2011/08/31

WILD Flowers 101

WILD Flowers tutorial-another free motion embroidery play!


Pick your palette. Light, medium, dark works well. Any kind of thread. Variegated is fun to use on the 'bubble quilting'!





Choose your shape(s). Sturdy cardboard (cereal boxes, cardboard that comes in stacks of scrap booking paper, packaging-my rectangle shape below came from the box my surge protector came in) or strong paper plates. I cut one paper plate circle, then re-sized and stitched it back together to get the egg shape. Flatten the ends for easier wrapping! Circles are difficult to wrap-the thread wants to slip and slide. Place double sided tape around the perimeter to help tame it. Don't try for precision wrapping on circles, unless you want the huge hump of crossed threads in the center of your flower. Slightly sloppy disperses the threads and is easier to 'nail down' in the 'quilting' stage. Squares and rectangles are the easiest shapes to wrap, so they are a good shape to start with for practice.
The larger the window, the larger the finished shape. The wider the border, the wider the finished fringe. (you can always trim it down shorter when finished)

First wrap, North to South. I usually choose the darkest thread.

Second wrap, East to West, same dark thread.
Repeat the wrapping process with the second color, North-South, East-West. (I usually choose the lightest shade) The more you wrap, the thicker the fringe and shape. Wrap to taste, or as long as your patience holds! :?}

*Be sure and set your machine up for free motion embroidery. Feed dogs down, less tension, less pressure foot, hopping/embroidery foot.

Begin by sewing a straight stitch around the window's perimeter to initially secure the threads. I have now changed to the third thread, 'star of the show'. If you struggle with threads tangling in the hopper foot, just place a piece of clear 'Solvy' on top of the thread to keep your foot free to move and not tangle up.

Begin the decorative stitching in the window. I like to use 'bubbles', but there are no rules, just the need to 'link' all the threads together to make 'whole cloth' when released from the cardboard frame.


Bubbles completed.

Time to snip all the threads free from the frame, releasing the fringe.

Fringe released, piece complete. Begin again-it's addictive!
WILD Flowers-work in progress. I am creating the stems by wrapping various fabrics around cotton rope. I free motion embroidered the leaves in all kinds of colors and variegated threads. I am auditioning borders. PLAY! IMPORTANT UPDATE
Choose your background colors and size, piece, quilt and bind it, THEN place your flowers, stems and leaves onto it. So much easier than trying to work around all that fluffy stuff, stems and leaves! :?}

2011/08/27

Iris completed

La Couleur Pourpre is complete, made its debut at the Chelan Art Show. I have finished some other things as well, but just haven't been home to photograph and download. I will try and do so this coming week.

2011/08/09

Morning Glory aka...

Exuberance!
Now that I have used the skill saw to cut a thin piece of plywood to size, put a layer of batting on the front of that plywood, glued and stapled blue, then green, hand-dyed fabric on top of that, then placed the quilt, then applied some more flowers in the border with a grand finale' of a few hand stitched stems, Husband has changed his mind about the 'Elvis velvet painting'.  He now proclaims, "That'll sell!"   :?}
Detail

2011/08/01

Now what?

Morning Glory quilted...but now what?
 I quilted and quilted this piece, "go with the flow" style, so it is a very busy sky. I used some variegated threads. It all just disappears from a distance, which is good! The foreground flowers are supposed to be the stars of the show...
detail
The quilting 'saved' this piece as far as my husband is concerned. He voices his opinion of my work when I ask him to. Morning Glory got the harshest verdict yet-velvet Elvis painting! But now he says it is okay... :?}  My current dilemma is, how am I going to 'frame' it after I bind the edges?  It is 42" wide!

Auditioning Twigs

This twig does not 'do it'! I may have to 'string it up'! (sold)
 What did I ever do before pc's and digital instant gratification? My design wall is a great help in designing and finalizing my work, but I need that one step further away that pix from the camera give me.
This twig works...but it needs some bling dangling on the left!