New Project for 2012, Judy

Last year, I did a tree-postcard-of-the-week and then mailed all 52 out for Christmas/New Years.  It was one of my favorite projects, but in the process I got somewhat acquainted with the plum trees in my back yard,  They are pretty old and have very lovely, twisty trunks.  I took a photo of one of them and a friend said it was if the tree was a dancer.

About the same time, a photographer internet-acquaintance was showing a series of a photo a week of a single plant.  I decided to combine these two for a 2012 project.  Each week, I would take a photo of the plum tree...closeups, mostly...and reproduce it as a 4"x6" quilted piece.   Instead of mailing them out as postcards, I'd put them together in a single quilt with one-inch black sashing.  I've just finished the 7th one, but the picture I have at this moment is of the first 6 sewn together.  It's really interesting to take the photo (to find the photo) first, with some sense of how I might work it into fabric.  The first six are all cold weeks, of course, but the photos make me realize how much green we have here all the time.

Here is the picture of the first six.

If you are interested in seeing the quilted pieces next to the photos, you can go here.  I think the format will be 7 wide by 7 high, which translates into 35 inches wide by 49 inches long.

Boxes to Go With Baskets, Judy

Here we have little quilted boxes: they are about 4 inches tall, 3 inches wide and deep.  The face piece is a total of 12 inches by 4 inches.  It is backed with timtex, lined, and densely quilted (about every half inch).  Then the little pictorial piece is made independently and machine sewn to the front.  Last, I make a bottom, zigzag it to the bottom of one face; steam-set the folds (every 3 inches); close zigzag all exposed edges; and then hand-sew the remaining four joining seams.  They are mostly made of fancy fabrics: lames, silks, satins, velvets, like those things.... (2/1/12)  Happy Valentine's Day Soon!