My Current WIP - Part 2

Hibiscus - Week 2

Patience is a virtue that eludes me with more frequency than I would like to admit. None of my work comes together quickly. I do make time to be in my studio, but it never seems to be sufficient to create all that I want to create. I work on simplifying my technique. Then I am inspired to add layers of simplicity until once again I am faced with anything but a simple quilt. That simple little hibiscus quilt continues to blossom, but at the same speed that a watched blossom unfurls.

Thread Painted Hibiscus

Detail of Thread Painting

This week I finished the machine appliqué portion and started the thread painting.

I have experimented with multiple forms of appliqué over the years. I started with needle turn appliqué. (Talk about labor intensive!) I moved from there to fusible appliqué that had a satin stitched edge. This required a far more extensive thread collection than I was willing to invest in, since the thread needed to "match" the fabric it was surrounding. I experimented with just quilting over the appliqué pieces, but this often resulted in raggedy edges. That was great if the appliqué involved a cat with fur, but a disaster for a smooth edged feature like the wall the cat was walking on. Yesterday I discovered that my Bernina 1260 had a blanket stitch that was perfect. So, that is the option I went with for this quilt.

Hibiscus - The Flip Side

Backside of Thread Painted Hibiscus

I've taken Leah Day's advice and started to match my bobbin thread to my top thread. It takes more time, since every thread change is a double change, but I love the effect it has on the back of my quilt.

My Current WIP

Last week I focused on flowers and how they have a way of appearing in my work. So it should come as no surprise that my current WIP (Work In Progress) is based on my new hibiscus plant.

I could have recreated the picture or a detail from the picture, but I prefer to give a sense of the image - an artist's impression. I am naturally drawn to value changes, light and shadow as well as positive and negative space. My first step was to select green fabrics from my collection to use as a background and for the leaves. Next I hunted through my hand dyes to find a coral/pink fabric with sufficient contrast to show up against the greens. 

I used my photo to trace the shape of the hibiscus flower, but opted to draw my leaves free hand. Although I've been making art quilts for over a decade, I still love the process and appearance of pieced blocks. So, that is what I did for the background. What gives them the artistic flair and makes it hard to distinguish the blocks is how I randomly piece the fabric, busting through the concept of using dark fabrics consistently in one section of the block and light in others.

The next step is to add thread. I will quilt the background and enhance the hibiscus and leaves with thread painting. The final step will be to add french knots at the end of my thread painted stamens. 

Mother's Day

Bearded Iris

12.5" x 15"

Fuchsia
4" x 6"

One of the stories my mother loved to share about me is that when I was a very young child, perhaps three or four years old, I was asked when my birthday was. I told the inquirer that it was “when the flowers come out in the spring.” My birthday was this past week and it remains entwined with flowers and Mother’s Day. Every seven years or so my birthday and Mother’s Day are one and the same.

Whether I am tending to our gardens, enjoying a nature walk, letting someone know I care or designing a quilt, flowers are often the focus. I find myself returning to flowers again and again in my work. I even did a series of petite quilts, each 4” x 6”, titled Branching Out and many of those pieces were of flowering branches.

My New Hibiscus Plant!

This weekend I did what I love to do on my combination birthday and Mother’s Day weekend, I went to the local nursery and selected flowers to fill in the gaps of my perennial gardens and plant in containers located our deck and atrium, I even treated myself to a stunning tropical hibiscus resplendent with blooms and buds. 

Quilting Along with Leah - Week 16 - Zippling

The latest Leah Day assignment is zippling. It is done in a similar fashion to stippling, but without any curved lines, just straight lines and angles. I tried and tried to work out the design first with pencil and paper, but it eluded me. So, I opted to skip mastering drawing out zippling and to go directly to the sewing machine. In order to ease my panic I opted to have fun with fabric and thread.

