Bird Nest Series - Bird Nest III

Bird Nest III

6x8 Oil On Wrap Around Canvas

Original by Cheri Wollenberg

This is the third of a series of six original oil paintings by me.  This one features two green bird eggs in a nest surrounded by colors that are complementary and analogous in the background. This series are copyrighted by me.  I hope you enjoy these fantasy themed items.  They are for sale in my Etsy store.  Click here for more information.

Bird Nest Series - Bird Nest I Blue Eggs

Sometimes we artists need to take time to be with our families, do our day jobs (even if we are retired), or catch up with our friends in community and church apart from FaceBook. So, we have to take sabbaticals from blogging.  I've missed writing about the inspiration that causes me to paint.  I've still been painting, but it seems that writing about it falls to the wayside.  Anyway, I've decided I need to write about inspiration, process and product again in the paintings I do.  My first set of posts will be my Bird Nest Series.  All of these are copyrighted by me.  Click link below or here to see in my Etsy Store.

Bird Nest I - Blue Eggs

6x6 Wrap Around Canvas

Original Oil Painting by Cheri Wollenberg

Edges of painting have been painted black.  Many people prefer not to frame.  This makes a clean edge for a painting so that it can be either displayed as wall art or on small easels, or as you see above.

Miriam's Finished Quilt - Part V

This is the final post from a very special friend who has blessed me with sharing her journey in making one of the Kaufman "Down On The Farm" quilts.  The designs are printed from my paintings, and have brought me abundant joy in seeing them used in other beautiful forms of art works.    I appreciate Miriam Reiss, Shirley Liles, and Marsha Cribbs for being kind enough to share images of their quilt creations. They are amazing!

Today we create art in many forms and for different reasons.  At one time not too many years removed women made quilts for practical and necessary reasons.  They kept people warm, and quilting was a way for them to use extra fabric that was left from handmade garments.  In those days many people were very frugal and didn't like waste.  Today we make them to decorate our bedrooms and other living spaces, or for our babies and children to use as throws during cold weather.  We make them out of a desire to master an art that has faded from our past.  We love the workmanship of our ancestors.  We feel closer to our roots, and I can't speak for quilt artists; but I know that creating something that brings joy and usefulness to others bring a satisfaction to artists of all media.

The three photos below illustrate Miriam's text.  Enjoy:)

Hello Cheri,

 

As you can see by the attached picture, I have completed the "Down on the Farm" quilt after several setbacks. The second picture is showing you the type of batting that will go behind the quilt which is called "warm and natural", is just like it says and it makes the quilt feel great on cold nights.  On Friday June 30th, I will be taking it to the "longarm quilter" and she will place it on a very long frame with a longarm sewing machine and will quilt a specific design on the quilt itself. This will sandwich together the quilt, batting and back solid fabric. Once that is done, the binding will go all round the quilt to finish it off. As you know, early on I got the binding all set up and ready to go for when I get the quilt back.

 

A longarm quilter is a expert on these big machines and therefore often most quilters will send their quilts to these experts. In addition, not everyone can afford these huge machines or have the room for them. I have attached a picture of one to give you an idea. I expect to receive the quilt in a week or two. Binding does not take long to sew on. I am hoping to show you the truly completed project real soon.

 

I hope all is well with you and your summer has been a pleasant one so far.

 

Warm wishes,

 

Miriam

 

 

 

Miriam's Quilt - Part IV - Post 1

Miriam is almost finished with her quilt.  Please check out the earlier blog posts about her process.  It is so interesting and I love this quilt.  Can't wait to feature it as a finished item!  The quilt blocks are made with the designed fabric panels, Down On The Farm by Robert Kaufman.  This design happens to be licensed through Sage Brush Fine Art and it is my artwork! Thanks for coming by.  Here are Miriam's update and photos.  ENJOY

Hi Cheri,

 I finished all the rows of the animals with the 9 patch block. In addition, I sewed together the satching rows that will be attached in between the blocks. As you can see, I attached one satching row on the top of the quilt to make sure it lined up correctly. The biggest problem now is that all the seams line up properly and points meet so is pleasant to the eye. This is when you know your 1/4" seams where exact when you are sewing the fabrics together. Of course, the correct size of the cut of each piece is also very important. Thus, it will all come together nicely at the end.

