Ring of Peace

Now finished except for label: Ring of Peace, my newest trapunto quilt.

Ring of Peace, 13" x 13", 2008.

Batiste wholecloth top over cutaway batting, fuchsia felt, and regular batting. Quilted on Gammill Longarm machine. Quilted motifs tinted with Tsukineko inks and colored pencils. Embellished with hot-fix crystals, seed beads, and a double row of variegated fibers. Bound with hand-dyed silk ribbon.

I decide to make the roses look a bit like the popular Peace Rose, which features subtle pink and yellow tones on white petals.

I hope that Ring of Peace is a subtle reminder of my wishes for world peace.

The rose wreath was designed by Julie Mullin of Apex, North Carolina, and is included in her Earthlines: Flowers collection of patterns.

Ring of Peace, Back

Ring of Peace, beaded rose detail

Ring of Peace, detail

This quilt is being donated to my Guild's quilt auction to raise money for charity.

October 4

2:00 PM
Annual Heritage Day
Historic Oak View Park
Raleigh, NC

Isn't this a great poster? See more information about the auction on the Capital Quilters Guild website. They are also raffling an "Opportunity Quilt" with very personable kitty cats.

Fun with Paint

Sitting here with a big smile on my face after watching Good Morning America on its Whistle Stop Tour in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. James Taylor and Yo-Yo Ma performing "Sweet Baby James" on the front porch of the Red Lion Inn. It just does not get any better than that!

I spent a LOT of hours finishing the paint job on the kitchen...all done! It is all gleaming with light-colored walls and glossy mouldings. I paid dearly for my idle boast the other day about not spilling a drop on the floor...when I was doing the darker color below the chair rail, I got a LOT of paint on the floor. I attribute the messy painting to my assistant. Do you know him? His first name is Mickey. His middle name is Lobe. His last name is Light. Often helps me when I am doing something I do not enjoy! But I don't care, because that floor is going away very soon, I hope. I miss my peacock blue wall, but I am getting used to the lighter color. At first I hated the darker beige on the bottom. When I applied the first coat, it looked just like the only color I did not like in the old 64-color Crayola Crayon box..."flesh." Actually, the top color is called "Shortbread," and the bottom is "Adobe Tan." In the morning light, my kitchen looks like a big butter mint. At the bottom of the picture, you can just see the top of my dog's head. She was on Squirrel Watch, her constant assignment. There was a big one hanging upside down on the bird feeder.


While DH was up in the mountains doing what he loves best in the world, and I was home doing what I do not love at all, I decided to grab a couple hours of "me" time and play with my paints and inks a bit. I tried out the new Neocolor II watercolor crayons to bring out the quilted motifs in my little pink trapunto quilt. This was so easy, and the colors are gorgeous! I did not apply any water at all, just got out my crayons and colored. It has been heat-set with an iron. I am going to love these crayons!
I also did a little experimenting. Here I randomly applied Neocolor that I did not heat-set, just ran under the faucet full strength. There is still some color remaining, and you can still see the outlines such as the flower and the stripes in the pink, but LOTS of color ran down the drain.

Here is another sample, not heat-set. On the left I had drawn some green leaves. Everything washed out. Lesson learned!

Here is a study showing the colored areas before applying water, and the same stripes of color after applying water with a fan brush. What a difference!

Today I will do a little more packing up of things for the flooring project, and then off to do a little shopping...WITH my wallet this time.

Wednesday Works-in-Progress: Trapunto

While working on the twelve-inch quilt for the Breaking Traditions exhibit, I decided to browse through my pieces of batiste and colored felt, and make a few more twelve-inch trapunto wall-hangings. I have made five of these before, and like the surprising colors, layers, and textures of the quilted pieces. They are especially fun to embellish with inks, colored pencils, and beads or crystals.

I have colored this one and added a few crystals. It may get a little more coloring, which would be fun to do on a day like today when the tail end of Tropical Storm Fay is finally bringing us clouds and rain.

This one actually has a piece of lime green fleece under the trapuntoed top. I think I like using felt better, as this has a little stretch to it. But I really like the pastel effect of using the bright color under the sheer white batiste.

I also made these two pieces, one with a cherry red felt layer and the other with hot pink.

The rose wreath is from a Flowers pattern pack by Julie Mullins, a fellow Carolina Long-arm Quilter. Julie lives in my county and has designed many continuous-line quilting patterns. Most of them are nature-related.
The feathered heart is from a pattern pack from Judy Allen. Everything else is just freehand. You can still see the blue marks on the heart.

