Crayon Rubbing & Fabric Painting

A new project was begun the other day. My first step was to over-paint this crayon rubbing made a number of years ago.
I had created this rubbing on a metal grid of a patio table with the intention of making rippling water in a future quilt. I used the flat side of the crayons and made big sweeping horizontal strokes.
Here I'm set up with my plastic drop cloth, fabric paints, sponge brush, and pie tin pallet. I put dabs of paint, one color at a time, onto the pallet then poured a bit of water into it. I used whole arm sweeping horizontal strokes to apply the paint. The brush wasn't cleaned between colors.
The large piece was painted on the front side of the fabric over the crayon markings. The smaller one was painted on the back side of the
fabric on which there was more of a resist to the wax . The smaller piece won't be in my new project, but added to my stash.

To read of other crayon rubbings I've made for quilt projects go here.

Paying it Forward

After being the lucky winner on TWO blog giveaways, it is indeed my turn to 'pay forward' this generosity. So in the spirit of giving, I am offering a 4 x 4 art squared original collage to three lucky winners.

If you would like to enter to win one of the collages featured below, please leave a comment on this post and I will choose three names at random on Friday, April 4th. (The collage won will be random...the first name I draw will win 'party girl', the second will win 'oo la la' and so on.)

I am sincerely grateful to all of you who faithfully leave supportive comments on this blog. This is my small way of saying, "THANKS."






© Nancy Lefko

MORE 2008 Festival of Quilts

These are just a few of the 93 quilts in the show that ends today. They're the ones that caught my eye and I had my camera at the ready. Some of them are new ... some have history.

Crazy Quilt circa 1890's
owned by Mary Bates

That is the quilt being delivered to the show when I submitted my entries.

Old and New

left - "Hope Chest Crazy Quilt" by Alice Summers
right - ""Tennessee Waltz" by Chris Windham
Our Mayor Eddy Ford's baby quilt made by his grandmother and aunts.

From Friends To Pearl

A friendship quilt made for a Philadelphia, Penn. girl's 16th birthday in 1891. Owned by Elizabeth Jamison.
Seeing all these quilts featuring sunbonnet Sue and sweet Sue together, I just had to take a picture.

"Girlfriends" by Sharon Slagle

This man apologized for walking into the photo. I was pleased to see quite a few men at the show, including my own husband. Quite a few of them were making the rounds on their own.

#77 - Arizona Inspired by Dawn Sullivan
#24- Texas Panhandle Iris by Kip Ford
#25- Mariner's Compass Leads the Way to Outer Space by Kip Ford
#75- Bold Bow Ties by Sue Edwards
#40- Love Makes My Heart Soar by Deborah Pulsford
#41- Italian Memories by Deborah Puslford

"Catch A Falling Star" by Lynda Wallace
"Letters To Home" by Margaret Murray-Evans

The above quilt is based on the Civil War themed show performed by the Farragut High School Band during the fall of 2004. Machine pieced and quilted, the quilt consists of b&w as well as colored photos taken by the maker. The photos were blown-up or reduced, printed on fabric and then cut and pieced with cotton fabrics in the colors of blue (North) and grey (South). The design is based on a formation used in the band drill charts for the show. The quilt includes alphabet charms, various button, guitar picks, clarinet reeds dyed with black ink, a guitar bridge and guitar string knobs.

PS: This concerns the web cam for the channel on Lake Michigan that's in my sidebar. If you see large equipment with cranes and stuff, the Corp of Engineers is pumping sand out of the channel to prepare for the shipping season. This year the public beach on the north side of the channel gets that beautiful, clean, fine sand. Last year it was pumped on our side.

2008 Festival of Quilts

The tenth biennial for this show is taking place in the Farragut Town Hall through Sunday. Ninety-three quilts are hung and draped in the rotunda, auditorium, hallways, and side rooms. It is not a judged or juried show. If a quilt was award winning in another venue, it's ribbon is displayed with it.
Linda Roy is the featured quilter. Eight of her national/international award winning quilts are the center piece of the show. A number of which have appeared in calendars and magazines. It gives me goose bumps seeing that many of her exquisite quilts in one place.

Linda Roy (not in front of her quilt)

Linda is a fellow member of the Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild. As far as I know, she only makes big bed-sized quilts. All her work is hand applique on machine pieced backgrounds. Linda's hand quilting of the tiniest stitches is composed of originally designed intricate patterns that are dense. Following are photos of Linda's quilts.

And here I am with my four entries. Of course, you recognize the newest one. "Silk Roses" and "Moon Dance" were award winning quilts in SMQ 2007 show. That's "Lake #52", the only official one of the series I've made this year.
My next post will feature other wonderful quilts on display ... some new, some not so new, and some really old.

Illustration Friday ~ Homage

At the risk of appearing to self-aggrandize, I submit today's Illustration Friday piece as an HOMAGE to all mothers. And especially to those stay at home moms who, like myself, at times feel like a glorified chauffeur. We may not bring home a paycheck, but let's remind ourselves that ours is a job done, often without any thanks, but, with a great deal of love and merit.

