Seasons

Seasons was created for the Project Quilting Season 7 Seasons challenge.

I really enjoyed making Confetti Fall, so I decided to go with similar techniques for this challenge.  A bigger, wider tree.  More confetti for spring, summer and fall.

But what to do for winter?  I went looking in my collection of old craft supplies from my days of mad crafting and found a jar of snow-tex.  It was kind of hard, so I scooped off the top layer and threw it away, then added some water and stirred.  Perfect!!!!  Supplies can sometimes last for years without using them!

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.
20" x 38".

Confetti Fall

I created Confetti Fall for the Project Quilting Season 7 Confetti challenge.  

First I made some confetti in fall colors. by whacking up some of my smallest scraps.  I scattered them over a piece of water soluble stabilizer, then added another piece of stabilizer on top.

  

I added lots of free motion stitching to hold all those little pieces together, then swished the whole piece in water to dissolve the stabilizer.  Now I had a piece of leaf "fabric" made from confetti.

To create a background, I selected one of my hand-dyed fabrics and added assorted fibers and shreds of fabric to create the tree shape, then layered and quilted the whole thing before cutting my leaf "fabric" in pieces and stitching it in place.

31" x 35"

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.

Focus Through the Prism - the Series

My Project Quilting Focus Through the Prism Challenge series is complete.  I hung them as a group over my dining table and they make me very happy.  I'm not very happy with the pictures.  There are windows on both sides to confuse things and the quilts all look like they aren't exactly straight.  Good thing I'm a quilter and not a photographer.

Cirque de Zinnias

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Created for the Project Quilting Focus Through the Prism snowball challenge.

Since red was the only Focus color I had not used yet, I started by making a background using lots of different reds.  I incorporated free form snowball blocks to  the conform to the snowball challenge requirements, then proceeded to layer and quilt the whole thing.

On to the fun part.  I've had zinnia's on my mind ever since making shredded flowers last moth for Cirque de Shreds.  So I cut some strips of fabric, folded them lengthwise and snipped the edges, and formed them into circles for rows of petals.  A button in the middle finished the flower.

 

Then I got to thinking.  I could make a snowball to go in the center of the zinnia.  A little fabric folding later and I was good to go.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.

Cirque de Shreds

Cirque de Shreds was created for the Project Quilting Focus Through the Prism nine patch challenge.

I need to confess that the inspiration for this piece had nothing to do with nine patches.  I've made several quilts with 3-D flowers in the past and had a mad urge to make them again.  It's apple season here at Lapacek"s Orchard, and quilting time is scarce, so I needed to make my urge fit this challenge.  I started with a background of free form 9 patches using lots of scraps of greens.  Challenge requirements were now satisfied.  I sandwiched it and quilted it and started on the fun.

First, I added shredded flowers.  Shreds are those small pieces of fabric that you cut away whenever you square up a piece of fabric.  Any sane person would just throw them away, but I had an idea I could find a use for them.  So I created shredded flowers.

For Cirque de Shreds, I made lots of flowers and formed them into a circular wreath shape.  This was what was in my vision, but I thought it needed a bit more.  Maybe a bow?  Hmmmm.  Previewed a few things, but this was one of those times when I needed to go to my secret drawer of future quilting embellishments.

AHAAA!!!!!.  Mesh bags.  Probably from oranges or onions or a ham or whatever.  Then a few yoyos and a fabric flower on top.  Done.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.

Meet Me At Infinity

I created Meet Me At Infinity for the Project Quilting Focus Through the Prism flying geese challenge.  

My husband, Frank, was out mowing the future apple orchard.  We're going to plant alot (2700 or so) of apple trees out there next year. But for now, it's just a deer fence around a field.  You can see the long grass on the left and the freshly mowed areas in the front and on the right.  It will look alot different a year from now.  And by 2018 it should have lots of apples!  Fun!!!

I started by sketching the design on a 20 inch square of freezer paper.  The flying geese sections were paper pieced and I put indigo fabrics together randomly to create a more interesting background.  The curved piecing was pretty challenging and I will admit to doing a little hand stitching to make the center work.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI

Whirling Around

I made Whirling Around for the Project Quilting Focus Through the Prism pinwheel challenge.

I started with 3D pinwheel blocks and a scrappy background in lighter blues.  I had one extra pinwheel which for some reason spun the wrong way, so I added it to the middle by setting in a circle.

I intended to do some really simple quilting since it is apple season at Lapacek's Orchard, but I soon decided I was not doing justice to my quilt, so I gave it the tight quilting it needed to make the pinwheels pop.

Created near Poynette, WI.