Monofilament...Love it or ??

I suppose the jury is still out on this discussion, at least for me.

A couple of months ago I was fortunate enough to take a class from David Taylor. I'm sure if you've seen his work you'd recognize the name (or the other way around...). He's an amazing quilter with such artistic sense, and the way he pulls his works of art together are through machine applique using monofilament as a top thread. Makes sense, as the monofilament pretty much can not be seen (both figuratevely and literally). His technique is really quite simple and I have started to embrace it quite a little bit. I almost didn't even take the class once I saw that it was machine applique, but I tried the class anyway, thinking, "I can always stand to learn something new". I did learn something new and am quite glad I took the class. But, that darned monofilament...

To call it a thread may be a stretch. Ha! That's humorous in its own right as that monofilament has quite the stretchy quality to it. I think I like the idea of using it...I think my machine tends to think otherwise. It likes to twist and get tangled and get stuck and then it messes with the tension, so while I'm sewing, I have to constantly watch what the top thread is doing as it's threaded through the machine while also watching where my stitching is going (I think I need more eyes to watch everything)... 

Practice, though, over and over, and listening to my machine, I'm starting to "hear" when the monofilament is tangled and know it's time to stop sewing and give the monfilament some attention (as it's clearly begging for some), and then I can go back to sewing. Thank goodness that machine applique isn't a "sew at the speed of light" kind of activity.

In the end, using the monofilament for machine applique does produce rewards, and like a game of golf, keeps you coming back for more. You make that one cool looking applique item (or golf shot), that you figure, "I've got this", even though you know there's a frustrating part coming (a bad shot, or in the case of monofilament, a tangled mess). You just have to keep on keepin' on, though... As I worked through the tangled messes, I have managed to create a cool rendition of the Earth, using David's technique and the spool of monofilament I received in the class. The creative fun with the technique just opens up another door of design, and I think I'll continue to explore the fun it can produce. My Earth has overlapping colors which help create a transparent nature, along with a large leaf to just change up the shapes and bring in another interesting component that's "Earth-like".

Close up, you can see some of where the stitching got more prominent that I'd like...but...I think it still works...

Despite the frustrations some of our materials provide, sometimes perseverance and practice will pay off. My current piece is for a musically-inspired quilt challenge, so I'm trying to see if I can get my piece put together for our show in October.

Here's my contemporary rendition of the Earth.  I think it's kind of cool with the overlapping, transparent circles. 

Have fun embracing new techniques as you might find yourself pleasantly surprised. As with most things, you just have to figure out how to work with the different technique personalities.

Cheers!

Linking up with Nina Marie @ Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever

...and Free Motion Mavericks today. 

Happiness in Bubbles

Stardate 2017.67.1

Finally…a breather.  Work being a bear, is finally taking some level of hibernation, and so, I get to come to the surface for air and chat about some of the quilting I’ve managed to do in what little spare time there has been.  Funny how time flies…when you start a project then actually get it nearer to completion (notice, I said, “nearer to completion”…there’s still more to do), how excited you can get over seeing the small moments you have to work on the project actually start to add up and you have a quilt ready for the next phase.

Here's the finished quilt top...all getting ready to be sandwiched and quilted...

I think about 2 years has passed, and over 1500 pieces cut apart and sewn back together has now materialized in the bubble quilt I adored when I saw it in the magazine.  I spent a fair amount of time just gathering fabrics that I could use in the quilt.  The hardest color to gather was pink.  I think I’m just not a pink person.  But, I thought the pink would lend a nice spark to the quilt overall.

On the design board...ready to sew together. 

For a while I was thinking this was a new pattern, and then one day while thumbing through books at a local thrift store, I found a quilting book with the exact same pattern (I didn’t buy the book.  Yep…I don’t know what I was thinking, either…).  I now know the pattern name is “Offset Log Cabin”, and of course, depending on how you set the individual “logs” together, you can end up with the bubble quilt I’ve assembled.

Mine is a bit brighter than the version in the magazine and I included additional colors, but I love the energy the quilt has and just the pure smile it puts on the face when looking at it. 

I learned a few things on this one while piecing it.  I’d use a styrofoam  block -  which came as packing in some large item – as a staging area.  I’d cut all the pieces for a 9” block and place them in sewing order, then they’d be ready for stitching together when I had time.  And the styrofoam kept the wind from blowing the pieces around when I left the window open…now, that was helpful!

Here's my staging area...cut pieces, all ready to be sewn together.

The next step now will be deciding how to quilt it.  I have thought of taking it to a longarm quilter and just get it quilted, but with all my quilts, I have a deep desire to quilt them myself so I can enjoy that part of the process as well.  Right now, I’m thinking modern feathers in the white/negative spaces…and for the bubbles…not really sure yet what I’ll do there.

It’ll be a bit before I get this bright spot quilted as I have just sandwiched a quilt to start doing all that fun stitching on, plus I need to find some backing fabric.  I just had to share, though, as the quilt feels nice and bright like Spring.  Until then, I hope you have fun discoveries in your quilting adventures.  

Linking up with folks this week...Have a great quilting week!

When the Seasons Change…

Stardate 2016.293.1

Autumn has certainly arrived here in Colorado.  The colorful splendor know in the state has eeked its way, quietly, into the metro area and is now showing off its stunning plume of golds, reds, and oranges  backed against the brilliant Colorado blue sky.  Truly, if you don't stop and soak it in, you will miss it. In our hustle and bustle world, it's easy to overlook the colors and take what Autumn is offering for granted.  But, as I found myself coming home after a trip to a local quilt guild show, I found  myself soaking in the colors of the sunny drive, listening to Rush, while following a 1966 Ford Mustang GT-350 Shelby down the road.  Aahhh....what could be finer?  I'm not sure....

The aspen showing off near Kenosha Pass in central Colorado.

So wonderful the colors that it's inspired me to make a quilt to capture the bountiful diversity that Autumn has to offer.  I have ideas in my head...as usual, it might be a while until I get those ideas down into a quilt, but rest assured, the ideas will nag at me until I do something with them.

What a blue sky with the fabulous yellow contrast.  This is why I love living in this state!

Meanwhile, I have to share a few items from the Longmont Quilt Guild show.  Lots of beautiful quilts, but a few stuck out as I perused the assembly.  Let me first say that I like quilts with motion; quilts that make your eye keep looking around.  So, that probably influences the patterns that strike a chord. 

Here's a modern-style quilt that has a lot of curves…and I like curves; I find them challenging.  I think this is one I may try to make for myself sometime. 

This one I found interesting as it had a lot of origami-style blocks with folded fabric.  A very simply-colored quilt with just yellow and white, but quite unique in the way each of the blocks was constructed.  Cool concepts…

And, I found a great example of “graffiti quilting”.  This quilt, the maker noted, was just waiting to be quilted, and she found it a great canvas to just have fun with the quilting.  She did a great job on it – the quilting was really cool!

And one of my favorites of the whole show – the dragonflies.  I loved this quilt.  The movement in it was amazing, and what the photo kind of doesn’t show is that these are Kaffee Fasset fabrics which have been “silvered” with a fabric paint and it gave the quilt an iridescent glow.  Plus, I loved the flow of the quilting…just amazing and inspiring for me.

Hopefully work will slow down and allow me a few days off so I can spend some more time quilting.  I’m making slow progress on various quilts, but nothing monumental to show.  Hope you enjoyed seeing what others are doing…and hope you’re finding inspiration and finding time to quilt.

I'll be linking up with friends and Myra over at Busy Hands Quilts later this week...

Cheers!