A few interesting things occurred over the past few days and I was in terror of loosing my data when the computer broke down. So as I mentioned before, I was a little flummoxed.
Tilly stuck the spring of the trampoline up her nose.
Savannah aged two years and a bit jumped into the water with her shoes on….and squealed with delight. She has no fear.
Combined it was an interesting few days…. so I hugged and kissed our new little babies, and worked…
And here are the results.
The project is finished…. it took considerable time to do the quilting. However, I achieved the effect I aimed for. I contour quilted all the leaves and created two freestanding leaves.
I used fabric quite different to the base of the quilt for the the leaves. It was the last piece of that green I had, my favorite McKenna Ryan. I used two real leaves as a pattern and I traced them onto a piece of paper some time ago waiting for this stage.
You can see in this photo that the fabric is graduated. I wanted to take advantage of the graduation for the shading. Considering that the leaf was only 1/2" wide, I decided to press it with the seam in the middle rather than the side. It gives a more realistic effect.
The leaves are placed in the same direction as the stem of the thread illustrated Aggy, continuity of angles.
There is a lot of texture in the quilt. I wanted the quilting to flow in a number of directions creating a interest for the viewer.
I used a medium green thread on the top of the quilt. Superior, Masterpiece, 50 weight and a light tan on the back fr the quilting. The rest of the quilt has been discussed in past blogs.
I used the new Janome Horizon machine and the multiple free motion foot. I was just given the new thread stand which is wonderful… it's an optional extra, but well worth it. It is almost as tall as an industrial machine thread stand. I was making do with a commercial one until this arrived and trust me it is essential for the sort of quilting I do.
I also have a binder to try…but I think I need a bit of help with that.!!!!
The other two projects were the woven watercolor (copyright) quilts.
They are small, constructed on linen and I free motion quilted them holding the cheesecloth down with the quilting. The look better on the wall than they do here because they are quite magnified in these photos.
Beautiful! I wanted to tell you about how much an inspiration you have been for me over the last few years. I am teaching a very nice young lady how to sew and when we were embroidering a towel for her last week, the towel was so thick it popped the stabalizer out of the hoop. Of course after we got it fixed the deer (the design we were embroidering on the machine) was off by a whole two inches from his neck straight down (the rest of the deer’s body was moved over two inches). She gasps, I said…I can fix this. After watching the work you do without an embroidery machine, you gave me the courage to use “thread play” and I moved it over to my sewing machine and use regular stitches and decorative stitches and it actually looks better after all the shading then the original design. Thank you for giving me the courage to try it. God Bless! Pamie G.
http://www.ourhillcountryretreat.blogspot.com
love the woven watercolors!! and how you’ve signed them. very very nice.
Wow Pam, they are all brilliant! I am in total and extreme awe of the work you do. Thank you so much for publishing your blog. I am, and always will be a devoted fan.
Pamie, what a nice thing to say. however, I just like sharing… and to be honest… if just one person picks up a little info it’s worth writing the blog.
Good on you Pamie.
I was so excited to hang the portrait of my grand daughter (which I made in your class at retreat in Vaughan Park NZ last year) in our new house! I am now working on one of my grand son. The tips and tricks you taught us have been invaluable! I love the way you share your ideas on your blog – so inspirational!
I have posted the finished result on my blog. http://quiltartgirl.blogspot.com
Cheers,
Angie
Angie, bless your heart….. I loved the little show you did. So as you can see I immediately did one of my own….
I’m sending stuff to the group tomorrow… photos and video on CD,,
thanks.