I still feel like I am trying to crawl out of a hole, but I am slowly getting back to quilting more. I am only a month late with this quilt. I have done this for the FFFC group. Last month's challenge was to depict your home or dream home, or other architecture, along with showing perspective in a quilt. The idea is to have a piece done in a week. I really only worked on this less than a week, but it took a long time to get in the frame of mind needed to actually do it.
This shows the first steps I took in creating "My Dream House". I certainly was not going to do a quilt based on our trailer- not very inspirational. I used a house that is actually worse than the thing I live in as inspiration. The house in the photo is located on the road we live on. I drive by it quite often, and sometimes have wondered what it must have looked like many, many years ago. Being the flower nut I am, of course, the weeds in the photo were going to become beautiful flower beds. I used an enlargement of the photo to trace the main parts of the house, as shown above. I used a piece of my painted fabric for the sky.
Here is the basic house. I placed the pencil drawing of the house under backing paper from Wonder Under, then fused the pieces to the backing paper for the general shape of the house. I could then peel it off the backing paper as a unit for fusing onto the batting.
Here is the house fused over the sky on the batting. I then began putting in bushes, trees, and a few flowers. I was trying to give the feel of standing at the end of the long walk, looking toward the house, with flowers blocking the view of the walk in some places. I cut flowers from fabrics that had flowers printed on them, and shapes from other fabrics. On the right is my favorite kind of scissors for cutting the tiny, fussy pieces. They are Fiskars brand, with straight handles and a spring, and are very sharp right up to the point. No cramped hands, or dents in fingers from regular scissors.
The next photo shows the skeletons of the trees after I added more branches, thread painting with variegated thread. I also quilted the siding and roof detail with clear thread. You can also see the flowers that were not fused, yet, next to the quilt, along with some of the "swiss cheesed" fabrics I cut flowers out of.
This is the nearly finished quilt. I have not trimmed the edges, or added a binding, which will probably be a yarn of some type. I may also add some beading to some flowers, and a few "shrubs" that look like they want a little something added. This was a bit different from last winter's houses. Stones and Walls Quilts.
Here is a detail shot, showing the front of the house. I would love to live in a cute looking house, totally surrounded by flower beds. I do have a lot of flower beds, now, but in my dreams, they are even better, with no weeds.
Now that we had our first killing frost last night, I guess it will be back to gardening with fabric until spring comes again.
I am a former textile artist and new pattern designer with a degree in horticulture, wishing to share my love of nature, flowers and gardens with everyone through my photos, sunprinted fabrics, and now pattern designs. Chronic Lyme Disease has caused major changes to the direction my life. I have to limit the amount of time spent digging in my gardens, and quilting has become more difficult. I discovered pattern design as a way to get art back into my life. I now use my gardens and photos to inspire designs that can be used on fabrics and print on demand items.
I'd let you decorate, garden, or quilt for me anyday!