Straight and Narrow Challenge

detail	Tall Iris 5"x35" Kathy Lee Maine, ME, USA Immediately when I heard about this challenge, I remembered some paintings of tulips I'd seen years ago done in this format. They were very simple, just the flower, some leaves and the stem and they were very striking. That is what I've tried to convey with the iris......keeping it very simple in design. I may add some background quilting. The iris is thread painted asare the two small buds. Leaves are simply stitched down with straight line stitching and the stem is zigzagged. There is a very narrow gold trim 1/4" from the edge all around.
detail	Jacques' World 13"x65" Kathy Lichtendahl Clark, WY, USA " Jacques' World" is my light-hearted tribute to Jacques-Yves Cousteau. He was one of the true heroes of my childhood and someone who provided me with endless hours of adventure and fantasy. He brought a new world into my home and introduced me to creatures and landscapes that I had not even known existed!
detail	Kitchen Totem 12"x95" Katina Hronas Dallas, TX, USA I decided to "plant" a garden and collected a variety of fruit and vegetable fabrics. Upon completion of my project I realized that I was following one of my basic tenets without even realizing it. I have always had the belief that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. My Kitchen Totem represents "growth" from the dark soil into the "light" of the sky. As you travel up the Totem you can see the transition. At the top I have placed a Jack-O-Lantern. All the totem poles that I have ever seen have a face at the top and so I could do no less. And I wanted to make sure that he was smiling to represent that all is right with the world. And will this totem guarantee that my food doesn't burn or my cakes fall flat? I sure hope so!!
detail	Prayer flag 10"x63" Kristin Hoelscher-Schacker Lake Elmo, Minnesota, USA This piece is created at a time in my life when all around me require prayer - for illness, for life changes, for family troubles. The model is Tibetan prayer flags that are printed with prayers and images and hung in the wind; the wind carries the prayers to heaven. Eventually, I hope to install this piece in a semi-sheltered spot in my garden so the wind can do its work.
detail	Drop Over Anytime 12"x60" Layne Rahbar Dhahran, Saudi Arabia I like to use the cup shape in quilts and thought the "Straight and Narrow" Challenge would be a great way to try out this kind of placement. I drink any kind of coffee and now I'm thinking maybe I should cut down. I've included my local Dhahran Oasis Quilter's Guild logo on one of the mugs.
detail 1 - detail 2	Sneezin' Season 2"x112" Linda Miles Austin, Texas, USA The string pieced flower petals were inspired by the antique quilt that I thought must have been made by an ancestor of Jane Sassaman. I played around with her design , but then this evolved. It hit me one day, that this is my memory of Pete Seeger singing " May There Always Be Sunshine" from his album "Strangers and Cousins." (I still have the album , but not a record player.) This could also be called "Sneezin' Season" as this is pretty much how it is in Austin, Texas."
detail	Sam's beanstalk 6"x40" Linda Themer Seymour, Indiana, USA I used one piece of tie dyed fabric, quilted it then cut it into 5 squares and some narrow strips. Embellished with dyed cheesecloth and cotton yarn, plus commercial yarns, beads and washers painted with Lumiere. My nephew Sam saw it and wanted it for his room because he thought it was "so organic".
detail	Twisted Twins - Lutgard Gerber Belgium
detail	Road Work Ahead 6"x35" Lynn Chinnis Warrenton, Virginia, USA This idea has been in the back of my mind since the summer my sister and I drove from my home in VA to hers in NH, and every road we took seemed to be under construction. The long and narrow format seemed the ideal place to put a road, and the "forest" of orange signs reflects what we felt we were seeing on that trip.
detail	Putting on the Glitz 3,2"x18" Magda Clark Fairbanks, Alaska, USA I felted soy silk fibers and added angelina fibers, tyvek, tyvek and fabric beads, fibers - all sewn together with metallic thread.
detail	The Nine Muses 10"x50" Margaret Palma Alamo, California, USA I have a new fascination for Myths and Legends and came upon the stories of the "Nine Muses" by Angeles Arien. I have been pouring my extra hours into creativity of many kinds like art quilting, writing, drawing, and book-making. I, being a woman, was especially drawn to the stories and talents of the nine muses. Seemed only right…
detail	Pathways 4,5"x9' Margareta Silverstone Takoma Park, Maryland USA This is my study piece for a larger project that will hang at my church. The piece is hand appliqued, hand quilted, and hand embroidered. The final project that I will create will be 18 inches by 8 feet. This was my interpretation of "Our call is to be a "Seekers community"... which disperses with a common commitment to understand and implement Christian servanthood in the structures in which we live our lives."
detail	DoNotAlter (DNA) My Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid 12"x61" Margarete Steinhauer Scituate, Massachusetts, USA A slightly different form of this work was originally planned for completion in 2003, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the double helix discovery by James Watson and Francis Crick. However, the original quilt was not completed in that year and the half-completed project ended up on the back burner, incubating until more inspiration arrived. In response to this challenge, I resurrected it, forced it into the required proportions, and beaded it into submission.
detail	Indifference 11"x60" Maria Rubingh Cincinatti, Ohio, USA Created to fill the requirements of both the Straight and Narrow Challenge and the Eighth Deadly Sin Challenge sponsored by the Quiltart list. The Eighth Deadly Sin I chose was indifference. The old quote "The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference" applies here. I have met people who coast through life without anything but ironic watchfulness. In a sense, this choosing to disengage enables all other sins, for if one truly loves one's world or one's neighbor, how can one harm or allow harm to come to her? The averted eyes, cool color scheme and blue veiling attempts to convey this. In addition, the confined space of the piece suggests the self-imposed "narrow"-mindedness of this state.
detail	Butterfly Dance 4"x20" Maxine Oliver New York, USA This piece came about because of a postcard swap. One of the cards I made was with the same materials minus the beads. I fell in Love with it and I had a hard time sending out. I figured I'd make one for myself and while telling a freind about it the idea (Lite bulb over my head) for the straigth & narrow came to me. Why make only a 4 x6 when I could have a 4x 20?
detail 1 - detail 2	1920's 15"x75" Meena Schaldenbrand Plymouth, MI, USA Construction on the Chrysler Building began in the late 1920's. The "stories" of this NY skyscraper tell many stories including many inventions and fads of the 1920's. Embellished with copper wiremesh and trims.