My Inheritance

As I write, I note that it is Mother's Day.  My mother left us 13 years ago, but I honor her for her love, her art, her laughter and her appreciation of what makes each individual unique.  Another quality, which has impacted my life is her bulldog stubbornness in some circumstances.  This comes in very handy in quilting as I seem to have inherited this quality to some extent.

I have been making stars to kill time.  I finished one, which I had re-designed and discovered that I didn't plan for the correct meeting of two points.  I still like the design, but I had to throw out what I had done because there was no way I could figure out how to redeem it.  My bulldog gene has not left me though.  I will do the design correctly and re-make the star.  Wasted fabric is not an issue - I'm trying to get rid of what is left from the Phoenix and there is plenty more for the star project.

If you have followed this blog you know about the troubles I had with my Phoenix quilt.  It was created from a drawing by my teenage granddaughter.  I ran into one problem after another, but that bulldog gene enhanced my determination to get it done and to do it right.  In the end, after 1 1/2 years of stitches and ripping, I finally finished.  It has been to its first show, HMQS (Home Machine Quilting Show) in Salt Lake City.  It is was granted a Judge's Choice award.

Finally I can unveil my mythological bird and show you the finished product.

Phoenix Arising

I will be taking a three week blog-cation due to family commitments.  If I have time I will stack up a couple of posts with some favorite photos.  Photos often inspire my quilting so I consider them apropos in moderation for this venue.

Sew many happy seams in the next three weeks.

Flying toward the Sun

Done!  Isn't that a fabulous word?  Sometimes I have felt that the Phoenix and I have been trapped in a tunnel, but this past week we broke out into the sunshine.  I finished.  After more than a year, I finished!  I only have to hand stitch the sleeve on the back.  I plan to show the quilt so I can't post a full photo until it is accepted in its first show.  Here is the bird hanging alone on my fancy design wall.  It hung there while I quilted the background quilt onto which I eventually sewed it.

Thread-painted Phoenix

I am breathless with the anticipation of starting a new project.  While the quilt was drying on the blocking board I began preparation to redo the portrait of my grandson.  The problem I had the first time was thread choice - too pink for Asian skin.  I have since purchased threads in brown tones, which should work better.  The next challenge was to print the posterized image at decreased opacity on Sulky Sticky to stick to background fabric as a guide.  Unfortunately, my Sulky Sticky is on a tight roll and I could not get it flattened enough to go through the printer.  What to do?  I thought that ironing it flat would be my choice, but can I iron the stuff?  So off to the faithful, useful Internet.  After looking at several sites I found that you can iron transfers onto it for embroidery purposes.  What I took from that piece of info is that it can be ironed.  So I did, placing it under a silicone pressing sheet.  It flattened out beautifully and I was able to print the portrait.

TIP:  Use the Internet.  There is a ton of useful information out there on the products we use for quilting (but then, you already knew that).  An added benefit is that researching and continued learning  keep your brain agile as you get older.

Black Belt

The dark strip across the eyes is where two pieces of the printed Sulky Sticky overlap.  The thread painting will cover it or I may use an eraser to tone it down before sewing.  I can also gently lift it and carefully cut it away.  Trial and error is my middle name.  I have begun stitching one cheek with the lightest colors.  I find thread painting very relaxing - much like painting in other media.

Sew some happy stitches this week.

Inspiration

Where do you find inspiration?  Everywhere I look I find ideas for my quilting, and by that I mean the sewing and design as well as the actual stitching for the final sandwich of a quilt.  I see design in nature, wrought iron gates, fabric designs, shadows, other peoples' quilts, and many other places.  My brain sucks in ideas and I collect pages from magazines and put markers in books with interesting art.  Now and then I even look through those sheaves of paper and paper-sprouting volumes.

