the set up for hanging quilts

i wanted some place to be able to hang my quilts outside so i could take photographs...i asked my husband if he would help me and the next thing i knew i was sent to my sewing studio and he took over...the system he came up with works well...i  had bought a piece of dowelling but he deemed it to small...off to the store he went...several hours later i was able to hang my quilt and photograph it...

he measured the height to place the hook by holding the dowel up against the tree...it was a twelve foot length...tho hard so see in the photo there is a pulley hanging from the hook...directly opposite in another tree is an identical hook and pulley...he then threaded the soft nylon rope thru the pulley...

the ends of the dowel both have eye hooks in them...one end of the rope has a snap attached and the other end hangs free...

another view of the dowel and snap

the quilt hangs from a shower curtain hook to which he added cable which was joined using a little black do ma hickey...the name of which escapes him...i think the quilt would hang from a smaller dowel of one inch but he thought not and i let him do it his way cuz he knows about things i have no idea about...

hanging quilt...

at about chest height is a hook...i attached the hooks to the quilt...thread it over the dowel and raise each end to the height i want and then tie the rope around this hook with a half hitch or some kind of knot only a girl knows how to tie (much to the chagrin of men)(who often ask what is that)

supply list

1) one handy man

2) 12 feet of dowel

3) 48 feet of soft nylon rope

4) 2 snaps

5) 4 large hooks

6) 2 pulleys

7) 2 small eye hooks

8) a ladder

9) about 2 hours of time

10) 2 trees

11) 7 curtain hooks

12) cable several feet

13) 7 black do ma hickeys

 sky horses hanging from the set-up...you can just see the dowel in the upper part of the photo

farm horses quilt is finished

farm horses quilt is finished!!!!!  i started this quilt at the retreat in april...so i got it finished in time to enter it in our local fair where it got a second place...i used some of the techniques i learned from the free motion quilting challenge sponsored by sewcalgal...i really enjoyed the entire process of making this quilt...right from the design process to the hand sewing of the binding...

this is one of the original sketches from my sketchbook

the hand written pattern with dimensions of each block cut, trimmed and finished sizes...this gave me room for trimming after   i appliqued each horse on the blocks...it pays to spend time getting this all on paper before cutting...guess how i learned that lesson

colour choice is always one of my favorite parts of quilting...i am very spontaneous when choosing...often just starting with only a idea of colour and then pulling from my stash...

some of the blocks in the quilt...i outlined each horse then i quilted a grid pattern around each horse...i left the bodies without quilting so they would puff up...the sashing is quilted with paisleys that oppose each other...i used aurifil 50wt thread....LOVE this thread...no lint...great colours...strong...blends into the fabric rather then sitting on top...allows the applique to be seen...the fabric and the quilting share the stage...

this quilting motif is one i learned on the free motion quilting challenge...the fabric on the left has been in my stash for several years...bought as a fat quarter in a fabric shop in taos, new mexico...i buy fat quarters not yardage...as you can see i use many different fabrics in a quilt...the fabric on the right is new and chosen for the pink and orange combo...i fav of mine at the moment

more detail

i call these horses "farm horses" their bodies are more square and blocky like draft horses...different body type then sky horses who are more ethereal

not my last horse quilt for sure...what next? chinese horses, folkart horses...famous art horses....who knows...any suggestions

august FMQ challenge piece

i find it hard to believe august is almost over...the nights are cool and the mornings are crisp...the hot days of summer are gone here in central british columbia...finally was able to get to the sewing machine and practice the august challenge of jester's hats...i did find this more difficult then other months tutorials

i did have some trouble at times not getting trapped but after a bit of practice i did get so i could quilt without getting trapped

hanging out on the design wall with the lizards 

tucked in with the lizard blocks for my next quilt

part of a practice piece...i used a superior threads king tut for this month's piece...it is a 40 wt thread...it does stand out more and make the quilting more visual...

the muse and the work, pets and quilts

sky horses are the images that play across my eyes in the hours before dawn...dreams...i have always loved horses...my first toy being a rubber horse...

the muse and work...the colours of summer...green foliage...white daisies

sky horses blowing in the summer breeze

detail of sky horses...hope you enjoyed my entry for art quilt and other pet themed quilt....for more entries to drool over go to....

http://www.lilypadquilting.blogspot.ca/2012/08/the-2012-pets-on-quilts-show-is-here.html