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Camping Commotion |
Quilt: Prism Stardust
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| Prism Stardust |
This is my personal design that I have been working on for about a
year. The quilt is based off of the design sketch pictured below. It is entirely pieced
and hand quilted. It is 90" x 90". There are over a 1000 pieces and some are as small as
a fingernail. The border is made of scraps from the piecing and the
black braid is an entire skein of yarn braided in an 8 strand crocodile
ridge. My daughter Trinity was the detangler while I braided. It took us 3 days and 206 verses of "This old man he played knick knack paddy wack", but we got it done! All the fabric is clothing from our local thrift store. I worked with everything from Packer t-shirts to polyester skirts. This is the first time I quilted the top instead of tying it. It was also the first time I had the colors picked out before we went shopping. It was fun matching the clothes to the colors on the template sketch. I made this particular piece for display, but it can be used as a full size light bed quilt. I worked on this from March 2012 until early April 2013.
Shows & Awards:
First Fiber Arts Biennale: Wisconsin State of the Art 2013
Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts
Art of the Quilter III 2014 - Walls of Wittenberg
Best of Show- Bed Quilt Category
Darting Needles 16th Biennial Quilt Show: The Many Sides of Quilting
2nd Place in Category 12 - Art Quilts, over 100" perimeter
Shows & Awards:
First Fiber Arts Biennale: Wisconsin State of the Art 2013
Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts
Art of the Quilter III 2014 - Walls of Wittenberg
Best of Show- Bed Quilt Category
Darting Needles 16th Biennial Quilt Show: The Many Sides of Quilting
2nd Place in Category 12 - Art Quilts, over 100" perimeter
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Prism Stardust template sketch |
Above is my design that became the final template for the Prism Stardust quilt.
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Prism Stardust original sketch |
This is my original design that inspired the Prism Stardust quilt. I had to do some modifications so that I could completely piece the quilt. I sketched this around 1992.
Embroidery: Classic Starburst
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Classic Starburst |
This is my original embroidery style design and finished piece. This was a
pillow, but it's much easier to display on the wall so now it is a wall
hanging. I called it classic starburst because it looks like a
starburst firework.
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Classic Starburst sketch |
This design was done around 1989.
Embroidery: Classic Fireworks
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Classic Fireworks |
This is my original embroidery piece. This was done on an old pure silk
tank top I used to wear back in the 80s. This was in pillow form, but
it's easier to display wall hangings so it was simply repurposed
slightly.
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Classic Fireworks sketch |
This design was created around 1990.
Embroidery: Neutron Star with Blue Dwarves
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Neutron Star with Blue Dwarves |
This is my original design made into a embroidery style fabric art piece.
This was once a pillow, but hey I can't sleep on it so it's now a wall
hanging. I
did the braiding around the outside in an 8 strand round braid. Each of
these pieces is dated and signed somewhere just like any other artist
does to their work.
Shows & Awards:
First Fiber Arts Biennale: Wisconsin State of the Art 2013
Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Art
Shows & Awards:
First Fiber Arts Biennale: Wisconsin State of the Art 2013
Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Art
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Neutron Star with Blue Dwarves sketch |
This one is a combination of 3 smaller designs. Remember that stack of scrap paper from earlier posts? These came from that pile around 1989. Ok I did these
little guys in pencil, but I promise I didn't erase, fix or start over.
Embroidery: Geometric Flower with Leaves
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| Geometric Flower with Leaves |
This is my original design
completed embroidery style fabric art. This was a pillow at one time,
but pillows take up too much space and are harder to display. The piece appears to be unfinished
since I just noticed a couple lines missing from the fabric piece. Well
since it was one of my first attempts at getting paper design to fabric,
I'll let it go. This one has two different fabrics for the background.
They have differing textures also. I get my fabric from remnants or
thrift stores.
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| Geometric Flower with Leaves |
I sketched this design around 1989.
Embroidery: Flower in Daytime Window
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Flower in Daytime Window |
This is my original embroidery. This was a pillow, but wall hangings are much more practical
for display so tada... I usde a disappearing ink pen
to put the design to fabric one element at a time. Each element is then
sewn on and the next part is inked on, repeated until done. I did this in March 2007.
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| Flower in Daytime Window sketch |
I do my designs in pen or marker or whatever is
handy on any medium in one take. That means I don't erase, put it down
(unless there's an emergency) or restart.