I mentioned in previous posts that in spite of what I thought was careful planning I have ended up spending way too many hours un-sewing my beautiful plans.  After the latest rip session to remove realistic thread painted fires I snugged down excess fabric with grid quilting.  Then I cut pieces of three different fabrics into interesting shapes originally drawn on freezer paper.  I laid these out over  each other and the grid quilting to suggest fire.  It looked far better than a realistic rendition of flames and reminded me of a bed of coals.  This is so perfect because it does not detract from the thread painted bird, which is the main attraction, but suggests that he is rising out of a hot place.

Fabrics and some of the freezer paper patterns

I was reluctant to tie up all my fabric by ironing fusible onto it before cutting shapes.   I wanted to be sure that all was well with the design in situ.  I cut the fabric pieces and played helter-skelter with different arrangements.  When I was satisfied I fused MistyFuse to the back of each piece.  This was a real nuisance as it was hard to manage the flimsy fusing material and cut it into the necessary shapes.  I then ironed each piece of fabric and its matching MistyFuse onto parchment paper, and then trimmed around the now paper-backed fabric to get rid of any fusible material sticking out from the edges.  Lastly I removed the paper.  I do not recommend this method, but I didn't want to waste fabric or fusible on an uncertain outcome so I did it the hard way.  It was successful anyway and I love the final, fused result on the quilt.

TIP:  Be sure to protect your iron and ironing board with heat-resistant teflon, silicone or fiberglass sheets when fusing.  I also have a teflon iron shoe, which covers the sole plate of my iron so I don't have to clean it when I am done.

One raw-edged appliqué group stitched down over the grid
(looks very bright in isolated photo - more subtle on the quilt)

Shows more of the appliqués.  The red, dotted fabric seems to sparkle.

What does all this have to do with inspiration?  Inspiration was provided by the sun as I came in from walking the dog before breakfast.  My quilt was lying on a card table and the early morning sunshine shone through a window from a low angle.  It lit up the grid design under the appliqué and made it look incredible.  The grid even showed up lightly where the appliqué was fused on top of it.  Ten minutes later the sun had moved on and the effect was gone.  After seeing that, I don't think I will do the McTavishing, but am going to try it some more on a tester before I decide for sure.  I may very well leave it as it is. There is no need to do more quilting except for design purposes and the sideways light is really beautiful on it.

Sunlight on the grid (lump is from quilt being folded over itself)

This last photo is the best reflection of the subtlety of the appliqué.  The background under the appliqué is made up of three different fabrics sewn together in wavy lines like in landscape quilts.  All together it looks like one piece of fabric.

TIP: Sometimes less is better.  Let the ideas percolate as I have said before.  I percolated today as I went into the National Park and walked across (yes, across) Bear Lake.  It was frozen and had a big snowman in the middle of it about 7 ft. tall!

Snowman on Bear Lake; Hallett peak in back.

Sew a happy seam this week.

Arise

I just did a crazy quiz on Facebook about what mythical creature you are most like.  It determined that I am a Phoenix.  How appropos!  The quiz was run by magicquiz.com and gives the definition of a phoenix as, "Associated with hope, immortality, and regeneration, a phoenix rises from the flames to become an even better version of themselves" (no attribution).  This is a perfect description of my quilt that has spent its days skirting disaster.

I have never had a quilt that posed so many difficulties or plans gone awry in spite of careful thought beforehand.  If I can get the rest of the quilting done without problems, it will definitely be a better version of my original plan.  My granddaughter's design is beautiful, but the problems arose in creating a workable version of her drawing in fabric.

The latest is the decision to quilt the "ground" or bottom third of the quilt with navy on three different dark fabrics.  Looks great with magnifying glasses and bright light.  Doesn't show up with normal vision.  Doesn't do a thing for the quilt.  Makes the fires look like they are floating in space.  The best laid plans have gone awry again.

