Seams French

No sunscreen required. Hand stitched and corded boutis has been reverse-appliqued into dupioni silk. Batting and a backing have been added, and the whole frame has then been finished with machine quilting. The backing is attached with reverse applique as well. When backlit, the light shines through the boutis, highlighting the design. Another suncatcher catching a few rays. And voila, the boutis comes alive with the light.

"La Porte d'un Jardin de Colibri"      Remember this little boutis hummingbird ( "colibri" ) from a long way back ? Well, she finally found a happy home behind a silk gate of free motion quilting that opens to her peaceful boutis flower garden. She was accepted into the juried exhibit of Quilt Canada, which was held here in Vancouver last weekend, and came home with the ribbon for "Excellence for Work of a First Time Exhibitor". The finished quilt is 30 7/8" x 25 3/4": wall hanging size As I was designing the border, I wanted the flow of the boutis to continue into the border. The boutis is set into the centre of the quilt using reverse applique. The photo below shows the circular pattern around the hummingbird being extended to the border and completing the circle by piecing in some white silk. Following are some close-ups of the quilt. The top of the wall hanging. Detail of a machine quilted hummingbird that ...

This saffron window shade is the second version of my Parisian rose window boutis. As in the first wall hanging, this one is also framed with free motion quilting. When I originally designed the pattern, I made two versions of it. One on a white batiste, which became a wall hanging , and the second on this ochre coloured batiste. Using the same technique of reverse applique for finishing, I framed it with a 1/2 inch brown border before being setting into the background. Because this piece will be illuminated from behind, to do it justice I felt it should have another section of boutis, where light from the window could work it's magic. I made a smaller version of the same pattern, using only the center  rosette. This was also framed with the brown border. This done, I felt it needed even more definition so I added another saffron border before placing it into the lighter yellow background fabric which would be finished with machine quilting. With the top compl...