These quilts are actually wholecloth quilts made from a sheer batiste. You mark the trapunto design, which is the white part. Then you quilt just the outside of the design with water-soluble thread. I use Vanish-Extra. No backing yet, just Quilters' Dream Poly batting. Do not use cotton! For this step, I mounted all three tops on the batting at the same time.

When you wash out the Vanish tread and markings, the cotton will seep through. Ask me how I know! When you are finished doing the trapunto, you have an awful-looking puckery thing like this.

Then you carefully cut away all of the white batting layer along the stitching line. Be careful not to snip the top! I managed to cut all three designs away with no cuts in the top layer this time.

Then you have the fun of auditioning a colored felt, fleece or other fabric beneath the top. They should all start with vibrant colors, because they pale considerably under the batiste. I also use another batting behind the felt to make these very textural pieces. A pretty, coordinating and busy background fabric helps disguise any quilting flubs.

I use fine polyester threads to quilt the final layers. On these, I used Sew Fine in the top and Bottom Line in the bobbin. First, go over the trapunto design, making a good attempt to follow the exact edge of the cut-away polyester batting. You quilt all the lines this time. Then, quilt the remaining background areas as desired. Since I like to paint these, I try to quilt in some motifs like flowers and leaves.

When you finish quilting, soak the piece in cold water first to remove the blue marker, and then in warm to dissolve the water-soluble thread. Here is the green piece after wetting.

On this one, I drew my own little freehand wreath and flower. Not too precise. I want the whole thing to look casual.

I had a problem with the tension on the other two pieces- it was not tight enough, and I've been picking out some of the motifs that were not going to stay quilted. They will go back on the machine for a little tightening up.

Yes, I quilt these little twelve-inch babies on my twelve-foot Gammill frame.

Thanks to Karen McTavish for all her instruction on making these shadow trapunto quilts in her book, Secrets of Elemental Quilting. She even has a DVD showing how to make them included in the book.

Coloring/painting was my own idea. I use Tsukineko inks and/or colored pencils. Lots of fun!

Another Painted Quilt

Here is another little trapunto quilt that I finished painting, "bejeweling," and binding yesterday. I made three of these little twelve-inch quilts to audition the appearance of different colors of felt beneath a white batiste top. This one had a purple felt layer, which really came out looking drab and gray as a shadow trapunto. The white feather circle is white Quilters' Dream Poly batting that has been cut away after quilting with water-soluble thread. I never intended this project to be a keeper, but after painting with Tsukineko inks and adding some Swarovski crystals, this little guy really came to life! I just ordered fifteen more brush-tip markers for applying the inks, since some of mine are getting a little frayed.

I originally called this piece "Lavender Blue," but that no longer seems right for this riot of color. It sort of reminds me of the hippie designs of the sixties and seventies, so I decided to re-name it "Color Me Happy."

Taking the Plunge

Today I decided it was time...to quit staring at my Round Robin top, and start quilting! It is a little intimidating when a project has taken over a year, and seven other people's work is represented. But, it is so pretty, and will never get to be displayed if it does not become a quilt! I am thinking that this will be a wall-hanging, since it has silk ribbon embroidery, some beads and crystals. Here is a reminder of what the quilt looks like:

Beautiful jewel colors, lots of flowers, some great quilting areas!

Yesterday, my box of pretty threads from Superior arrived. Don't they look gorgeous! I already had the Glitter, but everything else is new. Some SuperBobs of Bottom Line thread, some variegated, some metallic! The purple batik at the top of the photo is the backing I got last week.

In case I get timid, I have A-Muse-ing Violette on the wall behind the Gammill. I made her for a challenge in Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine. She is supposed to remind me to try new challenges and be adventurous.

And, while I was digging around my quilting room, I found this little project left over from the spring, and decided to stitch the trapunto designs with wash-away thread. The stitched outlines will be cut away from the white poly batting behind the top. Those areas will look white under the sheer batiste top. The rest of the white areas will appear green when I add a layer of green felt. I have used this technique five times now. The green squares contain silk, hand-painted fabric, ferny looking prints and others in all shades of green. This one is supposed to evoke springtime in the southern woodlands. The trapunto designs are from dogwood blossoms and leaves that I scanned last spring. I also added some trillium blooms and a small white wildflower. I have a feeling that this little guy is not going to remain square when I am finished with him!