I bravely fooled around with some quilting using red Isacord thread. The McTavishing makes me think of hot coals.  I like it.  Out came the ripper and I un-quilted some (not all) of the navy stitches.  The redo in red around the flames is very satisfying.  I love it.  Note the difference between the red quilting in the center and the navy quilting in the lower left.  The red truly provides visual clues that the bird is rising out of the fire, but doesn't take away from the brilliance of the Phoenix.  It warms the dark fabric so it blends nicely in color and temperature with the rest of the quilt.

Red McTavishing

 Maybe I will get this project done after all.

TIP:  What can I say?  Persist like the Phoenix.  Perfection is an almost unattainable goal, but there is nothing wrong with striving toward it.  Just don't wear out your fabric!

Sew a happy seam today.

Opportunities

Have you ever looked at your quilt and said, "I wish I had done that differently.  I have such a good idea, but it didn't come to me soon enough.  I wish...., but not enough to take it out and do it over."  Every now and then you might have that opportunity for improvement, but I guarantee you will not be happy at first.

I have been quilting along on my Phoenix bird, but I looked at it differently when I laid it out and showed it to my daughter.  The bird is beautiful by itself.  The rest of the quilt looks and feels like warped cardboard.  Oh dear!  This is not going to be good enough to show and none of my photos show how bad it is.  I can't imagine it blocking out.  It won't even be good enough to give to my sweet granddaughter who drew the design.  Realization.  Devastation.  Destruction of denial.

I have been going through past issues of Machine Quilting Unlimited, and serendipitously came across an article by Jayne Bentley Gaskins, "Taking Trapunto to the Limit." I looked at it months ago, but forgot it completely because it didn't apply to my quilting plans at that moment.  She made a beautiful parrot, but she thread painted it separately then appliquéd it to the background by thread painting the edges down so they melded with the previous work on the bird.  She also stuffed the bird heavily (trapunto) with polyfill so it sticks out significantly from the quilt.  One of her points was that the heavy thread painting dramatically shrinks the fabric, which is exactly what happened to me.  I knew that would happen, but thought I had prepared for it adequately with two layers of stabilizer.  Instead, I was left with an unmanageable volume of fabric around the edges so I quilted the background heavily, which took up the excess, but the whole thing ripples like a bad storm at sea.  On the sewing machine it looked ok.  Laid out on a flat surface it is hopeless.

TIP:  Sometimes there is only so much you can do before it is time to throw in the towel, but what a great opportunity to rectify mistakes and make a truly magnificent quilt.  Wipe away the tears and start planning.  Maybe you'll feel better if you move on to a new project, but do move on.  None of us is perfect.

I had to accept that I now have an opportunity to fine tune the quilt and try some new methods.  My cup is quickly moving from half empty to half full and I am ready with new plans.  I thought I could cut out the bird (batting and all) and thread paint the edges down to a new, fully quilted background, so I tried it on one of the old testers that I had laying around.  The bared edges flaunted the layer of white batting.  Ick!

Cut out feathers

OK, how about painting the edges with Inktense pencils?  Great idea.  So I tried it out:

Painted edges.

Better, but not great.  Next I tried stitching the feathers (with painted edges) to another tester piece, which was layered for quilting, and fooled around with some stitching.  Ah, that looks pretty good with just a straight stitch run back an forth along the edges.

Stitched down

Not bad.  DH liked it and so did I.  So...I sat down and cut out the whole bird trying to avoid cutting stitches on the outside edges.  I did cut a few, but figured I could fix that when I stitched the bird down, but then I found another problem.  The back neck of the bird looked like he had been slammed by a rock and had a major bump.  The black backing was also badly frayed after being handled so much.  That's when I threw in the towel.

I ordered light weight canvas and Misty Fuse and I am ready to start completely over.  I will fuse fabric pieces for the feathers to the canvas and thread paint the bird.  I still have to work out the potential of heavy fraying with canvas and how to handle it.  I will do all the quilting for the background separately from the thread painting.  I will then cut out the bird and appliqué it onto the "finished" quilt.  I am already excited about it.  I kept all my pattern pieces and guides so I am ready to go.  With all that done, plus many hours of practice at thread painting I am optimistic that all will go well and faster than first time around.  I've got my mother's bulldog gene!