After everything is sewn together, the batting and backing of the quilt has to be put together. More on that later and what to expect next which will be two more steps to completion.

Hope all is well and will keep you posted!

Warm regards always,

Miriam

Miriam

Miriam's Quilt - Part III - Post 4

I heard several days ago from my Facebook Friend and Quilter that she had been busy with personal things, but she has resumed working on the quilt made from the Down On The Farm fabric by Robert Kaufman.  If you are reading this blog and do not know then I must tell you that the animals printed on these fabric panels are from my original paintings.  I'm so honored and excited that there are quilters who are using this fabric in some of their projects whom I actually know or have discovered online.  The creative process of their work is very different from mine; however, we have connected in subject matter....the love of country, nature and farm animals.  Thank you again Miriam for sharing your process with me.  Here is her last post message to me.  Enjoy!!!!!

Hi Cheri,

To continue with the quilt, I had to work on the 9 patch block. It is called 9 patch because it has 9 squares that you sew together. However, 4 squares are two half triangles that are sewn together of different colors. A lot of work goes into the 9 patch blocks. In addition, I was able to started to start sewing the blocks together in a row. I now have 4 of the 8 rows done. After all the rows are done I have to start working on the sashings that goes between each row and on the top and bottom of the quilt with their corresponding small gray squares.

I will try to put more time into the quilt as time permits. As I am sure you know, our time is not always ours to do what we want. I will admit, I am looking forward to finishing it soon. Will continue to keep you up to date.

Warm wishes,

Miriam

Miriam's Quilt - Part II - 3rd Post

Today will be the last of my posts updating Miriam's process of her Down On The Farm Quilt by Robert Kaufman designed by Cheri Wollenberg until I receive another update from her.  I'm so glad that she has shared this process with me.  I've been so amazed at her disciplined approach to this creative work and her talent.  Thank you again, Miriam.  My readers will be glad to receive the next installments of your progress!  Today's post is the fifth step continued from yesterday's post. Enjoy:

5.  Then I started to work on the frame that is gray and blue made of nine individual squares.  By far this is the most time consuming -- lots of steps to make sure you get it right.  Because of its intricacy, I always go ahead and do one complete block (making sure it all works well together) before treating it like an assembly line.  It goes faster if you do one step to all squares before going on the the next step and so on -- eventually sewing them all together to create the block.  I got one completed and it looks good so now I will concentrate on making the remaining 18 blocks which will take me a while.  In this block you have to have the right tools -- special ruler with 1/4" mark, pen that can mark but then when you iron the fabric the markings disappears and finally a ruler that allows you to mark a 3.5 square for trimming accurately after doing the two color square.  You also need to iron the seams in back of each row for the block in every other direction so when you sew it together the seams will nestle together and not create a thick bulk of fabric.  In addition, the blue fabric points in front of the blue block will meet nicely.

Well that is all for now -- will continue to put together the gray/blue squares and then I will be able to start putting the rows together.

Miriam's Quilt - Part II - Second Post - Down On The Farm Quilt

This is the second post of Part II of Miriam's process of the  Down On The Farm Quilt/Designed by Cheri Wollenberg...fabrics by Robert Kaufman. Thank you again Miriam for the beautiful images showing your steps.  Today's post is quite colorful.  Blog Readers I've posted the text and images here:

3.  Next, I took the animal print squares and added a strip of fabric (called sashing) to one side of the frame.  To every piece of fabric you sew on, you must iron to flatten the stitches first and then you turn the fabric over and iron again.  I have completed all the animal squares sashing.

Miriam's Quilt Part II

This is the second post regarding Miriam's Down On The Farm Quilt (Fabric by Robert Kaufman) designed by Cheri Wollenberg.  I'm sure she is very busy at the moment as last week so I've decided to separate the installments of her process to post here.  This is so interesting and I see that it is very necessary to having a very professional looking quilt.  She is awesome for sharing this with me and I'll continue with Step 3 tomorrow.  Below are images documenting her first two steps.  Her personal explanation is as follows with documented images below:

Hi Cheri,
As luck would have it, I was able to get in a few hours of sewing this weekend (my comment: a few weeks ago - sorry for the delay in post).  This is what I have been able to accomplish so far:

1.  As I get ready to sew, the most important thing is to prepare my machine.   I have to make sure it is clean, has a new needle, the right threads are on top and on the bobbin, use the right foot for the project - Bernina 57D - great for a 1/4"seam project.  I tested the machine set up on a scrap piece of fabric and I was ready to go.

