Our first Paris quilt, We Loved Paris, is finished and ready for a label. I thought I’d share a few label ideas with you. First, nothing makes a label more special that adding an appropriate photo. Even if it’s the only photo on the quilt, just imagine how delighted future generations will be to find that on the back of your quilt. As you can see from the image of the Paris quilt’s label below, I used a photo of Marv and me on the train to Paris.�

Second, the size and shape of your label is up to you, but 6 x 8 inches is about as large as I like them. That’s plenty of room to add all the information you want, along with any photos. Speaking of information, you should include your given name (by Grandma is not enough; in a few generations, no one may know who grandma is), where you made the quilt, and the date. If you like, you can add a copyright if it is your own design. It would also be helpful to future historians if you include information on such things as the occasion for the quilt, any inspirations or attributions you would like to make,  maybe even instructions on how to hand it down through the generations if that is important to you. You might want to include information on techniques you used if they are not immediately obvious. (I included the pretreated fabric and printer we used to make the Paris quilt.) You might also want to include a relevant quotation or poetry, or even write a letter to the recipient.  

Photoshop Elements is an easy software program to use to make labels. It will let you place a photo, and add text in any font that appeals to you. It is the program we recommend to students because it is inexpensive, and will do much of what the full-featured Photoshop program will do. Hopefully, you will find a photo of the finished quilt and the label below.                                               

As promised, let me tell you how I printed the hexagon images for the second Paris quilt. First of all, I made a template document that had a line drawing of a hexagon in the correct size. See the image at the bottom of the page. Then, when I finished making a line drawing from a photo (see previous post), I dragged the template on top of the photo, selected the area inside the hexagon with the magic wand, and deleted it. I printed three hexagons on each 8.5 by 11 fabric sheet by dragging them onto the page. (Hopefully, there will be a photo at the bottom showing the print page.) My biggest challenge was to print each photo in red, green, and blue, as well as black. I didn’t want a duo-tone, which had shades of black and gray in it.

The Paris collaboration I’ve been writing about is at a stage where I just need to keep going. The blocks are all quilted, sections are being stitched together, and borders added. So I thought I’d tell you about another Paris quilt project. While we were in Paris, we visited Le Rouvray quilt shop, near Notre Dame. I copy a copy of the book That Patchwork Place did about the shop (in French, which adds to the challenge), and on the cover was a quilt from one of her staff, a hexagon made with toile fabrics. I thought it would be fun to make, but with the hexagons featuring some of our photographs.

But then I had the bright idea of making my own toile fabrics from the photos. I used a couple of different techniques in Photoshop to first turn the photos into what looked like sketches. The first technique, from Photoshop Tips & Tricks, started with using a New Adjustment Layer  to desaturate the photo the photo and turn it into black and white. That layer was duplicated, then inverted to make it look like a negative. The blend mode of that layer was then changed to Color Dodge, resulting in a white image. By applying Gaussian Blur to that layer, the sketch appears.

The second method I used came from Web Design Library. The photo layer was duplicated, then desaturated. A filter from the Stylize group, Glowing Edges, was then applied to that layer (Edge Width - 1; Edge Brightness - 11; Smoothness -5). You can experiment with the settings to get the best lines. Then invert that layer. With both of these methods, I adjusted the contrast to eliminate as much grey as possible. The images below show a photo I started with, and the completed sketch. Next time, I’ll describe my breakthrough method (for me, at least) for printing the final images in red, blue, and green, as well as black and white.            

1) When I first began making quilts using photos, I was very reluctant to actually quilt on the photo. The quilting, I felt, would distract from the detail of the photo rather than enhance it. When I wanted to quilt, either by hand or machine, I would treat Kona cotton myself, rather than use either 200-thread-count fabric or the pretreated sheets. Kona cotton is softer, and although it has more texture that a higher thread count fabric, the images were still bright and clear.

2) However, when I began working with the larger sizes of pretreated sheets (EQ comes in both 11 x 17 and 13 x 19 sizes, which we can special order), the large unquilted area made the images somewhat puffy, so out of necessity I began quilting them. Surprise, it didn’t ruin the photos at all. Here are some of the things I learned: (since I haven’t learned how to get paragraphs in the blogs, I am numbering them and you’ll just have to pretend)

3) Use a small needle and fine thread for the quilting, unless you want it to be a decorative element (see below). I use a 10 or 12 needle, and 50-weight thread. I try to use as few colors as possible, probably because I’m lazy. Sometimes a middle value of grey will work for all the quilting. Slightly darker works better than lighter, and greyed colors work better than bright. You can match the thread color to either the foreground or background. If there are architectural elements in the photo, they are easy to outline and give depth to the photo. If I am working with people, I’ve discovered I don’t like the look of quilting on a face, so I usually just outline the face to the hair line. Clothing is another area that can be outlined to add depth. Remember, though, that a heavily quilted area will recede, while unquilted areas are accented. Quilt as though you are sketching, and don’t worry about backtracking or crossing over previous stitching.

