Toni-Dee's Graduation QuiltToni-Dee's Graduation QuiltMachine pieced and quilted; hand and machine appliquéd. Measures roughly 78" x 90". Toni Dee's mother, Nora, commissioned me to make this quilt and gave me the general idea of what she wanted. She specified the paw-print corners, the dog bones and cat food blocks, and the 5-square placement of their pets (past and present) in the center. She handed over her stash of remnants from outfits she had made Toni Dee over the years, and the rest was up to me. A very interesting exercise: I would never have made some of the choices she did, yet I had fun finding just the right embellishments for the "novelty" blocks.
The cat food blocks are the circles, which represent bowls, edged in wedding dress pearl trim (fancy-schmancy bowls). I stitched down nearly 200 teeny-tiny (5mm) pompoms in tan and brown in each "bowl" as kibble. The dog bones were appliquéd over several layers of batting (which had been stitched to a muslin backing to prevent shifting) to give them a 3-D effect. The corner paw prints were made of fake suede and black velveteen, both found in the remnant bins of a local fabric store and used also in Zeus' and the cats' blocks.
Most of the 3-D bowtie blocks were made of Nora's fabrics. I added a couple of blocks using Toni Dee's High School's colors, and some blocks of chicken fabric (my "signature").
I took this picture on a windy day (there are no other kinds here in Harlingen); the quilt hangs much straighter in real life! (And on a bed, who's to know of or see any imperfections?)
I had heard that quilts took on a life of their own, but I never really believed it until I made this quilt. I'd be the first to tell you that I don't "do" appliqué; oh sure, I could, but it didn't interest me. My plan for this quilt was to piece the animal blocks in the center, creating a stylized animal silouette for each of her pets. Careful placement of colors would create the individual characteristics of each animal, enough to identify which I was trying to portray.
That was the plan, anyway. Somehow or other, this quilt dictated different terms, and as a result all the animals were appliquéd--some entirely by hand, some by hand and machine. And to my surprise, I discovered I liked appliqué!
Zeus
Zeus was the first block I made. I didn't know that starching the background fabric would make my life much simpler. There were a lot of tricks I didn't know, and Zeus grew out of his 12"x12" boundaries.
Chiquita
Chiquita came next. I started with the head and all the teeny pieces. Once the head was complete, the rest seemed to take no time at all! This time I knew to starch the background fabric, but didn't know to draw the finished outline onto the background (using special ink that washes out). Chiquita grew out of her 12"x12" boundaries.
Bebek
Bebek came next. With her I tried my hand at machine quilting. She's made with velveteen and sateen (horrible stuff--frays to pieces if you look at it wrong!) Her tail, which was very fluffy, is stuffed in this block. So are her toes. This time I knew to draw the finished outline onto the background fabric, but I sure hope the white pieces don't fall apart the first time I wash this quilt! To further prove that this quilt has taken on a life of its own, Bebek's eyes follow you wherever you go, and I have no idea how I managed to do that!
Kuchek
It won't do any good to squint or rub your eyes--these pictures are blurry, but they were all I had to work with. The left picture came from my neighbor, and the right was the best I could capture of a cat being bribed to "pose" on the table (have you ever tried to pose a cat?!?), combined with a digital camera running sporatically on low batteries. Through the magic of computers I combined the two and created a picture from which I could work. Like the Bebek block, the toes are stuffed. Kuchek's tail was brought forward because one of its characteristics is the kink at its very end. This time I ironed stabilizer to the back of the sateen before working with it, and feel confident that this block will stay in "one" piece. Kuchek also watches you from her section of the quilt.
Tigger
Tigger was the last block I made and I had by then worked out all the little quirks and problems. The only thing unusual about him is the fabric I used to represent his hair. He was carefully fussy-cut from the Cranston Village print seen on the right; his hair is actually grass! The darker pieces (ears, mouth, rear leg) were cut from one of the dark dogs on the fabric.
Lastly, the labelNora named this quilt, but my name for it is "Beyond Our Boundaries". As a graduation gift, that certainly seemed a fitting enough name, but my own boundaries as a quilter were stretched as well in making this quilt. And remember the dogs who outgrew their 12" blocks? Well, in the completed quilt you can see the tips of their tails extending past the limits of their squares and out into the black & white borders beyond. It was a fun way to fix their "growth problem".