Saturday, June 2, 2012

Tortoise and the Hare AAQI Quilt

I had my eye on the "Tortoise and the Hare" designs by The Prairie Schooler for a while.  The leaflet had two designs in the same theme, but each was quite different in nature.  I decided to use the smaller one for an AAQI quilt.  I have a perfect spot on the wall for the larger one so I'll do that for myself. 

I love this fable, but I do sympathize with the hare.  "Seize the day", "Strike while the iron is hot", "He who hesitates is lost" ... those are all the inspiring adages we hear all the time.  "Slow and steady wins the race"  seams so boring and not in the spirit of "No guts, no glory".  The bunny messed up, as risk-takers sometimes do, but I suspect there will be a re-match with lessons learned at some point.

Anyway, the small design was charted with the words "Rabbit Hare Tortoise Slow".  Needed more I thought.  So I stitched the two opposing adages, "Time waits for no one" and "Haste Makes Waste" instead.  Of all the adages I thought of, these fit the best in the space I had   The two runners can argue about this over a beer during a teachable moment.

The fabric is 32-count peach butter linen from Vikki Clayton.  She doesn't offer that shade anymore and I really like it.


 I experimented with a new way to do a quilt label. I had been doing x-stitch labels, but I was tired of stitching my name and city over and over.  So this time I decided to just write the wording on with a marker.  I used Word to print the text so I could more or less get the spacing right.  I found two little clip art images for a tortoise and a hare and included those in the printout.  I then pressed some freezer paper to a piece of muslin to stabilize it.  Using an ultra-fine point Sharpie, I kind of traced the wording onto the label.  Really I just used the letters as a guideline.  Then with a washable transfer pen, I traced the tortoise and hare and drew a free-from border followed by a little back stitching with 1 strand of DMC.  I folded under the edges and stitched the label down on the quilt back.  Lots of possibilities here.  Sometimes I'm more into label-making than quilt-making.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello

Your quilt square is lovely!

I like your quilt label too!

Margaret said...

Oh my! It's wonderful! The label is a work of art in itself. Beautiful job!

Deborah said...

Great quilt! I love what you did with design.

Jane said...

Like the fabric you've used to make up the quilt and that label is perfect. Someone will really appreciate this one, stitching and quilting make a great combination

♥ Nia said...

Lovely work sweetie!! Congrats :D

Carol said...

The PS design is adorable, Annie--another beautiful contribution for such a worthy cause. I like your addition of those old sayings, too! Look forward to seeing the larger Tortoise and Hare stitched up for yourself. Where do you plan to hang it?

What a great idea to use Word to get the spacing right--I'll have to remember that. Your label is just charming with the tiny turtle and bunny--I love it!

ArchangelDecker said...

I love the changes you made. It's so pretty. Congrats on your finish! :)

Michele Bilyeu said...

Absolutely darling! And your idea for the label is just wonderful!

Heather said...

Wow, that turned out wonderful. Great job.

I like the label quite a lot too. I'll have to remember what you did for when I actually finish my quilt.

Nima said...

so ice o see all your little quilts...cute work. i missed visiting your blog while i was away

Karen said...

Annie, I love your sampler, all the bunnies and turtles are wonderful! The embroidered label is such a nice idea, too!

Melanie said...

Super fabulous! I love the phrases you decided to use instead. Just perfect!! I always love bunnies but I think the tortoises might be my favorites here. I'm rooting for them to win. lol

Lois said...

Love what you've done with this PS design and the label you designed is lovely!

Siobhán said...

I love that PS design! Great choice for the sayings, too. It's hard to listen to the 'slow and steady wins the race' when it's always 'the early bird gets the worm' being seen as more important!

Your quilt label looks amazing!

Rachel S-H said...

Lovely work!

Michelle said...

What a great quilt finish and such an adorable design! I love your label!

Anne said...

Oh Annie! I love this little design and the fable!! You paired it perfectly with that fabric! Great label too! Too bad I have a crappy printer!!

Jackie's Stitches said...

Gorgeous! Your additions really make the piece. I love bunnies but I must admit the tortoise really steals my heart.

Annette said...

Wow that's looking great..

I love how you made the labels... so darn cute.
You done a great job on them.. keep up the good work.. and good luck with trying out new things

Gina E. said...

You sure have been busy since your last blog post! This is an exquisite piece of stitching, and I love the way you are making your finished pieces up now, with a fabric border. Cute label!