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 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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