TIP:  Practice may not make perfect, but it will make better.  I am counting on that.

An apropos quote from "Art and Fear" by David Bayles and Ted Orland:"

"The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars....even the failed pieces are essential"

Sew a happy seam this week.

It's OK to be Lazy - Occasionally

Yes, I was lazy last week.  I didn't write a post.  Summertime is unpredictable even though my children left the nest long ago.  There is yard work to do.  I have trays my mother painted with Early American Design that have become damaged with use.  I need to repair them in the summer when the weather is warm because I must varnish in the uninsulated garage instead of in my tiny home.  Fruit is ripe and jam must be made when the time is right.  It waits on no sewing project.  I generally sew every day for 2-3 hours, but have not been able to do that for the last couple of weeks, let alone blog.  I had a visitor from Scotland so we hiked and he chiseled a crack in two of my genealogical brick walls.  Had to work on those of course.

Lastly, the sewing of my Phoenix bird hit a snag.  Do you ever make a quilt that goes perfectly from start to finish?  Grrrr!  I don't.

TIP:  Start your quilting in the middle even if the sandwich is well secured.

The bird itself turned out great.  I started on its belly in the center and worked the wings out from there.  When I got down to the tail feathers, I got so excited to work on them that I just simply didn't think it through and began with the outside feathers and worked in.  Thread painting is so dense that it redistrubutes fabric as it fills.  Here is what I got:

Extra fabric arising like the Himalayas 

All kinds of mountainous rumples arose within the confines of the feathers.  What to do?  The fire helped a little, but the photo shows it unfinished because I thought I had better bulldoze the hills first in case I had to rip out the flames.  I tried McTavishing, but it wasn't enough so I took it out and settled for small pebbles with a curlique in the center hoping that lots of stitches would eat up the extra fabric.  They did as you can see below:

Heavy quilting black on black - click to enlarge.

Mostly that did the trick, but the area does not lay perfectly flat.  I think and pray that I can flatten it during the blocking process.  If not, it will still be a nice quilt, but not show fodder.  If not, I will consider it part of a heavy duty lesson in thread painting.

TIP:  All is not lost, ever.  It is all in how you look at it and whether or not you learn from your mistakes.  After all, it is just a quilt.  Your life cannot be ruined by a quilting error.  Your psyche may get temporarily dampened, so take a break, take a hike, make some jam, clean up the sewing room.......

As I write, I know I have more extra fabric to contain, but it is getting better as I work it out.  The fires are complete so I continue with black on black pebbles that take a magnifying glass to see what I am doing.

Sew a happy seam this week.

The Phoenix has Wings

I have a brand new sewing machine.  I got a Baby Lock "Aria," and am loving it.  It is a European-made machine and has a few quirks that are a bit different from my old Viking, but they are minor adjustments.  I will continue to learn as I do different types of sewing on my quilts.  Why did I turn in my Viking for a Baby Lock?
*Viking sewing machine company has been sold and the quality has plummeted.
*My local Bernina dealer didn't seem particularly interested in trying to sell me a machine.
*My trusted sewing machine dealer and repairman tells me the Baby Lock is the best on the market.
*I checked reviews on the Web and they were all positive.
*My repairman has always given me outstanding service and advice, and he and his wife give me personal attention when needed.  I am sure that will continue.  In fact it has!
*I got a trade-in deal so saved significant dollars.

One of the first things I did with my new machine was to break a needle and it bent the needle threader so my new baby was in the shop within the first week.  I blame pilot error, but am also finding that the "touch" is a little different and we are still getting used to each other.  It is like a piano - no two feel exactly the same when you sit down to play.

As I get acquainted with the technical aspects of my new equipment I have been thread painting the wings of my Phoenix and the new machine does a great job.  As I have mentioned before, this is a new process for me and my early experimentation and practice have paid off.  Now that I have some of the bird completed, there is a great article in Machine Quilters Unlimited on stabilizers for thread painting and the way three different people put the layers together.  Murphy's Law - I wish I had seen that article before I started.

