I thought I'd post a few pictures I took along the way making Blue Ridge Mtn. (This is the quilt they chose to be the cover of my book!) It has all my favorite colors and someday I'd like to make a large version of this quilt! How many 'somedays' are there do you think?! Especially for us quilters... we have more ideas than we have time.
Well, here is my design, all in strips on my little portable design wall.
Piece of Cake.
Because I use a tear-away foundation, all I have to do is fold and sew along grid lines that I drew on the foundation earlier. (Hmmm. I'll have to explain that in another post. Actually, I have a patent on this type of quilt top construction. I use it to make all my watercolor quilts too!) Anyway, here is the quilt top, now all I have to do is add the flowers and quilt it.
And here is the finished quilt - Ta Da!  |
| Blue Ridge Mountain Sunset by Cathy Geier |
This is stunning, beautiful colours and it makes me want to go there for a visit.
ReplyDeleteI'm the opposite to you, I like piecing but I'm not that keen on the quilting part.
Thank you. I'll tell you a secret.... the inspiration for the quilt came from a photo of Montenegro, lol. We have a mountain range here in the east called the Blue Ridge Mtns and since I was working with so many blues, that name fit.
ReplyDeleteI have a way to go before I'm totally comfortable with quilting too. These strip pieced landscapes are pretty easy to quilt with long wavy back and forth horizontals. Thanks for writing!
That is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteWhat technique did you use for the flowers?
ReplyDeleteHi Karen, they are just fusible applique. I found the perfect flowers and leaves from 2 different prints and put them together to make the azaleas. Or rhododendrons.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Your quilt is beautiful.
DeleteI'm new to your blog and your art quilts. Your style of landscape art quilt is my dream project. I say "dream " because I'm still dreaming about how to get started. LOL! (Love the gluing tip by the way) Thank you for showing your process. It really helps me to understand the steps more.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I could look for a book or take a class, but that's not me. I want my "vision" to guide my process - not the other way around. So, thank you! Oh! And I actually live in the Smokies (technically The Blue Ridge Mountains) in North Carolina!
I will be following your blog from here on out! Sue
Thank you so much for the kind words Sue. It has taken me a long time to be able to master a technique enough to translate my 'vision' into fabric. There are many many ways to put together art quilts, this is just one. (And one perhaps a bit more difficult.)
ReplyDeleteI've also made landscapes using a fusible tricot knit that you'd get at a Joanne's. (Not the kind with dots of glue!) I've laid out and arranged strips on the rough side and then pressed them with steam to fuse them down.
Anyway, I hope you fall in love with landscape quilting as much I have! Thanks for writing to me.
Since your beautiful quilts start with a photo inspiration, how do you handle the "Copyright " issues? Do you stick with only your own photos? Or do you contact and request permission? I worry about it, but I can't take all the photos for my inspirations.
DeleteThis is a real problem for me too. There are so many photos all over the internet with no photographer listed. Think of all the downloads for wallpaper - there are thousands and thousands. Long after this quilt was done, I discovered the photographer, his name is Leonid Tit, he is Russian and speaks no English. I tried contacting him, but with no success, he never wrote back. (I think I even posted this quilt on his facebook page!)
DeleteIf there is a photographer named on the photograph, yes, we must ask his permission to translate it into fabric. (Our work would be a derivative of his work). If the photograph is found on a personal photographer's website, and yet his name isn't listed next to it, I'd still ask for permission first. If the photograph is found on one of the free download wallpaper sites and there is no way to find the photographer, then I don't worry so much about it. (For right or wrong.)
I wish our copyright laws were current to this day and age on the internet and I recommend to anyone listening that they try to put their name on all the photos they upload of their art.
If you go here - http://morguefile.com/archive
there are thousands of free use images. These are OK to use if you find something you like. :)
Thank you for your insight and examples. I am always worried that I might do the wrong thing. I will try to remember to be fair and allow the photographer his right to approve or decline approval to use their creative property. :o)
DeleteThere is no problem for personal use of any photo in the world. The problem comes if you get money as a result. No matter what photo you start with, if you become a famous quilter because of it, it's still your WORK that you're being celebrated for, not the image. Anyway, that's my guess, I'm not a lawyer. But since most of us will not become rich and famous, I'd say use any picture you want for your quilts and put the photog's name somewhere. In web publishing this means a credit line. Since we're talking about creative quilting, why not put the photog's name in the quilt? You can quilt his/her name in the stitching, or stick a label on the back... Being creative is always a good thing! The law will never catch up to human creativity.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is correct Deb. Here is a link to the pdf file the government put out explaining about it. The first paragraph is the one I'm following, it says that the owner/creator has exclusive rights... rats. I can't cut and paste the appropriate sentences. Here is a link to the pdf file -
Deletehttp://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ40.pdf
Basically anyone wishing to use another's work must get their permission first. I don't think this is always possible though, not at all now that photos are all over the place and rarely linked back to the original photographer.
I like your idea of quilting in the name of the photographer. I remember a waterfall quilt I made a long time ago based off a photograph and I photo transferred the image onto the quilt label on the back of the quilt. Thanks for the idea!
Felicitaciones tiene usted un canal en youtube ?
ReplyDeleteNo, sorry I don't. :(
DeleteYou have inspired me to make a sun with the rays. I am going to use tulle for the rays. I couldn't figure how to make the mountains or background until I read your instructions. Thank so much. Mine is going to be much simpler, but I want to try it. Thank you. Awesome work.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm glad I could help. :)
DeleteI consider this a fortuitous find today.....your site is so inspiring. I am from the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia.....so many beautiful sites to inspire one. I am curious about the tear away foundation. I've never heard of it...can you tell me more about it? Love the idea of a forthcoming book.....get it started lady.
ReplyDeleteHi Mickie, this is an older post - my book has been out for a couple of years now, lol. It is called Lovely Landscape Quilts and I go into detail about the tear- away foundation and how I use it to piece. I sell the stuff on my website and I sell my book there, too. I'm beating amazon's prices by over 3$ now. *End Shameless Plug*. If you click on the label 'strip pieced' you'll see even more about how I use the foundation. Thanks for the compliments - I'm glad you were inspired!
DeleteSo happy that I "happened" on this post. As some others have commented, I have been wanting to try this type of quilting, but have had difficulty in trying to figure out how to start. Since I am not gifted with any drawing ability, this type of quilt may be way beyond my capabilities. However, lack of talent doesn't keep me from appreciating your beautiful work! Thanks for sharing it with us. This information may be mentioned elsewhere on your site, but how did you get started? God bless.
ReplyDeleteHi and I'm so glad you liked watching me put this together. My start in quilting was in hand piecing/quilting traditional blocks. Then I got hooked on landscapes!
DeleteI can't draw either by the way...
I so love your work, it is inspirational.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, I appreciate the encouragement. :)
DeleteMy not so understood abberation in fiber arts is that I like raw, frayed edges in my small quilts. And I embroider little birds and cacti in some of them. People get offended by my work. I made the mistake of putting a couple in the county fair and the judge wrote, " Nice start, NOW FINISH IT!!!!" Then I found out that some of the professional artists in the county put some of their work in several years ago. There weren't any judges available for it so someone went out to the plaza and grabbed a person to judge them!! All that to say this...I love your work and learning from your experiences!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the compliments! You know, there are a lot of artists who purposely fray the edges of the fabrics because they like the extra texture. Also many quilt show judges are the best judges of art quilts and many artists don't exhibit their quilts at judged shows. All this to say, don't sweat it!
DeleteI'm glad you like my blog and that it inspires you. I hope you continue to have fun making your own thing and thanks for writing in!