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PSAMATHE (yamaqeia) THE SAND GODDESS
2008 Entry into the Robert Kaufman Quilt Quest!

PSAMATHE 45 inches x 45 inches

I was thinking about the Pisces sun sign when I started this quilt. I began with a drawing of a mermaid who's hair became one fish and her tail another. After woking with this idea for almost two weeks cutting different fabrics and trying them out, I knew it wasn't going to work. The size of the fish in relationship to the woman wasn't working. So, I had to re-think the design. I began to think about sand castles that people build on the beach. Wouldn't it be interesting if after the tide washed them away, they were carried underwater and became dwellings for sea creatures? Thats's how the final design was developed.

Detail of Face

I thread-painted the face for Psmathe on a piece of salmon colored silk. I kept the fabric long enough so I could create her dress on the same piece of fabric.

Detail of Dress

I then created her dress using a bead-stitch on my sewing machine. I used a bright lime green and the same piece of fabric her face was stitched onto.

Cutting the Perfect Circle

After I had all the pieces of my quilt sewn into place, I had to create a circular border to go around the top. I took a piece of brown craft paper and drew a circle by attaching a string to a pencil. Running the pencil around the paper with the string pulled tightly in the center, creates a circle. I then layed the circle onto the fabrics I wanted to use for the border and traced around them.

Circular Border Stitched into Place

I was able to cut the center out of the circles and sew them to the quilt in one piece by flipping the raw edge under and sewing them down. I did this for both of the border fabrics. I created a border with no seams

Detail of the Left Border and Mermaid

I filled in the areas around the interior border with more sea-plants and fish being sure to cover the white batting that was showing after the border was sewn down. I then flipped the backing fabric up to the front and turned it under. This created the final outside edge. It's like looking through a porthole or spy glass!

Detail of the Psamathe

After everything was sewn into place, I beaded around the swirls of hair on the mermaid. Tiny seed-beads create the sparkle of sun on the water of hundreds of tiny bubbles.

Detail of the Thread-Pained Mussel

All of the embroidery on this quilt is free-style Thread Painting. I do this on silk or tulle and then cut the pieces out and sewn them into place. You can achieve quite a bit of detail by blending you thread colors. This mussel shell is one of my favorites on this quilt!

Detail of the Castle

Working with applique is really no different than doing a collage. Laying out fabrics onto a background fabric or directly onto batting takes time, but isn't hard to do. Once you have everything where you want it, a small dab of fabric glue to the back of each piece will keep everything in place so it can be stitched! Beads added after quilting add a nice touch.

Finished Quilt

Although this quilt did not win a prize in the contest, it is traveling all over the country for a year with the winners of the Kaufman Challenge. It was my first attempt at a circular quilt and turning out so well makes it a winner to me!

Psamathe 45 inches x 45 inches 2008 Entry into the Kaufman Quilt Quest Quilt size is 45 inches circle This quilt is still part of the contest and will not be available for sale until it is sent back to me 0,000 Click for Larger Image Quilts created by Jennifer Wheatley-Wolf. Images owned by the artist used with permission only!

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Approaching Winter 1st Place Embellishment Winner in the $100,000 Quilting Challenge 2007!

Watercolorjen@ArtGiftsEtc.com