Church Quilt - Go Texan

 

Just got my "Barnes" quilt back from the Houston Livestock & Rodeo event. This was my third quilt to win "Go-Texan,"

My "Churches" was recently delivered to Houston. It won "Go-Texan" back in June.

So I Was Inspired - Part 4

Dome Church was a challenge for me because I couldn't decide how to add some of the shading on one side of the building. I dug deep into my stash. Pieces of fabric lay all over the floor. Mr. Cowboy was appalled at the mess but I finally found a small piece that worked well.

This photo doesn't really show up well but there's a grayish, pale lavender on the right half.

You can see it better above.

I know it looks off kilter but I like it.

This green will help when I add trees and bushes.

Lots of foliage.

This church is another favorite because I decided to only show the steeples and roof. The background is a medium gray so I did go back and color the crosses a brighter yellow but didn't take a photo of it.

Don't you just love that swirly fabric I used for the stain glass windows!!!

This church is on a hill with a windy drive up and mountains behind it.

That makes twelve. Now all I have to do is stitch everything together. Oh boy!!!

Thank you for following along on this journey and for giving great suggestions. Hopefully I'll be able to show the quilt when I get it sewn together. Maybe this won't take years to complete.....sigh!!

So, I Was Inspired....Part 3

Again, I want to apologize for not remembering to take photos from the beginning of some of the blocks.

Love the crackling fabric on this little red and white church.

Found some brick fabric in the old stash which works well here.

This was a quick little block so it on to the next one.

Looks like a little doghouse but it's not.

Putting all the pieces together, so you can see where this is going. The different scales of rock fabric lends a bit of depth to the buildings.

Add the sidewalks, bushes, grass and the sky and this place of worship is finished.

This one was a bit out of my comfort zone because of the odd shapes but I think I'm on the correct track.

Deciding which background to use is tough with this one.

I'm auditioning a few backgrounds. This is where taking photos really helps in that process.

I'm not sure about this block so I know I need to add something because there's not enough contrast. But I'll need to think about what to do.  

Thoughts anyone???

So, I Was Inspired Part 2

Again, warning.....photo heavy post!!!

The other week I started this new project of places of worship. My head is still spinning with ideas so I'm forging on. Below is how this church came about.

I know, I know, it looks like the beginning of a rocket...hehehehehehe

A rocket with a clock!!! Nope.

Now, it's really coming together. It never ceases to amaze me the awesome different fabrics to choose from whether it be landscaping fabrics, prints, solids, tone-on-tones. There are just so many.

A lot of sky here. BTW, the sky fabric was given to me by my wonderful friend

 Diana from Seldom Seen Quilting.

 She's a long-arm quilter who rents her machines so that anyone who'd like to learn to quilt can do so.

After taking the above photo, Mr. Cowboy said, "Looks great, but....," then he just paused like forever and walked way. Oh I really don't like it when he does that but he was right to pause.

It made me think that I needed to add to the body of the church. Also as you can see from the very first photo, I added mountains to the background. I totally love that idea. Unfortunately, I had to add the mountain after I'd glued and pressed everything down. There was a lot of accurate cutting to be done on my part. Whew! It was hard but I got it done!!!

Onward!

On this block, I went for a pale creamy sky. 

I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep or change the gray brick at this point. The block was looking more like a pyramid which was a bit distracting.

I decided to stick with the bricks. Things are working to my liking once I added a few details.

Again, I've used green and gray fabrics in this block. I know the steeple looks a bit off kilter but it's the shadowing that's making it look that way. I don't think I'm going to change it either!

Onward!!

So, I Was Inspired...........

Warning....this post is photo heavy.
This is Design Wall Monday sponsored by Judy over at Patchwork Times. Make sure you pop in to see what others are up to.
So, I was inspired by a wonderful lady who took one of my landscaping classes. She had recently visited another country and loved one of the places of worship (the photo above is not what sparked her interest). That got me thinking about something I hadn't tried. So off I went to do research the different types of places to worship and OMG there were so many ideas my head nearly exploded. I started sketching from clipart ideas, then filled that in with crayons and tiny scraps of fabric.
As you know, I love taking pics of my progress because 1. it keeps me on track, somewhat 2. I can easily see what does and doesn't work & 3. I love sharing with all my blogger friends. With that said, here's how the above block developed:

The grayish roof only seems to work with a tiny black underlining.

Everything so far is worked out on my non-stick pressing sheet. Underneath each window I used a gray crayon to shadow then pressed to seal or melt the area. (BTW, I used a sheet of copy paper between the iron and crayon markings.....wouldn't want crayon on my iron...hehehehehe)

Too much forest background.

I added a bit of sky to break up all that greenery, then added a bush or two at the back of the building.

All the fabrics are from my stash. I just love digging for just the right pieces. It's amazing how many greens are in my stash. Have I mentioned that I am in love with green. I have to make myself turn away from that color when purchasing fabric.....LOL....it's not easy.

I absolutely love this brick type fabric here. It was hard to cut into but I closed my eyes and did it.

I needed a similar color for the tower so off to the stash I went. I must say, digging through the piles and piles of fabric is therapeutic. Who else can relate to what I'm talking about?? I feel comforted in all that fabric. The colors, the smell, the feel of it, the...... oh, ah, sorry. Now where was I?

Add some windows to the mix.

This block is looking a bit naked. I am going for a church on a grassy hill but it's not quite there.

 Adding more of a rocky area underneath the church adds that illusion of up on a hill but it needs more.

A row of bushes evens it all out!! This is my favorite block so far.

Can you believe, I forgot to take the beginning pics.....sorry!!!!

I'm still using green whenever I can. This ties the blocks together and I get rid of to use lots.

Mr. Cowboy saw the tree and said that it was just too tall and overpowering. 

He was right! This one is much better.

Well, that's all for now. I'm planning on making 9 to 12 blocks but that may change.

So far each block is 12" square but I may trim them to a smaller measurement later.