Modernizing the T-shirt Quilt

So, I am really into the t-shirt quilt thing now, but I am on a mission to modernize it.  Yes, the traditional ones are nice!  But frankly, as an artist, they can be a little boring.  I decided to tilt the blocks this time.

 

I also added a "Mondrian-like" border.  I will definitely make my borders wider next time so the "tilt" can be even greater.  Also I may try alternating blocks as opposed to columns to make it more apparent.  But overall, I like it a lot.  I have so many sorority tees that I actually have three works in progress, and I still have some to wear!

Something New

I had wanted to do this for a long time, but finally got around to it.  What inspired me to go ahead and do it?  I teach art at a middle school, and as we all know, there is simply not enough money in the education system in general. Did you know there are some school systems that value the arts so little that they don't even offer art to their students?  I have digressed---my apologies....I wanted to raise some money for my department, so I had my students/fellow staff members donate their gently used spirit t-shirts, and I made t-shirt quilts that were auctioned off. 

 

We were able to raise some money, and I am looking forward to doing it again next year.  Can you say HUGE learning opportunity! Since then, I have made some more, and am looking forward to making more quilted memories! 

Black and White

Although I haven't posted in a couple months, I have been busy.  This is my first commission in a while. For the most part, most of my art has been gifts to others.  However, I was approached by someone who wanted something original for his fiancé for Christmas.  Although I had done plenty of photo inspired fiber art, I had yet to just do some in black and white and have it remain that way.  That presents its own set of challenges, but I think it came out nice.

Here is the painting I did on fabric based on the photo:

Here it is once I did the quilting:

Finally, here it is as it was presented to the client, framed:

One thing I really like about it was that in the background, although it looks like random stitching, it spells DREAM.  I didn't want it to smack you in the face....I wanted a little subtlety.  (You see it now, huh?) The client said that my rough draft drawing reminded him of a dream.  I was also really inspired by a quote I found by Dr. Seuss: "You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams".  They are such a cute couple anyway, and so is their love story.  No details on that from me though!