Bernina "stitch this" Challenge

Been busy with my new sewing machine and entering the world of 'Art Quilts'.

I entered my newest accomplishment in the Quilting Arts Bernina challenge. You can see the entries at http://quiltingarts.com/media/g/stitchthis/default.aspx .

There have been a lot of entries besides mine. Some are really clever. We were given a picture of a swan by some water with a clutch of eggs as our subject. It is really interesting how people can interpret the same subject so differently. I used my computer to help me start by manipulating the photo of the swan and clutch of eggs only and using the watercolor filter in photoshop to change it. I then printed it out on printer ready fabric. The rest of the quilt was a collage from different fabrics into a landscape of a garden pond.

I was inspired by the "Master's Golf Tournament" in Augusta, GA. The grounds and the gardens around the course are so beautiful. I thought my swan should be living in that setting. I then stitched everything down and free motioned the water and the foliage around the swan and her nest. Leaving her practically unstitched gave her and the rocks a trapunto quilted look. I have lots of looks and some votes but some of the others are way ahead of me in the voters liking their work enough to vote on them. This was quite a learning experience for me. I got frustrated a lot with the way my machine did free motion. It skipped stitches a lot. Add that to the ones I managed to skip on me own and you have ripping out as your next chore. No fun. I now have a better machine. They informed me that other people had the same problem with their Babylock Ellure as I did. I even puchased an old Viking to do my free motion. (it's 15 years old) I now have an Ellageo Plus. It seems to be a much better machine and set up more for quilting than the Ellure was. This is probably my last machine. Although, I will need to sew up whole wardrobes and things for my grand kids to justify it. I have a lot of them. My sons married women who already had children and then one of mys sons had three of his own. They live all over the world. I also have now four great grand kids. It is fun and it helps give me ideas on what I want to experiment with. I am now working on a portrait quilt for my Grandson and his family of their daughter. Since I was originally a portrait artist, I fell into this new desire quite easily. I am still trying to get better at free motion and the quilting process. The thing I have learned so far is to have patience with myself and the materials. And to try not to do too much. Back to keep it simple stupid!! I sound frustrated but really am having a ball.