Today I'd like to introduce you all to Gene Black (make sure and check out his blog, he is an incredibly talented artist!).
He was the winner of the P&B textiles fq set a few weeks ago and he chose Island Breeze to make his project with.
I love how Gene explains his process in this post, and the result is a vibrant, happy quilt!
Nice work on the quilt Gene, and the quilting you did on it is fabulous!
Here's Gene!
The first thing that drew me to the Island Breeze collection was the vibrant colors. I almost immediately saw butterfly wings flitting in the sunlight. Penny had asked for a the comment of which collection you would choose and " if you already have an idea, what you might make with them?" I thought, "These would be so fun to make a wall quilt for our church youth room." I had heard that the Youth Director was looking for something to put on the walls. She had looked at one of my quilt wall hangings a year ago but it sold to someone else.
When I won, I realized that I needed to make a plan. So I did a mockup in Electric Quilt. Of course I had to use the embellishment butterflies that were in the program unless I wanted to create them from scratch for the mockup.
After I had a basic plan, I thought about how I would use the fabric to make the butterflies. I decided to do fusible applique and die cut the shapes. I used some heart shapes and some "feather" shapes to create the wings. For the bodies I cut some single daisy petals.
Some of these I modified by free cutting with scissors for the final quilt. Of course I applied the fusible to the fabric before cutting the shapes. That required choosing the fabrics to be the butterflies. I chose these.
I also had to make the background blocks and I chose to use black along with a couple of the other fabrics from the line.
I got the quilt all sewn and free motion quilted.
It all went quickly since it was so inspiring to me. I love the quilting on the back which is all black.
I am glad this quilt is going to be where I can visit it again. As you can see, it really makes me smile.
Gene
Just beautiful Gene. Thanks for sharing your creation and supporting our youth w/your inspiration.
Posted by: Diane Beavers | 09 December 2014 at 08:30 AM
Gene is so amazing with his talent! Love this quilt!
Posted by: Thearica Burroughs | 09 December 2014 at 08:40 AM
Gene is quite an artist. This butterfly quilt is so cheerful. #Quiltlove
SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com
Posted by: SewCalGal | 09 December 2014 at 09:06 AM
Gene, it's an amazing quilt; i just love it. Your grin says it all. I have a piece I did with a black backing and it's one of my favorites. Yours is stunning !~!
Posted by: Lynda M Otvos | 11 December 2014 at 12:48 AM
Gene makes me smile! Such a fun quilt, and what a generous, creative, and thoughtful gentleman. Congratulations!!
Posted by: Glynis | 20 December 2014 at 05:44 PM