Week in Review 2014 - 07/04

Thread painted fall leaves
before being added to
Little Lake Butte des
Morts in Fall.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Happy Independence Day to my American readers and happy Friday to the rest of you. What a powerful word independence is. As a grandmother of five under the age of 7 I have watched all but the youngest become independent, at least in their ability to choose what they will or will not wear or say good-bye to diapers. In other words independence can be relative, because all my grandchildren are still dependent on their parents to provide them with food, shelter, transportation and affection. I have no doubt that for now my grandchildren feel more independent than they are in actuality. I feel pretty independent myself as I create my artwork. I can't recall when was the last time I used a pattern that I didn't tweak to make a quilt. Even when I practice FMQ motifs designed by others I can't resist seeing what happens if I do this or that to the original design. This week I am over the top excited about how I chose to create thread painted branches and leaves for my commission quilt. Was it an independent idea? Not really. Did I follow someone else's method? I wouldn't say so. I simply borrowed an idea here another there and then took the plunge. 


1) Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall (Due August 3) 

a) Finish attaching the two tree appliqués - Done!
b) Start adding the details such as the cattails, branches and leaves. - Done!

I expect I will get some questions on how I made the fall leaves and branches. I'll do my best to guess what you might ask and answer it here:

See http://theboredzombie.com/project/thread-painting-a-beginners-tutorial created by Susan Owenby for basic materials and instruction.

I used a pale green tulle with the Solvy that was recommended. I did NOT use Sulky thread. I prefer to use thread from Superior's King Tut series. These are ALL variegated 40 wt. cotton. When I didn't have the right color Superior thread I use Marathon's polyester and/or rayon thread. The advantage with the Marathon thread is that you can build up the thread more without breaking and it has a wonderful sheen.

I marked just the basic lines on the Solvy for where I wanted the branches and approximately where I would change colors for the leaves. From there I just winged it.

There isn't much difference from FMQ to thread painting. I use only a straight stitch that isn't engaged, since I drop my feed dogs. Most teachers recommend using a zig zag, but I find the straight stitch more intuitive for me. A good YouTube tutorial for watching how to thread paint was created by Nancy Prince. It is: http://www.nancyprince.com/First_Flowers_Workshop.html

My final step will be to attach the thread painting motifs to my quilt. I will do that stitching them to quilt  with a bit more thread. At least that is plan.

Open Leaf with Spiral
This week's FMQ motif found at
the Inbox Jaunt, but modified by
yours truly.

2) Wild Apple 12" x 12" Opportunity - (Due August 15)

a) Mat and frame the work. - Not yet.

3) Free motion quilting practice: - Done!

Lori Kennedy, author of the Inbox Jaunt tends to design quilting motifs that work well in sashings, because they are linear or in an open block, because they are pictorial. I prefer FMQ that doesn't require pre-marking and can fill any shape. This week I played with Lori's Open Leaf Spiral to see if I could break away from the stacked leaves look. If you look at the left side of my work you can see I started to stack the leaves to get the "feel" of the basic leaf and going from left to right and back again. After that I went free form. :)

4) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments. - Done!

I have nothing to share here since the assignment was to watch a video interview. 


I am off to celebrate Independence Day with good friends, good food and good weather! Then I will buckle down again next week and tackle some of the following projects.

1) Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall (Due August 3) 

a) Start adding the details such as the cattails, branches and leaves. 
b) Block and square up the quilt.
c) Start facing the quilt.

2) Wild Apple 12" x 12" Opportunity - (Due August 15)

a) Mat and frame the work.

3) Free motion quilting practice.

4) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments.


I am now linking up to two blogs on Fridays. The first is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays and the second is Free Motion Mavericks.

Week in Review 2013 - 08/02

My photographer (a.k.a. my husband) asked that pose in front of
Companion Oysters
for the blog. This was taken Thursday night, August 1, 2013 after
full day in the studio. What you see is precisely what you would
see if you were to drop by while I was working. It also gives
you a good sense of the scale of the piece.

It's been another week in my home studio, said with a wink to Garrison Keillor. This week has been all about preparation. Abraham Lincoln said, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." How apropos for quilting. Preparation is often where I spend most of my time when making a quilt.

My preparatory work for the week went as follows:

1) Companion Oysters (Deadline 9/01/2013)

a) Stitch the oyster shells to the background - Done!

A nose to the quilt close-up of Companion Oysters.

I opted to use the blind hem stitch (Bernina 1260 Stitch #7) that looks like _ _ _ ^ to sew down the appliqué pieces. I use this when I don't want the stitches to appear as a design element. I use a narrow satin stitch when I want to create a rim around the piece. If you click on the image you should be able to see the blind hem stitch on both the lavender and eggplant pieces. The shimmer on the palest fabric is created with an overlay of white tulle that has glitter adhered to it. I had hoped the glitter would be more stable. Much of it is on the studio floor and a few stray pieces traveled around the condo on my body. 

Stepping back a bit for a more distant close-up of Companion Oysters.
Here you can see how I layered the seaweed. Since there were so many
tight and small curves I opted to fuse the seaweed in place. I prefer to
use Steam a Seam 2 or Heat 'n Bond Lite for this. Both adhere well
and keep the edges of the appliqué from fraying.

b) Add a layer of batting behind the oysters for a trapunto effect - Done!

Companion Oysters with the first layer of batting adhered behind the oysters.

I added batting behind the oysters, but cut it away behind the kidney bean shaped depressions. I am hoping that this will help create a sense of depth/relief to the oysters that I will enhance through quilting. I am also thinking of adding a hint of shadow with paint to left hand side of the image.

2) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next. - Started.

Foundation piecing is
begun for a lock of the
goddess's hair in
Express Your Love II.

It is time to begin the goddess's hair for Express Your Love II. This will be done with a series of foundation piecing patterns. The first step is to create a guide on a sheet of muslin. If you look closely at the image, you can see that I stitched over the outline that indicates the finished area for this particular lock of hair. This is part of my preparation that seems to be an extra step. The advantage is that the pattern is now marked on the front and back of the muslin. Also, I can select a color thread that blends with the fabric, making the marking something that won't be seen in the finished piece AND I can iron this obsessively, something I couldn't do if I used a water soluble blue marker.

3) Pictorial Painting - Face "Canyon." - Not even considered.

With the prep work accomplished it is time to move forward to create the work. This is the game plan for next week.

1) Companion Oysters (Deadline 9/01/2013)

a) Determine whether to add shadows and if so, paint them.

b) Layer and baste the quilt sandwich.

c) Start the free motion quilting.

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments

a) Finish last week's golden lock.

b) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next.

3) Pictorial Painting - Face "Canyon."

I am now linking up to two blogs on Friday's. The first is Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project and the second is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays.