Mini quilt of WOW Westminster – 2020.10.31

Posted on October 31, 2020 by TerryAske

When I read the theme for the current Quilting Arts reader challenge – Art as Inspiration – I knew immediately what my inspiration would be!

I often walk to a nearby waterfront park, the site of a massive public art installation.  The WOW Westminster is was a 140-foot installation, comprising four 40-foot shipping containers precariously cantilevered to form a W-shape.  It was designed by Brazilian artist José Resende and was installed in 2015.

Sadly, in September 2020, the pier was destroyed by fire, and the big W installation could not be safely moved, so it was demolished. This article about the fire includes a time-lapse video that shows the W being taken apart. https://bcitnews.com/2020/09/17/wow-westminster-w-artwork-dismantled-after-fire/

If you are a regular reader of my blog and Instagram feed, you will know I’m fascinated by the diagonal lines and perspective of this piece of art. And that I’ve taken many photos of it, and used many of them as inspiration for my art.

Here are a few examples of the many photos I’ve taken since it was erected 5 years ago.

  • WOW from a distance
  • WOW up close
  • WOW from another view
  • WOW and bridges
  • recent photo

Here are the artworks I’ve made based on WOW Westminster. In the upper right is Dramatically Diagonal from 2016, and W and the 3 Bridges from 2017. The bottom 3 are 12″ x 12″ pieces.

Art quilts inspired by WOW Westminster, 2016 to 2019

My art quilt – The challenge is to create a 6″ x 6″ ‘postage stamp’ quilt inspired by art. I won’t make you read all the way to the bottom to see the finished quilt – here is Dramatic Diagonals.  Keep reading below to see how I made it.

Dramatic Diagonals, by Terry Aske

My design and construction process – I started with the W. It was the most detailed and difficult part. I wasn’t sure whether I could scale it down to a height of 5″ and still make it look massive and dimensional. I thought I might have to try making it more than once before I was satisfied. But I’m very happy with how this looks.

Here are the steps I followed (refer to the photos below).

  1. I used the first photo for the background of my mini quilt.
  2. I used the second photo for the W, because I prefer this viewpoint of the W.
  3. I used 3 solid rusty-orange fabrics – light, medium and dark to make it look dimensional.
  4. I traced the W onto freezer paper. I cut the W out and labelled the pieces as L, M and D.
  5. I ironed the freezer paper background onto black felt. This allowed me to easily position the fabrics in the correct positions.
  6. I applied fusible web to each fabric and cut out the pieces. I positioned the light value pieces on the black felt.
  7. Then the medium value pieces.
  8. And finally the dark value pieces.
  9. I fused the fabrics onto the black felt. Then I removed the freezer paper and stitched around each side of the W with black thread.
  10. Then I trimmed the black felt very closely around the W.
construction of W – step by step

Then I constructed the mini quilt in 3 layers.

  1. The base layer is a 6″ square of black felt. For the perforated edges of my stamp, I cut white fabric with pinking shears and fused it to the felt.
  2. The background (sky, river and pier) I fused to a 5.5″ square of Decor-Bond, and wrapped the edges to the back.
  3. I stitched the background square to the base by quilting around the edges of the square.
  4. Then the W was quilted in place on the background through all 3 layers.
mini quilt constructed in 3 layers

I love my little mini W art quilt. I’ll know on November 11 if it’s accepted to be published in the magazine. I’ll definitely be making more quilts inspired by the W, but probably larger than this one!

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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 and inspirational projects.

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“Plus” mini quilts from September – 2020.10.25

Posted on October 25, 2020 by TerryAske

I keep a spreadsheet with a listing of all the quilts I have made, including the year made, the name, the width and height. This makes it easy for me to determine which of my quilts fit the requirements for a call for entry. Here’s a partial view of of my spreadsheet.

I was updating my quilt inventory spreadsheet, and realized I forgot to blog about my entries to the most recent Curated Quilts mini challenge – Plus quilts. I did post them on Instagram, but not on my blog. I like do both because it’s much easier to search on my blog for information about a quilt I made in the past, than it is to scroll back through my IG posts.

So I’m posting about them now. When I first saw the color palette for this call for entry in mid-August, I pulled some fabrics out, but was uninspired until a couple of days before the deadline in September.

My first entry was Peach Plus, 11.5 x 11.5 inches. My construction method was improv, and I didn’t know exactly what it was going to look like, or what the final size would be. I improv pieced the corners from the outside edges in toward the center. Then I pieced the plus in the middle and squared it up. I finished it with echo-quilting in each section.

Peach Plus, by Terry Aske

My second entry was Plus Divided, 11 x 11 inches. For this one I was very precise, using a freezer paper pattern. I constructed each section separately, then used 1/4″ fusible strips to adhere the bias tape outline in place.

