Delivered to the Piedmont Arts Association on Saturday, October 27 for the upcoming "Art of the Quilt" Exhibit which begins Novemeber 1.
October 14, 2012:
The border is on! I did not have space on my design wall for awhile, so it was hard to get going on the border, but I made some space and it is done. Now on to the quilting.
September 7, 2012:
This has been on hold for a bit. The edges are finished and it is time to do the border. I seem to be blocked on the border. Part of the reason I can't seem to proceed has to do with the design wall
being taken up with another quilt, so it is hard to place my border pieces. The "other quilt" is a pieced one, made or triangles, similar in construction to the Reef, Emerald Forest and Aquatic Refractions. I have been sewing together the pieces
with the hope that I might move them off the wall temporarily.
The other reason that New Bern is on hold is because I am working on yet another quilt, that you will see below. It has really captured my interest. It is based on the "Fountain of Fair Fortune" from Beedle the Bard. I had been thinking
for a while that I would like to work in more fantasy pieces, and this is it.
July 20, 2012:
This current work in progress was started in May 2012. I am now working on finishing the edges of all of the applique. When that is done I will be adding border. The quilt is based on a photo
I took of the waterfront in New Bern, North Carolina.
It was intended as a class sample for my border class at Blue Ridge Quilt Festival on June 23. I needed to make a "simple" pictorial quilt
to demo adding my signature multi-fabric borders.
See examples of the border style referred to above, and perhaps how it has evolved, on the following quilts:
2012
2006
2010
2004
2003
Update October 1, 2012: Finished!
Making the Fountain of Fair Fortune
September 2: The idea stemmed from a History of Magic class prompt at the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup on Ravelry.com.
I thought about the subject, looked at books and tried to plan what I wanted to do
September 7-9: Sketch. For me this was the hard part. I began with a very rough sketch and tried to turn the sketch into a pattern. I worked on refining the fountain.
On or around September 12: I began sewing.
The mountains are done using Upside-Down Applique. It went really fast, taking part of a day to do all of the mountain section, which forms the top third of the quilt.
The trees are done using fused collage. Basically, I cut tree shapes out of fabric that has been attached to fusible web (Misty Fuse). Then I fuse the shapes to the surface.
The treeline took several hours on two afternoons.
September 16: This is where I am today.
I did not have my full design worked out before I began to sew, so I am designing as I go. The arcade was worked out on paper, then transferred to stabilizer. The fountain is on a separate sheet.
These drawings will go on the back of the current quilt as be used as patterns.
Students, click on image above to see what's what
My sketch/perspective drawing of the final draft of the arcade
Updates: March 6 - April 1, 2012
And now for something completely different...beading. I am between projects, and my QU class, "To Bead or Not to Bead" is running.
I can't quite settle on a sewing project to work on next, so meanwhile, I am beading and knitting.
Below, see some beaded Elephants. This is a 9" x 12" batik panel that I started beading quite a long time ago.
April 1: Continuing to dress up the elephants.
Detail. Headdress and ankle decorations.
Previous Elephant Updates
March 25: The outlines are finished, so now I get to dress up the elephants.
A detail
March 18: I continue to work on the outline of the purple elephant,
plus adding some jewelry to the yellow elephant.
A detail
March 11: Working on the outline of the purple elephant.
March 11 detail.
March 6: I completed outlining the green elephant on the top left and parts of the red elephant.
March 6 detail.
This is where we resume with this project, the first week of March 2012. I had not worked on it for at least two years.
Mabry Mill Final Update: February 26, 2012
I have been working off and on since May 2011 on Mabry Mill, a
Photo to Quilt project. It is finally finished!
The finished quilt hung in the "New Works" Exhibit at my local Arts Center, The Jacksonville Center. in Floyd, VA.
It won the Viewer's Choice Award for the show.
Clicking on the image will take you to the Mabry Mill page, which shows larger images and the making of this project.
I teach the techniques I am using to make these pictorial quilts in several of my classes.
At Quilt University you can learn to make a drawing/pattern from a photo
in my "On Land and Sea" class and in "Flower Power". I call the applique technique I am using "Upside-Down Applique". It is another of my QU classes.
Upside Down Applique is one of several applique methods I teach in the Flower Power class.
I also teach a two day live class, called "From Photo to Quilt" at the Jacksonville Center
for the Arts in Floyd VA. This is an "on-demand" class. When we have enough people interested in the class, it will be scheduled to suit the participants.
This page was designed by Susan Brittingham
All photos and images are copyrighted by Susan Brittingham
and may not be reproduced without her permission
Created on : 07/30/11
Last Updated : 09/17/12
