Saturday, June 02, 2007

Today's Task

First, I want to say a big Dobry Den (Hello!) to my pal Ruzena from Czech Republic!!! Ruzena figured out, with the help of her daughter, Hanicka, how to navigate into my blogs and check out what I'm up to. Ruzena, I think it is great to have you visiting my blog! Next step, Hanicka can show you how to do your own blog, so I can check on YOU! :-)

above: the quilt as a "flimsy" (before being quilted)


Today I am working on the binding for this quilt. It is a high school graduation gift for our nephew, Carter. Tomorrow we are going to his party, so I am scurrying to finish the binding today. Last minute, as usual... I guess I work well under pressure.
Carter asked for green, for jaggedy lines, and he asked for some Tlingit art work in the middle. Hmmmmmm... at first I wasn't sure what to do about the Tlingit art work. (Tlingit is the Alaskan Native tribe of which my husband's family are members. Carter is a nephew in the Tlingit line.) The green and the jaggedy lines were easy (log cabin block, green "logs").

I did manage to make one Tlingit-style killer whale, thanks to inspiration from Israel Shortridge, an artist who has a studio in Seattle. Here is a link to his gallery and gift shop web page:

I apologize to the Tlingit people for my rough rendition of Tlingit art. I certainly can't do it justice so made only this one piece and hope Carter will be happy with it.


The quilt was machine quilted by Diane of Diane's Creative Machine Quilting. Here's her website:

Didn't she do a great job?? She gave it a lot of thought and went with some of what I suggested, even though I think she wasn't thrilled by my ideas... she put her own slant on them (running her ideas past me, which I appreciated) and the quilt turned out gorgeous. She did a nice watery look in the center where the whale is. She did leaves in the white logs and serpentine lines in the green logs. She did more leaves in the black border and serpentine lines in the outer green border. I really love how it turned out.



Next fall Carter will head off to Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, and will take this quilt with him to keep him happy and warm. I hope he has a wonderful, fun, and insightful adventure at Carleton!
Now I need to get busy on that binding.........

8 comments:

dot said...

Very nice quilt.

ForestJane said...

I think that's a VERY cool killer whale in the middle there. Nice going! Bet he'll be happy.

atet said...

The whale is beautiful and the quilt will keep him nice an toasty warm! Congrats on the finish.

Anonymous said...

This is really gorgeous! Congrats to your nephew!

Andi said...

Graduations are as bad as Christmas for last-minute quilting work! I got my labels sewn on 2 hours before the party :-)

Elaine Adair said...

This is just wonderful! The Killer Whate in the center gives it an entire new flavor from 'regular' log cabins. Great job.

Tracey in CT said...

Nice quilt, Carol! You did a good job on the whale...did you applique it by hand? It kind of reminds me of a mola. I'm sure that your nephew will love it and appreciate all your work while he snuggles under it in his dorm room!

Rose Marie said...

A great quilt and the whale just adds the finishing touch!