Floral Spray (Barbara)

I have attached my quilt top to two thin layers of flannel for stability, and I'm adding embellishments through all layers. I may add some leaves to distinguish it more clearly from the background, but this is the basic design of the floral spray at the feet of the Virgin.
The little skull beads were on a bracelet I bought in Mexico. I'm slowly incorporating them into little quilts. I really wish I'd bought more. The yellow and blue yo-yos in the picture have been stitched to form petals with a few overcast stitches.
The little angel button is reminiscent of the angel who is often depicted at the Virgin's feet. It, and most of the rose buttons, were in a bag with some cross-stitch pieces I recently got at the thrift store. The ivory satin roses were also a thrift store item. I think they came with some embroidery floss. The pearl buttons are vintage and have been in my stash awhile.

I'm making progress on the embellishment. I'm beading the Virgin's robe and aura. This is the most fun part.

Almost done! (Debra)

Yesterday's sewing frenzy put my piece well into the "almost finished" category! I am not quilting this piece. It has been heavily interfaced with either machine embroidery stabilizer under the CQ blocks or with Decor Bond in the other areas. It will be firm when it is totally done. I may do a little tack stitch in a few places but it should be ready to go without it.

I did the broderie perse last night. I had not tried any machine applique on my Janome. Boy, what a dream! I can see more of that technique showing up in future work. The floral print was a Tracy Porter print. I used invisible thread for the overcasting. Today I will add a few machine embroidered monarch butterflies in amongst the leaves and flowers.

The bottom corners will be red/orange 4" CQ blocks; unless I find they are too time-consuming to make. The 5" ones in the main section of the piece were about 20 minutes per block.

I am not quite sure what to do at the top. Wes even got into the spirit of pulling fabrics last night as candidates! What do you think should happen at the top? I have until 3:00 tomorrow afternoon to get my CD with the image to the post office for my Aug 1st postmark.

Any suggestions for a name? The theme of the show is Perspectives: Any way you look at it

Sunday's Work (Debra)

Sunday found me hard at work in the Studio. I foresee another long day of work today. August 1st looms around the corner. I would hate to miss the deadline; especially since I have gotten so "into" this piece. It has been a delight from the very beginning and although, there is plenty to do, it is not a strain doing it. You know how some projects just will never end? This doesn't feel like that kind of project.

I had to laugh at Allie's comment! Yes, Will would love this piece. He was quite fond of skeletons.

My plan is for the little madonna and Will's panels to be loose. Today I will finish embellishing them and close the back. Then, I can sew the sections of the top half together. I started playing with the idea of a table last night. I pulled out all my old doilies (and yes, I auditioned the yellow ones, Barbara, but they were too bright) and actually like the effect. It shows nicer in person. Then, I started playing with adding the lace to the broderie perse panel(s). We'll see how that plays out.

Slow and Steady (Barbara)

I'm not on a deadline like Debra, but I've got my Virgin positioned and stitched down, and I'm working on the floral spray that will be at her feet. I'm working with my small yo-yo stash, and adding leaves and petals to the backs so that they'll stand out from the background more.
I seem to work on the floor quite a bit, so I get a lot of volunteer design help. Today Louie was my advisor.

Saturday's Results (Debra)

Yesterday morning I had an idea all scoped out for my design. It, unfortunately, meant making more crazy quilt blocks - like 8 more and some fillers. I was able to get all of that done and size up the cross yesterday. The crazy quilt blocks are 5".

I want the cross to look like it is sitting on a table. I came across this brown piece of fabric while doing pillows last week and had it out on my sewing table. It reminded me of lace so I hope it will give the feeling of a tablecloth or a shawl across a table. I will add some leaf embroidery across the bottom of autumn leaves.

The two sections under the cross will have the Madonna and my son's roadside cross picture as separate pieces that will attach to the cross. On either side of the cross section of the wallhanging I'll have the flowers growing. Butterflies will be embroidered amongst the leaves and flowers, which are going to be my first broderie perse.

This whole piece is very thrilling to work on--it is allowing me to use my encyclopedic head of quilt/sewing techniques to accomplish a goal. I am also venturing more into the machine embroidery as an integral part of the process, which is a place I want my machine embroidery to go.

OK, it's off to the Studio for another day of sewing.

Sewing Begins (Debra)

I rarely work in the Studio after dinner but last night was an exception. I worked until 10:30 while Wes watched some guy movie on TV. When I turned off the lights I felt I had accomplished a significant amount of work in a short time.

The minute my head hit the pillow the solution to my piece presented itself. Today I'll investigate that idea. My goal is to have all the piecing done today. Embellishing tomorrow and finish up by Monday. Pictures on the CD & in the mail Tuesday--a day before the deadline.

