Day Lily

I have so many projects started and so many things that I want to try, that I was getting seriously bogged down! To get myself going again, I decided to just work on small pieces for a while. Of course, rather than finish a WIP, I started something new.

Looking through our photographs, I found a photo of a day lily that had once graced our backyard. I thought it would make a lovely small quilt. I opened the photo in Photoshop and played with it for a while. Cropping, and some filters, gave me the image on the right. I sized the image at 8x10 inches. (You can click on the images to see enlarged versions of the pictures.)
My next step was to use my inkjet printer to print the image onto a cotton fabric printer sheet. I then made a quilt sandwich and machine quilted the piece. The image had printed on the pale side, so I used magic markers to enhance the color, and then continued with extensive thread painting until I was satisfied with the mini art quilt's resemblance to my original Photoshop image.

Since I was planning to mount my mini art quilt onto a gallery-wrapped 8x10 inch canvas, I scanned the back of the quilt to show off the extensive thread painting.

My last step was to paint an 8x10 inch canvas with dark green acrylic paint, and mount the mini quilt onto the canvas. I was pleased with the final result. And here's my Day Lily mini art quilt!

Frog Blog #3

Flossie & Frank

There are two earlier Frog Blogs: Le Tour de Frog, and Herbie in France.


Flossie is the quiet, contemplative type of frog. She enjoys meditation, and writing in her diary. A small chocolate torte and a sweet cup of cocoa add to the afternoon's pleasures.


Flossie also enjoys spending time with her friend, Frank. And while Frank and Flossie are happy with their lives in Lily Pond, once in a while it feels good to get away. They decided that a day at the beach was just the ticket!
(Note of interest: The quilt in the background of the picture is called Dunescape and was made by Flossie's friend, Jean.)

Another trip that Frank and Flossie took together was to Frog Rock. Frog Rock (off of old Route 44) is in Connecticut and is a landmark of natural stone that dates back to 1918. Flossie climbed to the top of Frog Rock and sat there waving while Frank prepared to take her picture. Frank and Flossie enjoyed a picnic lunch before they headed back home to Lily Pond.

Of course, things don't always go smoothly, even in a frog's world! Living on a budget these days can be a challenge for anyone. Frank was hoping to find enough spare change to take Flossie out for ice cream. In the photo, Kermit has joined the pair to help Frank make a different kind of withdrawal - getting his arm back out of the bank! (Note of interest: the quilt in the background, also made by Jean, is called Turkish Bazaar.)
After a "successful withdrawal," the three friends headed to the nearest Cold Stone Creamery for a well-deserved treat.

An Art Quilt That Keeps On Giving

In 2001, I made an art quilt I named Dunescape. Dunescape is 43" x 53" in size.

I entered this quilt in our local Crystal Coast Quilters Guild annual show, and it won Viewer's Choice that year. It now hangs on the wall in our bedroom, and it's the first thing I see every morning.

In March 2008, I started two online shops at Etsy. (There are links to my shops on the right side of this page.) Paper Press contains notecards made from my artwork, including my art quilts. Dunescape is featured in one of the notecards, full-sized (without the border), and in another card that features a detail of the quilt. Since I cropped the picture of the art quilt to get the detail image, I decided to "crop" the name of the quilt too, and the name went from "Dunescape" to "Dunes." I also included Dunes in a notecard set, By the Sea, with four other beach-related images.

My second Etsy shop features my art quilts, and a wide variety of colorful ACEOs (Art Cards, Editions & Originals) and prints with images from my fiber art, paintings, and photographs. Dunes is an ACEO in that shop.

One might think that would be enough exposure for the poor quilt, but I just drafted it for a Reader Challenge at one of my favorite magazines, Cloth, Paper, Scissors. The theme for the contest is "Life's a Beach"! How could I pass that up?

For the Reader Challenge, I had to actually create a new piece of work to submit. Since there are size limits for the challenge, I decided to make a small art quilt and mount it on a painted 8"x10" gallery-wrapped canvas. I started this project by printing out Dunes onto a piece of cotton fabric, using my inkjet printer. I made a quilt sandwich and added new nubby fabrics in the sand and dunes areas. After the piece was quilted, I mounted it on the painted canvas. Then I embellished it with lace, yarn, guinea fowl feathers and reindeer moss. Here's a picture of the final project. (Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)


If you compare it to the photos above, you'll see that the main differences are in the embellishments.

Now maybe Dunescape itself can take a break and just rest on my bedroom wall for a while!