Intuitive Angle Piecing Results (Photo Heavy)

Well, we're bracing here in Michigan for "Snowmageddon," as the news is calling it.  Apparently we have a really big snowstorm heading our way.  Yesterday, they were already talking about closing schools on Wednesday.  I wonder how much of this is exaggeration!  I'll let you know how it turns out.  Sounds like the blowing and drifting will be the worst of it.  It's supposed to start this afternoon and this evening.

Camera update:  Took the camera and charger into the camera store.  It worked fine!  I wanted to scream!  I will say that the charging action didn't start for several seconds.  So maybe I just didn't leave it in long enough.  I felt like an idiot.  The camera store guy assured me that this happens a lot.  Well, I guess it's good news.

So, are you ready for the big reveal on my Intuitive Angle Piecing challenge with Lynn, Alamosa Quilter?!  (She's posting hers today, too, if you want to stop on over at her blog.  I can't wait to see what she's done!  Tomorrow, I'll give you the direct link to her post on this if you'd rather wait.)

Okay...the reveal will be at the bottom of the post.  I'll walk you through the process, if that's okay.

First, we're working out of this book:

Get the book here: Intuitive Color & Design: Adventures in Art Quilting

Or visit Jean's website and get the book and fabric rolls to start with.

We started with this assignment in the book:

In this lesson, we learn to piece angles intuitively...without measuring.

I had taken this photo one day when we were out ice skating on the lake.  We had fresh fallen snow (several inches of it) and skated all over the lake.  The snow was pristine and all sparkly.  There were no tracks anywhere.  It was like skiing through powder.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  I turned around and saw this great image behind me (the lighting was not the greatest at the moment).  I decided then that I would use this photo as the inspiration for the piece and started doing some sketching.

At the same time, Lynn had told me she's sending me some fabric scraps to work with, and she challenged me to use only those scraps.  She asked did I want blues or greens?  I had said greens, even before I took this photo.  As I was sketching this, I thought, maybe I should have asked for blues.

This is what she sent.  I loved it!  But I wasn't sure the colors were quite right for this project.  I thought, "Oh well.  I will figure out something."  As I started to work on it, I determined these were the PERFECT colors for this project.  I LOVE it when serendipity works in my favor!

I began by laying out the color blocks I was thinking of for the piecing.

I started with some long, easy angles to peice a section I thought I would use for the pond/snow.  (See where I had to piece the gray together to make the strip long enough?  But I got to cut that seam out later!  Yippee!  More serendipity!)  The whites and grays seemed perfect for this.  I tried to grade the colors from light to dark...as things recede, they get darker.

Okay.  That worked out fine.

I then had this vision of piecing angles to represent our skating tracks.  This was more challenging, but not too hard.  They turned out pretty close to what I had envisioned.  Maybe better.  I wanted it to look like these were receding into the background, so I angled the strip, and I made the tracks closer together as they went back.

I pieced another.  The colors are more "abstract" for this part.  I liked that.

And the third one.

Then, I sliced angles in the snow and added my skating trails.

Next, I made a piece that was meant to mimic the trees in the photo.  I went from dark on the left to light on the right to indicate the trees getting less dense, as you see in the photo.  I added some gray for the sky.  After all, it's gray all the time here in the winter, and you can't tell the difference between the sky and the land most of the time.

Then, I pieced them together and trimmed it up.  At this point, I was feeling really happy about how this was taking shape.  I decided to really get brave and do some free-motion quilting on it.  EEK!  What if I ruin it???  Well, so what.  Lynn reminded me this is practice...we aren't creating masterpieces.  FMQ is another hurdle I need to get over this year, and this is a small, manageable piece (about 13"x13").  I should just go for it.

I used my lovely Aurifil threads to free motion quilt these trees.  I'm pretty happy with how that turned out.  I'm really proud of myself given my extremely limited experience on FMQing.  I wish I had made the trees on the right smaller, to indicate the perspective I was hoping to achieve, but overall, I'm really happy with it.

I didn't have any Aurifil thread that looked good on the snow.  So, I used this purple variegated thread for the quilting there.  I was a lot less happy with my work on this.  I really didn't like how it looked next to the skating trails.  So, I quilted over the edges of the trails with curly cues to indicate the little mounds of snow that formed there, as indicated in the photo.  Franklly, I liked this section better before I quilted it.  I was hoping that when I bound it and covered up those edges I would like it better.

Here it is bound.  I do like it better.  I had to go buy some purple for the binding, as I didn't have enough of any of Lynn's scraps to make a binding that looked good.  I couldn't find the exact right purple, but I found one that was close enough.  As you can see, I also added some clear Swarovski crystals.  I just threw them on and glued them where they landed (except I didn't put any on the trails).  I wanted to indicate how sparkly the snow was that day.  I thought it might be too much, but actually, I like it better.  I am satisfied with this.  (I think I might need a couple of crystals on the snow between those two right-most trails.  Maybe I'll add that.)

Here is the back.  I used an icy-looking batik I had in my stash for the back.  I think I had good tension for my FMQing.  I am not sure how I will hang this, so I added a little hanging sleeve, just in case.

Papa Pea said he liked the back almost more than the front (but he likes the front a lot, too).  I was surprised he liked this as much as he did.

The trees really are one of my favorite things about this project.

This is "okay."  In the end, I'm glad I added the swirlies along the skating paths.

 

Just trying to capture some of the different angles to get the crystals to sparkle.  They are more subtle in person.  The lighting is so bad at my house.  It's dark when I leave and dark when I get home, so it's hard to get photos in natural light.  It's pretty gray light anyway, even when it is light!

