STRAYS & BEASTS

LIBERATED QUILTMAKING

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

scrap fabric, sewing machine & sewing notions

Every year I teach my 2nd year crafts kids to sew on the sewing machine.

They love this unit,

look forward to it,

and end up with a fabulous original art quilt.

And every couple of years I change up the subject matter on these quilts.

I also make a demo. quilt to show the kids all kinds of techniques on ,

so this year I selfishly changed it to Beasts/Strays ala my mentor Jude Hill

of  Spirit Cloth blog fame,

cuz I knew I wanted to make a beast too.

The Liberated Quilting technique comes from Gwen Marston,

whose work and classes I've also been following and taking for over 25 years now.

That means no patterns, 

no rulers,

just cut and sew.  

And in this way everyone makes no mistakes,

it's all good.

I'm so pleased to show off the hard work these kids put into there Strays!

Junior Jaqueline Yu's stray is made from a nine patch she sewed on the machine.

But in this assignment the kids were also required to learn how to needle turn applique,

so Jac appliqued her nine patch onto a base fabric in the shape of her beast.

All the fabrics used in these quilts have been donated to the students 

and it's up to each child to make sure the fabrics flow visually.

Jacqueline based her color scheme primarily on a complimentary yellow/purple scheme

 with some neutrals thrown in.

I like her off center design and how she balanced it with laces,

beads, cording and other goodies,

as well as those stacked fabrics in the upper right corner.

The kids also had to bring in some hand embroidery to the face,

and could hand or machine quilt to pull all 3 layers together.

I believe Jac did machine quilting.

Also required were at least 2 borders and a professional binding,

as well as an appliqued label on the back side.

These adorable strays belong to senior Kristine Luong.

She also chose an off center design and balanced it with the tree and moon.

She did some wonderfully expressive embroidery in the faces,

and I like the frayed fabric at the bottom of her strays. 

The buttons and laces she added are the perfect touch.

Kristine also machine quilted & did a bit of fussy cutting.

And this really fun last one belongs to junior Shreya Sheth.

She titled it Fight and Flight,

and it's oh so clever.

I wish I had a clearer pix of her quilt and the little guy below,

sorry Shreya!

I love that she turned her stray into a Super Hero,

and I also enjoy her complimentary color choices of Red & Greens with the neutrals

and the touch of yellow/golds.

Here is her label on the backside, and you can also see evidence of some handquilting.

And if that wasn't enough,

she wrote some words for the backside as well.

Bravo Shreya,

you really outdid yourself!