ICON

I thought and thought about this theme and finally came up with an iCon as I was using my iPad and iPhone.  The Mac apple symbol is very prevalent in our home.

 Plus, apples are so yummy this time of year! :)

The apple and blue background are made out of felt and the borders are cotton.  I used losts of thread work for shading. The piece is 11" x 11".

Icon

I created icons for important things in my life…..love, kindness, relaxing in Maine, being outdoors, creating, traveling to my favorite places, peace, flowers and gardening, and quilting. Now I need an app that magically creates more time in each day for these!  

Twelve inches square.

Icon

To me Icon is a religious symbol, so I wanted to do a cross. It's foiled and then edged with a metallic braid. The quilting is done with a copper metallic thread. It's 17" square.

Heirloom Hankie by Sue Pelland

When I saw the theme for the heirloom challenge I immediately thought, "heirloom tomatoes" just like Susan Freund did.  Then I went to search my fabric bins for tomato colors, rich reds, oranges, yellow and greens.

In one of the bins, not at all where it belongs, was this vintage hankie.  This is not a family heirloom, I have never been lucky enough to have any precious heirlooms handed down to me by my ancestors.  I bought it at the Sturbridge textile show when I went last year with Donna Hopkins.  But it did make me think that it was someone's family heirloom once.   Maybe the person who bought it didn't have a daughter or granddaughter that would appreciate such a lovely textile.  So am glad I rescued it, and gave it new life as a table topper.  I want to get a beautiful Tiffany lamp to put in the center of the topper, and place it on a square antique table.  This beautiful vignette that I am dreaming of reminds me of my grandmother's house.

If any of my ancestors had thought ahead, they would have left me these precious family heirlooms!  I guess I will have to  shop antique stores and create my own heirlooms and stories to go with them!  With my luck, my daughter won't appreciate the topper, the lamp or the table.  I hope they don't end up at an antique store when I am gone!

novelty heirloom

 This little project is a vintage linen napkin that was hand dyed.  I used wool scraps and purl cotton threads to create the freeform design.  The embroidery was done using threads Sharon had given me from a vintage sewing basket.

Below is another heirloom piece I had started for this challenge, but unfortunately I waited too long to quilt it after marking it with my air erase marker.  

You can find additional information on my blog here.

Heirloom

old quilts, thread, and fabric

sewing machines, needles and bobbins

lace, silk ribbons, and fancy gloves

Not everyone's idea of heirlooms but suits me just fine.

Remembering the remarkable women who have passed their treasures 

along to me.

Heirloom

This is what I think of when I hear Heirloom: Crazy Quilt, old laces, and Mother of Pearl buttons.  The Piece is 14" square. The fabrics are an assortment of fibers with the only qualification being that they were gray or black.

Heirloom Tomatoes

When I heard the challenge word, I immediately thought of heirloom tomatoes....maybe because I'm totally consumed with my garden right now? I threw this together last night, had problems with my sewing machine, and had problems loading it to the blog..........ugggggg........ but now I can hang it in my laundry room and enjoy the thoughts of juicy, flavorful, home grown tomatoes all year long. :) 

GEOMETRIC

 


I instantly thought of thread play when I heard the title Geometric. I love the look of zentangles and find it relaxing to draw them. This also reminds me of Spirograph, bringing back those childhood memories.

It is 8" by 8" with free motion quilting using a silk batting.

Geometric

I started this project with no ideas in my head, but this is what transformed.

This is how it got started....a simple 9 patch.....then a little cutting, sewing, cutting and sewing...

I've had these beads a long time and had so much fun adding them to my project.

Geometric

It was my turn to pick the word, so it is Geometric. Then life interfered, and I couldn't remember all the designs that were in my head, so I came up with a new one.

It is 12" by 12" and worked on wool. The stitching is done in perle cotton and embroidery floss using stem stitch and chain stitch. 

Spring, Naturally

After the winter we've had in NE, I knew my piece for the natural theme would relate to spring.  

Can't wait for my daffodils to bloom!

Photo transfer on silk.

Braid made with the Diva Kumihimo Loom.

Hand painted fabric.

8 inches square

Natural

The word this time is Natural which to me always means something that is growing. The flower is dimensional petals in a suede. The center is a button. The background is a cotton sunprint. The binding is a stripe I found in my stash with a metallic gold through it.

jelly belly

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak is my Nature entry. 

 I love this bird.  

The Grosbeak visits during the thick of summer.

He comes to the seed feeder with his family, shares the seeds and helps them eat.

But if I put out a jelly cup, he shares a little and eats most himself.

Once finished with his treat he gets right to his music.

He'll sing for you well into the evening.

I look forward to spending time outside, enjoying the sights and sounds of nature.

You may find more nature photos on my blog site here.

Amber Waves of Grain

I've been thinking about this theme for 2 months and wheat always popped into my head when I thought about the word natural.  I guess the color?  The way it grows?

The piece was very time consuming even though it appears to be very simple.  It was also a little boring so I added some insects. 

I used beads to represent some of the grains. The pearlized beads were too white so I colored them with a Sharpie.

I stiched lots and lots of wheat shafts using a special stich on my machine.





with the quiet light of the moon

 Sometimes I drive my son to school in the morning.  It's dark.  Really, really dark-

 except for the quiet light of moon. 

When full, it's our favorite; silvery and grayish.

Quilted black silk, painted fabric with raw edge applique.

8" x  8"

Illuminate!

The Fire Within by Sue Pelland

 “You have to find what sparks a light in you so that you in your own way can illuminate the world.”
― Oprah Winfrey

I missed the "Element" challenge, and had thought about doing fire....so when the word Illuminate was revealed, FIRE was all I could think about!

Cottons fused with Mistyfuse on black ground, quilted with Sulky Holoshimmer that broke every three minutes....UGH!

THE FIRE WITHIN, 12" x 12"  Sue Pelland

THE FIRE WITHIN DETAIL

Fireflies and the Poker Game

The word "Illumination" made me think of fireflies. Since my other three challenge pieces have been on the fantasy side, I decided to continue with this theme and have "Chip" and "Munk" (I know, not very original) be my main characters again.  They are enjoying a game of poker in their tree.

Chip and Munk captured some fireflies in a jar to provide their evening light. They have a competative game of poker going on in their humble abode.

This is Chip and he is made out of thread...lots and lots of thread.  I think he is going to win the hand as he has a pair of aces!

Out of the Darkness

As the moon illuminates the night, reading illuminates the mind and the spirit. What could be better than reading by the light of the moon!

Since all my sewing time and energy is consumed these days with meeting competition deadlines, I decided to go a different route with this theme and use acrylics on stretched canvas.

This piece will eventually be donated to the New Orleans Public Library's literacy program "Turn the Page".

Illuminate

Knowledge springs from the pages of books illuminating the mind.  

Created paper cloth for the pages of the book using instructions from 

“Stitch Alchemy” by Kelli Perkins.  Thread painting in the background.  

Seven inches square.

Illuminate

As soon as I read the word, I knew I wanted to use foil. The button in the center is antique. The background is hand painted-I don't remember what I used-the problem with using stuff in the stash. The gold thread is couched down by machine.

Illumination

I call this piece Illumination.  It is 12 inches square, acrylics and molding paste on canvas panel.  I painted numerous layers on the background, then applied molding paste through a hand cut stencil, then finished off with several more layers of paint.  There are a lot of subtle metallic colors that are difficult to see in the photo.