Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Seed Packet

After taking a couple of summer months off, we are back! We are all members of the Narragansett Bay Quilters' Association. The guild summer challenge was "Seed Packets" so we decided to kill 2 birds with one stone and do that project.

Marcia: Seeds under Organza
I decided to use real seeds in my project. I used 9 types of seeds, set them on a colored background then overlayed organza. I am sewing little decorative pockets around each seed group. I did not quite finish so you see pins in the organza. I like the way the glass heads of the pins set off each "packet" so I think I will use some seed beads in the finished project to get the same effect.

Linda: New York Village
I had a very busy summer and did not get a chance to make my seed packet. I did however, take a class, "Happy Villages," from Karen Eckmeier. This was a fun workshop. The "location" of your village is very much influenced by the fabrics chosen. I wanted a New York village so I chose predominately black and white with a little gold for New York glitz.

Cathey: New England Seeds
I was inspired by the falling leaves of autumn. The leaves/acorns etc. are the seeds of trees to come. To simulate the fall colors, I used a fall colored background, then used a gold paintstick on black for the gold background leaves and finally, colored some Lutradur for the foreground leaf.

Joan: Tuscan Village and Flower Seed Packet
I also took the "Happy Villages" workshop. My interpretation is from some of my travel photographs. I chose colors and a layout reminiscent of sunny Tuscany. A couple of the buildings have the names of the actual structures. Also included is a clock tower, steps and domes so prevalent in Italy.
For the Seed Packet project, I took this photograph at the raspberry farm in Windham, CT. I altered it in my computer, using the "posterize" feature to add interest. I then printed it on to white "pfd" fabric in 4 panels which I sewed together. I added printed lettering on more pdf. then quilted the entire piece.It won First Place in the NBQA Summer Challenge!


Hope: I had a lot of fun with this one. Anyone from the sixties will recognize this plant. I had fun tracking down what its flowers looked like. :) I beaded the center blossom and all along the inside of the binding.



Melanie: Corn Seeds
I love to garden but people who know me, know I am more about the vegetables than flowers so of course I chose a veggie: Corn. I searched images on the web for inspiration and ended up with this interpretation of an old fashioned seed packet. I used colored pencils to create the drawing on white pfd fabric. I then used textile medium to set the pencil coloring so it would be permanent and washable. I "trapunto-ed" the ear of corn and free motion quilted the entire piece. I used a "pillowcase" finishing because I thought it would make the project look more like a seed packet than using a binding.