Twenty Years in the Garden....Finished!

Oh, how I have enjoyed this project.
It was a much needed interlude between finishing the book with Val and a new endeavor which will keep me quite busy until mid-May (when I can tell you about it; I'm quite excited!)

All the vegetable beds planted looks like this:

The corn is a little short.  But I didn't have enough ribbon to make it taller!
Such are the problems when gardening and embroidery meet.

As we all should do with our finished projects, I provided a label with some documentation.

It includes a photo that inspired my quilt too.

I made a simple binding from turning the backing fabric to the front in a fold, and appliqueing it down.  But I dressed it up with some couched cording.

This was a nice opportunity for me to get a little more warm color into the piece.

And now it is done and mailed off to the Quilt Alliance for their "Twenty" contest, exhibit, and fundraiser (though I'm not eligible for the contest as a serving board member, I love to participate each year.)

Happy Gardening, everyone.  Tis the season!

Embellisher Experiment #4, Finished

My sister, when asked for her preference, said she wanted a nice neat binding on this piece. Cleaning up the edges sure turned this experiment into a "quilt".
This squaring things up changed the whole idiom to me, the compositional issues, everything. Plus, it has been awhile since I sewed on a little binding!

I added some stitching around the central elements to define them a little better...also filled in my "lace" with some more ribbonwork, too.

Here is is finished. It measures 15" X 15".
If I were to do this again, I would try to integrate the central square with it's frame better. To me the one just sits atop the other, and the techniques used on each--machine applique and felting--seem separate too. Or maybe the proportion of the center to the frame isn't quite right. I hope Mary will like it anyway....as for me, I definitely see this as a rough go at the concept, one that could be improved.
And I have to say, I liked the ragged edges better....

Welcome, 2008!!!

Are these years flying by or what?

January has come in with lots of cold, wind, rain, and snow on the hills out the window...a proper beginning to this new year it is!

I have been feverishly working on my H quilt over the holidays, trying my best to reach my goal of its completion by today....I came very, very close, as you shall see, but not quite.
Between that consuming goal and holiday happenings and visitors, I have been incommunicado with my friends, not emailing or reading too many blogs either. But I plan on easing back into my beloved online life over the next few days.

Here is a detail of the binding. Imagine four separate "passes" going around the whole quilt: first the black silk binding was hand appliqued on; next the orange rick rack was attached with those #8 cherry colored beads; then came approximately 32 yards' worth of red 4mm silk ribbon in those lazy daisies (involving one repeat trip to the store, as 20 yards was nowhere near enough); finally, the sandalwood beads went on.
I was really starting to feel hostage to this quilt!

You can get an idea of the overall effect. I still need to fold the black binding to the back and and sew it down...and add the hanging sleeve. But then this puppy is done.
Which is a good thing, because I got some books for Christmas that have me all inspired and wanting to try new things!

Quilt Savvy is a collection of stitch diagrams, rather like Carole Sample's book, A Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches. The ones in here have a nice clean look to them which I like, and don't use a whole lot of esoteric stitches...just the basic ones combined in some fresh (to me) ways.
A-Z Thread Painting is just that. I would like to try my hand at this for sure.
The two volume Margaret Fuller bio, recommended by JoWynn, is more for broadening my inner perspective--as biographies are meant to do. But I am hoping that will be conveyed in more fearless choices in my needlework.

I bagged some big game in the book department this Christmas, too....

Yes, the Holy Grail of the crazy quilt world, long out of print and hard to come by...I am now the proud owner of a mint condition copy of Crazy Quilts, by Penny McMorris.
YES!!!!!
(Powell's Books, as of last week, has another copy, only it is in hardback and is selling for $150.)

May the new year bring us all lots of adventures in stitching....I can't wait to share mine with you all.
And from my family to yours, Happy New Year!!!