Phoenix Wing

I am using Isacord thread on top and Superior's Bottom Line in the bobbin, and it is a good combination.  Isacord thread has a sheen to it that is just beautiful.  Each feather is sewn with lines coming out at an angle from a center spoke - kind of like quilted feathers, but straight lines like real bird feathers.  I discovered that in a certain light the same color thread going at one angle looks like a different shade when going at the opposite angle (you can't see that effect in the photo).  It is very interesting and changes with the light and its direction.  These lines are done with a zig-zag stitch by moving the quilt back and forth.  It fills more quickly than a regular stitch and I like the way it looks.   After sewing the directional lines, I changed thread color and stitched the spoke over the top.

What are those lines of white stitching?  I originally used safety pins to secure the quilt sandwich, which consists of top, two layers of stabilizer, batting, and backing.  Once pinned I stitched an approximately 4 inch grid over the whole quilt with Vanish water soluble thread from Superior...then removed the pins.  I knew the stitching would be intense and would cause rippling around the bird so I didn't want to mess with pins.  You can see the ruffles in background, but they will submit nicely under the control of background quilting.

I did the under-tummy feathers a little differently.

Under-tummy feathers.

I used a free motion zig-zag stitch here too, but made the stitches stay in zig-zags instead of stretching them into lines.  I didn't cover the fabric as heavily so the color variety would show through.  Click on the photo to see the stitches better.  The deliberate result is a rougher, more ragged look for these small one inch feathers.

Stop back next week and I will explain why I have had to stop work on my Phoenix bird temporarily.

Sew many happy stitches this week.

Lighting the Fabric on Fire

I have been working on my phoenix quilt and am very pleased with the way the bird turned out.  It is now fused to the background, but I won't do the thread painting until I have the quilt sandwiched for quilting.  Time to move on.

I need to thread paint some fire below the bird.  Since I have never thread painted before, I have been doing a lot of experimenting.  I bought my thread and figured out what looks best for the feathers of the bird, but the fire left me scratching my head.

Tester:  Thread painting on two of the tail feathers.

How am I going to create the translucency and flicker that we all know and love?  How do you go about researching something like that?  There are books on thread painting, but none about setting fabric on fire.  Leah Day burned one of her quilts that was full of quilted words stating negative thoughts, but that's not what I have in mind!  My bird must fly out of the fire into freedom.

First I cut pieces that were the general shape of those in the artwork I am using as a guide, but discovered a major disconnect.  Two tries and I decided the pieces were too solid-looking to ever translate as fire on a quilt even though the original drawing is fantastic.

My next step was to hunt on the Internet and guess what?  I found some great thread paintings of fire here (scroll down to 12 Jan 2008) and here.  Lots of great ideas to look at, but I still felt insecure.

Next on my list was to pull up pictures of real fire on Google images.  Bingo!  Even more ideas emerged by looking at what fire actually looks like.  Isn't that amazing?  It is so familiar, but I couldn't figure out how I was going to make it look right until I saw images of actual flames.

My first attempt:

I have fire!

I need more practice, but am beginning to feel more comfortable as ideas materialize out of the smoke.  I want it a bit less stylistic and less confined.  I'll get there!

TIP:  Practice makes better, and better, and better.  Go for it.  Just because you don't how doesn't mean you can't learn with a little research and a lot of practice.

I don't know who wrote this, but it is apropos to us quilters:

Toil awhile.

Endure awhile.

Believe always.

Never turn back.

Happy stitching this week.

Looking Ahead, Stuck Behind

Now I am in limbo.  I am quilting my quilt with Kimono Silk thread from Superior, which is lovely thread and nice to work with.  The downside is that I have to order it online.  I ran out of the thread for my border three inches from the end of the last side, on the final side of a feather.  So my quilt sits sullenly on my sewing table waiting for the thread to arrive for the five minute finish.  What is a girl to do but start a new project?  I am a "finisher," but never averse to a fresh start when circumstances dictate.

