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This wallhanging started out to be a Watercolor Quilt, but I purchased the wrong book so it ended up being an Impressionist Quilt instead. It measures 30"X34" and was finished in July of 1996. It took time to make, but I was pleased with the end result. You can't see it in the picture, but the borders are quilted to look like a picture frame.
Impressionism is a style of painting that originated in France during the middle of the nineteenth century. Artists like Monet, Renoir, and Pizarro used this approach to painting. They preferred painting in the open air capturing the fragile beauty of a delicate bouquet of flowers or the elegant simplicity in a quiet country scene. They were obsessed with natural light and their interpretation of one perfect moment frozen in time. By using warm-cool color contrasts and value changes , the artists created illusions of light.
The goal of an impressionist landscape quilter is to interpret nature in a similar fashion, but with fabric rather than paint.
Some differences between Impressionist Landscape and Watercolor Techniques are:
In impressionistic, all the squares are placed and sewn on point rather than on square (in straight rows). placing the square on point helps to create the illusion of a real painting.
You have the option of using several graduated sizes of squares to accommodate the scale of an individual flower, or group of lowers.
Many of the flower squares are cut by hand to ensure that a whole flower fills, and is centered in each square.
With the Impressionist Landscape technique you are striving to create an actual picture, not an abstract arrangement of light and shadow. By using flower prints for the floral areas, leaf prints for the trees, tie-dyed and marbleized fabrics for the sky, and textured prints for hills and mountains, you can make your picture as real looking as possible without actually painting on the fabric. Information taken from Impressionist Quilts by Gai Perry.
My sister-in-law collects rocking horses and I decided to make her a rocking horse wallhanging.
It seems to be typical in my life that whenever I'm looking for something, I am unable to find it. Several months after I devise something or change my scheme, whatever I was looking for can be found everywhere.
Anyway, I ended up using pictures out of coloring books and making my own pattern. I thought they might look nice in an attic window setting. The single horse on the right is just a close-up of the white horse. This wall-hanging was made in April of 1996. You can't see the quilting in the photos, but I echo quilted around the horses.
In February of 1997, in our church we all gave our Pastor's wife a love coupon for her birthday. This could have consisted of something we wanted to do or make for her. Since quilting is one of my favorite things to do, and since she is cold all the time, my coupon was for a quilted lap robe. The block on the left was the sample block I made. I'm sorry I didn't use the same fabrics in the finished quilt. Although it looks nice, it lacks the pizzazz of the single block. Oh well! Live and learn, I guess. The block is called Carpenter's Wheel, and I got the pattern from Block Base from EQ. The two blocks below were taken from the EQ site.
This is the diamond log cabin block I learned from Eleanor Burns on Quilt in a Day. This particular one is a tablecloth. I have used the same pattern and made several Christmas tree skirts. I just recently made one which I sent to a missionary couple in France. The wife is from my church. I mailed it early in November to go by boat and was told it would take approximately six weeks. She sent me an e-mail six days later. They had already received it! Praise the Lord! They had been undecided whether to get a tree (due to the great expense), receiving this made them decide. Isn't our Lord wonderful? He knew they were trying to make this decision, so he worked out all the details so they didn't have to. To learn more about our Lord, see my salvation page.
since Jan. 4, 1999