BaBEE quilt

I made this quilt for a friend, on Saturday. I chose a simple, large square lay out to simplify the process and build it quickly. However, my machine began to be temperamental as soon as I changed the presser foot to the quilting foot. I could not figure out what the problem was, something with the tension. After hours of fighting with it and having to rip out all the quilted seems....I finally gave up and switched back to the regular foot and simply quilted it with a square motif and was finished quickly. Except by then, the shower was over. :-(

Her baby theme colors were black and yellow, like a bee. I love how it turned out over all. Another friend is having a surprise-gender-baby and I think this color scheme will make the perfect neutral. I plan on making another one but with more red accents. I have a good amount of fabric left over.

The back fabric is flannel. Doesn't it look like a honey comb? I did not use any batting, which makes it a great weight. Not too heavy, not too light. The 'scribbles' you see in the quilting are words; fruits of the spirit. I think I had to remove one or two permanently due to the tension issue.  I was looking at it tonight and it looks like most of them survived.

I thought the words would show up better on the honey comb side...they don't. So the front yellow pieces have bold black threaded words running through them, backwards. The momma like it though, that is all that counts.

This was also the first time I used satin binding. It was pretty easy to work with except for the fact that I ran out on a small section--which is why it is red. The red adds to it's 'modern' charm, though.

Epic Quilt: the fine details

The story that seemed to incorporate itself into the quilt the most is A Rose for Emily. You can obviously see the dominant presence of roses within the quilt. She is a southern belle w/ a controlling father & she finally ends up w/ a 'man', whom she keeps by poisoning him w/ arsenic. His corpse is found after she dies. Of course there is more to it but that is the super nutshell version.

Here are all her elements:

the girl (she represents all the female characters from all the stories)-her "steel gray hair"

roses

the brown patch on the left w/ the carriage

the skeletal guy next to the tree

the fabrics w/ china--Emily gave china painting lessons in her home

Hills Like White Elephants: A young woman & an "American" are @ a train station discussing (or not) the trip they are taking--which I don't want to give away.....

The general color scheme of the quilt is inspired by this work. Brown & barren on one side & green/fertile on the other. (left to right) This is a significantly symbolic part of the piece's landscape.

Babylon Revisited: Story of a man after the roaring 20's who has come back to Paris to retrieve his dd, who is in the care & guardianship of his SIL--after the death of his W.

That story is most represented by the girl on the swing--he dreams of his wife on a swing PLUS the fact that he has a young dd. Also the black & the back of the quilt is black w/ outlines of stars----his SIL is dressed in black w/ a necklace of black stars.

Trifles: a short play that all takes place in a kitchen. A woman has killed her husband & the men are trying to discover WHY/motive. The women in the kitchen discover the motive but don't tell....throughout the men are putting down the "women's work".

the quilt itself because the wife had been working on a quilt

the birdcage, her friends discover a broken bird cage in her kitchen

the uneven edges--she has a spot of uneven stitches

a patch of fabric that is truffles--alluding to trifles

Also they mention that she will KNOT her quilt to quilt it--so the pink ribbons in the trees--I used to knot/quilt that portion of the quilt.

Oh & the ropes to the swing are NOOSES--because she kills her husband w/ a rope.

The Story of an Hour A woman w/ "heart trouble" learns of her DH sudden death then receives the shock of her life to discover he is still alive.

the birds in the trees--she is in her room looking out over the trees & takes note of ALL the birds in the trees.

The Open Boat : men in a dingy after their ship has sunk, they can see the shore but the waves are too rough to make it in, they keep expecting help--based on a true event of the author.

Towards the upper left is a patch w/ a light house & it says FL. The event happened off the coast of FL & during the story they can see the shore & light house but can't make it in...

The Real Inspector Hound--couldn't find the text online. I didn't like it-- a modern play that I found annoying. ;)

Up at the very top, toward the middle is a swatch of fabric of playing cards--because they play cards in the play. Plus the fact that it is a *modern* quilt.

I also sewed random squares to also emphasize the *modernity* of the piece & quilt.

The Cask of Amontillado: the narrator is so offended he kills his *frenemy* by walling him in ALIVE, deep in his families crypt.

It's very small & almost hidden, but on the right, in the crook of the tree, is a jester (square like a playing card). His friend is dressed for a costume party as a jester.

Also the pile of skulls & bones @ the base of the tree--there are bones every where in the crypt & a pile that he has moved to make the space to trap his frenemy.

Young Goodman Brown: a naive young puritan man travels into the forest to a satanic meeting & is surprised to see all the members of his village whom he considered pious & holy, including his wife.

The tree is the most significant representation of that.

But also the pink ribbons represent his wife because she had pink ribbons on her bonnet & then later he sees a pink ribbon float down from the sky & get stuck in a tree in the forest.

Cathedral: a man hosts a friend of his wife as a visitor--who happens to be blind...& ends up having his own eyes 'opened'.

