Theme 3

 Reveal day is neat when the new work is posted, the theme element didn't disappoint. Make sure you click back through to see all of the posts.
It is time again for a new challenge word and this round
 I picked

illuminate

1.  to supply or brighten with light; light up.

2.  to make lucid or clear; throw light on a subject.

3.  to decorate with lights, as in celebration.

4.  to enlighten, as with knowledge.

5.  to make resplendent or illustrious

6.  to decorate with colors and gold or silver, as was often done in the middle ages.

7.  to display lights, as in celebration

8.  to become illuminated

(illuminate, dictionary.com)

The new works will be posted here on February 1, 2014.  See you back here then. But, in the meantime I hope to see (and show) sneak peaks with progress shots.  Have fun and enjoy the creative process! 

The Understory

After thinking about several ideas for our element challenge, I decided on the many elements of the rain forest.  Specifically the understory.

The applique elements are all raw edged.  The background is pieced and then cut apart and pieced again to add dimension.  

Mother Lode

 

I chose GOLD as my element ... the Mother Lode hidden in the layers

from an eons-old volcanic eruption

 

Hand stitched with a lot of help from Spot the Dog!

12x12, hand-dyed silk chiffon strips, gold lame, silk and cotton threads,

flannel batting, cotton backing.

 

All the sparkly bits are gold, though they don't appear that way in the photos.

Water

 An Ocean of Tears

12x12

I chose water as my element. My piece is painted, appliqued, pieced and quilted. You can read the story behind it and see the inspiration photos, as well as construction details on my blog.

Fabric, Batting & Thread

The elements of a quilt:  fabric, batting, and thread. To show each element the batting and backing were cut away from the center square, the hand painted fabric on the front and backing were cut away from the batting, and all layers were cut away (before quilting) in the “thread” section so the center square of fabric and batting floats within the frame.

 

 

I used a piece of my hand painted fabric for this project.   

Seven inches square.

Earth, Wind, Fire, Water

Earth, Wind, Fire, Water
collage and acrylics on canvas panel, 12 x 12 inches

This is my take on the astrological elements.

Element

I just couldn't resist making this into a science statement. These remind me of the elements that make up our universe.

Each is shisha with stitching and beading. The details will be on my blog tomorrow. http://focus-on-fiber.blogspot.com

Elements of the Earth

When I Googled ELEMENTS I came across the Chinese five elements of the world: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Hmm, how to put those in a quilt??  The word earth made me think of a river bank, wood reminded me of trees, and of course a river (barely visible in this photo) could represent water. Fire and metal were more challenging, but soon a campfire and roasting marshmallows popped into my mind.

I made the chipmunks out of thread, and they are using metal  skewers for roasting their bead marshmallows. I embellished a little with yarn, tumbled rocks, and crystals.