© Nancy Lefko

"Come With Me to the Kasbah"

My journey with this quilt began with a collection of seven blocks featuring spirals that were made for me by Thursday Bee members of the Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild. The resulting combination of them with my block and fabrics reminds me of being in a North African kasbah at night ... the exotic confusion of lights, the wares displayed in the souks and the many twists and turns of the alleyways. The spiral is one of the oldest symbols and much used in North Africa.

48"x 63"

Here's the back where a great deal of hand-stitching of the strips of fabric over every seam plus four vertical ones supporting the length was done. The colored blocks are the bee exchange ones.
And here's a detail shot of the edge finishing on the front of the quilt.
... and on the back. It's the usual double fold binding technique. I allowed for a 1/2" width on the front and a 2" width on the back for added support to ensure that the edges wouldn't curl either to the front or back when it hangs.
I appreciate all of you who have followed the process of my designing this quilt and a big "thank you" to all who left comments. It is one of the most complex quilts I've ever done because it started with that diverse collection of blocks rather than what I would've chosen from scratch. Here are the links for the steps taken to get it completed.

• "My Blocks In the Bee Exchange"
• "Spirals on the Wall"
• "Designing A Compositon"
• "Design Wall Work"
• "Refining and Expanding"
• "Progressing"
• "Just Sewing and Considering"
• "Repeating Lines"
• "By George, I'm Getting There"
• "Seams For Prequilted Blocks"
• "Division of Space"
• "Can't Believe What I Did"
• "Finding Balance"
• "Make It Work"
• "Emphasis In A Composition"
• "Reading A Quilt"
• "Seams Details and Embellishments"

Books about designing that are in my reference library are:

• Design Basics (2nd editon) by David A. Lauer - ISBN 0-03-063911-5
• Design For You (2nd edition) by Beitler & Lockhart - SBN 471-06337-1
• Art and Visual Perception - A Psychology of the Creative Eye (new version) by Rudolph Arnheim - ISBN 0-520-02613-6

I just delivered this quilt to it's first show, "2008 Festival of Quilts", the 10th biennial show in the Farragut Folklife Museum. The show runs fron March 27 th thru the 30th.

Hope Hath Wings

After a difficult week filled with problems and pain and yes, the dreaded car accident...is it too late to add another pet peeve?...like the high school student who backs into the side of your car because she doesn't use the rear view mirror for anything other than putting on mascara ???...But I digress. After a stressful week, it seems that I still must believe that there is hope and the possibility of bluer skies. Therein lies the inspiration for this collage. I WILL try to be ever hopeful, even when it feels like everything is going wrong. I WILL believe that I can be lifted by that hope and all will be well. There...I said it. I HOPE it is so...

© Nancy Lefko

Illustration Friday ~ Pet Peeves

Today's Illustration Friday topic was intriguing. As I thought on the subject, it occurred to me that I have a number of pet peeves but not all of them lend themselves to a piece of art.

I decided to settle on this collage, Java Junkie. Faithful readers of my blog might remember from previous posts my delight in a really good cup of coffee. The aroma, the taste, the warmth...it all appeals to me. So it has been a pet peeve of mine that the medical community cannot decide if coffee is good for me or the bane of my existence. It seems that every year or so the scientists change their mind on the subject of coffee and its demon ingredient, caffeine. Since I cannot bear the thought of life without coffee, I choose to revere the statistics that tell me coffee is a great anti-oxidant and ignore the reports that tell me to stop drinking it tomorrow.

There you go...pet peeve number one.

© Nancy Lefko

Who Me ???

A most lovely gesture by the talented Victorian Lady in giving me a sweet award. It pleases me to no end to think that my simple art can make someone smile. There are many, many artists that do the same for me. And they do not only make me smile, but they leave me in awe over their heart, soul and skill. With deepest respect and affection I pass along this award to a few of the artists who 'make my day.'

Alicia Padron

Elise Black

The Enigma

John York

Donna Farrell

Illustration Friday ~ Heavy

This week's topic, HEAVY, proved to be a bit of a challenge for me. The word just did not seem to fit my lovely vintage vixens or sweet little children. But it did bring to mind a feeling that I sometimes have...that of a heavy heart.

The inspiration for this collage is that which, at times, makes my heart feel heavy. With a high school age son who has but a scant two years before college, I find myself thinking of his departure and what that will mean to me and the rest of the family. My heart feels heavy when I imagine the house without him in it...so goes this collage...as one heart takes flight, another is left behind feeling somewhat heavy.

While working on the piece it occurred to me that it might also be a metaphor for the feelings I endured when I lost my father, almost exactly four years ago. He had made peace with his impending flight from this world, but I was left with a heart so heavy it was palpable.

