Fantasy Quilt….”Camelot rising through a misty dawn”

By on 8-16-2010 in art quilts, Artists and Authors that I love

Camelot in a misty dawn

Another challenge quilt with the Valerie Hearder Landscape Quilt Yahoo Group….what fun to do. The willow in the quilt was created in honour of our fallen weeping willow. It fell so hard this winter it has ‘drilled’ itself into the winter earth. I created the willow branches using untwisted poly/cotton strands. I tripled a strand, tied a knot in one end and then sewed each strand by hand onto the tree trunk. It took over 14 hours of work. I also couched the strands down with matching thread to keep the branches from spreading outside the working area. Although it was time consuming I think it was very successful….it does look like a willow tree. I also used ribbons, chain link, lace, crocheted cord, beads as well as watercolour pencils to add to the ‘fairytale’ look of the quilt.

A cat pattern to use for fabric arts

By on 8-16-2010 in art quilts, Artists and Authors that I love

Crewel cat

What a great cat with oodles of potential. It was published in the McCall’s Fall/Winter 1972-73 needlework magazine. He was stitched onto a pillow. I can now see him enlarged and worked in crazy quilt. Anybody have a lot of little scraps just asking to be put into a cat pattern? Printed or dyed multiple times onto fabric and then stitched and beaded would make a very handsome kitty wall hanging.

cat pattern

Colourful Buildings of the World

By on 8-16-2010 in art quilts, Artists and Authors that I love

colourful buildings postcards

The first cards are from an exchange last fall…..colourful buildings. The theme was chosen after Valerie Hearder posted some photos from her holiday in Mexico. The buildings were fantastic. Then the on-line conversation drifted to Newfoundland and the other Eastern Provinces where they also have such pretty and uniquely coloured homes and other buildings. A new postcard exchange was born. The second group of cards are my first and second that were created for my first two exchanges. Also included is an Ottawa bicycle path, you can see the parliament buildings in the background and the 2009 Christmas card that I sent to family and friends. What a wonderful way to quilt.

2009 postcards

Embroidered Felt Fishing Boats on Canvas

By on 8-16-2010 in art quilts, Artists and Authors that I love

fishingboats

These two fishing boats were published in the McCall’s Needle Art Volume IV magazine. A romantic piece of embroidery that was sewn on canvas using the sewing machine and straight stitch. Felt was used for the boats, sun and building. Wouldn’t these boats look great using the new threads and fabrics available today? I can envision painted and stitched boats sailing over a large summer tote. A sea coast landscape quilt could be the background for one of the boats.
fishing boat pattern

The patterns for both pictures are here….pdf document is 460kb Fishing Boats Embroidery with Machine

Weather Outside My Window Postcard Exchange

By on 8-16-2010 in art quilts, Artists and Authors that I love

Weather Outside My Window Postcard Exchange
More fabric postcards, the first for this year plus my Christmas postcard for 2010 are all here. The exchange subject was the weather outside our windows. Miriam in Ireland saw snow for the first time and made snowmen, thus the snowman on her card. Sheila in Scotland saw the sun shining through the ice and snow in the tree branches and Margaret in Australia saw too much rain and flooding. I look out my window here in Canada and see an oak tree in our backyard that still hasn’t lost all it’s leaves and when the wind blows it plucks a few more from the tree and carries them swirling to the snow. The deer in my Christmas postcard are the same ones that I used in my winter postcard exchange last year. They were created from a photo of a pretty little doe who visited my garden in the fall.

On my Christmas card there is a frozen lake created from a foil bag that held tea bags and silver ribbon adorns the blue winter sky. The trees in the back ground are zigzag and painted in with paint pens and a little silver glitter was glued around the lake. The oak tree on my weather card is cordoroy with stitching and paint. I stitched through it and into the branches to make the small branches. The leaves on the tree and the snow beneath are beads. The beads are stitched on and then glued with a waterproof glue to survive the mailing.