Happiness is A Quilt

How can I even begin to express how happy this quilt makes me?

Maybe I should just show you instead.

Because I went a little bit crazy taking pictures, and this isn't even the tip of the iceberg.
No joke.

But really, what's not to love?

The sock monkeys, the polka dots, the stripes, the sunflowers, the swirls, the stars, the patchworkiness and wonkiness of it all makes it so perfect to me.

It is my second quilt I have made in my entire life, and this one was all by myself (as in no help from my mom)... I love it!

This is my happiness quilt.

Have a happy happy Valentine's day!

XOXO, Callie

the magical bean

Quilted Portrait

One project I am particularly proud of is a quilted portrait I did for my drawing II class. The assignment was to make an non-traditional portrait, so I chose quilting. For years I had seen some really amazing art quilts in the magazine Quilting Arts. I had always wanted to try my hand at making one, and so when the chance presented itself I jumped on the idea. After conferring with my teacher, who gave me the go-ahead, and my mom who helped me decide how to go about doing it. I got started!

The final result really makes me happy.

I based my quilt off of an amazing photograph I saw on flickr. The photo was taken by a phenomenal photographer, whose user name is LJ. Click here to visit LJ'S profile.
Click here to visit LJ's photostream.

1. Untitled by flickr user LJ.

The resulting quilt only somewhat resembles the original photograph. Basically what I did to make it was to cut out varying shades of colors and then glue then down, putting them layer by layer on top of one another. Finally I have my mom to thank for the actual stippling of the quilt. She did an amazing job, in my opinion, and I felt very proud of how it looked. Thread painting, is what I think it's called. She zipped along, sewing the contours of the face, added wrinkles, and some extra hair. She really did do a swell job! Thanks mom! We chose some variegated brown/tan thread as well as some black and white.
I then hand sewed the binding... and turned it in the next day.

Here's a little close-up of the eyes.

The back looked like so...
All the white thread makes it seem kind of ghostly, no?

When I was photographing it, I switched the position of the portrait for a moment, and by some chance the light shined through for a moment and this is what I saw...
Old man illuminated.
Made me smile.

Can't wait to do another!
Happy Thursday,
xoxo, Callie
the magical bean

My Talented Mom

Gasp!! How could I have never posted about my mom's quilting skills before?? It seems impossible but don't worry I'll remedy that right away.... ;)

My mom is an amazing seamstress. She can sew up a quilt like no body's business and it is her that I always turn to when I have a question about sewing. She made this beautiful quilt shown above from material she bought at the International Quilt Festival in Houston this year. And yes that is her peeking out from the quilt in the top photo. She is rather silly isn't she? I am so proud to call her my mom. She is the person who taught me how to sew and so many other things in life. Love you mom!!

What has your mom taught you that makes you feel especially proud?