Thursday, February 25, 2016

Lavender Mountains: Planes, Trains & Automobiles Blog Hop!

"Lavender Mountains," 25" x 31", made by Pam Geisel, Jan 2016

Welcome to today's stop on the Island Batik Ambassador's "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" Blog Hop!

Today I'll share a quilted project made with brand new Island Batik fabric line "Desert Rose" and how you can enter a giveaway to win some Island Batik fabric of your own. (You can click on any photo to see it larger).

All of the Island Batik fabric that I used are available now. To find a location near you, visit the Island Batik Store Locator.


To make this art quilt I used four purples and two pinks from the Desert Rose Collection:


And for the sun I used 121500343 from the Sea Salt-Sandy Collection.


The theme of this blog hop is "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" and back in 1996 my husband and I took the Empire Builder Amtrak train from Chicago to Seattle, with stopovers in Montana. One of my memories from that trip is when we were moving west as the sun was setting, it seemed to take a very long time to set. (And when we came back east it was over very quickly). The fabrics that I received from the Desert Rose Collection were the right colors to make a sunset quilt with.

I don't have photos of the sunset from that trip so I searched for images of sunsets in the mountains. There were several from the Blue Ridge Mountains that were wonderful examples of “Aerial Perspective,” which is how atmospheric conditions influence our perception of objects in the distance. As objects get further away, they appear lighter in tone, which is why the “mountains” in the background are lighter in color that the “mountains” in the foreground. Since I had four wonderful shades of purple to use and pink for the sky, I decided this would be my quilt for the blog hop.


Step 1 : Cut the fabrics at angles to represent mountains being careful to not cut straight lines. Leave about half an inch fabric for overlap, baste them to the batting and backing, then quilted along the fabric edges to keep them down. 


Step 2 : Use a variegated purple thread to do free motion stippling on the four purple mountains (more obvious on the darker and lighter purples) and couched a fun yarn at the edges of the purple fabrics.


Step 3 : Add the yellow fabric (taken from the Sea Salt-Sandy Collection). Couch some bumpy yellow yarn around the sun and added the clouds. 

Step 4 : For the clouds cut long, free-form oval shapes from the darker pink fabric, the lighter two purples, and from a sheer pink fabric. Quilted all of these down with a pink thread using curving lines going back and forth to catch the edges of the fabrics.

More about Lavender Mountains


http://www.islandbatik.com/




80 comments:

Connie Kauffman said...

Wow, great job on the perspective with the fabrics!

Anita said...

I love your sunset, it looks so real!

Holly U said...

Simple, and stunning! The couched threads add a great detail.

Emily C said...

Very pretty. I love how you added dimension with the couching.

Allison said...

Such gorgeous fabrics. Your sunset is beautiful!

Connie Kresin Campbell said...

Beautiful sunset Pam and the fabrics are perfect for it!

Dale said...

That looks just like our drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains. A very clean, beautiful design! And thank you for your nice give away!
warner.dale@gmail.com

Alice Ronne said...

What a beautiful use of colors for your interpretation of sunset in the mountains. Love it! akronne17@gmail.com

Joyce Carter said...

Beautiful sunset quilt! The pinks and purples were just right for it.
Thank you for the giveaway.

Renea said...

Very pretty project. Love the colors you used. Thanks for the wonderful giveaway.

Sarah J said...

I love the purples- and the accent of yarn along the mountain edges is perfect! Lovely finish!

Barb said...

Love what you have done!

Rozz01 said...

Love the color combination in your Sunset quilt.

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

I love the 2 giveaway fabrics!! This is a pretty group of fabric.

Marlene @ KISSed Quilts . com said...

Love it! Especially the couching and cloud elements.

Marlene @ KISSed Quilts . com said...

Love it! Especially the couching and cloud elements.

Vicki H said...

Love your sunset.

Lori Smanski said...

this is very lovely. reminds me of some of the hills of Switzerland when they are covered in Heather.quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

Annmarie said...

You're sunset is gorgeous. Thanks for sharing the process. I just might have to make one just like it!

Quilts for Sale said...

Love your sunset! The colours, fabrics, and the scene are so very pleasing to look at!

Quilting Tangent said...

Pretty sunset. 24Tangent@gmail.com

Sallie said...

Lavender Mountains and these fabrics are beautiful!

Calicojoan said...

Just gorgeous! Love seeing just how you made it come to life.

Edie said...

Love your sunset. You make it look so easy and realistic. Thanks for the draw.

Cat Lady said...

Your sunset is so realistic. Thanks for sharing how you made it.

Janie said...

Thank you for sharing how to create a landscape quilt. It turned out lovely.

Unknown said...

Beautiful Job! Love the addition of the couched yarn - very creative

quilter said...

Very pretty, thanks for sharing
cork@pa.rr.com

Unknown said...

I really like your quilt!
llamance@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

Love your quilt! Batiks are my favorite fabric to work with.
Rosemary

tac73 said...

Love your sunset! Thank you for explaining your process.

Char said...

Pam I love your quilt and I appreciate you sharing your process!

Homesewn said...

Great job !

beaquilter said...

great quilt

The Victorian Girl said...

