So far this summer has been full of activity, very little of it landscape quilting. But in late spring one had been started on the design wall--using, of all things, one of those "ugly" skies I painted...
...and a heron I sketched. More about him in a moment.
Some hills and trees had been auditioned...
as were boulders and other elements not shown here, including a boat and an eagle.
The heron and the smaller elements were temporarily removed so that the background could be basted and quilted more easily.
After eight weeks of yardwork and a couple of other projects, work was begun on designing the heron's feathers. There are now 8 discarded sketches and tracing paper all over the place. One keeper as of yesterday, not shown here.
I did stitch out two of the discarded designs as practice/test pieces, using different yellow/gold threads, with tracing paper on top.
It quickly became apparent that ordering some Golden Threads Quilting Paper would be a good idea, as the tracing paper was a bit difficult to remove. In the last photo, much of the tracing paper is still on--after all, it was practice only, so I abandoned the effort.
The Golden Threads paper was delivered Saturday, so tracing the final design on it will be the next step, and then stitching it out on batted fabric, later to be appliqued.
Happy mid-summer or mid-winter, depending on your hemisphere!
Linda
Looking good so far!
ReplyDeleteA thought occurred to me when you mentioned that the tracing paper was difficult to remove....I normally use tissue paper and I crumple it really well in my hands (after I've drawn the pattern onto it) and that softens it so that it's much easier to remove. Don't know if that would work for you, but you might want to try it.
Hey MA! My experience with tissue paper hasn't been good, but I never thought of crumpling it to weaken it. I will definitely test that, if not with this project, then the next. Thanks!!!
DeleteDraw the pattern/design onto the tissue paper first and then crumple it - might have to do it a couple of times to really soften the tissue paper. Just have to be careful when you're uncrumpling so it doesn't rip.
DeleteOh, ok! Makes a lot of sense. I'll give it a try next time. Thanks!
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