Leslie's Gobsmacker Quilt is online

In article ,
(The HairyFacedOnes 'N Me) wrote:

Many, many thanks to Kellie for doing this for me.... what a gal!

Sadly, I am a much better quilter than photographer. It sure doesn't
look so "gobsmacky" when reduced to the dulled colors and lack of detail
in the pictures. Darn. Darn. Darn. Anyway, you can see it at:

http://www.hamiltonpipeband.org/bergerfamily/leslie.htm

Nope, this is definitely a gobsmacker, Leslie! G It's gorgeous!!

I haven't decided yet whether to applique' the large leaves on the
border, so y'all may tell me what you think. With or without? ;-)

IMHO -- with! I love the effect of those leaves in the border.

Congratulations, Leslie -- it's truly beautiful.

--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
my ISP is earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~s-foster

Ooooo Leslie!!! I'm not much for art quilts usually but this one has made me
a believer. It is absolutely yummy and I am totally gobsmacked. You Go Girl.

--
Anne in CA
"It's not having what you want; it's wanting what you've got." -- Sheryl
Crow
http://home.covad.net/~arudolph/annes.htm


The HairyFacedOnes 'N Me wrote:

Many, many thanks to Kellie for doing this for me.... what a gal!

Sadly, I am a much better quilter than photographer. It sure doesn't
look so "gobsmacky" when reduced to the dulled colors and lack of detail
in the pictures. Darn. Darn. Darn. Anyway, you can see it at:

http://www.hamiltonpipeband.org/bergerfamily/leslie.htm

I haven't decided yet whether to applique' the large leaves on the
border, so y'all may tell me what you think. With or without? ;-)

Leslie spitting on my stoopid camera

The HairyFacedOnes 'N Me- My dogs aren't my whole life...they make my
life whole.

RCTQ- Houston 2004..... A good friend will come and bail you out of
jail.... but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...
that was fun!"

Leslie wrote:

Many, many thanks to Kellie for doing this for me.... what a gal!

Sadly, I am a much better quilter than photographer. It sure doesn't
look so "gobsmacky" when reduced to the dulled colors and lack of detail
in the pictures. Darn. Darn. Darn. Anyway, you can see it at:

http://www.hamiltonpipeband.org/bergerfamily/leslie.htm

Usually when someone posts a link to their quilts, I'll click on 'em,
admire, and continue lurking. But *your* quilt... it's gorgeous. I like
the bruised stormy look of the background, the way the tree dances, and
the contrast in the small leaves being blown around. It's the quilt I'd
like to make someday (if I move beyond "beginner" to be a good
quilter). I hope you feel proud of yourself... that's one amazing
quilt.


I haven't decided yet whether to applique' the large leaves on the
border, so y'all may tell me what you think. With or without? ;-)

I think the big leaves are pretty, but I'd sure like to see what they'd
look like at the bottom left corner, like another poster said. I also
really like the first picture, with no big leaves at all. IMO, that
looks more like "art" where with the leaves I think it looks more
"quilt."

I have so many questions. Did you use a pattern, or design one of your
own? How did you sew it? Did it take forever to cut out all the little
leaves? How big is it? How long did it take? I'd love if you posted the
story of how you made your quilt.


Cina, awestruck

Cool! Wonder how that would look in my future condo?

--
LN in NH
a crazy quilter * hand quilter * & hand appliquér
all in all --- a very slow quilter.... So send quilts!
http://photos.yahoo.com/lns_obsessed

"The HairyFacedOnes 'N Me" wrote in message
...
Many, many thanks to Kellie for doing this for me.... what a gal!

Sadly, I am a much better quilter than photographer. It sure doesn't
look so "gobsmacky" when reduced to the dulled colors and lack of detail
in the pictures. Darn. Darn. Darn. Anyway, you can see it at:

http://www.hamiltonpipeband.org/bergerfamily/leslie.htm

I haven't decided yet whether to applique' the large leaves on the
border, so y'all may tell me what you think. With or without? ;-)

Leslie spitting on my stoopid camera

The HairyFacedOnes 'N Me- My dogs aren't my whole life...they make my
life whole.

RCTQ- Houston 2004..... A good friend will come and bail you out of
jail.... but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...
that was fun!"

With. IMHO definately with.
Mickie

"The HairyFacedOnes 'N Me" wrote in message
...
Many, many thanks to Kellie for doing this for me.... what a gal!

Sadly, I am a much better quilter than photographer. It sure doesn't
look so "gobsmacky" when reduced to the dulled colors and lack of detail
in the pictures. Darn. Darn. Darn. Anyway, you can see it at:

http://www.hamiltonpipeband.org/bergerfamily/leslie.htm

I haven't decided yet whether to applique' the large leaves on the
border, so y'all may tell me what you think. With or without? ;-)

Leslie spitting on my stoopid camera

The HairyFacedOnes 'N Me- My dogs aren't my whole life...they make my
life whole.

RCTQ- Houston 2004..... A good friend will come and bail you out of
jail.... but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...
that was fun!"

"Cina" wrote in message ...
snipped and edited
the bruised stormy look of the background, the way the tree dances, and
the contrast in the small leaves being blown around. It's the quilt I'd
like to make someday (if I move beyond "beginner" to be a good
quilter). I hope you feel proud of yourself... that's one amazing
quilt.
I have so many questions. Did you use a pattern, or design one of your
own? How did you sew it? Did it take forever to cut out all the little
leaves? How big is it? How long did it take? I'd love if you posted the
story of how you made your quilt.
Cina, awestruck

Cina, your description of Leslie's Gobsmacker Quilt is so poetic!
And yes, Leslie, do tell all - Cina's questions are probably in a lot of
our minds too, including mine!
Mickie

Leslie --

Very beautiful. You have done a wonderful job.

Love in Stitches,

Coleen
Queen of Loving Stitches

"The HairyFacedOnes 'N Me" wrote in message
...
Many, many thanks to Kellie for doing this for me.... what a gal!

Sadly, I am a much better quilter than photographer. It sure doesn't
look so "gobsmacky" when reduced to the dulled colors and lack of detail
in the pictures. Darn. Darn. Darn. Anyway, you can see it at:

I have so many questions. Did you use a pattern, or design one of
your own? How did you sew it? Did it take forever to cut out all the
little leaves? How big is it? How long did it take? I'd love if you
posted the story of how you made your quilt.
Cina, awestruck

Jeepers. Now I'm gobsmacked at your reactions! Thank you, everybody,
for the amazing, flattering, wonderful comments you have made. I was so
pleased at how this little quilt came together, but this has really
reinforced what I hoped I achieved. Thank you from my heart to all of
you!

It's my own design. It started with the small leaf print fabric. I had
just a single FQ- it's cream with the various fall colored leaves spaced
about 1/2 in. apart. I used Wonder Under and bonded the entire FQ of
leaf print to a dull orange-ish fabric for a backing. Then I cut the
individual leaves. Yep, very time-consuming and very hard on my
arthritic hands. But so worth the effort.

I drew the tree on freezer paper. I drew a tree, then cut off some of
the branches to re-arrange them to look wind blown, then drew it again.
The base of the trunk was an inspiration- it didn't look right until I
threw in those strange, oddly curved lines. I rough cut out the tree
shape and then ironed the tree drawing to the right side of a brown
batik- it had interesting lines, shadings and movement in the batik. I
cut the tree on the drawn lines, used a glue stick on the wrong side of
the tree and glued it to the background fabric. Then I peeled off the
freezer paper. Doing it that way prevented the fragile skinny branches
and pointy tips from getting damaged or moved out of their correct
positions.

The background fabric is a boo-boo I made when experimenting with my
first attempt at dyeing fabric. It was such a strange mustard-y gold
with root beer brown splotches..... I didn't like it much and had
pushed it to the rear of my hand-dyes. I never thought I'd use it. ;-)

After gluing the tree in place, I outline stitched it using a straight
stitch- very close to the edge- with invisible smoke colored thread to
hold the edges down (raw edges). I added a 6 in. wide brown with black
texture print border to the left side. That was too wide, so I trimmed
it to 4 in. It looked much better and more balanced with the narrower
border. Then I sandwiched and pin basted the top to a wild brown/tan
print for backing using Warm & White for the batting. I buy the W&W by
the bolt at Joann's with a 50% off coupon. The gold area measures
17-3/4X19-1/4. That's just what it ended up when I squared it up after
quilting. I kept it as large as possible when I squared the corners and
sides.

I quilted the tree first using a walking foot. I started at the base
and went up to the tallest branch. I kept starting at the base and
going up to the tip of the branches, back down the branch and up the
next branch. This created a bark like texture to the trunk since the
lines of stitching are not straight or parallel. I used a deep brown
cotton thread on the tree- top and bobbin.

The body of the gold area was quilted with invisible thread in smoke
color using the walking foot- I kept the same brown cotton thread in the
bobbin. First, I marked it at a 45 degree angle and made a loose curve
which went into a loop and then a slight curve to the next loop- my
thoughts on how to represent those fickle autumn winds and the way
falling leaves dance around on it. As I quilted these I randomly stuck
a leaf under the needle and quilted a single line thru the leaf to
attach it. The leaves are raw edged and 3D. The loop-de-loop quilting
lines are 3-1/2 in. part. When they were done I added a medium size
meander quilting between the loop-de-loops and the tree branches using a
free motion foot with the feed dogs UP. I feel leaving the dogs up
gives me more control in the size of my free motion stitches- works for
me every time- so I don't fix what ain't broke! The first time I did
that was an accident- I forgot to drop the dogs! I quilted in the ditch
between the brown border and the gold background (back to the walking
foot there) then quilted medium meanders in the brown border (back to
the free motion foot). Then I added the binding to match the border.

The large leaves were found on several different autumn prints. I cut
chunks of Wonder Under larger than the individual leaf and ironed it to
the wrong side- then cut the leaf out on the edge of the leaf shape. I
removed the paper and bonded it to a similar colored fabric for the
backing and cut it out on the edge again. Using matching rayon thread
on top and matching cotton thread in the bobbin and my very favorite
stabilizer "Easy Stitch", I did a narrow satin stitch around the edge of
each leaf. Easy Stitch is cheap (bought a bolt from Big Horn for a very
reasonable price!) and feeds thru the machine extremely well. It has a
slightly "rubbery" feel so the machine can grip it very well and I think
it helps make my satin stitches extra smooth, well spaced and just plain
prettier. ;-) Another advantage is that when you tear it off after
doing your stitching you still get the icky little whiskers that
stabilizers are famous for, but with Easy Stitch, you can use a hot iron
on it and the whiskers disappear! I LOVE that about it. (This is
contrary to the manufacturer's instructions.... but it works for me.)

For some reason I'm doing a lot of work with trees lately! I made a
landscape quilt for my DS and DDIL's vow renewal ceremony this fall and
am working on another one..... that a friend has talked me out of by
offering to buy it. I'd rather give the darn thing away than try come
up with a price! Forget it, LN! LOL

Oh. Once I got the silly leaves cut out over a period of about a week
working a few hours at a time- the quilt only took about 8 hours. Then
the binding. That took HOURS! Ugh! Hand work.... :-P

Again, I'm humbled by all the wonderful praise. Now I want to make
another, even better, quilt and see what you say about that one! You
have created a monster! vbg (This is the ONLY quilt photo I have ever
shown y'all in the five years I've been on rctq. It was that special to
me.)

Leslie thrilled and so pleased.... and gobsmacked again

The HairyFacedOnes 'N Me- My dogs aren't my whole life...they make my
life whole.

RCTQ- Houston 2004..... A good friend will come and bail you out of
jail.... but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...
that was fun!"

We have created a monster? Us? Oh, come now, Leslie. That is just one of our
favorite things.
Now I think we should get your quilt and your writing in a magazine.
Your tale of how you did it is very interesting and helpful. I have some
leaves to appliqué and I believe you've aimed me to a way that would work
better. Polly

"The HairyFacedOnes 'N Me" wrote
Jeepers. Now I'm gobsmacked at your reactions! Thank you, everybody,
for the amazing, flattering, wonderful comments you have made. I was so
pleased at how this little quilt came together, but this has really
reinforced what I hoped I achieved. Thank you from my heart to all of
you!

It's my own design. It started with the small leaf print fabric. I had
just a single FQ- it's cream with the various fall colored leaves spaced
about 1/2 in. apart. I used Wonder Under and bonded the entire FQ of
leaf print to a dull orange-ish fabric for a backing. Then I cut the
individual leaves. Yep, very time-consuming and very hard on my
arthritic hands. But so worth the effort.

I drew the tree on freezer paper. I drew a tree, then cut off some of
the branches to re-arrange them to look wind blown, then drew it again.
The base of the trunk was an inspiration- it didn't look right until I
threw in those strange, oddly curved lines. I rough cut out the tree
shape and then ironed the tree drawing to the right side of a brown
batik- it had interesting lines, shadings and movement in the batik. I
cut the tree on the drawn lines, used a glue stick on the wrong side of
the tree and glued it to the background fabric. Then I peeled off the
freezer paper. Doing it that way prevented the fragile skinny branches
and pointy tips from getting damaged or moved out of their correct
positions.

The background fabric is a boo-boo I made when experimenting with my
first attempt at dyeing fabric. It was such a strange mustard-y gold
with root beer brown splotches..... I didn't like it much and had
pushed it to the rear of my hand-dyes. I never thought I'd use it. ;-)

After gluing the tree in place, I outline stitched it using a straight
stitch- very close to the edge- with invisible smoke colored thread to
hold the edges down (raw edges). I added a 6 in. wide brown with black
texture print border to the left side. That was too wide, so I trimmed
it to 4 in. It looked much better and more balanced with the narrower
border. Then I sandwiched and pin basted the top to a wild brown/tan
print for backing using Warm & White for the batting. I buy the W&W by
the bolt at Joann's with a 50% off coupon. The gold area measures
17-3/4X19-1/4. That's just what it ended up when I squared it up after
quilting. I kept it as large as possible when I squared the corners and
sides.

I quilted the tree first using a walking foot. I started at the base
and went up to the tallest branch. I kept starting at the base and
going up to the tip of the branches, back down the branch and up the
next branch. This created a bark like texture to the trunk since the
lines of stitching are not straight or parallel. I used a deep brown
cotton thread on the tree- top and bobbin.

The body of the gold area was quilted with invisible thread in smoke
color using the walking foot- I kept the same brown cotton thread in the
bobbin. First, I marked it at a 45 degree angle and made a loose curve
which went into a loop and then a slight curve to the next loop- my
thoughts on how to represent those fickle autumn winds and the way
falling leaves dance around on it. As I quilted these I randomly stuck
a leaf under the needle and quilted a single line thru the leaf to
attach it. The leaves are raw edged and 3D. The loop-de-loop quilting
lines are 3-1/2 in. part. When they were done I added a medium size
meander quilting between the loop-de-loops and the tree branches using a
free motion foot with the feed dogs UP. I feel leaving the dogs up
gives me more control in the size of my free motion stitches- works for
me every time- so I don't fix what ain't broke! The first time I did
that was an accident- I forgot to drop the dogs! I quilted in the ditch
between the brown border and the gold background (back to the walking
foot there) then quilted medium meanders in the brown border (back to
the free motion foot). Then I added the binding to match the border.

The large leaves were found on several different autumn prints. I cut
chunks of Wonder Under larger than the individual leaf and ironed it to
the wrong side- then cut the leaf out on the edge of the leaf shape. I
removed the paper and bonded it to a similar colored fabric for the
backing and cut it out on the edge again. Using matching rayon thread
on top and matching cotton thread in the bobbin and my very favorite
stabilizer "Easy Stitch", I did a narrow satin stitch around the edge of
each leaf. Easy Stitch is cheap (bought a bolt from Big Horn for a very
reasonable price!) and feeds thru the machine extremely well. It has a
slightly "rubbery" feel so the machine can grip it very well and I think
it helps make my satin stitches extra smooth, well spaced and just plain
prettier. ;-) Another advantage is that when you tear it off after
doing your stitching you still get the icky little whiskers that
stabilizers are famous for, but with Easy Stitch, you can use a hot iron
on it and the whiskers disappear! I LOVE that about it. (This is
contrary to the manufacturer's instructions.... but it works for me.)

For some reason I'm doing a lot of work with trees lately! I made a
landscape quilt for my DS and DDIL's vow renewal ceremony this fall and
am working on another one..... that a friend has talked me out of by
offering to buy it. I'd rather give the darn thing away than try come
up with a price! Forget it, LN! LOL

Oh. Once I got the silly leaves cut out over a period of about a week
working a few hours at a time- the quilt only took about 8 hours. Then
the binding. That took HOURS! Ugh! Hand work.... :-P

Leslie:
Lovely ... a realistic portrait of Autumn day. I would like
something in between the two examples. Maybe some small or medium
size leaves on border. The large ones are a tad too large IMO.
Colors are terrific ... the space dyed (?) fabric is fantastic!!
PAT

The HairyFacedOnes 'N Me wrote:

Many, many thanks to Kellie for doing this for me.... what a gal!

Sadly, I am a much better quilter than photographer. It sure doesn't
look so "gobsmacky" when reduced to the dulled colors and lack of detail
in the pictures. Darn. Darn. Darn. Anyway, you can see it at:

http://www.hamiltonpipeband.org/bergerfamily/leslie.htm

I haven't decided yet whether to applique' the large leaves on the
border, so y'all may tell me what you think. With or without? ;-)