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
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
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.
Chris
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