2.  I started with the binding preparation.  The binding is actually the last step of quilting but is the least thing I enjoy doing.  There is always something in everyone's hobbies that is not what you might particularly care to do but is a must.  So, what I learned to do is prepare it ahead of time so I won't have to worry about it later.  I joined the long strips, ironed the seams open and then ironed the strips in half and rolled them up into a ball until I begin to sew them down on the quilt around the edge for the nice finished look - more on the binding when I get ready to finish the quilt!

 Thanks for stopping by.  Please stay tuned.

Miriam's Quilt - Part I - Fabric Panels Down On The Farm)

How exciting is this!!!  The photos she has provided are place above.  Hopefully I have placed in the right order.  I've included her message to me below with very little editing.....just any personal notes.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I have.  Stay tuned.  I may not post the next steps for a few days.  I know you will enjoy her personal thoughts and writing.  She is awsome!

Hi Cheri,

1.       I bought the fabrics --- two of your panels of animal farm and  1.5 yards of each RK gray, burgundy, and navy blue fabric (always buy a little more than what they tell you for those unfortunate oops). I had to order the fabric from three different places and the panels from a fourth place but it was worth it.

2.       I am using the pattern provided by RK http://www.robertkaufman.com/quilting/quilts_patterns/hoedown/ -- This is a great pattern to showcase your artwork. RK is providing it on their website for FREE!

3.       Cut, cut, cut --- quilting is all about taking perfectly, beautiful fabrics and cutting them up sometimes to a million pieces just to put them back together again! This process took me all day. They say you should measure twice and cut once. For me, I have learned to measure four times and then cut once--- once you make a mistake in cutting is over and you will need to buy more fabric for your mistake.

4.       Iron, iron, iron --- must iron all fabric before cutting and what I use is a little Niagara starch to get a crisp, flat fabric to cut. The hardest and longest job was cutting the individual frames of the animals. When they say fuzzy cut it, it means you figure out how much of the frame you want to show in your quilt, but must stay within the measurements given to you for cutting. You also have to factor in the 1/4" on each side that you will be taking in as a seam when sewing pieces together. So while they look wonky when you finish cutting them, you hope you did it right so only the animal/background shows and not the black borders surrounding each frame when you sew it. A lot of the frame had to be cut down from 11"X10" frames to 9.5" squares--- but it worked out nicely.

5.       Sew, sew, sew --- now that everything has been cut according to the instructions from the pattern and is seating in my sewing basket, I am ready to go over to my sewing machine for the real fun!

 As I start to put the quilt together, I will be sending you pictures of the progress. Unfortunately, I may take a couple of weeks in sewing, since I may need to take a trip to see my son who is in college and of course there is always other things that get in the way of me having fun. I hope it won't be too long in finishing the top of the quilt and then there will be one big step after that and one smaller second/final step in totally completing the quilt.

Warm wishes,

Miriam

I'm Only An Oil Painting Artist!

 

I have sadly neglected my blog for quite some time again!  This past year (2016) has been a very eventful and fascinating year in my art life!  A couple of years ago I had an opportunity to license a painting of some whimsical snow carolers.  They were printed on popcorn tins during the Christmas shopping season of 2014 and 2015.  It was delightful to see this happen, but I have had some of my work licensed for other products during 2015 and 2016 and amazingly these works have been printed on things like dishes,rugs, pillows, fabric, and so forth.  To tell you about this is way too long and boring, which brings me to the next series of blog posts.  They are fascinating to me, because I'm Only An Artist, but I admire quilters so very much.  The block pictured above is around 100 years old.  This one is from a group that was given to me from my granny's unfinished stash about 20 years ago.  That's a story in itself, and I will share more about it later.  Starting tomorrow I'll be sharing the process of a quilt being made by a lady who is using the fabric from my designs sold by Robert Kaufman.  She has generously shared her process through images and notes and I'm excited about this to say the least!  And, concerning the story of the 100 year old quilt blocks made by my granny and her friends......that will have to come later.  For now, I'll end this post by using Paul Harvey's famous words...please tune in tomorrow to hear...."The Rest Of The Story".