Birthday Quilt for Dad

My dad celebrated his 80th birthday on the 12th of April. Many conflicting schedules prevented us from celebrating the event on the actual day so we planned a party for him a month later. 

Aside from throwing the party, we couldn't decide upon an appropriate gift until Mom, my sister Dana and I thought it would be nice for me to piece together a quilt top using fabrics that were reminiscences of many of his favorite things. 

I used my signature triangle black and chose fabrics mostly of my own design, or some that I had worked on as a production manager or were the precise image we were seeking. They include puppy portraits of three of the family dogs, goldfish, wickerwork and dragonflies for his koi pond, tropical drinks, roses and veggies for his garden, and of course BBQ!

Included too are blocks of pieced and tie dyed GRAPHYX prints, BEADWORK, strike offs from my new collection CHROMA, DISCO DOT from the TANGRAM collection, SIREN SONG and up cycled shirts. The colors are warm and rich, accented by light and dark grounds, and the pointed corners of the triangles are softened by the linear blockiness of the grid-like quilting.

Most of the quilt framed in a shot taken in the back garden.

Koi, drinks, roses and Kali.

Tasha, BBQ, veggies and more koi.

Suki

 Kali

Tasha (and a woven strip shirt block) and a good example of the quilting.

I use the simple shape of the 12" x 13" triangle so I can concentrate on color and moving it around the surface of the quilt.

How the blues move and the brown and reds jump diagonally 

BEADWORK by... ME! Quilt Market Debut Preview

A while back I published a post previewing my BEADWORK collection that is to debut at the Spring International Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon. Well that happens this week. You can read that post here: I'm So Excited!

Following are thumbnail images of the full collection shown in their color stories, and preceding those, are quilts and handbags that were designed using the collection.

First is probably the most brilliant quilt design I have ever encountered. It is constructed using ONLY 14 seams! Designed by my dear friend, mentor and cohort, Marinda Stewart, she said that she wanted to pay tribute to the fabric itself, showcasing the fact that I had spent almost 2 weeks and 5500 carefully placed beads by hand (in Photoshop) to create the focal print (center vertical band). The strips are fussy cut so they line up perfectly and are in a specific color placement and rotation.

This quilt, called Beaded Mosaic, will be available as a free download 

on the Michael Miller Fabrics website.

And these are the same quilt in each of the 3 color combinations available.

This quilt, designed by the very talented artists of Quiltwoman.com created what I call a mashup of the three color stories creating a beautifully intricate and perfectly balanced quilt in its chaotic blend of patterns and color. This is, as I understand, a Bargello quilt (where one sews strips of fabric together and then cuts the pieced cloth into strips and off-sets them as they are resewn together to form the quilt top).

I created these little clutch purses from an online pattern and revised it to be used with the lighter weight quilting cotton and these are super cute when lined with MMF's

Cotton Couture!

In a week or two I'll post a tutorial on how to make these fun accessories. Once you get the hang of 'em, you can make one from start to finish in about 40 minutes and make sure you have extra frames on hand as they are addictive to make!

Multi:

DC5782 Primitive - Multi

(Shown selvage to selvage)

DC5783 Peyote Flower - Multi

DC5784 Blanket Chevron - Multi

DC5785 Beaded Colorband - Multi

         

DC5786 Diamondback - Flame, Emerald, Sunshine

   

DC5782 Primitive - Earth

DC5783 Peyote Flower - Earth

DC5784 Blanket Chevron - Earth

DC5785 Beaded Colorband  - Earth

        

DC5786 Diamondback - Gray, Maize

          

DC5786 Diamondback - Sienna, Adobe

JEWEL:

DC5782 Primitive - Jewel

DC5783 Peyote Flower - Jewel

DC5784 Blanket Chevron - Jewel

DC5785 Beaded Colorband - Jewel

       

DC5786 Diamondback - Mineral, Turquoise, Amethyst

I'm So Excited!

I could BURST!

I am always excited when my designs are realized on fabric and the thrill of seeing them on running yardage post production is simply incredible (we work with a design in repeat and with small fabric test swatches until the production is printed) but it has been a long time since I have felt the ultimate elation of having a new group be so awesome that I can't help myself in holding back until it is released.

I feel this way about my new group BEADWORK.

It was a labor of love. First I created a single bead in Photoshop (this one is a bit fuzzy because I had to blow it up and compromised the resolution in the process).

To make sure that I would be able to print a realistic bead, I first had to confirm with the  mill that I could do so. Next it was important that the bead be as close to a lifelike size - about a quarter of an inch - and this was also confirmed. So armed with the confidence that my idea was possible, I began the design process.

The original bead was recolored in as many colors as I needed to create the pattern. After I had my beads, I began "beading" on the virtual canvas. It was a simple process in theory. Copy the beads as many times as needed and then move them into place. After starting the beading process of the main design from the center of the design out, I calculated I needed 18 beads per square inch. I estimated I was going to end up with a pattern measuring 12" x 27". After doing the math, I thought I might hit myself in the head: 12 x 27 = 324 square inches times 18 beads per square inch = 5,832 beads.

OMG! What had I gotten myself into? Two weeks later I found out.

This.... the computer generated art.

And here is a portion of the design on fabric along with the other two colors we are running.

Multi

Earth 

Jewel

The full collection consisting of five patterns based on the beadwork of the Huichol Indians will debut at the spring International Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon in May.