Such a pretty sunset!
kellam.susan@yahoo.com

teachpany said...

That's gorgeous! I love the yarns to add texture and detail. Great colors and great job!

Kathy Eyre said...

I'm in my "purple phase" right now so I'm in love with your sunset and theses fabrics eyreka1@gmail dot com

Lisa England said...

Beautiful project! Simple but stunning.

Nancy A: rangerer@sbcglobal.net said...

Your quilt is fabulous! Love both the colors and the pattern you chose to show the fabric off.

JANET said...

Beautiful fabrics. Love the sunset!

Kathleen said...

Love your landscape piece. Thanks for the opportunity to win this beautiful fabric.
kakingsbury at verizon dot net

lalaluu said...

Good tutorial. I like the use of yarn in the project!

mumbird3 said...

Wow awesome - love it!!!

LJ said...

Gorgeous mountains. How amazing it is that you can take simple fabrics and make a landscape that breathes. Thank you for sharing your process.

Unknown said...

Stunning landscape! Thanks for a great giveaway

claire ross said...

Wow, that looks great. Love the colours of the fabrics you have used x
Iain.ross30 at gmail dot com

Michele T said...

Beautiful arrangement!! Those colours are gorgeous!! Thanks for sharing the way you made this piece too!

Hanke said...

Love your quilt. Thanks for the chance.

Anna brown said...

Very very nice ....I tryed a picture quilt once was hard lol I thought.... But really like yours ty for sharing...

Paradise Threads said...

Love the pink sky.

JM in Toronto said...

Beautiful "sunset in the mountains" quilt! Congratulations on a job well done!

Norma said...

These colors are beautiful and make a wonderful project. I can imagine a large quilt using these colors. Great job!

Pamela said...

I love the way you created depth with these beautiful colors. The stitching is gorgeous too. Thanks for sharing!

Bec said...

Love the colors you used for your mountain sunset. Batiks are so beautiful and your creativity paired very nicely with them. :)

Cecilia said...

Beautiful quilt! Thanks for sharing and for the giveaway.

GranChris said...

I love the colors, such a great quilt. I can't wait to see this fabric.

OhioLori said...

You are soooo creative! Love your Sunset...Beautiful!!! Thank you too, for chance to win your Give-a-way! :)

Dawn F said...

I live in the mountains and so I am naturally fond of this project! Great job using the colors!

Beth said...

It's interesting to me that while you were recreating a mountain scene with your Desert Rose batiks, the scene reminds me of Palm Springs at sunset.

Unknown said...

Very cute idea!
(JoyJoy TigerEyes)

Siouxzq64@gmail.com said...

Gorgeous piece. My hubby is from the midwest and always marvels at how when we visit my family on the west coast that sunset seems to last so long, but he thinks that sunrise lasts longer her at home.

Dody said...

Wow! That is very inspirational,love it. Thank you for sharing.
Dmac5958ataoldotcom

Donna W said...

Thanks for showing us how to make your Lavender Mountains.

Sewgirl said...

Love the landscape and the couching...I had forgotten what a lovely detail the couching adds to a piece. Thanks for sharing the giveaway!

rrjane011749 said...

Love your quilt!

Cloud 9 said...

Lovely project. Have you seen the Craftsy class Stupendous Stitching? Your project would be perfect for hand stitching and embellishing. I see lots of new possabilities.

Havplenty said...

Batiks are such expressive fabrics, its enjoyable to just look at them and pet them. Your art quilt is awesome. The minimal design leaves a vivid impression.

tushay3 (at) yahoo (dot) com

Unknown said...

Adored your quilt art at first sight. Maybe I am fond of purple but I could visualize your view of the mountains. Thank you for a chance to win . Happy Quilting :)

Anonymous said...

Your quilt is awesome! Thank you for sharing how you made it.

Please click on the delaineelliott above for my email link.

apple blossom said...

I love your lavender mountains. thanks for the chance to win

Kathy E. said...

My heart skipped a beat (or three) when I saw the first photo of Lavender Mountains! I have been a purple lover most of my life and having your tutorial to follow is just the best gift! Thank you and I will add this to my list to sew one for my sewing room soon!

Kelly Dee said...

We rode that train from Seattle to Montana and back. It was awesome.

Kathy L said...

Beautiful!! Put my name in the hat.

Maureeneh said...

Your quilt is wonderful. thank you for explaining how you made it.
maureeneh52@hotmail.com

WandaM said...

Love your sunset! These are wonderful batiks!

sissy said...

I love your beautiful sunset quilt. I would love to make one that is similar. Thank you for showing us and the instructions.

Kd Brown said...

Great composition with these beautiful Island Batiks. Really enjoying this hop with all of the wonderful bloggers!

Sally said...

So enjoying following the blog shop hop! YEA! ISLAND BATIKS!

Rachel said...

Very neat landscape. I love a good sunset! Thanks for the chance to win!

Amanda Best said...

I love your beautiful sunset quilt. I was just thinking the other day of trying to make a mountain sunset quilt, yours is quite an inspiration. The sunsets here in Montana are so lovely and long too, like you said.
Again thanks for sharing.
my email is: bestbelle2010@aol.com