Well, there you have it.  Our first exercise complete.  It was really fun and really worthwhile.  My first project completed from my own design and my own ideas.  I am proud of myself.  This piece will always be special to me because of that, and it really helps commemorate that special afternoon when Papa Pea, Sweet Pea, and I were skating together.  I think I'll hang it up somewhere in my house.  Not sure where yet.

In the style of Tracey Jay Quilts, I'm going to provide a list of what I like and don't like about the quilt/project.  I like how she does that, so I'm going to do that, too:

What I like-

• I liked learning how to piece these angles intuitively.  I created this design ALL BY MYSELF!
• I loved being challenged to work with Lynn's fabrics--serendipitously the colors turned out to be perfect, yet they were not at all what I would have picked.
• I love how the skating trails turned out--as good or better than I envisioned.
• As a complete piece, I am really happy that I was able to create what I envisioned and it looks, on the whole, as good or better than I thought it would.
• I really like the trees I made with the quilting.
• I love the icy fabric on the back!
• I think the crystals actually added a nice touch.  It was my first time working with them.
• This got me using my sketchbook.

What I don't like or am unsure about-

• This is a fairly literal interpretation of the photo.  I hope to do other little quilts that are more abstract.
• I wish I could have come up with some quilting for the snow that I liked a little better.
• I was shooting for about 12"x15", but it wanted to be 13"x13".  It is what it is!

We are onto the second assignment in the book, now, which is on intuitive curve piecing.  I will now learn how to intuitively cut gentle curves and piece them together.  Lynn has already given me some great tips about that.  I really appreciate the guidance and camaraderie she is giving me on this project.  Hop on over to her blog and see what she did.  If it's not there yet, it will be soon.  I can't wait to see!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

 

Comments

[Lynn]

I LOVE IT! You translated your photograph beautifully. The trees and tracks are also my favorites about your piece.

I'll get mine posted soon.

[Johanna]

I haven't read your post yet because I was reading snowmageddon (I really hope that is an exaggeration!) and the I saw your pictures of how you started on your project. From that moment on I couldn't read anymore and was just looking at your pictures.
I love it! I don't know why because I am normally a very geometric-searching person and I like having things very orderly (I can't even look at wonky stars for too long and I hate when my seam allowances are not the same widths). But your miniquilt (it is a miniquilt, isn't it?) just looks right. It is a perfect translation of your picture and I love every little detail about it. The trees, the swirling besides and on the paths, the little crystals, those icy colours on the back!
You should be really proud of yourself, you have created a small masterpiece!

[Jewel]

That is super cool! I love the whole process!

[Brooke]

Oh my goodness!!!!!! WOW!!! Very impressive! Brace yourself for the snowstorm as I have it here - began yesterday and still snowing and blowing today so far! Lovely!

[Denise Fitzgerald]

That is really inspirational. I was looking at that book last night - how nice to see your blog this morning and your interpretation. really lovely.

[Kelly]

Love that book. And Love. Your. Quilt! Beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

[Cathy Buel]

Very nice. Your quilt is so inspiring. I hope you don't get as much snow as expected. We are expecting 12"-18". I too am hoping they are wrong. Again, you did a spectacular job on your quilt.

[Myra]

Stephanie, it is beautiful!

[Melissa]

I love it! I especially love the trees and swirls.

[Linda in Calif.]

Wow!! I'm so impressed! It's really lovely!!! I like the crystals too - and the little circles along the edge of the tracks.

[Terri]

Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

[sisLH]

THE SNOWSTORM IS NOT AN EXAGGERATION. WE ARE ALREADY BURIED!!! in Wisconsin. Nothing is moving. To go from here to the barn is knee deep and biting ice on my face.

[Laurie]

you guys did a great job with this challenge. Your trees look wonderful!!! My goal is to get over myself and get in to FMQ this year too.

[Allie]

This is freakin' BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!

[Caroll D]

Wow! I love what you've done. The free piecing and the free motion quilting are fantastic. I love the trees. You did a fantastic job. I love this kind of thing.

[Jackie]

Excuse me... that is freakin gorgeous... what character and depth... and I so like it better after all your fmq!

[Linda]

Love it, Stephanie!! You did a phenomenal job! It's so striking! I think it's very abstract. It's a perfect example of intuitive angle piecing!! The crystals were the perfect added touch too, Oh and your fmq is fabulous! You really did a great job enhancing it with the quilting!

[Maggie Szafranski]

LOVE IT! The FMQ trees are awesome! The crystals are a great touch! It is a great piece!

[Cathy Buel]

I was checking facebook this morning. I'm friends with Aurifill Threads. And in their post this morning there was a picture of this wonderful quilt and a link to your blog. Way to go.

[sisLH]

PS - I love your whole project. I can't believe I could have even known where to begin -You have Talent! And the back looks like a Wisconsin field-love it. Our snow today is over my head! Took pictures -Will send.

[Deb]

What a great use of the fabric. . . love what you did with the quilting, especially the trees.

[Rosemary Dempster]

Gret description and photos. loved the trees!

[Aunt Pea]

You are amazing! Loved this post, great concepts, beautiful work. It's good to be a Pea :-)

[Jo Vandermey]

Beautiful. Great colours and design. I really like your trees and the crystals.
Jo

[Marta]

Love your blog is full of information and gorgeous quilts. I specially lijes how you built up this post. From the fabrics to the end results it's an extremely Good narration. Each step wad a delight to read and just make you want to know/see more of the quilt.
And the quilt is just gorgeous