A busy week and lots of news – 2014.11.04

Posted on November 5, 2014 by TerryAske

I haven’t posted for a while – mostly because I was in Victoria BC last week, visiting family and friends.

While I was there, we visited Satin Moon Quilt Shop to see the ‘It’s Time for Colour!’ traveling quilt show of 36 small quilts by CQA (Canadian Quilters Association) award winners – including one of mine – ‘Rainy Day Girls’.   Here are some of the quilts hanging in the quilt shop.  You can see all of them (with better photos!) here on the CQA website.

CQA - Time for Colour1-001

I finished the dog portrait I’ve been working on for about a month, and shipped it off to its new home.   I love how it looks!

Toby - finished

A few months ago, I was invited to submit my quilt ‘Swoop’  for inclusion in the sixth annual issue of the International Quilt Festival: Quilt Scene magazine.  I was thrilled to be asked, and of course I agreed!  I’ve been checking the magazine stands for the last few weeks, and then a couple of days ago, I received an issue in the mail.  ‘Swoop’ can be seen on page 100 of the magazine.  This quilt was accepted into the special exhibit Tactile Architecture 2014, which premiered at International Quilt Market and Festival in Houston and is scheduled to travel in 2015 to various International Quilt Festival and Market sponsored shows.

DSCN4127  DSCN4128

I meant to enter some of my quilts in the Fall Bloggers Quilt Festival at Amy’s Creative Side.  I missed the deadline to enter, but do go and check out all the wonderful entries, and vote for your favorites!

And last – but not least – for the third year now, I’ve had calendars printed with some of my original art quilts.  Wall and desk calendars are now available in my Etsy shop.

2015 Wall Calendar - Art Quilts by Terry Aske  2015 Desk Calendar - Art Quilts by Terry Aske

Posted in Art quilts, Houston International Quilt Show, Publications | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

On my design wall – 2014.10.22

Posted on October 22, 2014 by TerryAske

I have lots of progress to show on the dog portrait I’m working on, last blogged about here.

I fused the portrait to a light blue background fabric.  Then I outline stitched the nose, tongue and eyes, and thread-sketched the fur.   The threadwork doesn’t show up all that well in the photo below because the thread colors are quite close to the fabrics, so I’ve included a photo of the back, too.

Toby-selecting thread for sketching  Toby-thread-sketching completed  Toby-thread-sketching-back

 

Next I’ll add the borders.  My client has requested blue-purple batik borders.  In the photo below, I’ve pinned the border fabrics to the design wall to make sure they all work together.  I was originally thinking to use the darkest fabric for the thin inner border, but it seemed too dark.  Then I found a perfect medium-toned hand-dyed fabric in my stash.  The outer borders will be joined with a curved seam as in the sketch below.

Toby-auditioning border fabrics  Toby border options-001

 

Then I’ll layer the quilt with batting and backing, quilt the borders and outline key areas of the dog’s head and body to add more dimension.

 

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.

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced     Esther’s Blog  Sew Fresh Quilts

Posted in Art quilts, On my design wall, Portrait quilts, WiP Wednesday | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Off my design wall – finally! – 2014.10.20

Posted on October 20, 2014 by TerryAske

This must be one my longest projects.  I started this quilt at a workshop in February 2013.  Then I finished piecing it at a retreat in May 2014.  I started quilting it in July.  Thanks to the VMQG’s UFO challenge (the deadline is tonight!), I finally finished it.

I had a hard time deciding how to quilt it, and I changed my mind several times, but I’m really happy with how it looks.  I free-motion quilted the flower shapes, continuing some of them into the other fabrics.  Then I flipped it over and quilted from the back.  I straight-line quilted boxes around the flowers, then filled in the rest with parallel serpentine stitching.  It’s hard to photograph because it’s black, but I think you’ll get the idea.

I’m thinking of calling it Flower Boxes, but I haven’t made the label yet, so it’s subject to change.

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Posted in Modern quilts | Tagged , | 6 Comments

On my design wall – 2014.10.18

Posted on October 18, 2014 by TerryAske

I’ve made lots of progress on the dog portrait in the last couple of days – I have all the pieces cut and positioned on a piece of parchment paper, ready to be fused.

Toby-ready for fusing

 

Here are the steps I used to get to this stage:

Photo 1 below – all of the fabric pieces are backed with fusible web.  Some have the backing paper removed, but most still have the paper attached – because that makes it easier to rearrange the pieces (once the backing paper is removed, the pieces start sticking to each other).   So the pieces are all pinned in place on the original full size pattern, and now I need to remove pins, peel off backing paper and position each piece in place.  That’s difficult to do because most of the pieces are overlapping other pieces.

