I'm Just Sayin

Lizzy Albright Sampler Quilt, Claudia Itzwerth 

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If you would like to make the Lizzy Albright quilt, I have the pattern book for those wanting to use your own fabrics - but also the Lizzy Albright quilt fabric kit which includes the pattern book.

Read here about Silke VonHoffman's quilt that was recently featured.

Here is another Lizzy Albright quilt featuring work by Baerbl Vollertsen. 

Firestorm: Rage by Ricky Tims
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Life events often become inspiration for art. Such was the case of the Spring Fire in July 2018. The fire started about ten miles away and on the first couple of days the thought never crossed my mind that it would spread to my own ranch—but it did! The devastation of the fir forest was significant. My house was recently completed. Evacuation orders were in place and for several days it was believed that the house was gone. Miraculously, it was spared, but the fire burned to within 25'. 

The months following the fire were filled with anxiety and sadness. Creating is the most healing thing I can do, so I made this quilt as an expression of what I witnessed first hand. I still have some ideas for subsequent quilts, but this one is the reminder of the day when I stood on the mesa taking photos of the flames and smoke as it consumed my parcel and thousands of acres through my area. The fire eventually burned for about a month and destroyed 109K acres.

Lizzy Albright Sampler Quilt, Barbara Lange 

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This is truly incredible, Barbara! Thanks for sharing your progress with us.

If you would like to make the Lizzy Albright quilt, I have the pattern book for those wanting to use your own fabrics - but also the Lizzy Albright quilt fabric kit which includes the pattern book.

Read here about Silke VonHoffman's quilt featured recently.

Here is the quilt by Baerbl Vollertsen that was previously featured, and another quilt by Claudia Itzwerth. 

2021 52 Week Challenge Class

52 Week Challenge Class: Elements
Photo by Hubert Beckwith

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Hubert says:

Elements: water, earth, catching some major air, and the fire of human adventure! Kayaking over the Great Falls of the Potomac. Heavily edited multiple exposures shot at great distance and max zoom.
Each exposure is a separate layer, with all of each layer removed except for the kayaker and artfully selected whitewater surrounding him. Since layers overlap, water had to be edited to blend with several other layers.
I added extra area to the canvas at the top and added a final layer that shows more of the upper falls than the other images. I trimmed that image at the lower edge of the upper rocks and aligned it with the background layer.
If not for Tims's Third Law of Conservation of Pixels, I would have cropped this much closer.
I cropped the resulting image square and made the colors richer with the usual adjustments.

2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

Challenge: Vehicles
Photo by Kathy Bernard

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2021 Critique Group

Challenge: Flowers
Photo by LeRoy Messenger

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LeRoy says:

Right on cue, my small cactus bloomed this week. Fortunately, Ricky says 'any editing options are fine', so I took great liberty with color. Using PS, I wanted to get away from shading of yellows in the blooms and green in the cactus, so I used the channel mixer to soften the petals and let the light show through better, oil painting to highlight the textures of the petals, and then darkened the background, again to emphasize the light. Cropping to remove negative space. 1/30 sec at f/16, ISO200 at 200 mm.

Ricky's Challenge Photos:

Challenge: Flowers
from the 2021 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

I was in Santa Fe on Friday/Saturday, and wanted to get a rose cutting from a particular red rose that I like (insert theif). I did this two years ago on the Desert Southwest photo tour and actually got the rose to root. It didn't survie the winter - so I am trying again. As I was heading back to my car with my stolen red rose treasure, I spied another large rose that was pink and white - and snagged another cutting. The roses are huge - that's why I want them. They are strong, woody, and apparently good for my eleveation. This cutting had a rose blossom connected to it - so I decided to shoot it with my macro to see what that might yield. Sincerely yours, the Rose Thief

Challenge: Vehicles
from the 2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

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Ricky says:

Edited in Prisma app with Color - and this is my truck with the cloudy sky reflecting in the window. I wanted to go for abstract and yet this has plenty of realism.

South Cheyenne Canyon by Ricky Tims
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Back in the day (2001 - 2005) I did independent study quilt retreats at Glen Eyrie castle in Colorado Springs. Our first day, Monday, was a tour day. The bus took us to Garden of the Gods, Manitou Cliff Dwellings, Seven Falls, and the Air Force Academy chapel. Many quilts were inspired by photos taken during this tour. One year, I took a photo of South Cheyenne Canyon which is the flow of water that comes from Seven Falls. The quilt was eventually auctioned and has had a great home. I had fun just playing with the fabric and the depth.

Sometimes, seeing these older quilts are like seeing an old friend. Some of you who know my work may have never seen this one, so I thought it would be a good feature—and a fun jigsaw puzzle.