3 posts tagged “journal quilt”

Now that the International Quilt Market has begun in Houston, TX, I can now unveil my accepted journal quilt that is on display there today through next Sunday at the end of the Quilt Festival. We were not to publish photos until after the show opened. It will be traveling to at least 2 more shows- Chicago in the spring, and Long Beach CA next summer.

This is "Iris on the Rocks", a quilt that I did not intend to even make. It decided for me. The theme for the exhibition is The Elements- Earth, Water, Air, Fire- My usual flowers, pinks and blues don't scream elements. The rocky center panel uses one of my rocks and mud fabrics from this summer's experimentation. I stitched tucks for texture into the rock fabric, then couched various yarns on for even more texture. The yarns make me think of the lichens, mosses, and small plants that struggle to grow in the harsh rocky environment. Assorted glass beads, tiny gemstone chips, metallic lady bug and butterflies add more interest to the rocky scene. The green sections are from a fabric painted at my second workshop this summer, and the rocky texture is what I played with during my first one. The composition seemed to just fall into place, and ended up being nearly the right size for the exhibit, so I entered it, and it was accepted.
 
Here is a detail, showing part of the rocky section, showing some of the beading and stitching detail.

The area cut out of the piece where the Iris photo was placed, is what I used to begin making my newest small piece. I had another copy of the photo I used in this quilt that is a little smaller, so I used it in the small piece, too.

  This is the little piece that came from the leftovers from the journal quilt. I added similar beads, stone chips, and creatures tucked in and around the fibers, like the original. Some of the yarns were hand stitched on this one, while all on the journal are machine couched. This little quilt is 6.5"x8.5" in size. I used two different yarns to bind the edges of this for a different effect. The upper left corner section of black is quilted with my usual vine pattern, and there are beads added there, too. This little quilt is now SOLD.

Finally I am joining in on the fun of showing my 2007 Journal Quilt to the public not able to attend Quilt Festival in Houston.

These were to be kept under wraps until they were unveiled in the exhibition in Houston. Here it is, all 17" x 22" of it. Since we only needed to make one quilt this year, it seemed like it would be SO easy...... NOT!  We were to use 3 techniques used in quilts published in the book, "Creative Quilting- The Journal Quilt Project".
The techniques from the book I used were:
Pg. 76- Photo manipulation- I took photos of flowers and changed them to look like "coloring book" like flowers. Photos I used to start are here- Scilla & Snow Glories, Echinacea "dead heads"- (scroll down to see original photos in each post).
Pg. 65- Photos printed onto silk fabric- The top right and left photos are Scilla and Grape Hyacinths printed onto silk charmeuse, along with the yellow water Iris in the center.
Pg. 212- Fused fabric scraps- Well, I've been doing this a while anyway, but for this piece, I used more than just the neutral ivory and white shades with only hints of color, and added a bit more color here.

This ended up being a compilation of photos taken from early spring through late summer. A Sneak Peek shows the crazy patch "fabric" ready for use. Random fabric scraps fused to Wonder Under backing paper, overlapping pieces for "seams". The photos and crazy patch fabric were fused to the batting, and the photos were stitched around the edges using a machine blanket stitch. Free motion quilting on the photo prints is done using clear thread to highlight the flowers, and the rest is quilted using a variegated thread. The "binding" is an ivory yarn with gold metallic through it, couched on with the variegated thread.

Other quilts that are showing in Houston right now are: Iris Vases, and Summer Rainbow- In Full Bloom; Stained Glass and Ferns- A World of beauty; September 2004 Journal Quilt- Fractured Fern- Creative Quilting Exhibit; Also, Delphinium Door has a slight chance of being there with the "Quilting Arts Magazine" booth.

I had meant to post this photo earlier. It is of a group of my sunprint Bookmarks. They are made of pieces of sunprinted cotton fabric, mounted to cardstock, then heat laminated. Each one is an original, because I can never get the paint to dry the same way twice, and don't usually slop on the paint the same either. They were a fun way to use some narrow pieces of fabric, and are a great way to play with smaller leaves and flowers.

I now need to chain myself in my studio- One week from today I'll be in the Adirondacks for a show. It is in the gymnasium of the Adirondack Community College on Bay Road, in Queensbury, NY. It is being put on by the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council, and runs from 10AM-5PM Sat. and 10AM-4PM Sun. If you are in the area, Stop by and say HI!

I have finally finished my Journal Quilt for the final year of the Journal Quilt Project. It will be traveling to Houston, TX to be included in the last exhibition of Journal Quilts. This year, instead of doing one small quilt each month, we were to make one larger piece. It is to use at least 3 of the techniques shown in the book "Creative Quilting- The Journal Quilt Project". We are not allowed to show the finished quilts until they have been unveiled in Houston at Quilt Festival. I am able to give you a couple sneek peeks that will not give away what the finished piece looks like.