Leaves 101 Tutorial

Hoop up some woven water soluble stabilizer, lower the feed dogs, put your darning/hopping/embroidery foot on for free motion embroidering, choose your thread color and let's make leaves!

This shows Steps 1-4. Below is a close up of Step 1. You start by making a nice sturdy stem, sew out the leaf shape of your choice, and run a vein from stem to tip top.

Step 2: Start sewing from tip top in 'tear drop' loops, from larger, smaller, smallest.
See 2 below.

Step 3. Start at stem or tip top and 'snake' back and forth down the length of the leaf.
           You now have a good strong base to sew your leaf so the threads will all hang       
together when you wash away the stabilizer.

Step 4. Final step is to 'fill in' your leaf. I usually start at the bottom, at an angle, and work my way to the tip top, going right on down the other side. I love variegated thread, it does most of the work for you! But I do make solid color leaves at times, and when I do, I will choose a darker contrasting thread to ziggy zag the outside of the leaf and the stem and run up and down the center vein a couple times.
Once the leaves are completed I rinse out most, but not all, of the stabilizer in warm water. By leaving a smidgeon of the stabilizer in the leaf, it acts like a bendable stiffener when the leaf is dry, making it somewhat poseable.

Have fun with your leaves!

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!

Geo Leaves-Sewing, sewing, Gone!

I had such fun and freedom making this quilt. I free-hand cut all the leaves. The pattern is leaf on leaf on square, all stitched down with satin stitch. Heavily quilted, with the tree trunk and limbs 'flattened' by the quilting. This was the quilt I was sewing the sleeve on while sitting in my vendor's booth at Art in the Park and a lady watching me sew said, "When you are finished with that, I want it!" That was fun! If you 'click' on the picture above, the enlargement will let you see the swirly tree quilting.

Latest projects, completed, sorta, almost...

      I completed 'Reflections', but now need to find a mat and frame to bring it to 'tadah'!

You see purples and blues behind these projects because I am multi-tasking big time right now. When I do that the design wall becomes a vertical 'pile'!

Falling

 This is a proud moment! I scanned leaves onto fabric about 10 years ago, when I got my first scanner. Didn't know about prepping the fabric so the ink would 'take' and the picture be bright, so it was dull and boring in appearance. It has made move after move, been unearthed, sunk to the bottom of the UFO pool over and over...But I have grown and learned and when I dug it out again a few weeks back I had the tadah moment!  I sliced one fabric sheet into strips and sliced the other to receive the weaving, creating a nice subtle background. I then appliqued the batik leaves on top for vavoom, then stitched that, sandwiched with a thin batting. onto the batik gold and brown fabric. I fringed the edges of the woven fabrics.  A UFO no longer! It's nearly a miracle!