My River Art Quilt is Finished

Wall hanging River Art Quilt Finished

My River Art Quilt is finished!  Thank goodness.  I was really not liking this quilt while quilting it.  So many thread color changes, so many different textures.  It felt like it really drug on.  But now that it is all bound and ready for a hanging sleeve I am feeling much better about it.

Now to get to the Butterfly Baby Quilt that I have loaded on the quilt frame!

A Little of This and a Bit of That...

Interior Backpack Pencil pocket

Whatcha been up to lately?  This was our first week of school, and it was rough getting back into the daily grind.  As a surprise a friend bought my daughter a Disney Fairies backpack.  That made the lifetime warranty one I bought seem a little like chopped liver.  It lacked a secondary pocket so rather than telling DD she couldn't use it for school, I made her one.  The fabric matched perfectly and the piece I had was already cut at the correct width.  I was sewing on the fly and didn't have a zipper so instead it has a Velcro closure which the more I think about it the more I like it.  This is my start and finish for August's New FO project.

River Art Quilt

I've been quilting too.  I put the River Art Quilt on the frame and have started working on it.  As you can see I have made some progress on my tree trunks as well as some of the browned grass in the background.  At this point I'm just finishing this quilt to finish it, as I don't see many quilt guild meetings in my future.  Pay no attention to all those wild threads, I will tame them by the time this quilt is finished.

Florida River Art Quilt 2

I spent most of today working on the River Art Quilt for the local show again.  I'm thinking I'm about halfway now.  At Vicki's suggestion I have added two birds and a nest.  Can you find them?  I wasn't sure about where to put the nest so DD came in and nestled it in for me and I think that works just fine right where she put it.  She also wasn't thrilled where I thought she'd suggested the branches on the Cypress Tree (the big thing in the center) should go, so I fixed one to her liking and explained why the other one wouldn't work (a balance issue)  and after adding more and more detail decided it needed another branch.  I have a fair idea how to quilt the greenery - leaves, needles, and so forth, and the tree trunks will clearly have bark.  Likely I will run with the batiks and let them tell me how to quilt the rocks.  The water should flow so that shouldn't be a problem.  But what about those little plants and so forth?  Do you think I should just go with the print?

River Quilt Scene in Pieces

I find I'm torn for quilting it as well.  Do I free-motion quilt it on the little Elna (and brave those pins), or do I go for the more reliable control and mount a backing and batting on the quilt frame and then just float this little piece on top?  Perhaps I should plan a quick baby quilt and quilt that while I have this on the frame.  They would have the same backing that way, but could also create an unwelcome distraction with each advance of the frame - this would likely only need two possibly three advances.

So far the raw edge is only the palm tree in the upper right (which is true raw without web underneath but I think it's good for a Palm to fray a bit - more realistic that way), the cardinal and the blue bird, oh and the nest when I fuse that on.  Truly the more I see it where DD put it the more I like it.  I'm also thinking about hiding a panther face in the shadows.  I have a cat face that is about the right size, but it's black with wonderfully glowing yellow eyes...  A face in the shadows would be shadowed though right?

This little wonder is getting heavy too.  The muslin runs throughout the bottom as I mentioned, then the forest green fusions in the background of the top third, and all those little pieces. Along the top especially towards the left you can see where I'm allowing the sunshine to peak through the trees.  What do you think that?  It seemed natural that in looking across a river you would see the sunlight like that.

And hey what do you think about binding?  I was thinking scrappy binding so it would flow around the quilt in blues, tans, blues to greens and back?  But that I'm not sure.  Since the quilt is supposed to be connecting many other art quilts.  What do you think others will do with their binding?

First Guild Meeting

Beginning of River Quilt

Well after 4 years and about three months of quilting, I went to my first Quilt Guild meeting.  I'm still on the fence about joining, but they are having a challenge and all participants quilts will hang in the River of Threads at the local Art Gallery, and do you have any idea how floored I would be to have a quilt hung in a gallery?  Not just any quilt but my quilt?

Requirements are a mini quilt - no bigger than a fat quarter to depict a scene from a Florida river.  The river must flow left to right, and be between 2" and 5" at the entrance and exit of the quilt.  So guess what I'm working on.  Yep.  You guessed it, the aforementioned art quilt.   I have several hours in so far and there are clearly many more to go but I believe it is a good start.

This has a solid muslin first layer with the details all turned edge and pinned in place.  I am planning to quilt this rather densely allowing the movement of the quilting to add depth.  Any thoughts?