Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Quilting Along with Leah Day - Week 25

I have a secret project that I hope to share with you a few months hence that is guiding my recent fabric selections. I needed some dappled green. Since the best thread in my studio was a deeper hue than most of the greens in the fabric it is relatively easy to see the stitching, even in the front view.


Front View of Cucumber Vine Practice Piece

This assignment was a tough one. It involved travel stitching greater distances and along curved lines. Leah named the pattern she has us practicing, Cucumber Vines. Instead of expanding with branches or roots, spiral tendril shoots reach out through the open space.

Detail of the Spiral Shoots Shows Just How Trick
Travel Stitching Can Be
Because travel stitching along a spiral is so I tricky, my personal preference when quilting spirals is to never travel stitch, but to instead leave a very wide channel when I spiral in and then spiral out by bisecting the channel.

Back Side of Cucumber Vine Practice Piece

It never hurts to practice. I have no doubt that my traveling stitching is improving, even on the curves, since the gap between the first stitch line and the travel line, when it does occur is tighter than in the past.

Detail of Back Side of Cucumber Vine Practice Piece

It is easy to get hung up on the travel stitch gaffs. Looked at from a glass half full perspective, I have made leaps forward with tension issues due to lack of hand/foot coordination or hesitation beads. There are no pulled loops around the curves. There isn't a single hesitation pile up of thread. Perhaps there will come a time in the future when working on the latest challenge that I discover my travel stitching no longer has gaps.

8 comments:

  1. It looks great!!! Seriously! But I agree. This was a tricky one!

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  2. Love your quilting...especially on the 'grape' fabric!

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  3. I think it looks great! The travel stitching is tricky, but so worth it.

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  4. Thank you, everyone, for your generous words.

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  5. I find traveling difficult so I like your idea of making the channel wider. Your work is always so pretty.
    Emma

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    1. Emma, I am glad you found my tip useful. I was worried that a verbal description might be too difficult to understand.

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  6. It looks great to me! I know what you mean about getting hung up on what we perceive as our imperfections.....we are usually our worst critics. I'm going to start using the 3 foot rule......can I see the imperfection from 3 feet away? If not......no worries, mate!

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    1. The 3 foot rule works for me. Ultimately it depends on what you are trying to achieve. Some people, like Leah, compete in the machine quilt world, where judges scrutinize every stitch front and back. Their travel stitching must not only be impeccable, but also enhance the design of the quilting. I don't enter judged quilt shows. My work hangs in galleries and museums, sometimes with other fiber art and often now with art of other media. The overall artist design is far more important than individual stitches or brush strokes. However, those stitches and strokes need to be good enough so as not to detract from the work.

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