Unveiling the "Painted Canvas (AKA 'Name That Challenge') Challenge"

The Fiberexplorations group met earlier this month and everyone brought their quilts for the Painted Canvas Challenge.  Back in February, we got together and painted a large piece of canvas (cotton duck), which was later cut into a grid (4 across and 3 down). That's 12 sections, one for each member.

The challenge was for each of us to create a quilt, 18" x 24", that used at least 48 square inches of the painted canvas. Later, we'll temporarily stitch these 12 smaller quilts into one large 72" x 72" piece that can be entered into shows as a "group" quilt.

For the unveiling, we arranged our individual quilts on the floor, according to the original grid.  (For example, I had the piece of painted canvas from position #9 on the grid, so my quilt was placed in that position on the floor.)  One person missed the meeting, hence the "hole" in position #4.

The Painted Canvas Challenge

I'm always amazed at the wide range of design styles and the individual ways a challenge is interpreted, and this one was no exception!   In some of the quilts, the painted canvas pieces blend so well into the quilt's design that it requires closer inspection to find them.  We wondered if a viewer could figure out what the challenge was (or find the common theme) if we didn't provide that info.  With that in mind, I suggested that we rename this the "Name That Challenge" Challenge quilt.

Standing above these quilts in the fading light, I tried to photograph them, but wasn't very successful.  This shot of Chris' and Maureen's quilts was the only salvageable one:

On left: Chris's piece.  One right:  Maureen's piece.

Look for the "Name That Challenge" Challenge Quilt at this summer's Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show on Sat., July 13.

Progress of members' challenge quilts

Here are the photos of other members' challenge quilts at our May 21st meeting:

Chris finished piecing her quilt top, and began hand-appliqueing the leaves.

It will be gorgeous when the rest of the leaves are applied!

Erika's quilt on the design wall.

 Apologies for the blurriness of these photos.  We were fast losing sunlight and trying to compensate by turning on all the lamps and overhead lights . . .

Top of Erika's quilt.  The row of single squares shows
all 12 surface-designed fabric swatches from our exchange.

Bottom of Erika's quilt.

Maureen's music-inspired piece also showcases
our 12 fabric swatches (center, bottom).

We didn't get to see everyone's work-in-progress, as some members were traveling and others' quilts were still at their homes, pinned to design boards or in too many pieces to transport to the meeting.  As usual, I seem to have made the least progress!  I can never seem to get cookin' until a deadline is looming too close for comfort.  And even then, I'm still changing my mind . . .

My painted and thread-painted bubble trees, where
the resist failed to hold back the paint!

Technique:   Working with a resist* in a small plastic bottle with a thin metal applicator tip, I outlined the areas that would become tree trunks, branches, the half-circle shaped "bubble," as well as the edge of the grass line.  (* I used Presist, a water-soluble resist that works on cotton fabrics.)  Once the resist was thoroughly dry,  I sprayed a light mist of water on the grassy area before painting it with diluted Setacolor paint, knowing that would help the paint blend.  I should have remembered to suspend the fabric onto stretcher bars (as in silk painting), and because I didn't, the wet fabric clung to my plastic-covered painting surface and the green paint migrated above the resist lines of the grass.  Elsewhere, I painted on dry areas and the paint stayed within the lines (except for a bit on the far left).  Once the paint was dry and heat-set, I rinsed out the Presist, then began thread-painting, a technique I love.
This was a fun experiment, though not 100% successful.    I overdid it on the smallest tree on the right. Earlier, when applying the Presist there, I had problems getting it to flow in a  smooth, thin line.  The resulting blobs meant that after rinsing out the Presist, the white areas to be thread-painted were much wider than in the other two trees.
And after this experiment, I realized that the scale of the trees was all wrong.  So it's back to the drawing board.

Congrats to Maureen!

Maureen's quilt on left side of poster!

 

Up and down the Music Tree 

by Maureen Erhardt 

was juried into the

Independence Art & the City show,

winning a Special Merit Award at the opening reception, Aug. 6th.

 

This show (including

Maureen's 2-sided quilt)

is currently on exhibit  

until Jan. 5, 2012 at the NEW

 Independence (OR) Civic Center.

You may recognize this 2-sided quilt as one of about 23 "tree quilts" originally exhibited at the 2010 Oregon State Fair, followed by appearances at Quiltopia 2010 (Salem, OR), the 2011 Stitches in Bloom show (Oregon Garden), and the special exhibit at this year's Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.