Here I am auditioning two different squares, between the orange “mountains.” I didn’t like either version. Either way it looks like eyes and a frowning frog mouth. I decided to do more orange in a “V.”
Above I’m auditioning a blue square on point, and a striped square on point. After finishing the orange strips, I decided it needed some turquoise. I’ll add the square with appliqué since the quilt is already pieced together.
I’m working on element # 6 of the Lone Robin, quilter’s choice, which means I can do anything I want! I took some of the leftover strips from element #3 and cut them up on an angle.
Now I’m trying to figure out how to fill in the negative space.
I went to both Bay Quilts and New Pieces today to buy fabrics for my 2 Prism Play quilts. I know some people are dying their own fabrics, but that is not my expertise.
Here are the fabrics for both quilts along with the color card for that color. We’re not even allowed to use black or white. If I had known that “orange” would include so much brown, I would have chosen purple or violet!
Here’s more info about the show. SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) will have a juried show called Prism Play. I signed up to make 2 quilts, one in blue and one in orange. Each quilt will be one color, and 45″ tall by 15″ wide.
This is my 12″ x 12″ quilt, called When Day Was Night. Today is the one year anniversary of that day when the sky was a dark yellow/orange all day, from the smoke in the atmosphere from the wildfires. This quilt was in a show at the Blueline Gallery in Sacramento. I never saw the show in person, because of Covid.
Here’s a detail.
SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) will have a juried show called Prism Play. I signed up to make 2 quilts, one in blue and one in orange. Each quilt will be one color, and 45″ long by 15″ wide. I have to thank Cara Gulati who hand delivered my envelope with the color cards on Friday! The mystery of my missing envelope has been solved. It had been mistakenly delivered to a neighbor, who eventually delivered it to me. I have my choice of two different blues- that’s why there are 2 blue cards. Now I need to look in my stash to see if I actually have these colors.
I’m working on the spaces between these squares. I decided to make wonky strips instead of the even ones in element #2. I think it would drive me crazy to make that many strips that were exactly the same. Below are my first few strips.
Here is what they look like inserted between the squares.
The fifth element for the Lone Robin is “gradations.” While I was visiting my sister in North Carolina, I visited 2 fabric stores. I bought about 8 different fabrics, all of which had some kind of gradation. I had no idea if any of them would work for my Lone Robin. When I got home and auditioned the fabrics, one of them worked perfectly! I cut it into wonky squares and parallelograms, and framed each one with the blue fabric that is a constant in this quilt. When I looked at it on the design wall, I felt that the transition was too abrupt on the bottom. I made three different attempts at a strip to place there.
Luckily, the third one worked! (I had also added another curve to the top of the ladder).
I’m starting to work on striped coping strips between these wonky squares. The white between them is just the design wall showing through.
In the hamsa class I also taught them how to make royzelach (Jewish snowflakes that have a Magen David in the center) for the holiday of Shavuot. Royzelach is the word for roses in Yiddish. According to midrash when we received the Torah at Mt. Sinai, it was with all our senses. There was thunder, lightning, and the smell of roses. There was a tradition in Eastern Europe to decorate their homes with flowers for Shavuot, or to cut these “roses” out of paper and glue them in their windows.
Above is my example which I cut out in class.
This is my hamsa example.
These are the students with their royzelach.
While I was in Asheville visiting my sister, I taught a paper-cut hamsa class at Congregation Beth Israel. Here are some of the students’ work.
The next two are from students who didn’t want their faces photographed.
Here’s the description of the class:
Paper-cut Hamsa Workshop
A hamsa is a stylized hand for protection against the “evil eye,” frequently worn as jewelry. Made by both Jews and Muslims, hamsas are found all over the Middle East, but are older than either religion. Come learn about the folklore of hamsas, as we make them out of paper. Learn the basics of paper-cutting, a traditional Jewish folk art. We will cut out our hamsas with scissors, and/or Exacto knives for accuracy, then glue them to a background. No artistic talent is required to make stunning hamsa designs. The finished paper-cut hamsa can be framed, to hang on the wall.
The workshop lasts for two hours. Materials fee of $5 to the instructor.
