Fiberactions Challenge Quilts

In 2008 I learned Paula Nadelstern's kaleidoscope technique and fell in love with it. In 2010 I was invited to join an art quilt group called Fiberactions. We created pieces every other month and they were all 16" x 20". Each challenge had a theme word and we could create whatever we wanted. I chose to use this challenge to experiment with symmetry techniques. The challenge continued in 2010. Check that Gallery for the rest of the entries. Some of these quilts have been exhibited at the Virginia Quilt Museum in September 2011.

Initiative - January - ​When the Initiative theme was announced I sketched out a number of ideas but realized one day that the Fiberactions challenge itself was just the thing to give me the initiative to explore symmetry and kaleidoscopes. Each of my challenges will involve some sort of exploration of symmetry.Of course, this first piece is dedicated to Paula Nadelstern for introducing me to something that is so "me". Is there anything better for me than tedious fussy-cutting?

Communication - March - In my professional life I spend a lot of time in meetings. I often observe that no matter how often a group of people may meet, there’s always misunderstanding and miscommunication.  People come into meetings (or other communications) with different perspectives and different levels of attention. It’s always a challenge to get everyone on the same plane. My piece reflects the variety of levels of participation and perspective in meeting situations. ​

Convergence - May - ​Convergence was the perfect theme for me this time give my upcoming retirement at the end of the month. The last year of planning for my retirement and transition into a new career in fiber arts, has been all about those plans falling into place. It has been a long and deliberate process to plan our finances and determine which part of my hobby life I was willing to turn into a job. It has all come together in the last few months.

The background fabric is one of my hand dyed spirals and the star points are made from painted fabric. I had planned a pieced version of this but my back was not healing as quickly as I needed and I reallized that I could not sit for as much sewing as needed. I switched my approach to using fusible applique with painted fabric. In the end I think this was more effective.

Memory - July - Sunset is not only a time of day but a time of life. It is a time of reflection and a time to relish the memories of the past.
My sunset is inspired by my annual vacation with my friend at her house on the Rappahannock River. We look forward to sunset every day. It’s when we take a break to talk, watch the changing colors of the sky, tell stories and just relax and enjoy the memories of the day.
Symmetry still reigns as the technique for my Fiberactions quilts. This piece is made using Paula Nadelstern’s Puzzle Quilts technique and it is vertically symmetrical. It is constructed entirely of 2” squares with the patterns of the fabric creating the design lines.  

Stretch - September - ​For this quilt I used only 1 fabric! The background is made up of 80 2" squares and cut from the same motif on the fabric - except that the image is shifted 1/8" in each row. Each row is comprised of 4 mirror imaged pairs. I took the resulting design shape as inspiration for the overlay. I would have gotten closer to the effect I wanted if I could have used the fabric that I wanted but this fabric is the only one that had enough repeats.

Transformation - November - With this challenge I wanted to revisit the techniques that I used in the Communication challenge. I did that and made some improvements. So I suppose you could say that the transformations is happening within me. I am becoming more confident with the symmetry technique and starting to make them unique to me.....a little anyway.
​know. It's a Christmas piece. I know that it's not "art" to most people but I like it. Chris LOVES it.I have a big collection of symmetrical fabrics and I had this one Christmas print that I have tried to use in almost every kaleidoscope quilt I have made. It has never fit. I made myself use it on this one. Fortunately it's mostly used up now!
On this piece I quilted the background first and then applied the "ornaments". The binding is from a coordinating striped fabric. I like the frame effect.