Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Hellebore "Lenten Rose"

Finished quilt top, glued together, no stitching yet.
Center seeds in progress
Pen Sketch for pattern
Original photo, "Lenten Rose"

Another photo project, I decided to make a large flower quilt from one of my photos. I picked about a dozen possible pics, closeups mostly, I narrowed that down to four choices, an iris, clematis, poppy and the hellebore. I traced each 8" x 10" photo onto a clear plastic sheet protector, basic lines and details for a pattern. I blew each photo up into a 2 page x 2 page poster. I decided I liked the iris, but it will be a challenge, the clematis was too simple, and the poppy's been done to death by others. The hellebore was my favorite from the start, the bold colors of burgundy and white, with lime green center and peach seeds. The 4 page poster had some pretty small pieces still, so I decided to go larger, a 3 page by 3 page spread. This is a nice size, it takes up my whole desk space for working on, and is still manageable. I think if I do the Iris photo I will go even larger! Finding several shades of white for the shadowing and shaping of the petals was a challenge, some "Fairy Frost" fabric was the answer, and two pale multi color pieces. I have a huge supply of lime green batiks, and lots of burgundy prints, but I did choose regular patterned fabric instead of batik for the burgundy. I used a fusible backing for the fabric pieces as they are intricate, and needed clean edges. After that it was just like doing a jigsaw puzzle, cut out pattern pieces, iron fabric, cut out again and glue in place. It got rather boring, after the creative part was over. I assembled the center seed area separately, and put it over the center. A deep blue batik was chosen for the backing, with lighter spots like rain, the batik green leaves were cut free hand, and veins were glued in for more detail then just thread veins. It will look stunning when quilted!

Dear Jane Blocks


Here is a photo of about 48 Dear Jane blocks that I have made so far, the drive has faded, the creativity got hijacked, my attention wandered! It is a good start, I had to clean my sewing room for some reason and they got put aside. I'll get back to them someday, like many other forgotten projects, I do drag them out occasionally and work on them until my attention gets pulled somewhere else. I am amazed I got as far as I did. I do love the vintage fabrics, that was the most fun of the project, it wasn't creative tho, just work, work, work. A challenge that spurred me on just so far.

Mini Photo Quilts





I never posted the photos of the first mini photo quilts that I made as gifts, for the "Pay it Forward" project. I printed photos on fabric with the computer printer, then thread painted them, with matching rayon threads. Darla got a ferny, mossy, butterfly embellished quilt, cousin Dawn got the purple Iris from my garden, cousin Joy got the Lace Cap Hydrangea, and my sister got the Sunflower, with 3-D petals and beaded center. They are just the perfect size for gifts, 8 x 10, the detail of the thread painting is amazing, and a few beads bring them life and sparkle! I know everyone loved the surprise in the mail!

Sea, Sand and Light


the photo is a little yellow, it is really a soft golden brown, on the sand and borders

I have been working on the final quilting of my photo collage of the Coquille River Lighthouse at Bandon, Oregon. It is surrounded by other photos of beachy stuff, rocks, driftwood, feathers and shells, seaweed, foamy surf, and waving grasses. The machine quilting with rayon thread is very dense, when ever I quilt a photo there is so much detail to outline and thread paint. If a picture is worth a thousand words, it is easily worth a thousand yards of thread too. The thread helps blend the individual photos together. I have added pieces of white cheese cloth and hand dyed green cheesecloth to the seaweed, foam and bushes in front of the lighthouse. This extra texture is wonderful, and it extends from picture to picture, letting the water foam and the foliage blend the areas together. I will add beads to the foam and driftwood, to give texture to the sand, seaweed, and a pearl to the oyster shell. The embellishments will really add another dimension to the photos/quilt.