I'm Just Sayin

2021 52 Week Challenge Class

52 Week Challenge Class: Celebration
Photo by Katie Leddon

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Katie says:

I didn't have much opportunity for celebrations. For some reason our City decide there would be no parade, fireworks and such. There was a car show Friday evening in the downtown area, which was fun.

I believe this lady is the deejay's wife, who was trying to get people to dance. I chose this shot over some others that were more expressive so I could play with the editing we learned this week. The girl's face was shadowed, a flag pole in the background and a long shadow on the street background. The edits aren't great, but it was fun playing with it.

2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

Challenge: In Motion
Photo by Laura Minch

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2021 Critique Group

Challenge: Precarious/Unbalanced
Photo by Jess Thompson

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Jess says:

Upon seeing the title I thought I’d head to Pensacola Beach to get pictures of surfers wiping out. The bad news was that both times I went there this week conditions were poor and there was not one single surfer in the water. The good news is that while driving onto the island I happened to look to the left and saw this challenge course which had many precarious challenges. I took about 100 pictures in the time I was there and this little guy was in the most precarious position.. He has his feet tangled but managed to make it to the next section without incident.

Typical LR edits. Moved to PS to apply Topaz DeNoise AI and Sharpen AI. I’m really beginning to like those products.

Ricky's Challenge Photos:

Challenge: Unstable
from the 2021 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

I found a great deal of peace one looking at a rock cairns. They are always delicate, and naturally precarious. I attempted to build a rather tall one for this particular challenge.

Challenge: In Motion
from the 2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

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Ricky says:

Celebrating the 4th with smoke bombs. I used the Live feature and selected long exposure to blend the smoke and make it feel more in motion.

Another Time, Another Place by Ricky Tims
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This is a throwback to 1993 when I have been quilting about two years. I made this based on a little foundation pieced tulip block that ultimately led to my Cavman-pieced "Chantelle's". I don't have a great photo of this quilt and it was a commission quilt for a couple in Indiana so I don't own the quilt. Still, when I came across it, it reminded me that is might have also been the start to the Gridified Art Quilts that I'm currently teaching. I entered this quilt into the Houston Quilt Festival in 1994 and it won a red ribbon - my first "big" quilting award.

Butt Pockets and Knee Holes by Ricky Tims
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 This quilt is my favorite snuggle quilt! I chose to use a four bar rail fence block as the foundation for the design. I used dark denim, light denim, black denim, and white denim. The accent fabric is red corduroy. Naturally I had to use the butt pockets and knee holes and the borders are longer strips of the legs with the typical long jeans seam. 

The holes have a piece of red corduroy on the inside that is simply stitched in place (to patch the hole). The backing is totally red corduroy and there is no batting in this heavy quilt. I quilted this one on a long arm using only horizontal straight lines at about every 8 inches.

Would you or someone you know love a denim quilt?

Lizzy Albright Sampler Quilt, Claudia Itzwerth 

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If you would like to make the Lizzy Albright quilt, I have the pattern book for those wanting to use your own fabrics - but also the Lizzy Albright quilt fabric kit which includes the pattern book.

Read here about Silke VonHoffman's quilt that was recently featured.

Here is another Lizzy Albright quilt featuring work by Baerbl Vollertsen. 

Firestorm: Rage by Ricky Tims
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Life events often become inspiration for art. Such was the case of the Spring Fire in July 2018. The fire started about ten miles away and on the first couple of days the thought never crossed my mind that it would spread to my own ranch—but it did! The devastation of the fir forest was significant. My house was recently completed. Evacuation orders were in place and for several days it was believed that the house was gone. Miraculously, it was spared, but the fire burned to within 25'. 

The months following the fire were filled with anxiety and sadness. Creating is the most healing thing I can do, so I made this quilt as an expression of what I witnessed first hand. I still have some ideas for subsequent quilts, but this one is the reminder of the day when I stood on the mesa taking photos of the flames and smoke as it consumed my parcel and thousands of acres through my area. The fire eventually burned for about a month and destroyed 109K acres.