Springtime Melody #2

Design process finished and transferred to the silk fabric with the cold water removable blue marker but before marking I ironed on a knit, very light wight interfacing to the backside of the silk.  I don't know the brand or type as I didn't write it down when I purchased it.  The fusing dots are very fine and like I said it is on a very light weight knit base so doesn't add much weight or stiffness to the silk fabric but just enough it quilts up easier than not using any interfacing.   The marked top will be layered with wool batting and another piece of the interfaced green silk for the backing.I chose a 50 wt. dark burnt orange silk thread for machine quilting the design areas and a 100 wt. spring green silk thread for the background quilting.  I wanted the background quilting to sink in and blend into the fabric and the 100 wt. silk thread worked good and the heavier thread worked for what I want it to do too, of course the differing colors helped as well.  I did machine baste the layers together so they wouldn’t shift during the quilting process before I started stitching.

Machine Quilting VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Don't worry all these photos are of the same silk wholecloth miniature but different lighting on different days make it change colors.  The true color is very similar to the first photo below.  I was quilting this small piece, just whizzing along when I noticed……my spool of light green thread was almost gone and I had a lot of quilting to do.  I was working under a deadline as I had entered this quilt in the Nebraska State Fair and didn’t even start the design process until August 1st and I had to deliver it by 14th/15th.   I knew I didn’t have a local source for my silk thread so turned to the internet and ordered from EQuilter.com and had the thread in about 3 days!!!!  Of course I had to select a few more colors of silk thread from them too….you know that old “need/want” syndrome. Back to work and finishing up the background quilting.  I do want you to know I use the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) and the magnifier lens that hooks onto the front of my machine.  There is no way I could quilt so small without the magnifier lens.  FYI - I outlined my main design with at least 3 close lines of quilting with the pale green silk thread before I quilted the small spirals for the background quilting.  Click here to see how this spiral is quilted After I finished the quilting the first thing to do, even before stitching the binding, is to soak the quilt in cool water to remove the blue marker and then wash it in cool water with quilt soap.I lay a towel down and block the wet quilt to square, pinning to keep it that way until it is dry.  Bound and finished in time to deliver to the state fair.  I photographed it with a ruler so you could really see and understand how small this quilt really is.  Yes it is only slightly larger than 8” square.
OK, I have delayed showing you the completed quilt long enough….ta da, here it is!I am just waiting for someone to ask me if this is a pot holder – NOT!  You may think that is a silly question but I have been asked that before about my miniatures, from non quilters of course!

Be sure to check out Part 1 - the designing of this miniature here.

Lynn

Springtime Melody #1

I love making whole cloth miniature quilts from silk fabric.  The sheen on the silk when the design is quilted accentuates the designs and besides that the fabric is just so pretty.  Recently I found out that our local Joann fabric store had a few pieces of 100% silk so I purchased several 1/2 yard cuts and chose a spring green color for my next project but first needed to draft the design.  Since I knew that I wanted a central design surrounded by borders all stitched in a contrasting thread I started on the middle area.   I worked on designing 1/4 of the center and after drawing, erasing, and re-drawing I got something I liked.  I then scanned the design and used Photoshop Elements 11  on my computer to set the four quarters of the design to make it whole. I printed off the design and worked on drawing up border design ideas.  I know if I would have drawn this design on the computer in one of the computer aided drawing programs I could have had a more perfectly drawn design but I do love to work with pencil/pens and paper so opted to hand draw my design.  It doesn’t look like a design that can be embroidered with one of the fancy embroidery machines since it does have it’s irregularities and I certainly don't want viewers to think I just used an embroidery machine to stitch out my design after all the work I put into drawing and stitching it.

 

At this point I thought I was done with my design that measured about 8” square.The more I looked at it the more I thought it needed a bit more in the blank spaces so took half of the central design and snugged those designs up against the outside border.  Now I like it and there are still areas for background quilting to make the designs stand out.Next up – transferring the design and the most fun part, the machine quilting.

Until Later,
Lynn
Please remember these are my photos and my design so do not “borrow” them for your own use.

Silk Fabric Changing Colors

This is a small swatch of the purple silk fabric I used in the miniature Serenade.  As you can see the fabric is woven from two different colors.  The threads running one way are hot pink and the threads running the other are bright turquoise.

This silk fabric is interesting as when viewed from one direction it is more blue, from another more purple or more pink depending on the angle you view or photograph it.  I really had a hard time photographing the quilt in it’s true color for this reason.  I figured that some of you were wondering why the colors of this quilt in my photos were not consistant; this is the reason.  Probably the closest color photos I got are in the last post.  The quilt reads purple most of the time.  Below are photos taken of the same swatch as above but taken from different angles.  Notice the color change.

