The quilt hanging on the wall is a portrait of a cat.
Peaches is aptly named, as her coloring brings the fruit to mind. Her eyes are expressive, and as one gets closer to examine the quilt it becomes clear that this is more a work of art than a way to stay warm on a winter night.
Lisa Fryxell designed this quilted portrait of Peaches and many, many other quilts of animals, mostly rescues who were once looking for homes.
This detail shows Peaches’ eyes, made of at least 20 pieces each.
She used more than 20 tiny pieces of fabric in each of Peaches’ eyes and then embellished them with a few beads.
Fryxell doesn’t confine her quilt designs to animals who need or once needed homes. She has made quilted portraits of people, beach scenes, racing bicyclists and pieces that resemble Mimbres pottery. Her Catalina Foothills-area home is a gallery of quilted art.
Fryxell uses paper piecing to make her quilts. There are several paper-piecing methods, but the one Fryxell uses only requires stitching in straight lines. To create the illusion of curves, many smaller pieces are used.
Quilters who paper-piece use designs printed on one of several types of paper. Fryxell prefers vellum because it is easy to see the fabric through the paper and it tears off easily after the design is completed. The pieces of the quilt are sewn with the paper, which allows for more elaborate designs.
The jerseys of the racing cyclists required 20 to 35 pieces each.
One of her more-detailed quilts is called “Crossing the Finish Line.” About the size of a wide table runner, it looks like an aerial view of bicycle racers approaching the finish line on a road. Each cyclist is bent over the bike, so what is visible are the helmet, jersey, arms, hands, handlebars and tires. Most of the jerseys are so detailed that many of the cyclists required 20 to 35 pieces for a figure that is about 6 inches long.
Fryxell recently taught the first of two sessions of a class on piecing this quilt at the Quilters Market, 7601 E. Speedway, where more classes may follow.
Fryxell has used pieces as small as an eighth of an inch to get the detail she wants. This time it was a beach scene that is a contest entry for the upcoming Tucson Quilters Guild quilt show in February at the Tucson Convention Center, where Fryxell is entering three quilts.
She will be starting a quilting group at the Eckstrom-Columbus Library the first Monday of each month, beginning Feb. 5.
Fryxell’s studio is filled with the tools of her trade, including computer and printer, rotary cutters, special rulers, cutting mats, sewing machine — there are many especially designed for quilting — ironing board and irons and many more tools. There is fabric everywhere, even small scraps, because one never knows if that piece, smaller than an inch square, may come in handy.
