Rita's Reflection Quilt--Barney's Photograph

We have a friend, a professional photographer and artist, who has gifted us many of his wonderful photographs.  Ever since starting on this Art Quilt Journey, I have wanted to make a quilt of one of his art images, especially this particular photo.   I just needed the right word.  So with Barney’s permission (actually he said it would be an honor) this is my rendition of a sunflower in front of a reflection garden installation, surrounded by stone pavers.  Below you see his image.

To construct this quilt, I first needed to resize Barney’s black and white original 6 x 9 image up to 11 x 14.   The copy of the photo was then traced onto plastic.  Fabrics were selected that would approximate the scene in color.  The stone pavers and grass were accomplished by reverse applique.  The applique also served as the quilting for this piece.  The stones around the reflection mirror were fused into place and then a hole was cut to allow the mirror to show through.  The stone fabric was wrapped to the back to cover the edges of the hole. The sunflower was superimposed on top of the background.  The sunflower center was quilted onto a piece of sunflower center-shaped batting and the edges were also wrapped to the back.  The petals are a double layer of fused fabric which are glued into place behind the flower center.  And in case you are wondering, the mirror is a $2 small hand held mirror from Dollar General. To get a reflection of the sky in the mirror, a piece of cloud fabric was held up behind the camera so the background in the mirror looked “true.”

[Note:  Alice posted this for Rita since she continues to have baffling issues with the blog and is therefore unable to post herself!]

Tricia's Reflection

 When I first thought about reflection I was planning on creating a quilt from a water reflection. I have been working on that technique. About a month ago I was walking with my daughter and husband around Boston near where she lived.  We were enjoying that beautiful day. At one point I turned around and saw the reflection in the Prudential Building. I stopped a took a photograph. It was so striking.  Thinking about how to recreate it. I decided to use Kathy Loomis's fine line piecing technique. It was quite a challenge creating the building and keeping everything lined up and straight.  It's not quite straight :) You can see the begining stitching below.

For the reflection I enlarged my photograph to the same size, scanned it and printed the image on Printed Treasures. It was an interesting challenge.

"Narcissus" by Candace Berry

The theme seemed to fit. I made a rough sketch first (second image), then the quilt. Used my hand-dyed silk and cotton plus some commercial fabric. Maybe the election season affected my design!

Karen's "Moon over Plum"

We have vacationed on Plum Island for many years in a house with an unobstructed view of he ocean and have watched many moon rises.

     I used Cherrywood hand dyed fabric. Twenty curved rows create the reflection. I turned under the edges and topstitched a 16th of an inch from the edge with the piece on batting. With all the layers the reflection area is slightly raised to give it depth. I like my landscapes borderless. The edges are stitched with an overcast stich to finish.

My "word" for the next challenge is "BOUNDARIES".

Dee Merrell - Reflections - Quilt: "Autumn is Reflection"

  

Dee Stewart Merrell – Reflection-  Quilt: “Autumn is Reflection”

   

I made this photograph of my granddaughter last spring not long after she had just begun walking.  She always took every step I took, so she was a bit puzzled when I stepped out onto the porch without her.  When I looked back into the house and saw her looking at me, I could see the sky, yard and trees behind me reflected in the window along with her sweet little face. I could also see myself with my glasses perched on top on my head.  It was one of those special moments when you can see someone seeing their world.

I love this quote by Mitchell Burgess which seemed so appropriate;   “If winter is slumber and spring is birth and summer life, then autumn rounds out to be reflection.  It’s a time of year when the leaves are down and the harvest is in and the perennials are gone.  Mother Earth just closed up the drapes on another year and it’s to reflect on what’s come before.”  - Mitchell Burgess

Techniques:  a white commercial fabric with blue and grey design was used and with a Pentel Gel Roller fabric pen I wrote the quote above onto the fabric.   I used a laser printer for the  photo and generously covered the photo with “Golden” gel medium – extra heavy molding paste and pressed it onto the  fabric and left it to dry for 24 hours.   I heavily spritzed the dried photo back with water, scratching the back with a pin to help the water soak in.  The picture you see is what was left after scraping and rubbing the paper away.  The remaining image is thick, ok for an art quilt , but would not be good for a bed quilt.  I layered it with batting and backing and quilted it.  Finished size 12” x 12”.