Thursday, November 8, 2012

Practice, Practice, Practice

I have been practicing free motion quilting (PPP - the only real way to getting better) - I am trying out different designs.


This time I was trying out echoing the feathers (I realized with 100Wt thread the distance between the echoes should be quite small - less than 1/8").


I was also practicing layering the feathers.


Since we tend to do a better job practicing on an actual piece, I made this art quilt - I thought it would be interesting to pair a contemporary art quilt, with a more traditional quilt frame. It is 15" x 20".


I made this "Stupendous Stitching" piece to attach to the whole cloth quilt. It is 4" x 10.5", with machine and hand embroidery, couching, quilting, and beading. I used a rattail binding to finish it.



On the whole cloth quilt I left the area behind the embroidered piece puffy,


so that it would look like it was floating. I used a layer of cotton batting, with half a layer of wool batting on top.


The quilting on the whole cloth is done with Invisafil 100 Wt thread. I used a #80 Titanium needle (the same one that has been in my machine for a while).


I only roughly marked where the feathers were to go (because I wanted them to appear to come out of the couched lines on the embroidered piece), and I used a Hera marker to mark the grid for the Cathedral Windows background.


Tip - Don't be too critical of your work as you are quilting. You might be pleasantly surprised when it is all finished - keep quilting.


When I was quilting I thought all the echoing hid the feathers, but now that it is finished the feathers stand out fine.


Flocks of geese heading south - not a good sign (we are expecting a big snow storm this weekend!).


I managed to catch two nuthatches at the bird feeder - they are so fast.


The partridge flock were doing a funny "hoppy" walk through the yard (not their normal funny, regular walk that reminds me of the Partridge Family tv show). When they came close I could see that their little feet were covered in mud - poor things.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!
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