Time To Quilt

I started this quilting effort in the center of this quilt and moved outward. The railroad ties under the train were the starting point followed by grass underneath and train body above.

Pretty Green Dress

Now to turn the white dress into something that resembles Carolyn's recall.

Then to add top of the train and sky and clouds

Carolyn's Memories

One more quilt is added to the Route 66 exhibit ( see link at top left)... This is a different route honor than some as it is not directly a landmark... but instead a personal recall of the owner of the Road to California Quilt Show. Carolyn Reese shared with me that as a little girl in Oklahoma ( I'm an Okie too) that during WWII, she used to walk along the highway and wave to the troop trains carrying soldiers. She told me too, that she remembers wearing a little green dress. This experience made a deep impression on a young Carolyn, so let's honor that aspect of the highways role. First a drawing was needed and ofcourse without a photo of her experience, artistic license prevailed. First a rough drawing :

Followed by the beginnings of an ink painting on the white fabric atop the drawing.

then the slow build up of images. For the troops, I was not looking to create detailed portraits...

This will take one more day to finish the painting.

The Finish of Caesar

We all know how the first Caesar was finished,,,but for this quilt, a Doric column was beckoning for addition in the background. First it was drawn with a fine line chalk pencil... then carefully quilted in very thin white thread.

Adding the clothing was a bit of a challenge but as they say... where there is a will, there is a way.... The fabric used for clothing were beautiful but not as solid for fusing as they are at least partially man made fiber. So extra careful effort needed, but doable. Pauline had added folds on Caesars clothing. At first I thought I would stitch the fold edge down, but later decided to quilt underneath the folds and let the folds stand 'free'

Now to finish the background fill, trim, and he's done!!!

Caesar is now on his way home to Pauline and Anthony. I already kind of miss this guy!

Hair and Laurel leaves for Caesar

Now off the skin so some fatter thread might be used ... I'm using 4o wt thread here which is actually pretty average size. The goal working with fused pieces is NOT necessarily to go around / outline every fabric segment but instead in order to secure most edges insure we sometimes are crossing outside the perimeter of a fused fabric piece. Fused leaves added too.

Quilting for Pauline

Talented Art Quilter Pauline Pearsall recently created this fused quilt top portrait interpretation of her hubby Anthony who is reported to routinely pontificate (in fun) as Julius Caesar. It's a great piece and is due thoughtful quilting. Art Quilting for hire is different for me than quilting my own art pieces. I'm always thinking for someone else, how do I do this piece justice and show off the important stuff while keeping the time and cost investment down for the quilt owner? That's indeed the challenge here. I tend to quilt my own portrait quilts almost like a thread painting so I add no quilted furrows to the brow, no wrinkles. In this case... I want a fairly smooth face surface ( ie few wrinkles) and don't want a bunch of thread. It would be wrong!!! I have NO desire to have thread compete with the great varied fabric textures. So... I want to use very thin thread ( I'm using Invisafil 100 wt. matte finish thread) on his face. There are some 60 thread colors in this line and these small looking spools hold 400 meters each. They do make large spools too. These threads are not easily found... I got mine from ( http://www.softexpressions.com ) and.. I'm doing most of the facial stitching with about 1/3" apart echo lines with only stabilizer behind the quilt top. I'll still have to secure this area when I make the quilt sandwich, but can pick and chose where I do so.. The white head shape below is the BACK side of the quilt top. ( Not a quilt sandwich yet) more to come....

Santa Monica Pier and the Pacific

I'm feelin' the breeze and fresh air as I get this end of the road landmark painted on this final panel for the near 66 foot road map that will accompany the traveling Route 66 exhibit. NOW... it is a matter of machine stitching the addition of city names along the route. ta da!!! This last panel can now be shipped to my co curator Kelly Gallagher to long arm quilt. After painting on these panels since April, I must admit, I'm happy to place them in someone else's hands. Kelly recently asked me.."How do you want these quilted?" I'm pretty sure you can guess my approximate response. In that moment of being pretty pooped ..... "I Don't Care!" ;-)