Monday, April 24, 2023

36 YEARS IN THE MAKING

I began this cross stitch when my daughters were 5 and 3. My 5 year old is now 41. Cross stitch is not my thing and really I feel like the stitcher cannot claim any credit for its loveliness except as a demonstration that one can follow instructions. Place this x here in this color. DROVE ME BONKERS! That is why it took so long. I think I did an excellent job of putting each colored x in the right place and the design is totally beautiful.

I loved this pattern with its garden and flowers and especially the honey bees. Honey bees are my motif and appear on most of my appliques. My love affair with honeybees began about 45 years ago when I had several hives of bees on our zen farm. I will have this framed and set off by some miniature skefs I have bought over the years of ceramic and natural materials. It will make a nice display.

Here is one observation: if one does not blog often, then one looks very productive when they post everything they have been working on. For instance:

This looks like I have been very busy but the only addition to this applique is the center block:

This is my design which took quite a while as it was like pulling teeth to dredge this up from my imagination. I wanted something that would represent the 4 season as that is the motif of the tree quilt. So winter, spring, summer, fall fill out the 4 quadrants. It is meant to be an impression of the seasons: holly for winter; acorn, wheat and orange for fall; sweet peas and new green for spring; and morning glories for summer. Each quadrant has its own colors and shape of leaves. I am pleased with how it evolved.

Here is a close up of the embroidery. I did the skep in chain stitch and the bees are silk ribbon embroidery

Next: make the edge blocks which will also be appliqued I think in a vine and the top block which will be about 10 by the width of the quilt (or so? who knows) and will have a sun with rays shining on growth and the cycle of life.

The flimsy of Fields of Flora by Verna Mosquera is also finished. Quilting is next.

This applique has about 50 different fabrics in it mostly Art Gallery and Tilda. I think the border is a bit bland so I am thinking about quilting it in a golden honeycomb and embroider honeybees onto the comb. Here is the stencil. Usually I free motion quilt but I think this pattern will require marks. The individuals combs are about 1 inch.

I bought this pattern from Urban Threads. It is the inspiration for my border plan.

And last but not least...A FINISH!

My version of Yoko Saito's Imaginary Garden, a Quiltmania pattern. She used blue and brown Japanese taupes but, after several different fabric line failures, this is what happened for me. The fabric is Good Vibes by Sue Zipkin. Here is the fabric line-I used about 6 of the different fabrics in this line to make the applique.

Here are some closeups:

So this has kept me pretty busy and having fun. It represents about 4 months of working away.

AND NOW

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

Eggs are cheaper now! But I am not sure you can find them in so many colors. I hope photo is attributed properly.

I am linking up with these generous quilt makers and hostesses

Slow stitching Sunday https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/

Oh Scrap at http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/

Patchwork and Quilt at www.quiltingpatch.blogspot.com

Design Wall Monday at https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

To Do Tuesday at https://quiltschmilt.ca/

Monday Musing at https://songbirddesigns.blog/

Midweek Maker at www.quiltfabrication.com

Needle and Thread Thursday at http://www.myquiltinfatuation.com/

Peacock Party at https://wendysquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/

Brag About Your Beauties at https://frombolttobeauty.blogspot.com/

Finished or Not Friday at http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/

Off the Wall Friday at http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Whoop Whoop Fridays at http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I have been busy 2022 even tho I lagged behind on blogging.

Progress on my version of Yoko Saito's Imaginary Garden which maybe I will name Garden of the Honeybees. About 75 of them have been hand appliqued on the quilt. All that remains is to finish the quilting part. I have sewn around all the elements and am faced with the quandary of how to fill in the background. ???? All I can think of is a stipple. Any ideas???

Some sample areas of the applique......

No more quilting is actually needed in terms of stability but rather for enhancement of the applique.

NEWEST PROJECT begun in November:

Fields of Flora by Verna Mosquera

Eight blocks are completely finished tho I have not cut them all to size (8.5 x 10.5)

The fabrics are 50% Art Gallery fabrics, 40% Tilda by the lovely Norwegian designer Tone Finnanger, and 10% miscellaneous.

I had a wonderful time collecting fabric for this applique. I spent many happy hours on research on etsy and on line shops. I came to appreciate Art Gallery Fabrics-they have become some of my favorites for the modern look, their sense of color, and their lovely hand.

I have not been in a store or restaurant in 3-count them-3 years of covid. I am not sure if I ever will now that I know how easy life is without them. We always wear masks in public tho not many people do.

I use only 100 wt Kimono silk thread for the applique. It is so fine and lustrous and the colors are beautiful. I had some Yuli 100 wt silk thread but it was coarse in comparison. I have all the colors of the Kimono thread.

It took forever to find two of the blue prints in this block.

Here is the design wall with the 8 blocks removed. All are basted and 6 are ready to applique and the others still need some tweaking before I am happy with them.

A PROJECT FOR LAST JANUARY

The wonderful Helen Godden offered a free you tube class which you can still access if you are interested. Based on those ubiquitous flower panels, we free motion quilted the petals using a black background. She is the best teacher in the whole world not to mention a lovely person. We began in the center and worked outward. After we all got the hang of what we were doing, we took off in individual directions of quilting. A lot of the designs I choose were from the time I took up drawing Zentangles. Helen then painted into her quilting designs for a real WOW ending. I did not do this part as I am 75 and time is of the essence. You have to pick and choose and I love to pick up little bits of fabric to make designs.

The front-really a big blah.

AND, NEARING THE FINISH LINE.....

The Caswell quilt sat around for a couple years while I got involved with other projects and waited for inspiration to come regarding a border for this applique. My brain dredged up all kinds of ideas which I vetoed and finally settled on this simple arrangement which I think complements the complexity of the the design nicely and leaves it to be center stage. I used wool batting. The applique is all basted and ready to quilt. When I assemble for the quilting process, I use pins but this time, since I am not sure how long this job will be in a holding pattern, I hand basted the layers and removed the pins fearing rust if I left them in. I have not worked out the details of quilting yet but I think it will be a random pattern using the motifs as the main inspiration. For instance, in the lower right side a red bird is singing. The quilting there will be a music staff to incorporate the notes. I know I will quilt in insects and leaves and them probably pattern around that BUT who knows...not me for sure!

AND A FINISH...

This is another project which languished in a state of un-being. Below is a photo of what was supposed to be a completion but I knew it was wrong-I just could not see how to make it right. So it sat and I stewed. I don't consider projects in the state to be UFO's because unfinished project implies one has abandoned it and these were never abandoned. They were constantly in my head while I worked on other things mentally trying out ideas. I am very pleased with how the design spoke and resolved itself but, as you can imagine, lots of work was required to make all that 1/4 bias tape and hand applique it onto the seam of the border and body. And before anyone asks, NO, I no longer have the pattern. People email me often asking if I will sell the pattern-it is long gone.

Well, that is 2022 done and dusted. I could say alot about this past year, good and bad, but probably no one wants to hear it.

AND NOW....YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

Two for today since it has been so long in coming

Camera flash on a spider's web by Ben Spurs Miles

AND

Fractal beauty of the mundane purple cabbage