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Tuesday 9 August 2016

A Time for all Seasons

My latest quilt is called A Time for all Seasons. I only came up with that title after it was finished; for nearly 3 years I was calling it my seasons quilt. Now people are telling me how much they love my clock quilt! I suppose the clock is a dominant feature. The photo below is a large file so you can see a bit more detail if you click on it.

A Time for all Season ©2016 Linda Steele
My thoughts when making this quilt was how time marches on and the seasons change but sometimes we are too busy to notice how beautiful nature is.

This quilt was a labour of love over the months and months that it took to make but in the end I was really rushing to get it finished in time for the Houston entry cut-off date and Vic Quilters entry, by the time I had finished it, I didn't like it very much, I was completely exhausted and over it.

Of course all that is over now, it's a bit like having a baby, you forget about what you went through and only have the joy of the finished product.

Here is a detail photo of the centre clock. I have divided the centre into the four seasons as well and really tried to get the seasons and embroidery to flow into each other and not make it too jarring.

Centre detail
Each corner of the quilt was devoted to a particular season.

Autumn Corner
Spring corner
Summer corner
Winter corner
I hand appliqued all the flowers, leaves and stems in the four corners and added hand embroidery and beads to enhance them.

Autumn detail

I don't think I have got the season's theme out of my system yet but when I do another one, I think it will be more like a pictorial quilt rather than a crazy quilt. The joy of making art quilts is that I can add the details with the embroidery that I am used to using with my crazy quilts.

So now I am free to start another quilt. I have become quite addicted to the Under the Sea theme and am planning to make a few more of them. I designed an applique miniature quilt a couple of years ago and must try to get that made plus I have a vague idea of another applique quilt, so I have to sit down and try and design that.

I will do some more posts in the future about how I made this quilt because I do take step by step photos as I go.

Bye for now,
Linda

8 comments:

Lorraine said...

Congrats on your first place - well deserved judging from these photos Linda. This is stunning! I have been working on a crazy quilt for the past year and since I am nearing completion I've been pondering what to do in the corners. Love your idea of the applique so will consider this. Really looking forward to more posts on this project. I want to learn more about overall construction of my blocks once completed.

Linda Steele said...

Thanks Lorraine, I will look forward to seeing your finished quilt. I spend a lot of time planning the layout and final look of my quilts to try and make them interesting.

Robbie said...

So glad you posted more detail shots of your wonderful quilt!! I think I mentioned when you first posted, I clicked to enlarge the picture to see better. Look forward to seeing your process shots!! Thanks!!!

Linda Steele said...

Thanks Robbie, there's a lot going on in my world at the moment but I will try and get on with some more photos

Charlotte Scott said...

Beautiful! That's a real stunner of a quilt and I love that it has so much meaning rather than just being pretty to look at. I'm curious, how did you decide what time to set the hands at?

Linda Steele said...

Thanks Charlotte, lots of people have asked me about the time. I wanted to have the hands on a diagonal for movement and I wanted them to be upwards as a sign of optimism. Other than that I didn't want them to cover up anything important.

nestki said...

I love everything about your quilts and your blog. This one is another Linda Steele Stunner! Thank you.

Linda Steele said...

Thank you so much Nestki, it's lovely to hear from someone who likes my quilts. I had been planning this quilt in my head for a few years, it is great to have it finished.