What a difference 30 years makes! I began quilting in September 1985, so actually it has been 33 years. My first foray into quilting was to take a class based on Quilt in A Day: Log Cabin Pattern by Eleanor Burns. Everything was new to me, from how to select fabrics based on value to the importance of maintaining a 1/4" seam. I knew nothing about art quilting. I'm not even sure the term was in existence, although there were a few pioneers doing their own thing.
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| My Neighbor's Shed Background All fabrics come from my stash of hand painted fabrics |
Steps taken to create My Neighbor's Shed:
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| My Neighbor's Shed Thread painting in progress. Two of the elements are done, the third is outlined on Solvy and ready to be painted. |
2) I imported the image into EQ8 and traced the primary lines to create a blue print to follow.
3) I broke down the shed so it could be paper pieced.
4) I sized the original photograph so I could trace some of the trees and bushes for thread painting.
5) I pieced the shed and backed it with Heat 'N Bond so that it could be fused to the quilt.
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| My Neighbor's Shed Nearly done |
6) I created freezer paper templates for the background.
7) I ironed the templates to fabric, trimmed to an approximate 1/4" seam around the templates, then pieced the background.
8) In order to create the bushes and trees, I traced the shape and key color changes onto Solvy, a water soluble glue film.
9) I made a thread painting sandwich by layering to two pieces of tulle between the Solvy sheet with the tracing and a blank Solvy sheet. This provides stability for thread painting. If it is done directly on the quilt, there will be puckering and shrinkage. Instead the individual elements are thread painted off quilt, cut away, and rinsed in warm water to dissolve the Solvy.
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| My Neighbor's Shed How it will look in the mat board frame. |
10) Create a quilt sandwich of the background, batting and a background, and quilt it BEFORE the foreground is added. Why before? If one waits until after, then the quilting process is more complex. It is the difference between mowing a wide open lawn and one with boulders and trees.
11) Now it is time to arrange the shed and greenery to the quilt. The thread painted elements are attached with the addition of a little, emphasis on little, more thread painting.
12) This is my Spotlight Auction submission. The size is mandated at 4.5" x 6.5" viewing area, but must measure 6" x 8". The recommended finish for the edge is a zig zag stitch. Other than the paperwork and label, it is done!
I am linking up with Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays.
Oh! I love this so much! The tread painted trees especially. Thank you for the steps - makes me want to make a little landscape of my own.
ReplyDeleteI started quilting around the same tome, maybe a little before then. My mother taught me and still have a couple of quilts I made back then out of scraps of flannel shirts. I remember cutting templates out of cereal boxes before the miracle of rotary cutters. I have to thank the show simolynquilts for getting me into art quilting. I taped every show on a vcr tape (another dinosaur) to watch again and again. My how times have changed!
Love all that thread-painted greenery! And thanks for reminding me of my own quilting roots and how far I have come from that first class--a pillow hand pieced and hand quilted and using cardboard templates--so many years ago.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful perspective about our learning paths and the pay-off for all the earlier struggles! Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteWhen I am asked how long it takes me to make a quilt, my answer is 30 years. Then I explain that each past work informs the newest one. Yet it wasn't until I was wonder what to write, I realized the gift of all that "information."
DeleteLove what you have done with the thread painting! Great idea to do it separately and then add to the base.
ReplyDeleteAwe inspiring work, Gwyned. This will be a little quilt that will get BIG attention at the Annual Spotlight Auction in San Jose in April. Loved the storyline and this is an example about how all of your work is very well done!
ReplyDeleteBethany, you have me blushing again. Fingers crossed My Neighbor's Shed finds a new neighbor. The Spotlight Auction is loads of high-spirited (heavy on the spirts) fun, but there is a fair amount of worth competition.
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