Two New Poppy Garden Quilts

I have completed two more art quilts, in preparation for "Art Walk" in Grand Haven, MI.
(Event website here)

These are the two pieces I will be entering in this year's Art Walk:

1. "A Garden for Three Girls" - Three main groupings of flowers: Iris (You'll recognize these as VanGogh's Iris!), tall pink swaying poppies, and tall multicolored flowers created with very textured, satiny hand-dyed fabric. The sky features my newest design, which features free motion quilting of large, flowing swirls. I created this free motion design by drawing on tracing paper, then on clear "Saran Wrap" which turned out to be too difficult to stitch over, given the thickness of the piece. I tried Solvy as well (Water Soluble Stabilizer) but my free motion foot kept dragging on the surface and catching it because the quilt was so thick at this point. I have since purchased several different chalks, disappearing ink, and transfer pens to try out some new design transfer methods : ) I learn a lot with every piece I create! For this piece, I ended up "winging it" - after drawing the design so many times, I was fairly comfortable with quilting it, but I did use some straight pins to mark the tops and bottoms of the swirls before quilting them. I was VERY happy with how the sky turned out overall - it was my first time to include this type of quilting, as well as this type of multicolored sky (colors other than blue and aqua).  I now love the "colorful" sky so much that I want to experiment with even more vibrant sunset colors! (Coming soon!)

"A Garden for Three Girls"
Designed, Created, & Quilted by Heather Davis
September, 2014

2. "Pink Lady" - Named for the single tall pink flower in the background : ) This one features many vivid red poppies, hand-painted with dye, and a "happy, sunny sky!" This quilt was actually completed first, and is the first one to be bound with a twisted fibers for the edging. My mom had a pretty amazing idea to use her Serger to finish off the edges and cut away the excess at the borders all in one step. She mixed and matched the spools of thread to match the colors in the quilt, which gives it a really professional finish. After that, we hand-twisted fibers and couched them down by machine with a zig-zag stitch. I love the textured border that is achieved by using mixed fibers, especially with the inclusion of metallic, hand-dyed or space-dyed, and eyelash style fibers. It appears to have a very "artsy" frame - and is quick, fun, and easy to do! It is definitely a nice switch from traditional style bindings, although I can always remove the fiber and apply binding strips instead for that style as well.

"Pink Lady"
Designed, Created, & Quilted by Heather Davis
(with help from my mom & grandmother!) : )
August, 2014

I am happy to create similar pieces in alternate sizes and colors. I love creating customized art and getting to tailor it to its new owner. Options can include different Poppy colors (red, pink, yellow, blue, purple, black, etc.), inclusion of various specific flowers that might be significant to you (such as flowers from a bridal bouquet, from your own garden, or to represent your birth month, etc.), different types/colors of birds/butterflies, and different moods/colors of sky. Please send me a message to discuss options and pricing.

You may view any of my other pieces for ideas, or Click Here to visit a gallery of ONLY similar style art quilts I have completed in the past - I set up a smaller "Art Quilt Gallery" on Photobucket for this purpose : )

Feel free to Email Me with your ideas/custom requests : )

California Mountain Garden Art Quilt

This last weekend I completed a project I've been working on for MONTHS!

This is a 32" tall x 60" wide piece called "California Mountain Garden Art Quilt."

This piece is based on a photograph of a woman's personal garden - with gorgeous apple trees, ferns, lush foliage and flower gardens - and an amazing stone path trailing through it all. I fell in love with the original photograph, and was so pleased to get to work on a piece of this size - created all in one huge piece!

This qult features a combination of pieced together fabrics, fussy cut commercial print fabrics, and some of my own floral designs printed on fabric - plus "confetti fabric." I built this quilt up in layers by section, and did lots of stitching and overstitching - and used several different fibers for the background trees, plus some Angelia fibers for sparkle and a "sunlit" effect over the entire quilt that is not really captured by these photographs.

Here is one of the original photograph from which I worked - taken by Lynn Shannon of her personal garden. Additional photographs of the garden areas in full bloom were also supplied by Lynn; I superimposed and combined several images to create the final piece.

It was an absolute delight to get to translate her photograph into a huge fiber arts piece - it is my hope that every time she looks at this art quilt, it "feels" like looking at her own garden in full bloom! 

Also - I hope my respect for all of her hard work and artistic vision to create such an amazing garden is conveyed in this art quilt. : )

California Mountain Garden Art Quilt

by Heather J. Reid

32" tall x 60" wide

Original Photography & Inspiration by Lynn Shannon

May, 2011

Ground cover & florals with overstitching:

Pieced together floral fabrics & fussy cut fabrics with quilting and thread painting:

Apple tree with white fussy cut blossoms (all cut individually) with confetti background:

Ground Cover at the base of the Apple Trees - fussy cut ferns:

A snapshot of the back of the quilt on the lower left corner - lots of stitching!!

