Tag Archives: hand quilting

Fire and Ice / Right Brain Left Brain

“A woman’s life is nine parts mess to one part magic.  You’ll learn that soon enough….and the parts that look like magic turn out to be the messiest of all.” – George R. R. Martin, A Clash of KingsFire and Ice

This is the outcome of “Right Brain Left Brain” seen previously here.

 

Today brings looking back on the past year.  Lots of changes, messiness and magic”  This quilt incorporates them all.  Don’t ask what my plan for it is, it’s just the magic of creation.

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20131228-230902.jpgHand quilted, machine pieced, hand appliqued

 

 

 

 

 

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Water Lilies Finished

Its a cloudy, hot and sultry day.  The good news is that I completed the Water Lilies project that I was pretty excited about a couple of months ago.  It’s been slow going getting the hand quilting done since the weather has turned hot.  It’s much easier to sit under a nice warm unfinished quilt when the weather is cold!

HeronLily

I had trouble deciding on a border, so I finally opted for NO border.  The entire quilt is hexagons.

Here are a couple of closeups of the details.closeup2And another….Closeup1The size is 60X68

Hand quilted, machine pieced, hand appliqued

Completed:  July 2013

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Summer in the Great Basin

“The desert seems to be a brown wasteland of dry, prickly scrub whose only purpose is to serve as a setting for the majestic saguaros. Then, little by little, the plants of the desert begin to identify themselves: the porcupiny yucca, the beaver tail and prickly pear and barrel cacti, buckhorn and staghorn and devil’s fingers, the tall, sky-reaching tendrils of the ocotillo.”
Jerry Spinelli, Stargirl

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The Yucca have come into bloom in the high desert.  They defy the usual image of a dry, brown summer that one often thinks of in the desert.  The blooms are beautiful, white and lily-like.

yucca1The spiky  leaves become a beautiful and fresh green.

Here is my interpretation of the yucca.

yuccaSize: 30×30

machine appliqued, hand quilted

Completed 2002

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Portrait quilts

It all started with a degraded photo of a grandson from a preschool photo.

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Then came a study in off whites

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Eyes are always my downfall!! So for the new one, I chose photos with eyes downward!
What is it about eyes? The key to the soul? I can’t capture them….
These are my treasures…. Beyond compare! I got to spend time with them all camping and hiking in the extraordinary world of southern Utah this summer. Life doesn’t get any better than this!,

My three boys

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Size: 28×60
Finished: 2012
Hand quilted and hand appliqued

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Turqoise ‘n Red

I had a good selection of wonderful turquoise fabrics. I had a dream one night about combining them with red. I loved the effect. The small light turquoise squares are freely paper pieced the the bars of turquoise and red are added.

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The backing is a solid red and the hand quilting is done from the backside in turquoise.

Size: 50×70

Finished: 2005

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Celtic Fantasy

I have been fascinated by Ricky Tim’s Kaleidoscope quilts for quite awhile. I purchased the eggplant batik fabric at Fabric Hutin Norfolk, VA. The wonderful yellow and orange flame colored fabric, I purchased at Stitches Quilt Shop in Glendale, OH. I followed Ricky Tim’s directions for making a kaleidoscope quilt that are in video on “The Quilt Show”. The designs are machine appliqued with a double blanket stitch in varigated Sulky rayon threads. It is hand quilted with additional celtic designs on the borders in dark golden thread.

Size: 54″x54″

Finished 2011

Materials: Sulky rayon thread for machine applique, Superior – King Tut thread for hand quilting

Award: Second place in machine applique at the 2011 Utah Quilt Fest

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Phoenix Rising

The suns in the opposite corners and the curvy strips are commercially made batiks that were purchased at Fabric Hut in Norfolk, VA ; ; . I thought that the way the star began to look as I pieced it looked like a huge burning fire. It made me think of the legend of the Phoenix, that when it comes to the end of its life lays its egg in the burning fire to be reborn into the firebird. In the center of the fire, I painted a mesoamerican image of an embryo firebird. In the four corners of the star are stenciled images of the phoenix. In the corners opposite the sun are hand quilted aztec sun designs.

Size: 70″x70″

Finished: 2010

Hand quilted by NSturgill

Materials: Shiva paintstiks, Superior Threads – King Tut #945 (variegated dark reds)

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