Cathedral Windows and Such Ramblings...

I have been swamped trying to juggle school drop offs/pickups, during-school schedules, after-school schedules, workouts, and quilting.

Pardon the short post, but wanted to let you in on the quilting work I'm focusing on right now. The Mother-in-Law's quilt....a Cathedral Stained Glass Quilt.

This is not to be confused with this:
http://sohappytosew.blogspot.com/2011/02/cathedral-window-quilt-tutorial-part-2.html (Although I have to admit that I have yet to do one of those, and plan to before I go to quilting heaven..)

I'm taking my focus from a window I can't place (I don't know where the window is, and I don't know the name of the cathedral, photographer of the photo, etc. ...I'm so sorry that I didn't grab all that.) I've got a picture I accidentally drew over in MSPaint that shows the whole window. This is the main part I'm focusing the quilt around.

While I'll admit, mine won't be quite as symetrical as it would be to be a replica, I have an intentional reason to not do so (I may choose to explain later, I may not). 

I had considered doing something to pull this window: 

Which is the South Rose Window of the Chartres Cathedral. While beautiful, it is currently far too intricate for my timeline of 4 months, and I can't really change the colors or themes to reflect the recipient's choices of reds and golds. 

Ok...off to get walking to pick up youngest school person, then off to pick up next one. Tomorrow, driving the oldest one off to college again. I promise I will eventually get back to this thing. (Today, I just got the 4 main pieces drawn and freezer-papered for templates to use later. Woot! Progress!!!)

Flower and Spirals

I can't believe that it took as long as it did to add the finishing touches, but I'm very pleased with the results!

This wallhanging is for a friend who just got her first steady job after a long period of being a stay-at-home mom. Her favorite colors are pink and orange, and her favorite things are daisies and butterflies. I hope I captured that with this one! 

The pink fabric has daisies on it, then I stitched an embroidered daisy in the spiral section. The green "fabric" is actually two fabrics that form 1/2" strips each. One is mottled green, the other is green with butterflies. 

To add dimension to the piece, the center square of pink and orange that makes the swirl has a layer of fusible batting. The daisy flower also has its own layer, as does its stem. (Yep, at the center of the flower, there are three layers of batting!)

I added a frame of bugle beads in pastel colors to help reinforce the break between the bold colors and the subdued greens. I hand-sewed these beads in place, taking between 3-4 beads per stitch. To reinforce, I ran another thread through the entirety of the bead frame to secure the beads to each other and help them line up.

The binding is a triple binding. The lightest pink forms a visual catch-all to help the viewer with the transition. It is simply a "pleat" in the binding. The pink daisy fabric actually has a cord running through it. Although it is a baby-fine cord, it adds just a touch of dimension. The two pink binding accents were added all the way around, starting with the bottom, then the sides, then the top. This gives it the layered effect you see at the corners. The orange binding was sewn with mitered corners to the front, then hand-stitched to the back. I wanted just the one row of stitching for the orange to show up. 

To hang this wall hanging, I bought her a pack of Command hooks, and she or I will go get an inexpensive dowel and cut to length. I put three of these hanging tabs on the back as I was sewing down the binding. They are stitched down their sides 3/4 of the way, and stitched across the bottom so they will raise outward, but not just pull upward on the binding. 

I used part of an upholstery sample for the backing. It actually gives the whole piece a rigidity and stabilization I would have had to add otherwise. I think for other wall hanging pieces in the future, I may have to do the same. It really works well for it.