Quilt Reveal: "Happy Home"

When we were at the beach last weekend, I gave Dave and Emily the gift I made for their fourth anniversary...a small art quilt named "Happy Home."

This is a small piece that was actually my Lesson One composition from the Pamela Allen online art class, "About Style," that I completed in February. I used the palette from this painting by Matisse.

The Dessert: A Harmony in Red, Henri Matisse, 1908

I found that I love pulling fabrics and colors using a painting or artwork that makes me happy. I found the great red-orange fabric for the house in my stash. It even had scrollwork motifs similar to the curvy flourishes in the painting.

The week that I was finishing this project, Dave and Emily got their little puppy, Roo. I added him to the front porch at the last minute. Any little doggie shape with big pointy ears works for a Roo dog!

I did work from a photograph for this piece, but everything was cut freehand with scissors and no pattern. The pieces were first appliqued to a piece of batting using embroidery floss or Perle cotton. Then I added a second batting and backing, and quilted it first on the Gammill and then on my domestic sewing machine for more details.

Because of the black outline quilting, there is almost a second picture on the reverse side.

I still have a warm glow about the great weekend at the beach. On the way home, we enjoyed all the spring blossoming trees and flowers. This great daffodil garden was at a rest stop on I-40 near Warsaw, NC.

The only bad part was when we got home, and I found out my father had just been admitted to the hospital with a touch of pneumonia. My brother John works very close by, and was able to stay with him until he was settled for the night. Hopefully he will be discharged soon, as he was responding very well to treatment.