Sep 03 07

“Synaptic Transmission” is Finally Done!

I FINALLY finished this quilt! This should not be a big deal as the quilt itself measures only 27 3/4 x 27 3/4, but this has taken me a long time! The free motion embroidery, quilting, and binding were finished immediately, but sewing on the beads by hand took me much longer than I’d anticipated. I apologize for the pictures. This quilt must be shipped out early tomorrow am and it is already packed, and I did not realize until just now that the pictures are all much darker than the actual quilt:

synapse-overall-quilted1.jpg

This is a close up of the axons releasing the neurotransmitters, (blue beads), and the dendrites picking them up:

neurotransmiters.jpg

This is the background quilting. I had several ideas for background fill patterns and all of them left me with a sense of the gyri and sulci of the brain but this one did the most:

synapse-gyri-and-sulci.jpg

That background quilting was done with a Polyester variegated thread by Signature. I’m very fond of many of the polyester variegated colors made by Signature, (and this color was PERFECT for my quilt!), but I’ve had a mixed experience with Signature-sometimes they work great and other times, they make me tear my hair out. Fortunately, this time the quilting was effortless! Here is a shot that gives you a sense that the nerve cell bodies are trapuntoed, or a bit more prominent:

synapse-trapunto-side-view.jpg

And remember that I did that by placing an extra layer of batting behind them:

synapse-top-backside.jpg

I like this quilt well enough, but I’m very glad it’s done. It’s time to move on to something else!

4 Comments

  1. Diane Says:

    Ooh! This is very cool. I’ll bet it’s even more fantastic in person. What a great concept, beautifully executed.

  2. Brigitte Says:

    Patsy…..I love the background fill. I know that I will get a lot of use from that design. I was able to re-watch all three of your DVD’s this weekend and now I am itching to just do some machine quilting.

  3. Sally Bramald Says:

    Very cool, I love the concept and the execution of it.
    Sally

  4. Joanna Says:

    I am just so impressed with your quilting and design. Such a joy to look through your blog! This latest project of yours has such wonderful quilting on it!