so at the suggestion of my lovely partner in the latest maq swap i'm getting off my keester and sharing some photos of the quilt i made for ms. retro_rose! Retro_rose is a photographer with a travel-bug. in her questionnaire she mentioned that she'd like a quilt theme inspired by japan or africa. i did a little stalking and found out she also had some deep sentimental ties to india. i couldn't decide which idea i wanted to run with more, so i did them all!
without further ado:
full view. i made the ribbon extra long and just pinned it, so that she can trim and stitch to the desired length when she decides where/how she'll hang it. the insets are all satin, with a complementary tone of satin heat-bonded on in varying-sized strips to give that sunsetty-look.
angled view. one of the hardest parts for me was getting all the rungs even on the film strip. it's still not even, but it was the best i could do after several attempts. my machine stitching skills need a lil work. and the fact that i'm a neurotic perfectionist when it comes to small details doesn't help!
this is india. all the quilting was done with invisible thread for the whole quilt. to do the sky i ran a needle up and down thru just the surface fabric, then pulled it thru the whole thing at the top and bottom to create the rippled look. the waterline is embroidered, the water itself is translucent twinkle fabric heat-bonded over more satin.
the gal is layers of heat-bonded fabric, embellished with seed beads for the bangles and trim on the dress.
detail.
japan; mt fuji & cherry blossoms. echo quilting in radiating circles around each blossom, which are embroidered.
mountain, branches, and flower centers all beaded in glass tube beads, and more seed beads mixed in on the mountain and branches.
detail.
detail.
africa. wine-colored sheer sparkle heat-bonded over satin to make the clouds. the tree and giraffes are common quilters fabric, also heat-bonded. the sun, also-heat-bonded, is some kind of weird metallic gold stretchy fabric i have no memory of buying but which was perfect for the task when i discovered it in my stash. (yay for giant random stashes! you never know what you're gonna find!) i'm lucky it didn't melt to the bottom of my iron when i bonded it. i still have no idea what that stuff is.
detail. yes, seed beads. hours and hours and hours of seed beads. my fingers weren't the same for weeks.
the back. with backing i picked out just for ms retro_rose.
pocket sewn along top edge and smaller ones at filmstrip tops to accommodate a fabric-wrapped dowel.
detail. i attached small fishing weights in a row along the bottom so that the quilt will hang smooth and straight once it's up on the wall.
the label. i really wanted to embroider the label, but i ran out of time. i named the quilt "around the world in 35 days" because it was kind of the concept of the quilt that this was a film strip retro_rose was having developed after taking a trip around the world, and the 35 days part is because it took me 35 days from the day i got the idea to the day i attached the label and called it done!
gratuitous plea for sympathy! my fat fingers don't fit in those metal thimbles and the dog kept eating my leather ones. most of the skin is back to normal on my fingers now!
much thanks to retro_rose for being an awesome and inspiring partner, and for encouraging me to post this, and for allowing me to use her awesome photographs! (except that last nasty one of my fingers. that's all me!) and thanks also to maremare for organizing an outstanding swap! i'll definitely be keeping an eye out for round 5!
