And now the OTHER April Journal Quilt

My journal quilt partner, Judi, has done another wonderful interpretation in fabric of a photograph. This time, she started with a photo taken by Jana Murphy, who is the Environmental and Reclamation Manager for Flambeau Mining Co. in Ladysmith WI. Jana has graciously consented to allow her photo to be posted here. The photo was taken during a prescribed burn on the reclaimed prairie being done by Applied Ecological Services where Judi is employed. The crew member in the picture is Chuck Campbell.

Here, in Judi's own words, is how she did it:

"Went into Photoshop and pulled Chuck out of the picture, then reversed him. Just had the picture up on my computer to look at while working on the quilt. I made a sandwich of white top with line drawing of design, batting and backing. Stitched around sandwich at 8.5 x 11 but the sandwich was bigger to allow for shrinkage. Stitching around the edge kept the 3 layers together as I worked and also let me know about where my area was."

"Put on the sky and tree background and quilted in the tree designs. Next added the grass fabric and quilted this heavily except where the fire and Chuck would be. Added the smoke and quilted it."

"Printed a picture of the flames at the correct size and used as a template to copy on freezer paper, then transfer on fabric. Quilted the flames."

"Added Chuck out of Ultra suede with the details of the equipment that they use in color. Quilted in details. Stitched around trimmed edge with a small zig zag to finish edge....didn't want to bind because it would have cut off some of the flames. Also was running out of time and in major pain by the end of 11 hours of sewing."

I cropped the photo she sent of the finished quilt so that edging detail doesn't really show. We don't consult or share in advance on these quilts so we are always amused to discover those times when we try the same thing or have the same issues. This time it was the edge finish - we both opted for the zig zag finish for the same reasons. We also seem to be trying methods to reduce construction time. Her method of attaching the applique as part of the quilting process is not unlike what I've been doing on some of my pieces. Great minds, as they say...

However, I was quite astounded to read she had spent 11 hours on this. Remember, we limit ourselves to what we can accomplish in a day. That's one long day of quilting. And I thought I'd worked hard with a mere 3 hours of quilting!