...I had started something that was supposed to be entirely whimsical.
Whimsical...mostly because of the snowflake background. Let's face it, it is just short of 'cartoony' for a landscape quilt. (Great for a Christmas quilt, though, which is probably the purpose of this fabric.)
Anyway, because of that, I felt no compunction about putting potatoes around the duck pond. Yep, those are spuds, from one of those 'food' fabrics that proliferated in the quilt world a few years back. I was actually going to call the quilt Spud Springs.
That all changed when VVHH (Very Versatile Handy Husband) took one look at it and said something about a man-made pond in the middle of the woods. The thing is, I had been okay with that concept (people do construct things in the woods sometimes--tree houses, gnome dwellings, spiritual grottoes), but after he pointed this out, I realized I was deliberately being a smart-ass.
Which is fine. I am a bit (or a lot) of a smart-ass, by nature. But just because your sky fabric is 'cartoony,' it doesn't mean the rest of the quilt has to be a joke.
So, the pond got changed to something more free-form and natural. (One of the trees was changed, too.)
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| All rocks but the long one are still spuds...just cut down to more rock-like shapes. |
And in honor of our recently moved neighbors (please come back, Jennifer and James!), one of whom snapped a photo of a reclusive buck in the empty lot across the street from me (and next to them), this guy was added to the quilt.
The binding for this quilt is something I'd never tried before.
Do you see the brown 'piping' inside the red binding? Check out this wonderfully instructive video to get that piping/flange look for your binding. It is SO easy with Margo Clabo's method (click here). Her tips also work wonderfully with regular binding!
Here's the finished quilt. The lighting is poor, but you get the idea.
VVHH is not entirely happy with this, by the way. He says he has trouble reconciling the whimsical snowflake sky with the more realistic deer and duck pond, as well as the horizon line and the lack of trees in the distance.
About an hour after he told me that, I remembered the first time he ever invited me to his painting studio at the art school where I met him in 1971. The painting he was working on at the time actually bothered me, because it made me feel claustrophobic, and I told him so. I recall him telling me he thought that was interesting.
What goes around, comes around. :D
Here's VVHH from our art school days, tripod in hand, on the way to photography class.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Linda
LOL - love it. I have no problem with the background. You have been busy.
ReplyDeleteThanks Angie! Yep, as busy as possible, though not nearly as much as I wanted to be. it is what has kept me sane, too. LOL And has helped with healing, for sure.
DeleteI thinking there's no trees in the background because there's a massive cliff. As for those ducks, I feel cold for them. They're swimming around pleased as punch when they should be flying further south. Just look at all that oncoming snow.
ReplyDeleteYes! A cliff it is; that makes total sense.
DeleteLOL I should have named the quilt "Two Lost Ducks"!!