One quilt, different cameras and lighting.

Feather Journey #2
The first two photos are what I took with my camera at home for the juried entry into the MQX show, the last two are by people who took theirs at the show. The third photo has the best colour but not the best focus. I found it interesting to find how difficult it is to photograph Heide Stoll Weber fabrics accurately. No ribbons for this one at this show. I might enter it somewhere else.... I love it. It's about 15" wide and 58" high.

I have been doing some quilting!

Firstly I quilted this little top which will be the raffle quilt at a coffee morning organised by one of the members of a local quilt group. I used YLI fine gold metalic thread and was delighted at how it behaved itself. It's only about 40" square.

Then I quilted the feathers on the wholecloth I designed a little while back. I'm trying to decide whether or not to quilt it down between the feathers. If I do, I shall do it with white silk thread to make the background quilting as unobtrusive as possible. The feathers have been quilted with a vareigated blue to almost white Aurifil thread. I haven't washed out the markings yet so I can't see the full effect. I might have to do a little sample piece before I decide.

The back looks quite cool. I need to spend this evening burying the threads.
Meanwhile, I bought some old American Quilter magazines (the AQS ones) and found an article of reverse machine applique (I think the writer named it something different). She used the technique to make pictures. I'm doing something completely different.... Wait and see.
As always, click on the photos to get a good look.

Sometimes you should give up

I haven't quite, but I'm fairly close. You wouldn't believe the pain and suffering I've gone through with the whole cloth and still not a stitch in sight nor even close to one.
The hot weather didn't help either, however I'm determined to do at least some stitching so this little quilt relieved the tension and got me back in the mood. the variegated thread is Aurifil again. Lovely stuff to work with.

Remember that wholecloth?

The one with the diamond fill in between the central motif and the borders. Remember how I was going to trapunto alternate diamonds but when I worked my way round the alternates didn't match? Well after putting it away again and the third attempt also failed. I released all the trapuntoed diamonds by going over very carefully the water soluble thread with an auto paint brush loaded with water. Oh what joy, not! I can tell you it's much much easier to unpick normal thread. Still it's done now and I shall do something entirely different in this area. Perhaps more feathers. There was a time when I believed the adage out there in the quilting world, the eye should have somewhere to rest. I've been looking at the older wholecloths and it's become obvious these women had never heard of this and their quilts are wonderful, so feathers it is then.....

Remember that top

I marked up on Wednesday? Well the outline of the feathers are quilted and I've started on the background. If you click on the photo you should be able to see the background is in a very pretty, very pale variegated thread. The feathers are in a deep purple and will be overquilted in red but I think I'll wash it first to remove all the inked registration and quilting lines.

Heide's quilt update

Yesterday I finished the circles and they took all day.
Today I've got 3/4s of the background done but have run into a little problem with the pale blue thread. It's too pale for the background and looks very nearly white, so I'll have to wait a few days for some darker to arrive. It's a holiday here so I can't order until tomorrow.
I'm having fun playing with the background stitching. I suppose I could start on the fireworks whilst waiting for the light turquoise thread.

I have been quilting and here's the proof

This is how it was first thing this morning. All the feathers are done except a few of the small ones down the left hand side.
I'm pleased with the feathers thus far but the lack of background quilting means there is no definition.

By tonight I've finished the small feathers and made a good start on the background quilting. This photo is closest to the true colour.

I've decided on a version of echo quilting. I didn't do true echo quilting as the straight lines of the strips would make it very boring one one side. So I sort of created wavy lines to echo away from. I'm seriously pleased with how this is coming on.

From the first time I saw Patsy Thompson's feathers I knew I would enjoy playing with them.
Did I think I would make the over 70" long? Maybe not. I also knew when I bought the fabrics they would be a stripy, I didn't envisage them like this. It was pure serendipity to discover her method which fits so well with these bright fabrics. I can't wait to get the background done so I can 'reward' myself with doing the fireworks.

