Quiltie -- Quilter' Bookshelf

This is a small quiltie, about 6x7". The "books" are selvages and the border as well is a selvage although the part with the color dots is on the the back. It was made for a swap-bot partner and is now in the mail on its way. The idea was borrowed from a post last week on the Selvage Blog [see right sidebar].

Although the idea of miniaturizing things [like quilts] in this way seems a bit juvenile to me, I must admit it's fun to sit down and complete a project in a couple of hours, even doing a bit of hand quilting, which I enjoy doing but don't do with larger quilts because I am unwilling to spend precious time doing it I might if I were a TV watcher but I am not. So I'd rather be reading.

Break from color, briefly

Challenged to make a "quiltie" for a swap I decided to trying something I've never done before. This little 7x7 inch piece was make using a technique in the latest Quilting Arts Magazine. First I quilted the piece in a squared spiral using thin cotton batting under a tightly woven pine and white striped decorator fabric. Then I finished it with a pillow case type backing so it would not need a binding. Then I painted it lightly with white acrylic letting the pink stripes show through. Then I added the pears using a photo I had taken of a couple of pears that were almost too pretty to eat [but eat them I did] and drew on the quiltie with thin and fat Sharpies.

Of course one cannot blend with Sharpies but I feel I have control and I have absolutely no experience with paints and am anything but secure in my drawing ability. I was pleased that they look like pears and having discovered I actually can draw a recognizable facsimile I may use the technique again for my next quiltie in what may become a year-long series -- I'll tackle some other edible.

Thinking about doing it took quite a bit of time but the actual doing didn't take long at all. And so then it was back to my stars. There will be twenty. I have three and a half to do. I feel I am learning about color, value, and so on. It's wonderful to find myself actually accomplishing something I never felt comfortable with before.