4) If you want to make the quilting more decorative, use a larger needle and machine embroidery thread. I am fond of Madeira thread, which is soft and shiny and quite visible.  Tip: If you plan to cover an area of a photo with stitches, “Posterize” your photo first to lower the number of colors in it. Both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements can do it. 

Usually, Marv takes the photos and I make the quilts (well, I do take some photos, too), but I’m currently working on a quilt that is a true collaboration. When we were in Europe in 2007, we spent a wonderful week in Paris, and came home with hundreds of digital photos. Last spring, photos of Paris printed on fabric began appearing in my studio, and I realized that Marv had a vision of a quilt about Paris.I started arranging the photos on my design wall, each one a different size. He had printed some very large ones for a border, and smaller ones for inside. I trimmed all the photos to a 1/4″ seam allowance, then arranged them. There were some places left for more photos, so I specified the sizes for those. Then we went on the web to try to find some fabric designed by Diane de Obaldia, from the quilt shop Le Rouvray. It was only a couple blocks from our apartment in Paris, and when we stopped by, she had just received samples from her new fabric line. I thought it would be very appropriate to use in the quilt.Marv and I chose a gray/blue background, and a bright red floral for the borders. (Have I told you that Marv likes bright colors?) The most challenging part of the quilt so far has been stitching together all the different-sized photos for the center of the quilt. I decided to quilt it in sections, since I have trouble machine-quilting a large quilt. The center would be in two sections, then a small red border, and then the border photos in four sections added to the outside. Here is a photo of one of the sections partially quilted. Next post, I’ll add some observations on quilting the fabric photos.

After spending most of my life in Minnesota, where fall features blazes of glory in every color imaginable, when we moved to Colorado I couldn’t figure out why people got so excited about yellow leaves. Then one weekend, Marv and I played hooky and went to look. It was an experience difficult to describe: The deep blue sky, the contrasting gold colors, the shimmer of the leaves, the crisp smell of fall. Every year since, no matter how busy we are, we get away to the mountains for at least one day of hooky.  When I wanted to make a quilt that celebrated the memories, I thought of an aspen collage. Our class assignment was a triadic color scheme, and the yellow and blue only needed red to complete it. I started by finding a photo of a single tree to use as background, because I wanted the shape to be right. Then I overlaid numerous photos, from close-ups to distance, to fill in the shape of the tree. I also added several sky and cloud photos to add interest. For the background, I used photos we took one year at the Alluvial Fan in Rocky Mountain National Park, which included a couple of elk. Hence, the name Two Elk.                         .(As you can see, I still don’t have a handle on putting photos in this blog, please bear with me while I figure it out.) The next photo I want to add shows the side borders, where I quilted aspen leaves, and the third photo (you may have to scroll quite a ways down to get it) shows the thread-painting I did on the trunk.                      �

We had a whole fabric shop to pick from for our background fabric. I found a dark green, oriental-looking print that had little gold crickets on it that seemed just right. We didn’t finish our pieces in class, so I took it home, and while I was thinking about it, I remembered a Victorian wooden frame that we’ve had sitting around for a number of years, waiting for inspiration. I decided the roses would be a what it needed. I had to rearrange them a little, but that was no problem, since they were held to the background with little dots of Elmer’s glue.

The problem was the frame, it had apparently been painted green and stripped, and in the process, a couple pieces of the attached carving had broken. I tried a number of different processes to repair it, and finally resorted to old-fashioned wood putty. I shaped it as well as I could, then after it dried, I used a Dremel tool to carve it. After the whole frame was stained, the repair is hardly noticeable.

With Phil Beaver’s technique, the applique and quilting are done as one process. I had a whole collection of Maidera machine embroidery threads. He adds a lot of texture with the quilting, so I tried to give the impression of the curving petals. The quilting was a lot of fun, and didn’t take as long as I thought it might. I have a Fabric Mover for my Pfaff machine, which makes this kind of detail work easy.The final step was to cut a piece of Fome-core to fit the frame, then to slipcover it with the quilted piece and a backing. That was tacked in place, then I covered the back with a lovely dark brown suede-like fabric. I am going to try to put an image of the finished piece and a closeup of the quilting in this post, but I’m not sure where they will appear.

Well, I give up for now. I think I can finally upload an image, but I can’t figure out how to change it or delete it, so the image in the previous post has nothing to do with my current train of thought. And I’m not doing well arranging the ones in this post. I started with an image for the workshop from the garden of a friend in China.      I played with it in Photoshop (deleted the background and enhanced the edges). Then I enlarged it and printed it on 13 x 19 paper sheets.I outlined the edges of shapes with a Sharpie, then numbered the shapes in the order I thought they would need to be put together, as in applique. I traced the shapes and numbers on freezer paper, then cut it apart to make the templates for cutting out my painted fabric (that we did in the first part of the workshop). The freezer paper shapes were then ironed on the fabric. I tried to anticipate where I needed to add seam allowance for overlap, and where to cut on the edge, since we were not turning under anything; but after a while I gave up and cut everything with a seam allowance, then trimmed it if I didn’t need it. Then, according to Phil’s instructions, we put together a complete flower image using dots of Elmer’s glue applied with a toothpick. Each flower shape was completely separate and could be arranged as desired on a background fabric.