~ ENJOY!! ~

Monet's Waterlillies inspired Art Quilt - version 2

This weekend I finished up a little project - this one was a 10x12.5" art quilt, inspired by Monet's Waterlillies. On this piece I tried a few different things - in preparation for the stitching I'll be doing on a 30x60" art quilt - I wanted to try some different overstitching and cutting techniques to create shapes for flowers and foliage. I think it worked out pretty well - I was getting a little tired of the same old "confetti" quilts with just "squares" - with this piece I created the Lilly pads with cut sections of a really neat sheer textured fabric - cut into oval shapes instead of tiny squares. Also with the "weeping willows" I tried cutting the fabrics in longer sort of elongated tear-drop shapes - it worked out really well!

Also - after taking a class awhile back with Lenore Crawford, I've been trying really hard to focus more on lights and darks in my work - so in this piece I took a "leap of faith" and actually added WHITE to the background with the blues - I was really afraid to do it - I covered it up with blue and then uncovered it again - I'm just not quite used to the extreme contrast - but it turned out really well!! So I also added much darker blues in the bottom section beneath the lillies in the water - I like the depth this gives as well. I think it will take a lot more practice to really blend it the way Lenore does - but I'm starting to get the general idea - and stepping outside my "comfort zone" really seemed to work this time! : )

Here are some photographs to see my newest version of this image - one of my all-time favorite Monet paintings. How can a person NOT be inspired by his work?? : )

The "binding" is just a simple silk sari ribbon "frame" - the vibrant colors in the silk really brings out the colors in the art quilt. This was my mom's idea - brilliant!! : )

Close up of the flowers, and Lily Pads - with overstitching:

Vertical closeup shot - how I cut the fabric into long curved strips for the willow trees, and the use of WHITE for contrast in the background:

PS - One last thng I changed in this version - I've started using more Kreinik threads and "Rainbow Blending filament" vs. just the Angelina Fibers. I unravel a whole mess of these sparkly threads, wad them into a loose ball, then start chopping it apart with scissors or a rotary cutter then sprinkle it on. Since I'm not using the heat properties of Angelina, I thought I'd try to find more - and less expensive ways to get the "sparkle" or "sunlight" effect that the Angelina gives. I used 4 colors of Angelina threads - very sparsely - but I'm also really happy with the variety of sparkling threads vs. only Angelina - also gives it more depth.

Enjoy!! : )

Mini Fabric Art Collage - "Wildflowers in the Forest"

This past weekend, I got to go to 2 days of classes with Lenore Crawford. It was amazing!!! This was a Christmas present from my mom - (she's the best) - and I learned SO MUCH!! I would encourage EVERYONE to take one of Lenore's classes sometime - here is a link to her website:

http://www.lenorecrawford.com/

I have been very busy working on a large art quilt, which I will post soon - however I wanted to share this little piece I started in Lenore's class, and finished up just today. This technique is so FUN!!

This piece is created from tiny little squares of several different fabrics - all overlapped to create a "forest scene" with wildflowers. There is also a bit of hand painting detail on this piece.


I'm already thinking of ways to adapt this - my head is literally spinning with ideas - I'm inspired and motivated all over again!! Sometimes a little art class is all you need : ) *NEED* I say!!!

I'll be posting more again soon!  In the meantime here are a few more photos of this piece, including some close-ups which show the technique and detail a little more clearly. Enjoy!!!

See? It looks like a bunch of jumbled squares close-up, however from a distance they all blend together into one cohesive piece. It is really interesting to think about fabric prints in this way - almost like putting a puzzle together. And best of all - a whole project can fit into ONE ziploc baggie - I'll be bringing projects like this with me everywhere from now on!! : )

Holiday Art Quilt - Little Red Cardinal

One of my favorite back issues - "Quilting Arts" Issue #34 - In this issue, there is a wonderful article by Karin Winter called "Quilted Pet Portraits" - I decided to try creating a bird from several different layered scraps of fabric combined with thread painting, as her how-to article describes.

Here are some photographs of how my little red cardinals came out! : )

And so - I had to create a little "home" for this particular bird, as he was so sweet!
I used the "Impressionistic" style art quilting to create a background for him, with greens and bits of red and white and yellow for contrast - I also used some pre-cut felt snowflakes, the kind you find in a craft store for making kids' crafts! They were perfect trapped under the tulle - added a little bit of wintery effect to the sky, especially when overstitched with metallic silver thread!

I chose to bind this little 16.5" x 15" quilt with forest green binding strips - added an even more festive effect than my usual black binding - reds and greens and blues are great for a holiday feel.

