MY PERSONAL FABRIC ART

by Monica Novini

Some originals are for sale, 

some are sold, 

some I just can't part with.

MY STORY

I have done art all my life.  My dad likes to tell the story about a little television set I made when I young (he swears I was about 5).  It was a small box with a cutout in the front.  I drew pictures on long strips of paper and taped them together.  Each one would fit in the window and, together, they told a story.  In fifth grade, I grew a paper jungle up from a poster board (dad still has pictures).  In high school, it was oil painting, ceramics, stained glass, macramé and sewing.  

My current art form started not long after I learned to quilt.  Images “appeared” in my head.  They could not be made using traditional methods so I created my own ways to give them life.  Once a piece is started, it speaks to me, showing me where to cut, what color to use, where to put which beads.  Artist and artwork sort of grow together.  I usually have an idea of how a finished piece might look before I start but as I go, the piece takes over.  It leads and I do the work.  Rarely do finished pieces look like what I expected.  Most are spiritual experiences.  Each piece is unique and many have stories, some very long and detailed. Some pieces are inspired and created without a story.  They just sort of happen.

I work primarily with fabric but I also use a assortment of other interesting items.  For added interest and to communicate the ideas in my work, I use beads, lace, baubles and pretty much anything I can find along with a wide variety of fabrics to create unique pieces of art.  Many of the color gradations are created by using multiple layers of many different colors of thread over the fabric.  I call this painting with thread.  Most of the sewing is done by machine.  The beads are sewn by hand.  

Many of these original pieces are three-dimensional with fabric being allowed to partially escape the confines of the second dimension.  All work is done on a base of cotton batting for stability and to add depth and texture.  The back and edges of most pieces are finished with fabric.  Others are framed either completely or, where this was impossible due to the shape of the piece, a partial frame was used.

Each composition is an original (just try to duplicate any of them). 

I love to do commission work.  

Waterfall

What a delightful surprise to find a waterfall while walking in the hills.  This was my first attempt at creating 3-dimensional water.  I am very pleased with it.  I used yarn, fabric and lace that I slashed for the falls.  Lace flowers were transformed into the splash at the top and bottom.

21“ x 22“  Original Quilt $250

shore break

 Here is a close up of life at the seashore.  Waves break on the rocks, plants get tossed in the surf and shells end their journey on the beach waiting to be discovered by some little hands.

22" X 26"   Original has been sold. 

SUNSET

This was a “challenge” among friends.  We were all given the same screaming orange/pink fabric and each made a wall piece.  This was sooo much fun to make.  I discovered many new techniques creating this piece.  Some of the leaves and flowers are fashioned from fabric, some are just outlined with thread, giving your imagination a chance to fill them in.  The dark fabric in the bottom center was supposed to be just background but now I think it looks like water complete with water lilies.

 33” x 26”  Original was sold.  

ARIZONA

So many people recognize this scene and know exactly where it is located.  I find that amusing because it is a fictional place.  Do you see the howling coyote and the snake?  My son, Cody, decided that there needed to be a lizard in this desert scene.  I gave him a piece of fabric and he made this one by cutting the fabric without a pattern.  He was 10 at the time.

 Do you know how to remember which is desert and which is dessert?  Desert (the place) has one “s” because you never want to get stuck in one.  Dessert (the sweet) has two “ss” because you usually want seconds.

20½” x 18”  Original Quilt $295

ENCHANTMENT

This is a very simply design.  I enjoyed sewing beads so much that I couldn’t stop.  The border fabric brings color to the edges and adds an interesting frame.

16” x 22”  Original Quilt Not for Sale

ENCHANTMENT with STAR OVERLAY

My older son was playing with some of my images on the computer and came up with this one.  I like it so much, I made it into cards.

HARMONY

 The blue flower came to me during meditation. The rest of this piece just sort of happened.  I really enjoyed sewing the beads on by hand.

17½ “ x “16½  Original Quilt  $195

PURPLE CIRCLE

While taking a shower at a friend’s house, I saw this little flower in a circle on her shampoo bottle.  It stuck in my brain and wouldn’t let go.  Weeks later, I chose and cut fabric, sewed it down, added beads and hoped it would fit in a circle.  Imagine my surprise when it did!

