A quilt full of foxes
A few posts ago, I wrote about Siblings Together, the charity that Lynne of Lily's Quilts is currently collecting quilts for. After checking with Lynne that a younger, more pictorial quilt would be suitable for donation (as I think the age range varies from young to teenager), I've decided to send a quilt full of friendly foxes along.
As you may have realised from previous posts, I have rather a penchant for foxes.While I'm not overly keen on some of their antics such as turning bins upside down or yowling late at night, I love the sanitised version of them that lives in my head: wily, playful, sweetly independent and curious-faced.
It's this latter type of inquisitive, gentle foxcub that I studied photographs of when I was drawing these foxes late last year.
I'd intended to write a quilt pattern to go with them, but that's somehow been sidelined, even though this quilt at least has come to fruition.
I'm hoping that the sibling who takes this quilt home with them will see the kindness that I hoped to capture in the faces of these foxes.
It is not technically perfect, but I so enjoyed making this. I tried free-motion quilting for the second time and loved it just as much as the first. It's a seaweedy pattern in white cotton swirling around the picture squares that recedes into the background to allow the bushy-tailed foxes to be the main attraction.
I will hopefully post this off later this week.
The applique was done using a simple straight stitch and by colour-matching the threads to the fabrics which was oddly satisfying - all those pre-wound bobbins of thread sitting next to freshly-bought reels of cotton (because orange was really not a colour I had in my stash) made me feel very happy indeed.
Florence x
I really love your wonderful foxes quilt!
ReplyDeleteIt's gorgeous, some lucky sibling will be very happy when they get this :)
ReplyDeleteIt's fox-tastic, Florence, sure to be a big hit! Love it.
ReplyDeleteThat is beautiful! I love it.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much - I really hope so - it's odd how much more apprehensive I feel about it going to a child I've never met - it's hard to imagine whether they'll love it or not when I know nothing about them. I hope that they get to pick their own, so that they're not left with something that feels unsuitable.
ReplyDeleteOh, my god!!!
ReplyDeleteSuper cute!!!
Well done you, what a lovely fun and original quilt! I always forget what a lovely cheerful colour orange is.
ReplyDeleteYour foxes are just lovely - I'm sure your 'sibling' will be absolutely delighted.
ReplyDeleteOh, Florence, this is very sweet! I love foxes too although in part it's the wildness and slight air of danger that I like - wild beasts roaming the city streets. But frolicking fox cubs are undeniably cute as well (even when chasing tin cans at 4am) and I think you've captured that perfectly! The recipient's bound to adore it.
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog via Pincushion Treats - this quilt is so lovely! The oranges against the white looks so fresh. Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteIt is lovely Florence! I am sure it will be much loved.
ReplyDeleteThe foxes are very sweet! I am sure it will be a treasured quilt.
ReplyDeleteFlorence this quilt is stunning, I just love the cheeky little foxes! I am sure the child who receives this will love and cherish it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful contribution! Your foxes have so much character and expression
ReplyDeleteSo lovely,
ReplyDeleteThis is so, so cute! Great job! I'm sure whoever receives it will feel loved and comforted when they're cuddled up in it. :)
ReplyDeleteAww, it's fab, love all the wee foxes!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful - whoever receives this is going to be very lucky and very proud to be the owner of it x
ReplyDeleteI have a extreme fondness for foxes as well. I am love love loving your friendly foxes quilt!! Certainly wish I knew how to make one like it!! lol Well done!!
ReplyDeleteOh, it is so sweet! I want it! Whoever gets to snuggle up under that quilt is a lucky kid.
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous quilt! Your fox designs are just fabulous. The 'Sibling' who receives this will be very lucky. My contribution to Siblings Together is the poem, it's so nice to be able to do something for others, even if we don't know them. Keep up the good work, love your blog. Sarah x
ReplyDeleteOh, I read it - so lovely, Sarah! x
DeleteLovely foxes and beautiful quilt. I wouldn't want to let that one go! I adore foxes, they are lovely creatures. Lots of them around here. I do wish they had a nicer environment to grow up in and be safe in though. ANY child lucky enough to receive it will love it to bits, I feel sure of that
ReplyDeleteYes, it feels a really hard life when you imagine it for them, doesn't it. Although, I don't think they are too down-trodden by it - one night we forgot to pack away the children's toys and found that the fox cubs had played with them during the night - adorable, even though large amounts of disinfectant were needed.
DeleteThis quilt is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous
ReplyDeletexx
Thank you! I seem to remember you had a rather naughty sort of fox that enjoyed upturning bins - I think one of these may have been that fox in its less pesky moments!
DeleteI looooove it, how creative and beautifully made!
ReplyDeleteReally nice quilt. A question however. Is it not breaking copyright to copy a photo? You don't allow the copying of your designs yet you are copying an owned photograph. Is that fair? I don't know the answer.
ReplyDeleteI'm really shocked that you'd think that, Jackie. I studied photos of foxes to draw my silhouettes, but I didn't trace them - I used them as a reference as I sketched (if you look you'll find many discrepancies, but most obviously with the front legs in this instance). I think that most people when faced with trying to draw an animal with a wish to capture the essence of it (the way it holds itself, the angle at which it holds it head) would refer to a photograph - to me it seems an entirely logical thing to do in the absence of having a real fox sitting patiently before me.
ReplyDeleteMy applique template is a silhouette of a fox very much like the one in the photograph, but it is simply a shape, drawn by me, with my own shading and details applied in the form of different coloured fabrics and with no aspect of the photograph transposed onto my shape.
An applique shape and a photograph are two such entirely different things that to compare it to the copyright of my patterns a logic that I can't follow. I think a more accurate comparison reversed would be to ask if I would object to someone including one of my finished make-up bags in a painting they were doing of a dressing table...of course I wouldn't - to object to that would be madness.
I hope my reply doesn't come across as being rude or abrupt as it's not intended that way, but I felt the need to reply in full as I was fairly shocked that someone would arrive at your conclusion and felt it was important to lay out clearly why I don't feel it's an issue in this instance.
Wishing you a lovely weekend, Florence x
This is beautiful. I'm not a big quilts fan but I love this. Whoever receives it is sure to to love the heck out of it =D
ReplyDelete