Thursday, November 5, 2009

My Friend Jim's Fabric Drawing






The other day my sister-in-law, Sandy, her husband, Cecil, along with my father-in-law, stopped by for lunch. They actually brought lunch to my house...which was really nice for me.
After we ate, the guys were watching football, so Sandy asked to see that "quilt closet" I wrote about in my last post. For some reason, she hadn't seen it. Oh, my goodness...how did that happen?

Naturally, we immediately went to the closet so she could take a look. Actually, I enjoy taking a look in there myself....from time to time, I suppose just to make sure it's still there! She picked out one particular quilt because she noticed the edging and liked it. The quilt had a beaded edge. I think she'd actually enjoy beading. She's a painter and a wonderful one at that....and she could bead if she took a mind to it...maybe we'll see about that soon. When she took the quilt out of the closet, she then noticed the center of it. Drawing on fabric....now, this is right up her alley, she just doesn't know it yet!

So, here's the quilt. It's eighteen inches square. It all began with a drawing on fabric done by my good friend, Jim. Years ago, I taught a class in "writing on fabric" at our guild retreat. Jim took that class...and because I knew he really didn't want to write on fabric....but would greatly enjoy heckling me, I didn't say a thing when he politely listened, then began to DRAW instead of write. He drew the tiniest little drawings as a frame for the writing...how cool was that?
After class, he stuffed the muslin drawing into his pocket and told me he was going to "throw it away."

At lunch that day, he placed something near my plate....it was the drawing! So, I said "I'll make a quilt and put this on it." He said, "Oh, no....it's not good enough, later I'll do a better one and send it to you." (Well, I kept that little piece and later made it into a quilt. He was actually surprised I had spent some time doing this. I wasn't, of course!) About a week after that class, I received an envelope in the mail from Jim...and in it was the drawing you see in the center of this quilt. It's just GREAT!!! So, I made a second little quilt embellished with buttons.

Somewhere in my hunting and gathering...I had found the brass bird, so I had to add it to the "scene" and of course, as you might expect, I had to bead the edges of the quilt too!

I made a label for the back of the quilt, as you can see, and as Jim does, I cut out some flowers and fused them to the label....and wrote a bit about the quilt. This was fun! Jim and I have done a couple of projects together. Sometimes it's difficult because we work in totally different ways, with totally different styles, sometimes we have loud and lively disagreements, but, gosh - it's really nice to have a friend who enjoys making things and sharing all this FUN....we both think so.

This quilt led to us making two more larger ones. He did the drawing, I made the quilts. I have one and he has the other. Maybe I'll show mine to you next time! And, Sandy, well, she MIGHT want to try that beading....come on over Sandy!!! Meantime, take care, pat

8 comments:

vivian said...

That is just spectacular!! He should sell those. I certainly would buy that......and love the beading. I'm going to copy that idea. :)
Thanks.....Jane

The Feathered Nest said...

Oh Pat, this is so beautiful!!! I just love his drawing the quilting is such a wonderful frame for it! Just gorgeous ~ xxoo, Dawn

BrenWall61@gmail.com said...

Our friend Jim under estimates himself. He should do more drawings for quilt themes, or make copies of his paper drawings printed onto fabric. Just love to think of things for him to do. Glad he gave you the drawing. Sandy definitely can do the beading - she is so talented.

Kissy said...

That's amazing!

Anonymous said...

That piece your friend Jim did is stunning. And you made into something so special. Wow, just lovely. Very nice job!


Ann Flowers
flowerscrazyq@gmail.com

Peonies & Magnolias said...

How wonderful his drawing is and a gorgeous quilt you made with it. Love the beading.

Sandy

Princess Laura Lis said...

Hello Patricia! It's beautiful. I love quilts, now I'm going to class to learn how do it, hose class are funny, many women sewing and talking. Have a nice weekend!

Gayle said...

The pen and ink drawing is wonderful...he is very talented...and I think the bead border makes it sing.

A Bit of Heaven

A Bit of Heaven
An original designed wall quilt with my vision of heaven on earth.