A portrait quilt—all in colour—of a joyful young couple, using fabric collage against a pieced background, with lots of thread-painting.
Last year, a dear friend entrusted me with the task of making a wedding anniversary gift for her daughter (whom I shall simply call A). It was to be a portrait of A and her husband, to be called, what else, H!
I chose to combine two pictures, taking the gorgeous couple’s faces and figures from one and placing them against a background of a yellow maple tree during fall. The couple had met and fallen in love in Canada, so this seemed only appropriate!
The quilt which turned out to be much more difficult than what I had envisaged. For one, both of my subjects were smiling broadly!
That gorgeous smile! H’s smile Falling in Love portrait quilt
H’ s eyes were behind his glasses and getting that shading right is always a problem.
Details of the thread painting!
H had a delightful dimple, but how do I portray that in a fabric collage? Not to forget getting that beard right.
The full face —with the dimple!
Then there was A’s beautiful long shiny, silky hair with highlights in reds, auburn like the colours of fall around her!
Glowing with happiness!
Let us not forget the clothes and the accessories.
Details of A’s leather jacket with its zipperThe Adidas strap!
The maple tree in the background was not easy!
The maple tree in fall—I appliquéd some branches and leaf cut-outs randomly on the pieced background
I wanted to show some sunlight peeping through the tree, to reflect the joy on this couple’s face.
The sky peeps out from between the yellow leaves.
Despite the long, long hours it took, it was all worth it and I had quite a sense of satisfaction and achievement when it was finally done! ( I do not recall exactly the dimensions of the quilt, but I vaguely remember it was about 32” x 40”)
So I now leave you with a couple of videos of the quilt.
Falling in Love— the gorgeous couple! May they continue to smile together lifetime after lifetime!
I hope A and H love the quilt as much as I enjoyed making it.
I am overwhelmed with emotion when I try to write anything about this portrait of my daughter…I will try to just stick to photos of how it was done!
This photo, so quintessentially my Tana, was my inspiration for the quilt! I started working on it in January 2022, about a year from when she passed on.
Vectorization done on the Vector Q app
The collage came up pretty quickly!
What followed were a couple of trips—one exploring Rajasthan and another one in to Gujarat! Finally got back to working on it, hoping to finish it by her birthday in April!
Sadly, didn’t feel quite done on her birthday. Needed a lot of more quilting to add depth to it!
( Note that I am trying ‘contour quilting’ quilting on it, where the quilting follows the face contours)
This looks better, right? But I don’t like the way some of the lighter threads stand out against the darker areas! Gives it a harsh look! Not for my gentle darling, it wouldn’t do!
I used Inktense pencils to reduce contrast in the in-between areas and darken some stitching lines so that the threads matched the fabric!
Tip: A bit of Cadmium Orange or Burnt Orange does wonders to soften harsh contrasts in portraits, especially with our Indian skin types! It is great for lip-colour too!
A close-up of her smile
See the Inktense at work!!
The hair…
Were those the most beautiful eyes in the world that mirrored the purest soul that ever lived?
I cut out a poncho I had made for her and used it to dress her! The flowers and leaves were also cut out from the poncho.
The quilt was mounted on a ( mounted) canvas, which makes it easy to hang. It now lives in my living room where I can look at her while watching TV…
…or touch her, talk to her, smile at her every time I walk past her!
I have not shared anything here for a long, long time, I know. Initially this blog was meant to be a record of what I create— painting, sketches, poems, short stories and, of course, my quilts! A sudden loss of some of my work reminded me that I do need to get back to maintaining this record, so here I am!
When I am visiting my son in the USA, I cannot quilt for various reasons that include a highly inquisitive grandson who turned three this year! So I sketch. It is much easier to gather a few pencils and a sketchbook and hide them when the mischievous imp appears!
The sketches are al on Strathmore Grey using a 2B and a 2H pencil.
So this year, I started a sketch of this old puppeteer that I had photographed a few years ago in Jaipur.
Jaipur Puppeteer Photo drawn 7 September 2024
The sketch was half-finished, when Grandson saw what I was up to!
“Draw me, Amma,” came the command. Obviously, Amma put aside everything else and started on a sketch of the baby, from a photograph taken when he was two!
Advit Photo 23 July 2023 —drawn 8 September 2024
As I had only two pencils—a 2H and a 2B to work with, I decided to put this away and start on this sketch of my daughter. To be completed when I got back home to India!
Tana 13 August 2017 —drawn 30 September 2024
When packing for India, I removed the sketches and wrapped them up in some sheets of paper and got them home in my carry-on luggage.
And then, when unpacking, I forgot what those white sheets were all about, and threw them away in the garbage with all the packing material (or that is what I presume I did, because they are not to be found anywhere)! I have hunted high and low but no sign of the sheets or the sketches.
Well, they do say, enjoy the process when creating art and forget about the fruit of your labour! In any case, these would most likely have gone into the garbage after me. So be it. A lesson also, perhaps, about the transient nature of this world!
