Saturday, April 19, 2014

"Concerts in the Park - And a 1,2,3"


Concerts in The Park – “And a 1,2,3”

There are all kinds of musical genres at these events – jazz, blues, folk, steel drums, rock, contemporary, bluegrass, big band, you name it.  This set of three quilts represents some of my favorites.

 “And a 1”  The Fiddle
I grew up listing to folk and blue grass music. (1 of 3)

“And a 2”  The Guitar
I love early rock-n-roll from the 50’s to the 70’s. (2 of 3)

“And a 3” The Saxophone
Not only does my husband attempt to play the sax, but I love jazz, blues and big band music.  (3 of 3)
 
 


“Concerts in the Park – And a 1,2,3”
This is a series of the quilts representing the many concerts I have enjoyed over the last 25 years of living in the Binghamton area.  Every summer the parks throughout the region host all types of festivals, crafts fairs, art shows and music.  There are summer concert series in just about every small community in the Southern Tier of New York held in the parks or village greens.  When I was younger, my friends and I would ride our bikes to enjoy the music and other events.  As a (not so young mom) I brought my young sons to the parks and we would have a picnic dinner and play bocce ball while listening to the music.  I would meet my parents and family at the parks and we would have informal get-togethers during the summer months to share a meal and each other’s company. I have always stitched away at these events – making yo-yos, doing out-line embroidery or crazy quilting.  I keep stitching until the stars come out and can no longer see what I’m doing.  It gives me a chance to relax, no phones, TV or computers – just conversation and the sounds of music filling the air.

 
The title of the 3 pieces are "Concerts in the Park – And a 1,2,3"  One being the violin, Two the red guitar and Three the sax.  They have crazy patch backgrounds featuring hand embroidery and beading.   Many of the beads used on this project were from my mom's collection that we rescued from her craft room after they were flooded in 2011.  Luckily they were on shelves above the water mark.  I hope you enjoy them.

 
Quilt Info: 8” square, crazy patch backgrounds, hand embroidery, beading, hand quilted

 
 

Monday, February 17, 2014

Russian Patchwork Quilt

The Russian Patchwork Quilt

I don’t know about you, but I have been thrilled to see the patchwork designs displayed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  I poked around the web and found some excellent sources of information for all you quilters out there who want to make one using the Sochi Design.  Back in 2011, the sports wear company BOSCO unveiled its Russian Patchwork design to the world.  I found the youtube video of the presentation given at the event.  They describe the design methodology and inspirations for the motifs used to create the Look of the Sochi Games.  I’ve also included some web urls of other sites I found interesting.  Enjoy this as much as I did.  Cheers, Louise

Uploaded on Apr 28, 2011 (in Russian)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zlp7vDSuEw

Here is a ‘Table of Contents’ of sorts I created from watching the video.
Time      Page      Topic
0:00        1-3          sochi.ru 2014 – BOSCO
0:08        4-17       The ‘Look’ of Previous Games
0:38        18-29     Inspirations for Design Motifs
1:55        30-31     Patchwork Quilts
2:07        32           Design Methodology Starts
2:12        33           Half-Square Triangle Patchwork
2:15        34           Grid Lines Drawn
2:21        35           Triangle Grid
2:25        36           Diamond Grid
2:33        37           Lines Highlighting Pattern on Grid
2:27        38           Various Pattern Grids
2:53        39-40     28 Design Motifs
3:21        41           Placing Designs on the Pattern Grid
3:38        42-43     Color Choices – Color Spectrum
3:56        44           Colorways
3:58        45           Orange/Yellow
4:01        46           Yellow/Green
4:03        47           Aqua Blue
4:05        48           Royal Blue
4:08        49           Pink/Purple
4:10        50           Patchwork Patterned Colorways
4:17        51           All 5 Patchwork Colorways
4:19        52           Many Patchwork Banners, Grids, Colors
4:54        53           Banners with Mountains in Background
4:58        54           What Patchwork Design would add to Venues,
                                Products, Uniforms, Buildings, Souvenirs
5:31        68           Olympic Patchwork on Sponsor Products
6:01        80           End of Presentation

Article (in Russian) with Photos at the unveiling of the Sochi Patchwork Design
http://drugoi.livejournal.com/3541950.html

Article (in English) on the Patchwork Design
http://www.graphicart-news.com/the-olympic-patchwork-quilt-sochi-2014/#.UuOmdfYo7-k%29

BOSCO Web Site in English (click on Look of the Games)
http://sochi2014.bosco.ru/en/

Museum Display (Russian) – Shows Quilts made using the Olympic Patchwork Grid
http://lion-house.livejournal.com/8225.html

Lots of Photos from the Unveiling Event (Russian but has an English button)
http://www.gum.ru/projects/demzal/news/id/37362/