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Sunday, November 6, 2011

Art Quilts

I am trying my hand at some art quilts.


My friend Wendy (at Inky Threads - she has a giveaway going on until the 10th of November) kindly gave me some fabric (haven't used it yet, but I will) and batting to make some mini quilts for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. These are my first three.


I tried a couple with photo's that I created using Photoshop Elements. This one is made up of many layers - a sunrise from last week, a tree with the blue sky - the image of the tree has been removed from the picture, that is why there are those blobs, and the faint mottling is a picture of the bark of the tree. Plus I added an picture of some old keys that I have. I printed the photos on fabric with freezer paper, using my regular printer (the fabric is soft and pliable, better that iron on transfers, but not as bright).


This one is 11" x 8+1/2".


I tried some Laserbrite thread by Signature for the first time (I used a large metallic needle). I only tired it with the walking foot on my machine not free motion quilting - it seems hard on the sewing machine (lots of odd noises - I should have reduced the upper tension).


I used a french curve and a Hera marker to mark the veins for for the feathers. I find that the Hera marker works better when it has a guide to run against, the fabric doesn't "drag".


I used a white board and dry erase marker to try out different feather designs. A white board is a handy tool to have to practice free motion quilting designs before moving to the sewing machine.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!