BEATLE 12" X 12" CHALLENGE

PENNY LANE

Maureen Ashlock

This road was featured in the 1967 song by Paul McCartney. Penny Lane is one of the roads that lead off the roundabout that has the Barber shop where the Fireman goes to get his hair cut. John, living nearby, would meet Paul at the entrance to Penny Lane to catch buses into the center of London. A large shopping area and the bus terminal were located where the many routes merged. While living in Scotland in June 1969 we drove through Liverpool to go down Penny Lane when we were on leave in London.

FLAMING PIE

Lettie Blackburn

My piece "Flaming Pie" was Inspired by a 1961 quote from John Lennon, who was tired of the media always asking where the group got the name the "Beatles". He responded; "I had a vision of a man in a flaming pie, who said 'you shall be called THE BEATLES, with an 'A', and so we were".

SERGEANT PEPPER’S

LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND

Carol Bormann

This tribute to the Beatles became my “happy quilt” for the challenge. Fascinated with the uniforms of the band along with the epaulettes and tassels, I chose to minimally reference the Beatles by cropping the images to show parts of the uniforms and only limited facial and hair details. The technique used was custom machine embroidery in a cross stitch pattern giving the piece a petit point appearance.

RINGO

Dianna Callahan

The Beatles’ song “Help” kept going through my head and inspired this abstracted portrait of Ringo in a high-contrast, Notan style.

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD

Cathy Jeffery 

 

"The Long and Winding Road" was inspired by a heartbreaking time in my life.

THE YELLOW SUBMARINE

Lily Kerns

My goal in these challenges has been to move as far as possible from an obvious interpretation of the challenge--and still claim that it was "inspired by".

The Yellow Submarine was the only Beatle title I could think of. Both diving expeditions that have actually made it seven miles deep to the bottom of the Mariana Trench did indeed find bio-luminescent life forms. When I went to the web to play the song, neither the words nor music seemed familiar. Now I have another reason for not recognizing the music!

I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND

Donna Olson

When I thought of the Beatles’ songs, this was the first to come to mind, along with the vision of God’s Creation of Adam on the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

BLACKBIRD

Donna Olson

I am fascinated by crows and enjoy working with crow images. The Beatles’ “Blackbird”, a beautiful song, made my choice easy.

BLUE JAY WAY
Roberta Ranney

My piece, "Blue Jay Way" was inspired by a song written by George Harrison back in the day. It actually refers to a street in LA but I chose it because I liked the name of the song.

JOHN

Emmie Seaman

My portrait of "John" is a paper "cutout" technique that was applied to fusible fabric.

OCTOPUSS’S GARDEN

Lucy Silliman

BABY YOU CAN DRIVE MY CAR

Diane Steffen

I LOVE my car. Because the inspiration was the Beatles, and I drive a Beetle, I had to do something with the VW Bug theme.

JULIA: HOMAGE TO THE BEATLES

Merrilee Tieche

Inspired by a John Lennon song written about the two women he loved most - his mother, Julia, who was killed when John was 17, and his wife, Yoko Ono. There is a lot of ocean imagery in the lyrics and the ocean always speaks to me.

Beatles 12" x 12" Challenge

2012 International Quilt Festival / Cincinnati

This is the second year the Spring IQA show was held in Cincinnati, Ohio. The "Artist Village" was a special show within the show in which a group of artists, invited by Kathy York, created a fantasy village out of fabric and various quilting techniques. Who wouldn't want to live there?

A small selection of my favorite art quilts were in the special show titled "Good For You":

Kiss by Jo Dixey

Dixie Dingo Dreaming by Susan E. Carlson

Electric Faerie of the Getty Garden by Sheila Frampton-Cooper

Other favorite quilts were from the "World of Beauty" collection:

Artichokes in Bloom by Andrea Brokenshire

Close up of Artichokes in Bloom

Checks & Balances by Caryl Bryer Fallert

Close up of Checks & Balances

Tiny Town by Karen Eckmeier

Close up of Tiny Town
(This quilt is a miniature approximately 15" x 15", Karen wants to "go smaller").

Diane Steffen visited this show and contributed the pictures and text.  Blog posted by Roberta Ranney.

"Anything but Square" Challenge

To make a cohesive display each quilt should start with a square (12” x 12” finished size). Your “not square” part can go in, on, or maybe under the black square.

Maureen Ashlock
“SCOPING THINGS OUT”

The design for this kaleidoscopic image was achieved with a custom paper piecing pattern. A circle was traced around a 10” dinner plate and divided into eight wedges. After drawing several red lines across the whole circle, 2 mirrors were placed to check each wedge for their kaleidoscopic effect. One wedge design was chosen, and line designs were made with a ruler inside the three red line sectioned areas. After photocopying the wedge, several copies were made to try several variations using colored pencils. After selecting the best combination, the three sections were numbered for paper piecing. The design consists of 24 sections that make up the 8 wedges and not a square in sight!

Lettie Blackburn
“2 HIP 2 BEE SQUARE”

The theme, "Anything But Square", inspired me to make my 12x12 commenting on the sociological label of "square", used to describe a person in the '60s who was not "hip"...which lead me to think of the Huey Lewis song, "Too hip to be square" The resulting piece illustrates that song... two hips, two bees and the mathematical sign for square. Thus...it is "anything but square".

Carol Bormann
“TRIANGLES, PYRAMIDS and UNICORNS”

The sheer pyramidal teabags recently discovered in a newly purchased box of tea became the inspiration and ideal use for my newest found-objects! A two-dimensional graphic consisting of a triangular grid was created in Photoshop for the foundation of the design. The image was then digitized so it could be machine embroidered. The analogous palette of the rayon-embroidered triangles became vibrant against the black background. The dried used teabags were emptied via a slit in the bottom of the pyramid. After rinsing, drying and removing the tag and string, the organza like forms were tacked at the lower corners to a triangle on the base creating a three-dimensional, translucent effect.

