I am well on my way to making my tree wallhanging for September, based on BC trees.
For the past month I have been taking pictures of trees, all sorts of varieties, shapes and sizes.
Last weekend I went to a quilt show in Sechelt. I was so inspired by the trees at the show that I purchased a jelly roll of “moda – Summer’s End, Kansas Troubles Quilters” fabrics for the front, a package of “Trendtex National Shop Hop 2008 – Greetings from Canada by Thimbleberries” for the back along with a variety of fat quarters to fill in the gaps in the back, all at very reasonable (1/2 off) prices I might add.
My idea for the front is to only use the moda fabrics and use the rest on the back.
I spent last Sunday making up a grid, this Thursday cutting squares and along with Friday designing the front side and sewed 12 rows (48 rows in total) together on Saturday. The finished piece will be 84” x 22”.
I’ve tried to represent BC trees in a variety of shapes and sizes. I have made 5 trees altogether; a big tall one is a Lodgepole Pine, one is a Sitka Spruce and the one with the reddish bark is an Arbutus tree is.
I designed the piece on the grid paper taped to the back of a chair, draped accross from the dining room table and then taped to the other end of the table. I folded the pieces over between the paper as to make it small enough to move to the much smaller cutting table in the art studio.
I have noticed that although I tried to be diligent in placing a piece of fabric into each square, as I sew the design together, it doesn’t always fit as well as I hoped and I’ve already had to patch a few pieces together. I am however having great fun as it is just like fitting a puzzle together. I also hope it looks a lot better once it is sewn together.
I hope to be ready to quilt by early August so that when I can bind the piece and have it finished for September. Just have to figure out how to hang it and incorporate before I bind.
Last Saturday I spent 4 hours getting lessons on how to take better pictures of my quilts and enhance them in Photoshop. I learned a huge amount and am grateful this time was offered to me.
I have also pinned together a quilt for one of my grandsons.
And I have loaded Adobe Design Standard CS5.5 onto my computer, purchased some manuals and have been busy reading up on the subject.
Must go to sew.