Leni Wiener

See a preview of the new book “Photo-inspired Art Quilts” hosted by Nancy Zieman (Sewing with Nancy) at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMUSSzONfys

I am sorry for such a long time between posts.  Lots of non-quilt things have been going on in my life, like my son graduating from college and work going on at my house.  I also had a month of down time while my poor little sewing machine waited for a replacement part.  Needless to say, I have not spent any time in the studio for much too long.

My big news is the release of my second book: PHOTO-INSPIRED ART QUILTS which was presented at the spring quilt market a few weekends ago.  The book is now available in quilt shops, through my website and from Amazon.  It includes a DVD produced by Nancy Zieman (which was great fun working on).  In the DVD, I show readers several of the steps described in the book, and Nancy and I discuss some of my art quilts.

In this book, I show step by step how I create my art quilts.  I always start with a photo for several reasons–I don’t have to figure out the perspective or the shadows, and I have a guide to be sure that the proportions of all the elements are correct.  That is not to say that I follow the photo exactly, I sometimes add things to the photo, take things out, or change the colors.  But the photo always serves as a sort of road map.

The book includes information about how to choose a photo, how to choose fabric, and how to complete a fabric collage.  I also discuss the difference between color and value, and why each are so important.  There is a chapter on thread painting the accents, and another on what I call “artist shorthands” which are simple tricks to do eyes, lips, trees, rocks, water and autumn trees.

There are several “patterns” for quilts in the back of the book for readers to use to learn the technique.

Here are a few of the finished quilts from the patterns provided:

and this one (which was the workshop in Taiwan–Faces in Fabric):

In addition, many of the art quilts I have completed in the past few years are pictured in the book.

I am thrilled with how beautiful this book looks, and I want to share my excitement with my blog readers.  So,  I have decided to have a drawing for a free copy of the new book from those who post a comment expressing interest.  Spam posts will not count.  US residents only, please.  Be sure to include an email address where I can contact you if you win (in order to get your shipping address).

Please visit my website (www.leniwiener.com) to see more of my art quilts or to order either book.