Dianna Callahan
"SQUARE TO ROUND"

The term “Square to Round” is common in basket making. Since the piece is woven, it seemed an appropriate title.

This experimental piece allowed me to use another technique in addition to quilting. It turned out well enough not to repeat. I chose to weave the top fabric into the black background fabric, and to complicate things, I did it on the curve. The finishing touch was bo-nash foiling.

Dianna Callahan
“COUCH PO-PLAITO”

This second piece is also experimental. I plaited an organic shape across the black square with handspun yarns which are also "woven" into the background in a few places. I also couched some organic shapes onto the black and finished it with bo-nash foiling. The name is a fusion of couching and plaiting (the technique used) and a play on the phrase "couch potato".

Cathy Jeffery
“KNOT SQUARE”

Knots and buttonholes form not only decorative elements but some serve as attachment devices for the three colorful shapes.

Roberta Ranney
"JERRY LEE LIZARD IS ANYTHING BUT SQUARE"

Being a child of the 60's, the word "square" means “uncool” to me. That led my mind to a quilt I made several years ago with a frilled lizard playing the piano. He is a rock 'n' roll sort of guy. So I made a small piece using the same idea. This little quilt makes me laugh and I think we could all use more of that.

Lily Kerns
“DESCENDING CIRCLES”

A single piece of inexpensive fabric was the inspiration for this piece. Various media and surface techniques affect the texture and reflective quality of the circles.

Donna Olson
“NIGHT MOVES”

This colorful frog intrigues me. I was going for a stark contrast against the black background.

Emmie Seaman
“DIAPHRAGMS”

My 12 x 12 was made by sewing 3"x3" squares out of as many black fabrics as I could find in my stash. The image is a silk organza pojagi experiment with poly circles sewn to it. It was sewn to the black background and the black cut away behind it.

Diane Steffen
“MARDI GRAS”

An old unfinished project was discontinued and the parts reassembled to create this piece. The colors remind me of a party and it was during the time frame of the parade in New Orleans, so Mardi Gras became the title.”

Lucy Silliman
“CORAL JEWELS”

When scuba diving I notice that so often the corals are more brilliant than the fish are.

Merrilee Tieche
“ANYTHING BUT S-S-S-SQUARE”

When Lily told us of the theme “Anything but Square”, I immediately began to think of sinuous shapes. Thos ideas coalesced into snakes of many colors.

How To Mount Your Quilt on a Canvas

I have had really good luck lately mounting my art quilts on ready made canvasses.  This technique is borrowed from Susan Carlson (always one of my muses) as shown in her newest book, Serendipity Quilts.  While the additional support of the canvas itself will not be there, I believe the same result can be had using stretcher bars.  This technique does away with the usual bulky edges and provides a smooth transition between the quilted fabric and the sides of the bars. 

1.  Gather supplies for stretching your quilt on bars:

• Purchase pre-made canvas or stretcher bars in the appropriate size for your quilt.
• Staple gun with 1/4" staples
• Cutting board, ruler and rotary cutter

2.  Trim your quilt to the correct size:

     To determine what size to cut your quilt, if you are going to maintain a 1/4" seam allowance, add 1/2" to the dimensions of your canvas or stretcher   
     bars.  In other words, if your canvas is 18" x 24", trim your quilt to 18 1/2" x 24 1/2". 

3.  Cut edging strips:
   
     Cut the chosen edging fabric into 4" wide strips if working with a regular 3/4" deep canvas.
     Sew enough strips end to end to get the length needed for the circumference of the frame.
     Turn one of the 4" ends under by 1/2".  With right sides together, line up the strip to the bottom
     edge of the quilt, placing the turned end a few inches from the corner.

4.  Sew along the first edge, pivot on needle and stitch down the next side

     Maintaining your 1/4" seam allowance, stitch along to a seam's width (1/4") from the corner.  Sink
     your needle and lift your presser foot.  Pivot the quilt and line up the presser foot to the second
     edge.  Lower the presser foot, easing the excess edging fabric to the inside, out of the way of the
     needle to keep from sewing through the edging fabric.

     Keep on stitching the edging strips to the quilt the same way on all sides.  When you get to the end,
     sew over the turned down first edge and cut the strip an inch or so beyond that.

    
5.  Turn raw edges under and stple to back of stretcher bars

     Ease the quilt over the top of the stretcher bars.  It works best if the seam allowance faces down the
     side - away from the quilt itself.  Lay the piece face down on your table.  Turn the raw edge of the
     edging strip under, roughly in half, so the now-folded edge meets the inside edge of the stretcher
     bar.  Keep the seam line centered on the edge of the canvas and  begin to staple the edging strip to
     the stretcher bar.  Begin in the center of each side and work toward the corners, stapling once on
     the first side, then once on the opposite side, then  the third side and last the one opposite that.
     Maintain this rotation as you staple to create even tension all around.  Turn the corners in a neat
     miter and staple a couple of times diagonally. 

Screw in a couple of eye hooks to the insides of the stretcher bars, roughly a third of the height of the bars, and twist hanging wire through each side.  Cover your twisted part, wrapping masking tape around it.  It can be hung as is, or placed in an open frame. 

If you need better directions than this, consider buying Susan Carlson's book, Serendipity Quilts.  She gives much better directions than I do, and the book is a phenomenal inspiration, besides.