Quilted Doors: Four of my Favorites from Four Different Artists

So I was thinking some more about my Parisian door quilt concept, and I wondered how other quiltmakers had used doors in their quilting.  I decided a bit of research was called for, and a quick "door quilt images" google search turned up plenty of pieced quilts with Barn Door block designs, as well as this beauty:

Kathy Schmitz, Kathy Schmitz Studio

I love how Kathy's fabric selections created the illusion of depth for the threshold.  It looks like she highlighted the "corners" of these bricks as well; maybe painting on a little bleach?  This was the most realistic quilted door I came across, and it's the most like what I initially had in mind for my Parisian doors.

This next example is just one quilt block (paper-pieced?), but I was really excited to find a photo of the door that inspired the quiltmaker as well as the photo of the finished block:

Mid Century Modern Door quilt block for Lisa by verykerryberry

Isn't that adorable?  You can find verykerryberry's sewing blog here.  This is the photo that inspired her quilt block:

It was really interesting for me to see which elements of the door/photo she chose to incorporate into her block design, and which elements she decided to leave out.  I was also impressed by the level of detail she was able to reproduce through her meticulous piecing.  I had assumed that applique plus embroidery would be required for my quilted doors.  I also love how verykerryberry used artistic license to take this dilapidated old door back to a happier time and place, evoking a completely different mood than the inspiration photo. 

This next small quilt, made by Allison Aller and featured in the Renaissance Ribbons blog here, incorporates a technique that allows a photograph to be printed directly onto fabric, which was then embroidered and embellished. 

Barbara's Door, 14" x 18" by Allison Aller

I love the way Allison "framed" her quilt with jacquard ribbon; I haven't seen that before.  I hadn't considered using my Parisian door photos for fabric printing, but that is a technique that I'd like to try at some point, perhaps with family photos.  You can see more of this artist's work on her blog, Allie's In Stitches.

Finally, take a look at this artist's take on the quilted door theme:

Tunisian Door, 106 cm x 140 cm, by Margaret Ramsay

I love the rich blues and greens and the visual texture of this quilt.  This quiltmaker and textile artist blogs at magsramsay and has a web site here. 

Isn't it great to be able to pull up so much inspiration with just an internet connection and a few clicks of the mouse?  Every day is a quilting show-and-tell on the Internet, and you don't even have to get dressed to attend!  I was actually surprised that I didn't find more door quilts out there.  I still think I want to incorporate different doors into my quilt, each its own rectangular block, maybe with different sizes for different doors, and use borders and sashing to unify the blocks.

My Parisian door quilt is going to have to hang out on the way-back burner for awhile, though, because I've been promising Lars a dragon quilt for years -- literally!  Lars's quilt is up next.