Why am I a phony?
Because I don't really do trapunto! What's trapunto? Look it up on wikepedia here: Trapunto. I do faux trapunto...or in other words, Vivian-is-a-phony trapunto. Here's how I do it:
First I took a look at this beautiful "In A Pear Tree"quilt from Art to Heart by Nancy Halvorsen. (I quilted it for Calico House, in Yorba Linda, CA It's hanging up in their store right now.) I decided that I wanted the pretty little prints inside the "pears" to poof out a bit.
So in the areas I wanted to poof out, I added a couple of pieces of batting. I just used Hobbs Heirloom so it would just poof out a bit. Some quilters do this technique with a higher loft poly batting. I just wanted it to poof out a little. 
I then pinned the batting in place so it would stay put. Some quilters use a bit of basting spray but I think the pins held it in place very well.
Next, as you can see below I quilted everything but the area that I wanted to poof out. Below you see I quilted the green areas of the tree. I put a few pieces of batting in the picture, so you can see the kind I used for this technique. 
Next I quilted in each pear. I used a different freehand quilting technique in each pear. It was lots of fun!
Is it starting to poof out?
I then embellished each of the prints. Can you see this little Santa poofing out?
Can you see the angel poofing out a little?
Maybe you can see it better in this view below.
Here are some more pears...so cute! Check out the freehand quilting I did on the tree trunk!
Below is a view of the entire quilt. Isn't it darling? I was over at Calico House the other day and saw it hanging up. This would be a nice addition to anyone's home at Christmas time, don't you think?
And speaking of a phony...
Below is a view of the entire quilt. Isn't it darling? I was over at Calico House the other day and saw it hanging up. This would be a nice addition to anyone's home at Christmas time, don't you think?
And speaking of a phony...The Purse Dog is not just a darling little pet, as you might think. She's really a SUPERHERO! (My BabyBoy made this picture for me.) 
"Look, I can fly!"
9 comments:
Once again, a beautiful quilt! I love what you did with the Nancy Halvorsen design!
That is the coolest. I have to make sure I understand - do you take out the extra batting? Or do you just make sure you quilt it down enough around the sides of where you want it to "POP"?
the quilt is sweet and that's a great idea.
Purse Dog is hilarious. You always knew he had special powers.
I loved reading the pioneer series.
If you're going to be a phony, that's the good kind of phony to be! haha...Your work is stunning! Every time I look at your work I sit here and ohhhh and awwwww!
Awesome quilting, as usual Vivian! You should do a quilt of the purse dog and have all her blocks "pouf out" to emphasize her super-hero-nes!!!
I'm with you - I don't do real trapunto, either. I do the same thing you do, but trim out the excess extra batting layer(s)from around the motif before continuing to quilt. Of course that's much, much easier to do on a domestic machine!
beautiful as always!
I just bought this pattern and panel the other day. I love anything Halvorsen.
I wouldn't have looked twice at the panel until I saw your quilting and perfect amount of POOF! Love your sharing these photos with us! I'd been missing you....and wondered if you were ever posting again!
My sister just sewed this quilt top and I'm definitely directing her to your website.
I enjoyed reading your history and realized that your Richmond is in my valley! Small world.
I find your work very inspiring.
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