Close-up of Zippling Showing Off the Aurofil Variegated Thread

I purposefully selected black fabric and a lovely glossy Aurofil variegated thread in jewel tones. Much to my elated surprise I had no problem zippling when I attempted it at the machine. If sharp angles and straight lines make sense for a quilt, zippling will be my choice.

I did zipple in rows. I found it more difficult to hide my rows with zippling than with stippling. I can detect channels between several of the rows.

Full View of Zippling Showing Gaps in Rows

You Are Invited...

Detail from Color Guard by Gwyned Trefethen

I am blessed to live on Little Lake Butte des Morts in Appleton, WI. My studio overlooks the lake. It is a delight in all seasons and right now I am loving spring. This week the pelicans returned. Little Lake Butte des Morts is on several migratory bird routes. So, not only do I get to see our native birds, but I also see many non native species that cruise through for a day or more to rest up along their migratory journey.

Heron on a Stump by Kathie Briggs

Paradise Found by Casey Puetz

You, too, can observe the birds while getting a fiber fix. You are invited to join me at the Artist's Reception, on Saturday, May 5, 2012 from 1 - 3 p.m. at the Mosquito Hill Nature Center in New London, WI. The exhibition is titled Conversations in Stitch: On Nature. All the work on exhibit is made by members of the Fiber Artists Coalition of which I am a member. I also curated the exhibition. If you can't make the reception due to a conflict other than distance why not schedule a date to take a walk and see the exhibit while it is there from Saturday, May 5 - Sunday, June 24, 2012.

Quilt Along With Leah Day - Week 15

Sharp Stippling - Gradated from Large to Small

Leah put us back to work this week. She titled this form of all over design, Sharp Stippling. The primary difference between Sharp Stippling and stippling is that the Sharp Stippling design results in sharp points versus an all over gentle curve. The design reminded me of either wrenches or whales tails and it could be morphed to look like a jester's cap.

Starting with Single Points

In order to develop a comfort level with the design Leah recommended that we start with its simplest elements the peaks and valleys, eventually dividing the peaks into two peaks and then interlocking the rows. The challenge, Leah said, and I paraphrase, "is to avoid hesitating at the points and therefore creating beads of thread building up on the back of the quilt." It surprised me that this wasn't my biggest challenge. In fact I had very few hesitation beads relative to the number of points.

The Backside - Note Occasional Hesitation Points

My personal challenge was not getting twisted in the pattern. It looked simple enough. It wasn't the points where I got lost, but instead I struggled to remember the appropriate S shape between the upper and lower points and in my panic would veer even further off course.

Getting Lost in the Pattern

I began large. Very large. Then I worked my way through several midsize sections, ultimately finishing with eight or so rows of small repetitions of the design. I rather like the large flame like section from an appearance state, but I preferred working in the midsize to small range. This could be because the more I practiced, the more proficient I became with the design. However, I think that is only half the story. I find it easier to manipulate the quilt in a small area than to go tearing off for 2" - 3" at a time.

Gwyned's Paper Piecing Tutorial

Leah is giving us a week off to practice what we have learned about free motion quilting on a UFO. You may recall I don't have any UFO's. I thought I might I try my hand at free form curve piecing some small quilts to practice on. It soon became clear that that genius idea was going to be far to time consuming if I was I also going to stay on schedule for the quilt I am currently working on. So, instead, I have opted to share Gwyned's Paper Piecing Tutorial.

Entwined

by Gwyned Trefethen

64"H x 48" W

Paper Pieced

I have had a love hate relationship with paper piecing ever since I first gave it a go over 15 years ago. What I hate about it is:

1. Getting the fabric scraps the right size;
2. Orienting the scraps correctly so there is sufficient seam allowance;
3. Avoiding fabrics with obvious direction; and
4. Removing all those scraps of paper after everything has been seamed together.

What I love about paper piecing:

1. The precision;
2. The ability to piece together atypical angles; 
3. It suits my hyper organized personality; and
4. The precision.