Forgot to add this little warm up area

in the excess fabric at the bottom of the quilt. I crossed the two colours to see how each thread appeared on each colour.

and nearly two more strips

Nearly finished the main feathers on the next two strips, you'l have to click on it to see the quilting.
Whilst I'm stitching, I'm mulling over what to do in the shapes between the feathers. Please don't make any suggestions as I'd like it to come from my own head.

Got a bit done yesterday

on the strippy quilt. It's draped over the back of the sofa so just the one line of feather that I've done is on the top. Ignore that the stitching looks like a light thread , the camera is picking up the gloss of this thread which in reality is a deep rich teal.With the coloured wholecloth, I'm unpicking a little each evening, I'm getting there but it's slow progress.

Finally

I get something done. Not a lot but something.
I washed the going round in circles quilt and it's now blocked and drying on Fliss's bedroom floor.
And I got the first bit of the contemporary wholecloth quilted. Can someone tell me why on earth I decided to trapunto this piece. It has dimension without it. It's far harder to quilt through the layers. I've used Quilter's Dream poly in the de luxe weight (the thickest). It has actually made the motif quite stiff, not a problem as it's a wall hanging but it is a problem as I'm posting it to the Festival of Quilts and even if I manage to send it on a roll, they romove it and fold it up into a bag prior to hanging. So it WILL crease.
And it has a name now "Contemporary Wholecloth #1" might not be very original but it does leave the way open for me to do more on the same theme.

More is more

So I went over the outline with the more intense colour and was about to pin it for quilting when I decided that really it should have more. So now I'm gently shading each lobe of each feather. Thankfully this is far quicker than it looks and I don't have to take breaks of whole days to strip wallpaper.

New feathers

Last night I started designing the 2nd of the quilts I've entered for this year's shows but haven't made yet (gulp).I sat at my desk with a pencil and an eraser and played around until I came up with this. Most of the erasing was done to stop the feathers looking too formal. I find it quite difficult not to make the lobes even like the old feathers.
Once I was happy with it, I went over the pencil with a black pen. I then flipped the paper over (lightweight sketch pad) and copied it onto the back of the sheet. This gave me the mirror image.
The fabric is fine enough to trace through without the use of a lightbox with extra white paper behind the design. The brown lines are a disappearing Clover pen ti give me registration marks.
Whenever I've marked up wholecloths, I've always been a little sad to see the marking disappear. It's a totally different look. So this time the marking is part of the design. The fabric is pale blue and the markings are in teal and deliberately blurred. I shall stitch in teal thread to emphasize the lines.
Once I have this border design marked up, I shall design the centre of the quilt. I'm wondering whether to stick with the teal or change to a different colour for the central motif.

Quilters just wanna have fun

I've been in the sewing room again this afternoon and it's been such fun to play with the background. The only criteria I've given myself is to keep the scale somewhat similar but allowing myself to create little bubbles of fabric. So of course I couldn't resist a feather or two.And little swirly bits.
And another feather plus a many tentacled star fish sort of thing in the foreground.
And some spirals and waves and bits like the sand when the tide has gone out.
This morning I got some gardening done but hopefully I stopped before my back ached too much. (tonight will tell) . I dug down a fork's depth and I think I got 95% of the bindweed roots. I then turned it over and broke it up into a fine tilth and spread some seeds. I thought I'd take regular photos of this bed throughout the summer so you can see if it's worked or not. I planted another clematis against the shed. From the herb section in the supermarket I bought a pot of parsley. For me this is more successful than seeds, you get about 20 plants already started for about a £1, about the same price as a packet of seed. They look a little sad at the moment but in the past they have always revived so I hope they'll do the same this year. The grass is a bit dire but the lawn mower is under repair. I found out too late on Friday to collect it so there shall be yet another weeks growth before it gets attended to. It;s only about 10 months old so it has been done under warranty.

It's coming along

This is what it looks like when the fireworks are done but the threads have not been buried. The threads I'm using are acrylic on the front and Bottom Line in the bobbin. Both are very springy threads so burying them is not a joy (grin).
I've managed to finish all the fireworks (see link on the right to Patsy Thompson).

