Sneak Peek at “Morning Breeze”
I recently completed a 50″x 70″ whole cloth quilt that I can’t share until it shows, but I still wanted to show a few detail shots now. When I post the full quilt I will give more information and details.
The short story is that this quilt is made whole cloth from cotton ultra sateen with a white front and black backing, and is intended to be 2-sided. I wanted to capture the beauty of the plantings in my front yard in this quilt, which I have titled “Morning Breeze”.
I recently had it photographed by expert photographer Darren Takegami. When I reviewed the proofs I realized that the border wobbled just a bit on one side. Ack! So I had to remove the binding and sleeve, re-cut the offending side and re-apply both the binding and hanging sleeve. That took 4 long days and about 20 hours!
I learned something along the way-I always seem to learn, um, shall we kindly call it, “experientially”! In addition to the wonky border, I was also less than meticulous in applying my hanging sleeve. As a result, my quilt hung a wee bit crooked, about a 1/4″ tilt from side-to-side. I didn’t think it would matter that much but I definitely saw the tilt. When I measured it I was shocked to find that a mere 1/4″ error would show.
Similarly, with the bulge in one of the sides, it was off about 3/8″ on a 70″ drop. Again, who’d a thunk that would be massively detectable? It was.
So lesson learned: be mindful and precise with those pesky finishing details.
Enjoy the detail shots-they are a mix of my photos and Darren’s-I’m sure you can tell the difference! More on this quilt later!
Spectacular Jenny! Can’t wait till the reveal!!!!!
It just needs to be juried in somewhere… Thanks Janet!
Beautiful quilting. Everyone makes mistakes because we are human. Your quilt is beautiful and if you block your quilt you can get it square.
Thank you Linda! Ya know I did block it really well and the wonky border just did its thing. I think with such a long drop it couldn’t contain itself-even with proper blocking it waved.
Your quilt is just beautiful. Can you stretch the other side enough to make it even. Maybe you can trim a little off the quilt before binding. Or if you have already bound the quilt, take the binding off and trim a little….just a thought. If you trim that little bit off will it affect any motiffs? You have done such beautiful quilting and I think you could cash in on some awards. Blessings
Unbelievabley gorgeous!! Can’t wait to see the whole thing!!! Your quilting is inspiring!
I’m blushing! Thank you Roxane-it is nice to get encouragement.
Stunning Jenny! Fabulous photography!
Thank you Linda-Kaye! I loved what Darren did with the close ups-he has this really great camera and lens and of course skill, and he was the one to come up with the idea of the tight close in shots.
Love the theme of this quilt! It’ll be fun to see the whole quilt!
I cannot tell you how much I enjoy my yard! I know you enjoy plantings and flowers also-a woman after my own heart. I just wanted to try to capture what makes my heart sing.
From what I can tell…you’ve captured it!
Looks like an award winner to me. It is beautiful and very original.
Well Houston didn’t think too much of it! I really wanted to create a whole cloth that you could actually see from afar. It will be interesting to see what kind of a competitive life it has.
Oh Jenny, it is breath-taking! Thank you so much for sharing the detail shots. And the photography is superb. Can’t wait to see the whole thing, but am going to guess that these close-ups are what most will enjoy. Cheers! Sarah B
Thank you Sarah for your compliments! I enjoyed making this quilt so much-I love being able to express my joy in my work. If you could just sit in my front yard and see the breeze catch the grasses…
A really lovely piece, Jenny! I love black stitching on white and your work is just amazing. I know what you mean about “being mindful and precise” – it makes all of the difference. Look forward to seeing the entire quilt.
Thank you Martha! Yes, “mindful and precise” is still a part of the creative process no matter how “artsy” the piece. I continue to learn that lesson! I hope to reveal the whole quilt soon.
Beautiful! Can’t wait to see the whole quilt
Thank you Connie! I hope it shows somewhere soon.
Every detail is simply gorgeous! Well worth going back and working on the ‘wonky’ bits…not simply because it’s to be entered in a special exhibit, but also because fixing them lifts you upward in your standard of excellence, and shows off your skills to best advantage, whether or not it’s accepted in that show, or any other. Beautifully done — and inspiring in the process!
Oh I love that comment Margaret! Thank you. I try not to get bogged down in the details, but some things you just have to fix.
This is lovely, Jenny! I’m so in awe of your gorgeous, perfectly circular and smooth quilted pebbling, that your quilt could be all kinds of crooked and off-kilter and I wouldn’t notice it.
That sleeve I put in my little birdie piece is the first one I ever attempted. Not sure if I did it correctly — I’d love to see a tutorial about the best way to put in a quilt sleeve from someone who knows what she’s talking about, hint hint, nudge nudge… ;-)
Thank you Rebecca-hmm, I could do that. I am working a small piece right now that needs a sleeve. Thanks for the idea! It’s an easy thing but I have learned the hard way to do it carefully…
Beautiful freemotion quilting. So inspiering :-)
Thank you! I simply love to free motion quilt!
Oh, Jenny, Jenny! This quilt is outta this world! The subject and the execution. The Houston judges must have had too much to drink or something. Wait til they see how it does without them.
Again, thank you soooo much for sharing your art with us. What an inspiration you are.
Maggie in Arizona
So sorry I just saw this Maggie-it’s a new system for me on the comments and I just dropped the ball. Thank you so much for your kind words-it is inspiration to me.