After living in the tropics for many years I have come to love the beauty in the Orchid flower. I decided to try and create a quilt using the Orchid flower and Indigo fabric. I wanted all the fabrics to be pieced so I decided that paper piecing was the best way to attempt this quilt. Working with each petal I mapped out the position of the 5 fabrics that I wanted to use in the orchid. I drew many lines on the paper until I had filled the petal and was able to paper piece the entire petal. The petals were then bound with the light blue fabric to give the outline that I could see in the original photo. The flower petals were sewn together and the centre was appliqued into place. I appliqued the entire flower onto a piece of raw silk and finished it off with machine quilting in the flower. I hand quilted the background with silk thread and incorporated blue beads to give the background some texture. The quilt is bound with the silk fabric and the light blue where the orchid meets the eadge of the quilt.
"Mother and Child" Fused applique portrait quilt with threadpainting and free motion quilting.
I'm not overly proud of this work - but certainly proud of my daughter & granddaughter! Started shortly after Zara was born June 2011 - so many frustrations, delays, avoidances, restarts, etc. Finally finished . . . shortly before Zara turns 4! LOL! I certainly bit off more than I could chew in 2011 - would have tackled the piece quite differently if starting now, but it represents where I was at the time and celebrates a fabulous occasion.
Audrey Arno and I created this quilt to donate to Quilt Alliance Animals We Love contest, exhibition, auction. We chose Military Service Dogs. I appliqued my figures to audrey's pieced background.
What makes me happy? My fabric stash does, and a needle and thread, and the time I spent stitching on this quilt. I hand pieced and hand appliqued this quilt from the pattern, "Blessings", by Robyn Falloon.
I hand pieced the Mariners Compass blocks over several years on vacations in Vermont and on Cape Cod. The Muncy, PA Historical Society owns the orignal 1855 quilt. Two PA quilters, Neff and Youngman, drafted this pattern and reproduced the quilt. The orignal quilt has 36 compass blocks. Mine has 9...because "done" is fine by me!
Celestial Sedona is Sarah Vedeler's Sedona Star, the Quilt Show's 2012 Block of the Month. It took me three years to complete, but along the way I learned how to apply a variety of techniques and perfect my quilting skills. It recently won two ribbons at MQX New England, First Place and Embroidery at its Best.
This is a quilt that I made for my brother. It's Bonnie Hunter's pattern called Smith Mountain Morning. I did adapt it and made piano key borders whereas her original pattern has triangles.
I didn't have enough scraps to make a scrappy one, so I used a Batik collection called Rockport from Timeless Treasures.
I made this quilt for my son Jules who had been nagging me for a quilt. My son is an avid reader so I thought the bookshelf was a good choice and the colour was Jules ' choice. It can't be seen in the photo , but the backing is a linen/cotton newsprint fabric and I thought it was an amusing compliment to the bookish theme. It does have its practical side as well, in
summer, the newprint side is on top and in winter, the bookshelf is on top. This was my first attempt at modern quilting, and I must say I enjoyed it immensely.Since I made the quilt about a year ago it has been washed a bit, and it actually has improved it. The simple straight line quilting is more promenent and the texture is softer and more cuddly.
Inspired by 11th Century illuminated manuscript pages and Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (the tale of the Knight), this quilt is made entirely in silk and cotton/silk Radiance. I pieced the background, machine embroidered the old English verse from the Canterbury Tales, the tiny trees, and the letter "A", digitally painted the horse and the knight's face, printed them on cotton/silk Radiance. then I appliqued the knight and the horse's armament and the castle. The announcer boy hanging in the vines on the border, the birds, and two large flowers were inked onto cotton/silk Radiance and then appliqued. The border is quilted and then painted using setacolor and Jacquard fabric paints. The central theme is my original design. I was inspired by the border from an eleventh century illuminated manuscript, though I changed the background and modified the announcer music boy.
This is my interpretation of the quilt pattern "Holly and Mistletoe" by Blackbird Designs. Also Jan Cunningham's color rendition named ‘Mountain Holly and the Rare Red-berried Mistletoe.’ When I saw Ms. Cunningham's quilt, I fell in love with it. It took me over two years to make my version. It is machine pieced and needle-turn, hand applique. I machine quilted it myself. I love these quilts!
Izaak, the Bloomin' Bighorn is an original quilt designed by me, featuring a fusible, floral collaging technique. I chose a color theme of peachy pinks, turquoise blues and warm chocolate browns for Izaak. He lays in his meadow in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, which is a lovely piece of hand dyed fabric by Vicki Welsh.
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