Quilt: Graphed Mariner's Compass
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Graphed Mariner's Compass |
This took about a month for this to go from sketch to
quilt. It's entirely pieced. I tie quilted because winter was coming
fast and it has 1 1/2" thick batting. Brendan picked out the fabric from
our local thrift store so there's all sorts of textures and textiles in
the pieces. This is all pieced.
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Graphed Mariner's Compass sketch |
This is my original design. For some reason I thought
graph paper would help with designing. That only lasted through one
design, but my son liked the design enough that he picked it out for his
winter quilt. I sketched this around 1989.
Embroidery: Heart Petals & Double Framed
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Heart Petals |
This is my original design made into a 2 sided embroidery style pillow
ornament. This is about 5 inches across.This was done in December 2007. It was made as a hanging decoration.
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| Heart Petals sketch |
This was one of those designs from the large stack of scrap paper pieces done around 1988.
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Double Framed |
This is the other side of the small ornament pillow.
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Double Framed |
This design sketch comes from the same stack of scrap paper as described above.
Quilt: Meshed Gears
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Meshed Gears |
This is my original sketch made into a pieced quilt for my sister. I tie
quilt my winter quilts because they are done with 1 1/2" batting. The
fabric is thrift store finds. I usually decide what colors I want when
I'm wandering around the store. The design and quilt are mirror images.
This is all pieced. The quilt was completed in February 2012. It took about a month from design to finished quilt.
The
medallion design was done while sitting in a college speech class. It
seems some of my best designs happen when my attention is split.
Quilt: Kaleidoscope
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Kaleidoscope |
This is my original geometric design made into a tie quilt for my brother
and his wife. It's a tie quilt because the batting is 1 1/2" thick. My
aim was to have a unique color or pattern for each element. The design
was done on the inside cover of a writing tablet. The design and quilt
are mirror images. This is all pieced December 2011.
This design was sketched on the back of a writing tablet in about a 1/2 hour. I was sitting in a college speech class at the time. This was sketched in 2011.
Embroidery: Stacked Hearts & Trumpets
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Stacked Hearts |
This is my original design made into a 2 sided embroidery style pillow
ornament. This is about 5 inches across. It is made to hang as a decoration. I made this in December of 2007.
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Stacked Hearts |
This is the design I used to make the pillow. A little back story to this sketch. My aunt had gotten into the printing business and we got the extra paper castoffs. This was part of a huge stack of flimsy multi-colored 3" square paper. I had planned on doing a design on each piece, but I think I only got about 20 done. This was done around 1988.
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Trumpets |
Here is the other side of this small pillow.
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Trumpets |
As described above this design came from the same time and stack of paper.
Embroidery: Multiple Starburst
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Multiple Starburst |
This is my original design made into an embroidery style wall hanging.
This was done for my grandma shortly before her passing. I did the
outside medallions on a cream colored fabric and then carefully cut them
out. Those were sewn onto the large central design in progress. The
central design was then finished around the outer starbursts. The outer
bursts were not appliqued onto the middle design as it might appear. The frame
is a rawhide several strand (I admit I forgot how many) off set
crocodile ridge braid with stylized (once again forgot the proper name)
yarn knots anchoring the corners. This was done in March 2010. This is also featured in the header of this site.
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close up of multiple starburst |
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sketch of mutliple starburst |
Quilt: Mariner's Compass Ultimate Variation
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Mariner's Compass Ultimate Variation |
This is my original design made
into a tie quilt. This is a medallion style with the mariner's compass
in the middle. I did not know that's what is was until some years after I
made the quilt. It's batting is 1 1/2" thick so I didn't quilt it. This
is the one that is on my bed during the winter. This one has parts of
my wedding dress in it, some old boxer shorts (remember when gals used
to wear men's boxers as exercise apparel), a real silk but fake kimono
from Japan, some old Marine Corps skivvy t-shirts, parts of a pair of
denim pregnancy pants, a bedsheet, a shower curtain and some other stuff
I forgot. This is actually the first quilt I made with one of my
designs. This is all pieced. I made this in 2008.
Quilt: Star for School
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Star for School |
This is the sketch I chose from my designs. I think I created this one in or around the year 1989.
