I last posted about the start of my fabric collage series featuring scenes from Rockport, MA. I love Rockport and have taken many photographs of the harbor over the years and it really thrills me to be able to create art quilts from those photos.

Over the summer, I started the second piece which I’m back to working on after a brief hiatus to help my daughter with her wedding. I still have a ways to go on it but thought I’d share how it’s coming along. I’m using a slightly different process this time to bring the iconic fishing shack, aka Motif One, to life. This colorful structure was built in the 1800’s and is one of the most painted buildings in the world. There’s something so serene about it and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of photographing it.

This is the original photo which I used after editing out the large boat in the foreground.

After editing it, I turned it into stylized photo that could be split into freezer paper sections and chopped up.

I used the freezer paper sections as templates and began fusing the fabrics to a black background. I used black so I could try out spacing each element approx. 1/8″ from each other, creating a coloring book effect.

So I’ve got all my pieces on the background and the next steps will be to fuse it all and then begin embellishing and adding borders. I will likely resin over the whole piece as I did with the first one. You can read about that one HERE.

I can’t resist adding a photo of the beautiful bride and her groom! Amanda and Dan’s wedding was so magical and special. It was a perfect day that we all enjoyed and we’re so thrilled to gain a sweet son in law and his family!

And lastly, I don’t know if I ever posted this on the blog while it was in process but for the crocheters in the group, I did complete this afghan for the holidays. It was simple double crochet rows with Plymouth yarn and it worked up quickly. I ended it sooner than I wanted to but I made the mistake of not counting stitches and it was getting a little out of shape…I won’t do that again, lol!!

Just an Etsy update – I am closing my Etsy pattern shop since I’ve retired my business. It’s time to move forward onto new projects. I’ll still be updating this blog and I will also be over on my other blog soon. I’ll post that one when I have something interesting on there, it’s more of a lifestyle blog as opposed to this one for quilting.

What are your thoughts on using photos to create art quilts? Have you tried one and what is your favorite process for transforming the photo into fabric?

Sandi