Then I matched up the 2 sections and sewed them together along the diagonal line. I quilted the aqua section with pink thread, and the blue-gray section with peach thread.

Plus Divided, by Terry Aske

As is often the case with these mini challenges, I like the second one I made better than the first one. Neither of them was selected for the magazine, but now I have two more minis in my quilt inventory.

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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 and inspirational projects.

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Off my design wall – 2020.10.18

Posted on October 18, 2020 by TerryAske

Last week, I asked for advice from my readers on how I should finish the quilting on this one. I received a lot of comments, with a wide variety of suggestions for the quilting. Thank you so much to everyone who commented!

I decided to continue the narrower quilting (1/4″ apart) in all of the outer gray sections. I left the colorful center section with straight lines 1/2″ apart. Then I added a narrow zigzag stitch outlining the center section, to emphasize it even more.

Untitled by Terry Aske – detail

I’m really happy with how it looks now. It finished at 25″ by 39″. My next dilemma is a title for it. I’m calling it Untitled for now. I’m thinking about Re-imagined Asymmetry or Asymmetrical Re-imagination. Any suggestions are welcome.

Untitled by Terry Aske 25″ x 39″

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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 and inspirational projects.

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A quilting dilemma – 2020.10.10

Posted on October 10, 2020 by TerryAske

It was the end of July when I last posted about this quilt. I finished quilting the straight lines 1/2″ apart in early August and since then it’s been hanging on my design wall while I considered options for additional quilting – perhaps more vertical lines closer together, or maybe some horizontal straight lines. Here’s how it looked then.

Aug 3 – 1/2″ vertical quilting completed

And there it hung for 2 months while I worked on other projects. A few days ago, I got back to it. I decided to add more straight line quilting in the solid outer sections only – leaving the center section as is. I started with the lower left quadrant, quilting between the previously quilted lines, so now the lines are 1/4″ apart. I liked the effect, and posted some photos on Instagram.

lower left quadrant has additional quilting lines

Sandi H. suggested that I should add quilting to the top right quadrant, but leave the upper left and lower right as is and see how it looks with a mix of narrow and wide quilting. That sounded like an interesting option, so I next added quilting to the top right quadrant. Here’s how it looks now.

quilting lines 1/4″ apart in upper right and lower left quadrants

And here’s a closer look.

quilting lines 1/4″ apart in upper right and lower left quadrants – detail

Now I have a dilemma. I like the way it looks now, but I think I will like it even better with narrower quilting in all the solid gray sections. So I’m looking for opinions. What would you do?

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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 and inspirational projects.

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Three little seahorses – 2020.09.29

Posted on September 29, 2020 by TerryAske

My three little seahorses are finished. Scroll to the bottom of the post to see the finished quilt. Or read through for information about my construction techniques.

Here are my three seahorses about a week ago, temporarily fused to parchment paper, and pinned to the background with layers of tulle pinned behind and over them.

3 little seahorses, pinned in place

I debated whether to add the tulle under or over the seahorses, or both. Also, how many layers of tulle. I found the tulle dulled their bright colors a bit, and decided it would be better to have the tulle only under the seahorses.

I layered the seaweed fabric with batting and backing. Then I added one layer of tulle and basted around the edges. I quilted around the seaweed shapes. Then I added more strips of tulle and quilted them – some strips have one additional layer of tulle and others have 2 or 3 layers. I think this looks like sunlight shining into the water.

  • one layer of tulle, seaweed quilted
  • more layers of tulle

I thought it might be difficult to fuse the seahorses to the tulle. So I fused and then stitched each seahorse to a piece of felt – now they look dimensional and even more colorful! Then I trimmed the felt very close to the seahorse. Here they are pinned in place.

  • seahorses fused and stitched to felt
  • seahorses pinned to background

Then I quilted around the edges of each seahorse through all the layers. The edges of my mini quilt are faced, and the finished size is just under 12 x 12 inches.

Three little seahorses, by Terry Aske

I need to put a label on the back and get this in the mail, as it needs to arrive in Florida by the end of October for the SAQA Florida region exhibit Fresh Fish. I’m shipping from Canada and the mail can be quite slow these days.

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

Edited October 3 to add – linking to these blogs:

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Seahorses on my design wall – 2020.09.18

Posted on September 18, 2020 by TerryAske

I’m working on a fun little mini quilt for the SAQA Florida region exhibit Fresh Fish. The theme is fish or other underwater creatures, realistic or imaginary. The size is no larger than 12” in length or width.

