Jan 08 11
Color Fix!
I have 3 quilting projects that have occupied most of my sewing time the last couple of days, and they all involve working with mainly white, off-white, or pastel fabrics. They’re pretty projects and I’m enjoying the work, but by today, I was aching for a color fix! I needed something bold, bright and saturated, so I treated myself to a little play time on my large flower blocks. The block I worked on today will be trapuntoed, so the first thing I did was to pin a scrap of wool batting to the backside of the block, ensuring that the entire flower was covered by batting:
Here’s a shot of the front side. The key is to pin close enough to the flower that you don’t have lots of excess batting, but far enough from the flower that those pins won’t get in your way once you start stitching:
I always begin stitching in the center of the object I’m trapuntoing, so first I stitched different sizes of swirls in the center-most section. I used solid colored rayon or polyester threads for every section I did:
…and then I added some gold swervy lines to the first row of petals:
…and then I finished the edges of the yellow petal zone with bright green polyester thread:
Here’s what the back side of the block looked like when I ended the day:
Hopefully, I’ll get to work on that block again this weekend. And in parting, here’s a photo of my view today from my sewing room:
I notice you did not stitch anything around the edges of your first row of petals where you stitched the gold swervy lines. Would these be secure enough to withstand washing in a machine?
I love bright colours and yours are really bright!! Very nice work.
Beautiful background for your fantastic flower! I can’t remember if you mentioned this before but do you do free-motion when you do the zigzaggy edges or is that a special stitch on your machine? Always love seeing what you are working on!
Just beautiful..
I can see the progression of stitches as the flower blooms….nice interpretation.
The color contrast is stunning.
Very different from the black and white outside your window.
Ooohhhs and aahhhs Patsy… those colors speak to me! Love it! Looking forward to MORE! Beautiful photo outside, thanks for sharing!
I don’t know which is more beautiful, your flower or the view. I love your flower but I have to say….I don’t think anything can match the beauty of nature. I’ll give your flower a 10 in the human creation catagory and the view a 10 in the nature catagory…how is that?
Smiles,
Kelly
Thanks for the detailed photos and inspiration – really helps to see your choices in quilting when I’m working on my own projects. Love your DVDs on leaves and vines – I have both.