UMBRELLAS

Now that I have finished quilting every thing in the background, I am beginning the foreground.  First up is one of the lamp posts and the umbrellas that are on the patio tables.  Some will not be fused down yet but are placed with pins on the design wall.  Next I will start the people sitting at the tables...that may take a bit of time as lots of very small pieces but I am hoping it will be fun to construct this scene.

PROGRESS

I have had to fit in bits of time while working on this piece and it left no time for posting afterwards, but as you can see, progress was made.   All of this is fused on, but not quilted, so now I will finish the big mill building and quilt all of this before adding the foreground people and tables and umbrellas and musicians!!!  Whew!  Lots more to come.

BUILDING A COFFEE SHOP

 I have begun the process of constructing the coffee shop first in the scene.   I do not like doing buildings in a precise way.   They seem stiff and without character or life...so I choose to not do straight lines or worry too much about things being symmetrical.   Suddenly the building comes to life and is charming on its own.  

Here is the coffee shop so far....still need to add steps and side windows before quilting.  Hopefully will do that this morning.

NEW BEGINNING

The past week has seen two other unsuccessful skies.....until this....the third sky....More how I wanted it to look.  The rest of the background has also been fused and quilted on.   Now my "canvas" is ready for this piece to come together.

I do not worry wasting time on unsuccessful tries because I always save them and I know one day those other two failures will be exactly what I need for a new piece and how nice that will be when it is all finished and just needs to be fused on when that day comes.

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 SECRET IS OUT

With all the background trees finished I have sketched out the new additions....yes....turkeys!
Since we moved here they have been daily visitors.  I enjoy them immensely and their antics and posturing.  Had to immortalize them or perhaps honor them in an art quilt.   So here is a sneak peek of what lies ahead. 

TREE

Well, all the bark has been and quilted down as well as the leaves and nuts.   All that I have left to finish is the binding edge and the sleeve to hang it.  Hopefully that will happen in the next few days.  Great relaxing fun working on this tree.  Always a good thing for me to do after a much larger complicated piece. 

HICKORY TREE BACKGROUND

 

I like to make my large trees with a background fabric all fused and cutout first.  Then I can place the smaller pieces of bark on top of the background using it as the shading and outlining of each piece.  I have pinned it on to the quilts background where I like it.  I have left the fusible paper on it because I first want to put on leaves and nuts That will be behind the trunk and some of the branches.  Only then will I fuse it on and begin the bark.   So leaves next.  

THE FARMHOUSE

 THE FARMHOUSE

38" X 23"

Original design, rawedged fused applque & domestic machine quilted by me.

 Stretched on stretcher bars.

 Close up of bark and machine quilting on tree

 Close up of red fall leaves on small shrub

 Horse and Farmhouse

Pair of horses in the field

CONSTRUCTING BIRD

 I began the hummingbird with the largest pieces...three greens for upper body and tail, a white/grey for main body....then focal parts, eye beak, feet.

 Then I added feathers cut from a fabric that I thought suited this greyish white body.  I always start at the bottom of the body and layer them on top of each other until his body is covered.

 Kept building and fussy cutting the fabric  until.......

He is complete except for the quilting.  I plan on using a white thread for the body to lighten it up just a bit and a rayon thread to add some irridescents  to his head and upper body. Over all I am happy with his appearance so far.

THE BLUE JAY

 THE BLUE JAY

23 3/4" X 19 3/4"

An original design

Rawedged fused applique

Machine Quilted

Details Below

 

THE JOURNEY

 My own inspirational photograph

Thank you all for taking this journey with me.  The Blue Jay was a pleasure to work on and brought me joy as I did not encounter any difficulties throughout the process.   I love this bird even though some may think him bold and somewhat of a bad guy.  He is only doing what comes natural to him and keeps nature in balance.  I love his presence when he comes into the yard with his loud cry and majestic color, markings and size.  He is one of my favorites .

This piece is available for sale in my Etsy Shoppe:

Sold - Field of Poppies

Sold this quilt yesterday.  I have had it a while but it finally found a home in Minnesota.
I still like this one a lot.....does not show as well in the photo as it does in reality.  Lots of details and some couched yarn as well.

More Details Added

After my first post today below .... I made some good progress on the details of this sweet fellow.  So now he is ready to be quilted.  I changed his placement on the background from where he was originally positioned with the tracing paper.  By having his beak overlap the border you get instant 3 dimension.  A good trick to use from time to time.

Fusing

Working on fusing the major parts of this bird.  I hope to add the details in today and then most of the shading will be done with thread.  Lots of quilting on this sweet fellow.

PUFFIN

 Was sort of stuck after my last art quilt....nothing coming to mind to inspire me to begin a new piece.  When this happens I always go to the birds.  Birds inspire me and I have thought of doing a Puffin for a long time.  I love how graphic the markings are on this bird.  I have had this in my "Ideas" folder for a while and it appears today is that day to make him into art.
So I made my background and border and quilted them both. 

I had sketched the puffin first so knew how big to make the blue background.  Now I will begin to make this beautiful bird with the happy kind eyes.

Grasses & A Couple of Labs

 Productive weekend due to rain rain rain.  2 inches last night...2 more tonight...flood warnings out...but we are high so no worries for us.   Then it changes to SNOW!  It better melt right away because tulips and daffodils are up now and grass is slightly on the green side.

So worked on the grass beyond the barn ...then the cultivated field...adding some lumpy dirt.  Next came the chopped grain stalks left due to flooded field.

In this process I thought this scene called for the two dogs who live here.  They are both Labs, Sophie and Tristan.   Although not in the original plan...you must admit they have added a great feel and a bit of charm to this piece.

Barn & Springtime

 I must admit I have spent a lot of time outside yesterday and will again today.  We are having temps in the 50's but it is not going to last.   Have to get outside with dogs and walk and clean up and just breathe in that fresh air.   Did spend a little time in my studio last night though and made this barn and fused it on.

 I will quilt it next...hopefully later today or tonight.

Ozzie (on left) and Barley are loving being on grass again and not having frozen paws.
It was a very hard winter for them this year.

Dove

Have been working on the dove off and on for the last two days.   I am ready to quilt it now.  This will take a bit of time as there are a lot of feathers.  I am happy with him though....so he will only get better with the quilting.

Swing

Building the shoreline now.  The swing is in and will be hidden on the bottom by a bush and then grasses so trust me ....it will look so much better as this progresses.  Made another small pine in front of swing.

I must say I am tired today so will quit now and go watch the movie "Gravity".  Rented it along with a pizza this morning.  Then will work again tomorrow.  I am excited to do this shoreline now and get to the water for all that goes on it.  Hope you are enjoying this journey with me as I am in sharing it.