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:
This is a close up of the axons releasing the neurotransmitters, (blue beads), and the dendrites picking them up:
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:
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:
And remember that I did that by placing an extra layer of batting behind them:
I like this quilt well enough, but I’m very glad it’s done. It’s time to move on to something else!
Ooh! This is very cool. I’ll bet it’s even more fantastic in person. What a great concept, beautifully executed.
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.
Very cool, I love the concept and the execution of it.
Sally
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!