Finished this pair the other day and sent them off yesterday to my friend Andrea in Newfoundland. I’m hoping the foot is long enough for her – if not, she knows to send them back and I’ll adjust the length.
Next pair is already on the go – can’t leave the needles unoccupied!
Finished this afternoon, the lap quilt made using half-square triangles using the Japanese sample fabrics that I bought at the yard sale in Portland Oregon last spring. I didn’t arrange the blocks in any of the usual half-square triangle patterns – Instead I set up two blocks near the “top” and worked in a “frame” around them, then filled in the remaining space creating diagonal rows – at the same time I was also trying to create a bit of colour flow – difficult because the colourful floral blocks were so different in hue. The border took a bit of care, I wanted the diagonal joins to flow from the diagonal lines in the pieced top – I found the way to do that was to make sure the seams aligned first, basted them in place to make sure the line worked, then stitched the rest of the border piece. The overall effect I wanted was to have an indigo quilt with colourful triangles embedded in it. I used the indigo fabric with the circles on the back – A WOF (width of fabric) piece was wide enough for the backing so there is no embellishment on the back. Notice the embroidered dragonflies on the top. I quilted in the hoop using a sashiko single run overall design in each block and a modification of the design in the border. I intentionally used a dark navy variegated thread front and back so the embroidery doesn’t stand out but creates a quilted look. The striped binding was a third indigo fabric from the collection that had the other two.
Just got the Pinterest Weekly and found a quilt I’d made (photographed on my bed) attributed to someone else! I thought I ought to set the record straight: I have done seven quilts, either using Kaffe Fassett fabrics, or based on photos of his quilts I’ve found online.
#1: At the time I didn’t have any Kaffe Fassett fabrics so I took his idea (which I’d seen online) and made it using batiks I had in my stash. The backing is a single fabric.
#2: I had no sooner started #1 when I realized I could do something more with the way the colours were assembled and started #2 – setting it up to tell a colour story. The back of this quilt is also a single fabric.
#3: The idea of a colour story grew when I came across the Kaffe Fassett diamonds quilt – this quilt has 650+ pieces including diamonds and borders and partial diamonds on the outer edges. Back of quilt is still a single fabric.
#4: This quilt uses Kaffe Fassett fabrics but is built on a vanishing 4-patch. This was one of the first quilts where I did something interesting on the second side – I had to because the quilt was wider than WOF (width of fabric) and I needed more width than my backing fabric provided.
#5: A Kaffe Fassett idea (from one of his books – although I worked entirely from an image on Pinterest) using batik fabric from my stash. The back of this quilt is a single run of fabric.
#6: This is the quilt I found on Pinterest attributed to someone else! It’s both Kaffe Fassett fabrics for the squares as well as based on a Kaffe Fassett quilt (again from an image of a quilt he did which I found online). This quilt has a pieced second side using left over bits of fabric from the top using a “jellyroll race” technique to make the inserted strip.
#7: This quilt uses Kaffe Fassett fabrics for the central squares of each block – it isn’t a Kaffe Fassett design, I don’t believe. Again the inspiration came from a photo I found online. The back is also pieces using leftover blocks from the front of the quilt.
So these are my Kaffe Fassett quilts to date – either made with Kaffe Fassett fabrics or from images of quilts he’s done which I’ve found online. I still have quite a bit of Kaffe Fassett fabric in my stash so there will be more quilts…
So, this morning I went through photos to see what I might attempt next as an art quilt… Here’s an idea 
The image is a composite – the sidewalk beside the Public Gardens in Halifax and Ben and Zach at the Toronto Zoo. The original Zoo image background was just too dull to bother using – so I cut the boys out and added them to an enlargement of the background scene. I have to do it all again making careful adjustments to the enlargements, and the boys need to be played with quite a bit in Photoshop because I need to sharpen the detail and add a bit more sunlight/highlights so they aren’t so dark.
I have a few other ideas as well:
Halifax in the fog from across the harbour
Paragliding from Second Beach, Parrsboro NS
Sailboats in Halifax Harbour
Another of the sweet and spicy yarn by Opal. Finished them Tuesday evening, added to the give away stash. Started the next pair – gotta keep the needles busy!
Just finished!
Couldn’t resist hanging it in my living room for now. All along I’ve intended the piece for my sister since these are her two oldest grandsons (she has five). The fabric I used to frame the work wasn’t anything I expected – but yesterday in the shop Pat hauled out a bolt of dark green striped batik and it tied together all the colours in the piece. I added a muslin panel to the back to hide the mess of threads from all the thread painting.
I have to say, I was pleased with how the work turned out. I know what I’m going to attempt next – maybe start it on the weekend. The problem with all of this work, pieced quilts as well as these art quilts is that making them becomes addictive – it’s the challenge of figuring out how to make something work – once I start, my OCD tendencies take over and I can’t stop – “I’ll just do this one more thing…” I say to myself and suddenly the creative process has taken over my life!
Still a work in progress – but I made some decisions a couple of days ago – the major one being that I would use printable cotton fabric to create the boys. That meant returning to the original photos, upsizing each boy so he would fit the background appropriately. I printed the images this morning, let them dry thoroughly (as the directions describe), fussy cut them carefully, then applied them with a medium iron. Using a 60 universal needle, I stitched around the outside of each using Wonderfil Invisifil thread – it’s a very fine polyester thread that blends with the fabric and permits very small stitches.
I also decided to stop fighting the large rhododendron bush beside the tree – I removed all the previous fabric and stitching (took a couple of hours of carefully picking out thread!). Today, I decided to print that element on printable cotton as well. In Photoshop I sized that part of the photo to fit the space where I wanted it to be, printed it out, cut it, pressed it, and stitched it into place. It looks way more realistic than what I’d had before. Now I need to do some thread painting to bring out the shaded areas of the bush so it appears three dimensional.
I still have a lot of careful outline stitching to do on each boy. I also need to thread paint the gravel quite a bit more – I had done a bit when I lay the grey fabric in place but now I need to carefully create a more gravel-like texture there.
My plan is to bind the image using a natural coloured raw silk fabric I have, then “frame” the piece with some kind of batik that will complement the image – I’ll have to shop for that (it may not be a batik – something like Northcott’s Stonehenge Colorado might work well).
This is where the piece is, today.
jmn 