This collage was a departure from the lightness and mirth of much of my work, but for me it was a wonderful experience filled with emotion. I also found that it was challenging, and also quite gratifying, to have my collage work take center stage without the aid of a beautiful young girl as the focal point.

I will close this post with all good wishes for lightness and joy in your hearts.

© Nancy Lefko

Seam Details and Embellishments

I thought you'd like to get a closer look at the details of the seams and embellishments on this quilt. Beads, sequins, and spiral springs have been sewn onto the surface of the quilt this week. The spiral shaped paper clips were stitched on individual pieces before constructing the top. All photos are clickable for an even closer view.
Note the "spill" of beads scattering into the dark side of the blocks on each side of the center section.
The painted and stamped red strip in the photo below is from a piece of fabric gifted to me by Arlee of Albedo Design Journal. The day that it arrived I was struggling to get this upper left corner section of the design to work. It was just the right color and pattern to fill in and work around to make that happen. It appears in two other places to carry through with repeating elements. I was too excited and busy working Arlee's fabric in that I didn't snap a photo of the whole piece. I used all but about a square inch of it.

Sequins with metal beads and the springs added to the bottom section of the quilt.
The silver was painted onto a B&W circle/spiral batik fabric to carry through what I had done to the background of Sheila's block.
Now to clear off my cutting table so that quilt can be squared up. My next step is binding it, adding a sleeve, and the making the label. Whew! This quilt has demanded much more work and time than I imagined it would.

Thank You, Honor !

A most pleasant surprise greeted me on Saturday with the arrival of these wonderful badges from the very gifted and talented Honor Bowden. Honor hosted a giveaway on her blog, and much to my delight, I actually won !! My scan does not do justice to these lovely badges...the images are so crisp and stylish. Do yourself a favor and visit Honor's website or blog...this is one artist exuding PLENTY of style.

My sincere thanks, Honor.

Back on Ebay

After my longest absence from ebay, I finally have three new collages listed. It was only a couple of weeks without a listing, but it felt strange without any auctions to check on. My attention had been focused on setting up my Etsy shop and a million other things, and I hadn't set foot in my studio for many, many days. It always feels good to have my fingers covered in paint and gel medium again, and leaves me wanting more. I hope that in the weeks to come I am able to spend more time creating and playing in the studio.







© Nancy Lefko

Reading A Quilt

Thanks to all who left comments for your input. It's interesting how everyone is visually tracking through this composition. It gives me pause about the power I thought I had in guiding "the eye" within my work. Well, at least everyone's eyes are staying within the "picture" and doing a bit of exploration. A very good thing!
As most of you know, a photo doesn't duplicate the actual colors. In reality the yellow beams like a light from this quilt, whereas, the orange beads in the "butterfly tongue" spirals in the center section shine more brightly in the photo. Also, the focus block is sparkling white because of the dark contrasting shapes on it as well as surrounding it. The light valued blues are quite true in the photo. In the black and white version below those orange beads disappear.
A "rule of thumb" I have for keeping attention within a piece is to arrange a visual sweep from upper right diagonally to the lower left. This counteracts our natural tendency to read patterns from left to right ... and on out of the picture. For that same reason I have strongly featured border patterns in that lower left corner to block the exit and draw your gaze back to the bright colors in the quilt.

Speaking of the border patterned fabric, I have used it around the outside edges to loosely frame the composition. It's also been used on the interior to transition between sections OR to guide the eye from one area to another.

Below is a tracing of the lines and shapes within this piece ... squares, rectangles, and triangles.
And here's a tracing of all the spirals.
To my eyes, both look balanced and have a good distribution of the shapes.

A Beautiful Book

I have the distinct privilege to be part of an extraordinary book. The brain child of ZNE founder Chelise Stroud Hery, this book is a compilation of work from over 60 artists. The following quote, from the ZNE website, explains the inspiration behind this beautiful art book.

"In February of 2008, JoAnnA Pierotti, a founding member of the artist community known as ZNE, lost her mother suddenly and unexpectedly. In the week following, 68 artists from all over the world stepped forward. They provided artistic images and financial contributions in order to create an art volume which would express their sympathy, concern, and support.

The result is this extraordinary collection which celebrates motherhood and love, and honors loss and the healing process.

With an introduction by mixed media artist Chelise Stroud Hery, and inspirational quotes throughout ~ this book provides a diverse and heart filled collection of artwork created in various mediums."

The following image, entitled 'Memory,' is my contribution to the collection. I encourage you to visit the ZNE website and see the list of amazing artists who have contributed. There you can also purchase one of these lovely books.




© Nancy Lefko

Illustration Friday ~ Garden

What a wonderful topic for Illustration Friday ! Everyone I know here in the Northeast is yearning for the sights and smells of their gardens. My little boy said, 'I just want to see some green!' It has been a very long and difficult winter and we look forward to ALL the colors of the GARDEN.

And if you haven't had a chance, please visit my new Etsy shop...hint, hint. (There's nothing like a little self-promotion :)

© Nancy Lefko