Ghost Tree & Coffee Sleeves

I finished the "Ghost Tree" wall hanging. It is very soft, subtle and low contrast. The free motion machine quilting came out very nicely, it shows up very well on the back, with various gray threads on the black background. I quilted roots under the tree, and rocks and grasses off to the side, above the root line I added grasses, rocks and bare branches to create a landscape, you can barely see it from the front. Ribbons with curly cues, wave horizontally across the sky area. I thread painted the owl eyes in black and yellow, they are very piercing and stand out, this makes a focus in the top left, and your eyes flow across the quilt from that point. I am very pleased with the way I used my photographs of the branches for the background fabric, it was fun playing in Photo-shop to create them. As a quickie project I made several "Coffee sleeves" with scraps, so I can carry my hot coffee back from my walks. I made one in red/black with some oriental fabric for my neighbor Betsy, a pink one, purple and blue(masculine) I gave the two to the ladies at Dutch Bros. Coffee, and will give the guy the blue one after I make another for me. I couched yarns over the raw edges, and the outside, and added a Velcro closure. They insulated the cups just great, maybe my coffee won't get cold before I get home!

Ghost Tree, in progress

"Ghost Tree" in progress. I started this quilt by playing in Photoshop. I blended a photo of a bare branched oak tree with a cloudy sky. In blending mode I used several options to change the effects and the colors. I also used a negative, which gave me white branches on a darker background. I printed several photos onto treated fabric with my computer printer, and spent a lot of time just admiring them, before I figured out what I wanted to do with them. I decided to use them for a background, as they are sort of foggy, blurry, ghost images, very ethereal looking. I pieced them traditionally with a sashing, but not in a symmetrical pattern. This added a grid, to contrast with the flowing lines of the branches. I really admire the trees in the book, "Nature's Studio" by Joan Colvin, because of their organic flowing textures on the bark and branches. So I decided to use a large tree over the tree photos in the background to keep the theme going. I used light fabrics to give it a ghost like appearance. There is not a lot of contrast, but I hope that quilting with white or light threads will help define the tree against the background, and add more highlights and a glow to the tree. I was going to add an eagle to the top left corner, to balance the tree. But my niece loves owls, due I think to the "Harry Potter" movies, so I found a Dover book of "Birds of Prey" with very nice line drawings of eagles, falcons, owls, etc... The eagle picture was perching, but the flying owl pic was just right. I especially wanted the wing tips to extend into the border, and be individual feathers, quilting it will be a challenge. I have started to quilt this with rayon thread, and it lightens it up and gives it a sheen. I can't figure out how to quilt the background, I think it will be just to sit down and let my fingers decide intuitively what it needs.