12½” x 12½”   Original was Sold

MAGICAL TREE

 For a long time, I wanted to create flowers that stuck out from the background.  I started with the Bougainvillea on the left and was very pleased.  I am especially proud of the tree.  The stitching of the leaves is all done freehand with one line of thread.  The flowers sort of “grew” on their own.  This garden even has Dandelions.

 29” x ”35  Original Quilt $675

YELLOW ROSE

The inspiration for this rose came from a design I saw.  It started out with just a dozen petals.  It looked incomplete so I added a few more, then some more, and more again.  I love the blue fabric and yellow was the perfect compliment.

14½ “ x “16½  Original Quilt $195

BALI GARDEN

Welcome to my enchanted garden where flowers grow and butterflies dance in the warm sunshine. 

This is the first pictorial quilt I designed.  It is made of half-square triangles, squares and rectangles.  I learned a lot making this quilt.  

The machine quilting is all free hand and I had a blast doing it.  In fact, I had so much fun, I actually quilted it 3 times.  I found that I got a bit more bold  using different colored thread each time.  At first, they were subtle.  As I progressed, I used purple to quilt some leaves and burgundy for others.  Pink flowers got blue thread and I am really pleased with the results.  All beads were sewn on by machine.  I don't recommend it.  Beads by machine are a pain and by hand is so much fun.  They go exactly where you want them.

18" X 21"  Original Quilt  Not for Sale

MOONSHINE

The moonlight shining across this peaceful lake brings a close to another day.  I love camping and would be delighted to spend time at this peaceful lake hidden among the pine covered hills.

The idea for Moonshine was a gift to me given after I walked a Native American Medicine Wheel.  I now have my interpretation of a Medicine Wheel in my front yard.

18" X 21"  Original Quilt  $295

FAIRY DANCE

Here in this fanciful garden, the charming water fairy is enamored with the princess flower fairy.  They dance as the tree fairy watches from his perch high up in the branches.

 Inspiration for this piece came on a snow trip with my family.  The amorous fairies represent my oldest son and his beautiful girlfriend.  My youngest watches from up in the tree.  

37" X 57"  Original Quilt  Not for Sale

ALMOST DOGWOOD

The idea for this piece came from the dogwood blossom.  As you can see, it is my interpretation not a copy of the real thing.  

 17" x 20"  Original Quilt $375

SERENITY

 This composition was created entirely by hand.  Thoughts of peace and serenity brought images of waves crashing against rocks, splashing onto the beach.  The rhythmic song of the crashing waves cleanses and refreshes.   I wanted to be a part of these tranquil surroundings, to feel the water rush across my feet.  As I stepped forward, the waves reached out to me. Be careful, you just might get your feet wet!

My framer thought I was nuts when I asked him to frame this one.  The top and sides are framed.  On the bottom, the wave simply flows out of the picture.

 23” x 27”  Original Quilt $675

LIFE FORCE

This quilt is machine pieced, hand appliquéd, hand quilted, hand embellished.  There are beads, lace, and metallic thread on it.   All the quilting was done free hand, no marking was ever done.  I have spent over 400 hours on this quilt and it isn't quite finished yet.  This quilt is filled with meaning for me.  It is all about how the force of life is stronger than anything else on Earth.  Nothing can stop it, it is constantly changing, swirling in the tides of time.  Sometimes there are stars and sometimes there is only chaos.  Look closely at the stars, only one is near perfect.  Some are missing points, others are mixed up with their neighbors, some have different colored points, some don't look much like stars at all.  Notice that the star in the lower right corner even has color other than blue.  This signifies that even in the darkest of times, there can be unexpected good, light, color.  Above it all, the North Wind is blowing.  The cold air is mixing with and being changed by the warmth of the sun.  Both have an effect on the moving water.  Life is always changing and must be interpreted by those who are living where they are at any given time.  Though we are very different, each is a necessary part of the whole adding to the Force of Life.

