Flowering Tree

I hadn’t quilled trees in a long time before this project and had missed them very much.  That’s why there are a zillion photos with this post.  Enthusiasm.

This order was for the same family who ordered the “Family Fun” piece.  That piece was for the mother and this piece if for her oldest daughter.  The request was for a tree and a butterfly (to represent the daughter).  The tree, it was suggested, could be inspired from Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree.  And it was… kind of.  All the same, I was very pleased with how it turned out.  It has a very simple look to it, and I really like the color added by the blossoms.  There is quite a bit more open space (I can’t remember what the “artistic” term for that is) than usual, which was intentional.

The trunk is basically a bunch of marquee rolls all squished together.  I line the sides of the trunk with a single strip of paper just to smooth out the appearance.  The leaves are also marquee rolls, I think they were mostly 4″ strips, 1/8″ wide.  I used 3 shades of green for the leaves and 2 shades of brown for the trunk.  The blossoms were mostly 1″ tight coils.  Honestly, this is a piece a beginner could make… the shapes are very basic and the creative options (i.e., the shape of the tree, how to place leaves, blossoms, bluebirds, etc.) are endless.  This was a very fun piece to quill and I look forward to doing more trees in the future.

The photos show the piece from just about every angle.  I blurred out some of the birthday for the sake of privacy.

Quilling for a Baby Girl

It was a privilege to quill this piece for an adorable baby girl.  I attempted to coordinate the piece with the colors and theme of her nursery, but also wanted it to be something she could enjoy for years after she outgrows her nursery.

I primarily used colors from Lake City Craft’s Parchment collection, which are quite soft/pastel and were perfect for the look I was going for.  The bolder colors were added via the bluebirds and dragonfly to make them pop a little.  As usual, it was the formation of the letter that gave me the most trouble—I know it’s not a perfect “L,” but it was the best of all my attempts, so it stuck.

Surprisingly, I think the stemmed hearts hanging in front of the L are my favorite parts of this piece.  They were added after I thought it was completed… I went away to eat some dinner; when I came back and looked at the piece one last time before framing it, I realized I wanted a little more movement without adding more color.  The hearts did the trick!  I also appreciate that a heart symbolizes love and this happens to be a very much-loved little girl so I knew I couldn’t go wrong there. 🙂  I then added several other hearts to the piece, which appear to be leaves for the flowers.

The first photo is just to show how tiny the roses are… I had never done little roses before and they were quite fun and looked lovely, if I may say so.

A Hymn and a Homecoming

My friend requested this piece for her wedding anniversary because the hymn, “The Church’s One Foundation,” was sung at their wedding 8 years ago.

The request was for blues and browns, and I really liked that combination.  I used primarily 1/8″-width paper strips, some 1/16″-width, and 5/8″-width for the fringed flowers.  I think my favorite thing about this piece is not the quilling, but the blue lettering on beige paper—a surprisingly classic look, almost vintage-y.

There couldn’t have been a better day to blog about this quilled anniversary gift than on Valentine’s Day.  Especially because my friend and her husband are such a sweet couple AND he just got home yesterday after a year in Afghanistan!  What a happy day for their whole family (and their friends too)!  🙂

Here are some photos of the process and the finished product:

… brought to you by the letter H

3 months is a long time to go without my beloved hobby… so when I was invited to a baby shower a couple weeks ago, I took it as a marvelous excuse to haul my quilling stuff out of storage.  Yay!

The baby isn’t due until August, but the parents (who I met through my sister and brother-in-law, have become quite dear to me as well!) have her name and nursery theme all picked out, so those are the 2 things I used to create this piece.

Flowers and lots of color—a quiller’s dream come true!  The photo below shows a sample of the fabric used in the nursery (so cute!):

I quilled flowers and butterflies to (sort of) match the fabric.  This photo shows the work in progress; you can also see some of the tools used in quilling (the glue is sitting upside down in a jar on top of a damp sponge so that it can stay open between uses without it drying out—this method also keeps the glue right at the top of the bottle so it comes right out when I need it) :

Once I mounted the flowers and butterflies onto the paper, I (of course) added 2 happy little bluebirds and an H to complete the scene.  Believe it or not, the H was the most difficult part of the project; I think it’s because the flowers and colors were all in front of me on the fabric sample—it’s fairly easy to look at something and copy it with quilling (at least in this case), but the H had to come from my own brain and I don’t have a lot of experience with uppercase H’s.  🙂    The only thing that I’ve changed since taking the photos is adding more glue under the H so it isn’t quite so ripply-looking on the parts that should be laying flat.

*happy sigh*… it was wonderful to quill again, and it was especially wonderful to quill for a little one who is already so close to my heart.