Ramblings |
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| 9/2018 If you have been viewing my blog, I hope you found it interesting! However, I have decided to focus my time on creating new designs and patterns, so will not be spending much time on blog posts. If you wish to see the posts that were there: Susan Taylor Propst Applique. 9/17: I thought I would share images of some of the pieces that I am working on. Right now I have finished designing an ambitious applique quilt that features a large number of different flowers, birds, and a few animals. For the first time I am combining fabric that has been embellished with paint, crayons, or fabric pastels. I will be posting images of the motifs over the next few months. Let me know what you think. |
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| Last year we had to put down our beautiful dog, Charlie. I couldn't stand being without a companion dog, so we quickly adopted Monty, another Bichon. He has a great deal more energy than Charlie had, and it was an adjustment, but he is settling down and turning out to be a wonderful dog. He loves to walk and not only will he fetch, but he throws his toys for us to fetch for him. |  |
| Oct: Our first grandson was born on Sep 22! He's a beautiful baby and we're so excited about it. We were able to visit this month and got to do some sightseeing in the Washington state area. This photo was taken from the Chuckanut Drive, and we were lucky to be able to catch the autumn colors. |  |
| Apr: I've been in a finishing mood. I've had a number of quilts that needed quilting, so I am working on those. This is my "Lamb Cottage" quilt that I have just completed. The border is foundation paper-pieced. The wood fabric was one I didn't like very much until I designed this quilt, and now I wish I had more! I've used up almost all that I had on this quilt. The cottage is from Cornwall, and the lamb and vinca were from photos my husband took in Harrogate. |  |
| Nov: This is just a sneak preview of the latest quilt that I'm working on. I've been in a bird mood lately as you can see from the new patterns and other quilts. The birds were partially adapted from an old Chinese metal plate. The top is just about finished now, so on to quilting next! |  |
| Nov 22: What a beautiful Thanksgiving we are having here in Colorado! If you've looked at the pattern pages, I have just posted the Beautiful Birds quilt patterns for sale. I made a bag with the duck pattern to show that you can use really wild colors for it instead of more natural colors. My husband started to take pictures, and Charlie just couldn't be left out, so here he is, posing for his picture with the bag. |  |
| Oct: Most of the quilt designs I work on are intended as patterns, but every once in a while I indulge and create a quilt that I just want to create. This quilt top (I haven't started quilting or added borders yet) is based on a photograph my husband took of skunk cabbage in the Valley Gardens in Harrogate. |  |
| Sep: Here is another one of the stained glass windows in the kitchen nook. I just love grape vines, so made up this pattern. By dividing the window into three panels, it made it much easier to work on and install. The actual window is over 5 feet wide. |  |
| Aug: I have to show this window I made for the kitchen nook because the black-eyed susans and the daffodils are from two of my books! It didn't take much to adapt the designs to stained glass. The daffodils are from "Nature's Beauty in Applique" and the daisies are from "Another Season of Beautiful Blooms". |
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| Apr 1: I have been spending a good deal of time making stained glass windows for our three fixed rectangular upper windows in the kitchen nook. I will try to get good photos of the other two, but here is a photo of the birds. There is a goldfinch, a chickadee and hummingbirds. |  |
| Mar: Table runners aren't only for tables! This is my spring table runner, and I don't use it on the table - I prefer to use it on this wonderful antique sideboard. This sideboard is in our entryway, and the quilt not only adds a touch of color for spring and the Easter season, but also protects the top of the furniture. |  |
| Jan: This was my most recent block exchange basket. I decided to have fun and use some dimensional elements, including the fringed center and a suffolk puff center. The large flower on top is the same as the dahlias in my new book - I just used this gorgeous print. |  |
| Dec: Caught in the Act!. Well I haven't been very good about taking pictures lately, so I'll try to get back on track. This fellow came up to the shrub by our window and started eating. I know it's probably not great for the shrub, but I just love seeing the deer. He was so into this shrub that the herd headed off without him and he didn't seem to notice. Fortunately for him, they didn't go far and he was able to catch up. |  |
| 10 Sep: We just returned from a road trip going from Colorado to Seattle (son's wedding), down through San Francisco and Yosemite, then back via the Grand Canyon and Painted Desert to Colorado. There were so many beautiful sights and so much inspiration for quilting. And it didn't hurt that I managed to stop by many quilt shops along the way. What always surprises me is the variety of fabric, with each shop having its own unique feel and range of fabric. |  |
| 9 Aug: I currently belong to an applique group and we are doing block exchanges. Each rotation, we get background and basket fabric as well as a color scheme from one of the other members. Then we make a block of flowers in the basket. This was my block for the last exchange, and as you can see I used some of my flower patterns from my second book, and then added some more. |  |
| 8 Jun: I have been working for a few months on a small wall hanging of wild garlic flowers. I designed it from a picture that I took while I was in England. I had these beautiful Stonehenge fabrics that I used for the rocks. But when it came to all of those little flowers, I really didn’t want to stitch those, so I ended up using silk ribbon, which I think worked really well. I used two different widths of ribbon, 4mm and 7mm and used white, ivory, and a hand-dyed ribbon that varied from light taupe to yellow. I also added silk ribbon french knots for the flower centers, and embroidered the stems. I have here a close-up of the silk ribbon embroidery. I have added a photo of the entire quilt in the gallery. |  |
| 30 Apr: I know this isn't quilting, but I had to post this because it's so cute. Some friends came over to my house to make sheep, and my daughter made this one. I decided to take the sheep pattern and try to make a dog a bit like my Charlie. It does look a bit like a dog, but not so much like Charlie. I think I'll stick to quilting! |  |
| 6 Mar: My studio is in the basement and luckily it has windows. There were white blinds on the windows which made it feel a bit institutional and cold. I just finished making these valences. The two windows and sliding glass door are all the same width, so that made it much easier! |  |
| 20 Jan: I finally got around to taking a photo of the quilt I finished for my daughter in December. It can be very difficult to get a decent photo of a larger quilt like this, so I apologize for the poor quality. The blues are actually a beautiful teal color. This is a very large twin size quilt - it would probably fit a full size bed. I had purchased the large print fabric and loved it, and my daughter liked it too, so it was a great fabric for this design. My husband is a better photographer, so when I can get him to take a better photo I will post it in the gallery. |  |
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All quilt images on this web site are © Susan Taylor Propst 2007-2017. Contact: propstsusan@yahoo.com Last update: 2017 |
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