Friday, January 09, 2015

Travel Diary Quilt - A Few Finished "Pillows"

I'm working like a madwoman to get this quilt finished in time for a show at the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum during the month of April (a one-room exhibition of my work)!!!

Fifty-seven "pillows" in all. Thought you might like to see a few of the ones I've finished in the past couple of days.

Robin Atkins, Travel Diary Quilt, detail, Dumai, a tiger at Pt. Defiance Zoo
Robin Atkins, Travel Diary Quilt, detail, Berani, a tiger at Pt. Defiance Zoo
These are my favorite tigers at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, WA. Dumai (top) and Berani, raised together (as non-biological brothers) by zoo-keepers, are now just over 2 years old.

Robin Atkins, Travel Diary Quilt, detail, Freimaak celebration in Bremen, Germany
Roland, a knight of Bremen, Germany, is a central figure in the annual Freimaak (free market) celebration. The lucky penny was given to me by a very tall, handsome chimney sweep. I used thread embroidery to decorate the cookie and added threads to represent the strings on the balloons.

Robin Atkins, Travel Diary Quilt, detail, black bear in Yellowstone National Park

Robin Atkins, Travel Diary Quilt, detail, hiking in Yellowstone National Park
These two are both from my visit last June to Yellowstone National Park. The hiking and the animal sightings were fabulous at that time of year!

Robin Atkins, Travel Diary Quilt, detail, Bentheim Castle, Germany
I had a wonderful time exploring the Bentheim Castle, a large, early medieval, hill-top castle in NW Germany, definitely recommended if you are ever in the area!


Robin Atkins, Travel Diary Quilt, detail, bead shop window display, Budapest, Hungary
My bead-sister, Anna Fehér, in Hungary, took me to several really great bead shops in Budapest, including a shop that mostly sold beautiful, finished necklaces patterned after traditional folk designs. This was the window display at the shop. While there, I purchased a pattern for one of the necklaces, which I used to embellish this "pillow". The beads are size 15s.

By the way, looooong ago, Anna is the one who gave me the 2 tiger kitten, the peacock, and the 2 rucksack stamped-metal charms I used in three of the above "pillows." Thank you, Anna!!!


It's waaaaay fun to embellish each of these preserved memories. The embellishment part goes fairly quickly, taking about 2-3 hours each for most of them. Let me know if you like seeing them... If so, I'll post more as I go along.

16 comments:

  1. Robin, they're lovely! Yes, please post more as you finish them.

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    1. Thanks, Peggy, for the encouragement... I will post more!

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  2. I like the 3D and multimedia elements!

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    1. Me too. I'm getting more brave with what I add, as you'll see on the next post :)

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  3. Oooo, I'll have to make a trip to the museum in April for sure!

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    1. Thanks Kelly... Trips to the La Conner Quilt Museum are always a joy for me... I'm so honored to be a part of it!

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  4. Really awesome little pieces! great description in the previous post...can't wait to see them all together!

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    1. I can't wait either, Dianne... Sometimes I stop sewing and just play with the ones that are finished, arranging them in different ways. That part will be quite fun. I'll have to think of it differently then... Instead of little 3 x 4 stories, it will become one big story, and will have to look good (or at least interesting) from a distance... Maybe I can arrange the lighter pieces so they make a curved pathway through the darker ones???

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  5. Robin, I love these!! And congrats about the show, that's exciting!

    The window display one makes a really neat idea for a crazy quilt......

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    1. Thanks Marie... I'd love to hear your neat idea for a crazy quilt. If you come back and see this reply to your comment, will you take a moment to write a reply about it, please?

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    2. I thought of Double Drunkard's Path blocks - this idea:

      http://www.sewinspired.com/2010/10/winding-curves/ (I have no affiliation, I found this through Google)

      Then add laces and embroidery on all the different arcs. Wouldn't that be a fun project? The blocks could be rotated to create different layouts, or put plain blocks in between. So many possibilities.

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    3. Good idea... and very fun!

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  6. No question - post, post, post!!

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    1. OK, Sabine... coming soon :>)

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