Nellie"s Needles

Monday, May 11, 2009

Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild Show Opening

Our guild quilt show opens Friday of this week (click the photo to read details). I have three entries.

"Take It Outback" - 51"x 66"
I had purchased a fat-quarter packet of Australian fabrics from a vendor at last year's quilt show. Large squares were cut from each one, plus more squares from coordinating fabrics in my stash. I made the blocks by stacking, then slashing through all those squares and then recombining the pieces differently for each one. There were more large squares cut than blocks made, so I recut leftover pieces to the sizes I needed for the corner and sashing squares. This is a baby present for my great-nephew. I like to imagine he will still be using it into his teen years.

"Our Biosphere Reserve" - 40"x 31"
The description can be found on an earlier post here.

"Imagine Monet" 30"x 32"
Several posts have been written about this one and can be accessed here. One of those is titled "Finally Finished" ... but I wasn't. Since then the tree has been strengthened and colors here and there had been enhanced with oil stick pastels.

A feature of our show is the sale of small quilts donated by members. This is my donation.
You may recognize elements from two of my show entries. The composition was the practice piece I had cut to test quilt pattern ideas as well as determining the tensions for stitching. There are quilted leaves colored in with pastels ... an idea I considered for "Imagine Monet". There were delightful birds as part of the print on that decorator fabric of which I only used the flowers. I bonded one of them, trimmed it close with scissors, ironed it on, drew a branch for a perch, and then added more quilting. The frame is extra border fabric to which I had couched yarns for "Our Biosphere Reserve".

I'll share photos of my favorite quilts when I go to the show on Friday.

4 comments:

Libby Fife said...

I didn' think that Monet piece could get better but lo and behold! You added a complete other dimension! Outstanding:) Good luck with the show too.

Unknown said...

I agree with Libby. The Monet quilt is wonderful with the added details! Your outback quilt is stunming! What a treasure! Looking forward to show photos.

Heather said...

Beautiful quilts Nellie, I specially like the Monet one. Hope the Quilt Show is a great success - I'm sure it will be.

allie aller said...

With its deep tradition in quilting, I'll bet your upcoming show is one of the strongest in the country. Do indeed post lots of pictures, please!

I really like your Outback quilt. I, too, have bought some of that fabulous fabric but haven't cut into it yet. Your piece is inspiring.