Monday, August 4, 2014

Water Dance

I had a big blank wall in our master bedroom that needed something on it.  It’s the first wall you see when coming up the stairs and looking into our room.
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I made the king sized quilt and shams on our bed with cool aquas and blues, purples and lime greens.  I have a quilt of those same colors on the bench at the bottom of our bed and on the quilt rack in there, too.
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I saw an art quilt on Pinterest that had weeping willow branches over water.  It was so pretty and Monet-like.  It inspired me to do my own take on such a scenario… and the colors were just what I had in mind.  So, I went through my stash and pulled only those colors.
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I pieced the background using 5 1/2” squares laid out in an offset ten rows by 10 columns design, giving me a 50” square quilt size.
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Next, I pulled a brown for the branches and lots of different greens for the long thin willow leaves.  I pressed fusible onto the back of them and just freehand cut some long wavy branches from the brown and lots of long thin leaves from all the greens.
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With the fusible on the back, the branches and leaves would not stick to the vertical background on the design wall, so I laid it out on the guest room bed.
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And fell in love.
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I just loved the whole look of it.
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After I had it all laid out, I used a dry iron to tack the pieces onto the background while it was laying on the bed, so that I could lift it and carry it to my Big Board ironing board in my sewing room to fuse the pieces down permanently.
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Next, I cut out the backing and batting about 2” larger all around and pinned the quilt sandwich all over… on my awesome kitchen island!
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I stitched around the edges of all the fused applique pieces,
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then the design thread lines, then fill in the background with wavy watery stippling.
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Bound and labeled-
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my new “Water Dance” quilt is on our bedroom wall.
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Making me happy every time I come upstairs and see it!  :-)
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What are you up to this week?
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36 comments:

  1. Your wall hanging just takes my breath away - so beautiful.

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  2. Just wondermuss....(Yes that is a word in my world.)
    I love the colors and the movement and the jumping in and doing it.

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  3. Your wall hanging is spectacular! Just beautiful!!

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  4. Water Dance is exquisite! Your talent amazes me. I am jealous of how cute Yogi looks posing at the foot of your bed...I am thinking I need to switch from big dogs to small dogs because of Yogi!

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  5. OH !! WOW , your "Water Dance" wall hanging is just gorgeous.. You are such a talented lady Polly.

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  6. You have an amazing eye for color and contrast. I love your wall hanging

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  7. What a beautiful wall hanging Polly and perfect for your beautiful bedroom!

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  8. It's a beautiful quilt! Well done.

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  9. Just GORGEOUS ! A true work of art :-D

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  10. Oh, its so beautiful. What an amazing creation.

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  11. Very beautiful! Love how it coordinates with your quilt :)

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  12. Just beautiful.....great job on color selection too!

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  13. Wow - that quilt is beautiful! It really livens up your bedroom and it's just perfect with your quilt on the bed.

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  14. Wow, that's a work of art, very beautiful.

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  15. Ditto on all the comments left. I am amazed.................

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  16. I am in love with your gorgeous quilt and looks as though it would make a great addition to one of the guest room walls in our home. Honestly Polly, it's so innovative and peaceful to look at, that just looking at it would put anyone in relaxed mood. Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful creation.
    lv2bquilting2@comcast.net

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  17. Even if Yogi is not impressed, I am. What a great quilt. You have certainly captured the tranquil feeling of the willows and the water.

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  18. Wunderschöner Wandquilt.
    Gruß Sylvia

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  19. That rain dance is stunning. I just love the colors and how realistic it looks.

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  20. Stunning! Monet has nothing on you gal. Beautifully done.

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  21. Your wall hanging is amazing. So beautiful!

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  22. This is so gorgeous! Wow! I love your whole design process. It sure frees me up to try things like this and make my own designs. What are you using for your fusible since steam a seam isn't available? K-

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  23. AWESOME! That is beautiful and thank for your tutorial. A+

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  24. I really love your Water Dance wall hanging! I hope that some day I can make something like that!

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  25. Water Dance is amazing!!! It is truly a work of art!!! Now I want to make one too!!!

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  26. Your wall hanging is fantastic Polly. It looks great there.

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  27. Water Dance is fabulous! A perfect greeting as you come up your stairs. Thanks for the details..I'm wanting to play now. :)

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  28. I love the wall hanging, but even more I love to see the process behind the creation. Very interesting.

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  29. Polly, I am always interested in your "latest" project! You have such interesting ideas and great ideas. When my girls are around we have to sit down and look at your projects and discuss them. They are not interested in sewing, but sure enjoy my sewing projects and the ones that seem to fall at their door! Thanks so much for your blog and sharing!! Cathy from Texas

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  30. Ummmmmm... BEAUTIFUL!!! that's all I can say!!!

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  31. I'm in love with your wall hanging....the colors, the design, the quilting....fantastic!!!

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  32. This is gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful! I hope you enter it in some quilt shows!

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  33. Polly I'm very behind reading blogs but wanted to tell you that this quilt is stunning! blessings, marlene

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Thank you sooooooo very much for taking the time to leave a comment! I am always happy to know that someone is reading my ramblings!! Polly :-)