Quilts from 2008 - 2009




Geraniums in the Window  24" x 25"This geranium window box and the ornate window were at a cafe in the Stubai Valley in Austria. We found the cafe at the end of a long, steep climb up the side of the valley - a most welcome break. The flowers are three dimensional, cut from batiks and attached by hand just at their centers.

Doors at Filoli.  24" x 30" I photographed all the doors and gates I could find at Filoli in Woodside, CA, and came up with these four. Lots of different techniques used, including painting the flower pots, and cutting some flowers from pre-printed fabric - the three dimensional gate was the biggest challenge.



A Christmas stocking for Natalie. I cut this down in Photoshop and used the image for a Christmas card (electronic version only) in 2008.



Camelias. 20" x 20" Inspired by the camilias at Filoli and the many photos I took there, but in the end mostly taken from pictures I found on the internet, with a lot of liberties taken. This is not a botanical guide!

Hydrangeas. 26" x 26" This is a "convergence" quilt, copied from some I saw at the quilt shows, with some hints and "how-to's" given by the lady who specializes in them. Pre-printed fabric.



Wood Block.  25" x 25"  I like the effect of grading fabrics from light to dark, and got the inspiration for the center from someone at my quilt group. I added the snail trail blocks because it needed something else and I have always wanted to try them; the border was added to match the center.


Journal Quilts

In 2008 we ran a monthly "challenge" at Wedgewood Quilters (my small quilt group) We picked a theme each month and had to produce journal quilts - 8" x 11". These five were my best efforts:




Theme: use a photograph in a quilt.  12" x 10"  This is Torr House in Carmel, built by poet Robertson Jeffers in the early 1900's from rocks he hauled up from the beach himself. I loved this cosy room with the view, but had to do it from memory, as no photos were allowed inside the house. The sea view was a photo I took more or less in front of the house, printed on fabric and machine quilted. The picture on the wall is of the tower that he built next to house. We visited just before Christmas, hence the poinsetta.

 



Theme: critters. 9" x 11"  A break from my realistic pictures. Wish I could do more like this. I used cheese cloth soaked in onion skins to color it, and bleach to "discharge" the twigs on the black panel. Some hand-spun wool too.

Theme:  using a photo  9" x 11" with the hibiscus printed on foundation paper, plus ribbon and beads.



Theme: vegetables. 8" x 11"  From a photo in a cookbook - where else?

 

Theme:  leaves.  8" x 11" I collected some leaves, painted them and stamped them on fabric that was pre-colored with tea. The border is three dimensional - leaves cut from painted fabric



Roundabout.  10" x 10"  The small blocks were pieced by hand, the rest by machine.

 

Fans and Doilies.   28" x 42" This was originally going to contain the yellow fans too, but at the last minute I decided to make it only the cooler colors. Not sure why now, I think it would have been better with more of a multi-color look. Too late now..... 

 

The yellows - 14" x 14"  rejected from the main quilt, and all out on their own.

Bowl and plate.  (7" diameter plate) The fabric is fused to Temtex (both sides) and the shapes are stitched together with a wide machined satin stitch. The picture on the plate was copied from a Delft plate.



Irises  8" x 6" Painted on muslin with Dynaflow paint, and machine quilted





Historic Houses in Santa Clara County.  22"  x 18" Prusch Farm House, San Jose; Rengstorff House, Mountain View; Harris Lass House, San Jose; Ainsley House, Campbell.  These were drawn in pen on a close weave muslin, a wash of sepia paint was added, and then flowers were embroidered for the gardens in front of each house. 18" x 24"

 





Sampler 60" x 60" I started out with a few experimental 12" blocks in 2004 - one of my first projects. They were one day going to be part of a quilt to hang on the very tall wall in the family room at our Saratoga house. Over the following years I tried various different technques in the same color theme - the celtic blocks, an Hawaiian applique, paper pieced houses, and a bird, a Drunkard's Path block, Snail Trails, and various stars and other blocks.  We were getting ready to sell the house in Saratoga when I decided it was time to put them together.  None of the blocks matched in size, so there was a lot of filling pieces, strips, etc., and getting it all to fit and hang straight was a nightmare. It eventually worked, but it never went on the wall at Bellwood Drive.





Lone Palm  10" x 10" I used hand spun wool (from a friend whose brother kept sheep on a farm in England - years ago) for the breaking waves. This was to be decoration for a bag, but somehow it never got there.







OTHER QUILTS




Garden Project with Wedgewood Quilters. 33" x 40"  We each made 11 blocks, 8" square on a garden theme, using green.   On the "due date" 11 brown paper bags were assembled and each bag received a block from each person.  The bags were then randomly distributed.  We then took them home and made our own quilts with 11 different blocks.  My own block is second one down on the right.