It is the precision that has me coming back again and again. What can I say? I get a thrill out of seeing all those crisp, sharp points and precise, complex "Y" seams come together so nicely. Just like free motion machine quilting, paper piecing requires practice and more practice, coupled with experimentation to work out a system that works for you. This is what works for me. It isn't the right way, just my way.

I am currently working on quilt that has four paper pieced blocks and I am making each of them five times. When I make multiple blocks that are all colored and pieced the same way I piece them simultaneously. In other words I seam piece 1 and piece 2 together for Block A five times. By repeating what I have just sewn I avoid forgetting how to do it.

Freezer Paper Tracing Layered on Top of Paper Piecing Foundation

I begin by hand tracing the paper pieced block pattern for the block on freezer paper. I note the Block (in this case Block C)  the segment of the block, the fabric to be cut and the number representing the order that it will be pieced in each piece. In other words piece C1 - 1 - b means that this piece is the first piece in segment 1 of Block C and the b stands for the "b"lue background fabric.

Freezer Paper Templates Laid Out and Ironed to the WRONG Side of Fabric 

The next step is to cut apart the freezer paper block and divide the paper pieces into piles by fabric. This means I set all the pieces that are to be cut from the blue background fabric in one pile, those that are to be cut from the white batik in another, etc.

Since I am making five of these blocks I save time by layering five pieces of the blue background fabric,  laying out all the freezer paper templates that are to be used to cut pieces from the blue background fabric on the top layer and then adhering the freezer paper templates to the top layer by ironing them place. It is VERY IMPORTANT to be sure that when you lay out the freezer paper templates you leave sufficient room for the seam allowance between adjacent pieces. My rule of thumb is leave between 3/4" - 1" channel between pieces. ALSO the freezer paper is ironed to the WRONG SIDE of the fabric.

The advantages of cutting your fabric in advance this way is that helps insure that there will be sufficient fabric for each piece. Pieces are such odd shapes in paper piecing compared to traditional piecing that it is easy to short change yourself.

Cut the Pieces Apart

Once all the freezer paper templates are ironed in place it is time to cut out the pieces. This is not the time to trim exactly. The goal is to have at least a 1/4" seam allowance surrounding each piece, but more is always better.

Be Sure to Leave a Generous Seam Allowance

Now that all of the pieces have been cut, I organize the pieces by segments. Note, I only work on one block pattern at a time. Block C has four segments. So, there are four segment piles of pieces. Each pile is in numerical order by piece with the five Piece 1s at the top and the last stack of pieces to be pieced at the bottom. I know which pile is which, because I top each pile with the paper piecing segment pattern I will be using as the foundation.

Piles of Cut Fabric Organized by Segment and Order Sewn

Next I take Pieces 1 and Pieces 2 and using the segment foundation pattern determine which sides will be seamed together. I trim the seam allowance to be exactly 1/4". The picture shows how these two pieces "match up."

Alignment of Piece 1 and Piece 2

I go one step further and I snip registration marks at the beginning and ending of the seam. This way when I flip the pieces right sides to right sides I have the marks to orient the two pieces together and to orient the pieces to foundation line. HINT - hold the paper foundation up to the light in order to see where to place the pieces.

N.B. The Registration Snips!

Now I sew along the first seam line using smaller than normal stitches. The more times you perforate the paper the pattern the easier it is to remove at the end. However, you want to avoid perforating it so many times that the foundation falls apart before you are ready. On my Bernina a stitch length of 1.5 to 1.75 seems to be right.

Align Index Card with Seam Line

Then Fold! 

I am not sure where I picked up this trick, perhaps Carol Doak, but I find it helpful to fold my paper foundation over an index card versus just folding it at the next seam line. Then I trim that seam allowance to 1/4". However, when I am paper piecing itty bitty pieces I use 1/8" as my seam allowance.

Ruler Alignment Used to Create 1/4" Seam Allowance

Drop back in a couple of months and I will unveil what I was making to create this tutorial. For now it must remain top secret. Otherwise, I would have shared a bit more - such as photo of the completed block. Any guesses what I am making?