desertquiltr's Gallery : Embellishing

Koi Quilt

Chris Nelson — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 02:05:07 GMT

This quilt is made mostly of Japanese fabrics, some of which are from cotton kimonos. My small quilt group or "bee" made this quilt. I had collected blue and white Japanese fabrics for several years intending to use them in a Storm at Sea quilt. When I got over my fascination with Japanese fabrics and quilts without having made the Storm at Sea I offered the fabric to the Bee for a charity quilt. One of our members embroidered koi fish in the center and around the center of the quilt to give it some pizzazz. Another member donated some blue fabric with koi fish in the print - again to give the quilt a touch of color here and there. We donated the quilt to Tucson's Quilts for a Cause which auctions the quilts to raise money to donate to the Tucson Medical Center for treatment of women's cancer. A professional longarm quilter did the quilting.

New Orleans: Let the good times roll . . . again

Chris Nelson — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:55:09 GMT

There is a saying in Louisiana - "Let the good times roll." After Katrina I made this quilt and named it "New Orleans: Let the good times roll . . again." The quilt features photos representing all the things that are unique about New Orleans: Mardi Gras, music, good hole-in-the-wall restaurants, the St. Charles streetcar line, etc. The center is a printed panel of a Mardi Gras mask. I embellished the quilt with beads, doubloons from the Mardi Gras parades and sequins and used Mardi Gras colors: purple, green and gold for the fabrics, beads and sequins. I machine quilted it.

Memories of Thailand

Chris Nelson — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:35:27 GMT

I purchased the purple and brown cotton fabric in Thailand and used the stack and whack technique for cutting out the triangles.. I appliqued parts of the print fabric onto the brown dotted fabric. Jewels are fused to the centers of some of the flowers. The metal elephant figures were originally on a shirt I bought in Thailand. The quilt measures 35" x 30". To keep the quilt hanging straight and smooth, I sewed a sleeve across the center back and inserted a small dowel in the sleeve. I machine quilted the quilt following the designs in the fabric.