Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Starry Night/Tardis Wall Hanging


This wall hanging was made for another grandson whose favorite painting is Starry Night and who is a big Dr. Who fan. (Dr. Who is a British science-fiction television programe produced by the BBC from 1963 to the present). Dr.Who travels in a time machine, called Tardis, which looks like a 1960's police box. In one episode he travels back in time to visit Van Gogh and brings the artist to the future to see his works in a museum. Thus the connection between Starry Night and Tardis. There are many examples of quilts with this combination online, and I borrowed some of the ideas to fashion my own. I found a small Tardis picture and printed it out on fabric for the applique.

I didn't get any pictures of my process, but I did it as I had done the blue and yellow wall hanging, starting by sketching a large drawing (about 24" x20") and then choosing fabrics. This time I used fusible webbing along the edges of the pieces and pressed them in place on a couple batik background fabrics rather than using freezer paper and glue. I did all the appliqueing and quilting after layering and basting. I stitched close to the edges of each piece first, using a walking foot, then added swirls and such for the quilting.




Baby Quilt


A little blue and white quilt finished for a new grandson. I think this was made using strips from a jelly roll I won in an online giveaway a few years ago. These aren't colors I use in decorating, but seemed perfect for a baby quilt. When it was all pieced, it reminded me of the sea, so I machine quilted little fish, shells and sea creatures in the striped blocks, starfish in the small blocks, and swirls in the white.



Sunday, January 24, 2016

Blue and Yellow wall hanging

 
This wall quilt, which I made last summer, was inspired by Van Gogh's Starry Night and based on a Pinterest picture which I've traced to Wonderlab Science Museum in Bloomington, Ind. but haven't been able to find any further information about it so far. I made the quilt for a new grandson's bedroom with a navy and yellow color scheme and an art theme loosely based on paintings by Picasso, Van Gogh, Modigliani.
 
First I raided my stash for appropriate colors to play with.
 
 
Then I enlarged the picture to about 22" x 22" and modified it a little.
 

 
 
Since all the pieces were curved, I decided to use freezer paper. I numbered and hash marked each piece on my master drawing, then traced it all on freezer paper. I ironed the paper to the wrong side of the pieces, cut with a quarter inch seam allowance,  pressed over the overlapping seam allowances and then glue basted the pieces together and removed the papers.
 
 
I worked in sections.
 

Once everything was glued in place, I machine stitched close to the edge of each piece. Then I layered the top with batting and backing, pin basted, and free motion quilted a swirly pattern all over.

 
Here it is with the quilting done. I finished it off with a navy binding but didn't get a picture of that.
 
 .