A New Presentation

I wanted to find a way to present the quilts from my Notebook Series ( my weekly Journal Quilts) in a more prominent setting for the show at eba Art Gallery, since the pieces themselves were only 8" by 10".  I took artist canvas that measured 11" by 14" and wrapped it with hand-dyed fabric, stapled to the back.  I then framed each quilt with a fusible binding and mounted it to the canvas with a combination of decorative beads sewn at each corner.  The finished piece can be hung as is or placed inside a purchased frame to add even more dimension.  These quilts are shown on my website, www.DEsignedbyDianeEvans.com, and are for sale at prices ranging from $75 to $90.  Be sure to visit the site!

Moving along!

The design progresses!  Working from the bottom layer upward, I've appliqued more pieces to the background (top photo).  Each time a layer is added, I've cut away the black interfaced fabric from behind it (bottom photo), so that there will be no more than one layer of fabric on any part of the quilt top once it's done.  I use my seam ripper to begin cutting away the background, and then I switch to small applique scissors.  Before I start the cutting, I say a prayer that I won't cut into the applique itself -- this is an important step in the process and seems to help greatly . . .

My Latest Project

This is the beginning of my newest quilt project; I had started it almost 2 years ago and then stalled in my progress because the design just wasn't working for me.  I brought it to Quilting By The Lake and received invaluable suggestions from Philippa Naylor, and my enthusiasm came rushing back.  

The image at top left left is the section of the quilt with which I started -- it's easier to applique small pieces to a portion of the quilt, rather than the entire quilt top, which I anticipate 

will measure about 40" by 60".  Fusible interfacing has been ironed to each of the flowers; these are then machine-appliqued to the black background, which has also been interfaced.  The circles have been fused to the background using WonderUnder.

Here's an image of the back of the quilt, showing where I've cut away the black background behind the pieces that were interfaced.  The purpose of this step is two-fold: it reduces bulk in the quilt, and it allows the appliqued piece to show its color more brightly, since there is no black fabric behind it.  This is a technique I learned from the very talented Jane Sassaman in one of her many workshops.  The threads from the applique are pulled to the back and woven into the stitching so they won't show through to the front or get in the way of future stitching.

More to come as I move forward in the days (make that weeks) ahead . . .

Quilting by the Lake

If you've been following my blog, I must first apologize for the 

l-o-o-o-o-n-g delay in my posts -- sometimes life gets in the way of all the other things you had planned.  But I did manage to get away for a week to Quilting by the Lake at Morrisville College, and had a terrific time.  This year, I took a Studio class with Philippa Naylor, an immensely talented and generous quilt artist who shared her ideas and techniques with us, and who was extremely helpful in giving me suggestions on how to proceed with my latest project (we're having one last laugh in the picture at left).  I'll be sharing my progress on this latest quilt in the blogs to come.