Yesterday I saw that Sandra of mmm! quilts was running a Throwback Thursday link-up and it kind of chimed in with what was on my mind, so I decided it's not too late to join the fun.
First I'll show you what I'm at now:
It's the beginning of a new watercolour quilt background - looks huge, you can see it takes up the whole dining table, but when finished it's going to be just 20'' by 30'' (if my maths is right, anyway).
The technique is the same as described in this little tutorial - it's usually called pixellated quilt or watercolour quilt, but on a larger scale. The squares here are 1.75'', so they are going to be 1.25'' finished - hence the drastic decrease in size. I didn't quite enjoy cutting 384 squares, but laying them out was fun.
I'm not telling you yet what's going to be on this background, just that the background represents the sky.
That brings me to the throwback part of it all - two quilts I did before in this technique in pre-blogging times (not that long ago, really):
(They are straight, honest, it's just some camera distortion!)
I put them here side by side not just to show the different sky colours, but also to compare the effects different square sizes produce: in the left-hand one the squares are 1.5'' finished, and in the right-hand one 1'' finished.
Now, a little bit closer. First, the tropical sunset - warm and bright:
Then the Northern sunset, cool and crisp (and with a hint of Japanese prints style):
What I like about this technique is that the background is so interesting in itself, that it only needs some simple silhouetted appliqué to finish it off. Here in both pieces the appliqué is raw-edge and the quilting is very simple, too (except the pine branches in the borders).
I like taking this pieces out and putting them on the wall from time to time - the tropical one works particularly well in the middle of winter :)))
Linking up to Throwback Thursday at mmm! quilts
Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina-Marie
First I'll show you what I'm at now:
It's the beginning of a new watercolour quilt background - looks huge, you can see it takes up the whole dining table, but when finished it's going to be just 20'' by 30'' (if my maths is right, anyway).
The technique is the same as described in this little tutorial - it's usually called pixellated quilt or watercolour quilt, but on a larger scale. The squares here are 1.75'', so they are going to be 1.25'' finished - hence the drastic decrease in size. I didn't quite enjoy cutting 384 squares, but laying them out was fun.
I'm not telling you yet what's going to be on this background, just that the background represents the sky.
That brings me to the throwback part of it all - two quilts I did before in this technique in pre-blogging times (not that long ago, really):
(They are straight, honest, it's just some camera distortion!)
I put them here side by side not just to show the different sky colours, but also to compare the effects different square sizes produce: in the left-hand one the squares are 1.5'' finished, and in the right-hand one 1'' finished.
Now, a little bit closer. First, the tropical sunset - warm and bright:
Then the Northern sunset, cool and crisp (and with a hint of Japanese prints style):
What I like about this technique is that the background is so interesting in itself, that it only needs some simple silhouetted appliqué to finish it off. Here in both pieces the appliqué is raw-edge and the quilting is very simple, too (except the pine branches in the borders).
I like taking this pieces out and putting them on the wall from time to time - the tropical one works particularly well in the middle of winter :)))
Linking up to Throwback Thursday at mmm! quilts
Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina-Marie
