Quilting Pre-2011

Here are some of the quiltings I made prior to January 2011.  Some are art quilts, a few traditional.  Enjoy.

This is a coffee themed series.

From the coffee series.

All the Fish in the Sea, but Me
This is a piece for the homeless benefit, which didn't make the deadline (death in the family).  It began as a pile of scraps from a traditional quilt.  They insisted on being sewn together.  As they did, the fish kept singing the title of the piece, and refer to what a homeless person might think.  "All the fish in the sea have a place to be; but what about me."  If and when this piece sells, it's proceeds will go to the original homeless benefit group, as intended in the first place.  The piece is hand embroidered with some of my original embroidery stitches, embellished with beads and buttons.  Machine and hand stitched.  hand quilted.


At the Water's Edge was a quilt I made using fabrics I hand painted and inked.  It has a cabachon in the center, and is beaded.  Hand quilted.


Another from the coffee series, which continues through the years.


Water Squirts was machine pieced and hand appliqued, embroidered by hand, and beaded.  Snorkeling in Hawaii brought these little creatures above water, for all to share.


Christmas Table Runner.  Machine pieced, hand appliqued and embroidered.


Family Tree was a special piece I was embellishing and quiting, as my father passed.  It reminded me of the good times in life, and how it all comes together with beautiful results.  The quilting is by hand, and in varied sizes of circles, never using premarking or templates.  One circle at a time was clear, and quilted as they were seen.  Heavily hand beaded and embellished.  Hand embroidered.


This small piece reminds me of water lillies.  I am always fascinated by them.  Hand beaded and embroidered.


Oh, That 50's Thing was a playful jaunt with yo-yos embroidered down with my own embroider stitch design, Mountain Lakes, in a couple of variations.  When I was done, it reminded me of the decor of the 50's, and the title was evident.  Hand quilted, embellished and embroidered.


I love doing a series of shops.  The Paw Paw Patch was one of my first.  The green is a lush, batik, flannel of the highest quality, and a dream to work with.  The vertical flag has a bone and fish embroidered on it.  The windows above the door are paw prints.  Naturally, any place my pets came from would be a little wonky.  So it is with this shop.  I have a lot of various shops to do in 2011, so there will be more.  Hand embroidered, original design.


Tough as Lether, has a tin type of my grandfather's mother, which I inherited from a great cousin.  I wanted to display her, without encasing or ruining her.  She has come to live on this quilt.  It must have been tough to live back in those days, knowing the conveniences we have today.  Perhaps my great grandchildren will think the same in their day.  Hand pieced, embroidered, and quilted. 


A sneak peak at a piece almost finished.  It's called Where in the World.  The compass medallion was part of a block swap, where the person who paper pieced it was lost.  The fabric stamps are hand appliqued (raw edge).  Below you can see the remnants of an antique velvet trip with metal decoration, and a sectagon appliqued and embroidered.  The title refers to all the places my husband went in the navy, and I was always wondering where in the world my daily letters arrived in his hands.


Oops, forgot to rotate this one.  It was a door hanger for my best friend, a fellow artist.  It was stollen before she ever got it.  I've only made two fo these so far.  Hers has a tongue depressor, which slides out from under the Yo-Yo Delight (beaded and stacked yo-yos), to reverse for the "in" side.  All hand done.


From the same best friend came the inspiration for Kathleen's Joy.  She had been through many ups and downs in her life, and maintained her joy through it all.  This is a tribute to that tenacity.  Machine pieced and quilted, hand embellished and embroidered, 3D.

The following two images need to be looked at together.  The first is in progress, and the second shows the top finished.


Fish Friday, Saturday, Sunday.... began as an experiment.  From a drawing of these birds, common along the waterways of Assateague Island, the pattern was drafted and fused to a background.  Then the background was painted, amazingly without damaging the bird.  Research netted embroidery stitches used back to the 1500's and applied in the grasses, where little beads are also hidden, to add unexpected sparkle.  Trying to tarpunto the clouds ripped the fabric, and resulted into a couching of yarn, making them very 3D.  A perfect solution.  Traditional flying geese surround the art quilt center.  Machine pieced, hand quilted, embellished, and embroidered



Listen for the Phoenix came about when the orchestra fabric was commercially available.  An offer to attend The Florida Orchestra still moves me today, and in this case, became one of two quilts about the experience.  I'm not musically intelligent, but the piece that night was performed by a Russian conductor, about the phoenix rising.  It was wonderful.  I suspect other pieces will emerge from that once performance.  The appearance of symetry is decieving.  It is definately not symetrical.  Private collection.

Sunset Palms (below 2 images) is shown full size and in detail.


You cannot see the palm fronds coming off the piece in this image, but they do.  The three palms were in the yard across the street, and on a very red sunset evening, I caught them in a sketch.  That sketch grew into this piece.  The background is machine pieced, and the rest hand appliqued.  Again, every stitch of embroidery I knew became the date palm fringe.  Beading became the dates.  A mix of traditional quilting and upholstery fabrics were manipulated into 3D as they were stitched down.  Private collection. 


Because the beading was from glass and stone beads, individually applied, they were sewn down through a needlepoint mesh.  This added the support needed to keep the quilt from tearing itself apart from all the weight.  Here you can see the embroidery and beading in progress.


Once in a Texas Blue Moon was machine and hand stitched, embroidered, embellsihed, and quilted.  A multi fiber tail hangs from the bottom left corner.  Even the edging is beaded.  Private collection.


Ice cream cones everywhere.  What else could it be but, Tutti Fruitti Patooti.  Using odd sized strips, machine "braided" in the center sent this quilt on its way.  Vibrant and fun, it is 36x48", hand quilted.


This little quilt was about things seen along the Pt Loma seashore.  So many things thrive in the tidal pools.  It never had an official title, because it was scooped up by an admirer and taken to Japan.  The crustacian pods were sewn individually and attached.  Embroider, beaded, embellished, and quilted all by hand.  Private collection in Japan.


Quilting Arts magazine had a project for an ATC (artist trading card), which I participated in by mailing this piece to them.  Later all the cards became part of a book.  All but mine.  I didn't read the directions well, and didn't know an ATC is a standard size.  This tiny quilt measures 1.25x2.5".  The falcon drawing is a digitally printed image of one of my graphite drawings.  The original is about 36x48.  It was attached with embroider, embellished with beads, metal, and a broken ice cycle for the Christmas tree.  Everything counts in art quilting, and I love the addition of the glass.  It is still a favorite piece, and belongs to someone at the magazine.  Since then, I have learned to read the directions more closely.


A valentine swap for the Connecting Threads, art quilting group.  This is machine and hand pieced, embellished, and embroidered.  The door opens to reveal the message.  This is a 2011 piece, not yet sent to its recipient.  The image below, (forgot to rotate) shows the inside.



Another valentine swap.  This with an antique flair.  Machine and hand pieced, embellished, and embroidered.  Again, made in 2011.


Whee! bagan as a weaving experiment.  A few yo-yos, embellishments, and quilting, it was part of the SAQA Auction in 2010, and sold quickly.  It is now in the hands of a happy collector.  It was fun to make, and eventually, I may revisit the process.