Chessman & Starlight Girl

"CHESSMAN & STARLIGHT GIRL"

27" X 22"

Raw-edged fused applique

Machine Quilted

Original Design by 

Barbara Strobel Lardon

The journey I took with this quilt was a fun one and the inspiration came to me in an odd way.  I was cleaning up my studio after making a quilt titled "Heart to Heart" exactly one year ago.  It had these two horses in a field of sunflowers.  When I finished folding it to put it away I was left with this and I immediately thought that this would stand alone as another art quilt.  Now, one year later it seems appropriate that I create it.

It is all raw-edged fused applique, and machine quilted by me.  The design is my original one.
My work is always one-if-a-kind.

I have listed it in my Etsy Shoppe and you can go there to purchase it if you are moved to do so.
Here is the journey I took.

NOTE:  Since posting this, "Chessman & Starlight Girl" has sold.

THE JOURNEY

 

HEART TO HEART

"HEART TO HEART"

31" X 17"

An interpretation from a photograph taken by Natalie Rowe of two horses, Sarah and Limerick

Raw edged fused applique, machine quilted

Framed over stretcher bars

by 

Barbara Strobel Lardon

This art quilt was a pleasure for me to work on.  The theme being, horses, sunflowers and trees, who could ask for more.   When I saw this photograph I was immediately moved by the tenderness between these two horses and I just had to make this into an art piece.   

 Sarah and Limerick by Natalie Rowe

THE JOURNEY

PAIR OF HORSES

Just finished these two horses for my newest piece....happy with the results and will stare quilting them down today.   Horse no.2 looks much improved with the lightening up of his shadowed side of his face.

PHOTOSHOP MAGIC

I have been bothered by the shadowed area on horse no. 2's face.....but have left it there thinking that maybe it was just that the rest of the harness was not finished....but today after getting more of the harness completed...I can see it is not working....so I took the photo and photoshopped it changing the horseand eliminating the shadow......so much better!  Tomorrow I will change him...almost feel like doing it right now.  Love that photoshop makes seeing whether your instincts are right before going thru the work of doing it. 

HORSES & HARNESSES

 Horse no. 1 continued to "grow".  I knew the harness would cover a lot of her so did not do a lot of detail on her coat.  Concentrated on her expression instead.

Then I began the harness.....with all of its buckles and hooks and rings it too two days.

 It was well worth it in the end.

And now work begins on Horse No. 2.   He is bigger and his harness is even more detailed.  It will be easier now though since I had a lot of practice and trial and error on the first one.  I am happy with this piece so far.

THE TEAM

 Today is the day to let you all know what the main subject matter is for this quilt.  It is this team of horses in their harnesses.   A friend of mine has a friend who owns these two beauties and she took a photo over a year ago of them and gave me permission to use it if I wanted to.  I have saved it until now when I knew what setting I wanted them in.  So I sketched them on tissue and now will attempt to recreate them in fabric.  This will take some time as you can see there it a lot of detail.  I will take photos as I go to show you the good the bad and the ugly depending on how it goes.

Debbie, you asked to see a closeup of my sunflower center and how I am quilting it.  I chose to allow the fabric to do most of the work and just quilt circles throughout the center.

Hope all of you are warm...we are in a cold spell....tonight -21 degrees.  Yikes!