All That Jazz by Ricky Tims 

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This is such a fun quilt and I had more than a blast making it. Get ready for this story!
 
Ninety-five percent of the blocks…I didn’t make. I was a bit short of blocks when finishing the border on this so I made a few. Starting in 1994, I began teaching a foundation class that started with the students making two, 5-inch blocks on a muslin foundation. These were “string pieced” the old fashioned way (our grandmothers did this). All blocks are string pieced on the diagonal. I would hand out the fabric for the center strip. The rest of the strips were from student’s stashes. Notice for example the black and white center strips. I might have used black and white for a year of classes all over the world. Sometime I would hand out pink - or blue - or…? In a class of twenty-five students, we made fifty blocks to play with and combine on a design wall in various arrangements.
 
We progressed on to the 2nd and 3rd excerises which became more complex. At the end of the day, students would often leave behind their two blocks. Taking home just “two random blocks” was not that desirable to the students. When I packed up after class, I often was leaving with 20-30 blocks. Over the years this added up. In truth, I made four quilts made from these leftover blocks. This was the biggest quilt on (and the last one) and measures about 90” x 90”. It is also the only quilt that I’ve fully quilted on a longarm quilting machine. I’m a domestic, sit-down, push-the-quilt, sort of guy, but I had fun playing with this overall, free-form feather quilting.
 
If you are looking for happiness - make a scrappy string quilt.

 

All That Jazz detail 

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All That Jazz detail

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 TRY THE JIGSAW PUZZLE

Choose your own difficulty. Click the 9-patch grid to change number of pieces. Click the circle arrow to make the puzzle pieces rotating instead of stable orientation. Also, there are tips under the "?" on the upper right of the puzzle. If you'd like a full screen version, click the button below. Have fun!

 

2021 52 Week Challenge Class

52 Week Challenge Class: Composite Montage
Photo by Charlene Shaw

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Charlene says:

A simple overexposed Easter Lily and a gauze texture. Played with hue, exposure and brightness. I like the dreaminess of the two and how sometimes I can’t tell where one begins and the other ends.

2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

Challenge: Stairs/Steps
Photo by Star Carpenter

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Star says:

A restored Victorian staircase caught my eye at the golden hour. I liked the leading lines and lighting of the image. 

 

 

2021 Critique Group

Challenge: The Story
Photo by Pam Clark

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Pam says:

My daughter-in-law cuts her sons' hair at home, which saves the family a lot of money. Here Oscar is getting his haircut.

 

Ricky's Challenge Photos:

Challenge: The Story
from the 2021 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

Anyone venture a guess as to the roads and road conditions in my neck of the woods? And you might guess the what I drive, and the brand of tires I have.

 

 

Challenge: Stairs/Steps
from the 2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

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Ricky says:

These are the steps on the back of my house leading up to my studio. There are no stairs in my house. However, I liked the simplicity of lines and the fairly tight framing. This was editing in BeCasso.

Serenity by Ricky Tims (March 2021)
19.5” x 24.5” hand-dyed fabric, machine appliqué, free-motion machine quilted
based on a photo taken on the island of Madeira, by Hugo Dos Santos

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Inspiration comes from many sources. Often it is an event, or an emotion. Sometimes it comes from stories, people, or places. I was in the mood to create. I had a small window of creative time and took advantage of it by creating this small piece based on a photo that was recently sent to me which was taken on the island of Madeira (southwest of Portugal). My goal was to use my hand-dyed fabrics and create a colorful version of the scene. I really enjoyed the process. I personally don’t give this one an A+, but the impact of having time to create it scored a home run for my soul.

 

Inspiration photo by Hugo Dos Santos

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Serenity detail

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 TRY THE JIGSAW PUZZLE

Choose your own difficulty. Click the 9-patch grid to change number of pieces. Click the circle arrow to make the puzzle pieces rotating instead of stable orientation. Also, there are tips under the "?" on the upper right of the puzzle. If you'd like a full screen version, click the button below. Have fun!

  

 

2021 52 Week Challenge Class

52 Week Challenge Class: Do Over - Selective Focus
Photo by Mark Alexander

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Mark says:

This is my do over for selective focus. I visited a wildlife refuge and captured this image of an mature bull bison and selelectively focused of his face using f/5.6 at 400mm..

2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

Challenge: Folded
Photo by JoAnn Banks

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JoAnn says:

This is a knitting pattern book. I began in the center and folded some of the pages inward. I placed the book on a picture frame that has black fabric inserted to get the reflection.

 

 

 

2021 Critique Group

Challenge: Magical Light
Photo by Jill Chisholm

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Jill says:

Just after sunrise at Wentworth Falls Lake. Quite chilly and my hands were cold even though I was well rugged up but this older man always wears just shorts and singlet and does multiple laps of the lake. He's heading into the mist on the water and towards the sunrise which is creating the white reflections of the ripples on the water. Basic LR edits

 

Ricky's Challenge Photos:

Challenge: Magical Light
from the 2021 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

I attempted several shots of various subjects, but I liked my outdoor lights with the "elk god" (for lack of a better name).

 

 

Challenge: Folded
from the 2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

Click to view larger image.

Ricky says:

I attempted several shots of various subjects, but I liked my outdoor lights with the "elk god" (for lack of a better name).


The Raven by Natalia Lashko,
Kamienets Podilskyi Khumelnitskyi region, Ukraine

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I am very much connected to ravens. My house is filled with raven art. I even named my house, The Rookery (a gathering place for ravens). You may know that a group of crows is called a murder…but did you know that a group of ravens is called an unkindness?
 
This raven quilt is one of my most treasured pieces. It was made by Natalia Lashko. She is from Ukraine and for many years has created amazing embroideries using straw - yes… straw! That experience led her to quilting, and fabric... and you can see in this piece how she weaves hand-stitched, turned edge fabric that is no wider than a piece of straw.
 
The quilting scene in Ukraine has grown significantly in recent years. I saw my first Ukrainian quilt exhibition when I lectured in Moscow in 2012. One part of the show featured the Ukrainian quilts. I love that they are not bound by our traditions, but find great value in exploring and trying new things. 
 
Keep your eyes open… a Ukrainian quilt might just be coming to a show near you!

 

Detail, click for full view.

 TRY THE JIGSAW PUZZLE

Choose your own difficulty. Click the 9-patch grid to change number of pieces. Click the circle arrow to make the puzzle pieces rotating instead of stable orientation. Also, there are tips under the "?" on the upper right of the puzzle. If you'd like a full screen version, click the button below. Have fun!

  

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