While searching my stash for suitable underwater background fabrics, I found this 13 x 13″ fabric sample. It seemed almost perfect, except maybe too white. So I tried covering it with some aqua-blue tulle. In the right photo below, I’m experimenting with 1, 2 and 3 layers of the tulle. I think I’ll use a variety of layers.

Regarding underwater creatures, I think the seahorse is one of the most unique and interesting looking. When I searched for information about the colors of seahorses, it seems they come in almost every color. And since this can be imaginary, I used some of my brightest fabrics for the seahorses. Here are the first two. I plan to add a third one.

Seahorses in progress

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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 and inspirational projects.

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View art quilts online – 2020.09.13

Posted on September 13, 2020 by TerryAske

I want to share a couple of online quilt shows you may be interested in viewing.

Check out the first annual Everyday Objects Quilt Show 2020 conceived and organized by Brandon Wulff. I was intrigued when I read Brandon’s call for entry, and I had a lot of fun going through my quilts looking for ‘everyday objects’. You can see all the entries here, and you can vote for your favourites until September 29.

Two of my entries to the Everyday Objects Quilt Show

SAQA Benefit Auction – There are almost 500 submissions this year to the SAQA Benefit Auction. Each year, SAQA invites each of its members to create a small 12 x 12 inch piece of art and donate it to the online auction. The auction is SAQA’s premier fundraising event and is taking place online from September 11 through October 4. All proceeds help support SAQA’s exhibition programs, publications, and education outreach.

This is my entry for 2020. The title is TILT. My artist statement: A study in black and white, focusing on contrast, line, balance and movement.

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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 and inspirational projects.

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Colours of Summer – journal quilt – 2020.08.16

Posted on August 16, 2020 by TerryAske

Last week, I started working on my quilt for the annual art exchange of the Fibre Art Network.  You can see my inspiration photos and initial fabric selection in last week’s post.

As I said last week, I decided to just pin the background fabrics in place rather than fusing them down (my usual technique). Then I straight-line quilted them to the green felt base. I was pleased that when I was finished quilting, I only found 2 pieces on the floor that had fallen off! I just placed them on top of the other pieces and added a few more quilting lines.

Then I started playing with the flower fabrics. I decided to cut the squares smaller and scatter them around (photo 2). I felt I needed more colour variety, so I added orange (photo 3). Then I added purple (photo 4). As I was adding colours, I was also rearranging the other pieces – this part can be a little addictive, and I had to force myself to stop before I totally covered the background!.

the evolution of my fabric selections for wildflowers

At that point, I applied a tiny bit of fusible web in the center of each flower piece. This was sufficient to keep them in place while I quilted around the edge of each square.

I fused fabric to the back of the felt base to give the piece more body (and coincidentally cover my messy tread ends on the back). I finished the edges by zigzag stitching with green thread.

Here is my finished piece. I think I have successfully captured the essence of the wildflowers that were my inspiration.

‘Colours of Summer’ by Terry Aske

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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 and inspirational projects.

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Colors of summer – 2020.08.09

Posted on August 9, 2020 by TerryAske

I’m working on a journal quilt (8.5 x 11 inches) for the annual art exchange of the Fibre Art Network. 

My first step was to look for a source of inspiration. I scrolled through my photo collection, and found myself drawn to the bright colors of summer flowers. Here are a couple of my favorite photos.

I decided to create an abstract garden scene and grabbed my scrap bags. I’m building my composition on a piece of green felt. Once satisfied with the layout (middle) I removed the flower fabrics, so I can stitch the green pieces first. I’ll add the colorful flowers later.

I like to experiment with small quilts – because if the experiment doesn’t work, I can always start again. I decided to just pin the green fabrics in place, and stitch them to the felt backing without glue or fusible. I figure if there’s a problem, I should be able to cover it up later when I add the flowers. I’m stitching straight lines about 1/4″ apart, adjusting the width as necessary to catch the raw edges of the pieces.


I plan to have this finished in the next couple of days.

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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 and inspirational projects.

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Quilting is underway – 2020.07.31

Posted on July 31, 2020 by TerryAske

I’m about halfway done quilting vertical straight lines on my re-imagined quilt. I started quilting in the middle and worked to the right, quilting lines 1/2″ apart. I’m marking the lines with my yellow gaffer tape. Now I’m quilting from the middle toward the left edge.

Here’s a close up ‘glamor shot’ of the quilted section.

I have a few ideas for additional quilting – perhaps more vertical lines closer together, or maybe some horizontal straight lines. I’ll finish this quilting first, then consider some options for additional quilting.

My One Monthly Goal for July was to finish piecing this quilt top. So I’ve achieved that, and more. Linking up to Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal – July Finish Link-up.

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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 and inspirational projects.

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