adventures of a quilting diva » Zephirine Drouhin

zephy’s going to houston!

laura west kong — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 06:01:00 +0000

The BIG ENVELOPE came in the mail today. It’s official—Zephy’s going to Houston for IQA in November! Click here to see the whole quilt, Zéphirine Drouhin.

zéphirine drouhin details

laura west kong — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 04:33:00 +0000

Here is the photo I worked from in Zéphirine Drouhin. Once upon a time it looked more like the photograph (several years old, taken from my scrapbook). I didn’t want to spill ink on it so I put the page away halfway through. That is when the fairy took on a look of her own, although when my DD tilts her head she looks alot like the fairy, and as she looks a bit younger than the fairy, they should look even more alike in a few years. I really liked the fairy as she was so I kept her even though it was not an exact likeness. The inks behave somewhat like watercolors in that you cannot overwork them or it will become muddy. I had to abandon my first attempt, taken from a different photo, because it was becoming mud pie.

You can also see some of the embellishments (beads, glitter, embroidery threads, and crystals). Angelina fibers are in the wings and metallic threads in her hair.

Finally we have the close-up of one of the rosebuds, the border quilting, the binding treatment, and the view from the back. Yes, those are very thick threads and very large quilting stitches.

You can see larger detail images, the painting which inspired this quilt, and other interpretations of that painting in the Spring 2006 ARTImage Challenge Webshots Album.

You can read about my original inspiration for this quilt on the Delphi Quilt Studio Forum, Spring ARTImage Picture and Discussion, message #57.

zéphirine drouhin

laura west kong — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 05:31:00 +0000

Zéphirine Drouhin is a Bourbon Rose introduced in 1868. It is a thornless climbing rose with a rich, sweet perfume and the rare ability to bloom with only three hours of sunlight a day. My DD is the model for the fairy in this quilt and I wish these qualities for her as she grows into a lovely young lady: to bring beauty, not thorns, to this world; to spread the sweet fragrance of God’s love to those she meets; and to blossom even in times of shadow.

This quilt is machine appliquéd, hand beaded, hand painted with Tsukineko All Purpose Inks, machine and hand embroidered, and hand quilted with a variety of specialty threads, and embellished with Angelina fibers, glitter and hot-fix crystals. It is about 18×20″ and is much more square than the photo shows. I had a blast making it! The only reason I stopped was that I ran out of crystals and will have to go buy more to finish up another day.

I will post more detail images later on this week when the sun comes out again. We’ve been enjoying unseasonally cool weather (low to mid eighties) ever since Friday. I need more natural light to take better photos (and a finished hanging sleeve would help too).

happy quilting!
(edited 8/2/06 to replace really awful photograph with somewhat better one)