Nellie"s Needles

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Playing With the Lake

I had been wanting to use the purple Thai silk remnant sent to me by my sister-in-law in yet another lake piece. The drama and richness of its color and texture are perfect for depicting what's happening out on the lake many days this time of year.

Lake #43 (13"x 12")
...and here it is before the quilting. There's a strip of blue and white floral silk brocade under the loosely torn batting and roving making up the cloud bank.
I enjoy making each and every lake quilt but, this next one even more so. It was created for our older son's 41st birthday present. He had previously chosen Lake #23. However, I inadvertently included that one with the whole bunch taken to the gallery. So, he got to direct the making of this one.
Lake #45 - (13"x 12")
He requested a brilliant sunny, wavy, perfect beach kind of day. He liked the more dramatic, stormy lake pieces. But those reminded him of work rather than play ... he bikes almost daily the twelve plus miles along the lake shore to work in the Chicago loop.
I liked having him visit in my studio and tell me how he feels about the lake. He'd give a thumbs up, or down, to my choices of fabric (even approved the zebra's head in the foreground of the beach). At one point he brought me a length of thread laying on the living room carpet. It made a perfect wave near the horizon.

6 comments:

Joyce said...

I'm astonished at the variety that you get from one idea. Much like the lake itself, I suppose.

arlee said...

:} Had to smile at the "piece of thread in the livingroom"----see. it pays not to vaccuum!
The purple is so rich and magnificent...

Dianne said...

Your Lake series is fantastic!! I can just imagine a series of them hanging together on a feature wall - beautiful!!!!

FARBTUPFER said...

Again a wonderful quilt!

Teodo said...

It's wonderful to see how many gradations and details you can catch in your lake.
I think that you love it very much.......
ciao ciao

McIrish Annie said...

Nellie, in my journal quilt class on Saturday, a gal had saved all of her scraps and thread from her sewing for a week and had used them to create her piece for the month. It reminded me of you and I shared your marvelous work and blog location with my class. There were a couple of ladies who already knew about you! You are a star here in Connecticut and Massachusetts!!