Dream Landscape

I was looking through some of my posts and saw this little quilt siting in my drafts so I decided I would put this up tonight. This is a pictures of a quilt I made for a friend. For this quilt I used quite a few scrapes of fabric. I also did extensive free motion stitching on the surface. The rock ledge on the left was made by placing batting underneath the fabric; then I did free motion stitching over the surface. Some of the plants were made separately, then applied to the surface of the quilt. The sky was made from my own hand dyed fabric. If anyone has questions, please feel free to write. I would love to hear from you.

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My Egyptian Garden Quilt

The right photo is a picture of the quilt I just finished. The hanging sleeve that I put on is working and the top part of the quilt is not falling forward. The method I used to keep it up is working YAY!!!!!!!

The left picture is the pattern of the scarf I am making for a Fiberarts Connection fund raiser scarf challenge to raise money for The Nature Conservancy. The scarves will be sold at Wilsonville Community College in Wilsonville, NC. We have children participating in this one. The scarf is going to be a quick project.

Putting a Sleeve on a Round Quilt - Part 7

This is the tube put in place where it will be stitched down.Once the tube is stitched down a dowel, to hang the quilt, can be inserted . I am using a ruler as an example in this photo. Using my method the top edge of my round quilt will not flop forward.I will post pictures of the quilt sleeve once I am finished with these last few steps.

Putting a Sleeve on a Round Quilt - Part 6

I will remove the stitches from the binding I have sewn in place. Then I will insert the edge of the fabric I am using to cover the hardboard. I will re-stitch the binding in this area. After that I will insert the hardboard and stitch the bottom of the pocket closed. The next step will be to attach the tube to the bottom part of this pocket containing the hardboard.

Putting a Sleeve on a Round Quilt - Part 5

This is a picture of the hardboard placed on the back top edge of the quilt. On top of that is the piece of fabric I am using to cover the hardboard. I will attach the semi-circle of fabric to the upper edge of the quilt under the binding.

Putting a Sleeve on a Round Quilt - Part 4

From the other end I cut a 8-1/2 in. wide piece of fabric. I measured the edge of my quilt and cut the strip so it was 1 inch from the edge of the quilt.  Then I made a 1/4 inch seam on each end of the strip.. Next I folded the strip in half and stitched the strip along the edges. I turned it inside out and made a tube. I ironed the tube and set it aside.
I had a friend cut me a semi-circle of a piece of hardboard. I will take the semi-circle of fabric and hem it and sew it to the edge of the quilt. To do this I am going to have to remove the binding stitches from the top edge of the quilt . Then put the semi-circle of fabric on the edge fold over the binding and resew the binding to the quilt . I will leave the bottom unstitched and place the hardboard inside. Then I will hand sew the bottom edge of the semi-circle down.

Putting a Sleeve on a Round Quilt - Part 3

I hemmed the semi circle with a 1/4 in.seam.

Putting a Sleeve on a Round Quilt - Part 2

I took the fabric that I had cut for the sleeve and cut a semi circle from the end.

Putting a Sleeve on a Round Quilt - Part 1

Well I tried to make a sleeve using instructions from a book that I have and I just could not figure it out. After pinning it to the quilt I realized that the top would flop over to the front when the quilt was hung. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, back to the drawing board I went and I came up with a new idea for a sleeve that would work for my round quilt.
I am working on it right now and I will post some pictures of the new sleeve today once I am finished. I will delete the old pictures once I finish the new sleeve.
Not all ideas work and when that happens I look for another way to accomplish the task at hand.

The Flute Player

This is my flute player. Here she sits playing a beautiful tune in a summer spiritual garden. The beads in her hair are glass beads . She is wearing a wig as was the custom in Egypt. Her face is hand-painted and stitched. Her wig was made from a very thick braided thread.
Her necklace and earrings. were made using free motion stitching and rayon thread layered between sheets of Solvy.

Detail Shot 2 - Egyptian Quilt

This is a detail shot of the pond. I added koi, reeds and lily pads with flowers next to the pond. The pond water is hand-painted and layered with bridal tulle.
In this shot you can also see the seed pod with seeds still inside the pod and you can see the dry and dead seed pod as well. I wanted to have a representation of the Blue Lotus flower in each stage of it's life cycle.

Detail Shot of Fnished Egyptian Quilt - 1

This is a detail shot of the flute player. I think I will name the piece " Garden of the Blue Lotus".
I had a picture of a tomb painting that I kept for years and it was from the inspiration from that photo I made this quilt.

My Egyptian Quilt is Finished

Here is a picture of the finished quilt. I will post some detail shots in another post. The quilt is about 30 inches across. It is a simpler quilt than I usually make but I am pleased with the result. I am thinking of donating this quilt to help raise money for an organization that I want to help.
The next piece I am going to work on is a scarf for Fiberarts Connection fund raising challenge, "Enduring Earth." The money from the sale of the quilt will help The Nature Conservancy .
I haven't decided how I will make the scarf but I want to put animals and plants etc on it. I am also going to make two bags for friends. One a spirit bag for someone who is ill and the other is a book/cell phone bag for another friend.
I have also found a pattern for a shopping bag that folds up to a wallet size.
A friend gave me several boxes of pre-cut fabric that I can use for these projects.
The new projects will be fast and easy and it will give me time to think about the next quilt I want to make.

Egyptian Quilt Progress

I have been working on the quilt and have been able to get a good amount of surface stitching done. I finished the jars holding the plants on the back wall, and stitched them into place. I have also stitched to pool in place but I need to put a edge on it to finish it out. I finished attaching the date palm on the left and I left a little of the fronds loose so it can overlap the border when I sew it on later. I free motion stitched the the flowers that are in pots on the left by the date palm yesterday. I used some plants that I cut out of fabric for the plants that are in pots and placed the cutouts between two layers of solvy and free motioned stitched over the surface to give the plants texture.I was also able to finish the pomegranate tree on the right. I'm going to start working on the blue lotus plants today. I can only sew a little bit of the lotus plants on the machine because they come so far out of the quilt. I will have to do hand stitching on the parts that I can't get under the machine. I was also able to get the stairs attached. While doing the potted plants by the stairs I found out I needed to back the plants with a thick piece of felt so that the plants wouldn't have a hump in the middle when placed in front of the stairs.

Putting a Collar on the Flute Player

This is the collar I made today for the Egyptian flute player quilt. I used Madeira rayon thread to make this collar. I made a copy of the collar from the original drawing I have. Next, I used color pencils to color in the design. I decided to us four colors for the collar. I drew a black line design on solvy and layered it with bridal tulle. I used free motion stitching to make the collar on the solvy. Next I removed the collar from the embroidery hoop and applied it to my design board to see how it would look on the flute player.

Fabric, It's All About the Fabric

Here is a picture of some fabric my friend sent me. I think it will work great for this quilt. I want to have the flute player sitting on a basket or stone bench covered with fabric blankets. The red fabric on the right will work for hat on her head.
I also have a box of beads to use to decorate flowers etc. My friend sent me several colors of beads that will work for this quilt.
I will start to work tomorrow on this quilt.
I haven't been able to post for a few days because I had quite a few doctor things to take care of.
I will be posting more often now that I am starting a new quilt.
I want to thank all of you for coming to my blog.

It Takes a Lot of Embellishments to Make a Small Quilt

Here is a picture of some of the ribbon, wire, thread, etc. that I am going to use. I am going to use the ribbon for bangles on her arms.I also have some metallic thread that I am going to use to decorate the ribbon bangles.