Sunday, October 18, 2009

From start to finish..

I finished the quilt with the Tumbleweed in it and for the first time, I documented the process of making an art quilt...I have been asked how I do it, and it is hard to explain...I thought about it and took lots of pictures....What I wanted to do, was make a background for the quilted little trailer to sit on. First I cut a piece of cotton duck to put the background on. I knew I wanted this quilt to be big..Way bigger for an art quilt than I normally do, so I cut it 25"wide by 36" long..Why, I don't know, it just looked right...Then I dug through my scraps of fabric looking for pieces that look like scenery fabric. I knew I wanted a woodsy type scene and also wanted some of it to look like fields. I love how they look like patchwork quilts in the distance...I also wanted some kind of road meandering up to the top...I started cutting and laying pieces of fabric down until I was happy..Then I use a temporary spray adhesive to adhere it all down so I can move it around until I sew it...Here is what it looks like...( you can click on all these pictures to make it bigger...)
The next step was to start sewing..The hardest part of the sewing was the big tree...I kind of penciled it in on the fabric, dropped the feed dogs and sewed..Then I decided to add some Neocolor twos to add some color. It didn't work and muddied it up. I then threw some alcohol inks on it, just letting the drops hit it and then I went in with red and fuchsia threads and did loops to look like fall foliage..The rest of the fabrics I just really tried to follow the lines and put some curves in. When I do this much thread work, I don't put a fabric back on...I do it at the end. So what I am quilting on is the fabric laid down on the cotton duck and batting on the back...This is what it looked like when I was done with all the stitching..
and here is what it looks like from the back.../>
I then sewed down the 3d trailer piece that I showed in the previous post and decided it needed something else...I decided to put Coopers head somewhere on the bottom of the quilt...I traced it on a piece of yellow wool felt and free motioned the details..then I cut it out and added the red scarf which I thought looked cute hanging over the edge..Then I cut another piece of cotton duck for the back, used spray adhesive to stick it and then did a 2 and a quarter inch binding....All in all, this is way more sewing than I usually do! I think I put six or seven real hours in doing this quilt...Here is the finished project..What do you think? I am calling it "lets camp"....

13 comments:

Yarni Gras! said...

gorgeous!!!!!

Coloradolady said...

This is so cute....It looks hard to do, but you make it sound easy....maybe I will try this on a small scale...and a simple image!! Love yours....so cute.

Pat said...

This is really cute!

Tamerie Shriver Halliday said...

I think it is amazing. thanks for sharing the process of how it came into being. Wow! Very nice!

Barb said...

That is really amazing....love your art work!!

Micki said...

It;s a great art quilt!
Micki

Searchfamilies said...

great well done
Hugs Janice

Jenny said...

Holy cow! Maybe that should be called a Masterpiece quilt. That is definitely amazing. You are talented!

roc said...

wowee. gorgeous!!

Robin (RsIslandCrafts) said...

Beautiful! Love the doggie :)

Marva Plummer-Bruno said...

Oh how cool!!! How are you?!!! I've been busy working, training, and trying to finish a fan quilt that is taking forever!!!!

audreyscountrycrafts said...

Oh my gosh!! That is simply amazing!! Looks like so much work!

LINDA BYLSMA said...

The quilt is so great! I've done several pieces in a similar vein, and it is a work of evolution. I guess just like any artist. I find if I just had THE perfect piece of fabric, it would all come together. I liked seeing your process, and when I saw the trailer and dog on the finished product, I got such a giggle. Really creative and wonderful!