JANUARY 2021: A COUPLE OF QUILTS

                                                           So Much Fun Elephant Quilts

I had little hope of ever having a grandchild. One of my sons has always been clear that he did not wish to ever have children. The other was not big on the idea. But the man I married late in life, who also has 2 sons ... well both his sons have plunged into the world of fatherhood. I am loving seeing these 2 young men in their new roles. They have both taken to it in such a heartwarming manner and both with lovely partners. This has widened our world in such a beautiful way. So "Pops" and I (Grandma Deb) have gone from zero to THREE granddaughters in just over 2 years. I love seeing Pops interacting with his granddaughters, they bring a magical light to his eyes.

So the photo above shows granddaughter number 2 showing off her Grandma Deb quilt. I found the free Windham pattern on Pinterest. Printed it and then graphed it to size on a large sheet of plain newsprint. The elephant and all the droplet pieces were traced to freezer paper and hand appliqued. I love the happiness of the pattern, what a joy it was to hand quilt. Oh and good use for my leftover 30s reproduction prints. 

It was so much fun that I made a second similar quilt for granddaughter number 3, number 2's cousin.

                                                                 Backpack Quilt

This quilt was inspired by a beautiful day on my 2019 Via de la Plata Camino, I was walking with kindly pelegrina and now friend Lonny from the Nederlands. We had found a spot in a field to stop and have lunch. The pack and boots were not in the original photo so I took a separate photo of them and worked them in. I have been learning line and wash watercolour and enjoy mixing the 2 art forms by using black thread and black pen. 

I  have a large selection of fabrics that I have dyed and painted over the years which I wanted to use. Although the tree fabric, as you can see, is a commercial fabric, which I just could not resist using. I am happy with the result and feel that it works well in the piece. 

One rule of art is to not put anything in the centre which I have broken twice in this piece, the horizon is smack in the centre ... that is because my painted pieces were only so big, just worked out that way. The second rule breaker is that the tree trunk is close to centre, I have worked around that by the placement of the path, pack and boots which draw the eye downward and to the right.

I love the leaves, randomly cut out of treasured marbled fabric that I created about 20 years ago.

So the pack and boots, back to line and wash .... I cut them out and started drawing details and shading with a black micron pen. That was fun and rewarding as I think both came out quite well.

The piece is bound with black fabric, not really visible in this not great photo.

                                The piece is called Chica Feliz and represents my happy place.