The clouds simply won't leave us for long, won't quit sending down their liquid content. But they do part from time to time, enough to let me get gorgeous shots of the flowers seemingly unconcerned with the lack of uninhibited supplies of sunshine. In a way, it's a good thing as it makes it easier to stay inside and work. Am making progress on my 5th and last piece for the upcoming Artwalk - another one using leaf stamped charm squares.
This should look familiar; I made this pairing of charms and background while searching for fabric to complement the large red maple leaf print (see this post). I had worried from the start that the stitching I'd done to pull out the leaf print wasn't doing the best job. Now I decided to add quilting with a dark brown rayon thread and that's exactly what it needed to make the leaves show up. Here you can see the difference between the upper leaf with the added brown stitching and the lower leaf waiting to receive the same treatment.
It's important to know your strengths and equally important to acknowledge your weaknesses so that you can devise strategies to deal with them. I can draw and free motion quilt willow leaves, ivy, other simple leaf shapes, but for some reason, my brain cannot conjure up an image of a maple leaf and make it come out my hands. Even with one in front of me, I struggle to draw the shape. So why fight it when I can trace shapes from someone else's renderings? I bought this fabric ages ago when I was still making clothes. I can't remember what I thought I'd make, nor what the fabric content is (I'd love to think it is a rayon, but I fear it is merely a nice polyester). It has a variety of sizes and shapes of maple leaves just right for the quilting I want to add in the background. It occurred to me that I could trace the shapes onto freezer paper and cut them out, then iron them in place and quilt around them. Problem solved.
Here they are adhered to the top, waiting for me to decide what color thread I should use. I plan to couch that dark brown chenille around the edge of each square and am wondering if I should quilt the leaf shapes in dark brown too? Something tells me they would stand out more than I'd like, but I won't know until I stitch some samples.
This should look familiar; I made this pairing of charms and background while searching for fabric to complement the large red maple leaf print (see this post). I had worried from the start that the stitching I'd done to pull out the leaf print wasn't doing the best job. Now I decided to add quilting with a dark brown rayon thread and that's exactly what it needed to make the leaves show up. Here you can see the difference between the upper leaf with the added brown stitching and the lower leaf waiting to receive the same treatment.
It's important to know your strengths and equally important to acknowledge your weaknesses so that you can devise strategies to deal with them. I can draw and free motion quilt willow leaves, ivy, other simple leaf shapes, but for some reason, my brain cannot conjure up an image of a maple leaf and make it come out my hands. Even with one in front of me, I struggle to draw the shape. So why fight it when I can trace shapes from someone else's renderings? I bought this fabric ages ago when I was still making clothes. I can't remember what I thought I'd make, nor what the fabric content is (I'd love to think it is a rayon, but I fear it is merely a nice polyester). It has a variety of sizes and shapes of maple leaves just right for the quilting I want to add in the background. It occurred to me that I could trace the shapes onto freezer paper and cut them out, then iron them in place and quilt around them. Problem solved.
Here they are adhered to the top, waiting for me to decide what color thread I should use. I plan to couch that dark brown chenille around the edge of each square and am wondering if I should quilt the leaf shapes in dark brown too? Something tells me they would stand out more than I'd like, but I won't know until I stitch some samples.
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