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The Land of Quilty Delights
Hi all! During my busy spring, I managed to complete a watercoloring class. I’ve been wanting to use a sketchbook more, and love coloring with watercolors. When it came time to do a postcard swap earlier this year with a map theme, I had this crazy idea to map a Quilter’s Paradise. Fitting it all into a 4×6 would be insane, so I decided to make a large painting (12 1/2 by 18 inches) which would scale down into 4×6 for the postcard swap and notecards, an 8 1/2 by 11 inch giclee print ($28 plus $5 priority mail in the US, shipping higher abroad), and a special order 11 x 14 inch print ($45 plus actual shipping costs which depend on whether you want it flat or rolled). [See last paragraph about ordering inf0.] So here is The Land of Quilty Delights:
Here is The Land of Quilty Delights, with my apologies for the watermark. This watercolor is available as an archival quality giclee print from me at SarahAnnSmith.com/store . Right click to see larger. If you begin at Home Sweet Home (under the bluebird of happiness) and travel clockwise, you’ll follow a quilter’s journey, ending at The Last Stitch Ice Cream stand and/or the Cotton Boll Retail Therapy Spa–your choice! Mine is ice cream with hot fudge, please!
I had SO MUCH FUN doing this! The bluebird of happiness is flying over Home Sweet Home on Paradise Island (which the legend tells you is self cleaning and equipped with a chef). The happy quilter then climbs Mount Joyous Inspiration, passes through Indecision Jungle, enters the valley of Creative Delight, and can visit the Life-Giving Forest (tree of life block with a cardinal in the tree). Shining down from the upper right corner is our Compass rose: N = North/New Ideas, E = East/Exciting Choices, S = South/Sweet Friendships, W = Warmth and Love. After all, isn’t that what it’s all about?
Our quilter sets sail from Port Anticipation and sails through the Rainbow Islands (which include Batting Island, complete with bat, Inspiration Island with drink service complete with little paper umbrella, and Full Bobbin Island). The traveler then passes the Rocky Shoals of Too Much To Do (Chores, meals, work). So why the alligator? Well, in my first job in the Foreign Service my boss had a saying I love dearly: When you are up to your a** (posterior) in alligators, it’s hard to remember the original goal was to drain the swamp.” Sometimes you have years like that!
You sail past the colorful Patchwork Fields of Plenty, with some of my favorite quilt blocks, through the Storm at Sea only to encounter The Ripping Tides (seam ripper) before approaching The Isle of Applique with Satin Stitch Beach, Blanket Stitch Bay and Needleturn Cove. Can you tell I had FUN? In the upper left corner instead of Zephyrus, the god of the Gentle West Wind, we have instead Zephyra, the goddess of the Gentle West Wind and patroness of quilters, who wafts us with gentle feathery plumes.
Alas, before reaching the Bay of Completion, you must make it through the Dead Zone (a.k.a. the Basting Zone), an area where ships stagnate in becalmed waters. But finally, you reach the Bay of Completion, and our happy quilter is celebrating at The Last Stitch Ice Cream and Spirit Restoration. We could go straight home, but instead I’ll choose to enjoy the view of the Patchwork Fields of Plenty on the way to the Cotton Boll Retail Therapy Spa, complete with Grandmother’s Flower Garden.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this Quilters journey and the Land of Quilty Delights as much as I enjoyed making it!
Notecards are also available, 6 for $12 plus shipping. All prints are sized to fit standard frames and mats (http://www.dickblick.com/ has a wide selection) and are shipped in a clear sleeve with acid-free foamcore plus an extra piece of cardboard to protect the print in transit.
This week my webhost is upgrading their server, so I can’t get these on to my Store page yet. If you would like a print or notecards, please email me (here) and I’ll send you a PayPal invoice. You don’t need a paypal account; you may safely use your major credit card. For international orders, I can figure out exact postage (I will see if straight first class is less expensive than flat rate shipping which runs about $20 to anywhere in the world, but seems rather expensive to me). If you have several friends who would like a print, contact me directly and if one of you pays for all of the items, I can ship them grouped to reduce cost for you.
June 17th, 2013 at 2:37 am
Glad you worked out how to share your charming bit of whimsy. Every quilt shop should have a copy to inspire their customers. A few German quilters will see my copy tomorrow night ..