Category: Quilts

Art Quilt, Art Quilts, Fiber Art, Haiku, Poetry, Poetry and Photography, Quilts

Balance – July Haiku Art

Guila Greer
Balance – what comes into your mind when hearing this prompt word?  I thought of my 10 year old granddaughter Abigail balancing on her unicycle and of the determined look on her face as she struggles to maintain her balance on the low wire.  I thought of commonly used expressions such as “balance your checkbook” or “eat a balanced diet”.
Ultimately – what balance means to me these days is the attempt to put the mind and body into a balanced or integrated state as we do through Yoga practice.
This is the 2nd of a series about Yoga practice.  It incorporates the words: “Shanti” which means peace and “so hum” .  This is a mantra that we use for focus while doing deep breathing.
The Haiku
close your eyes breathe in
jasmine scented air swirling
find your center – stay
Shanti 2
Art Quilt, Fiber Art, Haiku, Haiku, Journal Size, Poetry, Poetry and Photography, Quilts

A Soft Day in Ireland Haiku Art for May 2011

Guila Greer

 

The prompt word this month is “soft”.  Now this will be interesting to see – how many directions will the artists go with this word.  The possibilities are endless.

This one didn’t require too much deliberation on my part.  During a trip to Ireland a few years back I latched on to the phrase “soft Irish day”.  It really captured my imagination.
It rains a lot in Ireland.  Sometimes it rains hard; sometimes the rain settles over the earth like a misty blanket. They call this a “soft day”.
steady gentle rain
Irish hills shrouded in mist
another soft day
I used fairly vivid commercial quilt cottons for the stylized hills then couched the edges with decorative fibers.  Then I quilted the whole thing with 40 wt. variegated cotton in shades of green.

I arranged a piece of tulle over the quilt and tacked it down with vintage buttons. Finally I topped it with a piece of lace (Irish lace?) .

another fun Haiku Art challenge
Art Quilts, Fiber Art, Indispensable Tools, Quilts

On My Design Wall

Guila Greer

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Just took a fresh look at my “design wall” and decided what to finish up this weekend. I’ll have the house to myself  – no excuses not to finish at least one of these projects.
This is Beach Buddies.
Almost finished the quilting – just the sky and details of the clothing.  Then I will bind it and attach a hanging sleeve.
This is an original design based on some photography that I did a few years ago.

I’ve got mostly handwork left on this watery, fishy piece so it’ll be a good one to work on too.

And if I need a break from the stitching I’ll pull out my paints and get back to work on KR.  He really needs to be finished.

Art Quilt, Fiber Art, Haiku, Poetry, Poetry and Photography, Quilts

Faultlines of the Heart

Guila Greer

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When presented with the February word: “love” I thought of many ways to go with it – parental, romantic, physical, familial – even love of music, nature and so on.  But what I really wanted to deal with was loss of love – specifically loss of loved ones.  When my Mom passed away last year I had to deal with the sadness of her loss plus the fact that she was the last one. Her passing followed my Dad’s (by many years) and my brother and sister’s deaths more recently.  I reflected on how we all suffer loss of love – or loved ones – then have to face our publics as though everything was completely right in our world.
Here you have a heart that has been fractured into many pieces along the faultlines that were there all along.  And floating over the pieces of the heart are a tangle of ribbons attempting to hide the tears underneath.
Letting go of love
Hot salty tears flow freely
Bruised battered heart cracks.

All the red “shards” combine to form one complete heart. The pieces have been attached to the background with a lot of heavy quilting. I used heavy cotton plus metallic. The ribbons are hand tacked. Under the ribbons are tear-shaped beads peeking out. I purposefully left the thread tails and frayed edges alone as they are part of the over all feeling that I wanted to generate.

Art Quilt, Art Quilts, Fiber Art, Haiku, Haiku, Journal Size, Poetry

Hardy Rosebuds Thrive – January Haiku Art

Guila Greer

My goal was to illustrate nature’s propensity to new beginnings in the face of adversity.

A secondary goal was to try some new creative techniques or materials.

