Wednesday 26 November 2014

The Green Monster Quilt

This is my friend Bronwyn’s Quilt.  Bronwyn designed the quilt and showed me a copy of the design before the quilt was completed.  As a quilter, what I really liked about it was the interesting shapes that were the background, and I spent some time looking at the design drawing to work out how I should tackle quilting it.




As I have been quilting for Bronwyn for years I am comfortable having artistic freedom.  I decided to treat each three pronged area as a whole unit and designed a feather to fit this shape.  

I do not have a computerised machine so the entire quilt was done with rulers and the feathers are freehand.  I deliberately made the feathers all slightly different, and some have little curls in random places.





The centre star I emphasised with straight lines.




The little pieced stars around the centre star I emphasised with straight lines and a row of pebbles to make them stand out a little from the rest of the background.



This is a big quilt, and there is a lot of quilting.  Bronwyn called the quilt Chrysoberyl, which is a green gemstone.  But by the time I had finished this quilt I was calling it The Green Monster.




Bronwyn blocked the quilt at my house, as she didn’t have the available floor space.  I helped her, but all I did was hold the tape measure and Bronwyn was the one crawling around putting in all the pins.  Usually I am the one doing that, and my husband just holds the tape measure when I block a quilt, so it was nice to be just the helper for a change.



Bronwyn entered the quilt in the Victorian Quilters Showcase last year.  It received some lovely comments.





25 comments:

  1. Goodness me it should have won! fabulous design and the quilting has a humongous amount of work gone in to it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! It is a fabulous work of art. Congratulations to you both.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Absolutely stunning! I really enjoyed seeing it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am always in awe of the beautiful designs you come up with, and the lovely execution of them. I'm with Leeanne--it should have won!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Stunning! I can't believe it didn't win ribbons.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for sharing your beautiful quilting with us. The entire quilt is just awesome. Very shocked it did not win any ribbons - both of you ladies are very talented.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's just so fabulous in every way - and huge, too!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think you achieved the blending of the quilting with the piecing perfectly!!!! It has become the "total package". I have a Sweet 16 (sit-down mid-arm) and do hand guided FMQ exclusively. I appreciate all that you have put into the designing of the quilting motifs/placements that enhance the piecing of the star and 'prongs'. Totally inspiring!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Amazing team effort on this quilt. Great design and beautiful quilting!

    ReplyDelete
  10. WOW! A very talented pair you are. I love both the design of the piecing and the quilting. Your mix of straight lines and pebbles with the feathers is perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  11. In my world that would be covered with ribbons. That is AMAZING. As a LA' er I appreciate the fabulous execution of the quilting and ruler work. Maybe another show will honor this piece. Thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  12. OMG!! this is beautiful!! both the quilt and the quilting...wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow! I'm in awe! Both the quilt and the quilting is gorgeous. Am so glad that Lori S. tipped me off about your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love the quilt and the quilting is beautiful. Can you tell me about blocking a quilt and how you do it? I'm fairly new to quilting and have not had to do this yet. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  15. oh my word! What an interesting design, and what fabulous quilting - bravo to you both!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh wow. That quilt really is fabulous. Congrats to both of you on a job really well done.

    ReplyDelete
  17. "The Monster" is a stunning quilt. Fabulous quilting. Congratulations to both of you for creating this masterpiece.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Oh my that is amazing. I studied these for over 30 minutes. The feather and the curls coming right off the end of the arcs is so darn creative, how do you do it! Amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The quilting on this is just beautiful, Desley!

    ReplyDelete
  20. You really do the most amazing quilting with a lot of thought going into it...nice to catch up again

    ReplyDelete
  21. What a beautiful quilt! I love how you did the feathering; the soft, curvy quilting sets off the sharp diamond piecing so well.

    ReplyDelete