Friday 29 October 2010

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Morning Swim

I decided to share another of my beach scene quilts, since I've just finished this one, and they're becoming a bit of a trademark for me.

I designed this quilt at the same time as 'Through the Arched Window', when I was playing with variations on my beach scene designs, looking for a suitable one to turn into the pattern.

I have now made five of these (click on the links to see them: Seaside, Breakfast on the Beach, Footsteps, Through the Arched Window and this one) since my first Beach quilt which was made using 2in squares and some small foundation-pieced sections. I find good sand fabrics hardest to come by, and deliberately designed this quilt without a beach section.


I off-set the rising sun, and marked portions of the water foundations where I wanted lighter fabrics, to represent the sun reflecting on the water.


In hindsight, I didn't pull this off too well (I needed more fabrics, narrower and more horizontal strips, and more contrast to achieve the look I wanted) but managed to give some of the effect with the quilting - this area of the water was quilted with yellow thread, in wavy lines ending on points while the rest of the water was quilted with blue and aqua threads, in curvy lines and swirls.

I think I've said it before, but these quilts get easier and easier as my collection of fabrics grows! And because I only use small pieces from each fabric, I know there are plenty more in my future; it's just a case of coming up with new designs.


I had some difficulty with thread breakages while quilting this quilt, and I think it was due to the fairly tough backing fabric - another lesson learned! Eventually I solved it by going up a needle size, from an 80/12 topstitch, to a 90/14, even though my thread choices wouldn't normally warrant this. Everything worked fine on my scrap sandwich with the other needle, and the only difference was the backing fabric on that - a piece of regular white cotton. The backing for this quilt is proper quiltbacking, and is the perfect colour/design for my beach scene quilts, but isn't quite as fine as it should be, and is quite stiff.


I quilted the sky in a cloud pattern using some super-fine (100wt) Wonderfil thread I bought at AMQF. It's a little darker than I had really wanted, but is beautifully fine. I did have breakage issues with it, too, but I will blame the backing rather than the thread for now. I really didn't want to go with an even bigger needle for that; on most things I would have used a 60 or 70 needle with such fine thread, and the 80 was leaving big enough holes already!


My new challenge is a variation on the theme. I have always loved snow and snowflakes (funnily enough, I don't actually like the beach!), and have a substantial collection of snowflake prints. Now I have started collecting snowy scenes etc, with the plan of making some snow-scene quilts.


Thank you for visiting! I will try to respond to all the comments I receive, and to visit all of your blogs in return.

For those of you who are new to my blog, I also do traditional piecing - but usually with a bit of a twist, applique, and am exploring wholecloth quilts. I hope you'll come back and have a look around - when you've got some time! The lists of my recent quilts by year on the right are actually links; just click on any to go directly to the main post about that quilt.

Now go and check out the rest of the fesitval entries:

Amy's Creative Side - Blogger's Quilt Festival

39 comments:

Lonci said...

Fabulous, very nice quilt:)

Quiltbenaco said...

Io invece dico Meraviglioso...
Ciao Domenica

Karen said...

Love the water in this quilt. It looks fractured just like it would when the sun is shining on it.

Rebecka said...

I love it! Beautiful!!! The ocean is so calming.

Debbie said...

Love your ocean scenes. You blended the fabrics very well ....great job.

Vicki W said...

I love all of your beach quilts!

Lauren Phelps said...

WOW This is very impressive! Thanks for sharing!

Angie in SoCal said...

Wonderful! I see I'm going to have to go through your blog to see these other beach quilts. Your use of light fabrics for reflected light was quite effective.

Congratulations! and thank you for sharing.

Doris said...

My VERY favorite so far, and I'm adding you to my Google Reader!

Carol said...

Pretty. I love the close-up of the sun and sea section.

Alex Daw said...

I'm with Doris. I like this one best of all. You are so clever. It's just beautiful.

Chris said...

What a creative quilt. I love it.

Marjorie said...

I'm newly in love with mono-chromatic random piecing. Yours just raises the bar.

Allie said...

So so beautiful - ocean-themed are my favorite, and this is spectacular! Excellent job!

Anonymous said...

A quilt after my heart. Beautiful job!

Marianne said...

This is fantastic. I love how you used yellow thread to quilt the sun shine. So clever

Anonymous said...

I love this quilt - it's stunning! And even if you didn't get the effect you wanted with the water, I was thinking as I looked at it "I love how her piecing really gives the effect of the sun refracting the water." - so it worked for me! ;)

quilthexle said...

Beautiful quilt! I love all the little details to find. And the position of the sun and the reflections are just perfect!

AnnieO said...

There are not many pictoral quilts in the Festival so yours stands out a lot! This is gorgeous and I think you're a bit too hard on yourself in the critique :) Thanks for sharing your quilt's story!

Angie said...

The details really make this quilt. Beautiful job!

Karen said...

I am always inspired by your quilts and the beautiful work that you you do. I love the richness of the colours and your wonderful quilting.
Thank you!

Deborah OHare said...

I love the way you have done the sea in this quilt. I just might have to try it myself

Vicki said...

very beautiful quilt!

Melinda said...

I remember being in awe of your quilt last time, and I think I'm even more in awe of this one! It's hard for me to believe that your artwork and my sloppy piecing can both be quilting! It's wonderful!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful!

Sabine said...

What a lovely quilt! The blues are fantastic and, to me, it really gives off an underwater feeling. Great job!

The Thompsons said...

Wow- what a fun and vibrant quilt - love the theme and the colors!

Anonymous said...

I am amazed & quite impressed by your work! It is absolutely stunning!

~ Meagan

mamammelloves said...

Wow! That is a wonderful quilt! I love it! :)

Liz in Ypsilanti said...

I've gone through and looked at your various beach-themed quilts. They're very lovely, very lively, and show a real sparkle. I do plan to visit your blog again. I think I could learn from you!

Nima said...

wow..gorgeous piece of work

Cynthia said...

This is so pretty! I love the ocean and all the different fish!

Liz, Quilt Adventurer said...

this is FABULOUS! I love the colours and the sparkling of the water. I've been looking for ideas on water...words fail. Lovely. Thank you very much for this special piece.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely LOVING this art quilt! I love how the stitching highlights the sea creatures... Love it!!!

Monique Kleinhans said...

Beautiful job! I love it!

Silvana (BRazil) said...

Absolutely Stunning!!!
Great Great Job

Heidi said...

Gorgeous !
And I'm absolutely in awe about your wholecloth doll quilt
Greetings from Germany

Unknown said...

I think your quilt is beautiful and it does look like the sea...calming on a beautiful sunny morning!


hugz
Pam

Eileen said...

great and beautiful quilt! how wonderful you've done such marvelous things. thanks for sharing and have a great day