Thursday, March 11, 2010

Flower Fields of Carlsbad




My landscape is the giant ranuncula flower fields of Carlsbad, Ca. It is 55 acres of glorious color every spring. I used this photo for inspiration (I don't know why the top two rows got cropped off the picture?). When I first decided to do this, my intentions were to do an abstract, loose interpretation, but the quilt had a mind of its own and I wound up doing a far more labor intense piece...


I painted the whole cloth base then heavily quilted it before adding any embellishments. I made more than 100 Victorian rusched flowers using a variety of silks, sheers, and even some suede cloth. They range in size from 1/2" to less than 1". Next I did hundreds of french knots, then beaded with many different types of beads and crystals. The final step was to make a second quilt sandwich using an extra loft batting and hand quilted the wavy divisions between the rows of flowers to create the dimension of the fields.


It measures 20 1/2"x 29"


This was a real challenge...


Comments most appreciated as always...thanks


Cherie
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10 comments:

  1. Jan3/11/10, 7:51 AM

    What else can be said other than GORGEOUS!

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  2. FoulkeArt3/11/10, 4:01 PM

    WOW! That is a spectacular piece! Gorgeous colors, and wonderful work. It is a joy just to look at it!

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  3. fastfriday3/11/10, 7:17 PM

    BRAVO! This is a spectacular piece. You have captured the field perfectly. Go Cherie !!!

    Pat Havey

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  4. Julia in NZ3/12/10, 4:03 AM

    What a labour of love. It glows with energy, the colours are great, and the detail made it all worth the effort. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Betty Donahue3/13/10, 11:27 AM

    WOW!! Quilts do have a way of telling us what they want.

    It was well worth the extra work. It is gorgeous and looks so much like the original.

    Betty

    ps- I didn't read the other comments until I had written this. Seems like we all have the same idea.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kathy Angel Lee3/14/10, 9:40 AM

    This piece is fabulous - I love the colors! The view must really be amazing in person.

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  7. Cherie in Del Mar3/14/10, 12:24 PM

    Thank you everyone :-) I wish I knew how to take a better picture. The details and dimension don't translate very well, but the colors are accurate.
    Here is a website you might like to look at with AWESOME pictures of the fields and individual giant ranuncula.
    Cherie


    http://www.homeofourfathers.com/lisbeth/journal29mar2007.htm

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  8. Cherie in Del Mar3/14/10, 2:54 PM

    To get to the flower field photos, click on the home page, scroll down to blog archives, scroll to 2007, then click on march 29. It really is worth the effort :-)
    Cherie

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  9. Linda Mac3/16/10, 1:07 PM

    I agree with all the comments above. This piece is spectacular.
    This will brighten any room.

    ReplyDelete
  10. janice pd3/16/10, 4:25 PM

    I love the colors and graphics of this. Nice job.

    ReplyDelete

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