Here it is - January!

Here is my January journal quilt. I finished it, and I just couldn't wait until the 20th to post it. You've seen the background I started with. I decided I wanted a seagull, so I went looking for pictures. These are the two I worked from:

Next, I sketched a picture. Fancy paper, huh? I realized the legs were too short, but I wasn’t about to draw the whole thing again!

I traced the sketch onto a fusible product, and ironed it to my fabric for the seagull and the piling he's sitting on. Then I cut them out and fused them to the background. I ended up doing this twice for the seagull, because you could see the sky through the white fabric. If I were to do it again, I wouldn’t have worried about adding a second layer, because I could have covered it with thread. Either way, it worked, but it ended up really stiff. Then I just used my handy-dandy "Big Foot" and free-motioned all the details with thread. I had some problems with the needle getting sticky from the fusible stuff, but managed to finish with lots of "Need-L-Lub." By the way, I did find teflon-coated needles on the internet - they are designed for industrial sewing where the needle goes so fast that it generates a lot of heat. They are sold in boxes of 100. I didn't bother ordering any, but if I decide to do a large project with lots of sewing through fusible stuff, I may get some.

When I had the picture done, I layered it with a lightweight cotton batting and muslin on the back. I free-motion quilted the waves and clouds.

Drum roll, please . . . .




My favorite part is the bird’s wing. There are lots of details that I am less than 100% satisfied with, but overall I like how it turned out.

I have named the piece “Day Dream,” after a poem by A.S.J. Tessimond. The poem is on the back, along with the info about the quilt. I used June Taylor computer printer fabric for the back.



In case you can’t read it, here is the poem:

Day Dream
A.S.J. Tessimond

One day people will touch and talk perhaps easily,
And loving be natural as breathing and warm as sunlight,
And people will untie themselves, as string is unknotted,
Unfold and yawn and stretch and spread their fingers,
Unfurl, uncurl like seaweed returned to the sea,
And work will be simple and swift as a seagull flying,
And play will be casual and quiet as a seagull settling,
And the clocks will stop, and no one will wonder or care or notice,
And people will smile without reason,
Even in winter, even in the rain.