Quilted Anatomy: decorative organ quilt

Hey All! I put some of the paper pieced organs I've made over the last few months together to make a mini-quilt. It's hard to believe that I only started sewing a year ago. I've certainly progressed far! I really enjoy quilting, and I love making quilts that reflect my interests. Hope you guys enjoy these!

 

I even used some of the fabric I designed on spoonflower!

I'm really pleased with how this quilt turned out. Next I've got to do some more organs, and maybe a whole system!

Quilted Anatomy: Lungs

Hello all! I'm continuing my series on quilted anatomy. This time, I give you: Lungs!


I wanted to make sure the colors would match the first two I made (P.S. I made a kidney), so I laid out my fabric and picked the colors I thought matched lung color IRL and also the nice palette I have going with the heart and kidney. In real life, the lungs are a bright salmony-pink color, almost neon. They're fantastic to look at.

Then, I had to cut up the pattern I made based on one of my drawings. The trachea was probably going to be the hardest, so I started there. I had a nice batik that makes a really good ligament color.

You can see the garden from my craft room

About halfway through, I realized the step between main color and shadow was way too steep. So I decided to start over, adding an extra color with fabric I got from The Stitchery.

 

Much better!

 

 

Here it is with the other two. I think it turned out great! I'm really excited to do more organs. I'm working on a pattern for a Uterus and a Liver, but I also want to do a brain and the cross-section of an eye. We'll see what happens next!

 

Non-quilting: Building Garden boxes

I've always loved growing vegetables. When I was younger, my parents didn't have a good backyard to grow a nice veggie patch, so I contented myself with growing tomatoes and beans in pots. In college, I expanded those pots to backyard porches and also grew cucumbers and squash using the back porch railings as trellises. Now that I'm grown up with a house that has a nice open backyard, I decided to grow a lot of veggies this year.

Only, I don't have a lot of money, and garden boxes are expensive.

However, there is this great place about 30 minutes from me that buys and sells old wood pallets. You know, the kind on which big stores get their shipments? So I cleared out the back of the mini-van and got about 5 of them for $5 a piece. Not too shabby.

Then I used a pry bar, hammer and reciprocating saw to break them down and build them into garden boxes.

I also used 2" square wood dowels as corner pieces for added stability and screwed the boards two deep into a square shape. They turned out pretty well.

 

So far, I've planted tomatoes, winter and summer squash, kale, peppers, okra, cucumbers, onions and beans. I'm also growing borage, thyme and sage as ecological pest controls. They're supposed to repel or confuse a variety of garden pests. Sunflowers and morning glories also are great at attracting predatory bugs which will eat the pests. I used this book to make sure everything was going to get along in their new homes (example: onions and beans don't go together). In fact, if you're planning on making a garden plot, I highly recommend making sure all of your plants will go well together. It will save you a lot of hair tearing-out in the future. I'm looking forward to a tasty summer!