~ Enjoy! ~

Little Prince Art Quilt #3

This is my newest "Little Prince" art quilt, version #3. I'm so happy with it! I took some of the best components of the previous two quilts, added fur-type fabric for the sheep, and added an additional character to this quilt - the fox! He was a bit of a challenge - but LOTS of fun, and I love how he looks : ) I might have to make a few more little foxes on different backgrounds for fun!

I'd love to share (with permission) what my friend Sheri said about this quilt when she first saw the photographs. It was the most amazing "review" of my work - I've never heard things described in this way - she is a brilliant writer about art - just chatting with her on etsy gave me such inspiration and clear definition of my own styles. She wrote this and had it sent back to me within 15 minutes of me sending her the link to the photographs - so I know it was an instant response, honest and heartfelt - pure emotion after viewing this piece - she called it "spontaneous combustion" in another note! ; ) Pretty amazing writing for a "combustion!" Anyway, I just had to share this - because it isn't every day you receive a response like this to your work, where you realize someone else in this world TRULY "GETS" your message!!

Here was her response:

"I love the how you've selected fully saturated colors, mixed with pops of bright and vivid jewel tones. Even the hematite grey of the planet is so rich! The green, red, and yellow primaries are an eye magnet, but there's so much energy and movement all around, that my eyes bounce back and forth from the main focal elements (prince and rose), then to the sheep, the fox; then to the glittering background sky, the dense foliage, down the trunk of the tree, and back to the little prince again!

I am still in awe of how you've incorporated all of our best loved characters, and married them with your ingenious interpretation of that enormously majestic baobab tree emerging boldly from its floral textured planet, fantastical shimmering multihued sky, twinkling golden stars, and splendid swirls (which remind me of other galaxies)! The fox is perfect and so pretty. He looks proud, wise, and oh so proper in his sitting posture! Maybe his big fluffy tail makes him just a tinge vain. hehe ;) Your sweet little conflicted sheep, has a such a stressed out expression, as if he has doubts about being bad (nibbling on the rose). The little guy is also so soft visually (and probably more so in person) that I want to gently touch him with my index finger, through the monitor, just to feel the bounce of the cushy fabric.

Last, but the most special is our hero, the little prince in reclined pose, with his ever concerned thoughts of caring for his vulnerable, yet surly precious rose . . . extending one arm tenderly as if to hug and protect her. Very, very, sweet!!!"

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Thank you so much, Sheri - for sharing with me your response

to seeing this quilt for the first time - it was so touching and inspiring to me : )

   

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Here is a link to the "Photobucket" slide show - feel free to visit the link

to see even more photographs of this new quilt! : )

Link to Slide Show

~ Enjoy! ~

"The Little Prince" Customized Art Quilt

I have been in communication with a new friend via etsy - and all I can say is that it has been SO fun and inspiring!! I was asked to create a special, large wall-hanging style art quilt featuring "The Little Prince" and his Rose, in a similar style to the quilt I had published in Quilting Arts Magazine - except much, much larger! Whimsical images paired with textured fabrics and an "Impressionistic" style background make this piece unique and delightful - reminiscent of the original book's illustrations (the inspiration for this piece).
On this piece I experimented with some new background surface design - building up layers of fibers and stitching mixed with Shiva paintsticks and hand-stitching. The combination of even machine stitching against the scattered, uneven hand stitching creates even more surface interest than in some of my previous pieces.
I also played with some hand-dyed lace, used as appliqued leaves for the Rose - which is also extra-special, created from special silk ribbon in variegated reds using ribbon-embroidery (classic spider-web rose).
I pulled out "all the stops" on this piece, because I knew it would be a treasured keepsake - a very special gift - and I wanted it to be worthy of the occasion it commemorates for its new owner.
In the photos you'll see so many different techniques - those mentioned above, plus many more embellishment and surface design and art quilting techniques - this was truly one of those pieces for me that was difficult to stop - as I realllly enjoyed this theme and the creative freedom I was given - this is truly "my style" art quilting : )

Finished piece measures aprox 30" wide:

The Little Prince is tending to his Rose....

Ribbon-Embroidered Rose with hand-dyed lace leaf applqiues:

"Falling Star" - Fairy Frost Fabric appliqued and surface-embellished with Shiva Paintstiks, with trailing tendrils of metallic mesh - outline stitched by machine and by hand,

with hand-sewn twisted gold bugle beads:

Left:  Extensive overstitching on sunrays, in variegated threads, then overpainted with fabric dye.

