It’s time once again for the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival over at Amy’s Creative Side. Although it’s only been a few months since I posted my Charley Harper Water Drop Quilt, I am using it as my entry because it’s my current favorite of all the quilts I’ve made.
The idea began when my husband gave me the book, Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life, which contained beautiful photographs of Charley Harper’s work, including several from the 1961 book, The Giant Golden Book of Biology. I love using vintage illustrations as inspirations for quilts, and I was immediately drawn to the water drop illustration with its abundance of interesting organisms. I decided to make the quilt for my nephew, Chris, who loves biology.
The organisms were stitched using a combination of hand applique and embroidery (no fusible), with a little paint for some of the tiny details. The outline of the drop is white bias tape, and the top is hand quilted with amoeba shapes within the drop and echo quilting on the outside of the drop.
Charley Harper Water Drop Quilt
Martha Dellasega Gray, 2012
illustration from The Giant Golden Book of Biology, 1961
hand embroidered & appliqued (with a little painting), hand quilted
48″ x 62″
Wow, that is incredible! It’s like a science lesson. HA! The color of the water is just perfect.
The nerdy scientist in me loves the subject! The quilter in me appreciates your color sense and style. Your quilt inspires me. Thanks for posting the pictures.
Holy cow! That is way too cool. This satisfies so many things at once that I’m giddy.
Probably one of the most amazing (and one of my favorite) quilts of all time! It’s spectacular!
Wow, just….fantastic!
: )
I loved this when I saw this first time and I still an stunned by it! Your applique work is, as always, beautiful!
I remember seeing your posts as you created this piece. I thought it was very intriguing.
Amazing!!
I love everything about this quilt Martha – utter perfection – a fabulous entry for the festival!!!
This is stunning. I love Charlie Harper and you have done an excellent job capturing his style and drawing. I love the quilting too.
That is quite incredible
I only learned of Charley Harper a year ago when I made my first trip to Cincinnati–loved his work immediately. This is such a great quilt! Wonderful interpretation of the inspiration. Thank you for sharing your quilt’s story.
very cool!
This is incredibly stunning! The backdrop of water in subtle shades and the various greens and browns in the applique are picture perfect!! Your work is impeccable, Martha!
I love LOVE this quilt and I love how your use personal things in your life to make quilts. We can all learn so much from you Martha, you’re the best!
I don’t think many people would have thought to use this as the inspiration for a quilt – it is fantastic.
This is so original and fantastic!
I love this!
I like Charley Harper’s work – would you recommend this book??
love it
I saw this on flickr a couple months ago and fell in love with it! Beautiful!
This is one unique and beautiful quilt…very rare!!
This is way cool AND beautiful to boot! I love it!
Very nice quilt!
I could look at this all day.
Yay, such a cool idea and I love your choice of colours, too.
I love this quilt.
I swear this is one of my favorites this year! So great!
This is SO perfect! In SO MANY WAYS:) LOVE!!! LOVE!!! LOVE!!!!!!
The most WONDERFUL and UNIQUE quilt I have seen in a long time! Thank you for sharing it. And thank you for your fantastic blog – I love the old children’s book drawings, they remind me of my mother’s old annuals from the 1950s which had drawings inside the front and back covers that she’d carefully coloured in with crayons decades earlier.
Oh and the ‘children from around the world’ book with its pictures of Australian kids is hilarious! The baby kangaroo is a pet – um, no.