For Life

4 Life ~ Detail

For Life ~ 2009 ~ Portrait of My Parents on Their Wedding Day

4 Life ~ Detail

The challenge was to create a theme quilt for Day of the Dead.  I choose the Day of the Dead fabric as my inspiration fabric.  The quilt is machine pieced and quilted. Raw applique was used to add the sun, heart, bird and dragonflys.  I reprinted a photo of my parents on their wedding day.  I wanted their photo to be the vocal point of the quilt, so I printed it in black and white instead of color.  The red flowers were made using yoyos and then added to the quilt.  The yellow flowers are three dimensional and heavily beaded in the center. 

Walter

Walter - 2010

Walter ~ Detail

Walter was our beloved dog.  I used two different photos of Walter to create the pattern for the quilt.  All fabrics used in the quilt are commercial fabrics.  Raw applique and free motion stitching completed the portrait.  The challenge was finding the right values of gray, black and white fabrics.

Walter ~ Quilt in construction

Walter running in the snow ~ 2009

Daughter and Walter ~ Snow Day 2009

 

The Barn On Moran Road

 Barn On Moran Road 2010 ~ Quilt

 The quilt was made using only five different fabrics.  Both sides, top and back sides, of the wood grain fabric were used to construct the barn and the barn doors.  Using both sides of the fabric for the wood grain provided two contrasting values (light and dark wood) for my palette. The grass is one piece of commercial fabric, heavily stitched in a vertical direction, using variegated threads to mimic the color of the grass.  I choose the back side of the sky fabric to create a greater sense of perspective by lightening the background and the detail of the sky.

Barn ~ Original Photo

The pattern was draw from the photo to maintain the correct dimensions of the barn.

The quilt was entered into the Annual Mountain  Heirloom Quilt Faire in Murphys, CA.  The quilt won a second place ribbon which is voted by attendees at the show.

The real barn can be found on Moran road which runs between Avery and Arnold, CA.

Barn - detail

Frogs in Space & Moon Over Bay Bridge

 Frogs In Space (detail) 2010  ~ private collection

A class with Dena Crain (Darned Quilts)  inspired two quilts. I was not excited about the original piece, so I cut it into two separate quilts and worked each into different designs.  The larger quilt named Frogs in Space included raw edge applique of frogs and dragonflys to depict motion in space. The second and smaller quilt is called Moon Over Bay Bridge (San Francisco).  The moon is embellished with beads for a reflective glimmer.

Moon Over Bay Bridge 2010

Painted Ladies

De Paris - If Matisse Designed Shoes ~ 2011

This quilt was constructed using all commercial fabrics and raw machine applique.  The pattern was inspired from a photo of one of San Francisco's Victorian homes, sometimes known as the painted Ladies.

I taught my original Painted Ladies pattern to a local group of art quilters.  Although the students used the same pattern, each house was an individual work of art.

An other challenge ... feathers.  I used a real peacock feather, layering fabric, misty fuse, feather, and black silk organza.  The outline of the feather is machine quilted with embroidery thread.  The organza was cut out of the center of the feather's eye, leaving a part of the real feather exposed. The hand work around the feather uses 100% Rayon Brazilian Embroidery Threads.  While these threads are more difficult to sew, they offer nice texture and a beautiful sheen.

Peacock Feather (2012)

Peacock Feather (2012) - Detail

Just returned from a week in Calaveras county.  We hiked into Lake Alpine, into Big Trees State Park and into Natural Bridges and skied Bear Valley in unexpected Spring like weather. 

This photo was taken on a hike into Natural Bridges which is on 

Parrott's Ferry Road between the towns of Murphys and Columbia, CA.

On Raven's Wing - January 2012

On Raven's Wing - Private Collection

On Raven's Wing - Detail

"On Raven's Wing" was a challenge quilt for Desert Quilters of Nevada - Art Quilt's Etc. group.  The challenge was "feathers."

The design was made using two photographs; one of a raven and the other of a feather detail.

The background feathers were quilted with a walking foot, while the raven was free motion quilted.

Fabric paints were applied to the raven's beak and to the feathers. Machine embroidery threads were used to add a reflective sheen to the feathers and the raven's eye.

Hello friends, family and interested persons ... I often get asked about the type of work I do in fiber arts.  On this blog I would like to share my work as well as some of the techniques I have developed.
Things to come .... thread work on fabric using photos as a template for design.