Friday, January 31, 2014

Portions and Contortions

With the studio humidity lower than ever this week, static cling became an issue again with the polyester thread, but I managed to stitch some of the boulders and part of the stone walkway on the free-motion garrison quilt. Elbows, shoulders and neck were put through ridiculous contortions while working on the very center of the quilt, even with the batting removed from the sides to decrease bulk. Again, this thing is fairly large and somewhat stiff.

Overall, only the upper center portion has been quilted so far, except for the tree foliage and the little grassy areas. Those will be quilted next, followed by the lower center portion of the quilt. Then I'll insert and re-join the batting on one side and get to work on that.





Here's the back so far (photo taken sideways). I love how 'ghostly' these landscape scenes always look when you turn them over.



Below is a closer shot of the garrison. You can sort of see the dimension created by quilting around each and every stone. Of course it's a lot more evident in person.


Dimension might be more obvious in the next photo. Compare the the upper shadow on the stone walkway, which has been quilted, to the lower shadow, which has not. Again, you get at least a hint of the dimensional difference that quilting is making.


What was mostly worked on was the lap quilt designed from various fat quarters during a 'break' last week. To piece it, I used my late mom-in-law's 1962 Singer 503a, which is made entirely of metal. With no plastic anywhere on or around the machine, there were absolutely no issues with static cling in my poly thread. Nor were any body parts strained. Finished piecing yesterday.




This is destined for the Center for Women and Families here in my town. The (mostly) women and children who seek shelter there are often fleeing from violence and abuse and have no time to collect possessions before they leave home. The Center gratefully takes donations of new, lovingly handmade, practical items to send home with the families when they relocate. For anyone in the Kentuckiana area who is interested in donating, their website is http://www.thecenteronline.org/.







Hooking up here with Leah Day's FMQ Project Blog, and Sarah Craig's Whoop Whoop Friday blog. Leah has been a huge influence on my free-motion quilting from the beginning, and Sarah inspires me constantly with the prolific and beautiful quilting she and her friends do for donations. Their reader linkups are a great bonus.

Have a great weekend!

Linda

14 comments:

  1. Your quilting looks spectacular as ever. Since your comment about humidity, I put a humidifier in my sewing room. It helps, but these cold days I'm lucky to get the humidity into the high 30%. I'm hoping for some warmer weather! :)

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    1. Thanks so much, Pat. I'm with you, at this point I'm so done with this dry, cold business! Ironically, while having put water containers on or near all the heat vents, we are without water in the pipes until my husband gets a leak fixed!

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  2. I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying watching this piece develop. Your stonework is amazing!

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  3. the stone work is gorgeous, but i also just love the wood grains. Those are my favorite type of quilting. Hmmm, might have to play with some this weekend...

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    1. Me too, there is so much freedom in stitching the woodgrain! The stones are good when I'm not feeling adventurous and just want to follow lines.

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  4. Linda, You must feel like a stone mason! Masonry is labor intensive and patient work and so is stitching around every stone. In the end the texture created will be well worth it and beautiful! Thanks for sharing your creative process.

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    1. Dena, this is one of my favorite fabrics, for that very reason--the texture. It's amazing how (almost) real the stones look once they're quilted! I just hope there's some more of this fabric available, There are only small pieces of it left in my stash.

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  5. Your garrison quilt looks awesome so far! I definitely think it is worth the time and thread to go around every stone! You get some awesome texture there.

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    1. Thank you, and I so agree about quilting around each stone. Makes all the difference!

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  6. Great progress, Linda! It's the shadows that bowl me over.
    Love,
    Muv

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    1. Thank you, Muv. Oh, I used to be so scared of making shadows on these quilts!!

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  7. This piece of art is just wonderful. I really like the effect of the tulle for the shadows. Have to try to remember that!

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    1. Thanks, Lyn, I can't wait to get back to it! Yes, that shadow method has worked really well so far.

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