Done!! 2 Echinacea Quilts!

Well, I finally got in the quilting groove, and ignored everything else Labor Day, and the days since. We had no plans, Monday, so my husband did yard work, and I hid in my studio and worked with my Echinaceas. My first idea of combining photos and sunprints didn't want to work, so I ended up making 2 at the same time. One using sunprints, and one with the photos. I had played with a layout for the photos, and decided to fill in with fused crazy patch which I have been using a lot this year (a great way to use up small bits and pieces). I will be posting the process for that on my blog, along with the steps to the finished products.

Here are the final results:

















"Echinacea Collage" with a detail shot. The photos are edged with black and gold yarn couched around them. The crazy patch areas are quilted with a variegated thread with leaves and Echinacea flowers. The border fabric is one I painted last summer, and ended up perfectly matching the peachy orange flowers.
The size is 23"x26 1/2".



















"Echinaceas and Butterflies" (20 1/2"x30 1/2") and it's detail shot. I cut apart echinacea flowers to do the sunprints of them with ferns. My first idea was to just have quilting with variegated tread in the crazy patch areas, but when I got it "done", it needed something. I then pulled out my butterfly cutouts, and added some that I overpainted with sparkle paint to soften the colors and coordinate with the sparkle in the fabric used in the sunprints and border. I had also originally planned to use a different thread for the quilting in the crazy patch areas, but it was too bright and had too much blue and green for this piece, I wanted more of the dusty purples, but didn't have that. I may have to tame my butterfly wings with a stitch or 2. Right now, they are only stitched on at the bodies, but the wings aren't behaving. I used a shimmery organza on the backs of them, if it showed some when they "flapped" but they have a mind of their own, so a stitch or so may help to keep them where I want them. Here is a link to my blog- it is the most recent post. Sue's Blog