Quilt: Walking Wheel
- Details:
- Dimensions: 39 1/2" x 39 1/2"
- Design, Piecing, Assembly and Hand Quilting/Embroidery: Joanne Grimes
- Fabrics: Varieties from local thrift stores
- Quilting/Embroidering Threads: 3 Strand Embroidery
- Embroidering Stitches: Stem, Portuguese Stem & Wide Chain see WalkingWheel closeup images
Wow, it has been awhile! I took a break so I could reacquaint myself with the real world. I received an invite to a show the other day so I decided to make some new stuff for it. The due date is April 20th. I am breaking my own little rule about not repeating designs, but the current Walking Wheel quilt is a tie quilt, way too heavy, too big to hang, and is being used on a bed. I do want all of my designs to be show worthy so I have deemed it OK to redo my tie quilts so they can be shown properly. I am only doing the same design. The fabrics, quilting and size are all different. Time to get to work.
Jan 10
Of course I must contemplate which design to do. Well I did have to figure this out and it just ended up being a tie quilt redo.
This is the design.
The tools I use to draw the design to size.
The finished design. This is a closeup. The circled numbers are the individual pieces. The other numbers indicate where each piece connects to another.
Jan 11
I picked out fabrics and grouped the numbered pieces in their proper fabric selections. I am using 12 different fabrics. It took a little figuring what went where, but with a little help from my 12 yr old we got the groupings matched to their fabrics.
This is what my groupings look like. Don't ask me to explain it. All that matters is that I know what to do with it. Basically the lines of numbers correspond with the numbers on the pattern. The circled numbers go with the fabrics. The little symbols match roughly what the pattern pieces look like.
Jan 17
I start in the middle as usual. This is the grouping that fits together quite well for ease of sewing.
The pieces are pressed onto their fabrics and laid out how they will be sewn together.
The first two pieces are sewn together
The center hexagon is added to the sewn pieces
More pieces are added.
I keep adding pieces.
Not bad so far...
Jan 18
I finish up the first section. I did make a change on the round next to the little equilateral triangles so that the pieces contrast better.
The second section is ready to go. Now I basically repeat the process from Jan 17.
1
3
2
5
7
4
6
Jan 24
I keep adding pieces...
...until I get done with round 2.
Jan 25
Round 3 paper is cut, pressed to fabric, fabric pieces cut and laid out properly. This is the last round.
Here I go...Showing one section...
So then I repeat from the top of today and add another section. I did have to handstitch some of the curvier pieces. It just takes too long to mess around machine stitching real round parts.
Jan 31
So I add another section or two. I think I've got the curved piecing figured out quite well. I haven't had to rip out many pieces in awhile. Yay for me.
Feb 1
All sections and borders are added. I did a quick prewash to get rid of the washable marker. It's now ironed out and ready to make a quilt sandwich.
Feb 2
The sandwich is made and pinned from the back. I did this upside down because the top is flattest against the floor.
Feb 3
I picked some threads for the quilt top. I doubt I'll stick with what I picked out completely, but this gives me a base line idea. I'll be using embroidery thread and hand quilting the top.
I drew out a design on the quilt top. It's rough and hard to see on the maroonish area, but it's there.
Feb 8
I start quilting the top with embroidery thread. I ditched the threads I originally picked, well not all of them. I rearranged the embroidery thread in the box and I pick thread colors as I quilt.
Feb 9
Here is what the back looks like so far.
I finished out the green half heart.
Feb 14
I did another section with the triangles and half hearts. It's coming along nicely.
The progress is seen better on the back.
Feb 15
...and I hand quilt another section. Yup it's boring to look at. This takes time, which isn't very exciting.
The back is a little more interesting to look at, but not by much.
Feb 23
...stitching on...hard to tell I did anything, but I did...
Mar 3
I finish the inner star and half heart area. in the green and maroon half hearts I used a Portuguese Stem Stitch. One can't really tell from the pics, but it's there.
Mar 8
Stitching, sewing, hand quilting, embroidering, whatever you want to call it. It's getting done. I am using a wide chain stitch for the single flower petals that are scattered around the darker maroon area.
Mar 31
All done! Here's a couple of closeups showing the stitches used. It's entirely pieced. My signature is there, too.
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The original tie quilt
- Details:
- Dimensions: Full Size
- Design, Assembly and Tie Quilting: Joanne Grimes
- Fabrics: Varieties from local thrift stores
- Tie Quilting: Yarn
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