Photo 2 below – I printed another full size pattern, pinned it to another small design board, pinned parchment paper over that (so I can fuse the pieces together when I’m ready, and then just peel it off the parchment paper).  I also traced the major design lines onto another piece of parchment paper which I pinned to the top of the design board.  Then I moved the pieces one by one from the first design board to the second one. As I moved each piece, I flipped up the tracing, positioned the piece, then flipped the tracing back in place to ensure the fabric piece was in the right place.

Photo 3 below – all pieces are positioned on the bottom layer of parchment paper with the tracing on top.  At this point, the pieces are just finger-pressed in place.

Photo 4 below – all pieces positioned, tracing removed.  Ready to fuse together.

Toby-all pieces pinned in place  Toby-positioning pieces under tracing  Toby-all pieces positioned under tracing Toby-ready for fusing

 

Next, I’ll fuse the whole portrait together, then I’ll peel it off the parchment paper and audition it against some background fabrics.  In the comments in my last post several of my readers asked how I stitch the pieces after fusing.   Here’s my process.   I’ll be posting photos as I continue with this portrait.

 

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.

   Creations by Nina-Marie   Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Posted in On my design wall, Portrait quilts | Tagged | 3 Comments

On my design wall – 2014.10.15

Posted on October 15, 2014 by TerryAske

The custom dog portrait I started last week is progressing very well.  I pinned the full size pattern to my small portable design wall and covered the pattern with parchment paper.  As I fuse and cut out each piece, I’m either ironing them to the parchment paper, or pinning them in place.

Here’s how it looked on the weekend.  At this point, I send a photo to my customer by email.  Her comment: “He’s beautiful, Terry!  I love what you’ve done.”

Toby-in progress 1

 

On Monday, I completed the rest of his ear.  (I took the 2 photos at different times of the day – I think the true colors are somewhere between the 2 photos.)

Toby-in progress 2

 

Now I just have to do his body.  Then I’ll fuse all the pieces to the parchment paper, and audition various background options.   I think the background will be similar to the light blue in the 1st photo above, but I generally audition a few background options after the subject is completed.

 

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.

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced     Esther’s Blog  Sew Fresh Quilts

Posted in Art quilts, On my design wall, Portrait quilts, WiP Wednesday | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Another pet portrait – 2014.10.09

Posted on October 9, 2014 by TerryAske

I’m working on another custom dog portrait.  On the weekend, I drew the pattern from the original photo and enlarged it to full size.  (Don’t you just love that slurpy tongue licking his nose?)

full size pattern from photo

 

Then I started selecting fabrics.  Yesterday, I decided I didn’t like some of the first set of fabrics (on the right in the photo below), so I went back to my stash and found a lot more fabrics.  I’ll probably use some from each column.

selecting fabrics

 

Now I’m ready to start fusing and cutting and creating.  Check back later this week to see my progress.

 

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.

     Sew Fresh Quilts

 

Posted in Art quilts, Portrait quilts, WiP Wednesday | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

A variety of news – 2014.09.28

Posted on September 28, 2014 by TerryAske

I haven’t posted for a couple of weeks, but I have been busy with lots of quilting-related activities.

I attended the annual retreat of the Fibre Art Network (FAN) in Edmonton.  It was an Cityscape, by Jenny Perryopportunity to re-connect with old friends, and to make new ones.  We shared information, talked about our progress as artists, and made plans for new group exhibitions.

One of the highlights is the art exchange.  We each made a small piece, which we displayed then exchanged.  I came home with this beautiful Cityscape, made by Jenny Perry.

 

 

 

I’m working on a new art quilt for a Fibre Art Network exhibition called Canadiana, which will debut at the New Zealand Quilt Symposium in January 2015.  This is a juried show and I’ve been advised not to show the piece until after the jurying, so I’m keeping it under wraps for now.  The entry deadline is October 1st, so I’m focusing on it for the next few days.

 

And some delightful news – the CQA ‘It’s Time for Colour!’ traveling quilt show of 36 small quilts by CQA award winners will debut in Victoria BC at Satin Moon Quilt Shop from October 19 to November 2 – and I will be visiting Victoria at the end of October, so I’ll get to see them all!   This is the quilt I contributed to the show – Rainy Day Girls.

TerryAske_RainyDayGirls

 

And speaking of Rainy Day People quilts, earlier this year, I submitted some of my art quilts for a book which will be released at the end of the year.  I hadn’t heard any news about whether any of my pieces would be included, but when I checked the publisher’s website, I discovered one of my Rainy Day People pieces on the cover!  I’ve been informed that a few of my other quilts are in the book, but I don’t know yet which ones.

