Since I wrote last, we have had a three-week odyssey, traveling first to Winter Park, Colorado, for a weekend retreat, then to Santa Clara, California, for the Pacific International Quilt Show, then to Berkeley, for lunch with Marv’s old college buds, then a stop at the Grand Canyon on the way home for some hiking with some of our kids. We got home just in time for nearly 20 inches of snow!
Orange Vase with Sunflowers
But I digress. I’ve been working more on my ideas using the EQ Printables Cotton Lawn fabric, and have finally finished one piece. I printed, then cut out a bunch of sunflowers and other flowers that I thought would go well. I also photographed several vases, because when I began arranging the flowers, I didn’t like the way they looked just scattered on the background. Because the orange plastic vase I ended up using was transparent, I added some stems and leaves to it, then photographed it against the background.
By the way, the background was designed using techniques in Piecing With Pixels, the mind-expanding book by Sandy Hart and Gudny Campbell. The original photo was of lichen, and I changed it to basically texture, using Photoshop Elements.
I’ve been experimenting to see how much quilting I like on the images. I don’t really want to thread-paint them, but I do want to add texture from the stitching. I’m finding that if I leave about 1/8 inch between the lines of stitching, it gives them room to breathe. Here is a picture of the finished piece and a closeup.
Quilting detail
For some of the quilting, I am mostly using King Tut variegated thread when I want the stitching to blend and not be a focus of the piece. You can barely see the quilting in the background, although it is stippled vertically.
However, once in a while, I want the stitching to be more of a design element, and then I use Madeira rayon embroidery thread for a lovely shiny look.