I apologize for disappearing for such a long period of time. Been caught up in holidays and such, trying to get things completed and out of my way so I can get back to my work. If I disappear again, it'll probably be the same thing. But as you all know, things should settle down come January.
Hopefully today's post will make your wait for my return worthwhile!
Earlier this year, I started a quilt based on one of my cross stitch designs titled, "Patrick". It was a small complimentary design but always one of my favorites.
I'm particularly fond of St. Patrick's Day. Not sure why, I've got a few ounces of Irish in me but not alot. I think I just like the whole "shamrock and green" thing. St. Patrick's Day marks the beginning of Spring here in the US and Spring is my absolute favorite time of year!
I wanted to do a larqe wholecloth crazy quilt, with a cat in a hat and the shamrock theme. So I based my cat idea on my Patrick cross stitch design. I knew I wanted him in an oval in the middle of the quilt with crazy patch around him. What a challenge!
I first cut my foundation fabric and then marked the center where the oval would be. I then did my foundation piecing around the outside.
My fabrics include, velveteen, brocades, cottons, satins, foiled netting and batiks. Once I had the foundation piecing completed, I focused on the cat.
The cat and the hat are hand appliqued as is the ribbon. My mother gave me a buckle from her stash and she crocheted the shamrock on the hat which I then hand dyed. I embellished it with a satin flower, some small white flower buttons and real green feathers. Those are tricky to sew on!
The next thing I did with the cat was to hand color him. I used oil pastels to give him some fur and highlights, working in layers and heat setting as I went along with my iron. Then I embroidered his little face. This was mostly done freehand except for marking where the eyes, nose and mouth belonged. I then embroidered the whiskers and foo-foo hairs. Last but not least, I added the organza type ribbon, tacking it in place along the edges with blind stitches. The shamrock charm is vintage. I found it in April at a quilt show in a booth that carried antique and vintage embellishments. It was perfect!
I then put the cat to the side and embellished the quilt. It took me 3 months! I loved every minute of it! I made the pansies from a canvas type fabric using the pattern in one of Judith Montano's books. There are a ton of ribbon flowers on here which I did while housesitting for my sister. The silver leaves are actually hand dyed, half purple, half green. It may be a bit hard to see here but it shows well in person.
This quilt is loaded with beads, new and vintage buttons, charms, vintage jewelry pieces, ribbon, yarn and ribbon embroidery. I used the feather stitch on many of the seams mostly because it's my favorite stitch but there are a few others as well.
When the embellishing was complete, I used a basting spray to hold some quilt batting in place behind the oval with the cat. I then hand appliqued that in place and added some vintage lace that I hand dyed around the outside and embellished that with sequins and beads.
At this point, all that was left was the finishing. I layered it with quilt batting and a backing fabric of a dark green cotton and used the green velveteen for the binding. I tacked all three layers with buttons on the back and added my quilt label. The finished size is 29 inches square. And here is the completed quilt:
To see a larger photo of "Lucky", please click
here. To see a few more photos of this quilt, visit my Flickr photo album
here.
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