This month we will extend our comfort zones to include a surface design technique that you have either used before or one that is new to you. Alter a piece of fabric and use it in a small work. The extent to which you use this design element in your piece is up to you.

Ann Turley
Walnut, CA

Excess Baggage
13"x18"
upholstery fabric, hand wovens, various charms, buttons and embellishments

Surface design was a broad definition, and I chose to use embellishments. This piece is totally different than any I've done before in that it is so abstract. I wanted this to be the type of quilt that draws you in and makes you want to reach out and stroke it, and many do. The clothespin springs were the crowning touch!

A. Carole Grant
British Columbia, Canada

Poppies
Commercial cottons, tuille, bronze net, felt, silk flowers, paint, ink, beads, velvet, brads.

Fun, fun, fun...worked from imagination and dreams, and pictures of my poppies. I always think of Poppies being in France [altho' I saw them in England] and that was what was running through my mind as I made this little quilt.

Betty Donahue
Wethersfield, CT

Just Playing
8-1/2 x 10” and 8-3/4 x 10-1/4”
Cotton and silk flowers

I made two of these. The backgrounds for both were painted with acrylic paints and the background leaves were outlined with machine quilting. The flowers and leaves were silk flowers with beads for the centers. These will be sent to Ami Simms for her Alzheimer's auction.

Cherie Brown
Del Mar, California

The Calm of Night
11”x15”
Hand needle felted wool roving; variegated, metallic and rayon threads for needle painting

Linda Cline
San Leandro, CA

Lily Pond Garden
14 ½ x 10”
Collaged cotton fabrics

I discharged, stamped and painted hand dyed and commercial fabrics. The
quilt is inspired by a picture I took of water lilys under water.

Roberta Ranney
Springfield, MO

Beachfire
12 X 12”
cotton fabric, watercolors, beads, metallic threads, rayon threads

This started as an experiment with some watercolors. I painted them on the fabric and thought it was attractive. I was bored and needed something to quilt so proceeded to quilt the piece heavily. Then I took a beading class a few days ago and decided to use some beads to emphasize the different areas of the piece. My work is rarely abstract so this is a departure for me.

Sandra Betts
Saint John, NB Canada

Turmoil
12" x 18"
hand dyed fabric, polyester sheers, tyvek, metallic foil, yarns, free motion stitching

Just a piece that I was compelled to do because I was feeling stressed. I found the fabric interesting and felt compelled to vent my feelings.

Tobi K. Hoffman
Ashland, MA

Fish Tank
20" x 25"
Satin, Angelina fiber

I thought to revisit the satin with batting that I did earlier, but this time using different colors of satin. The background uses light blue and white sewn with a wavy pattern, then layered with the batting, using thread-painting to add seaweed and highlight the waves. The fish were then added as little pillow-like pieces, with Angelina tacked on for fins and tails. The final touch were the printed-on-fabric treasure chest and castle, because those spaces needed something. They changed it from my original idea of an ocean scene to an aquarium.

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