Thanks! It seemed a little "beige" while I was working on it, but I guess it's more earthy than most of my pieces. And I'm actually thrilled to have it done ahead of the end of the month.

There is not much printed organza on this one. In the bottom right corner there is some organza -- the lotus pod with the stem. Then there is some sheer orange poly-organza fused on. Everything else is stamped or fused. The hand-quilting took the most time. I had to carve the lotus pod stamp and the nut stamp. I tried using actual pods and nuts, but they're not flat and don't connect enough with the surface. And I had to go buy special beads! Unbelievable -- fifty thousand beads in this house and not one was right for this piece!

I think James is talking about relations between people -- with this verse he is just finishing a discussion of the evil that comes from the tongue, and the difference between earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom. But I suppose since I have applied it out of context that it could be interpreted in light of Jeremiah -- especially with regard to the evil that comes from the tongue -- the deceptive words that Jeremiah keeps warning about.

Very nice!! Not exactly beige! Congratulations on finishing so early. Susan

Love the stamps Elizabeth! Is orange your color this month? I can't help wondering if James is saying this for after the end. after last night's chapters in Jeremiah it is hard to believe in the future upbeat message of what James is saying.
I think the stamps are really cool. Did you print everything on organza? The binding is so much more vivid than the insides of your art.

It had to happen sooner or later....

that I would actually finish the current month's piece IN the current month! So, TADA! Here is my October piece called "Offspring". As for who I would invite to join the challenge, I don't know. I was sort of thinking we might like to have a few more people in to make it a little more interesting. Of course, the intimate number is nice too -- just was thinking of a way to keep the artistic conversation going.

Thank you Susan. It took me three days to do all the stitching. I get started and then the pieces keep calling for more. I am thrilled to be finished because I have to start on Elizabeth's birthday and Christmas gifts. I already know what I am making, but I need to get started on them this week to get done on time.

About the new people--Bobbie is my very good friend who I have been teaching how to quilt this year. She, Elizabeth, and Becky (who used to work at Quilt Trends) and I are all doing a round robin together. Those are the only people I would ask to join in.
Sharon says she will do the challenge with us next year. If Sharon was one of the original of the four of us and I can get Bobbie to throw in, then you and Elizabeth could each pull in someone. Elizabeth knows a lot more people than I do, so I don't know who she is thinking of asking.

Linda, the new piece is gorgeous!! I'm sure it is way more so in person, and luckily, I will be there soon! It is so colorful and of course, I love the leaves. Our styles are SO different and there is hardly any stitching on my pieces so if we have an exhibit, there will be something for everyone to love. I'm aiming for a different approach next year but have yet to figure anything out. If I can ask one person to join too, I will do so. Susan

I asked Bobbie to join, but she says she doesn't have the skill level to work with us. I am going to keep working on her. What about Becky? Sharon says she is interested in the challenge for next year. She has been working on some things that she thinks would work for the size constraints. I think she may feel too overwhelmed to try to play catch up for this year's pieces.

You're right -- the picture doesn't do it justice -- at least from what I saw on Saturday. I see the "tubers" have been replaced by leaves. :) The colors are really beautiful together. I like this one a lot.

Okay ladies -- start thinking of venues. And also whether we want to invite others into the challenge for 2011, maybe with a limit? Like each of us invite one person? What do you think?

GILDED GINGKOS

This is my October challenge. The picture does not do it justice. I loved working on this. All the fabrics were left over scraps from a jacket I had made 15 years ago. They were just too pretty to throw away. I knew someday that I would drag them out for the perfect fall project. Fall is my favorite season and so my piece is very predictable-leaves. The flavor of the month for me was fuchsia. I actually had not planned on using napkins in this piece, but they wiggled their way in. The golden leaves and the 3 golden strips are from the napkin. My favorite parts of the construction were the piecing of the background--totally serendipitous, and gilding the leaf fabrics. That is always a chance to play with the machine stitches and with the metallics. I just love glitz. The dimensions ended up being a little larger than 10", but I wasn't about to ruin the design for the rule.

I don't care exactly what the final parameters are, I am focusing on completing art that depicts a year of Jewish Holy days. That is going to be my primary focus. When I am in that zone, I usually pick the technique that I think will make the most unique piece of Jewish art as opposed to the "menorah syndrome art".
I like the 20" x 11" size format.

Then let's just do it the way we did this year. I just thought the comparisons would be fun to see. Susan

What if...