1000 Quilt Inspirations cover

 

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.

   Creations by Nina-Marie   Confessions of a Fabric Addict

 

 

Posted in Art quilts | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

Friday finish and other news – 2014.09.12

Posted on September 12, 2014 by TerryAske

Here’s my finished entry for the Canadian Quilters’ Association invitational traveling quilt show ‘It’s Time for Colour!’ – more information here.  It’s another piece in my Rainy Day people series, and I titled it ‘Rainy Day Girls’.

TerryAske_RainyDayGirls

 

Aske SAQA’s 2014 online auction will begin on Monday, September 15, 2014.  My entry will be included in the first week’s auction.  The price starts at $750 and goes down each day – so I’ll be watching with interest to see when my piece gets purchased.  Check out all the fabulous entries here.

 

Aske_Terry_Catching_the_Wind-001

 

And if you want even more ‘eye candy’, the Fibre Art Network’s newest exhibit ‘On the Wind’ has been posted on the website.  As always, the diversity of  techniques and interpretations of the theme make for an wonderful collection of art.  My piece is ‘Catching the Wind’.

 

 

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.

   Creations by Nina-Marie   Confessions of a Fabric Addict

 

 

Posted in Art quilts, Friday finishes, Quilt shows | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

On my design wall – 2014.09.10 – CQA ‘It’s Time for Colour!’

Posted on September 10, 2014 by TerryAske

The Canadian Quilters’ Association (CQA/ACC) has invited award winners of their annual National Juried Show to donate a 12 x 16 inch quilt for a traveling quilt show.   As an award winner in the Modern category in 2014 with my quilt Shades of Gray, I received an invitation to participate.  I love a challenge, so I accepted immediately!

TerryAske_RainyDayPeopleThe theme is ‘It’s Time for Colour!’   I had several ideas for colorful subject matter (tulips, fall foliage and sunsets all came to mind) but I decided to create yet another version of one of my favorite themes – Rainy Day People.

This time, I’m showing two small girls with huge adult-sized umbrellas (based on photos I took of a little girl last year).   I dressed them in bright, cheerful colors to contrast with the rainy gray background.

I fused the girls and umbrellas first to parchment paper, then to thin black cotton.  Then I free motion stitched with black thread.   After that, I applied Misty Fuse to the back of the black fabric (thus securing all the thread ends!) then trimmed the black fabric leaving a thin outline.

DSCN3969With previous quilts in this series I quilted the ‘rain’ through all the layers including the people and their umbrellas.  With this one I quilted the rain on the background first (using that same great black and gray variegated thread).

 

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I still need to cut more ‘reflections’, then I’ll fuse the girls and the reflections and quilt the bottom portion of the quilt.  If you come back on Friday, I should have it all finished.

 

And here’s my finished journal quilt that I started last week.

DSCN3971

 

 

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.

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced      Esther’s Blog  Sew Fresh Quilts

 

Posted in Art quilts, On my design wall | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

On my design wall – 2014.09.03 – playing with a new technique

Posted on September 4, 2014 by TerryAske

Later this month I’ll be attending the annual retreat of the Fibre Art Network (FAN).  As usual we will have an art exchange, size 8.5 by 11 inches.  The theme this year is ‘stepping out of your comfort zone’.

I’ve always admired fibre art where the edges of the fabrics are not sewn or fused – generally referred to as raw-edge collage. But I’ve always found it difficult to go with this free-and-easy approach on my own work – I seem to need to control my edges with fusible web and stitching.

So I decided to try a technique I haven’t used before.  I drew my subject matter (a bowl of fruit because I could include some bright colors) on a sheet of leave-in stabilizer. I numbered the elements in the order I wanted to sew them. After piecing the background I basted the stabilizer to the back of the fabric. I positioned the first piece of fabric by holding the whole thing up to the light then sewed from the back with black thread.   No glue. No fusible. No pins for most of the pieces.   Then I flipped it over and trimmed fairly close to the stitching.  Here’s where I reverted to my compulsive preciseness.  I should try this again where I roughly cut the pieces ahead, then sew them from the back and just leave them as is, even if the stitching goes off the fabric – for a looser, more abstract look.

Drawing on stabilizer and rough cut fabric pieces

Drawing on stabilizer and rough cut fabric pieces

Fruit and bowl sewn from the back

Fruit and bowl sewn from the back

After all the pieces were sewn from the back and trimmed from the front. I added a few smaller pieces (leaves and lighter grapes) with fusible web and stitched them from the front.

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Then I layered and quilted with more black thread around each element.

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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.

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced        Esther’s Blog

Posted in Art quilts, On my design wall, WiP Wednesday | Tagged , | 6 Comments