The new project is a Phoenix that I adapted from the beautiful artwork of my 15 year old granddaughter, with her permission.  She had decorated her father's iPad with it so I took a photo, made some minor changes so I can sew it, enlarged it and have admired it basking in it's own paper glow on the sewing room bed.  With a 20% rewards discount and a $20 gift card I spent an hour in the candy - I mean quilt store and bought my fabric for about half price.  What a deal, and I am so eager to get started.

What am I going to do?  I am going full bore into thread painting this gorgeous red bird.  I have never done any serious thread painting so I am using the pattern of one wing only to experiment with the process.  Am I the only one who starts a new technique running instead of walking?  Wish me luck!

First I used my new Inktense pencils to "paint" the background as in the original artwork.  I will fuse the Phoenix onto this background and then thread paint.  The bird is made up of many feathers, which I will cut from batiks and fuse to the background.

Here is the process as suggested by Lea McComas:

Trace a line pattern on freezer paper from the full-sized, printed design marking with little red arrows where extra fabric will be cut to fit under the adjacent piece.  The color of the fabric to be used is noted on the pattern piece.

Full-sized pattern (color at 50%) with line drawing on top.  This will not be cut.

Cut the freezer paper pattern apart on the drawn lines (sorry no photo before I cut it apart).

Iron fusible material to the back of the fabric.  I use Soft Fuse, but I hear Misty Fuse is excellent too.  Press the freezer paper patterns to the right side of the appropriate fabrics and cut them out.  I love this method as you don't have to remember to reverse the pattern as you would do if you were marking the fusible itself.  That would drive me nuts on a complex piece like this.

Left: front side with freezer paper patterns. Right:  fusible material on the back side of fabric.

Pattern piece cut with extra fabric as needed to go under another piece.  See the red arrows?

Lay the uncut line pattern on a light table and tape it down securely.  Cover it with a teflon sheet (you can see through it) and arrange the pieces on it.  Carefully lay another teflon sheet on top of the arranged pieces to protect your iron from errant fusible gunk.  Iron it all together, let cool, and lift the fused fabric off the teflon in one solid piece to the background fabric.  Iron to the background fabric.

Test piece for practice.

Create a quilt sandwich so you can test the quilting process and threads.

This small piece (12 x 18 in) is strictly for testing, but it has taught me a lot already.  It consists of one full-sized wing of the bird on a full-sized example of the background.  I will use pencil to lightly mark the outlines of some of the feathers and thread painting will blend and shade colors as needed.  What did I learn so far?

1.  I need to make the line drawing twice on freezer paper with all the markings.  One will serve as reference and the other will be cut apart.

2.  This is an insane puzzle so I need to number each little pattern piece to avoid spending so much time trying to figure out where the pieces go.  They don't look the same when the extra fabric is included on some sides, but not all.

3.  I need to allow for better gradations of color from light gold to red.  These fabrics are from my stash and are not the ones I will use for the real quilt.  Some are woven and some are batik.  I have some really luscious, blendable batiks, but I didn't want to use them up on the tester.  I also wanted to see how woven fabrics work with the thread painting.

4.  I don't want the background to show through any fabric (see the yellow on the right).  I need to use a darker fabric, or line the light fabric, or not paint the background where the bird will fly.  The latter is my choice.

The next part of the project is to try my hand at thread painting.  I also want to see how my fabric markers work on the painted background, but now my blue, silk  thread has arrived and I must finish my other quilt.  I'll come back to the Phoenix while the other quilt dries on the blocking board.

TIP:  Take the time to test if there is any uncertainty of the results.  It is well worth the time it takes, as you can see.  A little extra practice is never wasted.

Stay tuned to find out what other challenges surface with the tester that have to be addressed before making the quilt.