Claire Sherman Art

Matching fabric

Posted on October 5, 2016 by silvert@catskill.net

I didn’t have enough of this light blue fabric, so I went shopping. There was only one fabric in the whole store that worked. The fabric on the left is the one I was trying to match. The one on the right reads as almost the same color, from a distance of ten feet. I bought it at a lovely, brand new, local quilt shop: Bay Quilts, in El Cerrito, CA. http://Www.sfbayquilts.com

Here is the quilt with the new border.

The inner border is the old fabric, and the outer border is the new one. They do look remarkably similar, from a distance. This quilt top is done, and ready for backing and quilting. I’m not going to quilt it yet. I want to start work on a quilt for the Sacred Threads show, which is due at the end of December. I expect to be working on it all Fall, with occasional breaks to work on 12 x12 quilts.

Posted in Improvisational piecing, liberated stars, Uncategorized, Work In Progress | Tagged Bay Quilts | 1 Comment

Wonky/traditional stars

Posted on September 28, 2016 by silvert@catskill.net

I decided to go with a white on white background fabric for these stars, rather than the lavender in the previous post. However, I didn’t enjoy the process of making this quilt as much as the previous quilt. I love playing around with layout on my design wall. I designed this quilt on graph paper, before I started sewing. I like making design decisions as I go, but most of the decisions were made beforehand. If you have any advice on how to quilt it, please leave me a comment. I will add another light blue border before I quilt it.

Posted in Improvisational piecing, liberated stars, Uncategorized, Work In Progress | 1 Comment

A slow beginning

Posted on September 20, 2016 by silvert@catskill.net

I’m working on another version of the previous quilt. For the medallion format, I need 8 of these 4 pointed stars, which will surround an 8 pointed one. I’ve made two different color versions of the 4 pointed star, and I’m not happy with either of them.

I think the grey background on the left, is not different enough from/ yet not similar enough to the lavender, to work well. I’m not happy with the all lavender one either, because I don’t have enough lavender fabrics to choose from. I also think the darker fabric on the upper left is too dark for the other three fabrics.

Please leave a comment if you have a color suggestion for the background fabric. I’m thinking I need to go significantly lighter, or significantly darker.

Posted in Improvisational piecing, liberated stars, Work In Progress | Tagged improvisational quilting | 4 Comments

Improv star finished

Posted on September 19, 2016 by silvert@catskill.net

Improv star is now quilted. Thanks for everyone’s advice on how to quilt it. I used the walking foot to quilt parallel lines, in various improvisational directions. I didn’t mark any lines on the quilt, but used the width of the walking foot to judge the distance by eye. I’m planning on making a second quilt with the same component blocks, but in different colors. I was thinking of calling this one “Unexpected,” and the new one, “Expected.” Expected would be less improvisational, more of a medallion format.

Posted in Improvisational piecing, liberated stars, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Tree of life hamsa finished except for beads.

Posted on September 8, 2016 by silvert@catskill.net

Here it is, with the binding on. I’m planning to put a bead in each of the triangles on the bottom. It is 12″ x 12″ so this is my first one for the new 12 x 12 group in the Fall. It’s nice to be ahead of something for once.

Posted in 12 x 12, hamsa, Work In Progress | Tagged hamsa, hamsas, tree of life | Comments Off

Improv quilt

Posted on September 7, 2016 by silvert@catskill.net

I’ve been working on this quilt top for a couple of weeks. It’s an idea for a class I’d like to teach. I’m getting ready to sandwich it and quilt it. Any suggestions for how to quilt it?

Posted in Improvisational piecing, liberated stars, Uncategorized, Work In Progress | Tagged improvisational quilting | Comments Off

Tree Of Life Hamsa, continued

Posted on August 22, 2016 by silvert@catskill.net

I practiced cutting out hamsas with vines/trees in them out of paper until I was satisfied with this one. I fused the green fabric to fusible web before tracing the paper hamsa onto the paper side of the fusible web. I cut out the hamsa using small scissors and an Exacto knife. For a short explanation of what a hamsa is, see the post from 8/4, titled, “Hamsas”. I’m trying to decide if I need to zigzag around every single cutout or not. Leave me a comment if you have an opinion one way or the other.

Posted in 12 x 12, Improvisational piecing | 4 Comments

Tree Of Life hamsa, in progress

Posted on August 22, 2016 by silvert@catskill.net

I’m working on a different hamsa than the one I blogged about on 8/4. That other one is still a work in progress. This new one has a subtle tree in the middle, so I’m calling it a Tree Of Life hamsa. I pieced wedge shaped strings together for the two sides. If you look closely you can see that the two sides are not symmetrical.

Posted in 12 x 12, Improvisational piecing | 1 Comment

A trip up the Oregon coast.

Posted on August 15, 2016 by silvert@catskill.net

I recently returned from a trip up and down the coast of California and Oregon. It’s amazing how many tiny coastal towns have a quilt shop, selling lots of lovely fabric. I also visited the Latimer Quilt and Textile Museum in Tillamook, OR, which even my husband and non-quilting best friend found worth visiting. At each quilt shop I bought small amounts of fabric. At the end of the trip I was surprised by how much I’d accumulated.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Hamsas

Posted on August 4, 2016 by silvert@catskill.net

I’m working on some small quilts with hamsas. A hamsa is a stylized hand for protection, from the Middle East. Hamsa is the number five in Arabic.

I pieced a lot of orange scraps into a piece of “made fabric” then cut out the hamsa from blue fabric, backed with fusible web. I haven’t fused it to the orange yet. It’s very much a work in progress.

Posted in 12 x 12, Improvisational piecing, Work In Progress | Comments Off