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.

Self Portrait…Take 84….

Have you ever tried to get a photo of yourself….taken by yourself and have it look natural?  I was asked by the local newspaper to send them a photo of myself holding my miniature quilt as they are going to publish something about the quilt getting to go to the AQS quilt show in Paducah.  That was yesterday and the reporter wanted the photo today…YKES!

The reporter called late afternoon and the light was fading and I wanted a photo using natural light taken in my house rather than using flash which casts shadows so getting it done yet yesterday was out of the question.  I had planned to have John take the photos for me but he had commitments all morning and after lunch too so that didn’t work out either.  My only choice then was to take them myself. 

Got the tripod and the wireless shutter release all set up and the camera positioned in front of my design wall that I cleaned off for this photo shoot….well, partially cleaned off anyway.  Next decision was what to wear and took shots of 3 different tops and scarves before deciding the brown with the scarf was the best choice.  Decided a scarf hid my turkey skin neck a bit so wore one for the final photo.   Here are a few of the many goof up photos that wouldn’t work for various reasons and you can see how hard it is.  After all how do you smile naturally when there is no one there and then there is holding the quilt straight, position of the hands, backgrounds, hair, etc. to think about.

Head cocked a little too cutsie and don’t like the red scarf.  Wooden smile too.  

Problem with a finger in each of these…whoops!

Forgot to lower my hand that was holding the shutter release plus holding onto the back of the quilt makes it look like it is floating in air.  “Look ma, no hands” and it is tipped again.  I had a big problem holding the quilt level in a lot of the photos.

My scarf was overlapping the quilt in these two photos.

Too far to one side and the stuff I left on the design wall is showing.  (I know, a real mess right now!)  Plan to crop the photo but even cropped this would present a problem.  Had a hair appointment this afternoon to get a hair cut so decided to snap a few more when I got home and they do look better, I didn’t realize how frumpy my hair was before.  Actually, the one I cropped and sent to the newspaper reporter was the very last photo I took.  Finally I smiled naturally, held the quilt level and removed more stuff from the design wall so it wouldn’t interfere before I snapped the photo.  

Here is what my photo shoot set up looked like...now don’t laugh too much.  Hard to believe there is so much stuff on my sewing table but I didn’t want to move it as I am in the middle of another project and it wasn’t showing in the photo anyway.  I had to sit on a pile of magazines to make me higher too.  I did have the blind up when I shot the photos but for this one I needed it down so you could see the room and all it’s amenities.

So, if you ever need a portrait of yourself and have hours to spend with someone who has minimum equipment and knowledge just give me a call!

Until Later,
Lynn

Paducah Bound!

I received an email a couple of  weeks ago informing me that my quilt, “Silk Refrain” was juried into the 2014 AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, Kentucky.  This is the first time I have ever entered a national contest so am really thrilled to have it chosen as a semi-finalist.This is a miniature quilt measuring 11.25” x 10.5” and is made of all silk fabric and thread with wool batting.  I blogged about making it on the following dates August 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 2012 and Oct. 29, 2012 and lastly Oct. 4 2013.  Just click on the individual dates to take you to the blog posts where I share my design process to the completion of the quilt and problems that incurred along the way.I have all the required paperwork submitted and now have to figure out what day to mail the quilt off so it arrives between March 30 and April 4 for judging.  I really hope the judges give comments as for me that is the most valuable part of entering a quilt in competition.  Of course we all know the areas our quilts have problems and hope the judges don’t see those but I have learned a lot from the judges comments from entering my quilts in the Nebraska State Fair and that has helped me to improve my quilting over the years.I have been attending the AQS show in Paducah for several years with my 2 sisters, niece and good friend.  They have been encouraging me to submit a quilt and finally I did and to my surprise it was accepted.  It will be even more fun to go this year and we are even going a day earlier for the awards night.  Will be fun to see the quilts and makers as they get their awards.  I don’t expect any award as I have seen the quilts that win – am just happy to have a quilt on display.The photo at the top of the page is closer to the true color of the quilt.  The other photos are just too green.  You know how hard it is to sometimes get the color correct in photography.

Over the moon excited!
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

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