Cynthia's Garden - Art with Fabric Blog Hop.

This was an exciting project to be invited to do. Select a famous work of art and interpreted in fabric. I had big ideas, maybe a little too big.  Vincent Van Gogh's Irises painting was my choice in the end as I love Irises.

 Taking on this challenge really push me out of my comfort zone, way outside my square so to speak. I am not a painter or drawer so doing an art quilt is something I only try once before using a pattern.  Now trying to use a famous painting for my inspiration  and starting from scratch was somewhat daunting. Plus throw in the fact I am using applique techniques to create it, left me on a few occasions thinking what the hell am I do.

Cynthia's Garden

Here is how my piece went together. A lot of hours of cutting and stitching. The background was first and I started with the quilt sandwich with my background fabrics on top. Next was all the leaves on top of the background. Followed by a long day of stitching all of this in place.

Then came the flowers. It was interesting trying to cut the right sort of shapes. Admittedly there was a lot of scrappy waste at the start but once I got going things moved along..

Lastly I  trimmed and backed my work with a fresh piece of fabric to hide the mess of threads and  I added some extra quilting to join the layers together.
I will never be a world class artist but I am happy with it. It was worth it in the end.
Here are the links to the other participates in this blog hop. I hope you will visit them and enjoy their creations too.

, May 9th, 2016

• Maartje (http://quiltinginamsterdam.blogspot.com)
• Lee Anna (http://lapaylor.blogspot.com/)
• Andrée (http://quiltinglearningcombo.blogspot.com)
• Renee (http://www.quiltsofafeather.com/)

Tuesday, May 10th, 2016

• Kathy (http://qreativequilts.blogspot.com/)
• Yvonne (http://quiltingjetgirl.com/)
• Chris (http://chrissquiltinguniverse.blogspot.com/)
• DeAnna (http://southernbellessewcreative.blogspot.com/)

Wednesday, May 11th, 2016

• Alida (http://tweloquilting.blogspot.com/)
• Yanicka (http://yanickahachez.blogspot.com/)
• Heather (http://www.heatherquilts.blogspot.com/)
• Sarah (http://georgiagirlquilts.blogspot.com/)

Thursday, May 12th, 2016

• Cynthia (http://cynthiasark.blogspot.com.au/)
• Janeen (http://quiltartdesigns.blogspot.com/)
• Wendy (http://www.kwiltkrazy.com)
• Afton (http://www.quiltingmod.blogspot.com/)

Friday, May 13th, 2016

• Carol (http://www.quiltedfabricart.com/)
• Jennifer (http://www.inquiringquilter.com)
• Nina-Marie (http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/)
• Joan (http://www.moosestashquilting.blogspot.com/)
• 
  

 A big Thank you to Alida for the invite to join Art with Fabric Blog hop and her support along the way.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Art with Fabric Blog Hop

                                          
I just thought I would give everyone a heads up about the Art with Fabric Blog Hop is about to start this week. I am participating in it and you will see my post on Thursday the 12th May but in the meantime enjoy some great work from a group of talented quilters. Here is the link to the warm up post by our great hostess Alida.  She has done a wonderful job organising all this.
http://tweloquilting.blogspot.com.au/2016/05/art-with-fabric-blog-hop-day-0.html

I am sure we are all in for a treat over the next week. I can't wait to see what everyone has been working on. I know myself I pushed myself way out of my comfort zone with this challenge of an art quilt and using a technique I don't use very often. Make sure you pop in on the 12th May to see what I have made and don't forget the others. I will post the list up once the blog hop has been started.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Paper Piecing Practice

Paper piecing is a technique I haven't done much of. I learnt the technique a few years ago but wasn't really inspired by it, so I haven't visited it again. At a quilting fair a couple years ago I purchased a pattern that I fell in love with and yes I did know it was a paper pieced pattern. My thought was this might just by what I need to re-visit this technique again but it is a larger project way beyond my skills. So what do quilters do these days log on to the internet and found a site. This is where I found Quilt Art Designs and have been watching, reading and doing a little testing. Not very good so I am not going to share those pieces with you. They have a quilt along starting next month- Forest Quilt- A- Long 2015 which I really like but it is a little advance for me. I am still thinking of joining in so that I can do it later when my skills improve. In the meantime Janeen released a mystery paper piecing block last week I decided to have a go.

 Well here is my block completed. It is not perfect but it is the best I have done so far and one of the harder blocks I have tried. I am improving and I am happy to share it. I feel I am finally getting a handle on this technique.
Quilt Art Designs has a Beginners Block of the Month running too.I'm a little late starting but I am going to join in and see how I go. So hopefully I will continue to improve and I will share future progress reports with you here. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly if needed.
Have a look it is a very interesting site to visit.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia