Dreaming Down Under

Here's a snap (sorry it's not the greatest) of my "Dreaming Down Under" (c) 2007 that is in Myrah Green Brown's Pieced Symbols: Quilt Blocks from the Global Village. It uses Myrah's foundation pieced patterns in a quilt of my own arrangement.

On the QuiltArt email list, Myrah asked for volunteers to make quilts from her patterns. Intrigued by her concept of global symbols, I volunteered! I had fun working with Myrah's patterns. I enlarged the two figures in the center so that they would be appropriately sized with three each of the other two Australian symbols she assigned me, and extended the hair into the borders. The fabrics are mostly Indonesian batiks, but there are a couple of commercial fabrics, one of which is visible in the detail shot, which were designed by Aboriginal artists.

Thanks to Myrah for letting me be part of her project and for creating such a great book!

(Foundation piecing is still not my favorite way to make quilts, though there are times when it is the best way to get the effect I want!)

A Gazebo for Jo Ann (private collection)

Here's some pics from a recent commission I completed. An online friend wanted a Christmas gift for his wife. We discussed several possibilities and settled on a gazebo theme. He sent me some photos of what turned out to be a gazebo on their beloved home which they had recently sold. I knew that they take care of their grandkids, so I zero'd in on the tire swing as an element that had to be in the quilt, as well as the wooden bridge and the great twisty tree branch. I took some poetic license to arrange the elements (all were NOT visible at once in any of the photos he sent). Once Jeff agreed on the design, I was off and running!

Close up of the gazebo showing some of the quilting! The white deck furniture was very narrow thin pieces of fusible and a bit of a pain! But I was pleased the way it turned out. The gazebo needed them. The fabric I chose represents both the light and shadow on the gazebo and the crosshatched lath composition.

I asked about any wildflowers (none were in the pics he sent) and he said Texas Bluebonnets. I found a fabric which depicted a bit of a storm-at-sea quilt but worked very well for the dark and light of the bluebonnets. You can also see some of the beading I scattered to represent other wildflowers.

The tire swing. I used a black on black floral for the tread and a dark gray fabric for the rest.

This was a great commission to work on, I really enjoyed it. I put a big push at the end to get it done a day earlier than planned, but it still got stalled in Baltimore during the big snow of December 19th. Jeff and I were checking the UPS tracking about every fifteen minutes, but it made it to Texas for Christmas.

All pictures and text copyright Betsy True 2009, 2010.