A Collage Vest

This week I started a new quilting project - it's a collage vest using ideas and techniques from Rosemary Eichorn's book "The Art of Fabric Collage".

The 3 main fabrics are a muted blend of mauves and greens; a print of swirly columns; and a print of oriental fabrics; complemented by fussycut flowers from fabrics in my stash.

So far, I have the layers and motifs cut out and arranged on the vest fronts, back and lining, and have lightly glue-basted it together. Next step will be free-motion embroidery and stitching in variegated theads. I've cut out a collar but will decide later whether to use it, or just to bind the edges. Here's a closeup detail from the vest front. Visit my Picasa Photo Album for more photos and closeups of this work-in-progress.

The Swan Quilts

This is for Amanada, who asked for a picture of the Swan Quilts - I just posted a detail section in a previous post. They are both large hangings, so the detail applique just doesn't show up here, but it does show the whole of both landscape quilts.

Quilted Swans

My big project last summer was making two quilted wall hangings which were commissioned by my favourite retreat centre. So the best part is that unlike many past projects that now live at someone else's house, I'll be able to visit these every spring!

The designs are landscapes ... grass, flowers, a lake, pinetrees and mountains, a path through the woods, and two swans which are the focus of the larger of the hangings. I love how they turned out. I took a course through Quilt University earlier this spring - Machine Embellishments, and so I included some of the techniques learned into this project.

The swans were made as separate appliques, over a layer of batting so they'd have a slightly padded look. I bought some GORGEOUS silver sparkle on white fabric that I used for their bodies, over which I layered fussy-cut feathers from three different fabrics. One was the same fabric as the body, another was cutouts from a feathery looking fabric that I found, and the third was bits of tulle. These were layered over the wing area, tail feathers, and just a bit on their chests. Then I free-motion stitched over everything in feather shapes, using variegated thread in a subtle beige to white transition. Here's one of the swans, and a closeup of his wing. Click on the image for a closer view. This one was SO much fun to do.

Carolyn,
quiltlady@piecepatcher.ca