May 11 17
Small Rope Wreath Design
I finally tried out the Westalee small rope wreath template and I like it quite a bit. It is the centermost portion of the feathered wreath shown above. This is the Westalee Circles on Quilts Wreath #18 template and the shot below gives you an idea of the shape of it:
Once I’d marked my lines to denote the center of the block, I used that template to create the small rope wreath in a geranium colored rayon thread. (This template is the same as the Westalee Circles on Quilts Wreath #3 template, except that it creates a smaller rope wreath with a diameter of 5 1/2 inches as compared to the larger 11 inch diameter rope wreath.) I then used the large PTD Flower Template to create another design surrounding the wreath. In the shot below, you can see the rope wreath underneath the flower template:
I then used one of my Westalee Circles on quilts templates to create a circle just inside the based of the flower petals and I used Superor Threads Art Studio Colors Polyester thread #307 for that round of stitching:
Next, I used one of the Westalee Corner Marking Oval Templates to create a tapered channel inside the flower petals. This cuts back on how much space I’ll have to fill inside the petal zone but it adds a nice level of intricacy to the framework, so it’s worth adding:
In this next shot, the channel work is complete and I’ve drawn a temporary circle surrounding the whole enchilada. This soap circle marks the boundary line for all my plumes when I go to complete the feathered wreath.
That boundary circle is the absolute largest size I can make my feathered wreath for a quilt sandwich of this size. Once I’ve established this boundary, I can determine the sizes for my remaining circles for my feathered wreath. I again used my Westalee Circles on Quilts templates to stitch those inside circles. Once stitched, I went in and added my plumes freehand:
In the next shot, I’ve added hyperquilting inside the small rope wreath and also inside my outer wreath plumes. I used a gold Floriani polyester thread for both:
In this next round of stitching, I added small pebbles inside the tapered channels of the petals. I used a green/gold polyester Floriani thread for this:
I added small featherettes inside the petals (Superior Threads Art Studio Colors polyester thread) and also added a tiny inchworm design (dark purple Isacord thread) in the zone between the small rope wreath and the flower circle:
I swapped to a terra-cotta Isacord polyester thread for the featherettes in the empty zone outside the flower design. These are all done freehand, but if you look at the shot below, you’ll see that I have temporary soap lines that are guiding me in how large/small to stitch my plumes:
This is how things looked once those were done:
I went back in and hyperquilted those outer featherettes using a rose colored polyester thread:
and one last closeup:
Absolutely stunning. Thanks for sharing tips for how you did each step, as well as the ruler. Total #CreativeGoodness.
QuiltShopGal
http://www.quiltshopgal.com
Beautiful as usual. Will you be bringing any of your flower rulers to the workshop in Ann Arbor? I recently purchased a starter sampler of Westalee rulers and attended a workshop using these. I am hooked. They are so much fun. Thanks for all of the detail in your tutorial