Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Carolyn's "SUPER CALLIE"


When this word was chosen as our theme, I had just finished watching Mary Poppins with Sea Green, the 8 year-old Burmese refugee we sponsor.  I love horses and adored the scene where the horse jumps off the carousel and romps through the flower-filled open space. 

As a child, it was a rare treat to have a carousel in town, and especially to get to ride on one.  I loved picking out the most beautiful horse and riding 'round and 'round.  As a young parent, I have fond memories, as well, of my girls as they rode carousel horses.

So when this word was announced, my immediate thought was to feature a carousel horse and base it on the words "super," meaning above and beyond and "cali," which means beautiful. Thus, "Super Callie" the horse was born.

My horse was drawn using a coloring book rendition.  I used a piece of hand-painted fabric for the sky - one that I painted, by the way, right after our class with fellow Maven, Jane.  Thanks Jane! The “land” at the bottom is a remnant from a Sky Dyes fabric. Various batiks were raw-edge fused to create my colorful "Callie." The pole is from a mini chevron fabric from Michael Miller, the
flowers are Kaffe Fassett prints and the binding is a batik.

I wanted the scene to look very mystical, so I covered the entire
quilt with light beige tulle.  I stitched around the horse's body 
before cutting away the tulle just from the body of the horse to
make it more pronounced.  I used Ricky Tims "Art Studio Colors"   
thread by Superior for the quilting.  Thread painting is a new technique that I am practicing, so I decided to try a small amount in the sky, the grass and around the flowers.  The final touch was the use of decorative thread on Callie's saddle and headdress.    

13 comments:

  1. I almost missed this , Carolyn, since it was posted early. I'll send an email out alerting members to look for it. It is so pretty and such a clever notion and design.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the email. I had missed Carolyn's post.

      Delete
  2. Carolyn, I love your mystical, magical, beautiful carousel horse. I think the tulle covering all but the horse was perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Carolyn, I love your mystical, magical, beautiful carousel horse. I think the tulle covering all but the horse was perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry ladies, I wasn't aware that I posted it early!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I almost missed this!! Thanks to Alice for the e-mail!! This is delightful Carolyn!! Love the soft color palette - the flowers tie in with the purple sky so well. And they are Kaffe's so I doubly love them!! Your experimenting with thread painting and decorative threads is great as the mane, headress and saddle add texture and dimension. Has Sea Green seen it and does she love it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She hasn't, but she will see it tomorrow at church. Afterwards, we are going to the Children's Theater to see "Pinkalicious."

      Delete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Super! The colors are wonderful and I love that you did a carousel horse! It is truly magical!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Carolyn, I love that you dabbled in thread painting. The detail and whimsical look that you create always makes me smile. Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love the carousel. Nice job on the thread painting.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Cali is certainly a beautiful horse -!great direction for this theme

    ReplyDelete