Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Halloween Houses

I don't know if the rest of you have had the experience of making a quilt that forever changes how you approach making quilts. I have. Making liberated houses a la Gwen Marston really changed everything. I was never much of a template fan, but after "Liberated Quiltmaking" I've never used them again.

The first houses quilt I made was for Christmas in 1996, and I haven't posted that one yet. Sometime after that I made the blue and white liberated houses quilt that I posted in my very first blog entry.

In September 2000, I pieced this quilt Halloween Houses and it loosened me up that much more. I mainly pieced houses but you'll see a witch there in the top line. I wasn't paying enough attn when I sewed on her head, so it's a bit out of whack, but I refused to redo it. She's a witch, not a beauty queen.

But the biggest step forward for me was realizing that I could piece letters. Letters without templates or a systematic approach with squares and rectangles... Just letters. The kind that I showed you all how to make back in August. This was the beginning. I've been on a quilt lettering kick ever since.

I love the quilting on this quilt, if I may say so myself. This detail shot is all perle cotton, but I also used embroidery floss in other areas. All the quilting motifs are out of my little head, I didn't use any templates. Most of the fun was deciding what went where. In this shot you have the old tree and bats flying in the air, a visiting alien, half of a spider web and a big fat spider.

4 comments:

Finn said...

Boy..that is some alien..*S* Great job..on all of it. You really do beautiful work. I love the colors and the whimsey...keep up the great work!

Makes me think of "i knew a crooked man, who walked a crooked mile..." All bend and foldy..*G* More spiders please !

Quilts And Pieces said...

Oh my gosh Tonya! That quilt is soooo cute! And I even don't like Halloween - but LOVE this! And the quilting is just too adorable! I just can't free hand stuff like that.

BUT - I just saw a quilt recently by Gwen Marston about liberated baskets that really grabbed my eye. I had never before really seen her "liberated" way of piecing and have been thinking I need to get her book and do it! I think you've convinced me more! Which book is it that does the houses.

And I'm still thinking I have got to do those letters!

Tonya Ricucci said...

The book that I learned to let loose and make houses from was Gwen Marston's "Liberated Quiltmaking" - unfortunately it's now out of print. Check it out from the library or borrow from a friend. Her more recent book "Liberated String Quilts" does have some baskets in it tho and is a lot of fun.
Yes, do those letters.

Catherine said...

This is the best. I love Halloween but keep hanging around quilters who don't 'do' Halloween quilts. Such sillinesss...of course I can make any quilts I want!! Your quilting is great too. Thanks Tonya.