What if instead of picking 12, we take this list and choose from it as we desire -- that way the art drives the technique rather than the technique driving the art?

Here is a list of surface design and embellishment techniques I work with. Do you think you could find 12 that really interest you? Otherwise we can go another route for the challenge. I think 20 by 11 would work out well and be a little less narrow. Susan


Angelina fiber and film
Brayer painting
Cloth-paper lamination
Collage
Discharge
Dye-na-Flow paint (watercolor techniques)
Expandable paint
Fabric beads
Foil on fabric
Gelatin printing
Lumiere paint (printing techniques)
Lutrador and heavy interfacing
Meat tray printing
Misty Fuse sandwich
Modeling paste
Monoprinting
Nature printing
Painted Wonder Under
Paintstiks
Photo transfer fabrics and papers
Punching
Rust dyeing
Screen printing
Sheer layers
Silk Fusion
Soy wax batik
Stamping
Stenciling with multiple media
Sunprinting
Texturizing
Transparency transfer

Frost and such

I thought we might get a frost last night -- probably north of us they did, but we've had the heat on and I threw an extra quilt on my feet last night.

If we were to do broad technique -- would we decide the whole year at one time and keep a list, or go month-to-month? And are we thinking 20" x 11"? The small size is very do-able. I really liked the freedom of the "fabric collection" -- I'm not that big on technique (since so many of mine end up in the trash -- most of them). But I'm trying to learn to be flexible -- so whatever works. I'll learn from it.

So last night I got tired of the clutter in the studio -- and started a bit of a cleaning / reorganizing project that took me into today. I finished about 1 pm this afternoon (finished being a relative term), took a shower and hopped in the car to go get The Boy. Anyway -- the studio looks quite a bit better and I can actually see my entire design wall -- something that has not been possible for quite some time (I shudder to think how long). It feels good to walk in there now. I removed non-art or quilting items that have a way of migrating into that room. I don't think I got every last one of them out -- but what a difference. Removing the magazines and extemporaneous books was huge -- and I took out all the boxes of photographs and gave them a new home. That gave me an entire shelf! I ended up with two full shelves, and an entire 4 feet or so of floor space under the shelves -- wahoo! Next stop -- the closet! But it can wait until January!

Thanks for the comments. You can tell I think "frost" a little sooner than you do down there!

Maybe next year we should choose broad techniques for each month and each do the same one. It might not look as cohesive but it would be interesting to see the different interpretations. Susan

Love this piece Susan. It has lots of depth. I am still working on the Martin quilt and only have the borders to sew on today before I hand it off to be quilted. Then I am going to start my October challenge. Still haven't committed to any design.

Elizabeth, yes I am in for 2011. I got a new Jewish calendar this weekend, so I am ready to go. What are our parameters going to be for this challenge?

Loving It

Susan, I'm really loving this piece -- it has a lot of depth, transparency AND translucency. Very nice -- very Fall!

Susan's October piece

This is painted and burn-cut Lutrador with an ExtravOrganza overlay and silver foil for frost.

Bold and Blue

Thank you, thank you. The centers of the flowers are a star print that I fussy cut, and then there is a small bead in the middle, then free-motion zigzag around the edge of the center.

I don't know what to do for October either -- but it will come to me soon -- I'm still noodling it around. I have three colors left, a deep gold, an orange-y color, and a green. I think I want to use the green in December, so that leaves the gold and orange. Orange is SO October -- and I don't want to be predictable, but what's a girl to do when there are only three colors to choose from?

The gold color is sort of the same as topaz which is the November birthstone -- so, again -- predictable? I generally decide on the color after the theme for the month, but then that by itself is predictable, no? I'm just stuck in a predictable rut! :)

So are we "all in" for 2011? I'm game.

Very bold and very blue Elizabeth! What are the red centers? Did you fold those to get the star shape? What is your color for October? I have no clue what I am doing for October either.

I have been working on the Martin quilt and hope to have the top finished by Thursday to hand over to Sharon. So far, I am liking it a lot. Each night I lay in bed wondering what to do for October and the napkins, but nothing has come to mind yet. I am thinking of doing a fall naturescape for this month.

Very nice! It's a very happy piece and I like the dimension and the way it makes shadows. Susan

Sky Blue September

And now I'm behind again, but September is done and I can think about October! This was one of the harder ones, but I tried at least three new things: free-motion with the zigzag on, ink painting, and paint as a resist. And yes, the flowers are dimensional.