Being a transplanted New Englander (I'm living in Alabama now) my first thought when I saw fall colors was the changing leaves.
I started out by selecting a piece for the sky and appliqued a photo transfer of a mountain. Then for the ground covering I spread out the little "dog ears" that are cut from triangles, covered it with tulle and quilted over them to keep them in place. There was too much white so I colored over them with a green marker. It was supposed to represent a field that was still green with flowers scattered around. The picture kind of wiped out the green and gave it, in my opinion, a frosty look. I like that better.
The big tree in the center was a copy of a tree in my yard without the leaves. It and the other tree to it's left were partially thread painted to give them some dimension.
The other trees and deer were fused on and appliqued down with invisible thread and quilted with gold metallic thread. The sky was quilted with invisible thread.
I love 3D and embellish everything that I can but for this the 3D was my biggest challenge. I couldn't think of anything that would look right. Finally I started a mental litany of things I had used previously and when I got to "twigs from the yard" I decided that would solve my problem. It doesn't really show up in the picture but the little dead tree with the branch going over the deer is a real twig.
BTW- my sister, who's husband is a hunter, couldn't figure out why that deer has horns and spots. I have since removed the spots so he is now full grown. I had just cut it out and never gave it a thought.
Betty
Hi Betty, What a vivid piece! I really like the complementary blue and orange color scheme. It's full of interesting texture with the different fabric patterns. I think your depth is successful, too with the placement and overlapping of the trees and shrubs and the mountains in the background.
ReplyDeleteCynthia
I have been sitting here looking at your quilt for a while now (even though I should be doing dishes). There are so many things I love about the quilt that it took me a while to figure out what 'bothers' me.
ReplyDeleteFirst, the sky and the mountain are wonderful. That sky looks like my Pennsylvania sky today with the clouds hanging over and giving a grey/blue cast over everything.
The deer is wonderful! And the trees are so lifelike. I love the way you have formed the branches and have the leaves so textured and the colors are wonderful.
I guess the thing that had me puzzled is why would all of the trees have leaves and yet the one in the middle be bare? The shape of the center tres is nice, but it seems off to put leaves on the trees around it and not on the one in the middle.
Also the pattern in the binding fabric is distracting. The sky is the first thing that draws my eye and then the binding above it is too textured.
This quilt is beautiful and I would feel bad if I clicked away without suggesting making the binding solid and adding leaves to the center tree.
I really do love your quilt, as it represents a scene from my backyard!
Please share how you created the sky!
The sky was just a pice of fabric from my stash that I quilted with invisible thread to give the illusion of "almost" clouds. The sky that I'm looking at right now has that same kind of feeling for me.
ReplyDeleteThe tree with no leaves was just a tired tree, out in the pasture that had given it's all. All the years of frost had finally taken it's toll. The surrounding trees are a new generation.
Betty
Your quilt has a lovely dream-like quality. Maybe that's because of the predominance of the blue. All that blue really makes the autumny oranges and reds pop.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have noticed the horns and spots on the deer, I actually can't see the horns at all, but I think removing the spots was the right thing to do--having a more solid-colored deer would help distinguish it more from the busy (in a good way) confetti background.