Painted Fibers, AP # 86

I have truly been blessed to attend numerous classes at the Woodland Ridge Retreat. If it were not for the continued employment of my husband the opportunities would never have occurred. Today’s story is about another one of my excursions.

Last summer I participated in the Judy Coates Perez, Paint and Print Palooza. I had a wonderful time learning how to dye, print and silk screen fabric.

I Had A Handful

Watching the applications go from start to finish was entertaining.

Folded Fabric Waiting to Dry
All Dried and Opened Up

I even designed and cut out my own foam stamp.

My Own Foam Stamp
The First Print Using My Foam Stamp

I created a minimum of 12 new blocks of fabric. These are two of my favorites.

Rather than point out all of the quilt’s wonderful features I’m going to share them with you through photos. Enjoy!

My First Block Arrangement

Eight of my favorite blocks. Click on any photo to watch a slide show of the gallery.

Last but not least, here is the finished art quilt.

Art Piece # 86: Painted Fibers

I am so pleased with the final version of my art piece. My finished art quilt measures 64 x 47”. Hidden inside this family of blocks are oodles of special features. Click on the photo to enlarge it and see the many details.

Thank You for stopping by!

A Customer Quilt

Ms. G., my longest running customer, was at it again! Just when I think she is finished making quilts for her family and friends she creates yet another one. Her quilts are always so imaginative, so creative.

The specimen she presented recently was made for a young man with many interests. As you will see from the photos he enjoys zombies, Minecraft, the Greenbay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers, among other things. She even added a tie and a hand-made block created by the young man.

Ms. G and I put a lot of thought into the thread colors and stitch patterns. Our plan was to choose colors that would blend well with the fabrics and stitch patterns that would accentuate her artistic design. I think we met both of our goals. The quilt measures 72″x 57″. Take a look.

Grams-Brennan
Ms. G’s Quilt for Mr. B.

Grams-Brennan-Back
Ms. G’s Quilt for Mr. B. (Back)

Well, what do you think?

I’m very happy that you were able to stop by to see Ms. G’s latest masterpiece. Thank you Ms. G. for allowing me to work with another one of your projects.

Talk with you soon!

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Karen’s Puppy Quilt

I am so excited to share today’s quilt. It was made by Karen M. You may remember her? She is the lady that made the beautiful, surprise quilt for her granddaughter.

Karen M-Bow Quilt

Not long after taking her quilt home Karen surprised me with an email. In her note she asked if I had time before Christmas to work with two more quilts. Now, mind you, this was right before the start of December. I was blown away by her request. She already had a binding to add to the surprise quilt so how could she possibly have time to make two more.

I thought about her inquiry for a while. My schedule was already crammed full of commitments yet it is really hard for me to turn someone down. How could I possibly say anything but YES! Besides Karen was such a nice lady and so easy to work with. Without much hesitation I fired back my response. Of course I would love to work on two more quilts!

The first quilt was an adorable Puppy Quilt lovingly made for one of her grandsons. As is always the case, I sit down with my customers to discuss their expectations and to brainstorm about the possibilities. Together we make decisions on how to proceed.

Karen really likes to have input in how her projects will be quilted. She carefully and thoughtfully considers all of my suggestions. After drawing numerous examples of possible directions to approach this project we finally settled on this design.

Karen M Puppy Quilt Front.jpg

In the outer green border I stitched a single row of connecting circles. We chose circles to breakup the prevalent linear appearance.

Karen M Puppy Block.jpg

Inside the large white squares I first outlined it with a single row of stitching then echoed around the puppies to make them pop.

Karen M Paw Print.jpg

To continue the quilt’s puppy theme I stitched paw prints in a variety of sizes and shapes in the green and gold blocks. The bottom right corner of the quilt was saved for adding the little boy’s name and a small paw print.

All of the stitching was done using two different thread colors. Using more than one color as well as not connecting the blocks together with continuous stitching meant the quilting took longer than normal to complete. All of these features combine together to make what I feel is an adorable quilt.

Now that I have shared the details of this project isn’t it just the cutest thing! I bet this little boy was absolutely thrilled to receive his brand new blanket made by his Grandma. I can just see him snuggling underneath all warm and cozy grinning from ear to ear.

Well, that’s the story behind Karen’s second quilt. We have one more to go so stay tuned!

Thank you for sharing your time with me today! I look forward to our next visit!

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