Whatever it is, I am glad I have these photos and some close-ups which I am adding here, to come and look back at, whenever…
Perhaps I shall do a quilted portrait now using this photo! I am less likely to throw that away by mistake!
And here are some process photos of the sketches of the puppeteer!
Getting the features down in place
Bringing in the values
Blending…and more blending!
After about 8 hours!
And finally, a close-up of a pair of eyes which can change from innocent to naughty in seconds…
As I flung this Dreamcatcher at Dusk on my bed today morning, the sun streamed in from the windows, creating its own patterns and textures on the quilt…and I fell in love with it again!
When the sunlight creates its own patterns on my Dreamcatcher! Southward Bound?The Sun-Moon Dreamcatcher from which this quilt, made in the colours of dusk, got its name.Was my least favorite block when being sewed! Everything that could go wrong…did!Love the texture on this one…The Diamond displaying its fireThe tiny hearts quilted into the wedding ring…love is everywhere!The gloriously fiery oranges and reds of the sun set off the cool blues of the evening…and the geese return to the pond to roost.One las look at the sun as it sets…
Wouldn’t you agree it is lovely in the morning sun too?
FPP Patterns for the Salinda Rupp 1860s Sampler, popularly known as the Nearly Insane available for purchase soon
You have the Nearly Insane Quilt book, but do not know where to start?
My Nearly Insane Quilt block patterns are based on Salinda Rupp’s 1860s quilt and Liz Lois’s book with the drafts of the blocks. This is not a replacement of the book; I give you the patterns if you wish to take the journey using the foundation paper-piecing technique. I would highly recommend you buy the book for a great introduction to the quilt and to refer to the quilt layout, block settings, borders and some fabric estimates.
The Vital Stats of the Quilt
Size: 83″ x 83″ (including 3″ pieced border)
Description: 98 pieced blocks of 6″ square placed on point with sashing, cornerstones and pieced border.
Level:Intermediate to Expert
Familiarity with Foundation Paper Piecing (FPP) is essential.
Fabric:It is difficult to give any estimate of the fabric yardage. To start with, 35-40 fat quarters in the colours of your choice for the blocks? Liz Lois has given an estimate of the sashing/ corner-stones and borders fabric in her book. Just remember that you need almost twice if not more of the fabric you would require for a similar sized quilt, as the pieces are so small and consequently so many more seams. Small prints, Civil War fabrics and 1930s tiny florals would look good with some solids to set them off.
There are several quilters who have made it in just two colours–red with white and blue with white being a popular choice. Others have gone with scraps. My FPP patterns were designed for a quilt in blues, yellows and greens.
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 43
However, my patterns come with colour numbering to enable you to construct the blocks in your own choice of colours.
Why Foundation Paper Piecing Patterns?
No tracing required, nor any measurements! All is done for you! The numbered templates provided with each block pattern make it possible for one to piece the blocks by machine, without the bother of accurately measuring and cutting each piece.
(Nevertheless, there are 3 blocks with y-seams that can be only partially foundation-pieced and have to be put together by hand or regular machine-piecing. English paper piecing templates are provided for these blocks.)
The Background of the Quilt
The `Nearly Insane’ Quilt is what Salinda Rupp’s quilt from the 1860s from Pennysylvania is better known as! Made in bright autumn colours, it has enchanted and inspired many quilters to embark on a journey as satisfying as it is maddening.
I discovered this quilt in a quilt history book and fell in love with it immediately, preparing for it and honing my quilting skills before i could attempt it. I later discovered Liz Lois had named it the Nearly Insane quilt and published a book with the designs for the blocks (but no templates) and their placement. The book kept lying with me for quite some time, before I realised I could draft FPP patterns to make everything so much simpler and I spent the next several months drafting and redrafting the patterns!
What makes this quilt special?
The quilt has an undescribable rustic charm; not for Salinda your perfect points or absolutely symmetrical patterns! I think she often made up block patterns as she went along, depending on whatever scraps were at hand!
There are 98 blocks to construct, each 6 inches square, placed on point. 12 of these are cut diagonally and fitted into the edge of the on-point quilt, while one is cut into 4 to make up the corners. (This includes a basket halves placed on opposite edges of the quilt) The craziest block has 229 pieces and the easiest has 10; the average number of pieces per block is between 35-40! We quilters are used to HSTs (Half-Square Triangles) but this quilt has Half-Rectangle Triangles, not to forget flying geese which are not flying geese of the 1:2 ratio at all! Salinda used up all the scraps she had at hand, coming up with blocks which are whimsical and charming! The sashing and cornerstones give the eyes a rest between the busy piecing of the blocks and the icing on the cake is the unique ‘ zig-zag’ or `lightning’ border which sets off the quilt to perfection.
Here are a few of my favourite blocks from my quilt!
So if you are planning to devote the next few months or years of your life to creating a true heirloom, nothing better than Salinda Rupp’s quilt to start with. And if you decide to go the FPP way, well…
All the block patterns are available for sale here! So what is stopping you?
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