Thom's Global Warming Quilt - Finished!

Dees, over at Works In Progress, reminded me about my brother's quilt, Global Warming, which Thom started while visiting us last summer. I posted about Thom and his quilt here. Dees reminded me that I promised to show pictures of the finished quilt.



Above are two reminders from the previous post. Thom fell in love with some turquoise disc beads and envisioned them as the centers of anemone-like sea creatures (top picture). From this thought, his idea for an under-water scene, one that suggests changes we may see with global warming, emerged. The puffs, a barnacle-like sea creature (second picture), came into the equasion because a friend had just shown him how to make these puff forms using polyester organza wrapped around pebbles and tossed into boiling water. The puffs and turquoise discs were the two starting points for this quilt.

After returning home (Santa Cruz, CA), Thom made a trip down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium where he photographed fish. He then printed the fish on fabric using one of the commercially-available products that can be run through an ink-jet printer (more on photo transfers below). This picture shows how he cut out the printed fish (pinned to design wall to left and right of quilt) and began sewing them to the quilt.


The finished quilt is 18 inches wide by 52 inches long. This is a size Thom has been exploring for a couple of years. I think he's working on another one as I write this and did others before Global Warming. It's a difficult size to photograph... long and narrow.


When you click on the picture to enlarge it, you'll have to scroll down to see it all, which makes it difficult to appreciate the whole. Therefore, I have divided it into thirds and put all three pictures together here in this post.


One interesting thing about Thom... he's more of a perfectionist than I am (although both of us share this trait to some extent). After he finished the quilt, he decided there were too many beads... that the top of the quilt was too heavy with beads. So he removed quite a lot of the water current beads from the top section. In case you're curious, here's how the top looked before removing the beads.


I haven't seen Global Warming finished yet, but from his pictures, it seems mighty compelling! I love the texture and all the big and little elements in it. I'm willing to bet that when it's in a show, people will stand and look at it for a long time, perhaps pondering the significance of the message in it.

Transfer photos to fabric...

There are many ways to transfer your photos to fabric. I've tried a few of them, most recently in a quilt I'm making for my niece, Margaret. Surely, as I make progress on it, I'll post some pictures...

For Margaret's quilt, I used poplin cotton sheets and printed them with my inkjet printer. The brand I use is PhotoFabric, which I buy at Joann Fabrics in the craft department. I like it better than the kind available in the quilting supplies department. It's very easy to use... only four steps: print - peel away the paper backing - wash - iron. And you'll have permanent, washable pictures on fabric. The same company makes several types, including silk fabric sheets.

I believe the trick to really great photo transfers isn't in the fabric transfer product so much as in the quality of the image. Learning to work with Photoshop is a skill I've never regretted learning. It took time and patience, plus some books, a seminar and a class... but over and over again, I'm grateful for my acquired skills with this amazing photo editing program. Speaking of gratitude...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Tomorrow is the day we set aside every year to be thankful. Generally we slip out of the thankful mode, except perhaps as we say grace before stuffing our bellies full of good food. This year, Robert and I decided to stay home and fix a very light and simple meal. All week I've been thinking about gratitude and fortune... particularly about how grateful I am for YOU... how special and important our blogging interactions are to me. Thank you! Have a beautiful day tomorrow and every day.