Synchronicity (Barbara's Project)

It's pure coincidence that Debra and I are both working on Madonnas again. She sent me a note to ask about the Day of the Dead, and I showed her this new Madonna quilt that I've begun on the same topic. I knew I wasn't done with the Madonnas when I finished the fourth in my series, and I'm glad that Debra has another one in her as well.

We started the Madonna series before we got so heavily into crazy quilting, and now I feel well-armed to really embellish the heck out this piece. I think it will be a memorial quilt, but I'm still waiting for it to tell me.

Debra, I really love that Virgin of Guadalupe panel you're using. I should've bought some when I had the chance. I do, however, have a ton left of the one I'm using.

Day of the Dead (Debra)

Very preliminary work on a Day of the Dead piece for an upcoming juried art show at Union Street Art Gallery in Park Forest, IL. If accepted it will hang with other work exemplifying the theme: Perspective: Any Way You Look at It. My interpretation of the theme deals with Death. This work will be submitted with an earlier work I did about my son Will's death.





The deadline for postmarked CDS is August 1st so I really have to make decisions and move forward quickly with this piece. I envision plenty of handwork and may have to seriously evaluate the time involved in order to get it done.

These Day of the Dead fabrics are from Alexander Henry.

Rose Pictures

I like the definition the beads around the outside edge give the rose sections. I also think I can use more rose motifs in some other "problem" areas effectively. For once, I like what is happening here!

New Pictures

Photographing this piece is challenging. If I get too close to the blocks, the images are blurry. If I get too far away, the details don't show. Please suffer through these with me!

I loved the snowflake effect this Madonna ended up having with the bugle beads. (The image of the Madonna on this is clear in reality.)

I worked on this block today adding more beads, leaves and button clusters. Finally I had to stop! I wanted to keep the lower Madonna more subtle. I may still have some work to do to get this to blend better. And I thought I was done, sigh.

I added some greenery to the blue buttons and rays to the halo, beads to the flower at the bottom. I still have to embellish the Madonna on the right.

These started out as 3 simple buttons and then they became a little garden.

I added pearls to the cross buttons.

I couldn't get a good detail shot here but I added some beads (oomph) to the buttons leading to the lavender rose.

Overall size is 42" x 42"

Do you think I should embellish around the roses in the 2 top squares? I am inclined to leave them alone.

My next step once I have the Madonnas as I want them is to break up the 2 straight lines of trim that divide the middle section. I don't like how I crookedly sewed on one of the trims and I think it could be more interesting with something done to it. I am contemplating a banner saying, "Mary, Queen of Roses" with a small ribbon bouquet or some ribbon roses.

I also plan to machine embroider some kind of stitch along the navy bias tape band so it has some definition (or not). I am not planning to embellish the light blue areas at all (except a sequin fell on there today and looked pretty good but that could take forever. . . .)

Comments are welcome.

WIP Wednesday

Here are a few photos of the middle madonna flowers I am embellishing. The flowers were made from various pictures of Madonna that I found on the Internet. Several were made from the gown section of one of the pictures. I used the Kaleidoscope software I bought at IQF last year.

Before and After

BEFORE

All the new pieces are sewn on and the cutouts are ready to be fused. Here are a few detail pictures.

AFTER

I think these cutouts are really cool. I wonder if I will think that after I have sewn them on (with all those curves)??

Winter Madonna Problem Solved

Finally, I say, finally, I have figured out the problem with my Winter Madonna piece.

I have not liked the white patches. The white background was too stark for the other rich colors. The motif was cut off in some of the blocks. Both just didn't work for me.

With the thought that I might enter the new C&T publishing Fabric Images contest, I took another look at the piece. It's been hiding in a drawer all winter and most of the summer.

It became painfully obvious what to do! I could just cover the offensive white areas with new patches and add new photo images. Off to the computer to make some new madonna and flower images!

I am pleased now! The upper squares will have rose sprays cut from fabric to cover those white patches. I also plan to cut out the computer images and buttonhole stitch them to the blocks (eliminating the white around them).

While this piece may not be contest worthy, it is satisfying to come to a solution!

O Serene Like the Moon, O Resplendent like the Sun

Here at long last is my Winter Madonna. It was personal challenge to make a predominantly white quilt, and I feel like I learned about contrasting subtle color gradations. Perhaps I've even lowered a bit my resistance to white.

This quilt is hard to photograph because of the white and the monochromatic palette. It shows better in the close-up photos. I coffee stained the original background fabrics, and then layered over them with white lace. I layered handkerchiefs over that. Most of this piece is constructed by machine, except for the buttons and the lace edging.


The title for this quilt comes from the Great Mary Litany, as did the words I incorporated into my Gold Madonna.


I will still have to experiment with methods of hanging this piece. It's pretty stiff since I used peltex and a layer of batting. Perhaps I will use a ribbon to create a hanger. It needs to be hung because lying on the table it has an uncanny resemblance to a pizza.
--Barbara