The construction process of this quilt has been photographed (or most of it anyway) in steps.  The pattern was drawn free-hand on the back of two long sheets of freezer paper taped together.  I did use a ruler to make the lines straight.  Each piece was given a number.  The pieces that make up the stars were given a number and a letter (to show which star they were in and to make sure I cut the pieces from the appropriate fabric).  Some pieces have arrows on them.   These were "instructions" as to where the next piece went.  The freezer paper pieces were cut apart and ironed to fabric (the wax on the back sticks to the fabric without being permanent).  I did a small area at a time.  Mind you, I had no other drawing of this quilt.  If I had misplaced any pieces or cut too many at a time and couldn't figure out how to put them together,  I would have been lost.   The Mariner's Compass was a gift from my friend Bettie Blauser for my birthday.   We took a class from Judy Mathieson together and she drafted it just for me.   I have some really wonderful friends.

After trying many different ideas as "frames" for my "picture", I decided to appliqué the picture to the ocean fabric.  It was my intent to cut away the extra backing fabric and complete this like a normal quilt but I liked it too much this way when it was done.  Now, I had the task of sticking batting into an odd shaped quilt that was already put together.   I turned the quilt inside out trying to make it lay as flat as possible on some batt and cut around it to get the correct shape.  I pinned it in place and turned the piece right side out.  Now all the pins were inside the quilt.  I pinned the batt to the front from the outside, turned the quilt inside out again, removed the pins and flipped it again.  The background fabric is a single layer in the "frame" area serving as both front and back of the quilt.  This created its own set of challenges when finishing it.  On one side, the selvage has the name of the fabric maker on it.  I couldn't figure out how to "fix" it, so it is just part of the quilt.

The wave fabric was not long enough to cover the entire back of the quilt so I pieced a strip for the bottom the same way I made the front.   The design was drawn free hand onto freezer paper, pieces cut apart, ironed to fabric, cut out and sewn together.  The parts that are finished, have been embellished with bits of lace and beads, all done by hand.  Someday, I will finish it.

This is the drawing for the bottom back of the quilt.

Life Force  43" X 61" 

Quilt Not for Sale

STAR OF MANY POINTS

This block has always intrigued me.  When I couldn't find a rotary cut version, I created my own.  It is made from 1/4 yard of fabric for each block in the quilt.  All the pieces for each block are cut from each fabric, then they are mixed and matched to make the scrappy look.  There are 16 inset seams in each block and the piecing and cutting have to be precise for the blocks to fit together.  This is for ADVANCED quilters only.

This quilt is made completely by machine.  I am sorry that I didn't quilt the flying geese on the back and thought that someday, I would take out the quilting in that area and redo it.  Since the quilting was done with nylon thread on both the top and back, I have changed my mind.  This quilt will stay quilted the way it is.

front                                     back

Star of Many Points   54" X 64"

Quilt Not for Sale

This quilt is machine pieced and machine quilted.   There are 16 inset seams in EACH of the 20 blocks.

GREEN STAR QUILT

front                                              back

Green Star Quilt   60" X 73"

Quilt Not for Sale

When the ladies in my friendship group (small group who used to meet weekly, now it is once a month) found out that I was going to teach, they had a surprise class for me at one of our meetings.  They called the shop where I was teaching and got a supplies list.  All of them came with fabric and machines and I taught my first class.  As a thank you for teaching, those wonderful women got a gift certificate for a local quilt shop for me.  Of course, I bought fabric.  I picked up a few bolts and put them on the counter, got a few more and added them to my stack, added a few more.  When I was done, I realized that they all matched.  I used all of them to make this quilt.  I bought 1/4 yard of this and 1/2 yard of that depending on how much I liked the fabric.  Almost every scrap of those fabrics was used in the quilt.  The only fabrics I added were the alternate blocks and borders.   I liked this star block and decided to make it scrappy and put the blocks together side by side but when I arranged them this way, they looked like a bunch of scraps, the stars were lost.  I added the alternate blocks and then the quilt was too big (I wanted a lap quilt).  I thought about making two quilts but really wanted them all in one quilt.  My solution was to make a two-sided quilt.  I aligned the pieced blocks on the front with the plain blocks on the back.  That way I wouldn't have to mark the quilting lines.  I could just hand quilt around the star and the design would be seen on the back.  Half the quilt would be quilted from the front and half from the back.  Pretty clever wasn't I (NOT).   When the top and back were put together the blocks didn't line up exactly so I couldn't just start quilting.  In order to line everything up as closely as possible, I started with one of the blocks in the middle of the quilt and pinned all eight points of the star on the front to the points from the surrounding blocks on the back.  I then put a small frame on the area and quilted one block by hand using thread that contrasted the fabric on the back so the stitching would show.  The thread that shows on the top is green and the back is ecru.  To do the next 8" block, I removed the frame, flipped the quilt over (no basting, that would not have worked) and pinned the next set of points, framed the area and quilted.  Mind you, the batting had to be adjusted with each flip.  I did this with each and every one of the 35 blocks in the quilt.  (I know it is nuts but I loved it.)  The borders were quilted freehand (no marking) in star patterns.  No two are alike.

