Challenge Quilt

I belong to a group that is a take off on the famous 12 by 12 art quilt  group.  The challenge word was “sparkle.” We each have to make a 12 inch by 12 inch quilt showing our interpretation of that word.  The challenge ends next Monday. Here is my quilt….

 

I am not done yet, but thought that I would post a photo. All I have left to do is to sew the pieces down and quilt and bind it.

I am not a glitter person so I decided not to make something with actual sparkle, but interpret that less literally.  I teach Astronomy so what comes to my mind is stars.  I also love Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night painting.  So I decide to to a take off of that painting using the snippet technique that I always wanted to try.  I wanted the contrast in fabrics (blue and yellow) to give the appearance of sparkle.  I call it "Tribute to van Gogh."
The snippets are made by ironing fusible web to the back of fabrics and then cutting it into small pieces.  You can't believe how many times I fused little bits of fabrics to my iron because you could not tell which side had the fusible on it for some of the fabrics!  I had left over tree parts from a quilt that I never made so decide to use them up.

I won't get to quilt this until Friday. 

Chris

Realistic or Not???

I was going to make the canal house quilt in a blue and orange color scheme.  That is certainly not realistic colors for canal houses in Amsterdam.  My husband prefers a more realistic color scheme. Canal houses are generally red, black, white and brown.   I drew out the basic pattern in Electric Quilt 7 using patch draw to try out colors and fabrics before I start making the quilt.  I had never done patch draw so that was learning experience in itself.

At any rate here are some of the sketches with color. 

Orange and blue and not realistic.

Realistic colors 1

 

Realistic colors 2

Not sure which way I am going to go, but I need to decide before I start cutting up fabric.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Had to Put Our Girl Kitty to Sleep

I cannot believe I am posting this information. Our kitty is only 2 years old. For the last few weeks she has not been herself and yesterday we noticed that her breathing was not normal. We we at the vet today and I was thinking that maybe she had asthma or a heart issue. I was never thinking that she had cancer. She started limping a week ago. I thought she hurt her paw. She had a tumor under her neck and had fluid around her lungs. She also had other tumors and had lost 2 pounds.

Treatment would have been to cut off her leg and treat the tumors with surgery, chemo, etc. And it may not have been successful. So we put her to sleep and sent her to kitty heaven.

So we are all very sad today. Her name was Panini and she was a really sweet kitty. Her brother is missing her right now. She is the one with the pink collar.

Panini, I will miss all the help you gave me when I was quilting.



Chris

The Ornament Tradition Lives On

This is the 23rd year that I have made an ornament for my daughter for Christmas.  This year I actually made her two ornaments.  The characters are Finn and Jake from Adventure Time.  She was Finn for Halloween this year and her friend was Jake.
I got the pattern from this link.

I also hung my blended Christmas quilt for the first time this year.

My daughter is coming home today so I am really excited. Have a great holiday and thanks for reading.

Chris

Color Study for Canal Houses

I decided to try out some paint colors for the canal houses before trying it in fabric.  I am basically going with a blue/orange complimentary color scheme.  I will be using blues for the sky and the windows and oranges/browns for the buildings.

Here is my painted sketch. I did not have that many paint colors, but this gives you the idea.

Thanks for dropping by.

Chris

Onto the Next Project

Well now that the Skye Quilt is finished I can move onto a new project which will be my Amsterdam Canal houses.  Here is the sketch I will use for that quilt. 

 

Today I am going to relax and take a day off of quilting and tomorrow I will go to Staples to get an enlargement made of my sketch.  Plus I will start going through the stash to see what fabrics I can use.

It feels really weird having the Skye quilt done. I guess I won’t have to feel guilty about this one anymore! I made the label this morning and it is now officially called “Over the Sea to Skye.”  This comes from a piping song called the boat song.  You might remember that my husband is a bagpiper and he thought that was a wonderful idea for a title.  Here are the lyrics to the song:

Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,
Onward! the sailors cry;
Carry the lad that's born to be King
Over the sea to Skye.

Loud the winds howl, loud the waves roar,
Thunderclaps rend the air;
Baffled, our foes stand by the shore,
Follow they will not dare.

Though the waves leap, soft shall ye sleep,
Ocean's a royal bed.
Rocked in the deep, Flora will keep
Watch by your weary head.

Many's the lad fought on that day,
Well the Claymore could wield,
When the night came, silently lay
Dead in Culloden's field.

Burned are their homes, exile and death
Scatter the loyal men;
Yet ere the sword cool in the sheath
Charlie will come again.

One of my favorite books called “Outlander” by Diana Gabaldon is about this period of Scottish history.

Another wonderful historic fiction series I found this summer to read is the Bruce Trilogy by N Gemini Sasson.  It is also about Scottish history.  I am waiting for the release of the 3rd book in the trilogy this fall.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Break Out the Champagne!!

Well I finished the Isle of Skye quilt yesterday and washed and blocked it.  Today I have to sew on a hanging sleeve and a label. I think it looks like it will hang flat enough that I will not need to put a sleeve on the bottom of the quilt for a piece of wood to make it hang flat.

So what is story of this quilt.  We took the photo on our visit to Scotland in the summer of 2004.  I took a class from Susan Brittingham at Quilt University called “On Land and Sea” in the summer of 2005. I got as far as the foreground in front of the houses and stalled on the quilt.  For too many years I said that I was going to finish it, but this summer I decided enough was enough. My main problem was the rocks in the foreground and not having a fabric that worked for them.  This spring I bought some Stonehenge fabrics and they were perfect.  So maybe I was waiting for these fabrics to finish the quilt! 

The size of the quilt is 37 inches by 26 inches.  Now I have to figure out where I am going to hang it.

 

Now I have to figure out what I am going to name the quilt.

• “The Isle of Skye”
• “Summer on Skye”
• “Over the Sea to Skye”
• “My 6 Year Vacation on Skye!”

Chris

Almost Done!

Well the quilting is done.  Tomorrow I will square it up and sew on the binding.  I will be glad when I can wash out the marks for the quilting lines and see what this really  looks like.

Chris