This week, VVHH (very versatile handy husband) did me the honor of mounting a decorative curtain rod high over the twin bed, so that we could hang the 42 x 35 fall landscape quilt recently completed. (Click any photos to enlarge.)
I found the rod online, on sale, at Target. With its beautiful leaf pattern, it seemed perfectly appropriate for a landscape with trees. The brackets are adjusted to the shortest length, so the quilt hangs fairly close to the wall.
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| This is the first quilt (other than my initial amateur attempt) kept for myself. |
After that, it was time to hang the Oriental piece (which I won't sell because of the wonky inner border). This rod has been up quite a while in the studio and comes in handy for temporary hanging before a sale or an exhibit. In between times, I'll leave this piece on display. Nobody will see it but us and an occasional guest (the studio doubles as a guest room, with a folding cot stored in the closet). Being small, this hangs kind of high, but doesn't get in the way when I'm using the old Singer (under cover in the photo).
Anyway, time for a new project! On impulse, I took this digital photo fabric panel from Artworks, Aqua Nuance, out of the closet.
My friend Janet gave me this for Christmas, and I've been hesitant to do anything to it other than quilting, since it's utterly breathtaking just as it is. But after staring at it for a while, I got out my favorite ship fabric...
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| This is only part of a curtain panel found at Goodwill for two dollars. These ships have been used in two previous quilts. |
...and cut out one of the ships, after backing it with paper-backed fusible.
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| Needs more wake...looks like it's going backwards! |
Here it's being auditioned after a rough cut...
...and here it's been fussy cut, tweaked with paint markers and Sharpies, and then fused in a lower position than when auditioned. The ship's waves are playing better with the panel waves now that some white paint has been applied.
Then some rocks were cut from a Wilmington Wind and Waves fat quarter and added to the beach.
Now it seemed to need a third element, maybe somewhere on the cliffs at left. Maybe a castle? Out came the tracing paper.
Next, a Stonehenge fabric by Northcott Mills. And some scissors and a black Sharpie.
Then a heavy outline of Fray Check was applied to the finished castle (should have applied paper-backed fusible before cutting but forgot).
Far from perfect, but not bad.
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| Well this is a wonky photo! Late in the day is not good for me, at least for photos. Not enough light at left, either, but you get the idea. |
Have a great weekend!
Linda
Both quilts look great where you've hung them. Love that landscape! IMO that sailing ship maybe should be stepped back to the line between sky and water - it looks too big to be that close to shore and not founder - but what do I know? Gonna be wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Angie! I first tried the ship right at the horizon, but something about it reminded me a bit of a bathtub toy, so I went further down. That position also worked better with the colors in the water and the colors between the lower sails. I always have trouble with scale when using these ships. One day the ship will look fine where it is, and the next day, I'll move it. Of course at some point I get exasperated and tell myself, "Just fuse it already!" LOL
DeleteScale is hard to get right when you have to work with fabric cut outs but I think the ship looks great. I didn't notice until you brought it up. Isn't that the way though.
ReplyDeleteYour fall quilt looks spectacular in that room. The paint color accentuates it perfectly. Why is that we don't keep "the good quilts" for ourselves? I do the same thing.
I know, it's so weird, I never thought about keeping one for myself until this one. But maybe that was meant to be, since as you say, the wall color goes really well with this one. Ironically, it hangs across the room from my very first landscape quilt, a smaller one that I'll never sell and has all kinds of goofs in it. (I like it though, remembering how happy it made me to get started in landscape quilting.)
DeleteFirst of all, your trees quilt looks fantastic at the head of the bed. Both quilts are great but the trees one is my favorite. As for your new project, all I can say is, "You are the master!"
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rhonda, the trees are my favorite, too. Well, I don't know if I'm a master at this, but you know the old saying--It takes one to know one!
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