Until Later,
Lynn

Miniature Size

I have had a few questions about size of this miniature whole cloth quilt I am making so just snapped a photo with a ruler laying on top of it to give you all a better idea of size.  As you can see the feathers are about 1/8" across.  I use my stitch regulator (BSR) on my Bernina machine and sew slowly but can't sew too slow or the machine stops.  The finished quilt will be approximately 12" x 12".

Lynn

Quilting A Miniature

Even though I have not posted on my blog for a while I am still here, just too busy to sit down and write up a post.  I have not done much quilting this summer but am now working on finishing a miniature silk whole cloth quilt for the Nebraska State Fair.  The entry forms need to be filled out by mid-week next week and quilts delivered the week after so it is crunch time.

I have had the design part done since last winter but just never have taken the time to do the background fillers until now...how is that for last minute sewing?  I am outlining the motifs with three rows of echo stitching then filling in the center with what I call coiled string all with purple silk thread.  Will show closer views later when I have time to get more photos.  I just snapped this one with my cell phone this morning before I started working on it again.

The silk fabric is more purple than this photo shows and the design area is quilted in bright pink thread and the background is quilted in purple silk thread.  The batting is wool so that is why it looks so distorted right now.  I really have to pin it down good right before I quilt an area so it won't quilt in pleats but like the wool as it puffs up my tiny feathers.

All for now - Lynn

Nebraska State Fair Quilt Show–My Entries

I do love entering quilts in the Nebraska State Fair each year and feel so very lucky to win any ribbon.  I am ecstatic to win the best of class Miniature Machine Quilted and to win best Miniature Quilt award for the silk wholecloth miniature quilt I titled “Silk Refrain.”   (I think that is what I named it but really not sure – finished this quilt not that long before I took it to the State Fair and didn’t write the name down and now am not sure) A friend took this photo today as I was a volunteer in the quilt dept – a really cheesy smile but the only photo of me with my quilt that I have.  (The volunteers wear these aprons to make us stand out from the visitors as well as white gloves to handle a quilt when asked.)
The second quilt I entered was the panel quilt I made for our guild challenge last year.  It too won a ribbon – a 3rd place ribbon this time.  I love this quilt and it hangs on the wall in our family room where right now there is a bare spot until it comes home from the fair.  It also won a special contest “best basket quilt”.The special contests are sponsored premiums from various groups, businesses and individuals. We enter quilts in the normal classes then can enter them in as many of the special contests that the quilt fits the category. Special contest classes are things like “best machine quilting”, “best hand quilting”, quilt made by a person from one of several western counties, best poke-a-dot quilt, best basket quilt, best quilt with at least one star, best quilt using embellishments…and so on. It is fun to look through the special contests and enter the quilts to try to win some of the great prize moneys offered.

There were 660 quilts entered this year so lots and lots of quilts to see and study.  I love looking at the quilts from all the talented Nebraska Quilters.  I also am waiting to read what the judge had to say about my quilts.  I have learned so much over the years from both the good comments and improvement comments that the judge points out.  This is a place to learn what I did right and things I need to improve.  I can imagine some of the comments the judge will make as I am no different than all of you in that I know where I think the quilts have faults or areas that could be improved.

Several friends and I volunteered to white glove from 9 am to 1 pm yesterday in the quilt department.  What fun to get to spend lots of time studying the entries and visiting with the many visitors.  John came along too so after my white glove shift we walked around the fair for a while.  All fun but boy was I tired last night.  We left here at 7 am and got home at 8 pm so it was a very long day.

Lynn

How Did That Happen?

As I was stitching the background on border I discovered a few places where I did not stitch with the peach/orange thread.  How could I have missed one hump of the feather?  I missed the center vein of each of the corner leaves too so had to change threads and finish it up the way it was supposed to be in the first place. 

I think it is amazing how your eyes play tricks on you.  I really did look it over before I moved on to the background quilting but why didn’t I see those spots.  They are fixed now so will return to finish up the background quilting.

Happy Quilting,
Lynn

Wholecloth Silk Miniature–Background Quilting

Background Quilting VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I sure like the new background filler stitched for the second time and it looks so much better than the squiggly stipple that I ripped out.  I first outline quilted the motifs 3 rounds then made concentric shapes of various sizes to fill the rest of the area.  This was a fun easy filler and I do like it a lot – will pencil it out  soon so you can see it batter.  The spaces are small between the quilting lines and by comparing the quilting to the bobbin you can see how small.  These photos make it look like the tension is off but it is a trick of the light and the shine of the silk fabric and the way the camera captured it.  In reality the dark green silk thread has good tension.  I do need to work on keeping my spaces more even across the quilt but for now this is just fine the way it is.The border feathers and flowers were quilted next with the same peachy/orange YLI Silk thread (#100 size) thread as the center motif.  I did the same background quilting on both sides of this border that I used in the center.Uh Oh…a boo, boo that is going to have to be unstitched- that is a nice way of saying ripped.  I was stitching along, happy as could be then thought the sewing machine sounded a little different so stopped to take a look.  The backing fabric had not stayed stuck to the wool batting and curled up to get stitched where it should not have been.  The spray basting didn’t hold the outside edges very well for sure.  Will be rethinking that choice for future quilts.