Right:  "Orbits" and background planets created using fussy-cut swirly motifs from Van Gogh's "Starry Nights" commercially printed cotton fabric (purchased at Field's Fabrics!):

"Impressionistic" style background in variegated blues created

a perfect "Celestial" background for this "Little Prince" planet scene:

~ Thank you for veiwing my latest project!! ~

Wildflowers - Mini Art Quilt

"Wildflowers" is a frameable small art quilt featuring lustrous silk sari ribbon flowers, with batik fabrics for the sky and foliage. A sweet floral scene with variegated overstitching embellishment. It is mounted on heavy white matboard and is titled and signed. Art quilt piece measures 4.5" wide by 6.25" tall, and the matboard measures 8.5" x 11" (standard size).
My mom and I actually collaborated on this piece as well - we had a LOT of fun picking out fabrics and layering the backgrounds!! : ) I'm in the process of making several of these, in different variations. I really love combining all of these little pieces of fabric - it's so fun!! I've started researching different flower types, especially wildflowers, and began a journal to draw outlines of the flowers - repetitively - to help me get the feel for their different shapes. I think this will help a lot when I cut them out - I'd like to be able to say I free-cut them instead of drawing the outlines first. I'm looking for a couple of good books that might have the vintage-style, very simple coloring and outlining, with the common names for various wildflowers - it should be a fun hunt!! A few I'd like to try so far are Coneflowers and Iris (which I'm trying to perfect) - and Lily of the Valley, Aster, Bachelor Buttons, Crocus, and Forget-Me-Not - and maybe some violets. Oh! And Pansies - for my grandmother : )

"Wildflowers" Matted Art Quilt by Heather J. Reid

A close-up view of the flower and stitching detail:

Last, here is a quick snapshot of the back, to see how much stitching there is on this one tiny piece!

(You can see why I use "Bottom Line" thread for the backs of pieces like this!!)

 

This piece is available in my etsy store at:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/58923138/wildflowers-frameable-art-quilt-perfect

(If you don't see this piece available anymore for purchase, let me know - I can create something especially for you or reproduce this particular piece.)

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Try making some mini art quilts for yourself!!

They are super fun - if there is anybody out there who would like to trade with me some batik fabrics or cotton printed fabrics (ones which might be suitable for this kind of scene) - I'm especially short on beiges and ivory...I'd be happy to do a "swap" with you! Just email me (heather3stars@yahoo.com).

Sailboat on Lake Michigan - A Fiber Art Quilt Collaboration

"Sailboat on Lake Michigan"

by Carole Nyenhuis & Heather Reid

September, 2010



This is a collaborative art piece, created by me and my mother. She tossed me this magnificent art quilt and said "I'm just sick of it." Ha! Have a look - and marvel with me at why she was frustrated ????! All it needed was a sailboat - and a little "thread painting."

This quilt is created using over 40 different types of fabrics, and 20+ types of threads. Texture....texture.

Pieced together textured fabrics create a base for confetti art quilting, fiber art, and thread stitching and painting. And then there is MORE thread painting...I simply couldn't stop!

The foliage and beach is reminiscent of Lake Michigan in the summertime, complete with a sailboat meandering along the water.

Detail Photographs:

This quilt is available for sale on etsy at:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/57807081/sailboat-on-lake-michigan-art-quilt

Please feel free to leave comments -

I really want my mom to know what a wonderful job she did!! : )

 

Final Photographs - "Enchanted Forest"

My past few posts have been about an art quilt I have been making for the past couple of months. It is a HUGE triptych form art quilt, with a midnight blue swirly tree (silhouette effect), a sunrise sky, and lots of little "characters" including birds, butterflies, dragonflies, flowers, and even a little frog. It has been an absolute joy to work on this quilt, for my friend in Australia. She is so wonderful - and I wanted this quilt to be amazing for her. A couple of months in the making - this quilt has evolved from a rough crayon sketch to my best piece of work ever - I'm so proud!!
My whole family got involved in the final photography of this quilt - we wanted to capture it fully before I sent it overseas. (Thank you to everyone who helped!!)

Here are the final photographs:

First, here is a photo of the piece hanging above a queen-sized bed, to help see the scale of this quilt - it is very large, measuring a total of 58" wide by 30" tall (divided into two smaller outside pieces and one larger middle piece).

Here is a view of the entire quilt, with a black background:

Last, here are a few detail shots:

(see my previous postings to see how I created the birds!)

(I love how the bottom bird seems to be looking up at the bird on the top branch - reminds me of my daughters somehow ; )

Ground cluster work - created with bits and pieces of green variegated boucle yarn, confetti fabric, fussy-cut commercially printed fabrics (VanGogh's Iris Flowers), all stitched beneath water soluble stabilizer. Once the stabilizer was washed away, I did additional stitching and overstitching, and also used fabric dye pens to highlight and shade areas of color. Very fun technique!!

I'm really pleased with how this turned out - and I'm so happy this piece is going to someone as delightful as my friend in Australia. This project really stretched me creatively and provided a wonderful challenge - I learned a LOT and I just can't wait for her to receive her package in the mail!! : )