Walking on Sunshine

Walking on Sunshine Various fabrics and thread, machine pieced and quilted by Sarah Atlee, 2016 66 x 56 inches

I absolutely love working with donated fabrics. You get a bunch of things that were never meant to go together, and you make them go together.

Walking on Sunshine is headed to the Community First! village, an innovative housing solution in Austin, TX.

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Dot Dot Dash

In Dot Dot Dash, I set out to explore visual rhythms. We know that I love stripes. Turns out, I love dots too.

I had so many fun fabrics to choose from. Some donated to the Community First! Quilters, some I purchased myself. In particular, I've been in love with this Dottie Jean Jacket print by Rashida Coleman-Hale for Cotton + Steel.

Does it get any better than strip-piecing?

So much fun to quilt this thing!

Aah, texture.

On the back: cream-colored flannel, and a variegated blue thread.

Along one edge, Community First! is spelled out in Morse code, using buttons. Light buttons for dashes, dark buttons for dots.

Dot Dot Dash was donated to the Community First! village, an innovative housing solution in Austin, TX.

Learn more about Mobile Loaves & FishesWhat is the Community First! Village?Contribute your quilting skills to the Community First! Quilters

Piece of Pie

Piece of Pie is a quilt completed in 2016 for an expert pie-baker (and her new baby).

I love improvisational curves! There's so much room to make mistakes.

Banana-shaped free-motion quilting to go with the upcycled sock monkey bedsheets.

Quilting lines, seen from the back.

The seal of approval.

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Lap Work

Lap Work. Acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches, 2016 by Sarah Atlee. $895 For purchase inquiries, contact Cerulean Gallery at 214.564.1199 or caroline@theceruleangallery.com.

Note: This entry first appeared on my Patreon page. Join to see the newest news and receive art rewards!

What is this a painting of?

Well, it's my lap. My lap while I was working on hand-binding a quilt. See the pins? Can you spot the needle and thread? That's the back of the quilt I was finishing.

The burgundy in the upper left is my yoga pants'ed leg. (I'm wearing those pants right now. How about that?) Below that, the hem of a sundress. The lower portion of the painting is dominated by my 100% cotton, Fair Trade, hand-woven-in-Guatemala apron. (Thanks, Mom!)

Did I paint all those little squiggles by hand? You bet I did. Here's a close-up:

I'm very pleased with how this painting turned out. Some of them just come out right on the first try - this is one of those.

Coming Soon

Lap Work will be in my next major exhibition at Cerulean Gallery (Amarillo, Texas) which opens on September 16, 2016. I'd love to see you there!

Making Hay

Let us make hay while the sun shines.- Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote de la Mancha

So I had a pile of reds, golds, and browns, culled from the donated fabric bin at the meeting of Community First! Quilters. The fields are ripe, they said - it's harvest time.

The front and back are both improvised strip-piecing. The emerging pattern reminded me of aerial photographs of farmland.

See the burgundy? It was in my fabric stash for ages. It was just waiting for that exquisite harvest-gold botanical print to pair with.

Like, hey, what's up cheese? I'm that wine you've been thirsting after.

This spring-green patch was left over from a previous quilt.

Making Hay was my first ever longarm quilting experience. Many thanks to Jessica and Ellie at The Cotton Cupboard for their patient teaching!

What is Modern Quilting? Learn more about Mobile Loaves & Fishes What is the Community First! Village? Contribute your quilting skills to the Community First! Quilters