So now I can finally upload my pictures!.
This is my challenge quilt for the Show at the Rahr Art Museum's Art Gallery. We looked at a painting in their collection and were to make something that it inspired us to make. I call this "November Sky Over Lake Michigan." It is looking eastwhile the sun goes down in the west. It was a beautiful time to be walking on the beach. Where I used to live, I walked on the beach a lot. I miss that. I hand painted fabric and then cut it up and stitched it back together to simulate waves, sand and the sky.
This photo is of the quilt I call "On My Way To Live Happily Ever After." I always say that depending on my mood, some says she walking toward the castle, and other days she is walking AWAY! You might be able to tell from the fabrics, that this is an OLD quilt top. I started it 18 years ago when there was a contest for childhood dreams crib size quilts. I was working on it and got hired for my first teaching job in Green Bay, which was to start in one week. Eighteen years later, I quilted it!
I was experimenting with piecing a background out of strips, and then I appliqued the castle, horse and princess. You can't see it in the photo, but the white on her gown is embroidered fuzzy white yarn to look like fur, and there are beads in the fur, on her crown, and on her belt. She has a long "Rapunzel" braid. The horse's bridle is braided floss, and there are little tassels on the horse's blanket. Of course, the horse represents "Prince Charming!
This quilt is a Round Robin Quilt. I made the center square of pumpkins and leaves using a Thimbleberries pattern from a book. Stitcher number two added the right and left vegetables. Stitcher three added the tan border with the vine, leaves only. Stitcher four added the top and left side orange and the flying geese and leaves. Stitcher five added the right and bottom orange and the squash and scarcrow. I adde the final purple border and then quilted it with a varigated thread using the colors in the quilt, yellows, oranges, etc. I just love how it turned out! Round Robins are a fun way to "stretch" yourself. I end up working with colors that are not my normal range and also it makes you get creative to come up with an addition that fits the "feel" of the quilt. I enjoy doing this, just wish I had more time to do it!
This quilt is called "Garden Pathways." I started this in a class with Jeanne Bliss many, many years ago. The center blocks are not pieced, but all of it is done with "mock hand applique." I'll tell you, by the time I prepared all of the pieces to applique, I think it would have been faster to applique by hand! What you did is cut out a freezer paper shape for each piece, iron it on the back side of the fabric, cut out with a seam allowance added, use a glue stick to glue the seam allowance to the back, and then finally used a blind hem stitch with monofilament thread on top and an fine embroidery thread on the bobbin. THEN you had to wet it to loosen the glue and cut out the fabric on the back so you could pull out the paper. This will be my one and only time to use this method to make a quilt. One weekend at a quilt retreat, all I did was prepare leaves. All weekend. Yeah.The board DH cut to hang it on warped, which is what is causing the "ripple" on the bottom. It really turned out quite square and flat.
We had a fun New Year's Eve with our granddaughter last night (it's "tradition!") and she just woke up, so I am going to end for now. Happy New Year!
