Saturday, May 19, 2012

Quilt Alliance 2012 Contest Entry - Part 2

After many drawings of ideas of what to do for this contest, I decided that I since my life has changed so dramatically in the last six months, with my parents both passing away, that I would find inspiration there.  I love to write and am the family historian and holder of all photographs.  The phrase "Home is where you story begins" has been tugging at my sleeve for quite some time.  I asked myself 'what if I made a typewriter out of fabric?'  I built the typewriter on a Goddess Sheet made by Mistyfuse.It is made with black and white fabrics, some being from Moda from a pack that I received from the Quilt Alliance

The great part about building the typewriter on the Goddess Sheet, is that I could move it around on the background, while I decided what it's perfect placement would be.  The keys were made on a commercial fabric with ecru text, hand drawn with a Pentel Gel Pen for fabric. The fabric was Mistyfused ahead of time, and fussy cut with my trusty Havel's sewing scissors.

I backed the art quilt with a larger piece of wool blended felt. I started with sewing the typewriter down with a free motion foot, through all of the layers.  Around every key, so they would 'pop' out.

Free motion zig zag to sew the zipper trim around the edges.  The perfect touch!

I turn over my quilt to see where the next stitches should be, or what I missed, the first time around.


I am adding some FMQ'ing to the existing background, so that everything is secure to the backing.

You can see the stitching from the back.


Detail of the house on top.  It has hidden words on the house.  Text transferred to chiffon, and added to the steam coming out of the coffee cup.

A closer look at the keyboard, and the fabrics that were used to create this vintage typewriter.  I think that emotional work is the most rewarding, and this was a labor of love to create.  Measurements 15 wide by 19.5 high.
home is where your story begins

17 comments:

  1. Love the Typewriter. Sorry you have had such a loss this past year. I can realate! It should bring some big $$ to the Alliance auction.

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  2. Absolutely LOVE everything about this!

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  3. Love your quilt....

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  4. Wow! This one knocks my socks off! I've been looking at close-ups on this post and the last one for half an hour! I loved reading about how you came up with the idea and watching the progression. Your fabric choices and embellishments are so perfect. I think the bidding prices will soar!!!!

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  5. Wonderful work, love the typewriter.

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  6. Applause! Applause! It's such a beautiful piece. You are so generous to show us your step by step process, too. I love it.

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  7. I love it! What a creative idea and so fitting with you being the family historian. Love your blog and always look forward to your posts. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. Very nice, Jamie. Good luck at the auction. Del

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  9. You continue to amaze and inspire.

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  10. I love this piece. My husband is an old newspaper man, so it really speakes to me...and his favorite color is red :-)

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  11. Great quilt, love the contrasting colors, the typewriter, the zipper edging, the story. I am going to have to try to build a background this way. Thank you so much for sharing the process.

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  12. How ingenious!

    Lovely job.

    Happy Sewing

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  13. Here we are, both of us all about color, and this may be my very favorite thing you have ever done!

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  14. It turned out wonderful. It has personal meaning for you, and yet the image has universal appeal. Another great quilt!

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  15. Anonymous7:34 AM


    Love this design and the step-by-step creative tips.

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