Mountain Sunset Quilt Revisited

Another quilt that I recently hung in our new kitchen is Mountain Sunset, shown here on the wall next to the sliding glass doors to the deck/balcony.

I made this quilt in 2009 on my embellisher (needle-felting machine.)  You can read about the process here.  I based the scene on a photo from one of our sunset trips to the Christmas tree farm on the top of the mountain where we have our cabin.  The mist was setting in, and the trees in the foreground glowed luminously as the sun set in glorious color in the sky.

I used lots of layers of sheers for the sky, a dark green velour for the hills and trees in back, and some Angelina for the sparkle.

 I quilted over all the layers, adding branches and foliage to the foreground.

We had planned to go the mountains this weekend to meet with the contractor for the new cabin, but he now wants to wait until he gets the official blueprints.    Since we are babysitting for our grandbaby this weekend, it will be much easier to do that at home and not have to take her on a long road trip.  So, I can't wait for a weekend of baby love!

My Quilt is Unforgettable!

My friend Holly from the CyberBee group alerted me to a very nice surprise this week.

Mountain Sunset, the little art quilt that I made for my husband's birthday, is featured on The Quilt Show's daily blog on April 11 in a slide show set to the music "Unforgettable."

http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/blog.php/blog_id/1822

Wow, it was included in some fine company!

The Quilt Show is an online quilting community with paid membership. Members can upload pictures to their own "gallery" on the website. I had just uploaded this picture on April 7.

Getting a warm fuzzy feeling!

Mountain Sunset

Not much blogging activity from me this week...that big weekend at the beach wore me out, and I have not been very productive in the quilting department.

I did finish the Mountain Sunset quilt in time for Charlie's birthday. I had it pretty flat, but after traveling to the beach, it could use a bit more time being straightened. He liked it. :)

This one has quite a bit of sparkle due to shiny threads, some crystal organza fog, and a little Angelina. It also is a bit dimensional, especially the dark green hills in the background.

And here is something too cute not to show off...new baby Ragen. This would make a good Anne Geddes image inside a rosebud, wouldn't it!

We are traveling again this weekend, this time to the beautiful mountain town of Asheville, North Carolina. My husband Charlie, the old Eagle Scout, will be administering the Eagle Award to our nephew, Tom Logan, on Saturday. Quite an honor to be asked to do this. Congratulations to Tom on a great accomplishment!

Mountain Sunset continued

I decided to quilt the mountain sunset quilt on my Bernina instead of the Gammill in order to use shinier threads and avoid tension troubles. Immediately, I regretted that decision. Pushing this heavy layered quilt through the machine and not getting pleats and wrinkles was impossible. And because of the many layers of batting, fabric, sheers, etc., most of the threads are buried too deeply to show anyway.

The green velour or velvet for the background hills worked beautifully, with the quilted tree shapes looking dimensional. I had to do a lot of quilting in the sky to hold down all the sheers, and it looks a little puffier than I intended. I like the foreground and Christmas tree farm. A little Angelina added some sparkle and shine.

Oh, and I tried using a variegated rayon thread with orange, pink, and purple, but took almost all of it out because the tension on the back looked too loose.

I think I will wait until after the weekend to decide what else to do with this piece. My son and grandkids are supposed to be here when I get home from school today. We have had a huge warming trend in the last few days since it snowed, and it should be in the seventies the next two days.

Last time they were supposed to arrive, my son could not get off work and both kids were sick. I hope that all goes well this time, or Gigi might have to get in her car and head to South Carolina!

Wednesday Work-in-Progress: Mountain Sunset

I am taking a chance that husband Charlie will not be reading my blog...I don't think he ever does unless I point something out to him. But if you are...click away now!

Everybody else...please scroll down...

To reveal the secret project to the rest of you, I am making him a mountain sunset quilt for his 60th birthday on March 19. That is a real milestone birthday...and he is a pretty special guy. One of our favorite things to do is ride on our Gator ATV to the Christmas tree farms near our mountain cabin, drink a little wine, and watch the sunset. Here is a memorable photo with mist settling into the valleys, which I have chosen for my art quilt scene.

There was not actually a full moon over the hills...some kind of circular image appeared in the sky from moisture or who knows...so I decided to leave it out. At least for now.

And here is what I have done so far.

Once again, I have used my Babylock Embellisher to needle-punch these layers together. The base is Warm and Natural cotton batting covered with cotton fabrics. I had a piece of hand-dyed fabric in light gray and light salmon pink that worked well for the sky. But there are many, many layers of various sheers, tools, and rovings covering various areas.

The large background hills are dark green velvet. I don't know where that fabric came from, but I like it for its softness and texture. And the fraying edges look like the tops of trees. The close-up Christmas trees are mostly hand-dyed, rough-cut with scissors. The foreground is a conglomeration of cottons, silks, sheers, and silk and wool roving. I just kept adding layer upon layer until the colors and light looked about right.

I have selected a backing and have cut an additional piece of Warm and Natural to put behind. This thing has gotten very wonky and distorted from all the needle-punching, and I think it needs the extra batting to stabilize the quilt.

Should I quilt this on the Gammill, the Bernina, or both? There are pros and cons to each. On the longarm, I can stretch and baste this top without worrying about pinning. The problem is with the use of specialty threads. Grendel the Gammill does not care for thin, sparkly, metallic or rayon threads. The top might look great, but the back will not.

If I choose to machine quilt on my DSM, I will be avoiding safety pins and mashing down to prevent pleats. But I can use any thread I desire.

HMMM, maybe I will baste it on the Gammill and stitch most of it on the old faithful Bernina. With my job in the afternoons, the grandkids coming this weekend (YAY!) and another trip to the mountains next weekend, it will take some doing to get this done in time. But I will!