Upper right corner is black & then black & white & moves into black w/ color & then into regular colors of the sky---indicative of how the main character has an enlightening experience. Also the black 'frame' of the quilt itself.

Some general items: the leaves also are mostly green on the right (your right) & are more brown on the left, to mirror the landscape of fertile & barren.

Across the bottom I made large up & down zig zag stitches, they start as green & then become brown--as grass & then dead grass.

I sewed the edges using steel gray thread. A few patches of fabric have gray or green squares sewn into them but most of the sewing was done w/ brown thread.

There are a few fabrics in the middle that have a mix of green & brown for *transition* between the two.

Far right, utmost corner there is a definitive square w/ NO fabric. That is representative of the 2 stories I did NOT intentionally include. & of the blind man in cathedral.

Up @ the top is a swatch w/ hearts on it--as most of the characters are looking for love or learn something about it etc...

The tree has all the female characters initials on it (as if they were carved) in brown fabric paint.

I think that's most everything.

Epic Quilt

For one of my classes, the professor allowed us to create a project for our final.  We had creative freedom as long as our project incorporated, in some way, the readings from the semester.  I decided to do a quilt. I was inspired by these two quilt designs: Girl on Swing & the leaves on this tree quilt.  Those quilt are mini quilts. I wanted to make mine useable size, so I went with lap/crib size. I had a class partner, he cut the tree and other elements and contributed LOTS of fabric--which I got to keep, even if we didn't use. Score!

I used new-to-me quilting techniques--applique with raw edges. All the pieces were laid ON TOP of the base fabric and sewn right on the base. 

It was A LOT more work than I anticipated & took me NUMEROUS hours of sewing. More than I ever imagined. In the end though--I felt pretty good about the over all finished piece.  I also learned a few new things about my machine LIKE I can do free motion quilting on it using a darning plate! Who knew!?!

It's hard to capture ALL the elements in this quilt on film, due to the size but you can get the general idea. Since it's finished, it will also be an entry into the fair this year! Yay! My next post will give all the secret fine details of the elements I've incorporated into this piece.

More Joy

A friend commissioned me to create a quilt as a gift. This one is lap/crib size.  You might recognize the blue & green printed fabrics from the quilt I made for K. She really liked those & wanted me to use them but also incorporate some pink because it is for a baby girl.

I tried something new...I 'quilted' it in a circle--actually it's a spiral--formation. I was inspired by an e-friend who did that & made it look SO EASY! Well, it might have been easy had I not done it WRONG. {does *every* project I do NEED to be a learning opportunity?} I quilted it w/ the backing/solid fabric side UP--it should have been down.  This caused all those rectangular pieces you see to sometimes 'gather' up. ugh. It all worked out in the end though.

I included a tiny bit of JOY.

{I highlighted it this time so you can actually *see* it!}

 Don't you just LOVE it?

I really do.

The JOY is in the center (somewhat) and then the quilting spirals out from there. It's not exactly *centered* but that makes it all the more unique & absolutely lovely. IMO.

I was quite tempted to keep it..... ;-)

I really love the blue Hawaiian print backing and that colorful pink print that I used for the binding.

JOY!

Can you see the JOY?

Close up of the 'front'.

Close up of the 'back'.

 

 

 

I used Bamboo batting, which only came in "generous crib size", which was 60 x 60! Gigantic if you ask me.  Totally great size for anything but a stroller.  Great lap quilt, cuddly on the couch quilt, floor mat---basically *everything*!  The bamboo is SO soft...its a shame it's on the inside.  The finished product does not measure exactly 60x60.  I had to adjust for what I had.  I was tired of adding fabric to it & refused to do anymore by the end...it's still basically squarish shape though.

 

I did it!

I finished the quilt! What.an.ADVENTURE!!! Seriously.

It came out beyond wonderful. I am so excited. It's definitely *home-made*, {if you know what I mean {wink, wink}} I think that makes it all the more special.  I even did something extra special.  I machine quilted it but I stitched words into it.  I stitched the word JOY into it about four times. I will try to get a pic of it but it won't be easy, I think.  I did it freehand w/ the machine so there are also swirls and a couple hearts.  I will post more detailed pix later but for now....

Quilting?

I started a quilt! Really.  For Baby K, of course.  It will use 'strips' that my friend got me for K's birthday decorations.  Blues & greens of course. I am very excited & can't wait until it is finished.  Of course, I will post pix....


The hard part is designing it.  I have a design in my head, because I don't want that 'checkered' look, but I don't know if it will really work or look nice enough.


We'll see.....


I'm also excited that I'm even sewing again.  Is it just me or do any other crafters out there kinda go through a 'crafter's block' type of period?  Where you lose all gumption to DO anything crafty? It's sad when that happens.


OH! and guess what? DH got me a SERGER for my birthday! Yep! Exciting huh? SO exciting. :D