I pinned the backing on Thursday afternoon and yesterday morning. I started working on this at 8.30am yesterday morning and stopped at 9.30pm last night, so what you can see is 13 hours work with a short break for lunch.
With the backing on, I went round the feathers in an echo with the red thread and then again with the green (the green thread I'm using is Madeira Polyneon and the colour is Day Glo green, although it's brightness gets toned down against the bright grass green of the fabric). For those of you interested in such things the needle is an 80 Microtex . The top tension is set at ½. That's ½ between 1 and zero, not half way round the tension settings and the bobbin thread is quite tight. I've been having loads of fun doing all sorts of different backgrounds. This adds to the texture as well as making acres of background quilting less boring to do.
Click on the photo below to get a really good view of the quilting.

You can see how doing the feathers and the fireworks without the batting gives extra loft to the feathers. I shall go back and do one line of red back down the spines to secure the middle.


And I found this fun stripe for the backing.
I'm trying to decide between green and red for the binding.
I've also ordered the threads I need for another quilt I've entered and not yet started and once again my mouth opened before my brain engaged and I've promised a sample piece for a shop, so they can show how lovely it is using the silk threads.

quilts and gardens

As you see I'm 9/16ths through doing the middle of this quilt. Strangely I can quilt all day without my neck aching but this process means I have to stop every 1/2 hour or so. I love the way these spin.I bought seeds for the garden yesterday these are the fully hardy plants. I'll just scrape the soil and sprinkle them around. I find this a totally magical process. This is the first time I've seen the California poppies in a single colour other than orange. And these special Kew purple Godetia make my mouth water.

These are the half hardy ones, so they shall have to wait until mid May to be sprinkled about. If I could be bothered I could grow them in pots first and then plant out, but waiting is just so very much easier.


And I've treated the local birds to this bird feeder. The top is about 9' high so they should be safe from the cat and I'm hoping the blessed squirrels can't get up there.

a little bit more

Thursday was lost in my search for a mattress. Currently I have the worlds most comfortable bed which is a combination of pocket springs and memory foam. My back has never been so good. The downside is not only have I reached the time when I am hot at night but also the memory foam makes me hot in it's own right. I thought latex would be the answer but trying to find one of these to test drive meant a trip into London, or and this seemed the better option a trip to Steph's (she of the cakes) and take my own pillows with me.
So we had lunch, I tested the mattress for about 20 minutes (no heat but too firm for me) and then we hit the shops.
The matress hunt goes on.
A little sewing got done yesterday but DD had friends over and they all went to the pub and then a nightclub and because DD had not remembered her keys, they had to wake me up to let them in at 2.30am. Bless!
I thought I'd try taking photos outside to see if I could get the colour of this quilt as it really is. The first shot shows the progress, the 2nd nearly shows it's true colour but the wind wasn't cooperating.

It doesn't look like much but

it is 6 and a half hours work. and nearly 1,000 yds of thread today and yesterday.

Click to see these larger.

More on the blue and white quilt

Yesterday was quite frustrating, with a lot of unpicking as the horrible black batting had distorted the fabric. I did manage in the end to do the two lower right hand swirls and bury the threads. I put it in in our high pressure shower last night to remove the water soluble thread and hung it up folded into three and hung it in the airing cupboard over night. It was totally dry this morning.
It took all morning just to echo round the outside of the feathers.
Then I changed machines (the little spanner came up letting me know it's time for Aurora 1 to be serviced). And I changed over to the YLI silk thread from the heavier weight embroidery thread I used for the feathers. This involved doing another sample to get the tension right and finally make sure I had the right style of background. I lay this sample on red, green, blue, and yellow trying to get the colour of the fabric right but the camera won't play nicely.
This is the close up, it should come up to fill your screen if you click on it.

All I've managed to get

Not much is it? Just about 2/3 of the feathers. I'm debating soaking it in warm water to dissolve the water soluble thread before I echo round the outside of them, it would give me a cleaner line to follow. The risk is the remaining safety pins could rust. I need to start burying the threads before it becomes a big deal . The true colour of this quilt is the dark colour at the top of the screen. It's clickable (or should be). Thank you to all who emailed (and even rang me up!). I lost a few days to Fliss's washing and her birthday.