Roberta Williams presents Malden Marketplace "where creative friends gather" | ||
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Works in Progress | ||||||||||||||||
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Works In Progress The Making of Mr. Lyrebird | ||
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Mr. Lyrebird - Almost done! My latest project is a Lyrebird from Australia. I am fascinated with the beautiful song this bird has in the wild. He can mimic almost all birds and many sounds. The tail is like the peacock in featheriness but he only has 12 feathers of this kind unlike the peacock who has a hundred or more. The 2 outside feathers are heavy and shaped like a lyre, hence the name. There are also 2 wire like feathers. When I began this project I sketched my pattern out and then had it blown up to the size I wanted to create. I taped it to the wall and I checked for proportions and then made adjustments as needed. I used the pattern only as a guide and I continually changed it as it developed. I created patterns for each section. The red lines were for different background fabrics. I made freezer paper templates for the background, cut them out, and then sewed them together. Next I made templates for the trees and hand appliqued them to the background. I continued this process adding the ferns and small pieces to the bark. | ||||
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 | I did the background in two sections so it would be easier to work with for appliquéing. After the background was sewn together I added the trees and then the ferns. When both sides were finished, I sewed the two parts together. | |||
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 | I designed the bird and his lyre-tail and then appliquéd him onto a piece of matching fabric. I added ground to the bottom of the quilt and then I appliquéd the tail pieces and the body to the completed background. I designed the bird borders for the top and right of the quilt and finished them. I added the bird borders to the top and right side of the quilt as per my original design. When I was finished I felt the quilt needed another border on the left and bottom of the quilt so I added those with an appliqued vine and leaves going up the left side of the quilt and across the bottom. | |||
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I have finished the 12 white feathers with free motion embroidery, tulle and wash away sulvy. This picture shows an example of the feathers I have created for the lyrebird. I now have the quilt completed. I will do the quilting and then add the feathers. The lyrebird has 2 wiry feathers that extend along the heavy lyre shaped feathers and I will add those last. I am ready to pin and start quilting my new bird! | ||||
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Juvenile Whooping Crane with Water Lily. This picture was sent to me by John Martineau an intern with Operation Migration. I met John in New Glarus when the cranes were starting their journey to Florida with the ultralights. I was so impressed with John and his enthusiasm for the cranes I made this quilt for him. Please visit the site to learn more about what this group of people are doing to insure future generations the ability to see these majestic birds. wwwoperationmigration.org | ||
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Juvenile Cranes in a training flight over Necedah I was sent this picture of the whooping cranes on a trial run over Necedah National Park in Northern wisconsin, by Liz Condie and Heather Ray of Operation Migration. I am trying to capture the beauty of these birds in a fabric quilt. This quilt will be raffled by Operation Migration with the funds going to support their on going effort to save our cranes. This picture was taken before I started the quilting. I have done the birds and have outlined the land. I will now begin to quilt the water. I will post a picture of the finished quilt. | ||
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Fabric background designed and created by Sarah Gail Luther | updated April 2009 | |||
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