Again the clip on magnifying glasses help to see to remove the offending stitches.  Those tiny stitches can be so hard to see.  I shorten the stitch to 1.8 on my Bernina so they are pretty tiny.

 This post is from the blog, Nebraska Views. If you are not currently reading this via e-mail or an RSS feed, then this post has been stolen or scraped from the Nebraska Views blog.  Stolen content can be reported HERE .”

Happy Quilting – Lynn

Wholecloth Silk Miniature–Transfer The Design

My sewing machine cabinet makes the best light box.  I set the sewing machine on the floor and lay a piece of Plexiglas over the opening.  My light bar sits where the machine used to sit on the drop down shelf.  This light was made to stick up under a counter or desk and has a knob to turn it on and off.  Works pretty slick.  Of course this is not a large light box but I can mark most of the things I make using it.I taped my design to the underside of the Plexiglas then positioned my fabric on top and taped it down.I used a chalk pencil to mark the design and hoped it would not rub off before I got it quilted but didn’t want to use anything that would be hard to remove.  I did have to remark some of the lines right away when I rubbed a finished area while marking another.

  

Layered it up with the same silk fabric for the backing plus wool batting.  I used spray baste for this small quilt and it worked pretty well to keep the layers together.  The center motif was quilted first with a peachy/orange YLI Silk thread.  I love the contrast of the thread against the turquoise colored silk fabric.

Knew I wanted a dense filler for the background so chose a dark green YLI Silk thread for background quilting.  I quilted and quilted and finished the background around the basket…..then I decided I did not like how it looked and ripped it all out.  I do wonder why I didn’t stop and give it a good look before I got that far….Oh well.  Thank goodness for my magnifying clip on lenses.  Made ripping out all those stitches a little easier….not more enjoyable, but easier.

I worried that the ripped stitches would show on the silk fabric but miraculously the fabric just looked a little puckered but no visible holes.  Now what should I do for a background filler in this area?  I do want to have a solid looking filler design to make the peach/orange designs pop so need to think about it a little.

Until Later….Lynn

Wholecloth Silk Miniature

I purchased a few pieces of silk fabric a couple of years ago at the AQS show in Paducah but have not done anything with them until now.  I wanted to make at least one whole cloth miniature from them.  Now is as good a time as any so let’s get started.I started out by drawing a basket full of feathered fronds but found it lacked the pizazz I wanted for the center of the medallion quilt I was planning to make.  Using tracing paper I copied the basket and two outside fronds then proceeded to fill in with a few flowers and leaves.  I first drew my flowers out on this page then traced them on the flower stems.This is version #1 – I refined the number and position of the flowers and fronds several times until I got the composition I liked.  This one was just too busy – too many flowers.  It needed to have the elements spread out more too so when they are quilted they will show up well.This is the final design – outlined in Sharpie marker.  You can see the fronds have been reversed from the first two drawings and fewer flowers and leaves too.  The penciled arc was drawn to give me a guideline to help keep my composition balanced.The next step was to decide how large this center motif needed to be.  The scanner/copier came into use here – the 4 copies were reduced at different percentages.  I settled on the 60% of the original size as the one I  the would use.  I use the copy reduce/enlarge feature a lot to get designs the size I want.  If you know the size you want and can measure the size you have you can use the formula on this web page to set your copier.  Easy Peasy!

Next step – planning the borders.  I drew one side then copied and adjusted it to fit in a flowing feathered border.  As you see I added flower/leaves/buds to the corners and centers to help fill and for transition of the flow of the feathers.

I thought I had made the right decision on the placement of the flowers on the feathered borders then changed my mind.  I didn’t want to draw the whole border over again so just drew flowers on paper and glued it where I wanted them.  You can see all the pasted up pieces on the above photo.
Final design with borders – next step to copy the design on white paper.  When drawing I use newsprint paper I cut from a roll.  The local newspaper offices give the end rolls away or charge a small amount for these rolls that don’t have enough paper left on them to feed through the printer they use to print the newspaper.  Some rolls have quite a bit of paper on them too.  I have given rolls to each of my daughters for the grandkids to use and have a couple here at home – great for sketching out designs in larger sizes if needed too. 

Can’t wait to get started but first I have to transfer the design to the silk fabric.  Stay tuned for the next step on my next post for more on this quilt.

Lynn

Luscious Silk Fabric

Four pieces of silk fabric made their way home with me from the AQS Paducah show a few weeks ago.  I have been wanting to work with silk for sometime and it just isn’t readily available here.  Am thinking of designing a whole cloth miniature design for at least one of these pieces.  Again don’t hold your breath for this project to get done.  I am still in the thinking stage.

The rolled up silk fabric is really interesting as it changes color when viewed from different angles.  

Lynn