Friday, April 20, 2007

Starry Night Block Finished!

I have finished my 12 inch block challenge for Quilt Studio, complete with hanger on the back and a label! When I started sewing it I had no idea what I was going to do with the finished item but them half way through I decide I would make it into a wall hanging for a old and dear friend who is an artist herself and has painted lovely canvas's for both the girls. I think she would like it and appreciate it, she is a big lover of colour too.

So I haven't really talked about how I made it. Leah asked if it was from a pattern, nope it wasn't! I found an image on Van Gogh's Starry Night painting on the web, copy and pasted it into Photoshop where I made it actual size, so I cut some of the sides off a bit as its a rectangle painting. Then I put some fancy filter programmes through Photoshop, to make the image kinda posterized, I wanted it to be broken down into solid areas of colour. That done, I printed it out, then using that as a guide, cut scraps of fabric out, vliesofixed the back and sort of fiddled with the layout till it looked okay. Ironed it all in place and then it was just time to go crazy with the actual quilting part! I just used a normal sewing foot, just lots of turning the fabric around. I did the blue swirl first, then some red and yellow then a bit more blue and then the green. There is 4 different shades of blue cotton and I think 5 in the red/orange/yellow range. The zig zags where fun as I have a button that goes up and down to change the width of the zig zag without stopping sewing, so I could go from a zigzag that was about 8 mm in width all the way down to a straight line.

So its all done, I can get stuck back into this quilt now. I really enjoyed sewing it, glad to be part of a challenge that stretches one's comfort zone!


15 comments:

Unknown said...

Helen, you truly are an artist. This is just beautiful. I so admire your ability to begin with fabric and thread and produce something like this. It is amazing!

Cass said...

Helen that looks great as usual. You are so talented to be able to do these

AJ said...

What a fantastic artist you are!! Well done Helen!! Any local shows to enter it in before you give it away??

Andrea said...

Helen, Helen, Helen, I am soooooo impressed. I agree, this is absolutely wonderful, I would be impressed with just the photoshop stuff, but then you make it come to life. It is just magnificent, congratulations.

Anonymous said...

It's wonderful! I love the stitching that you did. I think anyone would be thrilled to receive this as a gift!

Belinda said...

That is amazing Helen. Really fantastic! You should be very proud!

Suzanne Earley said...

Wonderful job, Helen. I love the details you added with the stitching.

quiltcontemplation blogspot said...

awesome!!love it!

Anonymous said...

wow! That's beautiful. And you are so smart for coming up with it the way that you did!

Deb Geyer said...

I love it, Helen"! You did a great job.

Granny Fran said...

Wow,wow,wow,wow! A great interpretation of one of my favorites. I sure appreciate your explanation of how you came up with the pattern.

tigerfilly said...

Helen all I can say is WOW! That looks just amazing, what attention to detail. I agree, you should enter it in your local show!

Austysmum said...

Oh I absolutely LOVE this - you did win me over pretty eaily though as that is my fgavourite painting! But you have executed it REALLY well. Beautiful!

Natalie said...

Oh wow Helen, this is just amazing - I love your interpretation of the painting. You really are an inspiration!

Karen TW said...

omg omg that is so divine. how talented you are!