Sunrise Quilt Studio

Noel is my calico kitty and the model for the quilt " Blue Tigers " shown here in her favorite environment - the recliner! I'll be using this photo to create another applique for a future quilt. This is William. My oldest DD bottle fed this calf a few years ago and I've always wanted to make a quilt from this photo for her. Then there is "Twiga". This is a photo I took at the St. Louis Zoo a few years ago. I think I stood at the giraffe exhibit for over 30 minutes trying to get a good photo of a giraffe. It was a cool day and they were all on the move which made them hard to photograph. These photos look like a theme or perhaps a series of brown and white quilts. Hmmmm! So many ideas for quilts, and never enough time!

Here are 2 photos of a customer quilt I just completed. I'm striving to get caught up with quilting after 2 shows. I used a formal feather in the outer border, and a leafy feather in the middle border. The inner border has a leaf vine. The blocks are cross-hatched in the center with outline quilting of the star points, and some line-dancing in the outer piecing. I love the brown and soft green combination.

One of the purchases I made at the Missouri River Quilt Guild Show was this vintage Double Wedding Ring quilt top. I was drawn by the yellow fabric and when I realized it was a Double Wedding Ring top, I had to have it. This top is about a twin bed size.

I had several applique flowers left over from "Blue Tigers" and put them to use. Quilted postcards. I signed up to donate 6 to the Missouri River Quilt Guild Quilt Show that is being held this weekend, and these appliques were a perfect solution since I was in a time crunch.

While rearranging my studio a few weeks ago, I came across this quilt top. It is one I started more than 5 years ago. I was never happy with the way it was turning out, so I finally folded it up and stuffed it in a storage container. Looking at it now, I wonder what I can do to improve it. After taking several embellishment classes at MQS last month, I should be able to come up with something. Finding the time to work on it is another consideration.

I just finished the beading on "Blue Tigers". I chose not to add beads to the leaves at this time as I'm running too close to the deadline for the Missouri River Quilt Guild Show. I also have other deadlines to meet this week. Perhaps I'll get to the leaves later this summer. The cat has 91 beads alone. This was the most difficult area to quilt. I think it was because of the layers of fusible and the type of fusible I used in this applique. I used a repositionable fusible for these pieces. It's a bit sticky and thicker than the Wonder Under I used in the rest of the appliques. The coneflowers with the purple petals in this photo have a dark purple bugle bead. The other 2 flowers have a round bead. A close-up of one of the larger lillies.

I spent all day yesteray and most of this morning working on the beading on "Blue Tigers". Here's what I have completed so far. The cat is still in process. I'm adding more blue glass beads to the dark blue fabrics along her back, and the bell flowers will also get more beading. Below is the photo I used to create the cat applique. The butterflies are now completely done. I used embroidery floss to add stripes to the bodies of the butterflies and to form the antenae. Blue glass beads were added to the strips in the wings and larger blue beads were added to the tips of the antenae. I added a string of 5 yellow glass beads to the stamen for the pollen pods. I'll add some blue glass beads to the flower petals - hopefully later today. One of the bell flowers shown here with the beading completed.