Light The Way Home

Light The Way Home:
17" x 21"
Machine pieced and quilted by Libby Fife; fused and painted fabrics by Libby Fife

This is an original design based on the Jewish holiday of Chanukah. One of the many themes for the holiday is that of "light". There is a tradition of placing the menorah in a window for all to see. While I didn't want to literally represent that, I did think it would be a good concept to show a woman dreaming of finding her way back home to a well lighted and welcoming atmosphere. I think the composition is loose enough to allow the viewer to make up their own story, be it Chanukah based or not. I kept the style plain enough with the black graphic outlines so as not to detract from the overall composition. With this piece, I learned a lot about creating human profiles and about lines in a composition. Hopefully with the next piece I will be able to apply what I learned.

Under The Pomegranate Tree

Underneath The Pomegranate Tree:

25" x 33"

Original design by Libby Fife; Hand pieced, fused fabrics, and hand painted by Libby Fife

This piece was designed to commemorate the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. Pomegranates are an important symbol for this time of year and so I wanted to include a tree in this composition. I envisioned three girls on their way to shul for evening services with a quick stop off to play some music in celebration of the holiday. I kept the composition simple so as to not detract from the women and the tree. Hopefully the elements reflect a style that I am trying to develop which I call "graphically rendered folk art". The style is evolving so stay tuned!

Autumn Leaves 2

Autumn Leaves 2

24.75" x 31"

Machine pieced and quilted by Libby Fife; original design by Libby Fife

Completed 11/2009

Sold 12/09

The challenge of this piece was to make something from nothing. Most every quilter I know has scrap fabrics in her stash. What do you do with them? Because many of the colors that I use for my projects are in this same autumnal family it seemed only natural to put them all together. The resulting piece is random in nature (as much as it can be). I enjoyed seeing what shapes and groups of shapes emerged from this "random piecing" style. The piece features a free form allover leaf and vine design. It is one that I do often since I feel it is appropriate for lots of pieces. I hope the end result is a warm piece with lots of movement.

Amish Coins

Amish Coins

31" x 31"

Machine pieced and quilted by Libby Fife; adaptation of Amish design with original coloration

This particular piece marks a milestone in the advancement of my machine quilting skills. The feathered border is a first for me and took a lot of practice. Feathered designs of all types were very popular on 19th and 20th century (early-mid) Amish quilts so including this motif was important to me. Additionally, this coins pattern in this "bar variation" would have been very common during this time. The thing that would not have been usual is the color selection. I think in all of my research I haven't ever seen an aqua color or a bright green used in any Amish quilt. Some colors just weren't "done". The free form leaf design in the middle is my own addition and helps to add to the sense of movement for this piece. A friend called the binding "snappy" which I dearly love!

Broken Dishes

Broken Dishes: 38" x 44"

Original design and coloration by Libby Fife: Machine pieced and quilted by Libby Fife

It is tough to claim an original design and color scheme on these types of quilts. The pattern is typically Amish and is referred to as "broken dishes". I have several books on early Amish quilting and this coloration is an adaptation of a quilt that I first saw in one of those books. I used what I had on hand for the center blocks and then purchased the inner and outer border fabric. Many Amish quilts were made from leftover fabrics used for making the family's clothing. Since I don't do that type of sewing some larger amounts of fabric needed to be purchased.

This pattern produces a wonderful amount of movement and I feel that it has a very "graphic" appeal as well. Who knew basic solid fabric could do so much?

Morris Inspired Wall Hanging #1

Morris Wall Hanging #1 18" x 35"

Original design by Libby Fife; Machine embroidery by Debra Spincic; Hand painted and machine pieced and quilted by Libby Fife

The designs of William Morris and others in The A & C Movement continue to be a source of inspiration for me. The patterns are often lush and complex, naturalistic or stylized and very, very beautiful. The fabrics available for use are often difficult to work with, however, for a quilter. The patterns designed were meant to be featured on large areas such as walls, sofas or chairs. There is a high and noticeable degree of repeat to the patterns which is extremely well suited to walls for example but not really for a 2" or 3" patch. It is a happy problem to have however as the colors are beautiful and the scale and repeat of the pattern presents a good challenge.

For this piece, I thought something simple would do. A clean layout which sort of "extracted" the colors from the border fabric and highlighted them in the machine embroidered blocks. Embroidery was a big deal during this time and although I employed a machine made design here, I think it echoes back the idea nicely.

Representing Morris and other designers from this time in quilting is not so straight forward. Patchwork certainly wasn't popular with this school of design and the linens that you tend to see are often embroidered and not necessarily appliqued. I try to continue to take out some ideas from the movement and apply them to my current work. Blending styles and methods continues to be a great challenge for me.

Mackintosh Roses

Mackintosh Roses 23" x 26.5"

Original Design by Libby Fife; machine pieced and machine quilted by Libby Fife; Hand Embroidery by Libby Fife

The Glasgow rose was a recurring theme for Charles Rennie Mackintosh in many of his works. Mackintosh was particularly adept at using a spare sense of design; combining angular lines with curvilinear, natural forms which suggested nature, light, and space. Mackintosh has an interesting history which parallels the A & C Movement. He did not enjoy the critical success in Scotland though gained notoriety in the rest of Europe and during his lifetime only had a select few patrons to spurn his success along. He even designed total interiors at one point, venturing into textiles, furniture and other decorations.

I find his work interesting to look at and very adaptable for quilting. The stylized rose shape is great to work with since it can be expressed in any number of ways. For this piece, I chose a simple layout with several types of forms employed-stylized and more natural. I added some hand embroidery since this was a typical art form widely in use at the time. It gives the piece a very "hand made" feel which was definitely supported by artisans of the time who were rallying against mass produced goods. The border fabric was a lucky find. It employs a number of Art Nouveau inspired designs. I even like the coloration!