My Travel Quilt #2--Bergen, Norway/Group Quilts

This was the quilt that I made after the Postcards one, and it's the one that I posted on the Material Mavens blog on our Reveal Day.

This quilt was a challenge to make, because of the many different layers involved and the fact that I embellished with embroidery.  The sky (hand-painted cloth) and water (batik) were fused to the batting.  Then the individual buildings were cut out from already fused fabrics (batiks), as were the watch tower and the front of the dock.  I cut the swans, which look more like ducks, and the buoy out of fabric with Wonder Under already applied--cut these freehand.  I stuck in some greenery at the right just to fill in the space.  The buildings are embellished/quilted with perle embroidery in a variety of embroidery stitches.  Going through all those layers was difficult, and I later learned that had I used wool batting rather than 100% cotton, and had I not over-fused the elements, this task would not have been so difficult. I machine quilted the sky and the water.  The binding was fused, and I matched it to the areas which butted up against the binding.

This pictorial quilt was based on a photo of Bergen, Norway, a photo that was one of my favorites.  The area depicted was the Hanseatic Wharf, which has many lovely wooden buildings that have been lovingly restored.  Here is the photo:

As you can see, because of the size of our MM quilts, I simplified and rearranged many of the elements in this photo.  I started at the left and put in the yellow building, some of those behind it, the two white ones, the bigger yellow one (that now is brown), but then I added in a yellow building that isn't in the photo.  I put in the buoy and the two sailboats, the watch tower, but I left out the tents that are stalls where various goods were for sale.

I do like this photo, and it would be a great one to base a group quilt on--one like so many that we saw at the Houston quilt festival.  Three of my quilting friends are interested in trying a group quilt project out!  Here are some that were in Houston:

I am assuming that 10 different quilters produced this quilt.  I love it that there is a variation in the length of the panels,  but all the roof lines are leveled up~

This quilt was likely made by 15 different quilters!  Wow!  They did a great job of lining up the horizon line, the road, etc.  But for this many quilters to make a quilt that fits together so well, but that also portrays the various quilters' styles, is wonderful!

And here's one of a single house, produced by 24 quilters.  Again wow!  The fence, roof lines, and sky are lined up well.  But again, love how each quilter's own style and choices of fabrics varies enough to make the quilt all the more interesting.

Postcards from Norway

The Internet group of which I am a member, the Material Mavens, continues to thrive.  The quilt based on the latest theme of Travel was due November 15.  I chose this theme because traveling, next to quilting and reading, is one of my passions!  (Members take turns choosing our themes.)

Below is the first quilt I made for this theme.   I eventually chose my second attempt at a travel quilt for my Material Mavens travel quilt, but now I wish that I had chosen this one below!

 For it, I decided to print four different scenes from Norway (which we have cruised to twice) as mock postcards and arrange them in a collage.  I fused these with Misty Fuse onto a background of the Norwegian flag.  (I fused the flag elements as well, but used Wonder Under.)  I have  a postcard stamp, and so I stamped the back of a postcard onto white fabric and filled in the message and address areas with a permanent ink pen.  The back of the quilt is a travel-themed fabric from my stash that I have used in other projects.  For the first time, I tried the fused binding.  Nice and quick, but I made it too wide!  Still, it gives the quilt a look of a flag-decorated desk blotter, with postcards tucked into the edges, which is a serendipitous effect that I ended up being happy with.

The quilt, entitled "Postcards from Norway"

Below the photos of the quilt back below, I have reproduced the images of the "real" photos used in the quilt.  My new HP Photosmart 7510 printer does a nice job of printing on fabric (I used June Taylor Computer Printer Fabric), but still the sharpness and clarity of a photo printed on fabric doesn't equal that of one printed on good-quality photo paper!  

I tried using TAP, highly recommended to me by another member of the Material Mavens, but results were unsatisfactory.  No matter how long I held the hot iron to the product, not all of the ink transferred to the cloth.  Obviously I need more practice with TAP!  I'll not give up!  

As is was, I had to make many attempts to print the pictures I finally used.  And my package of June Taylor Computer Fabric is old and the fabric is very thin.  Thus you can see through the photos to the flag below.  In some ways I like this transparency--as you CAN see the flag, but a real postcard would never allow this!

the quilt back

Magdalene Bay, approaching the Polar Ice Barrier--lower right on quilt

This is the scene in the upper right of the quilt.  Taken on our first cruise to Norway, in the spectacular
Lyesfjord near Stavanger.  

The Hanseatic Wharf in Bergen, lower left on quilt.

The river that is fed by the waterfall in Geiranger upper right in the quilt.  This river reminded
me of the Animas River in Durango, Colorado.