Lutradur – burned edges, stamped and painted with pearl-ex
Angelina fibers – stamped
Rosebud photos printed on cotton, appliqued and thread painted.
Purchased leafy vine appliqued
Haiku printed on Extravorganza – edges fringed and painted
Scattered beads
Sheer tulle layered over the piece
Layered and quilted
Edges finished with  zigzag stitch

Quilts, Traditional Quilts and Quilts for People, works in process

Goals and Gotta-Dos

Guila Greer

One of the shows that I wanted to submit to has a deadline only 4 days from now.  There’s no way I’ll finish the quilting on the piece that I wanted to submit.  Darn.  Time just slipped by.  And I’ve been caught up in doing some very mundane quilting.  As in items that I promised to people and must get done.

However, all that said, I’m looking forward to receiving the first “challenge word” this week from our Haiku-Art group.  It’ll be “ready, set, go” with only a week to create and finish the Haiku and the art piece.

So far as my “mundane” work – actually they are 2 quilts that I’ll enjoy doing.  One is the softy sea for my younger granddaughter and I’ve got all the elements ready now to put together.  It’s been a fun designing process. The other is a lap quilt (a wedding gift) and I just finished cutting out the first round of strips.

Art Quilt, Art Quilts, Journal Size, Quilts

Spring Has Sprung

Guila Greer
Spring Has Sprung?
I know – Thanksgiving is in 2 weeks – so why I am titling this entry Spring Has Sprung?
A little while back I made a little quilt with that title.  Do you remember the little ditty….
Spring has sprung,
The grass has riz.
I wonder where the birdies is…?
So, naturally I had to make a “The Grass Has Riz” piece.  I just finished the beading  last week and got it done!
Spring Has Sprung

The center background is randomly pieced and the design elements are fused.  The technique is very improvisational and FUN! I was first introduced to it a couple of years ago at a class taught by Deana Hartman.  (http://chameleonquilts.com)   One of the best classes I’ve taken.

I hurried through all the basic construction so that I
could get to the BEADING!
The writing on the quilt is done with a free motion
zigzag stitch.

The Grass Has Riz!

.
And here is………….
The Grass Has Riz!
The pieced green background part looks
vaguely like an egg, don’t you think?
I guess the idea of Spring was working
on me subliminally

I’m thinking that I should have done the writing in a more contrasting color.  On the other hand, center stage belongs to the grass – and all the BEADS!!!!

I’m thinking that there are some birdies in my near quilting future……

Indispensable Tools, Quilts

All Things Fiber

Guila Greer

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In homage to the title of this blog I’m posting a picture of one of my favorite things –
Aren’t these luscious???  A couple of years ago I bought this hank of fibers at a quilt show.  I’ve used a few of them along the way but mostly I use them as decoration and inspiration….. YUM!

Along the way all knitters collect oddballs.  Now that I’m involved in making Art Quilts I have another way to use them.  THAT was very exciting to realize.

Art Quilt, Art Quilts, Fiber Art, Journal Size, Quilts

The First Sip of the Morning

Guila Greer

Do you love coffee?  I do – especially that first sip in the morning.  So what did I do?  I made a little art quilt in honour of that    AHHHHsome moment:  the first sip.

I pieced the background to loosely approximate my kitchen – yellow tile counters  – got the grid effect with a paintstick rubbed over a plastic utensil that I found in the kitchen drawer.

I paid homage to my very favorite coffee mug by using its image in this piece – printed then machine appliqued onto the background.  Thread painting, acrylic paint touch up here and there added texture and interest.
Added a little glitter just for fun
Glitzed up a few coffee beans for the full effect and free motion stitched my sentiments.
Art Quilt, Quilts

Art Trumps Work

Guila Greer


This Morning, Art Trumps Work!

It’s been way too long since I posted anything here. For that matter it’s been way too long since I completed a project! I’ve been very busy with “real life” work since the first of the year which I suppose is a good thing, lol.

A couple of months ago our little quilt art group decided to try our hand at a still life. Here’s what I came up with. I started with an arrangement of veggies from the refrigerator and took several pictures. This really helped me decide on which composition I liked the best.

I then printed the photo, enlarged it to the size I wanted and made some templates.have been in the look, don’t touch category for a long time. I selected a simple background, something with a grainy look for the cutting board and added some fusible web to the fabrics.

Then came the fun part of selecting my fabrics. For the very first time I decided to use some of my hand dyed fabric for the veggies. Believe me this was a huge step – those hand dyes

Then it was a matter of cutting, previewing, positioning and finally bonding. A simple quilting treatment added some definition and interest.

 

Here’s the (almost) finished journal quilt. (the edges need to be bound or ?)

Remember to “Eat Your Veggies”