Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Vegetable Soup

Our theme for January was "Vegetable Soup."

Happy Vegetables: Hope Barton
Last month my word for my efforts was "persistence" because I had so many false starts and do-overs. This month I am happy to say that my word is "fun!" I had fun with this project and I think the vegetables enjoyed it too (as evidenced by the smiles on their faces).


Three Carrots: Cathey LaBonte
I started with a design that had the vegetables running for their lives from the chopping block but my husband said it was too ghoulish. In this piece, my carrots are peaceful and elegant - being made from dupioni silk and all.....
Bowl of Soup: Marcia Kilpatrick
My biggest challenge was how to make the soup bowl. My husband says it looks like a basket. He also siad there should be a spoon. Whatever. The "vegetables" are confetti scraps, covered with tulle to hold them in place. I loved being able to use vegetable fabric I had for the backing and binding, and the peas for an accent border.

Felted Cup of Soup: Linda Gardner
I made my "soup" from felted wool. The blue and purple worked well to make a purple cabbage but when I did not have any orange wool, I had to use red for the carrots. I told the group they were "blood carrots." I thought I had made that up but they all told me that there are indeed, red carrots. The veggies in the soup are "confetti" cut pieces, held in place with tulle. I think I will use this piece as a hotpad.

Campbell's Ummm, Ummm Good: Melanie Johnston
I am often inspired by Quilting Art Magazine, The December 2010/January 2011 issue had some great techniques I just had to try. I combined 2 in this piece. First I closely quilted a neutral fabric with a small print. Next, I used a small, foam roller to lightly paint the surface with white, opaque, fabric paint.(QA mag page 58).  The images were then transferred on to the "canvas" using Dritz wash away foundation paper and fabric medium. (QA Magazine page 46). I really had fun with these techniques and will use them again.