"BEFORE THE SPILL 1" Sea Turtle Quilt
The theme of this series of quilts began with the news of the gulf oil spill. As I sat listening and watching it made me drift back to a time when the world was more beautiful and safe of all the noise, pollution and craziness we all now face. I was born in Savannah Georgia and spent many hours at the ocean as a child. The water has always been sacred to me and over the years I have watched and wondered about the destruction of our seas, not only from physical pollution but from noise as well. The ocean was once a quiet place but now many of these beautiful creatures loose there way because they cannot hear each other. BEFORE THE SPILL are a series of 3 quilts that depict the sea and it's creatures the way I remember them from childhood, bright, colorful, peaceful and full of wonder. I decided to try something new with this quilt and work with felt. I created the image in photoshop and then took that to Kinko's and had it printed the actual size of the quilt. I began by making all of the sea vegetation first. I created the big red anemone out of individual pieces that I then hand sewed together. I did this with each of the pieces. Then they were hand painted with magic markers and acrylic fabric paint. I then hand sewed them onto the background of the quilt. Then I created the individual turtles by cutting the basic outline out of felt, then I sewed the background fabric behind the felt grid and cut the small pieces and sewed them onto the head, arms and legs.
These were then hand sewed onto the background and I basted the whole piece together with cotton baton and background fabric.
I hand never used a machine to quilt, all my other quilts were done by hand, on the encouragement of my husband Larry I took out my old 1591 straight stitch Singer from 1952, read the directions on free motion quilting and quilted the whole thing. I have to say it was some what nerve racking but, it came out fantastic.
Then the quilt was bound, beading and glitter were added to finish it off.
These were then hand sewed onto the background and I basted the whole piece together with cotton baton and background fabric.
I hand never used a machine to quilt, all my other quilts were done by hand, on the encouragement of my husband Larry I took out my old 1591 straight stitch Singer from 1952, read the directions on free motion quilting and quilted the whole thing. I have to say it was some what nerve racking but, it came out fantastic.
Then the quilt was bound, beading and glitter were added to finish it off.
Sea Turtle Quilt - A work in progress
The Sea Turtle Quilt is 4'x7' and is an applique in felt. The felt is being painted and applied to fabric.
The Sea Turtles are a combination of fabric and felt. The felt is a recycled bottle cap material and paints differently than wool felt.
The finished piece will be dyed, embellished and quilted.
The Sea Turtles are a combination of fabric and felt. The felt is a recycled bottle cap material and paints differently than wool felt.
The finished piece will be dyed, embellished and quilted.
Detail of the Turtles and sea life Detail of the ocean life Detail of the Turtle
Another view
