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Saturday, April 18, 2009

My favorite quilt for the Blogger's quilt festival


I decided to enter a quilt in the online quilt festival.  I needed to write about my favorite quilt in my blog and link it to the festival.  Hope you enjoy the show.

I have two or three quilt's that are my favorites.  They were all made within the last two years.  I joined Minnesota Contemporary Quilter's about a year and a half ago.  I credit joining that group with the spark in my quilting.  I really enjoy the no-rules approach to quilting and am having fun learning lot's of techniques and maybe making a few of my own.
The quilt I chose was for last years challenge.  Our theme was architexture.  I already had a photo of a cottage in Ireland that I wanted to re-create with fabric.  The photo had been on my inspiration board for over a year.  When I learned about the challenge I knew I had to try to make this quilt, even if I didn't feel it was good enough to enter.  I was very nervous about entering something with this group since I was new and there are many accomplished quilter's in this group.  I also had no idea how to make this quilt.  I made a couple of copies of the photo and left them around the house to keep me thinking about it throughout my day.  I enlarged one to eight by ten and used my projecta scope to draw outlines of what I wanted.  I decided to do the stones individually so I could add more texture to them and maybe still have my quilt lay flat when I was done.  I wasn't quite sure how to make them with the texture I wanted but I just started to play with my fabric and my machine.  I think it was one of those middle of the night "Aha" moments when it finally came to me.  Do you ever do that?  Wake up with a brilliant idea in the middle of the night?  Sometimes it works for me and sometimes I wake up in the morning look at the note I wrote myself and wonder 'who wrote that, and what were they thinking!'
I used about six shades of different batiks to make the stones.  I wanted to show the changes in color of the rock along with the shadows.  It took me awhile to decide on the door fabric but I really like the small stripe that I chose.  I added some tulle for the shadow on the door and did a little thread painting.  I tried thread painting the door latch but it looked really flat and didn't fit with the rest of the quilt.  I was thrilled when I found the latch I used.  It's a switch for a miniature train set!  It just looked perfect too me.
I had some trouble finishing the edge of the quilt.  I cut it first and then added the tiny stripe of red.  Well, I wasn't really thinking when I cut it and had trouble getting my little red strip of fabric straight because of the dimension of my stones.  Live and learn! Next time think of the whole quilt and finish out to the edge before applying dimensional aspects.  I did finish it in time and I did add it to the show.  It has been touring with the MCQ exhibit for almost a year now.  Should be home pretty soon. I've added my original photo to the
 bottom so you can see I did change it a little, cropped it and emphasized some of the color tones, but it's close.
I also want to credit a couple of teachers I had around the time I was making this quilt.  Myrna Giesbrecht who taught me to keep going and not listen to what others have to say about what I am making.  It was my opinion that mattered for this quilt.  I also took a class from Susan Brittingham around this time.  I learned how to add the grass at the bottom using her technique.  I took classes from both of these teachers at Quilt University
Have a creative day
Janet

30 comments:

Zonnah said...

Wow! I love this quit.

Tacha said...

Fantastic job. I love the stones. Really impressive job.

Kerri said...

oh, this i such a lovely quilt!! i love how you used the picture for inspiration!!

Linda Zimmerman said...

This quilt is stunning!

Anonymous said...

Your quilt is amazing, you should be properly proud of yourself and your talent!

warm quilt hugs, sue from CA

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Beautiful piece of fiber art--it is exceptionally well executed!!!
Bravo!

Christine Staver said...

Janet, I thought that I posted before, but I guess I didn't. I really love this quilt. I was lucky enough to see it last summer for the first time. I wish I could have seen it in person. I am glad you posted it again as part of the online quilt festival so that others could see this amazing quilt.

I would like to make a quilt of an old stone building with a window or door sometime. Your quilt is an inspiration to me.
Chris

Anonymous said...

I often have ideas coming to me during the night as well, - I should probably write them down, but instead I try to remember the ones I like. Doesn't always work.

I liked this quilt a lot, - beautiful.

Cindy's Stitching said...

what great detail. very nice. quilts are so personal

Shawn said...

Very unique, I appreciate your talent,wonderful work!!

Jocelyn said...

Absolutely incredible! The stones are amazing. Great work of art.

Rosalyn Manesse said...

Remarkable work!

Aunt Spicy said...

That is such a work of art! I can not believe its not a photo!

stitchinpenny said...

That quilt is so realistic that I am amazed. A great quilt.

diplofam said...

I am inspired by your quilt to try something that I too was afraid to try. I have a photo of a stone wall in Armenia that I wanted to make a quilt of. now I think I will try!
Thanks
Carin

Miri said...

This quilt is just wonderful!

Quilt Rat said...

This is absolutely awesome, Love it
thanks for posting a large file so we can all see the detail......makes one want to reach out and touch, It's okay I am wearing my white gloves :-)

Sarah said...

You're blowing me away here. This is utterly amazing!!!!

hetty said...

Awesome! Great detail. I love it!

Unknown said...

Amazing! I love all the details and thanks for sharing the inspiration pic too - great transformation!

I too wake in the middle of the night with moments of genius :)

Judy Alexander said...

I love this quilt. I have never made a traditional quilt so art quilts are my thing. Great job!

nanann said...

Oh wow! I love it! I popped your picture bigger and the texture really is just great!

And thanks for the kind words on my blog -- now I'm off to explore your pages some more.

Cherie in MN said...

Your quilt is amazing!

Margaret said...

This is a fantastic quilt. I love the red door!

Art by Rhoda Forbes said...

Janet, what a story this little quilt portrays. Great job! '
The red doors are great.
I too have taken classes from Susan and Myrna, they have both influenced my work.

Joanna said...

Janet, this really is a great quilt - the rocks look so real! You are one talented woman, that's for sure!!

meggie said...

I think your quilt is fantastic!! Just love it.

Emma said...

Fantastic! I like the quilt better than the photo image!

Maggi said...

This is a beautiful piece of work. No wonder it is one of your favourites and I bet you'll be glad when it's back home again.

Bunny said...

I love your work of art you did an amazing job. Thanks for visiting my blog and I can't wait to take the class with Marilyn Bedford she is having a class in September.