Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Coming up for air...

Well, time sure flys when you are having fun, doesn't it?!?! Sheesh, I really need to spend more time here on my blog, don't I? I'll make that a belated New Year's resolution, howzat? ;0)

Anyhoo, further progress has been made. I want to give you some closeups of the bottom border... the woodland floor if you will. I'm really tickled at how it came out. My vision was pretty true on this portion of the quilt.

So, moving from left side to right side we have the following:
Forest floor 1

Forest floor 2

Forest floor 3

Forest floor 4

Here's a closer picture of the center portion of the bottom border:
Forest floor 3 closeup

Materials used to create the forest floor include:
- Crocheted leaves from thrifted doilies
- Butterfly and moth pins from antique stores & flea markets
- Beetles and tiny lizards from the interweb and garage sales
- Wood, shell and semi-precious beads from discarded necklaces and buttons from the stash
- A belt from a lace dress makes up the vine along with some chenille from SharonB

I had great fun putting all this together!

Now, for the center portion where we have a slightly off center Titania:
Titania with fairies
“Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night”

Cowslips:
Cowslips

A fairy lantern:
Titania's lantern

Bead embroidery:
Flowers - bead embroidery

That's all the closeups I have at this point. The quilt "finished" in a marathon of stitching and embellishing. It was squared up, a border was put on, everything was tacked down nice and tight and a false back put on. "One Midsummer Night" is on hiatus and has gone on a small journey to an exciting place. This is what she looks like now:
One_MidSummer_Night
Click on the image and you'll wind up at flicker where you can see lots of detail in the "original" size under "All sizes."

When she returns from her journey, there will be more embellishing done and I'll take many closeups before she graces the wall of our bedroom. This has been a two and a half year journey of learning so very much about crazy quilting. I highly recommend tackling a large project at some point in your life as a crazy quilter; however, it may be quite awhile before I do it again! :0)

In other news, I have joined the the Bead Journal Project for this year. I'm excited about it but still haven't settled on a format and it's getting close to the end of January already! Stay tuned for more info on this rapidly developing story. LOL!

Thanks for staying with me through this last year of almost no blogging, I'll do better in the future. Pinky swear! ;0)

9 comments:

Debra Dixon said...

Totally more than beautiful!
I love the bugs!!

Jane said...

Hi Marty,Your vision for this is starting to pop out now. I just love what you've done here on the forest floor... Thanks for sharing the latest pics.

Vintage Knit Crochet said...

Just one word .... Incredible !

FredaB said...

This is just beautiful Marty. I love the forest floor and the embellishments you have saved for it. They sure look great.

Hugs

FredaB

Threadspider said...

I can't believe it is finished-like a good novel I didn't ever want it to be finished. I am still enjoying it so much and I hope you are thrilled with it too. So-more emebllishment please!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that's incredible! Having not seen it for a while, it's really stunning to look at. It's taken a lot of time, but what a beautiful piece it has evolved into!

CJ STITCHING AND BLOOMS said...

Hello Marty, your One Midsummer Night is truly beautiful. Incredible lovely stitching and beading and the whole quilt is truly stunning. great job. Hugs judy

Lisa Boni said...

How lovely this has turned out! I've loved watching your progress on it and to see it all come together is something! I love the use of wooden beads and bits for the ground under the leaves and how the crocheted leaves add such great texture and a foundation for the piece! Truely stunning!

Front Range Stitcher said...

OH my! I'm totally impressed with your creations. It's just magical. I an neither skilled in quilting no beading but I admire those that are. Glad I found your blog today.