This quilt was machine pieced and hand quilted. The stars were made in a couple days. The quilting was completed in three weeks (we are talking FULL TIME here, at least 10 hours a day, 7 days a week) I went through 5 leather thimbles quilting this quilt. Now, I use a coin thimble, it has a metal piece to protect my finger tip.

MY DAD'S QUILT

My dad grew up in a small village in Czechoslovakia.  Several years ago when he was able to go back to visit, he took several pictures of the country side and pit them together to make this panoramic view of the surrounding landscape.

I wanted to make a quilt for my dad that would remind him of his homeland.  After several years of collecting blue star fabric for the sky,  I was ready to start.  By then, the only thing I remembered was a castle on a hill.  I cut some hills freehand, adding pine trees to some and apple trees in bloom (beads) to others.  I placed the castle (given to me by my friend, Bettie Blauser specifically for this quilt) on the center hill and filled the sky with blue star fabrics.  At this point, my dad came to visit (he lives 700 miles away) and brought the picture.  Check out the shape of the hill with the castle and the similarities between the castles.  These were already part of the quilt by the time I saw the picture.  The center hill was not quilted yet and it looked pretty boring so I decided to add some of the houses.  I chose the church and the red roofed building behind it.  That building, I found out later, is the school my dad attended as a child.  I don't know why I did windows on only one house but he says it is the right colors and pretty close location to the house he grew up in.  Coincidence?

24" X 30" Quilt was given to my dad

Quilt Not for Sale

This quilt was constructed using Tonee White's Appliquilt method (well, sort of. I'm not very good at doing things the way others do,   I am rather an individual).  It was started in her class.  The appliqué, quilting, beading and embellishments were done by hand.  It took about three weeks to complete.

DAY AT THE BEACH

This was a challenge quilt (my first one) through Flying Geese Quilt Guild.  We were given 3 fabrics and allowed to add up to 4 more.   This was a BIG challenge to me since I usually use lots and lots of fabrics in my quilts.  I didn't like any of the fabrics.  The blanket he is laying on is the back side of one fabric, the cup is another and his eye is the center of a flower from the third.   I received an unofficial award for using the smallest amount of fabric.  In fact, I had to write a note and pin it to the quilt to point out the fabric because of the complaints about my having used only 2 of the fabrics.

 30" X 30" Original 

Quilt Not for Sale

This quilt is machine pieced, hand appliquéd, machine quilted.  The ink details on the man were done freehand, the wave was hand cut from a flowered fabric and applied with a heat setting agent.  This quilt was made in one day (the day before it was due).  I got a first place ribbon.

FROM THE ASHES

Here is a circle of life that runs clockwise.  Trees, bushes and flowers grow in harmony with their environment, we live our lives as we think we should.  A destructive force enters, a fire burns, destroying things in its path, ending that which was.  Life, however, has a way of returning, recuperating, continuing no matter what happens.  As the circle of life continues up on the left side, this piece shows that life persists even during apparent destruction.  It changes that which was into something new, refreshed, different.  From the ashes come new life.  Fire clears the land, exposing the ground to new light, allowing new life to form.

 Did you know that there are some pine trees that depend on fire to release their seeds?  Without fire they cannot reproduce.

When one door closes, another one opens.  Sometimes we stand looking at the closed door instead of stepping through the new one that can transform us into something new and wonderful, perhaps beyond our wildest dreams.

finished size 30" X 40" 

Quilt Not for Sale

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