Missy Quilt: Finished

Earlier in the week I shared the beginning steps in a quilted portrait of our little dog Missy.  We had to put her down earlier this year, and I made this portrait for Mike to commemorate her.

After I finished collage-ing the top, I quilted it using very basic blendy free motion quilting.  The quilt is busy enough that I knew fancy quilting wouldn't show up.  I decided to mount it on a pre-stretched canvas, so I followed a technique Susan Carlson uses in her class to make a fabric frame to wrap around the edge of the canvas.  Unfortunately, somehow I messed up the way I sewed the fabric frame to the edge of the quilt and I wound up with these strange pointy excess fabric bits on each corner (below left).  I had to fold them over and hand-stitch them down (below right), but I wish I knew what happened to cause it.  I really like this finishing method for things that are not going to quilt shows, so I'd like to get it worked out.

After finishing the canvas wrap, I mounted the whole thing floating inside the frame I made.  I'd gone back and forth about staining the frame dark, but I finally decided to leave it light to complement Missy's colors, so I just put a couple of coats of clear coat on the frame to give it a more finished feel.

Missy, c. Shannon Conley, 2018, 24" x 24"

When you look at some of the up close detail shots you can see all the tiny little pieces of fabric on there.  The nose, mouth, and paws were the most precision oriented on her.

We love you and miss you Missy!