Originally, Dream Home was going to be mounted onto a piece of felted wool and then made into a quilted wall hanging. The blue felt looked so good with the motifs of the picture. I was prearranging the pieces in this photo. That was when I realized just how many motifs still left to crochet—lots and lots of blue circles for the sky, lots and lots of green petals and pink flowers for the lawn.
Finally the crochet charm lace was all done, meaning the motifs were sewn together to form the picture. I couldn’t quite visualize the finished piece, so I rolled the picture inside the felt and thought about it for months.
With the deadline coming nearer, I bought a small quilting hoop to hold the piece while I hand-quilted it. Still, I couldn’t see it finished.
One day Ella and I were wandering around Michaels. In the painting section, I saw canvasses and thought, “What about sewing the picture to a canvas?” Artist’s canvas comes stretched and stapled to a wooden frame. It’s easy to hang. Right or wrong, a picture on canvas looks more like art than the same picture on a quilt. Now that, I could see.
I bought a canvas and prepared it by spraying it with a clear acrylic coating.
Should I use the pretty, blue, felted wool in the background, or not? After canvassing family members for their opinions, I chose to put the picture on the canvas without blue wool.
The sewing began. To keep the picture from sagging, I sewed around every single motif, attaching it to the canvas. Ignoring the large number of motifs, I just sewed one at a time. Eventually they were all sewn down.
The picture looked lonely, floating around on that big, white canvas. It needed the button frame, which didn’t take very long to sew in place. I love button frames.
Here’s the scoop on the motifs:
From Crochet Garden:
Butterflies (left, in the sky), “Sulfur Butterfly & Friends,” pp. 31-33
Curlicues that form the water (lower left), “Curlicue Sprays,” pp. 62-63
Purple anemone with white and black center (right, under owl’s wing), “Anemone & Friend,” pp. 120-121
From Crochet Bouquet:
Big green leaf (lower right, between toadstools and red rose), “Small One-Row Leaf,” pp. 120-121
Pink flowers in lawn, “Millefiori,” Tiny Petals, p. 26
Grass tufts in lawn, “Millefiori,” Rounded Petals, p. 25
Smallest trees in background, “Veined Leaf,” Plain Vein, pp. 123-124
From Cute Crochet World:
Mushrooms, “Storybook Mushroom,” pp. 59-61
Bullion rose, “Valentine Roses,” pp. 92-93
Ladybug, “Ladybug, Ladybug,” pp. 20-21
Rabbit, “Bunny,” pp. 38-39
“Turtle,” pp. 27-29
House, “Cozy Home,” pp. 133-136
Medium sized trees to the right of the house, “Cherry Blossom,” pp. 76-77
Owl, “Oval Owl,” pp. 36-37
Stars, “Starry Night,” pp. 98-99
Moon, “Winter Moon,” pp. 96-97
Rocket ship, “Vacation Transportation,” pp. 116-119
Clouds, “Cutely Cloudy,” pp. 86-87
Airplane, “Vacation Transportation,” pp. 116-119
“Bluebird of Happiness,” pp. 24-26
Sun, “Summer Sun,” pp. 94-95
Next year’s entry into the CGOA Design Competition is already underway. It’s a. . .oops, can’t talk about it yet.