 18 x 36 inches, and I’m calling it ‘Spring is in the Air‘.

I quilted the horizontal lines of the background before fusing the leafy fabric and sewing on the tree and branches.

Then I fused the ‘blossoms’ and quilted them with a squarish pattern with pink thread.

Here is the finished quilt.

This is the third in my series of Tree quilts. Here they are all together hanging on my studio wall.

Thanks for stopping by. Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.

Posted in Art quilts | Tagged art quilt, tree quilt | 15 Comments

On my design wall – 2016.02.10

Posted on February 10, 2016 by TerryAske

There’s a new tree quilt taking shape on my design wall. The theme is Spring and Cherry Blossoms, and it will be fairly abstract, like my last 2 tree quilts.

I started by pulling out a lot of fabrics with Spring colors – mostly delicate greens and pale pinks.

I picked a couple of subtle prints for the background, an interesting plaid for the tree itself, and a green batik for leaves. I’ll use a variety of pink fabrics for cherry blossoms.

I cut the tree and branch shapes from freezer paper. Then I cut the fabric pieces with seam allowances that are pressed to the back, so they will have folded edges, not raw edges.

I experimented with a couple of options for the blossoms – random shapes on the left and squares on the right. I preferred the squares, but thought I would ask for opinions from my friends on Instagram. The responses were definitely in favor of the squares.

Now it’s time to take all the fabric pieces off my design wall, and to start constructing the art quilt. I should have something to show by the end of the week.

Thanks for stopping by. Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative projects to inspire you.

Posted in Art quilts, On my design wall, WiP Wednesday | 5 Comments

A change in direction – 2016.05.01

In the mood for Improv – 2016.04.27

‘Casper’ the cat is finished – 2016.04.24

Cat portrait in progress – 2016.04.13

The Edge of the Pond – 2016.03.31

Off my design wall – 2016.03.06

On my design wall – 2016.03.03

On my design wall – 2016.02.24

Spring is in the Air – 2016.02.19

On my design wall – 2016.02.10

terryaskeartquilts

Search my blog:

Subscribe to My Blog via Email

Quilting and fiber art groups I belong to:

Instagram