I created this duvet cover 9 years ago when I had lots of waiting time in hospitals and doctor's offices. It was a very difficult time for me, and having something to do with my hands was soothing and made me feel more like I was present and available. (I confess that when we went through it all again last year, I spent my waiting time reading mysteries rather than crocheting an edging on the blankets I brought along.) I started with navy fabric and tan fabric, using the back of the tan fabric since it was the color I wanted. Then I printed copies of different types of leaves from the neighborhood, mostly from my yard, but the poison ivy came from a neighbor's yard since I try not to stock it. I painted the colors I wanted on the leaf and then pressed them down onto the fabric. My goal was to make the front mostly two tone--navy and tan, but I added more color to the back. Each seam of embroidery is different like a crazy quilt except that my quilt is square, not irregularly shaped as a proper crazy quilt would be. Some of the embroidery I made up myself and others I copied or adapted from Jacqueline Enthoven's
Stitches of Creative Embroidery, a fabulous book if you love embroidery. Mrs. Enthoven copied designs from pictures of clothing in paintings. I had originally intended this for my daughter's bed, in fact, it was supposed to be the back of
a different quilt. But by the time I finished, I had too much work in it for it to be the back of a quilt, so I turned it into a front and created a different back for it. It sat in a cupboard for several years until I dragged it out to accent my new couch.
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| The back |
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| Close up of border of back |
I made this cake for Kristen's birthday. Underneath is a carrot cake with cream cheese icing. I used reduced fat cream cheese which was a huge mistake, causing the whole underneath to be soft and unstable, so the whole cake was droopy. I did plan for it to narrow down at the bottom of the cake, but it isn't supposed to look saggy. My friend Robin made the bird on top. It's a miniature of Rufus, Kristen's parrot. Kristen was pleased anyway, and I learned a lot.
, Kristen and I decided to take cake decorating classes. I love decorating fabric, so this seemed like a logical thing to try. I also like eating healthy (read avoiding sugar and fat and dyes) which eliminates most desserts. But I still make cakes for special occasions, and although I have never used food coloring in the past, I decided that chocolate and white were B-O-R-I-N-G, at least all of the time. My first assignment was a shaped cake. We chose a castle shape, and I tried decorating it in chocolate...very unimpressive. I can't even find a copy of it which is no great loss. I missed half of the first set of classes and all of the second set and made it back to cake decorating classes in time for the fondant classes. All of these are covered with fondant. Stephen made the last cake for Jessie; I only helped with that one.
I created this duvet cover 9 years ago when I had lots of waiting time in hospitals and doctor's offices. It was a very difficult time for me, and having something to do with my hands was soothing and made me feel more like I was present and available. (I confess that when we went through it all again last year, I spent my waiting time reading mysteries rather than crocheting an edging on the blankets I brought along.) I started with navy fabric and tan fabric, using the back of the tan fabric since it was the color I wanted. Then I printed copies of different types of leaves from the neighborhood, mostly from my yard, but the poison ivy came from a neighbor's yard since I try not to stock it. I painted the colors I wanted on the leaf and then pressed them down onto the fabric. My goal was to make the front mostly two tone--navy and tan, but I added more color to the back. Each seam of embroidery is different like a crazy quilt except that my quilt is square, not irregularly shaped as a proper crazy quilt would be. Some of the embroidery I made up myself and others I copied or adapted from Jacqueline Enthoven's Stitches of Creative Embroidery, a fabulous book if you love embroidery. Mrs. Enthoven copied designs from pictures of clothing in paintings. I had originally intended this for my daughter's bed, in fact, it was supposed to be the back of a different quilt. But by the time I finished, I had too much work in it for it to be the back of a quilt, so I turned it into a front and created a different back for it. It sat in a cupboard for several years until I dragged it out to accent my new couch.
